Elliptical Break Down

Well no fog today, but we are back to morning overcast skies.

I start off at the gym. When I checkin, the guy at the front asks me what I am going to be working on. I have encountered this question just a few times before here - probably from the same guy. Something about it annoys me and I also feel like it is a difficult question to answer. I’m not one to go to the gym with the aim of “working” on things. Though I guess of course I am. Why else would I go? I don’t really have the energy to explain my achilles injury and how this is just a way to maintain my running muscles while I recover from the injury. Anyways, I just tell him I am gonna do some cardio and he asks me to do some for him too. I do like that reply and I assure him that I will.

Half way into my elliptical routine I am on the hardest hill level and really working it when all of the sudden the resistance in the machine totally gives out and it loses power. This kind of shocks me and yanks me out of my zone. I just switch over to another machine to finish my workout. When I’m done, the guy who was up front is gone so I can’t give him the 200 calorie burn I had allotted just for him.

We are not making a whole lot of progress on burning off this cloud cover. However, I can now see the sun as a glowing orb on the other side of the clouds. Once I’m home, I am beginning to see swaths of blue here and there. The beaches still look totally grey from what I can tell on the web cams.

A little later I walk the dog and I begin to feel heat. It’s not just an ambient warmth but a directed heat bearing down on me - in a good way. We are actually in the middle of a heat wave here in the Western states. Death Valley is supposed to hit a record 130. It was 100 degrees just 15 minutes away in Mission Viejo yesterday but I don’t think it got over 75 here.

I head to the beach at about 9:30. It’s looking like things could be turning a corner here. When I get to the parking lot, there are significant spaces of blue in the sky. Once I reach the asphalt ramp just past the stairs, the sun is really making an appearance and I feel the heat intensify.

There is a good sized crab rolling in with the break water on the beach. It’s purple and about the size of my outstretched hand.

The water feels about the same as it did yesterday both on my feet and post immersion. This is a very good thing. It feels great.

I start swimming and feel a little pooped mainly in my arms. I think this is largely from my elliptical work lately. I feel good enough though and enjoy the swim.

There is a current I seem to be swimming against as I head south. Overall it is a beautiful day. There is a fair amount of cloud cover but enough blue to make it “feel” mostly sunny even though it really isn’t.

I swim over a pretty big solitary fish as I head back up north. It doesn’t look like one I am familiar with. The water is not very clear so my picture is not even worth posting here.

For most of the swim north, I just try to lose myself in my stroke. I don’t seem to be drifting out and I’m able to just keep my head down and don’t need to check my bearing often.

I eventually finish up and take a walk with my dad up and down both ends of the beach. The Salt Creek and Strands lifeguards seem to have a two degree delta in reported ocean temperature. Someone has got to be wrong. Salt Creek says 66 and Strands 64. I’m strongly siding with Salt Creek. Besides, their lifeguard tower is significantly larger and I am sure they have more capable resources to provide a more accurate reading.