A few folks from our Truelife community grined and beared the chilly waters of Hubbles Lake last weekend in order to fit in an open water training swim in preparation for the Great White North Triathlon.

Kirsten Baxter, Trueform client and amazing chiropractor at Baseline Chiropractic, joined the group for her first open water lake swim! She was happy to share a few lessons she learnt from this experience…

1. Eyes on the horizon. If you’re wanting to add unintentional distance to your swim, don’t bother having a focus point and swim with your eyes closed (which is how I started out, haha). Ideally, you want to swim as straight as possible so that you minimize adding extra distance to your swim. Brian explained that a good way to do this was to pick a point on the horizon just above the beach you’re swimming towards.

2. Wear a swim cap. Maybe this seems obvious, but it wasn’t for me! I went sans swim cap. Apparently you lose the most heat from your head when swimming and a swim cap helps to prevent this/keep you warm (not to mention it keeps your hair tucked away neatly and out of your eyes).

3. Swim with a friend(s). Especially for your first one! Having a good friend swim beside me helped to keep my nerves in check. For the first few minutes of our swim, we checked in with each other every 30 breaths. Having a support squad is invaluable.

4. Don’t forget a wet suit! Swimming in Alberta water without one really toughens you up. A wet suit provides a little buoyancy and makes things a little easier in addition to keeping you a little warmer.

5. Amazing things happen outside of your comfort zone. I’m not going to lie, on the drive out to Hubbles Lake I was pretty nervous, and once I submerged myself in the freezing water I was even more nervous! After swimming across the lake and back, I had an incredible feeling of accomplishment. Jack Canfield was right… “Everything you want is on the other side of fear”.

“Wishing K-Bax all the best at GWN. To a woman that continues to inspire me with every new endeavour she takes on. We love your get it done attitude, and that you always do it with a smile on your face. Love you K-Bax!” – Kim Fiddes