Clearwater Beach Sundown Friday Paddle

My wife and my college roommate are both from Clearwater. You can say C-dub is my adopted Florida home town. We try to get over here twice a month if we can. We got out of work early on Friday and made it to the beach by 3:30. Much to our surprise the Gulf was flat. I expected it to be pretty choppy since there is a storm out in the gulf. I also expected it to be cloudy since it was much of the day in O-town. However, we had a perfect sunset and paddle conditions. I am not spoiled by Florida quite yet, and I often pinch myself for the good fortune of having a perfect 72 degree beach afternoon while my family is freezing in Texas and covered in snow in Chicago-land.

My body was exhausted from the week of training and 5 a.m. wake up calls, but I couldn't resist paddling .65 miles south to Pier 60 from our location on north beach near the Palm Pavilion. Erica took some amazing photos as she strolled the beach and I tried not to fall in. Although the Gulf was pretty flat the swell of the Gulf still made it much more difficult compared to my usual lake paddles. We watched the Sun go down and i posed for some unbelievable photos in the sideshow below. We finished the perfect Friday afternoon and evening by meeting the Edwalls (Erica's parents) at Frenchy's Rockaway Grill and enjoyed natures color display as it fleeted to dusk. I rewarded my self with a Caribbean Grouper Sandwich, fruit, and a Shocktop. It doesn't get much better than an afternoon like this.
http://frenchysonline.com/ (Best Grouper Sandwich I have had in FL. I have tried dozens and nothing still tops this. Also, they will ship stone crab anywhere in the country! Season is not that much longer, get on it)

Coopers Bayou Clearwater FL

Coopers Bayou is located at 709 Bayshore Blvd 33759 in the Clearwater/Saftey Harbour area. A storm is moving and looks to push Stand Up Fitness's Manatee Paddle to Sunday so I rushed out to get this morning's workout in before it got too bad.

My intention today is to treat my paddle as a workout. I planned on paddeling intervals of 5 minutes as fast as possible and then doing sets of pushups, mountain climbers, squat thrusts, and trying out some yoga poses.. This is a great place to Paddle for many reasons. 1 It is usually calm due to its bay location. 2 It has mangrove mazes to search through. 3 The water is shallow so besides paddelers, only flats fisherman can get in there. 4 It is a bird lovers paradise with egrets, herons, pelicans, and spoonbills. 5 It's less than 10 minutes away from my in-laws house.

Here's one of the mangrove "bays" I made this my own YOW studio (Yoga On Water)


Nice Face. Warrior 2


Warrior 1. After being out in the chopy gulf yesterday my balance felt awesome. Thats another amazing thing about SUP is that I feel stronger, more balanced, and more fluid every single time i go out.


3 point downward dog. I got some work to do to look like Kim from Paddle Board Orlando. http://paddleboardorlando.com/


I'm not a master of understanding tides, but the water was signifiantly lower than last time I went out here. The water is normally up the mangroove roots and the oysters are not usually visible.


Water bird heavon.


Once again it was an amazing paddle.The shallownwess of the water and the wind threw of my plan to paddle fast. Every few strokes I would hit the bottom. I felt like I was a fisher man polling the flats at times. I was out there for just about an hour. I covered 2 miles of distance in 35 minutes. The rest of the time i practiced my yoga, did 100 pushups with 3 different hand positions, did 150 mountain climbers, and 25 squat thrusts. Glad i got my workout in it's getting nasty out. The manatee paddle as been pushed back to tomorrow afternoon. Hope all is having a great weekend.

Thursday's Training Paddle

As I mentioned in my post from yesterday, i was a little worn out. I have been working hard to get rid of my football season and holiday weight gain. I like to rationalize this weight gain as a bear storing weight to hibernate. Except I am an active bear so I store this weight to train hard from January-June to take advantage of the beautifully Florida Spring weather and get ready for Muddy Buddy. Enough excuses, but it's what us trainers call periodization. I took our newest group exercise class at the gym, Group Centergy, to get me loosened up so i had "the freedom to move." I once again felt like a human being after my client, Kelly, taught an amazing class. Centergy is pretty much choreographed yoga to music with a touch of pilates thrown in. Not quite as hard as yoga, but an awesome workout to work on my "most-ability" anyway.

(Muddy Buddy is a partnered mountain bike/ trail running race my buddy Jake and I dominate every year) (by dominate i mean 2nd place in the beast division 3 years in a row http://muddy-buddy.competitor.com/).

