Sure, no problem, I love jumping in the lake!  I love summer!  If you have never tried swimming in the open water, you should definitely give it a try.  My first open water swim (1996) was a 1-mile swim in a small lake in Wisconsin.  That was the day I fell in love with the open water.  Over the years, this 1-mile grew to many many miles of swimming in all kinds of bodies of water.

Safety is number one in the open water.  A safety tow buoy is essential.  This serves several purposes: helps people to see you swimming in the water, has emergency contact information written on it, and it serves as a small dry bag.  I keep an extra cap, extra goggles, my car keys (kept inside a Nutella jar to stay dry) and extra nutrition packs (I usually put these in my suit).   I have a whistle and a blinking light attached to the straps.   I also have a Road ID bracelet with my contact information on that as well.

I start swimming in the early morning hours, usually at dawn.  This is because I want to get an early start to my day.  I usually start by swimming to the middle of the lake and practice my writing skills with my Garmin watch.  This is just for fun and takes a lot of concentration.  I use the lights on houses to see what direction I am going.  When I am done with that little exercise, I swim to the shore and swim along the piers for the perimeter of the lake.  I don’t have to worry about boat traffic early in the morning.  If there is a boat on the lake, I can sense it by the change in the water.  Depending on the lake, I will do a single loop to 4 loops around. It is usually very serene in the early mornings.  At one of the lakes, there is always a bullfrog croaking.  Not only am I a swimmer, but I am also a “garbage collector”.  I pick up trash along the way that I see at the bottom of the lake and place “presents” on the piers.  I am sure people wonder where this stuff comes from, but I figure they want their lake clean.  I find old cans, solo cups, bottles, toys, golf balls and other strange items.  I swim with my Finis Duo MP3 player for music, it helps pass the time.  I tend to place the speakers back a bit, so I can hear better in the open water.  Then I play games of how many songs it takes to make a loop around a lake or guess the distance or time of the swim.  

Over 70% of our world is covered in water. Find a body of water that is close to you.  If you are not near water, then back up the car for a road trip.  Give it a try, you might even like it.