Sunday, September 18, 2005

Where are my toes?

There was a big surf advisory this weekend. Apparently there was some storm in Tahiti, and that meant big waves in California. I dunno, sounds like some sort of government cover-up to me. I mean, like Tahiti is totally like over a hundred miles away and stuff. Whatever. I went to Santa Monica on Saturday, and sure enough the waves were pretty big. Not Poseiden Adventure big, but enough to get your attention. There were lots of surfers in the water, but no swimmers. I then went down to Venice, thinking there might be people in the water there. Nope, just more surfers. I don't mind swimming by myself, as long as there are lots of people around me. (Surfers don't count.) There's "being dedicated", and there's "being stupid", so I just stayed out of the water.

Today I went up to Malibu for a swim clinic. Woah it was cold. By 4:00pm, the official ocean temperature was 59 degrees; I was there at 8:00 am. Because it was a "clinic" we spent a lot of time just floating in the water getting lectures on technique, which made it even colder. Our instructor was an Australian no less, and you know how I feel about Aussies and wetsuits.



We then did the bike ride, but I started feeling a bit sick to my stomach so I skipped the run afterwards. I learned the importance of diet. Typically, the night before a dress rehearsal or big workout I eat a plain steak, dry pasta, and a dinner roll. And that seems to work well for me. Last night however, I went to a barbeque and had spicey marinated chicken, potato chips, pretzels, Halloween Double Stuff Oreos, Peanut Butter Cups, and some more Halloween Double Stuff Oreos. Oh, and a couple of beers. (It was light beer, which is what I thought all the athletes drank before competitions.) The sad thing is that I KNEW this stuff would make me sick, but I can't help it. I am weak. If there are Halloween Double Stuff Oreos around, I'm going to eat Halloween Double Stuff Oreos.

(Oh, and before you ask: yes, I was the one who brought the Halloween Double Stuff Oreos. Shut up.)