Stoked for the New Year

Wow - where to start? It's been an exciting transition to my new life on the wild west edge of Vancouver island. The photo above was taken today, Boxing Day, at the entrance to Chesterman beach
That's my friend Allison, who is studying to be a hydrologist and is passing on some great knowledge to help me better understand currents, wave and wind conditions and how they interact. Our friend Dave kindly took the photo and then the three of us charged the waves for an hour or two.

We had done the survey of beaches enroute - Incinerator Rock at Long Beach was messy and disorganized, Mackenzie Beach - often a safe haven when conditions are tough elsewhere - completely flatlined but Chesterman showed some promise and got increasingly better with the rising tide. Sort of like a scene from Blue Crush, we'd called Dave to let him know where to meet us for the best waves. 

That's the board I bought last spring at Long Beach surf shop in Tofino - a 7'2" egg-shaped "Blue". My landlady, Dawn Batenchuk, a surf instructor, advised me it would be a good board that I wouldn't outgrow. I just have to work on my core strength to keep my balance - a challenge when I work seated at a laptop so much of the time.

Fortunately, there are some great local options for cross-training - long walks on the beach and on the Wild Pacific trail with my dogs, Wolf and Owl (who are loving it here), fitness classes (Pilates) and in the new year, I plan to check out aquafit classes.

I got a chance to live my dream this fall and cover the O'Neill Coldwater Classic - interviewing some of the world's top surfers for the westcoaster: http://www.westcoaster.ca/boardsports/10037-Finding-Your-Comfort-Zone-Interview-With-Australian-Surfer-Julian-Wilson.html

I'm continuing to contribute articles to the boardsports section as well as the rest of this online independent paper. I even had a news story go national thanks to my amazing editor, Keven Drews.

I also worked editing a book with an incredible story about the Jamaica Dogsled Team in the Yukon Quest by John Firth, One Mush: http://johnfirth.ca/
 
You could say this book was also island grown - Barb Schramm in Ucluelet created that stunning cover design and Sandy Reber in Sooke laid out the book and photos and kept me sane through the process (there were a lot of 4 a.m. confabs) - and of course, it was brought to life on that other island - Jamaica - via Danny Melville, the genius behind the JDT and his wife, Carole, who provided a lot of the photos. (I've even got a few photos in it too).

In late November, I pursued another dream - driving all the way down the coast to San Diego, just me and the dogs and a surfboard strapped to the roof. Traveling through Forks, Washington of Twilight fame was a hoot (btw parts of Eclipse were also filmed near Wick beach here on the island) and Oregon had beautiful long, sandy beaches like at Manzanita and great camping especially at Cape Blanco, strobe lit by the lighthouse perched high on a rocky cliff.

We turned off 101 at Fort Bragg to take coastal Hwy 1 - like driving through an endless series of postcards - and stopped for a couple of days at San Simeon at a dog-friendly Best Western with a protected beach a level below our oceanfront room. A half dozen condors joined us on the sand and during one sunset stroll a harbour seal became enchanted with Owl (seals with a common ancestor are often curious about dogs). He kept popping up every few feet in the surf to check where Owl was as she played across the beach.

This was also the place I fell in love with some other pinnipeds - elephant seals who collect on the beach in the hundreds. I went back twice to take photos and then stopped across the road to snap some zebra-mules grazing on the Hearst Castle property.

I also fell in love with Cambria - the nearby town where my writer-buddy, Joe, connected me with his friends Bruce and Susan, who took me to the local side for dinner and made me feel at home.

I had a chance to write about all my adventures in travel and writing for West Word - including exploring The Language of Place and a new piece on writers' groups featuring my Cali trip. Imagine my computer glowing in my tent as I tried to out-type my waning battery.  But the sounds of my one true love, the ocean, kept murmuring encouragement from just outside.

I have big plans afoot for this year too - I was accepted in UBC's online MFA program for Creative Writing and I'm hoping that will help push my adventures on and off the page even further. Thanks to my pals at the Clayoquot Writers Group for all their encouragement.

