It's only just that I work off the pounds gained on our last few trips of the summer--eating my way down the coast of Maine from lobster shack to lobster shack, enjoying lobster rolls and fried clams and then continuing on to New Orleans (ostensibly for work) for fried oysters washed down by AllyGator beer while sitting in a bar watching the Packers beat the Saints. But the time has come to pay the piper now that I'm having a little trouble with my zippers.
Our family and a few others are getting ready to ride El Saladita north of Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo over winter break. My friend Carrie is bringing her family--and helping the rest of us get ready for a great vacation. Carrie grew up a block from the beach in Southern California, was a professional soccer player and is now a trainer. It short, she's a pro. And she has set up a regimen for me and our friend Molly so we have the strength, balance and reflexes needed to ride those waves come December.
And, whoa, baby! It is more work than I thought! No more leisurely jogs down the Hudson. Instead, wind sprints! Next: yoga or Pilates for core strength and balance. I took a 30-minute ab lab that incorporates yoga, Pilates and a few other killer moves into that routine, and after five minutes, I was looking at my watch. "Stop that!" the instructor said. Carrie said the same thing to me when I was part of her morning workout group on trip to California this summer.
And even my normal weight routine is harder. Instead of the plain old lunges I've been doing for years, it's leaping lunges! Up in the air, scissor kick and then back down, turning what had been an anaerobic routine into an aerobic one.
WIll it help my surfing? I hope so! And perhaps I'll even be able to wear an Athleta two-piece without embarrassing my 16-year-old! Actually, I'm being overly optimistic with that thought. Maybe I can wear it without embarrassing myself.
