Mona  has forwarded an additon to the Open Water Swim Training Diary page. Notes, Commments, Suggestions are below: 
First Name: Mona

Question/Comment: 
I took my new wetsuit to Musselman’s Lake for a lesson in open-water swimming with Coach Kelvin. 
We covered how to put it on, how buoyant we are in wetsuits, and how to let in a little water so it won’t drag so much. 
Then I swam a little and get accustomed to the pull and drag of neoprene. It was… interesting. I tended to get seasick 
when not swimming because, I guess, I was bobbing around without any feedback from the water. I also tended to veer off 
course—a lot. I don’t think it’s exactly because I’m more buoyant; I think it’s because I can’t feel the water directly. 
So I’m not evening out my strokes or something.

On the first leg of our swim, I felt that I wasn’t getting anywhere, that a current was carrying me back almost as fast 
as I swam. That feeling was less when I swam across the lake instead of along the shore: I was able to just swim along 
without worrying too much about progress. I stopped often and changed strokes; but I was able to swim and breathe and 
eventually to get to the far shore. I began to see fish near the farther shore. 

After a rest, we reversed our course and returned to the beach, then back along the shore to our starting point. Later, 
I found out that it seemed to take so long because it’s farther than I thought it was: about 300 yards from the start to 
the beach and perhaps 400 yards across our end of the lake (which is really a large pond).

Already, there are seaweed groves in the shallow water and it wasn’t really cold enough to require us to wear wetsuits. 
As the summer goes on, the pond will be choked with weed and warm as tea.

Workout: approximately 1400 yards, all strokes.
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