This morning I did a bit of open water swimming at Playa Alcaravanares with the wetsuit. Open water swimming is a totally different animal than doing laps in the pool, more relaxing and less drill focused. And you get to pee in the wetsuit.

I don’t know why, but triathletes are conditioned to pee in their wetsuits. I wouldn’t even think of doing it in the pool, that’s gross! But the moment I step in the water wearing my wetsuit, I feel the need. It doesn’t matter if its cold or warm outside, I have to go. This is why I tell anyone new to triathlon, “never put your head under water during race warmup”. Trust my everyone is peeing and that is why the water is warm. Once you move away from shore, no problem, check out the fish, but just wait until you have travelled a few meters.

Playa Alcaravanares is not the cleanest, most pristine beach in the world. Playa de las Canteras, only minutes away, has beautiful clear water, tropical fish, a coral reef, and hundreds of people enjoying the beach lifestyle on any given day. Alcaravanares looks out on the port, has murky water, and there is always a bit of trash around (both on the beach and in the shallow water). But during high tide las Canteras can get a bit rough, with the tide pushing you around. At Alcaravanares it is always calm as the port protects the beach from any serious tidal movement. And it has buoys that can be used for sighting during swimming. So, even though it is less appealing, Alcaravanares can many times be the better option.

This morning it was quiet as I pulled on my wetsuit, sweating before I had even finished. A father and son were fishing from the pier, so I gave them some space and went in the water a bit down the beach, the sole swimmer so far. Yes, you can guess what I did as I walked into the deeper water, but it was already warm anyway. Start the Garmin, dive in, here we go! Around a few buoys, keep going, wait… that’s it? I think the Garmin is not reading correctly, it must be more distance than that already! OK, maybe not, time for some more laps. And so it goes.

There are fresh water showers where the beach meets the boardwalk. I rinse off the wetsuit and goggles, then myself, the fresh water pleasantly removing the salty taste. I look out at the buoys and there are now three others swimming, in wetsuits. They don’t have the ferocity in their strokes that you see in the pool, but rather the languid, relaxed strokes of open water swimmers. It feels like a Zen thing. The water is calm, the sun is shining – a great day to be on a tropical island.