Longest Swim!

I did my longest swim ever today - 6,000yds! I needed to use one of those online metric converter calculators to confirm that today was indeed my longest swim - last spring I swam an open water 5k, but it turns out that 6,000yds is just a smidgeon longer than a 5k so today's swim was the winner!

I swam with a great group of girlfriends. It is days like today that I am reminded of how lucky I am to have friends who are such good people, and fantastic athletes to boot. We all learn from each other, encourage each other, support one another, crack each other up, and push each other to go faster (and in today's swim case, further) than we would ever go alone. The pool was relatively empty when we jumped in at 9:30am and we managed to secure two lanes next to each other, giving the seven of us plenty of space. Kendra put together a fun workout, with a mix of long and short sets, pulling and kicking. Kendra and Sara and I all shared a lane and Mindy and Sarah and Georgeanne were the speed demons in the other lane. I love watching speedy swimmers. I read somewhere (can't recall where) that you can actually learn quite a bit and even improve your own swimming by watching good swimmers - what their technique looks like, what their stroke and kick look like, are they rotating their hips, what does their pull look like, etc. And then think about what good form looks like and try to emulate it in your own swimming.

The swim FLEW by and we were done in just over two hours. I made it to just over 5,000yds before my arms and shoulders started to burn and my pace was starting to slow down a bit. I tried out my new Blue Seventy goggles and they were great! I love new goggles - thanks Blue Seventy! We headed to Kendra's for brunch post-swim. Breakfast burritos, fruit salad, and tea have never tasted so good.

Do you want to hear the sweetest thing? On Friday night I whipped up an easy dessert to take to the post-swim brunch. I put it in the fridge and completely forgot to grab it in my hurry out of the house to go to the pool. I remembered when I was a few miles from the house and I was already running late, so Mr. Sweetie said he would drop it off at Kendra's for me while I was swimming. He is SO NICE. But it gets better - not only did he drop off the dessert, but he also picked up some prosecco and orange juice for mimosas. It was really, really thoughtful and such a nice surprise.

Today was the first long day of training of 2013, between the 2+ hour swim and the 2+ hour bike ride on the trainer. I've missed this tired, sore, could-collapse-into-bed-and-fall-asleep-with-my-eyes-open feeling. I'm so excited for 2013!!!