Wet one

We did Clearwater Beach Ocean mile swim Sat morning under dark skies, thinking we may get a chance to ride afterwards. Not. I had no goal, once again, just wanting to get in a good workout. I have a love/hate relationship with these open water swims. On the one hand I like to compete with the pure swimmers, see how I measure up (usually, I don't). On the other hand, I like (yeah, right) to try and practice being more aggressive in the opening, not bowing down to the blows and attempts at drowning me. I really don't like that but it's not dissimilar to a tri start! So anyway, survived another start and open water swim. I never got in a good rhythm due to some chop and current, I'm not great with choppy water. Every look ahead on the way out was greeted with lightening in the distance. Yikes! We had a favorable current going out, which means not so favorable coming back in. I finished, unofficially, second in my AG which is better than I've ever done in one of these swim races. I wasn't happy with my effort, just couldn't find the extra gear to push it but then, we're 3 weeks out from "A" race so that's probably totally appropriate. The Dane had a good effort as well. We got back home and realized there was no way we were going to fit in a bike ride amongst the lightening strikes, so lounged at the beach until the black clouds rained down. We spent the evening wishing good friends Bon Voyage on their adventure moving to the OC! Fun but sad at the same time! :>(
Today brought yet another ride in the hills. Yet again, longer ride than I was supposed to do but couldn't get the brick in due to rain and lightening so no harm done. We fought the pouring rain and lightening for over 2 hours of the ride and managed to get back in one piece! Thanking God for safe return now, we venture into the beginnings of the taper. Ahhhhhhh. Really, I'm always thinking of how far out from Kona I am now, 16 weeks for those who are counting! So, the 4 1/2 hour ride was not all for nought! As LM says, building character type of ride today! So start to back down a tad this next week, necessary as far as I can see based on my need for sleep! Maybe it's just my age! Best of luck to all....
Kia Kaha