ah, Friday the 13th

A good day...a recovery day!

Wednesday: cross training! I got up extra early and carpooled to work with James. We had been monitoring the surf and had the express intent of heading down to Santa Cruz later for a little wave action. As we worked with our respective clients, we kept glancing at each other as the wind picked up more and more outside. The swell was good, but that much wind could blow it out and make it unrideable. Anyway, at 130pm, we had a quick look at the Steamer Lane webcam and decided to head down to check it out.

We made it down there about 45 minutes later, and conditions were awesome. After a little run-in with a few foul-tempered locals, we paddled out at the Hook. This was only my 4th or 5th time out on the short board, and I did okay--never in quite the right spot to catch anything, but my balance and paddling has improved ten fold. Been gettin' my swim on! Anyway, sets rolled in about 6-8 feet and James got a nice long ride all the way in. Kept it short and headed in shortly thereafter.

As long as the swell and tides cooperate, we're going to try to make surfing a regular Wednesday foray.

Thursday: first brick with the team! We headed up into the hills of Los Altos, and I managed three Taafe loops. Not bad...I felt the best I've felt since practice weekend! Once my legs were nice and warmed up, I even managed to avoid the bail-out gear for the second two loops. Now, on to my stinky descending skills! Headed down Natoma on the last loop for a particulary wimpy descent: I kept hearing a disconcerting rattle from what I thought was my front wheel and thought I'd play it extra safe...finally figured out it was my car keys in my bento box. Doh! They're usually in my jersey pocket. Anyway, from there headed down Elena (which is a fun descent, actually), then to Purissima and Arastradero and back to the track on Foothill. It was getting pretty dark by this time, so I had to fall in behind Nami and ride blind without my shades (they're prescription). By the time we got to the track, most of the other long coursers had just about finished their 2-3 miles. Damn. Could only fit in 2 miles, but the good news is, I was able to just float along with a nice high turnover.

It's good to feel like I'm fully back in the game, with at least another solid week of training before tapering down.

Tomorrow, short swim marker set and LONG ride with the long course crew. Coach Steve said to be prepared for the longest, toughest ride of the season...so you can bet I'm taking a FULL recovery day today!