Free Stuff

Here's an additional picture from the folks at Delmarva.  Here's me and Chris after I got the free Oxbox carbon fiber paddle.  It was great to hang out with Janis to hear all about the fun stuff Delmarva is doing to promote SUP-ing in the area.

All I can say is that  it pays to be friendly and get to know folks in the community.  It helped me meet some really wonderful people this summer, learn some cool stuff, have some wonderful adventures and get some free stuff.  Score!

Living in the dark

Sometimes sticking your head in the sand and being ignorant is perfectly fine.

This afternoon I realized a very critical fact and am floored by this news. For the last two months I've been training with a crew of triathletes who are training for an upcoming half Ironman. While that is incredibly impressive and I have been thrilled to be able to hang with these folks ---- I found out today that they are also training for a fall Ironman!!!

What's the distinction? The distinction is that instead of thinking that I've spent the last two months at a half Ironman pace, I have instead been hanging in a program that is geared for folks who will complete a full Ironman in the fall!!!!! Dare I say OMG?!

I guess I never really asked and no one told me all the details about all this extra credit training I've been doing in conjunction with the daily bootcamp classes.

The good news is that I am incredibly impressed with myself. I bad news is that it is going to be a real challenge to keep up with these multiple workout a days once I get back t work. The initial game plan is to make sure I do one workout a day and Lori plans to send me her training block for the next month so that I can aim to virtually train with the group once I move home.

It's a significant goal, but I'm going to try and go for it. Here's to hoping!

Last Saturday!

[Hanging at Coastal Kayak]

Today is the last Saturday at the beach before I head back to work on August 8th.  I can't believe that I'm almost back to sitting at a desk all day.  It has been a glorious two months.

Today I jammed in a bike ride and another SUP adventure.

Biking
I hooked up with Lori for a 90-minute aerobic ride along Coastal Hwy.  Northbound we were fighting the wind which was a nice resistance workout.  We knocked out 26 miles.  We would have finished up a bit faster if we didn't get trapped in a gated community.

When we got to the Indian River Inlet we decided not to go over the bridge and head to Dewey Beach since the traffic northbound was bumper-to-bumper and we we nervous navigating the bridge with that much traffic.  Instead we headed out to the point to add time and mileage.  Unfortunately as we tried to exit the community's big iron gates were closed and we couldn't get out.  We looked everywhere for the pedestrian button...and couldn't find it.  UGH!  Lori ended up climbing over the gate, while I pushed our bikes over the fence and then climbed over the gate --- all while wearing bike shoes.  Pretty impressive...and embarrassing.  I'm sure there were folks watching us from their fancy balconies and laughing at us try and get out of their community.

The sad part of the ride was we came upon a group of cyclists holding another rider and pouring water over him.  Appeared that he was suffering from heat exhaustion and had fallen over.  Luckily there were a lot of good Samaritans on bikes/motorcycles/cars who stopped to offer assistance and their water bottles.  We were glad to see the emergency vehicles on the scene pretty quickly.  Very scary stuff.  It is easy to under estimate how hot is out there on Coastal because there usually is an offshore wind that masks how hot it is, but without shade biking on the dark pavement can be brutal.  Hope that rider is ok.

SUP-ing
On to better news, I introduced another person to the wonderful world of SUP-ing --- my dad.  Go Dad!  I brought him over to the folks at Coastal, set him up on a Hobie and we were off.  He got up pretty quickly.  He only fell a couple times, but the wind was also stronger today so we had to fight our way home.

Selfishly, I was able to try out my new Oxbox carbon fiber paddle...and let me just say...it is AWESOME.  Very light and kick-ass looking.

Chris cut it taller than I'm used to so that it's a better set up so that I can use it later in the ocean to surf.  Similar to a carbon fiber bike, it is cut to fit the rider.  Chris wanted to check out this set up before adjusting it any shorter.  It took a little getting used to since it is longer, but it felt pretty good.  I'll plan to keep this set up a little longer to see how I feel after a few more outings.

Wrap-Up
I had grand plans to hit the beach with my dad late in the afternoon, but I got wrapped up hanging out with my neighbors on their boat...and that was all she wrote.

Another day in my personal paradise.  I am bottling up each and every one of these moments.  I am so very lucky and I am reminded of that every day.

SUP Revolution

So this whole SUP-thing has been an incredible adventure.  I bought an Oxbow SUP over the July 4th from Delmarva Board Sports Adventure (see http://www.delmarvaboardsportadventures.com/sup.html) weekend and ever since I have been addicted to that thing.

I have met a number of people as a result of SUP-ing and have had the pleasure of introducing a good number of folks to the sport. 

Now...two really random and wonderful things happened as a result of SUP-ing.  First, I got interviewed for an article that will run in Delaware's News Journal newspaper in the next week.  Second, I received a free carbon fiber SUP paddle.


The Press
So the story goes that I reserved a spot with Delmarva SUP to join a group SUP-ing around Cape Henlopen State Park to hang with the dolphins and watch the sunset.  The owner of Delmarva asked me to talk to a reporter who would be paddling with the group about my experience as a new SUP-er...of course, I was happy to help.

