first quarry swim of 2008

today (easter 2008) is just the day for firsts... brunch came second, i had to work up an appetite before i could truly enjoy casa :)

both kristin & i met our friend danielle at the quarry at pure austin. danielle & i are racing together next weekend at ironman oceanside & this was her first open water swim of the year. if you've been paying attention to my blog you already know that i've enjoyed a few open water swims at barton springs this year.

i actually think that the water at the quarry is colder than barton springs right now - it felt like 30 degrees when i jumped in. that's me in the water screaming like a girl & payton getting a bit hyper on the pier in reaction to me jumping in & screaming. kristin said that when i started to swim off he ran to the edge of the pier & almost jumped in after me - lucky for the both of us, & payton for that matter, that he didn't go through with jumping in.

minus the freezing temperatures & the fact that some of the buoys had gone off path & one seemed to have disappeared completely it was a great swim workout. both danielle & i completed two laps (1500 meters - just shy of 1 mile) right at 30 minutes. i'm definitely finding myself more comfortable in the water & i am getting used to breathing on every other stroke. i do notice that when i breathe on my right side that i pull way left so i'll have to be careful about that & get that bad habit under control soon.

i feel like i had a really good training/recovery weekend following a very long one last weekend. i rode just over 50 miles yesterday via a modified version of the dam loop which included a number of trips up & down 360. then prior to meeting up at the quarry this morning i got an 11 mile run in down at the lake.

when arriving to casa following this morning's run/swim the "family style" serve yourself approach was a welcomed site to my tummy!