And I've been writing about my new surfing life in what started as an idea for the 3-Day Novel competition and keeps growing - jotted down in notes and ideas and expanding from the 90 pages of that caffeine-fueled long weekend to four sections. It's called The Surf Cure.

Beyond the adrenaline rush of playing in the waves there is a feeling you carry with you for the rest of the day, a kind of serenity that's as constant as the ocean.

Tomorrow, I'll be back out in the waves for more.

Return to Wickaninnish Beach

I was listening to Long Beach Radio yesterday when the dj announced the challenges faced by local surfers as waves reached 19 feet with 14 second intervals and the wind gusted from 30-40 knots. That was all the incentive I needed to grab the dogs and the camera and head back to Wickaninnish Beach, where I took those early surf lessons last year.

It's definitely a different scenario in the winter, amping up the already strong currents at Wickannish. These spectacular views (above) greeted us along with determined surfers, who couldn't make it much past the breakwater. I saw the fellow heading into the waves give it a valiant try, trying to turn around and paddle towards shore but he was soon forced to abandon his ride. As a comparison, last summer the waves here reached only 7 feet with 12 second intervals. It looked intimidating to me then after the baby waves I'd experienced on my initiation to the sport in Hawaii, in Lahaina's protected surf lanes on Maui. Even last November, during O'Neill Coldwater Classic in Tofino, the waves were disorganized but nothing like this epic surf.

Those intrepid waveriders weren't the only ones mesmerized by the waves. The crowd hunkered down in the driftwood watched nature's magnificent display with reverence. But as we walked along the beach, we soon learned how dangerous it was to try and take shelter in those logs, with high tide coming in fast.

Although Wolf has come a long way towards enjoying playing in the surf, he still can't swim, and when those big waves swept towards us we bolted for higher ground, up onto those logs barring our exit. I had to coax Owl along, she wanted to play on the sand, even with the injured paw you see her babying here (she appears to have cut her pad on an oyster shell on another more rugged beach). As the water surged in, she took one graceful leap to join us, perched precariously on those giant pickup stix.

Of course, the logs provided only a false sense of security. Incoming waves can easily lift this already tippy ground from underneath your feet, and sweep them back out to the sea, as we saw hopping to on the much more solid ground of Exit A to the parking lot.

As for this surfergrrrrrl, I have my surfboard picked out and am hoping to also pick up a winterweight wetsuit later this week, but I'll wait for a calmer day to get out there. I may even sign up for another private lesson just learn how to deal with current surf conditions.

be safe,
surfergrrrrrl signing off

Island Paradise

Welcome to the island. You may recognize that backdrop from the O'Neill Coldwater Classic. That's Wolf and Owl running through the surf on Chesterman Beach in Tofino, BC. It's a mere 20 minute drive from our new home in Ucluelet, where I fall asleep each night listening to the sea lions gossiping in the harbour at the bottom of our street. This is indeed a magical place.

It's been an epic trip just to get here. We set off from Whitehorse last Monday morning and navigated the icy Stewart Cassiar Highway where the mountain scenery is breathtaking and the caribou outnumber the cars 2:1. Despite closed gas stations along this winter route, our little Suzuki, loaded down to the gills with clothes and dog paraphenalia and and a boogie board, made it into Prince Rupert at 2:30 a.m. early Tuesday. Having surveyed our options on www.dogfriendly.com, we pulled up to the Crest Hotel but it was full up with an Aboriginal basketball tournament. So the friendly desk person called over to the Anchors Inn to see if they'd let us in. And voila, the door was unlocked for us in the wee hours of the a.m. We had great trails to explore out back during the week, and while the roads were clear when we arrived, there was a massive snowdump that followed soon after. We hadn't escaped winter's clutches yet.

I spent the week waiting for the Friday ferry doing all those niggly little moving things, applying for a BC drivers license and health card, getting my taxes done, and exploring friendly Prince Rupert. Down by the docks I discovered a cool little cafe called Cowpuccino, where I could get wifi and stay in touch with the world.

