Open Water

Most of the time, my training takes place with my training partners.  Training Partner.  Those two words sound very professional.  Training Partner.  Someone who engages in the same activity while training for a race.  But let me tell you..... there is almost as much an intimate relationship with training partners as there is for a spouse or a best friend.  In fact, my main training partner probably is my best friend.  When you spend hours running and biking together, you open up conversation to more than just weather and training plans.  Spirituality, family, hopes and dreams, and unfortunately, bodily functions are discussed and hashed over the miles.

So, anyways.  Yesterday was my day off for the week.  Hallelujah!  A glass of wine earned the night previous with no morning workout.  But my training partner called and asked if I would be willing to do an open water swim with her.  She had yet to test out her wetsuit in open water.  The last time she tried it, it was in an unheated pool and it was so cold the wetsuit barely helped.  The lake we would swim in was a highly trafficked lake with boats.  And it is shaped more like the river it originally was before dams made it officially a lake.  So instead of swimming, I kayaked next to her for safety purposes.  It was perfect.  The lake was smooth.  There were deer along the banks.  Ducks were out.  Hawks were flying overhead.  And I kayaked slowly listening to her strokes and her hums as she breathed.  It was a beautiful evening.

Tuesday's workout:
Morning:  6 miles running (20 min. slow, 30 min fast, 20 min slow)
Evening:  Mini tri:  500 swim, 40 min. on trainer in group, 8 min running with 30 sec pickups.

Wed:  OFF