Livestrong

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to go to the Big Island and participate in a training camp, run by the Carmichael training group. The same people that coach Lance Armstrong.

There is a group of paddlers on the Big island that through one of their members and his friendship with Lance Armstrong, started the Livestrong canoe club.  One of there goals is to gather a group of the finest paddlers and forward thinkers to try and push the sport of canoe paddling and gain awareness for the Livestrong label.  Fortunately I was invited to participate with them and gain access  to all of their technique and training methods (much of which I have already incorporated into my own technique).  This is the group that initially taught me the Tahitian stroke.

The camp consisted of a lot paddling and cycling.  Unfortunately I missed the first few days (because of the Nightline piece on Kauai), but while I was there we did a fifty mile bike ride which, for any real cyclist isn’t much.  However for a bunch of over-grown monkeys, it’s big.  Not to mention how cute we looked in our spandex pants, a sight no human with eyes should ever have to see. Obviously we also did a fair amount of paddling. We even did a stand up coast run along the Kona coast. A rare north wind really lit it up on that side. The whole thing was a great experience and I gained a wealth of knowledge, some of which I will be sharing in my upcoming posts.

Aloha,

Dave