I am lucky in that my professional responsibilities do not require me to travel a great deal.  The idea of being on and off airplanes and spending the night in hotels is not for me.  It is not what I was built for.  I am a creature of habit.  I get up at 4am get an hour workout in and then off to work.  I log in 12 plus hours a day – a few dinners a week and that my normal work week.  I am aware that my life style is not ideal to all.  But its mine and I dig it.  But as we all know life takes out of our comfort zones from time to time and the trick is to make the best out of it.  The last week I was in SF for two nights and LA for 3.  I experienced two great work outs in LA area that I thought I would share with you.  The 1st one is well known and that is the Santa Monica stairs.  They are great and the experience definitely makes one question why do I live anywhere but right here?  The second experience is not as well known yet, but could be on its way.  I went to Cross Fit Malibu.  It took place in an old “army barracks” like structure.  It was a class of 10 people of a variety of fitness levels – 40% were triathletes.  We ran, pulled, jumped, dragged, and much much more.  If you find yourself in Malibu – you got to check this out.

Yesterday I competed in my home town sprint triathlon.  It was a brisk 48 degrees out that morning.  The water was warm, but outside was chilly.  It is fun to compete in a local race where there is no pressure.  You know that in 1:30 minutes the event will be over.  Yet at the same time you do get the excitement of race morning.  Going thru your check lists and getting mentally prepared.  Race morning I decided to bag the wet suit.  I knew it would be painful the morning of, but once hitting the water it would be the right decision.  It would shorten my T1 time and get me out in front.  My running has been poor recently and I am not a sprinter = so I needed any little extras I could get.  Swim went very well.  Go out of the water a sprinted to T1.  I got out on the road in decent time.  I tried to get a GU down and BLAHH – throw up!  I could not get it to go down.  I biked well – course was a bit sketchy in spots, but fun.  I got into T2 and began to slow down.  On my way out my right leg was numb.  It too to mile two before I felt ok and had the sensation of both of my legs.  Finished strong and had my entire family waiting for me at the finish line.  All before 8:45am.  Not a bad Saturday morning.  My next event is Oct 18 a 3.5m swim in Westport CT.  I will be sporting my wet suit for that event.  :)

For my entire life I have heard unconfirmed chatter regarding the “light house” swim race, but never has it been confirmed.  Well last night I was eating dinner and at around 10pm I was informed the race was today.  I was in!  I got four other folks to join.  Every swimmer had to arrange for a kayaker to follow them.  At 1pm 48 of us jumped on two 24 foot boats and drove a mile out to the light house.  The boats was so over loading I was waiting for it to flip – a bit scary.  We jumped off and joined our kayakers.  Someone yelled go and off we went.  I felt like a teddy bear in a washing machine.  It was rough.  It was difficult to line up land so I had to utilize my kayaker – thanks Benno.  I know have a better understanding why kayakas are mostly the color yellow and orange – easy to spot at sea.  The waves were a solid one to two foot chop.  Race went well and I ended up getting 3rd.  One and two beat me by ~two minutes.  I would like to win that one next summer – love to have goals.  Great way to close out Summer.

I did it again.  I am not sure what the attraction of this lake is for me, but its strong.  maybe its the ideal of trespassing and breaking the law.  The idea of pulling up to a location that you know nothing about and walking down a dirt path and walking into a body of water that is foreign.  Not to mention there is not another human being in sight.  The experience is awesome.  One thing for sure its not the 30 minute drive to get there.  But I awoke at 6am, after a failed attempt at camping with my 5 and 7 year old girls.  I woke my neighbor and off we drove.  Check out this google map.  http://maps.google.com/maps?source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Lake&vps=1&jsv=174d&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=39.099308,64.863281&ie=UTF8&near=Waccabuc&split=1.  We swam for roughly 1.5 hours this morning.  I was sporting my new Aqua Sphere Kayenne goggles.  They rocked!  No leaks, no fogging, no issues.  I am looking forward to the 1st snow fall to get a swim in!

Its that time of the year in Long Island Sound – red stinging jelly fish!  They are BIG this year.  I have also noticed sea lice as well, an extra benefit.  Someone suggested to me to swim in a near by lake.  He provided me the name – Lake Waccabuc.  He told me to park near the Church and follow a trail.  I had no names of roads or cross streets or anything.  After binged the location talked my neighbor into joining me.  At 6 am this morning we left with not a lot of deals of what was waiting for us.  We drove for 30 minutes and found a lake.  We drove around until we found a church and parked in a no parking zone.  We then proceeded to walk thru a field.  Yes I too am guessing it was private property.  We found this 1.5m long wide lake.  It was gorgeous.  I know its not wise to jump into a body of water with no knowledge, but we did.  Iy was fantastic.  From the water temperature to the rock face walls.  It was a fantastic Sunday morning adventure.  If ur in the neighborhood its a must swim!