Star Australian surfer Sally Fitzgibbons has been pushing her legs to the limit as she prepares for the gruelling task of tackling Kelly Slater's man-made wave at The Ranch this weekend.
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Fitzgibbons has twice featured in WSL tour events at The Ranch in California, finishing fifth on both occasions.
The physical demands of the 600m, 50-second wave takes its toll on surfers, but Fitzgibbons has been doing a series of brutal leg exercises in recent weeks to make sure she's up for the task.
Fitzgibbons shot up to second in the world rankings on the back of her recent win at the Rottnest Search in Western Australia, and she's determined to keep her hot form going leading into the Tokyo Games.
A win at The Ranch would be the perfect preparation for the Olympics.
"Yesterday we had our first training day for two years here, and to surf seven kilometres straight up, your body can feel a lot of different tweaks and niggles," Fitzgibbons told AAP.
"I was watching a lot of the rookies. Some of them are surfing it for the first time. I look at their face, and they're just baffled.
"And I'm like, 'oh yeah, I remember that feeling'. When you first surf it you're like, 'oh my gosh, what am I dealing with? My body is exploding, my head is exploding'."
Fitzgibbons has been using her time in hotel quarantine to make sure her legs are up to the task of conquering The Ranch, which is the brainchild of 11-time world champion Slater.
"I've been doing a lot of pulsing squats, little jumps, wall sits, crab walk to fatigue - a lot of that leg burn stuff," Fitzgibbons said.
"And then you can just juice it on the bikes or running hills.
"So mentally when you go onto the wave you go, 'OK, I"ve got enough endurance, I can handle this'.
"It's interesting watching even the fittest people on the wave, and then after their legs are so locked up, like they're just fully bulging."
Slater missed the Australian swing of the Championship tour due to a foot injury, but he's listed to compete in the three-day event at The Ranch.
Only three more events remain before the season-ending WSL finals, where the top five surfers will battle it out for the world title.
Australia have three surfers ranked in the top five in the women's field - Fitzgibbons (second), Tyler Wright (fourth), and Steph Gilmore (fifth).
Rookie Morgan Cibilic (fifth) is the only Australian ranked in the men's top five, with Ryan Callinan (10th) the next best.
The format of the Ranch Pro is different to normal tour events, with a leaderboard ranking system deciding which surfers progress to the next round.
The best-scoring left and right waves create each surfer's total score, with the field eventually whittled down to a semi-final and then a final.
Australian Associated Press