On Friday, we were so jazzed about our new adventure that we arrived a couple of hours before being loaded onto the ferry. The dogs sniffed around the grass, and here's a travel tip I would learn to my chagrin, if you have a dainty particular dog like Owl, take some grass with you on the ship. While Wolf happily peed on truck tires below decks where they kept the kennels, Owl steadfastly refused to go on the concrete floor. As a result the helpful ship purser called me for a wake-up around 2 a.m. so the dogs and I could hit the beach when we docked briefly at Bella Bella.

BC Ferries who provided our passage are absolutely awesome and during the daylight hours I was on deck, with my camera, hanging off the side of the boat to take photos of the Inside Passage, whose icy walls were almost close enough to touch. Sleeping while the ocean slips past your window is an incredible experience and I woke in the morning a little sleep-deprived but jazzed to touch soil on our new island home.

But wait, we still had a 6-plus-hour drive from Port Hardy on the northeast to reach our little corner of the island in the southwest, driving narrow, winding, 30-40 km turns through the mountains as our stuff jostled from side to side and the dogs ducked shifting suitcases. There were many beautiful lakes to stop at along the way and most I simply took note of for exploration this summer. I wanted to get home!

We're now in a cute little open-concept beach-style house where the mudroom/laundry room and showers are the first things in the door so you can peel off your wetsuit from surfing and your sandy shoes from hiking the smorgasbord of local beaches and trails. Our back garden is sculpted with a gravel firepit and a huge stack of wood just waiting for the first summer fire. Adjoining the house is a gated deck where I'll be writing my next blog post as soon as Internet is hooked up, hopefully later this week.

I'm writing this from the local coffee shop with wifi, Cynamoka on Peninsula Rd., where the kind people are letting me occupy a corner as my satellite office. I arrived here during the tail end of the whale watching festival and while I have yet to spot one of the magical grey leviathans from the lighthouse or the Pacific Rim trail where we played yesterday, another one of the patrons here tells me I can expect to see killer whales coming into the harbour soon. I can't wait.

Life is wonderful here, and I feel happy and free. Next task, find a used board and a winter weight wetsuit and jump into the ocean where I belong.

Drum roll please ....

 

This photo was taken last summer near the tidal pools in a little surf haven called Ucluelet. In fact, the word Ucluelet means safe harbour, and for me, it was exactly that, a place to rediscover the magic in my life. I spent my time in Ukee, as the locals call it, surfing, hiking the awesome Pacific Rim trail, joining in the local performance night with a story I wrote while waiting for my surf instructor, making friends from around the world, and relaxing in the hammock right up to 5 minutes before the backyard bear reclaimed it. At a local shop, I picked up a little silver starfish I wear daily around my neck. It helps to remind me of that Ukee magic.

It's appropriate that I'm pictured here in my "tada" pose because I have some good news to announce. This is where the next phase of surfergrrrrrl's continuing adventures is about to take place. In the next couple of weeks I will be heading to Skagway, AK and boarding the ferry southbound to go and live on the island, permanently, or at least until my gypsy spirit urges me on. This is great news both for me and the blog, because I'll be able to report on local surf conditions and events and tap into the excitement when the O'Neill Coldwater classic comes back next fall.          

                                             

I go to sleep at night imagining what it will feel like to exchange my sound machine "ocean" for the real one in my new little house by the harbour. My dogs, Wolf and Owl are going to love those early morning walks in the fog on the beach, and exploring the lush trail through leafy green rainforest and up the rocky cliff face past spectacularly crashing surf. I'm a beach girl at heart, I grew up two houses up from the beach back east in Toronto and there is nothing that makes me feel more completely home than burying my toes in the sand and leaping into the waves.

You're all invited to come along on this next leg of my journey, and for my family and friends, there will be plenty of extra room when you come visit. We can even rent you some boards and get out there on the waves together.

surfergrrrrrl, signing off

Bring It

Lately, my secret vice is watching America's Next Top Model. When I'm wiped out from training at the pool, I curl up with the latest cycle as the girls battle it out. In-between watching the glam clothes and the catfights, I've learned something important. The first time Tyra took a girl aside during panel and said to her, "You're getting in your own way," I think I audibly gasped. Being fierce on the runway or while riding the waves is all about pushing past your own resistance. Not hitting that snooze alarm at 5 a.m. when it's time to get up and practice. No matter how you feel, you've got to bring it, everyday.

It is absolutely true that the most important competition you will ever have is with yourself. If you can consistently best your last effort and grow, you are ahead of the game and the pack. So I kept this in mind when I was at the bottom of the pack, timewise, after my first endurance swim in my Bronze  Cross class. Because at 15:36 I was still almost 2 1/2 minutes under the required time for swimming 24 lengths.

It wasn't glamorous, I was gasping for breath and hanging from the side of the pool when I finished but this time, I met the standards on all the "screening for success categories." Where before I couldn't dive to pick up the brick from the bottom of the pool, this time I did it and lugged it back almost the length of the pool, twice. That doesn't mean it's time to get overconfident. As our instructor, Chris explained to us, we're covering a lot of the same material as in Bronze Med but more is expected of us. It's time to take it up a notch.

But the key is consistent training that pushes past the limits of your will to stretch your body a little at a time. I read recently in Shape magazine, that if you're always hungry and tired, you're probably overtraining. So today, I let myself be satisfied with a 2-hour hike as cross-training and opted for an early bedtime over aquajogging.

But tomorrow I'll be up at 5 a.m. ready to head to the pool and work on those lengths so I can pull it all off with a little more style.

surfergrrrrrl,
signing off

                                                                my inner bombshell

Rescue me

When I signed up for the Bronze Medallion course, I felt a little like Rocky - Rockette? It was going to take an awful lot of training to make up for the twenty years since the last time I passed Bronze Medallion and to compensate for my weakened back. There would be no running up hundreds of stairs though, since slipping down icy steps is what caused the problem in the first place.

In 4 weeks of training, including 3 actually working out in and in-between the course, I was in the pool every day but one, when I did a little cross-training and canine care with a 3-hour hike with Owl and Wolf on the Chadburn Lake trails. Time out can be just as important as the training.

I was starting to feel a real improvement in my overall energy, core strength and flexibility. Muscles that hadn't stretched for awhile were feeling less rigid, and I had a voracious appetite both for food and to get back into the water every day. Let's face it, I was having fun even while I pushed my body past its limits.

Last weekend I passed the endurance test I had missed the first go-round, doing 20 lengths in 13:50, a minute-ten under the maximum 15. But I still had to make my 6 x 25 metre head up swim, ace the CPR and be able to respond in any rescue scenario the instructors threw at us.

I figured that this week before the exam I would amp it up to twice a day in the pool. I went early mornings and then Tuesday afternoon to practice my head up swim. That night I felt a twinge in my back. Not good. I skipped aquafit class and confined myself to bed rest with the body pillow for support. Propped up in bed, I read the Bronze instruction booklet and studied, memorizing signs and symptoms of various potential problems and all the acronyms for treatment: W-A-R-T-S- warmth, ABCs (airway, breathing, circulation/CPR), rest and reassure the victim, treatment and put them in a semi-prone or semi-sit position.

By Wednesday night I was back in the water. I met a classmate, Sonja at the pool to run through rescue scenarios and then we both joined in on the aquajogging. The belt around my waist felt like a great support but I was good and tired by the end. The next day I was down with a cold and it only got worse heading towards the weekend.

By Friday night I had a case of performance anxiety and a hacking cough, compromising my breathing.
CPR seemed tough despite the fact that I'd had training through St. John's Ambulance less than 2 years ago. It was the little things I missed, so there were some do-overs. But I was determined and kept going back in to try until I got it right. By the time I got in the pool my anxiety level was pretty jacked up. I went straight for my head up swim and made it with five seconds to spare.

I should have felt better with the fitness challenges all taken care of but Friday night, despite drinking only blueberry ginseng tea with no caffeine, I could not sleep. My body was toast but my mind kept racing through the rescuers checklist and the ladder approach until it all swirled around in mind like a bad graphic from a sixties movie.

Saturday I slept in, going back to bed after I got the dogs out and squeezing one last frantic study session in before 3:30 when it was time to leave. Still full from the double veggie burger meant to boost my energy, I picked up a big jug of orange juice and some dried fruit to keep me going through the four and half hours of testing.

Today I didn't shy away from the test, volunteering to be the rescuer as soon as possible and playing my victim roles with relish. I have never had so much fun during an exam and it was hard to sustain the nervousness with some of the rescues they cooked up for us. We had some crazy stuff - harpoon victims, shark attacks, legs ripped off ... it was more gore than Vincent Price used to deliver.

And yes, I passed. The first thing I did after slapping some high fives with my classmates was sign up for Bronze Cross. That's right, it all begins again next week. I can sleep tonight knowing I'm one step closer to being surf-ready for summer.

But tomorrow I'm giving myself the day off.

surfergrrrrrl, signing off

Why Blue Crush inspired thousands to take up the sport

The night before my first class to requalify my Bronze Medallion, I stayed up watching the ultimate surfer girl movie, Blue Crush. I had decided that I could sleep in the next morning and skip my early morning routine in order to conserve strength for the class and any initial testing. It was a good call.

In Blue Crush, our heroine, Anne Marie Chadwick (Kate Bosworth) is battling her personal demons to get back out and compete in the Pipemasters competition in Hawaii, where she lives. I go green with envy every time I see her wake up in her modest beach cottage and head down the sand for a run or pile in the car with her friends to go for an early morning surf.

Let's face it, I am a beach girl at heart. I grew up two houses up from the sand in the Beaches neighbourhood in Toronto and many of my childhood summers were spent on the beach and in the water either there or at a summer camp in Huntsville, in northern Ontario.

Back to Anne Marie, she is facing the memory of a near drowning incident at a previous competition, an incident no one in the media seems to let her forget. Throughout the movie we are reminded that this is the "heaviest pipe in the world and people die out there." Getting back out there after what she sees as a personal failure is going to take what they used to call "gumption." Our heroine has it in spades - tough, independent and willing to stand up for her own dignity.

This is a Rocky story for girls, where the girl who works as a maid and single parent to her younger sister, is set to match waves with professional surfer girls from around the world, all sponsored by the big name surf brands like Billabong. If Anne Marie can catch even one good ride, she might just join them and become the surfer girl she was always meant to be.

Complicating the story, as always, is a man. A handsome football player on vacation who asks for surf lessons and more, distracting her from her training regime less than a week before the contest. The question of the film, for me, is, can Anne Marie keep her head on straight and focus on what she wants and still get the love and affection she deserves for being herself, and not some kind of "surf barbie" who has to ask a guy what to do.

Playing a strong character in this movie, is the ocean - seductive, dangerous, graceful and spectacularly beautiful. The cinematography is absolutely mesmerizing and you can easily spend hours looking with longing at these aqua waves virtually as you might if you were actually riding them. If Anne Marie can get in harmony with herself, it seems, she can be in harmony with the ocean. Isn't that what we're all looking for?

Pumped by the movie, I set out for my 4 and 1/2 hour class at the pool yesterday, the aqua waters taunting me to meet an acceptable standard for being in the course. We were given that first lesson to decide whether we should be in the game and offered a graceful, penalty free way to exit if we weren't ready. As our instructor pointed out, in 3 weeks, she didn't to have time to teach us how to swim. We needed to be already there.

Our friendly instructors Cat and Matt, assessed our abilities against a long list of tasks from swim lengths to rescue techniques. Having worked as a lifeguard and instructor during university, I wasn't as worried about getting up to speed on lifesaving basics. We even got into some great exercises learning about water conditions and currents and how to self-rescue. All this was broken up by some funny icebreakers meant to bond us as team. The first two hours were spent dry in a classroom, but then we had to get in the pool.

