...to train in ugly surroundings! My training partner and I were in La Jolla this past weekend and it was a gorgeous weekend! We arrived on Friday and within a half hour of getting there were off on our bikes for a 30 mile ride heading south though Mission Beach and Pacific Beach. We found the steepest climb I think I have ever seen and went up and down it a couple times. It was short climb, just very steep. The ride ended with us getting lost and climbing to the top of some mountain. This was one of those climbs that just kept going and going and we weren't even sure if we were headed in the right direction. The downhill was even crazier- we were both clamped down on our brakes as we twisted and turned down this very steep grade praying that we were going in the right direction because we did not want to have to climb back up it. Thank goodness it dropped us off back in La Jolla. When we got back we grabbed our wetsuits and headed to the cove for a swim.
We got to the beach and there were bigger waves than I remember in the cove. We started to put our wetsuits on and a guy who was swimming by himself came in as we were standing there. He seemed a little freaked out by the waves and then he told us that he thought he saw sharks out by the buoy we were about to swim out to. I started to talk myself out of the swim but my training partner wasn't having it- "We are going!"Looking at the buoy from shore there were birds sitting on it, not sharks... We were mad that he said that to us and decided to ignore him, he obviously hadn't swam in open water much. We asked the lifeguard if all was good to head out and he directed us on where to enter and exit the water. Always a good idea to have a chat with the lifeguard before you head out! So we headed out to the buoy which was about a 1/4 mile out. The waves were easy to swim through but being in open water is so different from being in the pool. It was a wake up call that I needed to get some open water swimming in. I followed behind my training partner as we swam toward the buoy and as we got closer we realized that those weren't birds at all, maybe they were sharks, or something else large with their tails sticking up in the air...all I could say was- "They look like they are feeding on something! Let's turn around!" The sun was going down pretty quickly anyway and I did not want to be out there in the dark. So we turned around and headed for shore. We decided they were sea lions, not sharks but definitley not birds! We probably swam a half mile total. It felt great to swim in open water and what beautiful surroundings! Tomorrow we would come back again for another swim...tune in tomorrow for the rest of the weekend adventures!
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