Idle musings
Paddle, sleep, ache, Crossfit, paddle, sleep, ache, Crossfit. Hello devout readers - life goes pretty much unchanged since you last checked in. We've had a few more paddling races - our novice crew followed our first place win at Alcatraz with a commanding first place finish in Santa Cruz - and I'm still addicted to Crossfit and up to my eyeballs with work. Running? Ahhhh, not much.
The paddling season is peaking right now as Jessica and I made a 2nd crew Catalina team (also known as 2 Live Crew - boo ya!) heading down mid-September to southern California to race from Newport Beach to Catalina, a 9-woman, 27 mile crossing meaning we jump out of the boats every 20 minutes and back in every 10 for about 5-6 hours. Yeay?
Saul, my coach at Crossfit said something about recovery the other week and how next year he'd like to see me train on/off/on/off and how strong I could be. Recovery never really occurs to me. I do what I do because I generally love to do it. Granted, there are days when I'd like to skip paddling but I'm committed right now and I'm willing to go the distance. And there are days I'd like to skip Crossfit but I know how good I feel each time I'm done and god forbid Yariv goes without me and is suddenly 5x stronger. Then I get a text from my friend Holden about surfing and since I'm not prone to surf solo I think, hell yes, I want to surf! Recovery is something I associate with training and in general, I don't consider what I do training - except for paddling right now - so if i'm just living life, being healthy and active and all that, what's to recover from?
But now I'm starting to think I might need a break. Hard to switch gears mentally like that but maybe...the speck of a seedling of a miniscule thought is there in the back of my mind. We'll see. I might just need some sleep.
Other fascinating things on my mind:
Vision Quest - AWESOME 80's flick with Matthew Modine and "Jake Ryan" from Sixteen Candles - never thought he acted again? Wrong! See Madonna when she was just starting out, Forrest Whitaker slim and trim, Linda Fiorentina as the HOT Jersey girl with attitude and that guy who runs the warehouse on The Office. Great soundtrack - Quarterflash? Aw yeah!
Absurdities - I heard Nickelback's song, Rockstar, on Alice the other day and they bleeped out the word "drugs." They bleeped it out here: The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap. Seriously? The girls can be easy but you can't hear what you might get for cheap? Are you serious?? Right up there with Sesame Street having to make an official declaration that cookies, for the Cookie Monster, are a "sometimes food." Because a kid might mistake himself for a blue furry monster and try to subsist solely on cookies? Because Mom and Dad can't explain what REALITY is? This is just the complete dumbing down of America. Why not just get it over with - because you know it's inevitable that "monster" will be deemed inappropriate for children under a certain age and all that we'll be left with is Blue Vegetable-eating Fictitious Character. Also known as WTF?!
Football season - Is right around the corner and I'm stoked! Not about Favre, not about Vick, but about the promise of a new season and everything yet to unfold. Most importantly, November 22, when Pinney Nation descends on the Meadowlands for the Giants/Falcons game the week of Thanksgiving. 11 Pinneys gathering en masse in one face-painting moment of support for Big Blue. It is so on!
The paddling season is peaking right now as Jessica and I made a 2nd crew Catalina team (also known as 2 Live Crew - boo ya!) heading down mid-September to southern California to race from Newport Beach to Catalina, a 9-woman, 27 mile crossing meaning we jump out of the boats every 20 minutes and back in every 10 for about 5-6 hours. Yeay?
Yes. It's a definite yeay. We've worked hard to get here, paddling 4x a week most weeks and now it's big mileage, longer races and early mornings/late nights on the water. We raced out of Oyster Point yesterday for our first 11 miler with 5 of our Catalina crew (no water changes) and by the end we were obliterated. It was windy, the water was weird and it was our first time at that distance. I felt more tired than I remember feeling after any 1/2 Ironman race ever. We had a good showing in 3rd place for women, but we limped into the finish with little energy.
I'm excited to go to Catalina and be a part of a crew and to share it with Jessica and all the excitement that comes with that but I'm looking forward to the last week in September when the season is over and I can rest and more importantly, run. I miss my trail runs. My upper body is constantly knotted. I need to run and sweat and pump my legs on terra firma. I need to find an apartment. I need rest.Saul, my coach at Crossfit said something about recovery the other week and how next year he'd like to see me train on/off/on/off and how strong I could be. Recovery never really occurs to me. I do what I do because I generally love to do it. Granted, there are days when I'd like to skip paddling but I'm committed right now and I'm willing to go the distance. And there are days I'd like to skip Crossfit but I know how good I feel each time I'm done and god forbid Yariv goes without me and is suddenly 5x stronger. Then I get a text from my friend Holden about surfing and since I'm not prone to surf solo I think, hell yes, I want to surf! Recovery is something I associate with training and in general, I don't consider what I do training - except for paddling right now - so if i'm just living life, being healthy and active and all that, what's to recover from?
But now I'm starting to think I might need a break. Hard to switch gears mentally like that but maybe...the speck of a seedling of a miniscule thought is there in the back of my mind. We'll see. I might just need some sleep.
Other fascinating things on my mind:
Vision Quest - AWESOME 80's flick with Matthew Modine and "Jake Ryan" from Sixteen Candles - never thought he acted again? Wrong! See Madonna when she was just starting out, Forrest Whitaker slim and trim, Linda Fiorentina as the HOT Jersey girl with attitude and that guy who runs the warehouse on The Office. Great soundtrack - Quarterflash? Aw yeah!
Absurdities - I heard Nickelback's song, Rockstar, on Alice the other day and they bleeped out the word "drugs." They bleeped it out here: The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap. Seriously? The girls can be easy but you can't hear what you might get for cheap? Are you serious?? Right up there with Sesame Street having to make an official declaration that cookies, for the Cookie Monster, are a "sometimes food." Because a kid might mistake himself for a blue furry monster and try to subsist solely on cookies? Because Mom and Dad can't explain what REALITY is? This is just the complete dumbing down of America. Why not just get it over with - because you know it's inevitable that "monster" will be deemed inappropriate for children under a certain age and all that we'll be left with is Blue Vegetable-eating Fictitious Character. Also known as WTF?!
Football season - Is right around the corner and I'm stoked! Not about Favre, not about Vick, but about the promise of a new season and everything yet to unfold. Most importantly, November 22, when Pinney Nation descends on the Meadowlands for the Giants/Falcons game the week of Thanksgiving. 11 Pinneys gathering en masse in one face-painting moment of support for Big Blue. It is so on!
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