Fit date ideas for Valentine's day

So... I've never been much of a romantic-dinner-for-two person on Valentine's Day. In fact, one of my favorite Valentine stories is from the year I went out with a group of also-single-then co-workers to a swanky dessert restaurant in San Diego.

Loving my dessert at Extraordinary Desserts in San Diego (circa  2008)

Our group included surfers, kayakers, and swimmers. At the time, I was training for a triathlon. We were conversing over chocolate cake and a bottle of wine when talk turned to wetsuits. All of us, at one point or another, had answered to the (ahem) call of mother nature in the ocean. Olympic swimmers pee in the pool, so, we wondered aloud: Why should surfers be any different?

The couple seated next to us waved for a waiter and asked to be re-seated.

Oops.

I guess peeing in the pool isn't romantic chit-chat?

Needless to say, traditional candle-lit romance and overpriced flowers aren't the way to this runner's heart.

So, what does a girl like me do on Valentine's Day?

Here are a few of my favorite non-traditional Valentine's dates:

• A run followed by brunch (especially if the run involves Sunset Cliffs in San Diego)



We weren't the only people who thought Sunset Cliffs was a nice spot for Valentine's

• Couples sports massage
• A hike and picnic lunch



Hiking in Mission Trails

• A walk on the beach (yes, even in the winter in cold climates)
• Tandem kayaking*

*Seriously, tandem kayaking can make or break a couple. (Honest) kayak salespeople refer to them as "divorce-makers." But I swear that's not always true. Hubby and I paddle well together. I paddle, and turn around to find him taking photos.

For more ideas, see my new posts Five fit and fun Valentine's dates (for any location) and Four fit and fun Valentine's dates in Florida.

Are you a Valentine's lover of V-day Grinch?

Favorite V-day date?

Lane lines

Eight months ago I joined Kim's New 2 U Cross Training Challenge with the goal of getting out of my comfort zone.

During the first few months of the challenge I struggled at month-end to find something (anything!) to do easily that would count toward the challenge. (Yes, I know how silly that sounds.) But over time the challenge became... well... less of a challenge and more of a mindset.

This month I've already gone spelunking (a lifetime first!) and tried another new high intensity interval training (HIIT) workout. But the crowning jewel in this month's fitness adventure list is a sparkling blue one.

With lane lines.

Image source

As I mentioned last month, I kept telling myself that I'd "get back in the water." I once was a triathlete. I once was a lap-swimmer. But the distance between now and "once" was growing wider and wider.

In July I finally dusted off my snorkel and went to the beach.

But I was still avoiding the municipal pool.

The reasons for my avoidance are varied (and completely ridiculous). Municipal pools can be crowded. They can be dirty (rare, but true). Mainly I was just unsure what the "swimming culture" would be at the public pool. The looming unknown was keeping me firmly planted on my stationary bike at home. After all, my living room is pretty comfortable and an interval workout on the stationary bike isn't exactly slouching.

But I missed swimming.

I missed the cool water.

I missed the rhythm of strokes and kicks and breathing.

I missed staring at a lane line in a field of blue.

I missed the feeling of grabbing the water and pulling myself forward.

I missed it...

... until Sunday.

I paid my $4.

I grabbed an open lane.

And I swam - freestyle and backstroke and breastroke - until my arms ached.

When I got home I checked my workout records and realized that the last time I swam... really swam... was more than two years ago. July 2010. (Gah! How did I let that much time pass?)

But once I was in the water, it felt as natural as if my last swim was last week.


Have you ever let a favorite hobby fall by the wayside?
What cross training would you recommend I try next month?

Here's the complete list of other CTC triumphs:

• January = burpees
• February = cardio kickboxing
• March = stability ball strength training
• April = 100 ups
• May = I skipped it! (skipping drills to improve running form)
• June = shredded
• July = snorkeling pays off (with $10 floating in the water!)

July cross training pays off!

Back in January, I decided to try Kim's New 2 U Cross Training Challenge. Seven months later, the program has paid off in more ways than one.

I've been promising myself for months that I'd "get back in the water." I used to swim laps regularly and could be found paddling around the beaches of San Diego whenever the weather was nice (read: always). Since moving, I've done a little kayaking, but have largely turned into a landlubber.

Blame the BP oil spill and ever-present tarballs for that.

Fortunately the CTC gave me the nudge I needed to get back in the water. Relatives came out to visit for a long weekend, so when we packed up for the beach, I made sure to pack my snorkel.

For the record, snorkeling might be the only thing I love more than running. I love exploring the underwater world, and the feeling of weightlessness in the water has no comparison on land. I could swim with the fish for hours and not get bored.

Why did I leave my snorkel at home for so long?!

Just being out in the ocean again would have been reward enough from this cross training challenge. But the universe threw in a little bonus.

I followed a school of fish, then paddled out into deeper water. While floating offshore, I noticed a piece of paper undulating in the current.

Then I realized it was green...

$10 bill found while snorkeling

While my nieces and nephews were digging up sand dollars close to shore, I dove to take a closer look at my piece of paper. I found a ten dollar bill!

Snorkeling for cash joins the list of other cross training triumphs:

• January = burpees
• February = cardio kickboxing
• March = stability ball strength training
• April = 100 ups
• May = I skipped it! (skipping drills to improve running form)
• June = shredded

Have you ever found anything really interesting while out on a run, swim, bike ride, or hike?

Sunday superlative

My hat goes off to Diana Nyad.

While we may all go to the beach and play in the surf this weekend, Nyad is preparing for a 100+ mile swim from Cuba to Florida.

Nyad still holds a world record for the longest swim in history - a record that has stood, unsurpassed, since 1979, when she swam just over 102 miles from Bimini (in the Bahamas) to the coast of Florida.

And if the record is broken this summer it will be Nyad who will break it. At age 61. By swimming from Cuba to Florida. Without a shark cage to protect her from marine predators.

Yes, yes... I know Nyad is not a runner.

But she is one hell of an athlete. She was the Michael Phelps of the 1960s and 70s. Heck, given her hours in the water, she might have been better than him - maybe not faster, but has Phelps ever swum around the island of Manhattan?

After a ten year career, at the end of the 70s, Nyad hit the wall that is athletic burnout. Repeated 30-hour swims and 100-mile swims could do that to a person. So after 31 years without swimming a single stroke, Nyad rekindled her dream of swimming from Cuba to Florida. She started training again. She planned this swim last summer, only to have it called off for bad weather and lack of the proper travel paperwork. But, rather than let her dream fade away, she trained all over again this year.

That kind of single-minded dedication is inspiring, to say the least, for any athlete.

And to top it off, she's a smartie: Phi Beta Kappa, fluent in four languages, and her resume includes commentary and/or writing for National Public Radio, the New York Times, Fox Sports News, ABC's Wide World of Sports... (and I could go on, but you get the idea).

So I'll keep my fingers crossed that the weather holds out, the paperwork lines up, the currents are helpful, and the sharks have brunch elsewhere...

Photo courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand