I have been on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand for two weeks now and my appreciation for this country and its people continues to grow. It seems like every place I travel to here in NZ, I need to stop what I am doing and soak in the scenery for a few minutes. Over the past 10 days, we have traveled to the west coast, to the city, to a volcano and to a variety of different bays for training purposes. Fortunately, our training schedule has allowed me to see some remarkable places, sail in some crystal clear blue water and surf some waves too!

Our training regimen has primarily been a combination of one cross training activity and one sailing session a day. The cross training, however, has been a little more than what I am typically used to. For instance, the first day of training (the day after I arrived), we sailed in the afternoon for a few hours then immediately after sailing, 5 of us Stand Up Paddle-boarded (SUP) out to a volcanic island, about 4km. Upon arriving at the national park, we quickly put on our running shoes and ran to the summit, about a 40-minute excursion up. We soaked in the scenery for a quick minute then ran back down. The sun was beginning to set, so we hopped on our paddle-boards and cruised into the sunset as we headed back to the main land. All in all, it was about a 3-hour excursion.

Some of our other excursions have included SUP surfing on the west coast beaches. I have never successfully surfed a wave until this trip, but my success did come with a few bad spills. The beach we ventured to was 50 km long and you drive your vehicle right onto to the beach and cruise until you find a spot to surf. It is interesting, because the beach is considered a highway and is restricted by highway rules. Therefore, when you are surfing, you will see trucks cruising up and down the beach at 60 km/h.

In addition to SUP surfing, I have done two SUP races, which are about 30 minutes long and provide another great form of cross training in order to continue to build my base fitness.

The sailing itself has also been outstanding. The group that I am sailing with is so talented, extremely motivated and very fit. Being around sailors of this caliber every day will only improve my sailing and I believe sailing with this group for an extended period will be the right recipe to keep me ahead through the Olympic trials and beyond. Both of the sailors I have trained with for the past 2 weeks finished in the top 10 at the 2010 World Championships.

This past weekend, we competed in the New Zealand Nationals. There was a large international constituent in attendance and the fleet was competitive. We had light air everyday, which provided fantastic training. I sailed well, however, an OCS (false start) on the last race kept me out of the top 10 in a 20 board fleet.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Christchurch, NZ. Fortunately the earthquake did not reach this far north; however, the mood here in Auckland is somber as many people have connections to the Christchurch area.

I would like to extend a special thank you to Marget Boehm who is organizing a fundraiser for me in the DC area on March 19th at The Pug If you would like more information about this, shoot me a quick email, or just stop by!