Entries about exercise

We are lucky in Kona to have amazing community parks and a large community center pool, complete with a baby pool, fountain, and an area for swimming laps. We go there once a week at least, so my husband can swim his laps, and Bodhi & I can play in the pool while I attempt to teach him how to swim.

I am, however, most likely never going to set foot at the community pool again.

Today on our trip, we splashed in the baby pool as usual. Then I took my son into the big pool for swimming and to practice kicking in the deeper water. All of the sudden, I saw sediment in the water and freaked out a little. Oh no. I immediately got us both out of the pool and rushed into the women's changing room with only a towel and his diaper. Sure enough, he had pooped in the pool. And somehow it had managed to escape and leak out through both the swim diaper (what are the use of those things anyway!?!) and the swimsuit I had OVER the diaper. And it had gotten into the pool. Well, at this point, I knew what the cause of the sediment was, and who was to blame. And at that moment, I was trying to figure out exactly how to leave the pool without being seen. Only, my stuff and my husband were still AT the pool, and I was hovering inside the women's bathroom.

I was imagining the lifeguard blowing his whistle and getting out his megaphone, announcing that there needed to be an expedient evacuation of the pool due to contamination. Then I was imagining all of the irritated and disgusted faces that would be glaring at us as me and my son (the only baby there today, as luck would have it) made our way back across the pool to the parking lot. Luckily, I saw my husband wander over to our towels, and quickly ran out of the locker room. "Quick", I shouted, "Let's go, now!" I had on only my bathing suit and Bodhi only a new diaper, and I was speedwalking across the cement toward the parking lot. My oblivious husband came jogging after us, saying, 'what's going on?' I explained what had happened, and why I needed to keep moving with my head down before I was noticed.

He told me to act nonchalantly, but I was so mortified I couldn't slow down. "Boy, I really liked that place", I said, "Too bad I can't go there again". Turns out, there was no megaphone and no fingers pointing in my direction, but I wasn't going to take any chances. I don't want to be THAT person, who gets banned from using the pool. And the excuse: "I DID use a swim diaper, I promise!" wasn't going to work, so I figured better to play it safe and deny everything.

My husband and I are currently working on a book plan called the Hawaii Diet. The research subjects are ourselves. We are currently eating a diet that seems to fit Hawaiian lifestyle; consisting of fruit smoothies and kona coffee in the morning, fruit, vegetables, fish and brown rice throughout the day. It is a fairly simple cleansing protocol focusing on the local produce and milieu, that we are following until the holidays.

It fits the simple days here, nothing too fancy or complicated is needed or even preferred. You have everything that you need all around you. The food is sustenance: healthy, delicious, cool, fresh, savory, easy. No dairy, no gluten, bread or pasta or flour. No dairy, no eggs, no meat. A small amount of whole grains in quinoa and rice salads, and a mixture of raw and cooked items throughout the day. Mostly vegetables and items high in nutrients. It is a diet that should be closer to our norm, so we are trying to look at it as a new normal, rather than a detox. That we can have days or weeks or "not-healthy" eating, but then we will come back to the Hawaii Diet, which is our daily eating habit. Rather than the other way around, where you go on a detox, can't wait to get off of it, cheat while on it, then binge on junk when you get done. We have done that too many times. Oh, quick, we start our detox next week, let's have nachos today!

Daily exercise is also remarkably easy in a climate like this, where every morning you wake up to sun...so we need to take full advantage. My husband Chris has started his own blog about his efforts of training for an Olympic triathlon. I will post the link on this site. I am also getting back into walking with Bodhi and now that we have procured a jogging stroller, I will be getting into running as well. We are both trying to surf as a new sport as well, and believe me when I tell you it is the best workout (including Bikram yoga!) that I have ever had. All the paddling is wonderful for building shoulder and back strength. I love how I feel physically and emotionally rejuvenated and strengthened after a day surfing waves. I will write more detail about our diet plan in another blog post, but for now, we are motivated to get back into shape Hawaii style!

