Yesterday it started. Training Day 1.
I threw together a decent breakfast of quaker oatmeal with a handful of blueberries and a banana, and summarily choked it down. I don't know what it is about quaker oatmeal lately, just seems to not want to go down as smoothly as it used to... strange really.
Anywho, met my Suplove teammate and now coach, Chris Stephan at a local park to take to the water for my first training session. Ah-some.
As we carried our boards to the water, he started a dialogue that would continue through our 4 mile paddle, him talking to me about the ins and outs of racing, training, stroke, keeping your head on straight, philosophy in general and me trying my hardest not to pass out as we paddled, steady, fast, steady, fast, steady, fast.
"Envision your arm coming over your head, open your shoulders... if you slide your hand down lower and bend your knees you can paddle like Danny (IF ONLY!), if it's windy, stand more upright... there are three strokes, and arm stroke, a core stroke, and a combination weight, core stroke.... the third is the most powerful and efficient... lead with your hips... really concentrate on leading with your hips... come out and paddle your butt off for 4 miles, everyday... find out everyone else's race times so you have a goal... intervals are the best way to get faster... paddle until you are out of breath.... then slow down.. then paddle until you are out of breath... don't stop... alright, let's turn around..."
On the fourth pass I got that good feeling that comes from pushing your body harder than it is used to... Runner's high, which I'm going to call Paddler's Euphoria... Its that time when all of the sudden paddling four miles doesnt seem like such a bad idea, why was I not wanting to do this, why would I not want to do this daily, why would I ever want to stop? This is Great! This is the Best! I love to sweat! Breathing?! Who needs Breathing?... the type of euphoria that lasts about an hour after the competition, race, practice is over and then leaves you tired and sore... and grumpy. Why euphoria, why did you leave?
After our flat water session we hit the now cooled off waters of South Florida for a little surf session and some more liquid therapy. I finally got a sunburn. THANK THE LORD!
So far, this morning (the morning after), I'm a little sore. I went for a 2 mile run at a pretty good clip on Wednesday so my legs are a little tired... what I have found, however, is when I'm sore from running, paddling helps ease the soreness in my calves. I think its a correlation between using the stabilizers in my feet with less impact and my calves... not really sure what though. Sore from running? Go paddling.
My diet has been really good the last couple of days and I've already noticed some awesome changes. 1st I poop regularly. Ah-some. If you're like me and you don't poop all the regularly, you would understand what an amazing change this is. TMI? Welp, sorry it's MY blog... maybe in the future I'll make a *I'm going to talk about poop* warning.. so you can skip it, might add some humor to your day. After all who can read or hear the word poop and not want to giggle? Anyway, my diet. Oh, ya, it's been extremely health... I recently saw a talk on health from a family dietician that helped me make some excellent educated decisions on what I'm putting into my body. I'll disclose much of what I learned in a future blog post. I've been keeping a food journal and trying to keep to the "Eat like a King at breakfast, a Prince at lunch, and a Pauper at dinner," adage. So far its been amazing! Life changing really... I have energy all day and sleep well at night. Who woulda thought? Curious what I've been eating to feel so amazing?? Well here goes:Â
Mcdonald's fruit and nut oatmeal (Gimme a break, I sleep until the last minute)
So I got my Kings, Princes, and Paupers a little mixed up... but lunch is my favorite part of the day... so I'll try a little harder next week. Ok? Sheesh.Â
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