The ideal conditions from yesterday (Wednesday) had prevailed. It was by far the smoothest i had seen lake maitland. Perfect for my first attempt to do a perimeter paddle in which i followed the buoys around the outside of the lake. I had no idea how long it was but I was guessing around 5 miles.


I paddled 2 miles straight at a high tempo! My best distance and speed to this point at 31:23. That's where i was when I saw the Rollins College Crew Team down below. You can barely make them out due to the harsh back lighting. It was humorous to hear their coach yelling out cues over a megaphone as he trailed behind in small motorized boat. It was encouraging though because i tried to keep up with them.


I continued around the perimeter taking a 2 minute break every time I finished a mile. Here's a picture from my 2nd break. An example of the "I wish" houses located around the lake.


Overall I was very pleased with my performance I covered 4.74 miles is 1:15.33. With Breaks at mile 2,3, and 4. Between 15 and 16 min miles. It is my goal to be able to average 15 minute miles without stopping for the 9 mile Gulf Coast Championship May 22nd. I finished up my farthest continuous paddle to date with 50 push ups, some planks, and downward dogs. The fisherman at the dock was staring at me something fierce. As i pulled the board out of the water he said "you deserve a beer after all that." That bass master read my mind. See you next paddle.

Heading to Clearwater for some fun adventures over in the Gulf and Bay. Hopefully the manatee paddle doesn't get rained out.

Sunset Paddle "Feeling Alright"

"Well it’s a struggle – everyday we’re stressing, but what’s a life without dedication?
I’m trying to pick up the souls intention to soak in music relaxation
We’re feeling good, we’re feeling alright
We’re feeling good, we’re feeling alright
In a moment I’ll be on my way, to better days, while life is changing"
Rebelution Feeling Alright from the Album Courage to Grow



Life has a way of getting to you. The human brain has a funny way telling you to do nothing when you are worn out. Most of us go home turn on the t.v. and zone out into zombie. I love this down time as much as anyone. I even have a name for my zone out time in which I turn of all sources of light and plop my butt down onto the good spot on the couch. I call this the cave. After three consecutive days of being up at 5 a.m. I was worn out and planned on some quality cave time. However instead of giving into my caveman instincts I decided to do some soul filling. The rebelution lyric above popped into my head as i passed Lake Sybelia in Maitland. It was 72 degrees and the lake was glass. I was too fatigued to paddle for distance (I had already run 4 miles, done some core, and mobility work. Ah-ha I was going to paddle to the middle of the lake listen to my white boy reggae playlist and simply sit on my board and watch the sun go down. Brilliant! So here's to the next time the day, the week, the moment has got you down. Don't crawl up into your cave and become a T.V. zombie. Listen to your favorite song, get outside, do something you love, and fill your soul up.

Sunshine and Flat Water, after all You Only Live Once


Chillaxin


Full moon coming, that's crazy the moon is so visible


Rule 1 of Photography- shoot where the light is.
Lake Sybelia is about .5 miles from my home. It's a small lake with nice homes off set across the street. Its kind of cool all the homes have docks and cool like side lounges across the street from their homes.


Reflection of my launch point on the east side of the lake


I was out there for about an 1:20 mins and only paddled 1.2 miles.


I went in stressed, exhausted, and lazy. I left energized, happy, and at peace


So next time your life or you laziness gets you down do something for yourself. Remember exercises is like karma, if you give to it, it gives back to you.
YOLO.

Flexibility or Function? Part 1 Most-Ability

I don't believe in Flexibility. Well not as you know it anyway. Many people believe flexibility is holding isolated static stretches (like toe touches) or flexibility is defined as the range of motion around a joint. However, human motion never works in isolation (muscles are never lonely). Meaning many of the static stretches we learned growing up can actually decrease performance. Visualize a quad stretch, a toe touch, or a butterfly stretch. Part of the reason these positions are uncomfortable is that our bodies aren't necessarily designed to go into these postures. When was the last time the activities of your daily life mimicked those poses? Muscles are never lonely because the body works together 3 dimensionally from head to toe. That old child hood song the hip bone is conccected to your thigh bone is 100% true. Everything is connected to every thing through lines of muscle, fascia (connective tissue), ligaments, and tendons. So the definition of flexibility, the range of motion around a joint, isn't so far off, but i like to simplify it even more.


