Practice Swim

We are now settled in at NFL and with the exception of the fire alarm this morning at our hotel (false alarm although we had to get out of bed, get dressed, and stand outside for 15 minutes) all is well. NFL is a very rugged but beautiful place. It's a lot more industrialized and populous than I had thought, although Corner Brook is supposed to be a pretty big city for them.

After the fire drill, we slept in to catch up on our ZZzzz's and then got up, picked up our packets, and headed over to Pasedena Beach to do our practice swim. People at the expo were saying that the water was pretty cold (13 - 14 C) and Shannon and I started to freak out. The drive down to Pasedena was very scenic and we got to scope out the bike course. Looks hilly, not steep hilly, but long steady climbs hilly. I think there is more than one hill on this bike course. I think the race directors made up that elevation profile.

When we got to Pasedena Beach, the beach was packed with tons of people and there were lots of little kids playing the water.



Little kids! Like 3 year olds, no wetsuit.



How bad can the water temperature be if they're in there? Well, it turns out these are little Canadian kids made hardy by the NFL winter because the water was chilly! But it wasn't unbearable. Shannon and I decided to swim out to the 3rd buoy (about half way out) and then head back, following the course.




On the way out there was a noticeable chop in the water. But it wasn't too bad. I got to the third buoy and then turned around. That's when the water got significantly choppier. I had flashbacks of the Delaware River and had a minor panic attack. Crap, this is going to SUCK big time! Well, forget about any time goals this race. I'm just going to concentrate of not DNF'ing on the swim!!!

We made it out of the water and was glad to hear from the other triathletes there that they thought the water was choppy too. Everyone however, seems optimistic that the water will be calmer in the morning. Glass they say, glass ... Let's hope so.