Further Adventures of the Defi Diva
by Amber, aka Defi Diva
Before we present the 2nd installment, please practice saying Defi Diva with your best faux French accent…………
d’FEE dee-VAH!
After a week of working intimately with her Montreal Air France connection, Paolo, Christine had us and our gear once again sorted out. It turned out that the aircraft scheduled for the second leg of our flight did not have enough space to transport both sets of windsurfing gear at the same time. So Chris and I were rebooked on separate flights between Paris and Barcelona. Luckily there are several flights so there was only to be a short 2 hours delay between us, and really, what is a mere two hours when traveling with friends to DEFI? We were back on track.
I had learned a few lessons from my last foray into the winds of the Tramontain, and from the moment I bought my airplane tickets the previous fall I began thinking about what I would need to do to get my body and mind ready for what lay ahead. So the first thing I did was to book a week at Avon N.C. the week before we left for France. I wouldn’t be able to go with the BABA crowd this spring, because their week would over lap the week of the race but I was lucky enough to get Island Thunder, a pet friendly house with plenty of space to share. It would once again give me a full week on the water to “break gear and put holes in my boards” ahead of time so I wouldn’t need to bother with that once I got to France. Oh, and of course it gave me ample time to practice those pesky things called jibes, which I would need to be able to do at least three times during each race…
In addition to just getting some sailing time under my belt, I needed to work on core, balance, and of course cardio. Luckily, we were graced with a mild winter and my sailing season went longer than in previous years. But still, winter did eventually come, and my gear was packed and stowed for the couple of months of numbing temperatures. So it was during those quiet dark months, that desperation set in and I realized that I needed to take drastic measures. I have been working with an awesome trainer for a few years now, Jessica, and in fact she was instrumental in helping to get me at least functional after my shoulder surgery for the last DEFI. So this time she was able to focus her efforts on my core and balance strength. But the cardio, was up to me…and I could not be motivated to run in 20 degree temperatures… I’ve done it in the past, but this time my body (or rather my mind and spirit) said, “Pound sand, I’m not doing it! It is too freakin cold and I hate cold!” Sigh…so I bit the bullet and went on Craig’s List and found some one selling their copy of Insanity.
Now if you have never heard or done an Insanity work out, there is a reason why it is called that. So with the voice of Insanity’s overly exuberant instructor, Shaun T, I “Dug Deeper!!!” and “Stayed Focused!!!” as I prepared my body for what it was about to face. For the few months from January until late April, I was religious in keeping on the Insanity schedule. Doubling up the Insanity with my other workouts, my body was put to the stress test. To say I was exhausted most days at work would be an understatement. The term “comatose” comes to mind… And Jessica would constantly remind me, “After DEFI, you need to knock off on the Insanity and double workouts.” But it wasn’t until after one of these double workout days that I panicked when she piped in, “You are 50 now, you know, …your body will need recovery time.” FIFTY?? When did THAT happen!? Why wasn’t I asked ahead of time if that was ok?! I would never had approved turning Fifty if I had known! Ack! Don’t freak out! Just ignore it…and it will go away, right? Ugh… Do fifty year old women do DEFI?…
Yes, as a matter of fact they do, … despite the fact that I was not young, svelte or toned like those amazing gals whose spray I would likely be eating. Nor would I be sporting a flat brimmed trucker hat, or shorts that endeavored to bring light where there should probably be no light, I decided that I didn’t really feel like being fifty. And even if theoretically I was, I am no slouch on the water, and perhaps it wouldn’t hurt to remind them to respect their elders… (yes folks, scroll down, there’s a picture!)
