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Winter Surfing in New England can take on many forms. On a serene day with clean waves it can be downright relaxing. The surf is often empty and the beaches are isolated. On a big day, it is nothing short of epic. Attached is an article I wrote for Crossfit Boston about surfing Hurricane Bill (though it was a late summer swell its pretty comparable to a big winter swell in size and power) and how fitness and surfing play a part in life overall. I also mixed in a ton of good video from this winter and winters of late.

New Year Swell from Michael Sander on Vimeo.

It took me awhile to find my way into Crossfit Boston. I kept telling myself I would start as soon as I healed the problems in my back, hip and knees, all remnants of past sports trauma and each combining to form an insidious cocktail of imbalance and overuse injuries. It was 'obvious' that of course I could not squat until my hip had 'healed’, dead lift until my back was 'stronger' and run until my knee was 'fixed.' In the meantime I continued to ice climb and surf and ski and basically just pretend I could still function at a high level. Two years of visits to specialists, physical therapy, yoga, pilates, clinical massage and stretching protocols had done little to heal my body but much to convince me that a holistic solution was required. At this same time I was surfing in winter swells around New England and abroad and receiving the punishment that only an angry ocean can dole out. The combination of increasingly reduced mobility and what I considered to be my dangerously low anaerobic threshold drove me into Crossfit Boston.

After joining Crossfit my story is pretty typical. Dramatic improvements in fitness, better mobility, reduced rate of injury etc. By now these results are to be expected so I won't bore the reader with my indulgence. More importantly I believe are the mental benefits of training at this intensity, benefits that were demonstrated to me this past weekend.

Saturday, August 22nd, Hurricane Bill arrived in earnest. The storm sent waves in excess of 20ft at many locations around New England and most importantly the waves arrived fast and heavy. This storm represented perhaps the most powerful swell I have ever experienced in that even the very top of a cresting wave was over five feet thick. Contrast this to the very top of a normal wave which can be inches thin. On my first paddle out I punched through a wave that was about to break and felt as though I had been socked in the face. I was literally inside the belly of the wave for several seconds as its mass passed around me. These behemoths carried so much water underneath the surface that as they approached land they doubled in size immediately before breaking. This made dropping in feel like being shot out of a cannon. It also made for some really exciting exits with man and board flying well above the wave.

Hurricane Bill at Ruggles (Newport, RI)

Hurricane Bill Surfing - Full length Rhode Island Video - Ian Walsh, Garrett McNamara in HD from Morgan Crossley on Vimeo.

October 19th in NH

New Hampshire - October 19. 2009 from Michael Sander on Vimeo.

On one botched takeoff I was sucked over the falls of the wave and experienced the full impact. My body tumbled like a rag-doll for several rotations as I fought to curl up and protect my head. Finally, when the worst was over, I opened my eyes to find that I was surrounded by pitch black. I groped for my leash; grabbing the lifeline of sorts and proceeded to climb it to the surface. As the first glimmer of light appeared I remember thinking to myself resolutely, if I can just get through to the light I will get a half a tabata rest. In reality I surfaced just in-time to take another pummeling and the second was deeper and darker than before. On a day when unbeknown to me a fellow surfer had drowned, I believe it was in part the confidence instilled in me by training at high intensity with Crossfit that allowed me to stay focused and calm, secure in the knowledge that my physical tolerance had been honed to a level as high as the waves demand.

Of course any thought of a humans capacity equaling or exceeding the oceans is a complete delusion and the ocean can do with us anything it pleases; I was merely a bit player in the epic drama that was unfolding and while I have always known this; it was essential to believe that my efforts would prevail. Nevertheless there is a part of the brain that holds onto just enough reality to keep you safe, for me, this is the part that gnaws at the back of my head when I am about to make a really bad decision. I think that training at a high intensity has allowed me to more accurately listen to that voice and to gauge what I can physically handle and when it is time to just say no.

Over Saturday and Sunday I surfed for more than 10 hours. Normally in these conditions I would have lasted about 1-2 hours max. Had I focused my preparation more on Crossfit and less on skill sports I believe ultimately the adaptation would have been even stronger. For me the greatest benefit besides escaping unharmed was the extra 8+ hours I was able to experience the awe, elation and despair that comes with riding waves in solitude and with experiencing their wrath. To me these are peak experiences and they are why I train. Sure I fear growing old and having limited mobility, but in the short term what I fear is missing out on experiences that are so powerful they become life defining and bore deeply into my sense of self. These are experiences as a guest of nature, participating in spectacles that at once define me as entirely insignificant and yet illuminate my will, bringing forth all that I believe to be virtuous, so that as I move through life in the days and weeks that follow I have just a bit more raw energy and love to give to the world. It is as if being in the presence of pure energy, a winter storm or a massively churned ocean demands an emotional and physical toll and once paid returns to you both at levels ten fold.

Such peak experiences in nature, regardless of the sport have always been the vehicle through which I understand myself and approach life. When things go badly at work and people are freaking out I think 'man this is not worse than when I was.................' When I lack confidence to handle an objective I think back to my personal album of mental snapshots taken at my physical and mental limit and they empower me to go forward. I would not trade this outlook for anything, and yet like all monsters it must be fed. New experiences of increasing significance must be added to ensure that the past never becomes past but rather a prelude to the greater present. This requires a near constant state of physical readiness as the next perfect conditions for any sport could be right around the corner.

As truly epic conditions are rarely in any sport, I have benefited tremendously by maintaining my GPP using Crossfit's methodology. At the same time I have been able to flirt with my perceived limits and in doing so added a few additional mental snapshots from within the Crossfit box. I am grateful for the quality of instruction, atmosphere of hard work and the support of my peers, many of whom are physical specimens redefining what I believe to be possible literally every day. I sincerely hope that Crossfit and high intensity training in general can be viewed as mental preparation not only for extreme sports but for all aspects of life, where ones ability to reach but not exceed that ideal level of arousal can make all the difference in the word, whether your dropping off a massive cliff or acing that next interview. For now I will continue to see my PR's not solely as markers of my physical ability but rather my state of mental preparation and execution, as my experiences this weekend demonstrated a work capacity far greater than what is currently written in my log.