Maui, Hawaii. Everything in between racing..

Race is almost here. Maui is beautiful. Mountain biking and run trails however are hot and brutal. 5000 feet of elevation gain on the bike and run combined to just preview the course takes toll on the body. I stayed very calm and very relaxed for most of the week until last night. Now nerves started to kick in and the mind can only wonder if everything was done right. All previous days it was very calm and sunny here, today however we are getting very strong east winds and water become just as angry as it can be. We swam today in monster waves, the force of rip current is just unbelievable but what is worst is the shore break wave that comes in to the beach and crashes with full force. I happened to be caught in one of them; it pulled me in and took me for a "washing machine" ride which I never experienced before in my life. While in the wave my body started turning, water picked me up, turned me up side down and kept spinning, all I could see is sand everywhere and I kept tumbling a few feet above the ground. I did somersaults while inside and a wave crushed me on my back, picked me back up and kept spinning, when it spit me up somehow I happened to stand back on my feet. I did a complete 360 degree turn with a hard fall and thankfully nothing happened. After that we took some breather and took a closer look how the waves behave. We decided to swim some more and experienced just amazing waves charging at us feeling like they were some 10 feet tall. It gave us the perspective how powerful forces of nature are.