Return to Open Water Swimming

I was supposed to race yesterday in the Tri the Parks Series in Georgia but had opted out given my lack of open water swimming time over the last month. This was my first post-op open water swim and admittedly, I was a little nervous, especially given the fact that it would not be just my training partner and I. Laura, Sheila, Midge and I had decided to meet to swim at Lake Murray in a cove where one of them lives. I'd heard and seen previous swim times and knew that Sheila is a very good swimmer. Last year she swam the 2-mile dam swim in a little over an hour. I think that's a very respectable time to say the least given the comparison to me. Being the competitive one that I am, I decided I'd give chase for a little while and see where that got me. Off the dock, into the water and in hot pursuit. Surprisingly, I actually wasn't that far behind her. My training partner and I really only had to swim a mile and we had a pretty good idea of what this entailed for us based on Sheila's previous GPS tracking of the area. This area is absolutely ideal for swimming.

It was nice to be back in the open water again. I still think breathing for me has improved. I also made a slight adjustment to my swim stroke based on some advice I'd received from my training partner's observation. This made a huge difference, too.

Two days off this week...Monday and Friday. I broke down and ordered some women specific Blue Seventy Siren goggles for a friend and I tonight. We've both had issues with a cramp about 2700+ meters into the swims right below the eyebrow and slightly adjacent to the bridge of the nose. Will give these a try during Thursday's swim workout. Looking forward to trying them out. I'll give a review of them perhaps.