Who Needs Sleep?

I do, much to my chagrin. It occurred to me earlier in the week that the reason for my lack of motivation for my 4:45 a.m. (pre-mommy duties and pre-work) workouts is I don't get enough sleep. I thought I was just bored. Nope. I'm just plain tired. My goal, now, is to get more rest. By getting more rest, I'll be more likely to do my workouts before my day begins (rather than rushing through them in between the time I arrive home from work and the time I start dinner). Why am I talking about this? Well, it's like this. Soul Brother #1 had to work today. That meant I'd need a babysitter if I wanted to get a session in. The only problem was the tide. It's sky high these days. This morning, the tide was to be at its highest before 9 a.m. I don't have the luxury of an afternoon surf on the weekend. That left dawn patrol as the only option. What? I was going to find someone to come to our house at 5:30 a.m.? Ain't gonna happen and I wouldn't ask anyway. To my surprise, Soul Brother #1 called my mom (who I hadn't asked since I'd assumed she was busy—the woman is 76 years old with a social life that won't quit). He arranged for the little man to sleep over at his grandmother's, thus allowing me to get up and out for a session. I couldn't believe it. My spouse made arrangements that would allow me to surf. I'm still in shock.

Well, when the alarm sounded this morning, I was not amused. I wanted (and needed) to sleep. It was still dark outside! Don't I get enough of that during the week? What did I do? I got up. Although I wasn't feeling it, there was no way I would let Soul Brother #1's hard work come to naught. I got up and out in the dark. Home break? No. Too risky, especially given the recent sewage spills. I decided to go to El Porto. Mind you, I am not a big fan of that wave. It simply confounds me. I cannot figure it out. I surfed south of the main part of El Porto, choosing to surf where more of the longboarders surf rather than hitting the part where shortboards abound. I swear that wave hates me. I've never had a good session at that place. Granted, the waves weren't great today, but that's never stopped me from getting waves at other breaks. The place spooks me. I know much of my problem with El Porto is mental. I've said it before and I'll say it again: years of riding my bike past that place and seeing broken boards in the trashcans makes me more than a bit apprehensive (even when the waves aren't big).

Today, my problem was a combination of physical fatigue and mental hesitation. I was also misgunned. (Is that a word?) I definitely wasn't undergunned. My Slick catches waves there. But this wave takes a shape I'm not accustomed to. And I think I would have done better with a performance longboard. Even though I felt like an idiot who couldn't catch anything, I noticed that the people around me weren't catching much either. I did manage one nice left. Other than that, I did either a lot of paddling for nothing or a lot of paddling over waves that weren't too big for me yet still managed to make me nervous. Where does that leave me? I'm going back tomorrow. I like that El Porto forces me to leave my comfort zone. I've got no choice but to go back and try to redeem myself. Because of this damn high tide, I've got to do another dawn patrol session. Thankfully, there's no work on Monday. Perhaps I will get some rest then.