That meant facing my personal demons, more than a month of not being able to move immediately after the back injury, followed by a slow recovery, and only three mornings of swim training with the help of flippers. Did I mention it was almost twenty years since I last took the course?!

So how did I do with the flippers off? I got a thumbs up on the rescue requirements, recovering and towing a victim to shore in a couple of scenarios, and met the standard on related skills like the head up front crawl and surface dives. Then I ran into some trouble picking up the brick from the bottom of the pool. I was on my way down when I felt the air go out of my lungs and had to resurface to catch my breath. I made it on the second try but it earned me a "needs improvement" on my assessment. 

They saved the lengths for near the end of the class, and I wondered how I would cope, now tired and shivering from standing in the pool for hours, and with only my arms and legs for power. But we were given a break on this first test - we could use any stroke. Next time we'll have to stick to front crawl, back crawl, breast stroke. This time, I could use side stroke, my strongest as an an alternate between front and back crawl.

Every time I passed the deep end, Cat yelled out encouragement, "Good job Erin," and towards the end, told me how many lengths I had left to go. Our goal was 16 lengths in 12 minutes. (The final exam will require 20 in 15). My back crawl got more purposeful, and my sidestroke eased my pain but my breathing was tough at this rapid pace and with the anxiety of whether I could make the grade.

Collapsing at the deep end,  I managed to croak out, "How did I do?" Only 7 seconds over. I got a "needs improvement" next to that checkbox but I was ecstatic. I have three weeks to improve my strokes and my time, my strength and endurance. I'm going to be in that pool every day working it.

And I'll be in that classroom again today at 4 p.m. where I belong.



surfergrrrrrl,
signing off

Why is the third day of training more of a scramble?

I need to get myself a more reliable alarm clock for a start, and not to read until 10 p.m. the night before, in order to get out for the earliest available lanes. I bolted down my breakfast and skipped my shower. Scrubbing the sleep off my face and smoothing my bed-mussed hair into a ponytail, I shoved it under a toque. I discovered it was much less crowded at the pool by 7:40 a.m. but because I felt like I was running late, I felt the need to put on some speed in my workout.

By length 42, I was already impatient to be done. I wavered about whether to stop at 50, but kept pushing. By length 60, my eyes were blurry from the chlorine and my arms and legs pleasantly tired. Up until then I'd had the slow lane to myself but now had to manouver around some newcomers. Should I? Could I keep going?  With one eye on the hot tub, its jets fixed and running again, as my reward, I kept on moving until length #70.

As I soaked in the hot water, letting the jets pummel against my tired muscles, I wondered, why is it so hard to stick to a routine when the results are so satisfying? The first day I jumped in the pool, guns blazing, ready to start tackling this big hurdle of regaining my swim fitness. Signing up for that bronze medallion course was a way to keep me in line, and a first babystep towards my larger fitness goal of completing all 3 lifesaving courses, and surfing next summer. Was it easier that first day because I didn't have any expectation except showing up, no number of lengths in my head to push to and past?

One of the guards was hanging by the hot tub, one eye on the pool, so I asked him about the course. It starts tomorrow. The class runs from 4-8:30 p.m. "It's not all in the pool?" I asked hopefully. "No, it's about half and half, classroom and pool." He said he was volunteering and bubbled enthusiastically about how much he enjoys the chance to teach lifesaving techniques.

I told him I'd worked as a lifeguard and swimming instructor in university and I had enough work experience and more recent first aid training through St. John's ambulance to feel confident about the classroom part. Rusty on swimming and recovering from an injury, I confessed, "It's the lengths I'm worried about - it's a really short time to get in shape."

He pointed out that the current requirements with this pool length is about 24 lengths in 14 minutes (sans flippers, of course) and that I'll have three opportunities, a week apart to make that time. "But you'll need to practice on your own time."

I smiled at that and said I'd already started. "See you tomorrow," I said, anxious to start the rest of my day and with less trepidation about the course than I had felt on waking late this morning.

