On Tuesday night I had my first experience of open water swimming, and also my first ever swim in a wetsuit.  In typical Sarah fashion, I’d left it all to the last minute, with my arrival at the lake a little over a week away from my first triathlon of the year (we’ll gloss over the fact it’s only my second ever triathlon).

I turned up to Thorpe Open Water Swimming Lake with my pristine wetsuit that had arrived 2 days before.  Thanks, Wiggle, you guys are ace.

Yeah, organised, right?!

Anyway, I was there, and I was keen. I was also shitting myself at the thought of getting in the lake. Not literally though, as that would be gross. Whilst the sun was out, the sign told me it was 13c, and there were swans. Big, bad swans. They can break your arm, you know. A few more people turned up and so it was time to wrestle my way in to my wetsuit.

It wasn’t pretty. I joined a few more neoprene-clad idiots swimmers at the water’s edge, and waited to meet with the reassuringly named Adam Comfort who was to be my coach for the next hour. What a star he turned out to be!

Stood in the evening sunshine, Adam gave me some tips as to how to get the best fit from my wetsuit (bend at the waist, gather the ‘excess’ material and pull up to give you more room and movement around your arms. Repeat a couple of times. Who knew?), as well as how best to acclimatise to the cold. And so there we were, sat on the pontoon, legs dangling into the water, toes a-tingling. It was cold, but not too bad. Hands now trailing into the murky water, it was soon time to splash water on my face. I’m going to go with “bracing”, rather than the expletive I actually used.

Before I knew it, we were in the water, bobbing around like corks in an ice bucket at the end of a party.  Adam told me to let some water into the top of my suit so that it would warm. We were both too polite to talk about whether or not weeing into it really was the done thing, besides, it would have been a mute point as I think my bladder had frozen…

My first exercise was to put my face in the water and blow bubbles. “Ha!”, I thought, “this I can do”, and so I did. Except I didn’t. I put my face in the water, managed the smallest bubble in the world, before the most peculiar visceral reaction where my mind panicked. Instead of blowing out, I gulped water, and promptly whipped my head back upright. After another few attempts, I managed to slow my breathing and and offer up a passable show of blowing raspberries underwater. Result. I suspect that’s just how Addlington felt when she won her final gold.

Next up, some swimming. I was amazed at the difference a wetsuit makes. It’s floaty and lovely and fun and all of the things I wasn’t expecting. I’d swim a few meters and then Adam would offer some very useful guidance as to how to improve my technique. We worked on sighting and on how to take on buoys whilst conserving energy, protecting your own space, and coming out of the turn with a powerful stroke. He was encouraging and calm, both of which are incredibly useful when you are quite literally out of your depth.

As we came to the end of our swim, he talked me through the swim course I would encounter at next weekend’s race (Grafham Water Middle Distance) and gave me a few tips to not only exit the water safely and quickly, but also how best to get out of my wetsuit in T1. Theoretical, not practical, of course. He’s not that kinda guy…

I stood looking out at the lake, completely taken aback by just how much fun it had been. There was something so liberating and invigorating about being out there, with no sides to cling to, the bottom of the lake out of sight, with clear blue skies overhead. I am definitely a convert. I can’t wait to go back this weekend and try it out again.

For those considering a trip out to Thorpe Open Water Swimming Lake, I hope the following things might be useful:

• Loads of free parking
• Loos, changing rooms and shower facilities on site
• Option to buy tea, coffee, cake etc
• NOWCA wrist bands to enable you to swim there (and other NOWCA venues)
• Safety kayaks
• Great tuition (I can thoroughly recommend Adam)
• Wetsuits for hire

I hear Shepperton is also worth a look so I will keep that on my radar for later on in the summer.