Am I water? Bettina finds out

As I mentioned in my previous post, in which I dipped my toes into triathlon, my “big event” of the year was still to come. In a fit of optimism, possibly buoyed by the exhilaration of having signed up for a triathlon (signing up for stuff feels good to me), early this year I’d signed up for a 4.5k open water swimming race.

A week before my 40th birthday, on 1 September, it was time. The race took place in Lake Chiemsee, in southern Bavaria, in view of the Alps. It’s a beautiful panorama. The way the race works is that they ferry swimmers out to an island and then you swim back to shore, pretty much in a straight line. Like this:

We’d decided to make a family trip out of it, leaving on Saturday morning to make the drive down in a leisurely fashion, staying overnight, and driving home after the race on Sunday. We stayed at a lovely hotel with its own jetty and SUP boards for rent, which unfortunately we didn’t have time to use. The evening before the race, I’d arranged to meet up via Facebook with a few other people swimming the next day. But first, I had to pick up my starter kit. At the location, the main sponsor had put up a fun “I am water” backdrop, which I posed with, even though I wasn’t feeling quite sure about my aquaticness at that point.

I’d known the nerves would come, and the pre-race meet-up with other participants was part of my tactic to calm myself down. This was my first big open-water event and I do get impostor syndrome quite a bit. I was really glad I’d made this dinner arrangement. Not only did we have a delicious dinner in a traditional beer garden with a playground right next to our table for our 4 year-old to explore, but I also got to pick more experienced swimmers’ brains. They all assured me I’d be just fine and had signed up for a beautiful race. And wow, had I ever! Race morning came with beautiful sunshine, the perfect temperature, and no waves at all.

There was a short safety briefing with an explanation of what would happen next, and off we were, all 270-ish of us, to the boat that would take us to the island. En route, I met a nice English guy (hey, Tom!) whose wife is from the region and he’d decided to give it a go while they were on holiday in the area. We chatted as we made the short crossing to the starting point, he kindly shared his vaseline to prevent wetsuit chafing, which I’d forgotten to bring, and I munched an energy bar and drank some of my sports drink.

And then… we were off! Since the water temperature was so perfect and the lake so calm, it didn’t take me a very long time to settle into a comfortable breathing rhythm. And even though there were a lot of us, there was none of the kicking and swimming over each other I’d been dreading, considering it was a mass start. It went great and I ended up losing track of how many buoys I’d passed after a while, I just kept going. Every once in a while I stopped for a split second to check I was well on track and, honestly, to admire the panorama – it was just stunning. Every 500 metres, they’d put a huge yellow buoy as a way marker so nobody got lost. There were also loads of lifeguards with paddle boards, kayaks and boats, so between them, the other swimmers, and the buoys, it was impossible to go wrong.

Towards the end, there was one section with a bit of a cold current and I was glad I’d decided to wear my wetsuit, also because I know that I tend to get cramps if I get too cold – this had happened to me a couple of times during my longer training swims in the outdoor pool.

Before I even knew it, I was swimming up to the finish chute! As I waded out of the water, I spotted my partner and son waving and shouting. I was so happy my son got to see his Mama do something big and challenging, and above all, having fun! It’s the way I’d love for him to approach sports and movement as he grows up. I wasn’t in it to win it – I was in it to enjoy it, try something new, and challenge myself.

In the end, I was super happy with my final time of 1:30:08. I came 8th in my age group, which wasn’t bad at all! I definitely want to do this again. Next year, the same race will take place on my actual birthday, which is kind of a sign, but I’m also still considering other options – maybe a different lake! What started as my personal challenge the year I turned 40 has opened up a new path that I’m super excited to keep exploring.