Wow, That's an Unexpected Surprise! ...and a Shark Attack Too!!??

So Vineman. This Sunday. I'm ready. Let's get 'er done. It's on.

That's all I need to say about that.


In other news, I got a completely unexpected, random and extremely thoughtful gift in the mail today from Koz Enterprises, the group that puts on the San Diego Triathlon Series and other races. It has to do with the San Diego International Tri.

Check it out:

First of all, thank you Natallie and Koz. That was above and beyond nice.

Two things come to mind:

1) After the race was over and after I blogged about my feelings regarding the transitions, I dropped the subject and moved on. I don't dwell. In the grand scheme, it really wasn't that big of a deal to me... after all, who am I? Just an age-grouper. It's not like anything was riding on the race. I was happy with my performance and happy for Whitney's win. She's a rad chick--if she were some b%$&#, I may have thought differently, ha ha j/k. But honestly, I didn't lose any sleep over the race outcome.

2) Whatever reason Koz felt inclined to send me this letter and medal is beyond me. Maybe someone else spoke up about the transition issue? I have no idea. The extent of my blabing is in my blog. But whatever the reason, I think this gesture shows that Koz is doing a great job and has the triathletes' best interest at heart. They just want to see honest, fair racing. And in a world that's corrupted with performance-enhancing drugs and/or any form of cheating, I appreciate and respect the principles of Koz.

I'm grateful such caring people are behind the races we all enjoy so much.

Just thought I'd share.

ONE MORE (FREAKY) THING....


Du Da du da du da dudadudaduda (Jaws music)


~~~/\~~~ (a shark fin)

Ummm, yea... there was a shark attack at San Onofre (where I surf weekly+) on Saturday, July 11. No bites, but there was physical contact between a standup paddleboarder and a white shark, which appraently deems it an official "attack." AHHH. The best part: I was out surfing/swimming in the very spot where this happened merely hours later!! Holy crap! Check out the story here.

There have been quite a few shark sightings in SoCal lately. Super scary. But honestly, it's not going to stop me from getting in the water. When David Martin was killed at Solona Beach I was upset and distraught for a long time. But I came to terms with the whole shark thing, realizing that I love being in the ocean and I'm not going to stop doing what I love. If I get attacked, and that's my fate... well at least I'll go out being famous in some whaky way!

Making Time for the Beach

New priorities! Not only is surfing making a huge comeback in my life--I went twice this week--but I also did a little soft-sand beach running Tuesday morning, and oh man... that's good stuff. I also did my first-ever Crossfit workout, and for those of you who know about Crossfit...daaaang, it is legit.

As for surfing, I really forgot how much I enjoy it! I think for a while, back in the day, I was so concerned about being good that I lost the ability to just paddle out to have fun. Then other things started becoming more important, namely triathlon, so surfing sessions became few and far between.

But now I see surfing in a whole new light. With triathlon as my main focus and discipline, surfing can be a relaxing, enjoyable way to be active outside of swimming-biking-running with none of the added pressure of thresholds, intervals, pace work, beating myself up. Don't get me wrong--I love doing all that with tri, but it's nice to have another sport that's just for fun. No big deal if I suck or kick ass.

On that note, Friday the waves fairly bigger than they've my past two sessions, and it definitely was more challenging. The first wave I caught was my best of the day; things kind of went downhill from there. But thankfully I had a friend out with me so it was fun and I wasn't scared or anything like that... just held onto my board and got pounded on a bit. Good times.

This was my view when I opened the back doors of the Prazak Surfmobile. Ahhh, heavenly. (A little windy out today, but still surfable):

Being at the beach and in the ocean is therapeutic after a gnarly workout week, and spending time in this environment just seems necessary:
All I needed was a Corona with a lime. Too bad there's no drinking allowed at San-O anymore.I have to do a little work with my surf equipment, though. I've had the same Becker longboard since high school (why change something if you love it?), and at this point I think it's had the same wax on for about three years now. Poor neglected board. So this weekend, I'm making it a priority to re-wax my board. All that sandy grit is tearing into my skin.

I was thankful that it turned out to be so beautiful at the beach today because the Friday forcast called for more thunderstroms (WTF?!) and conditions were like this in the morning when I headed to the gym for a swim/run session:

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Part 2 of my new beach obsession is running in the sand, SOFT sand that is. After doing an early-morning workout at Sport Performance Institute with the Tribuys team on Tuesday morning, I headed down to Calafia in San Clemente to meet a friend for a soft-sand barefoot run. Very peaceful so early in the morning, before the crowds start shuffling in:

We ran for about 40 minutes, down to around Lowers and back, which was 4 miles. Sounds ridiculously slow, but I was working hard! Not 100% hard, but I don't think I could have pulled off even 8-minute miles. Running it the soft stuff is a killer workout, so I've decided to make it a semi-regular part of my routine. Talk about getting powerhouse legs.

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Even though it was still overcast and chilly after our run, we were so heated up that we jumped in the ocean to swim and cool off. I was straight up in my workout clothes (sports bra, strecthy capris--kind like a bathing suit, right? haha); my friend had his boardshorts on so no big deal for him. It was awesome though--kind of like an ice bath right after a hard session, felt great... until I got cold ha ha.

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After Tuesday morning double-workout craziness and a 33-mile bike Wednesday morning, I was invited to try out Crossfit that afternoon at SPI. All I have to say is wow. Add it to the list, too, because the power and strength benefits from that will be amazing, and I have proof in seeing some of the other guys. I'm hooked!

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Needless to say, by Thursday I was mush. But smiling. And back it all by Friday.

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Final thought: I will always live close to the beach. After all, that's how I chose which college to go to!