Blizzard surfing... and exercise for your mental health!

Big storm= BIG WAVES! Such is the case Sunday and Monday. I’m still achy and sore from last last Wednesday, but almost healed. Holy shit- what a workout! Sore for over a week. Lots of cold, snow, and wind..... meaning nobody will be there but a few hard core guys(like me)!

Water temp is 44f- 6f higher than the normal winter temp of 38f and when it’s like that in the winter I always think back to global warming. As much as I’d like it to be more comfortable, I’d rather have it the way it’s supposed to be-FREEZING. Let’s see if it’s possible to surf when it’s 9f like it is going to be Monday. Might not be worth the drive.

When I drive towards surf I have a difficult time with the speed limit and when I drive home afterwards the speed limit could be half of what is posted and even that would be too fast.

After I surf I’m high as a kite with what I think are exercise-related hormones coursing through my veins for days afterwards. Feels GREAT.

I always knew that working my body to the max was good for me in more ways than one, and I love it when I stumble upon articles like this that seem to put a more specific detail towards what’s happening inside me when my heart is pumping at 110-150 bpm for a few hours.

One customer told me a me a few months ago as we talked surf that someday soon I am going to need to “age out of surfing.” When I heard that it really bothered me. Is that what people do when they get older? Do I have to also? Will I have a choice?

In the dimmest dullest section of my brain it has occurred to me at times that I am the oldest person surfing out there in big waves. One kid came up to me once and said “hey, I thought that this was a young persons surf spot but you are the oldest person I’ve ever seen out here.”

I sat there for a while as my neurons processed that comment wondering if I had just been slighted or complimented.

During Hurricane Maria surf week I was the oldest person by 6 years, and when I asked one local surfer why he wasn’t there, he said- “dude, I’m 65years old!” Wow.

All I can say is I’m going to my grave with my wetsuit on and a leash around my ankle. I’m not “aging out of surfing” into water aerobics at the local YMCA, and I’m not going to stop surfing in blizzards and hurricanes. I guess I will always have the swimming skills that I developed over the decades of competitive swimming to keep me alive, and the smarts to choose the right equipment when it gets dangerous- and when to get out and go home based upon fatigue.

Here is a link to the article from the New York Times that triggered this blog entry:

​https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/16/well/move/exercise-brain-memory-irisin-alzheimer-dementia.html?action=click&module=Discovery&pgtype=Homepage