Triathlon Training Day 29 – Bike, Run, Body Surf

Last night I got another wild hair. Coach Marci wanted me to bike and swim yesterday. Because of the CLOXchange conference and the running group was counting on me I decided to run and swim yesterday and save the biking for today. So, I decided to switch the bike for today. Richard wanted to go running with me as well so the wild hair was that I would do all the events in a triathlon today.

I headed out to join Tony, the “Spin Master”, at 7:00 and the three other people hard-core enough to get up for a spin class at 7:00 on the veranda of the Loews Resort. This was my first experience on a spin bike and I really kind of liked it. Tony put us through the ringer and wrung himself out even more. He was sweating so badly he drenched the base of his bike with sweat.

We did all the things I’m guessing you typically do in a spin class. Position 1, position 2, position 3, stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight. Or was that my High School fight song? The only other guy in the morning class feigned a muscle cramp in his calf and bowed out of the class early. I wanted to go the distance of a sprint Triathlon but, was just shy of the distance for the bike I only went 11.5 miles instead of the 12.4 miles. I would have gone farther but Tony shut the class down promptly at 8:00 and Richard was eagerly awaiting a run.

Richard showed up and hour later as the class was ending and and took a couple of great photos. (photo cred for this post are all Richard) Then we went running. It was a nice run that traced yesterday’s path. Yesterday there was a dead seal on the beach today it was gone. We don’t know what happened to it. Richard and I split up after about 2 miles. I kept running down the beach and Richard took a paved trail. Running at sea-level feels so good because of the low elevation I didn’t want to stop. My goal was to run the same distance as a Sprint Triathlon – 5k or 3.1 miles. I ended up running 3.5 miles which felt great.

I finished my run in front of the same building as yesterday. I sat on the sand and just pondered life for a bit while watching the waves roll in. How can the waves be so relaxing yet so powerful? How can they be calming yet so terrifying? How can the waves bring such serenity yet be so massive? How can they be so random yet so majestic and regal? The constant rhythm washed my thoughts away and I just sat and stared out over the horizon and everything in front of me. It was rejuvenating.

Looking at the time, I thought, “How often do I get to the ocean?” Why would I do my swim in a pool when I have an entire ocean to play in. I took off my shirt(shoes and  socks were already off) and I ran down into the water with only a brief pause to think, “I am not a great swimmer yet should I be doing this?” The water was slightly cold at first but my body quickly acclimated and then the fun began. I tried to swim against the tide and then body surf back in. Some of the waves were massive and so I duck-dived beneath them. Because of the undercurrent I made some good distance this way. I finally made it to a sweet spot right where the waves were cresting and rode a few waves halfway to shore before I thought it was time to go.

I put my shirt on, cleaned the sand off my feet the best I could, put my shoes and socks back on and decided to sprint the half mile back into the Resort.

What an amazing day.