T-minus 24 hours to reality

[Today's crew showing off the fruit of our labor]

So in just a few short hours I will be packing up and heading west...to reality...my real job...a schedule (that's predetermined by someone else)...and responsibilities.  Though I am really going to miss my life at the beach I do miss home too.

Today I spent time jamming more things in before heading home.

Biking
I knew when my alarm went off at 5:00 am that I shouldn't have gone out last night and that last beer was a bad idea...just as I had thought when I ordered it.  I somehow got up, got organized and out the door with biking and SUP gear because it was a two-fer kinda morning.

We all let at Becka's temporary house on the beach for some interval biking on Coastal Hwy.  The plan was to complete the following:

• high cadence warm-up to North Bethany Beach
• five 5-minute intervals at race pace (90-95%) with 2-minute recovery in between
• high cadence cool-down back to Fenwick

The weather was a bit dreary this morning and as we headed out I was glad that I had a hit of Diet Coke before the ride to help wake everything up.

I'm not sure exactly what was going on, but the moment we started the intervals I was like a rocket.  I had a good feel for the bike and my gears and was launching into the front position very quickly.  Somehow I had the energy and strength to stay in aero while I jammed down and up on those pedals. 

It was incredible.  I was cruising and setting a crushing pace.  It was as if I was possessed.  I think the truth was that I knew this was my last ride with the crew and a good fitness test.  Doc says I passed with flying colors. :)

SUP Bootcamp

[Last time paddling in to Coastal Kayak.  Insert tear.]

After grabbing more caffeine and chit-chatting at the local coffee shop we headed over to Coastal Kayak for SUP bootcamp with the HipAHA crew.  As has been the case all summer, the class was sold out.  Go Lori!

Coastal Kayak was jammed with tons of people since folks were renting stuff and there were two tours getting ready to launch.  All this meant that parking was a bitch and we ended up helping set up the newbies on their boards --- which included hauling the gear out of the storage shed.  Nice.

Overall it was a hard workout.  We paddled out toward Fenwick and did a bunch of resistance exercises using the bands.  My arms are sore, but I actually have the muscle definition to prove that I've done some actual work this summer! 

The wind turned on us and we enjoyed a nice, hard paddle back down the Bay.  It was a little sad knowing that next Thursday morning I will be land-locked at my desk without a paddle.  I do not doubt that I will be inundated/ tormented with regular updates on all the "fun stuff" I'm missing.  With friends like that...

Trying to fit it all in

Unfortunately Michelle can't squeeze in a SUP surf lesson this week.  Oh well.  I'll just have to put that on the list for a future date.

Bootcamp
It was "Instructor Choice" day, which meant more running and maxing out on other strength exercises.  The core workout was a VO2 max set of 16 sprints in the soft sand.  Soft sand...is...so...hard.  You are digging for dear life to just keep moving forward.  Favorite bootcamp phrase --- "You can do anything for [insert period of time]."  I kept thinking that in between each set of sprints.

[Part of today's group wrapping up the second set of soft sand sprints]

We added in a set of wicked 120 push-ups, side lunges up and over the dune and some abs.  Yep...gonna feel those later. 

SUP-ing

[Dragging our gear to the beach]

 After class Jeanne and I launched our SUPs for a little cruising.  The shore break was a bit brutal and took some navigating to get our boards in and out safely.  Overall, another wonderful, zen moment.

[Launching from Atlantic Street]

[Cruising south]

Biking
Unfortunately today's recover ride was cancelled due to poor weather.  Boo!

Flo-Go-SUP-Yoga
Unfortunately the weather just wasn't cooperating and as soon as we got to Fager's and got our boards to the pier the sky opened up and it started to pour.  Damn!  Two events cancelled in one day.  I have too much energy that needs to be burned off and since I have NO desire to focus on packing and my Gold's membership expired a few days ago I am contemplating just going out for the night...BUT I have to be up for a 6:00 am interval ride followed by a SUP fitness class.  On second thought...I better just stay in and start packing and cleaning up.

The good news is that I met another local cool chick.  Dawn is a triathlete, fitness instructor and SUP-lover.  I had her flyer stuck on my fridge for the last few months and this is the first time I made time to check her out.  I suck!  Anyway, Lori introduced her to me and I learned quite a bit about more local SUP stuff.  First, she regularly teaches a yoga-flow-SUP class (the one that we were trying to crash, but for the rain) at What-SUP and she recently hooked up with SUPAnnapolis to participate in their race series.  She plans to organize a SUP race in OC this fall and next summer.  I am ALL about that!   They were also talking about how SUPs are starting to grow on the east coast and a network of groups are working hard to spread the word by hosting events and setting up races up and down the east coast.

Have board...will travel.

It's all about the SUP

[Dragging this through the parking lot and over the dunes = extra credit workout]

For my last week I decided to jam in a few last minute activities that I've been meaning to do --- namely, take my SUP in the ocean. Unfortunately in order to do that we had to rearrange other scheduled events and I had to miss beach yoga.  Kinda bummed about that, but was psyched to SUP.

Running
We were scheduled to complete a 20 minute warm-up, four 1-mile repeats and a 10 minute jog. Since we planned to ocean SUP at 7:30 am-ish we pushed the run to 5:30 am and met at the Park. Seriously --- we are INSANE. The sun wasn't even up when we started our warm-up, but it was beautiful to see the sunrise over the Bay.

