Mike's Blog - January 30 2012
Before I launch into training for the Carolina Cup, let me first send a big congrats to Larry Cain who after only hardly more than a year of training on SUP, finished fourth in the Orange Bowl with three of the world's best (Danny Ching, Jamie Mitchell and Anthony Vela) ahead of him.
Those who competed in 2011 at the Carolina Cup know all about the awesome 14 mile Graveyard course and of the more forgiving, but still challenging open and recreational courses on the intercoastal. And, of course, enjoyed all the fun and camaraderie we had before and after the race. There was also a great display of boards and paddles and SUP paraphelia. We were also fortunate to meet some of the biggest names in SUP, including Joe Bark, John Becker, Jimmy Terrell, Anthony Vela, Candice Appleby, Karen Wrenn, Heather Baus and many others. The hospitality of the organizers was amazing.
The Carolina Cup is 3 months away and the number of SUPers participating is growing by the day (I just received a letter from Erin that she and Windsor would also come). We can still put 3 months' good value of training our hearts, lungs and muscles and go for it. Those who read the winter strength training program series Larry and I wrote on the Power Phase Page of www.distressedmullett.com, are already well acquainted with the principles of periodized, SUP-specific strength training. But strength training is only one aspect of our athletic fitness and training alone is also just one part of our overall fitness.
What are the three basic components of athletic fitness and athletic longevity?
1. A well-designed, effective, personalized and balanced training program that consists of a balanced and progressively harder and more complex and more intense workouts with periods of consolidation and rest. In order to lead to athletic fitness and athletic longevity, this program must consistently improve our overall and specific strength, cardiovascular fitness and skills.
2. Lifestyle: healthy eating habits, quality rest and relaxation and staying away/eliminating harmful habits.
3. Equipment: in order to perform well, one must have quality equipment which suits one's paddling style, physical characteristics and the conditions that prevail on a particular race course.
Anyone who paddles SUP knows the demands this full-body activity places on our muscles, especially on our core. In order to be able to perform the powerful movements that propel the board forward, we must prepare our entire musculature, with special attention to what we call "prime and secondary movers". The specific quality needed to efficiently perform the complex, cyclical motions with sufficient force and with correct technique is called "power endurance". Power endurance is the ability of the muscles not only to generate force in a consistent manner, but to do it in a high lactic acid environment. With proper training, we will see improvements not only in the ability of our muscles to generate more force for a longer period of time, but also in their capacity to store more glycogen (the main source of fuel stored in the blood, liver and the muscles) and their ability to buffer protons (lactic acid). Through training, our central nervous system will be able to organize the recruitment of muscle fibers more efficiently. Our ability to rely on muscle memory rather than conscious command will also increase together with our capacity to tolerate pain.
Cardiovascular or aerobic training must be an integral part of our overall fitness training. Our heart must be able to pump a steady and powerful supply of fresh blood to the working muscles, bringing nutrients and oxygen and to remove waste products. It can be running, xcountry skiing, snowshoe running, swimming, etc. depending on the season, the weather and the availability of facilities.
Specific skills, muscle speed and agility can be improved with plyometrics, balance training (Bodie Shandro just posted a balance training exercise modality on YouTube), ergo training and visualisation.
The importance of healthy lifestyle is paramount. If we do not eat well or if we fail to give our systems quality rest and relaxation and abuse them with harmful substances, our athletic longevity will be very short. In order to perform consistently well, we must eat quality food and in order to recover fully and quickly from each overload our workouts impose on our systems, we may even want to use quality, safe and proven supplements.
Rest is the most underestimated component of our fitness. Our body must fully recover from and adapt to the workload the previous overload imposed upon in order to improve its performance in a consistent manner. As a coach and athletic trainer, I always have more problem in countering the drive and inclination to overtrain of my ambitious athletes, who think of rest as one of the seven deadly sins and overtraining as bliss. To hit the body with another hard workout before full recovery, positive adaptation and supercompensation takes place is to plant a seed and trample then on the tender seedling each time it pops above the ground. Injuries, plateaus and burnouts are the result.
Good equipment, be it a bike, an outrigger, a surfski, a paddle or a pair of shoes, is the tool, the venue, the medium through which a particular athletic ability finds its expression. It must be chosen well to suit our physical characteristics, abilities, goals, the conditions of the race course, etc. The fastest sprint kayak can be useless on a choppy lake. Someone without the ability to handle and balance it may imagine paddling a 24" wide SUP-rocket and discover that, in reality, he or she swims more than paddles. We must do a lot of research, listen to fellow SUPers, take advice from good coaches, and check with dealers who know their stuff before deciding which particular SUP and which paddle to use for optimal performance. SUP-ers in the Greater Toronto, Mississauga, Oakville area are lucky to have experienced paddlers and coaches who represent the best brands like Surftech, Boardworks, Starboard, 404, C4 Waterman for boards and Zaveral Power Surge, Ke Nalu, Quickblade, Gillespie, Kialoa, Werner for paddles.
John Beausang of Distressed Mullett and of the Carolina Cup just emailed me re training and to tell me about the extreme weather at the Coldstroke. He also asked about my training. This is what I do (or rather tell myself I should do!):
1. Strength training, focused on core and legs, twice a week (mostly free weights, kettleball and TRX)
2. Cardio, twice a week, swimming (came handy at the Carolina Cup last year) and snowshoe running (when there is snow).
3. Pool paddling, twice a week
4. Plyometrics, once a week (starting tomorrow with Larry).
5. I always walk in MBT (Massai Barefoot Technology) shoes to improve my balance
6. rest and relaxation: reading and restoring the beautiful (30 yrs old) Struer Tiger I got from Scott Oldershaw.
Just received an email from Jessica Rando. She will have an SUP training camp in Orlando, FL. Perfect place and time to train for the Carolina Cup (www.NuMeFitness.com)
For more details on the Carolina Cup go to www.distressedmullett.com
Other news: Construction has been completed at our new store. We passed inspections. We will also make sure it will also be wheelchair accessible for our Paddle All athletes. Dav is working on interior design, painting walls, building displays, erecting racks and on "decor". It looks like it will be ready for spring.
Happy Paddling
Mike
