Sinead

My name is Sinead.

I am part of the Tullamore Triathlon Club and I'm here in Lilliput today.

I have a triathlon at the weekend and I'm just doing a bit of practising to get ready for it.

Pretty nervous.

I haven't done any open water swimming before today, this year.

So hopefully now the water heats up a little bit before Sunday and hopefully it'll all go well.

Well, definitely a wetsuit.

I don't know what these are actually called.

I call them a bubble.

It just kind of blows up, goes around your waist and it just, you know, if you get into any difficulty in the water, you can hold on to it.

Swimming hats and goggles, like I have a thermal vest on me today.

You can get gloves and booties and all the rest, but definitely a wetsuit and a lifebuoy is the most important.

It's different from the pool in that it's obviously so much colder and you have all the elements of nature around you and I suppose sighting is a big thing in the open water that you don't really have to worry about in the pool.

And then obviously you have the birds and the fish and all of that.

It does take a bit of getting used to.

I would still consider myself quite a nervous open water swimmer.

The depth of the water, it's quite dark.

It definitely takes a bit of getting used to, but once you kind of get used to it, it's brilliant.

It's wonderful.

So it's in Lough Outra in Galway and I'll have to swim 1,900 metres.