Subject: RE: Ironman 70.3 Racine : Official ThreadBMG, We have a Tri club, the Multisportmadness group that meets at the Crystal Lake Healthbridge gym on Sundays at 6 AM and we have regular OWS in Crystal Lake in the summer. If you go online to the site, you can get in touch with us by just sending an email. To answer your question, the swim is in Lake Michigan and you can get any condition. The nice thing about the swim is it is one direction - out about 75 yards and then parallel with the beach in about 12 feet of crystal clear water (you can see the bottom and even small fish. I see those kinds of things even in a race...kinda sick i know) and then back in at mile 1.1. Two years ago the water was about 64 degrees and the coldest spot just about in Lake Michigan. But, if you do a few swims up there a few weeks before, you get the cold mental block out of your head and then it becomes not an issue. Do the Lake in the Hills Tri and make it to the Thursday night supported swims, and then you can work on your open water skills. There will be 50 other people out there just like you. Mark |