The trip to the Park was truly AMAZING.  There were dolphin all around us and when I was alone rounding the lighthouse a small pod swam all around the front of my board.  Heaven...well it was pretty darn close.  Let's just say that I had a permanent smile on my face and I may have even giggled to myself a few times.  It only got better when the sun set.  I wish I had a waterproof camera because there is no way to describe the view.  Luckily Janis was taking pictures of all of us and hopefully there will be some really cool pictures from the newspaper photographer too.

[Here I am walking my board into shore with George paddling around me.  I have no idea what we are talking about, but do know that I decided to walk my board in because it was so hot all I wanted was to be in the water!]

[Here's a picture of that sunset I was talking about --- courtesy of Janis.  Imaging sitting on your board watching that.  Amazing!]

Anyway, I randomly hooked up with the reporter while cruising around the Park and later he taped a handful of Q&A's.  He's got the best gig ever.  He writes a column called "Anything Once"  (see http://www.delawareonline.com/section/LIFE06/Anything-Once).  Very cool guy and I'm looking forward to seeing the article very soon.

The Goods
It pays to strike up conversations with folks you don't know but who you encounter in your everyday adventures.  A couple weeks ago I struck up a conversation with two ladies as we were warming up for SUP bootcamp with HipAHA.  As luck would have it, her husband works at my firm and we have mutual friends in the area. Small world!

Anyway, she was admiring my SUP and I told her all about Delmarva --- how helpful they were, great concept of allowing you to try out their fleet and being able to buy a new board on the spot.  Bonus that it's tax-free Delaware and any new SUP owner also has access to any excursion free for life.  Kinda sweet.

A couple weeks later I heard from Delmarva that this woman I had chatted up ended up buying not one, but TWO SUPs for her and her husband!  As a thank you gift, Delamarva gave me a FREE carbon fiber Oxbow paddle.   I am beyond PSYCHED!

If Oxbow is good enough for Laird Hamilton...

The new paddle!

Living in the big ring --- 26.5 mph!!!

I have clearly come a long way from the days of barely hitting a 16 mph max on the Cannondale.  I have a new max --- 26.5 mph BITCHES!!!!

I headed out earlier this week for a solo interval ride along Coastal Hwy. It was hot and humid and sunny and windy...all-around wonderful.

I definitely feel stronger and more confident on the bike. Adding the aero-bars, I think, has been that "next thing" that has helped to push my speed to the next level --- getting in the right position, cutting the wind and focusing on the push/pull.


It is *possible* that I could have hit 27 mph on this ride, but I can assure you that if I did the wheels would have immediately fallen off this bus.

Flat Tire!

How many HipAHAs does it take to change a single flat???

Well, last week it took three riders, two tubes and a friend playing "the sag car" to stop by and provide assistance.

B. hit some glass during an interval ride and as we slowed to recovery pace we all wondered, "where the heck is B.?????"  Turns out she was a quarter mile away sitting on the side of the road.

As luck would have it, none of us have ever had to change a tire...BUT I have seen it done enough times that I felt confident enough to try.

I was able to get the old tube off, the new tube on, the new tube slightly inflated and then struggled a little to get the tire over the new tube since it was tight in a few spots.

Just as we have everything going peachy, I inflated the tube w/ my CO2 cartridge and it was just shy of totally inflating the tube.

L. grabbed her CO2 cartridge and started filling up the remainder, but the CO2 came out faster than expected and WHAM...the tube POPPED!!! That sucked.

Luckily a friend was nearby and drove over an extra tube (since no one else had a spare that fit her wheel) and a manual pump.

Within a few minutes we were back on the road and all thankful it wasn't a rear tire flat...now THAT would have been stressful.

SUP- SUP

Who doesn't like a board in the back of their pick-up??

Moving makes me happy

Well, that's no surprise. You hear it all the time that a sedentary life blows.

Tonight during yoga I was reminded how much getting the blood pumping and being around other like-minded moving people is such a benefit.

Before class I was chatting up this older woman who religiously attends Thursday night yoga class. She shocked me when she announced that she was 83 years old! 83? I thought she was in her late 60's!

She told me she believes in trying new things and keeping her body as young as possible.

Under the heading of "new things" she told me she took belly-dancing classes for a year and even once took a pole dancing class --- to which her 85 year old husband was quite impressed when she demonstrated part of her routine. Hilarious!

During our poses I would periodically look over at this 83 year old yoga-loving lady and think...she's gotta be doing something right.

Here's to moving and stretching and trying new things!

Sun Salutations

Today it was all about sun and heat and warmth.

I started the morning with Rhonda's beach yoga. Another wonderful combination of strength, balance, stretching and calm. Just as we started our sun salutations, the clouds broke and the sun arrived. Perfect timing.

Rhonda has a great cycle of core and ab work that really knocks you out. I am mega sore.

After class I noticed that Coastal Kayak planned to bring folks over to the wildlife refuge later in the afternoon for an independent exploration of the wetlands. I decided to crash their party with my SUP.

The folks at Coastal gave me directions to Sassafras Landing and after winding around farm and dirt roads I finally arrived at the launch site just after the kayaks were launched. Check it out.

