chaos

day 1 lake buchanan
4.4 miles, out and back.
with only one buoy at the turn and two at the finish, it was necessary for each swimmer to have a kayak escort. a very irregular shore line makes it extremely hard for a swimmer to navigate otherwise. the lake was a lot lower than last year and a few of us ran aground close to the turn on a small sand bar. a steady cross wind added a bit of chop throughout the course. i finished 2 minutes behind collis.

day 2 inks lake
2.6 miles out and back
this course takes a turn and we needed to swim a few hundred yards before the dam came into view, still the turn buoys were not visible yet. i foolishly followed a kayak to the second buoy first and during my correction back to the first buoy collis and keith passed. i rounded the first buoy and returned to the second buoy (my second time around it) and by this time couldn't even see keith or collis ahead of me......damn! my will was broken. did this stupid mistake blow the whole week?! i was really pissed off at the finish, losing a ton of time to collis and barely holding any lead on keith.

day 3 lake lbj
2 miles out and back parallel to lake lbj dam
due to fog, last year this was set up as a two loop triangular course. this year a straight out and back swim. it was very easy to sight a power line tower so i kept my head buried and decided to give it everything i had. i couldn't drop collis. we hit the turn even, but he had the inside and i had to swim hard for the next minute to catch up to him. i held on for a few more minutes but then he started to gain some distance on me. i couldn't jump in his wake for a rest, as drafting is not permitted under ASA open water rules. i swam a 43:44....1:05 behind collis. any thoughts i had about beating him are gone now (even without my error at inks). i couldn't lift my arms up, and when i got back to the hotel, spent a half hour under the shower massage.

day 4 marble falls
3 miles out and back
i managed to get loose and felt good for the start, but today we were joined by 14 year old andrea who took off at the start. the race goes under a bridge (rt 281) and turns to the right through a beautiful canyon. i managed to catch andrea before the turn buoy at the dam, but she over took me at the bridge and had a good finish.....way to go! collis passed me shortly after the turn and held a tighter line through the bend. robert and keith were close behind me.

day 5 lake travis
3 miles out and back
the lake is low. the bend in the course and the rocky, sloping banks make it hard to pick a straight line. i hit the turn even with collis (getting used to this scenario) but he builds a minute lead on me during the second half. keith and robert have a dramatic finish a few seconds behind me.

keith's blog
http://64.177.90.244/asa/highlandlakes/index.html

results at 10k
http://www.10kswimmer.com/2008/10/hi...-day-five.html