Ernest Shakleton- South Pole Pioneer

When we were cruising around Key West on our last adventure, we stopped for a while at Key West Island Books. I love checking out used book stores on my travels and needed something to read on the flight home. I had already finished most of the screenplay I was working on during the flight out and needed something to fill my time on the plane.

And boy did I find the right one. Endurance, Shakleton's Incredible Voyage is about a failed 1914 sailing expedition to the South Pole. The sailing ship became locked in the ice for ten months before it was finally crushed spilling out it's crew onto a melting ice pack. They then traveled 850 miles to get to the nearest living human for rescue. During the eighteen month ordeal, Shakleton was rock steady and made amazingly hard decisions to lead all of his crew to safety through unimaginable cold, driving winds, and seas that would freeze on the sailors face into giant icicles. I think what I love most about this story of adventure is that although Shakleton never made it to his original destination he still got what he came for, a lifetime worth of adventure and challenges. Every time you go on an adventure, you put yourself out in the open, inviting the unexpected to come your way. And most of the time you get it. Those diversions are usually the thing that makes the expedition. I read the book during the whole flight and finished it that night. Such a great story of a man who prepared for the unexpected and had the strength to lead through the toughest eighteen months many of us will ever see. Now, that's my kind of adventurer.

A View of Something

I finally went back to the pool last week. I wanted to test out how the new Untethered Regimen would do in the pool. I was hoping it would fix the long-time post pool highs I had been struggling with for the last six months.

I woke up early, ate a good breakfast, and drove to the pool with Tony. I was planning on doing a 2500 meter swim. After months of doing 6000 meter swims, a 2500 should have been simple. I scanned my card at the gate and walked in.

The moment I saw the pool, my heart sank. My muscles got tired and there was nothing I could do to fix them. I was having a hard time stomaching the thought of putting my head down to stare at the bottom of the pool for an hour straight.

In training for the Swim Around Key West, I swam more than 100,000 meters. That's a very long way when all I had to look at is the bottom of a white pool. Sure, music helps, but it is still too much time looking at nothing.

Maybe it was because I had some high blood sugars overnight. Maybe it was because I had begun running (even though I hate it) and was taxing new muscles. Maybe it was because I was still not recovered from my race. Or maybe it was because without an impending race, I have little motivation to torture myself again like that.

I still love swimming, but it might be a while before I can do long sets like I used to. I think I will wait a few more months to try that again.

Our Next Adventure- 100-Mile SUP Adventure

What do you usually do after a race? Bask in the glory of a goal achieved? Wallow in the pain brought on by that long race? Or get right on to preparing for your next race? Before I finished the Swim Around Key West, I knew I would need my next challenge on the books to avoid those post-race doldrums. I have been tossing around a few ideas of my next adventure, but it was time to commit to one of them for next summer. I was sick of burying my head under the water for hours on end and wanted to look up at the horizon once in a while. I have tossed around the idea of doing an ultralight running/backpacking trip with just a credit card and some sugars, running a huge distance over several days, stopping at hotels and friends' couches along the way. Kind of like fast backpacking without the backpack. But I just hate running, so I wasn't sure that was the way to go for this year. A Stand Up Paddle board might be a better vehicle for the trip. Whenever I am getting into a new adventure that I don't feel like I know enough about, I go to the experts for advice. And I just happen to know one of those experts here in town. Wade Wiliford is a WPA Certified Instructor and is also PaddleFit Certified. He has been racing SUPs and outrigger paddling for 5 years and has quickly become a racing phenom. Wade and I sat down at Jamba Juice in La Jolla last Saturday morning before he headed out to give a SUP lesson in Mission Bay. I have some experience in SUP'ing, but I am still at the point where I don't even know what I don't know. And Wade is perfect for this. We sat down and he began talking. The first thing I learned was that I vastly underestimated the speed of an average SUP'er. He said that the average speed of a beginner was 3.5-4 mph. (He can probably also tell you the average airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow, if you wanted to know.)

I had estimated only 2 mph. Like I said, I am on a huge learning curve. So that turns my little 50-mile paddle into a 100-mile paddle over three or four days, which for some reason makes my head spin.

Wade gave me info on boards and paddles and media people and people who have paddle adventured the Carolina's and paddling technique. There was so much info that as I left I began to doubt if I could, in fact, pull this off.

And that is a good thing. If the adventure is too small, and I am 100% sure I can pull it off, it won't be big enough to inspire me to make the sacrifices needed to make it a success.

After a few days of letting the data sink in, I am ready to start planning. And ready for the challenge to spark the diabete fires. I can't wait to see how the new Untethered Regimen stands up to eight-hour days paddling, how my body handles huge training volumes in a new sport, and I can't wait to see who will end up joining me on this journey.

Stay tuned...