While it was harder to get started this morning, I'm now radiating with energy, and none of the need to crash like after yesterday's workout. Maybe I can do this after all.

surfergrrrrrl,
signing off

Morning Meditation

I was back at the pool this morning. I had some work to do at home but still made it in by 6:50 a.m. There is something surreal about driving through pitch black darkness at -24 when the snowbanked streets are still semi-deserted, hair wet from the shower and stuffed under a toque, sipping my first cup of coffee in a travel mug, all to go strip down into a bathing suit and launch my half-awake body into not quite warm enough water. 

Having set the bar at 50 lengths yesterday, I settled in to my routine pretty quickly. I only did a couple of legs-only lengths before my arms got into the action. My shoulders tight from sitting at my desk yesterday, I felt the need to move them. I laid back and listened to my breathing and to the upbeat music pumped through underwater speakers, counting lengths like a meditative chant. I quickly reached the halfway mark.

Setting a goal and testing yourself against it whether it's a fitness benchmark, a skill or a carpentry test is an important part of growth. If you apply yourself to something daily, you're bound to get better, as I'm sure my friend Catherine Gillespie at almost daily paintings would attest: http://catherinegillespie.blogspot.com/

All around me in the other pool lanes were people working on their own set goals, each at different levels, some holding onto floats, others equipped with goggles and bathing caps in full out race mode.  All of us working alone, but somehow in solidarity. It reveled in being a part of this early morning club of individualists.

Then I noticed something funny happen around length 46. I got impatient to reach my number 50 and had to actively slow myself down to just enjoy the feel of the water against my body,  relax into the rhythm of steady movement and breathe. At 48, I wanted to slow down even further, not ready to be done for the day. So instead I met my goal at 50 and pushed myself that little bit further to reach 60 lengths.

That might not sound like much to some, especially since I'm still using flippers as support to get me there. But remember, in November I could not move at all without extreme back pain and I had to force myself to stay still for almost a month and a half. My muscles lost all those benefits of summer hiking in the Yukon, long beach walks in Ucluelet and Tofino, city walks around Vancouver streets. A simple feat like walking the dogs on leash was beyond me.

Now I'm coming back full bore. Nothing can stop me.

surfergrrrrrl, signing off

Surfwatch - maverick waves expected to hit the coast

Check it out: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/sports/Surfs-Up-So-Mavericks-Watch-Is-On-81149867.html

Sometimes your personal best is just showing up

It's true - I made it to the pool this a.m. Not at 5:30 but I was in the water by 6:40. All this is part of an effort to rev up towards the bronze medallion course that starts this Friday. Long-term goal - surfing this summer, and back on the board with a strong back.

When I walked in this morning the place was packed, apparently with the Glacier Bears swim team practicing their strokes. Nothing like intimidating competition. But it was also a good reminder, in swimming, you compete first with yourself.


"What's the absolute slowest lane?" I asked the coach. He pointed to the far end of the pool, appropriately marked "slow lane."  

I decided the first step is to rebuild my endurance and regain my flexibility. To help with the recovery from my back injury, (my muscles slightly tightened up again yesterday by digging out from a massive snow dump in Whitehorse), I put on flippers. This is a very lo-o-o-o-ng pool.

For many of my lengths I warmed up exercising just legs or just arms, then combined the two, and mixed it up a little using the sidestroke. On my last length, I went full out with the front crawl at top speed for a satisfying finish. End result = 50 lengths in 45 minutes. Reward - five minutes in the hot tub and a smile on my face. Oh yeah, and tomorrow I get to do it again.