(The reason yoga poses are more effective, is they work lines of muscle from head to toe. Your body is forced to contract, lengthen, maintain posture, and stabilize 3 planes of motion from head to toe. None of her muscles are lonely they are firing in harmony and her central nervous system is working hard as well just as in motion)

So more simply you can say flexibility is the freedom to move. I like this definition better because the key to improving performance in Paddling, surfing, or any activity of life is moving more efficiently. Gary Gray a functional training guru describes efficient movement as, “The ability to functionally take advantage of just the right amount of motion at just the right joint in just the right plane in just the right direction at just the right time.” So simple yet mind blowing. The only way you can improve performance via Gray's definition is to improve your movement patterns through perfect form in different directions at different speeds. Wow, so is movement really about flexibility? Or is training movements the gateway to range of motion? Can strength training or even SUPing improve flexibility? Didn't Gray mention speed as well in his definition of function? Wow, all that can get a little overwhelming so lets go back to the KISS method (Keep it Simple Stupid). All the questions I raised are true. But the key to performance or efficient movements is by gaining mobility and stability at the proper joints and through the right lines of muscles.
Mobility + Stability = Most-ability (efficient movement)
Isn't that the purpose of training to give you the most ability?


(Laird can ride giants because his training philosophy mimics what Gray says above. He recruits the right amount of motion at the right joint at the right time due to his Rocky style work ethic. If he didn't that wave could kill him. He cross trains all the time to increase his performance through mobility, stability, endurance, and functional strength training. If you have never seen his book check it out http://www.amazon.com/Force-Nature-Mind-Course-Surfing/dp/1594869421)

Here's the way i describe most-abiility to my staff.
Your body is aligned in major intersections of joints with alternating responsibilites. What is unique about this most-ability chart is that sites of injury are almost always caused by the joint above or below the actual injury site. For example if your back hurts from a 3 mile paddle guess what you over used your back. That might be common sense, but the reason you over used your back is due to hip tightness or thoracic spine (t-spine) tightness. Meaning that since your hips or t-spine are tight they don't efficently load. They are ristricted in their range of motion so that range of motion has to come from somewhere else. That somewhere else is your lumbar spine which is supposed to be stable. Pretty Cool Huh?

Most-Ability chart
Ankle -> Mobile
Knee -> Stable
Hip complex-> Mobile
Lumbar Spine -> Stable
Thoracic Spince -> Mobile
Shoulders -> Mostability (there are technically 2 shoulder joints they need to be mobile and stable.

In my next training blog I will give recommended ankle mobility exercises. In the meantime to apply the most-ability chart, analyze your current training. What re you doing to add mobility to your ankle, hips and shoulders (yoga and functional training does this)? What are you doing to doing to stabilize your knee and lumbar spine? (yoga, functional training, and core work do this) Thinking like this can decrease your chance of injury and improve your performance in and out of the water. Before you know it you will be doing crazy stuff like Kim from Paddle Board Orlando down below. http://www.paddleboardorlando.com/



Works Cited
Allot of my functional training philosophy has come from Gary Gray through articles, videos, and conferences. To learn a little more about Gary check out http://www.grayinstitute.com/about.aspx.

Lake Maitland my home lake

Lake Maitland located off the busy 17/92 in the Orlando area is my home lake. I can see the lake from my Balcony yet do not have access to the lake. I drive around the corner about .25 miles to a public boat launch where i often get many funny looks from the local bass fisherman.



Not an ideal day to SUP mid 60's winds 10-20mph, but i hadn't been out for a couple of days so i was fiending to go. I had already done a workout today with Kettle Bells and the TRX so i was more in the mood for a casual paddle.



This is dog island in the middle of the lake



Dog Island is paradise if a. you are a red neck b. you are a high school kid looking for a place to drink



Quite the elaborate tree house. I started to climb up before reason kicked in that this place is not made for a 200 lb + Clydesdale like myself.



Exhibit A of the high school kid drinking spot. Who throws beer cans on the ground when there is a trash can out there and who drinks Naty and Busch? I should organize a cleanup out there at some point.



It was time to paddle on. I had originally planed to do the perimeter of the lake that is about 3 miles, but the wind kicked up a bit and i decided to head for the channel of mud lake that is usually a little flatter. The above picture is the channel. I was much relieved for flat water there were a few white caps on the .5 mile paddle over and i almost ate it a couple of times.




Above is Mud lake and my apartment complex. It's too bad the guy who owns the dock below won't sell his land to my apartments. It an awesome preserved area and would cut down on my launch time.