There weren't many people there. Frankly I think it was too hot and folks didn't want to venture out.

I launched my SUP and cruised around the inlet. Only the sound of the marsh birds, my paddle stroking the water and a few kayakers broke the silence. It was just stunning.

Brick-a-mania

[The bike route]

At 4:30 am I was rolling out of bed and grabbing my gear for the BIG BRICK-A-MANIA.  YAY?!

I was interested in testing myself, but also scared by the distance.  Luckily all this was made easier because there was a 6-person crew attacking this workout.

THE BIKE

We headed out at 5:30 am.  Our route was --- starting in Fenwick Island, rolled through Bethany Beach, through Dewey, through Rehoboth Beach, past the Cape May Ferry and ended at the tip of the Cape Henlopen Park.  After circling back and adding miles inland in North Bethany we ended up riding 62.4 miles!!!

Surprisingly the ride was not as hard as I thought it would be.  Though my feet did fall asleep a few times, the time in the saddle was really not that bad, I felt strong --- especially on the hills and I definitely was holding back a bit since I knew that we still had the run afterwards.  Damn running.

[Post ride and in advance of getting my new cleats]

 The only bummer was that my cleats had worn almost completely down to nothing and I had to spend the majority of the ride worried about getting stuck in my peddles.  Check it out.  Luckily, the guys at Fenwick Islander Cycles were able to replace my cleats later that day and I am all set

THE RUN

By the time it was time for our run it was SO HOT --- full sun, limited breeze and some humidity.  Great.  We ended up running from King Street to the fence for a total of four miles.  By mile 2.5 I was so ready to stop.  I was hot, getting dehydrated and just ready to be done...which is wacko because my head was what wanted to stop.  I could still keep putting one foot in front of another...granted it was slow.

Luckily at mile 2.5 we grabbed a hose and soaked ourselves down.  What a wonderful temporary relief.

At mile 3.5 I was cooked and just couldn't keep the pace up.  In the alternate, me and another runner did intervals for the next half mile so that we could keep moving, loosen up our legs, but also get some relief.

The good news is that I DID THIS and I am on track to be a Biking Destroyer.

Not the best way to prep for the BIG BRICK-A-MANIA

[Bay front table at Macky's]

 

Sunday was the BIG BRICK-A-MANIA workout.  The goal was a 4 hour ride and an hour-ish run.  Wowzers...that's the longest I've ever been out.

One would think that the day before such an undertaking should be spent relaxing, eating right and hydrating.  Well...I missed the memo on that.  First The Husband and I hit Macky's for lunch --- Corona's do have carbs right?  Later that night, we ended up at Fish Tales for dinner and drinks. 

By 10:30 pm I was finally packed, in bed (dead tired) and mentally preparing for the 5:30 am start time in Fenwick.

7 Days of fun in the sun

[Loving my new board...at SUP Fitness Class in Fenwick Isalnd, DE]

I've completely neglected you Mr. Blogger and I have no excuse except to say that...I've been busy.

Let's think back to what's happened over the last week...

• Happy 4th of July --- crabs, BBQ, boating and fireworks!
• I bought an OxBow SUP at DelMarVa Water Sports...and am loving it...everything except that it's wickedly big and a bitch to find a home for.  Luckily it currently fits nicely on my deck.  Oh well!
• Got a lot of training in this week --- swimming, biking, SUP-ing and something that looks like running

The BIG news is that I hit a new best mph the other day.  I officially maxed at 26 mph on the bike.  GO ME!  That's a huge improvement from the days when 16 mph was a good day.

Biking Destroyer

It's a total exaggeration, but with my new aerobars I really feel like a biking monster living in the big ring.

Yesterday was the first time I rode with them. I hooked up with the Fenwick chicas for an interval ride along Coastal Hwy.

After warming up we set our minds and legs to ride 3 minutes at 90-95%, take a 45 second break and then repeat. Our goal was eight sets with a 10 minute ride at 60-75% between sets 4 and 5.

After the sets and then riding back home (remember that I commute by bike to the hook-up spot) my legs were burning!

I was at first a little unstable in the aero position, but pretty quickly was able to really power through the speed sets. My max speed was just shy of 25 mph --- 24.8 mph to be precise. I want that 25.

Watch out 25 mph...passing on your left!!!!!

SUP is Super!

Happy to say that I didn't fall in the drink today!

This morning I blew off the 40 min group recovery run --- I was way too tired from yesterday's activities. I know I'm going to feel guilty later and will have to make up the time somehow.

At 9 am it was time for Stand-Up Paddle Board Bootcamp -- Round Two.

Man is this fun! Luckily today there was only a light wind so we weren't fighting our way across the Bay like last week.

Two less than desirable things:

. I used a new, different board that is shorter and not as wide. Though sleek it was not as comfortable.

.I ended up with a crappier paddle which made paddle a smidge harder. Who needs harder when you are trying balance, move around and not fall off!

. There were many more jellyfish in the Bay this week. It was better to keep your eyes on the horizon vs. Looking down and seeing them coast on by.

Looking forward to next week's SUP adventure!