My husband Chris's birthday was Saturday. For his birthday, I decided to surprise him with a surf lesson. Luckily, my mom was here, so we could go take a lesson together. We woke early and I drove him down to the beach. At this point, he was pretty sure what was going to happen. We put our rashguards on. We got a quick lesson on land on how to hop up onto the surfboard. Slide one foot forward and keep the other foot back, both facing sideways, arm pointing forward toward the shore. Luckily for Chris, the stance is similar to snowboarding. Luckily for me, the stance is similar to the yoga pose Warrior 1. He and his regular foot, and me and my goofy foot, carry our foamy surfboards across the street and into the ocean. We climb awkwardly on, and begin paddling out toward the waves. I won't exaggerate about the size of the waves... they were baby waves, about 2-4 feet. Our instructor paddles out effortlessly. He is a tanned local Big Island Hawaiian, and he looks like he has been on the ocean every day of his young life. I would have estimated that Dom (the instructor) was 20 years old, until he informed us that he also has a 2 year old son, and that he is one of his several children. Dom is sitting on his surfboard, legs slung over each side, watching the waves come from the horizon. He tells us to point our boards out toward the waves and watch. We aren't really sure what he is seeing. But before we know it, he says, "Turn around guys, and start paddling". We spin around and I begin paddling frantically with both arms. "Faster now" he says, and then he gives us a quick nudge and the wave is under us. "Stand up now!" he yells, and we both leap forward like we were taught, bending our knees and trying to stay upright. I am amazed that the wave is still moving under me, and that I am managing to stay upright. About ten seconds later, the wave is gone, and I fall off the surfboard, grinning widely. I start paddling back to where Dom is sitting, and when I arrive, I try to climb down and sit the way he is sitting on the board. But before I can balance, he says, "here comes another one, Get ready." I see nothing. But I climb back onto my stomach and turn the board around. I am again paddling as hard as I can and he shoves the board under the wave. Again, I leap up and ride the wave to the break. It is amazing what a rush of adrenaline I am getting as I yell to Chris, "I'm really doing it!!"

The last time we tried surfing was at Bondi Beach outside Sydney, Australia in 2003. It was a fun experience, but I was never really ready to move from my torso or my knees up to my feet. I spent the whole two hours boogie boarding, and cheering for Chris. This time, however, I was really surfing, and loving it. I can see why this sport is incredibly addictive. For one, it is unbelievably rewarding when you catch a wave. Secondly, you are out on the ocean, sun on your back, feet dipped into the cool water, a perfect morning activity. Thirdly, each ride produces a rush of adrenaline and giddiness that honestly took me by surprise. Fourth, like fishing, it can be anything you want it to be. You can put in a lot of effort or a little. You can continuously ride waves or you can basically sit on your board and watch the waves float by.

This time, we were riding each wave that Dom told us was a good one to take. For the next half hour, it felt like each time I got back out to where he was, he was telling me to go again. By forty minutes in, my arms were really tired. I was having to paddle using my entire body. I was trying to paddle simultaneously with both hands. It felt like it was taking longer and longer to get back out to where Dom was, and that he was moving further and further out. Turns out, he was moving further out. As we got 'better', he moved us out to the next rung of surfers that were another hundred yards out to sea. With these waves, we were able to jump up and ride the wave until it crested, then it would pick up again and we would get to go another ten seconds almost back to shore; Making each ride twice as long, and each paddle back out twice as hard. By the end I was lying face down on my surfboard telling Dom, "I will wait for the next one", because I literally didn't think I could paddle back out again without a few minutes recovery. Talk about arm and shoulder strength! Now I know why all surfers are incredibly lean with amazing back musculature. I definitely will need to improve my back and shoulder muscles before I come back out again.

As the two hour lesson was ending, we each got in our final wave and climbed out of the water carrying the 12 foot surfboards on our heads. I had a permanent grin on my face. I knew Chris would be a natural at it, but I never expected to do so well myself after my last experience. I never expected to get a love for it on the first lesson. Now, I am shopping for a surfboard, and we are talking about going to the beach and tag team surfing. I stay on the shore with Bodhi while Daddy surfs, then we switch. A perfect Hawaiian morning and a perfect way to jump right in to life.