I'll be doing the Cancun 70.3 this year and this will be my first open water ocean swim, and my first open water swim without my wetsuit. I'm in a lake at least twice a week doing open water work, but have never done anything but leisure swims in the ocean.

Does anyone know of any places to practice open water swims in Westchester? I live in Mt. Kisco, which isn't near the coast and want to find some lakes or rivers that work for open water practice. Anyone know of any places?

Did my first open water practice swim today. Went pretty well overall. Certainly not pleasant, but I'm glad I did it. Better to be uncomfortable in practice than in a race. And I definitely have room for improvement.

I am using my imagination here to write this article. See, I live in Miami, Florida which if you got a C in geography you know is surrounded with open water. So, what does a guy who in ten minutes can jump into a warm ocean year around know about simulating open water swims in pools?

So you've been swimming up and down the length of the pool for years and are ready to get out there and do some open water swimming? Open water swims and triathlons have gained huge popularity in the last few years.