The good news is that my splits were very good (for me) again this time --- all in the low 8 min zone with the first one being sub-8!!! That is seriously wicked since I am known for being slow as molasses! My left knee was feeling "a little weird" but I was able to push on through.  I worry that that's gonna be a problem later.

SUP-ing
Lori and I have been talking about christening our boards in the Atlantic and more importantly surfing them.

I talked to Michelle over at Sommers Surf about setting up a private lesson for our first ocean adventure. Unfortunately, due to the bad surf break Michelle doesn't offer surf lessons right now in Fenwick.  Instead she offers lessons at Assateague Island.  After much hemming and hawing, we decided to launch on our own for our first ocean adventure and save our money for a SUP surf lesson later in the summer.

[Here we are getting the leashes attached to the SUPs]

Since in all of the state of Delaware's wisdom they decided August 1st was the perfect date to start tearing up the beach and dredging, we had to launch from Dagsboro vs James Street.  Bonus that the beach was a bit of a mess this morning as a result of the dredging and we arrived to a river of slippy clay that we had to navigate through before getting to the other side of the beach.

In summary, ocean SUP-ing was just awesome. After we got our boards and gear over the dune and through the river of dredged slime we pushed our SUPs into the surf, over the breakers and were up and standing in no time.

[Me & Lori getting ready to launch into the Atlantic for the first time! Notice the river of slime we had to cross before reaching the ocean.]

It is an incredible feeling to be standing on top of the ocean, riding over the baby waves and cruising down the coast.  There were some swells and it was still challenging to keep your balance as the waves pushed toward shore.

[Cruising down the coast toward the Maryland state line]

As we turned to shore we were a bit apprehensive given the bad shore break in Fenwick. The good news was that Lori had some good advice from her ocean kayaking experience.  I paddled toward shore, let the baby waves push me in and then easily dismounted in waist deep water in order to protect our fins/boards from the shore break.

We already are itching to schedule our SUP surf lesson.  I have a message into Michelle to determine if there is any way she can do a lesson before I leave.  I think it's doubtful give her schedule and that the beaches have limited times for surf/SUP, but we are crossing our fingers!

All in all...a successful adventure...and one I plan to repeat many, many times in the future.

The Countdown

 It's 7:00 pm on Monday night and I am sitting on the beach reflecting on what an incredible summer I've had here at the beach.

Here's just a slice of what today's activities included --- all never would have happened if I didn't decide to:

(a) arrive at the beach without a plan or a schedule or a support system

and

(b) spend every day saying, "what's the worst that could happen if I tried to [insert verb]"

Bootcamp
It's Monday and that means I said hasta luego to The Husband as he commuted back to DC for work and I headed to Atlantic Street in Fenwick for Travel Bootcamp with the HipAHA chicks.

Parking my car, taking off my flops, walking over the dune and seeing all those high energy and empowered athletes makes me happy. The fact that the majority are women just reminds me how strong and determine chicks can be --- and that's not just b/c we can set an alarm and get to class.  I have met some really fabulous people and am physically stronger than I probably ever have been.  I even have baby guns now.

It was Coach Lori's first class since coming back from vacation and she brought the hammer down.  We worked our asses off today.  It was all about running today --- alternating timed runs in the packed sand (yay!) and a number in the soft sand (boo!).  I am here to tell you that running in soft sand is incredibly challenging and everyone was huffing and puffing after the sets.  There was no rest for the weary as we integrated in strength training for our lower bodies between the run sets.  That's gonna hurt tomorrow.

Stand-Up Paddle Board
Since I was going to test out the SUP in the ocean the following morning, I headed over to Delmarva to pick up an extra SUP leash.  Janis and Chris were there and as usual were incredibly helpful.  Chris showed me how to attach the leash and we talked about my new paddle.  Did I tell you how much I love it???

I also spent time talking to Janis about the business.  She is such an incredible marketer and you can tell that she and George just love what they do.  Kudos to them!

Janis also gave me some great intel about other SUP-ers west of the Bay Bridge that I can hook up with once I get back to reality.

Oh reality...you are just around the corner.

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!

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!

SUP- SUP

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

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.

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.

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!

Looking for a little balance

[Believe me...it was choppy out there!]

This morning I hooked up with hipAHA for their stand-up paddle board bootcamp class over at Coastal Kayak in Fenwick.

I've always wanted to try this and was looking forward to the class.

Decked out in a bathing suit top and board shorts I looked through the racks of water shoes and got ready for Lori to hand me my paddle and paddle board.

No surprise that it took me a minute to get oriented and balanced on the board. Pretty quickly we were paddling with the wind down the Bay.

The good news is that I only fell off once when we were practicing how to spin the board around in a circle. Bonus that I didn't get stung by any of the baby jellyfish that were periodically floating by.

The bad news is that the wind really picked up and we ended up paddling over to a big cove to do our bootcamp exercises on the boards. Imagine doing leg and core exercises while balancing on the boards. I'm gonna feel that later.

We soon discovered that there was no way that we were going to be able to paddle against the wind and back to our starting point. Luckily the guys from Coastal Kayak drove over and rescued us!

Looking forward to next Thursday's class!