surfergrrrrrl, signing off

Taking the plunge

Everyone knows how I feel about the ocean - it's the place where I rediscover myself and what I'm capable of. Where I am my most elemental. Thinking ahead to the next time I get up and surf, I decided I need more of a push than even aquajogging or occasional lane swims can give me. So I've committed.
I signed up for the first in a series of swim courses that will put me through my paces and incidentally, requalify me as a lifeguard. It starts Friday. The first one is bronze medallion - six classes packed into three short weeks. Each session is 4 and a half hours long! I'm assuming not all of that is in the pool itself - some of it is likely classroom time to refresh my knowledge of lifesaving techniques.
No matter - three weeks is not a lot of time to meet the speed and endurance required to pass the test.
As a comparison, the last time I did this it was at least a 6 week course - one session a week. That was so much more time to get my body into shape, and now I'm twenty years older with a recent back injury.
That means I'm going to have to practice in-between. No more letting the Yukon's morning darkness fool me into going back to sleep. I'll need to be at the pool EVERY morning. The Canada Games Centre offers a public swim from 5:30 to 8 - a.m. I'll be there, yawning and craving coffee, but there.
So cheer me on - post a comment and help keep me going!
surfergrrl, signing off

How can you sweat in water? Aquajogging for core stability

In my quest to regain my fitness, last night I cinched a lifebelt around my waist, hooked a bungee cord through it and hung myself from the buoyline in the deep end. Then I jogged on the spot in water for an hour and a half with a few resting exercises thrown in between. It's called Aquajogging.

I wasn't alone. There were 20 others all listening to our instructor as she advised us to pace ourselves while pushing us up through the "pyramid" from working at 50% to 85%. We focused alternately on putting that energy into on our arms and legs, posture and abs. She encouraged us to raise our knees higher, keep our elbows tight to our sides and keep our hands formed like a paddle for a better workout. "This is good for your core stability," she called from the deck, while sipping from a water flask. Easy for you to say.

Will I do this crazy thing again? Absolutely. I babied my sore leg, the last remnant of my back injury, only for the first few sets. Pretty soon I was so absorbed in what I was doing (she was yelling out changes to our movements like it was a game of Twister) and trying to remember to breathe, that I got a really good workout.

Improving core stability is also the number one thing Mark at Inner Rhythm Surf Co: http://www.innerrhythm.net/ told me I should work on to improve my surfing.

Nearing the end of our session, the music switched cues from a disco version of Evanescence's My Immortal to smooth classical and she moved us down into the shallow end, sans belts, for warm-down stretches.

On my way to the sauna afterwards, I thanked her for the great workout and she said, "You did great!"

This is just one of the great programs offered by Whitehorse's Canada Games Centre, included in your membership, punch card or day pass. All you need is a wrist band from the front desk to jump in: http://www.canadagamescentre.whitehorse.ca/swim.php

I consider this centre my number one survival tool for winter, to beat cabin fever and keep me in shape until I can hit the ocean.

surfergrrrrrl, signing off

Detoxing

In an effort to regain my health and get surf-ready for this summer, I've been taking a serious assessment of its current state and how I can improve it. A great way to flush out all the toxins of the old year is to go on a detox in January. I've just been reading about the detox diet that Kate Moss, Gwynneth Paltrow and Cate Blanchett swear by:
http://www.canadianliving.com/health/nutrition/the_detox_diet_21_days_to_health.php

I already don't do a lot of processed foods but can confess to having a cookie or two over the Christmas holidays and at least a slice of that first-from-scratch pie I baked in a completely retro moment, under the influence of a friend who not only bakes but actually cooks. I have had several friends involved in the raw foods movement and I tend to eat a lot of fresh salads and fish. I cut out salt years ago. So what needs detoxing you might ask?

In a word: coffee. The detox recommends tapering down on coffee ahead of time, and when my friends stop rolling on the floor (I love coffee - a lot!) I am already ahead on that score. I've stocked the house with herbal tea and only had 3 coffees this week, including one at our fabulous local coffee house put on by the Folk Society here in Whitehorse this past Saturday night. (It's a great night out btw with one featured act and a sign up sheet that included such Yukon greats as Joe Bishop and Kevin Barr - watch Artsnet for details of the next one on Feb. 6, 2010).

I'm already sleeping better at night even with the afternoon catch-up naps, the ones making up for all that sleep deprivation in my former over-caffeinated state. So as I take a sip of my blueberry ginseng tea, I'll sign off for now. I'll see if I can scare up that detox book or a similar one at Whitehorse Public Library this week and report back on my progress.

surfergrrrrrl