Active folks this weekend I completed a turkey tri where the lake water was about 58 degrees. I was wearing a full wetsuit and the second time I had swam in it [the first was a open water ocean half mile ]. Rights off the, I was immediately exhausted and could not catch my breath, could not get my swim stride, and was gasping for breath. It seemed that I was not going to reach the first 25 meters. The water made me fell like I was clinched and could not stretched my arms/legs. At one point it seemed I forgot how to swim and was half dog peddling/half panicking. I kept looking over and wanted to jump on the boat, but I said hell no. About 400 meters suffered leg cramp for the from the dog peddling. I estimated that it was going to tale me 18 minutes to complete ½ mile the swim, but it took me 35 minutes.

Here the kick- this was my last tri before the ½ Ironman CA in March 2010.

Was it the water temp , I had never swam in a lake before, any suggestions.