Here's another shot of Mud Lake. I call mud lake my lake gym. This is often where i do exercises on my board push ups, squats, mountain climbers, etc. I also do full speed intervals around the buoys to work on turns and speed on the often calm water.



Well that' enough for the day 2.25 miles in 40:23. Not my fastest, but a great day to try out my new water proof camera. See you next paddle.

How I came to love SUP

It was one of those Hawiian mornings. Life couldn't have gotten any better. I had just married my best friend and the most beautiful girl in the world and I was in Honeymoon bliss. Fueled by bannana pancakes and macadamian nut coffee today was going to be the day that I tried Stand Up Paddeling.

I had been watching people around Kauai Paddle all week yet had not made the time to try just yet. The tiping point was watching 2 guys paddle haneli bay as the sun went down over the begining of th Na Pali coast. First thing tomorrow I am learning! I need to be able to do that.

We were staying at the Marriott Kauai located on the Kalapaki Bay, a perect place to learn surfing. With a small long swell on one side of the Bay and flat enough water to paddle on the other. I mean look at this place.


After a brief lesson from the guy manning the surf shack next to Duke's, I confidently paddled out on my knees. After all i am an athlete, those guys last night made it look so easy, I am going to dominate this. Wrong, I got up, I feel in I paddled a little, I fell in. This pattern repeated for the next hour yet I was hooked. In my defense it was very choppy that day and i had caught aprroximatly 2 waves in my life so I am not exactly a waterman, but from that day on I was hooked.


Over the next few weeks i returned to reality and got over the "I am not in Hawaii any more blues". Then it hit me, I live in Florida! There is water everywhere! Bays, Lakes, Intercoastals, Rivers, Springs, The Gulf, The Atlantic, hell even my swimming pool. Florida may be the best place on earth, next to Hawaii of course, to SUP. Only problem, those boards are expensive. I started saving, yet inevitibly life happens.


Life will make you think when bam, My next brilliant idea was to start a SUP rental bussiness in the Tampa Bay area. However, I have a great job, needed the security, and was to much of a wuss. My SUP dreams would have to go on hold. I dreamed constantly of the Kalapaki bay and for the day I could have my own board. About 6 months went by when my mother in law handed me an article about a guy named Brody, typical, who started a SUP bussiness in St. Pete. Turns out Brody had essentially the same idea I did using the board as a personal training tool and renting out boards. His company Stand UP Fitness inc. http://www.standupfitnessinc.com/was exactly what I wanted to do.

So on my birthday my wife and I went to check out Brody's opperation. We met his awesome wife Jesse and I got my first shot on a YOLO board. For those of you who know the gulf of Mexico, you know that the surf is generally that of a lake. The light sea breeze and generally flat water make it an ideal place for beginners. Nope this July day had 30 mph winds and rough seas. My wife and I's 3 hour rental was 45 minutes of a butt whoopin. It was time for a hefeweizien and a grouper sandwhich. Yet I yearned for more.

About a month later we went back to ST. Pete this time to meet Brody for a lesson at the beautiful Ft. Desoto Park. Brody is the man! Personable, friendly, and tons of SUP experience. He used to actually get paid to live in Kauai and take people on eco adventures espicially SUP. I was no longer jealous of Brody for beating me to the punch. I wasin love with SUP I was developing a Bromance crush on the Broadster.

After an hour lesson on technique, turrns, and paddeling into the wind we had an hour of free play. I paddled around mangrove islands and chased a pack of dolpins. I saw snook that would make all the fisherman jealous. Erica chased after a Manatee. SUP wasn't just awesome excercise or a way to learn surfing. It was sollitude, adventure, nature, and peace. It is everything that I love about the outdoors and I was looking for in Florida.

So much for peace and sollitude. I knew paddeling was an awesome workout and as a trainer I loved the functionality of the sport, but Brody's paddle fit class took it to another level. We warmed up on the beach at Vinoy Park in downtown St. Pete. We paddled out a few minutes and then the bomb was dropped with sqauts, pushups, planks, mountain climbers, sit-ups, even fricking squat thrusts mixed in between minute bursts of full on paddles. If you are in the St. Pete area you must try out one of his classes.

I think the devirsity of what SUP is appeals to me the most. Races, Fishing, Touring, Surfing, Down-winders, the possibilities of SUP are essentially endless. My blog will journal my exploration of the florida waterways, journal my training for the up coming gulf coast SUP championships, and i will lend my Fitness expertise with educational articles. I hope to insipe new paddelers and help drive the fitness componant of SUP.