Laird Hamilton's Book Review

Laird Hamilton is a legendary "Big Wave" surfer, riding monster waves often in the range of 50 feet.  He lives the life many dream of: eating right, swimming and surfing in Hawaii, and just being all-around awesome.  

I downloaded his book, "Force of Nature" and read it on the Kindle app on the iPhone.  Having it on the iPhone was actually very convenient.  I was able to pop it open and read it at any time I liked.

I'm a bit of a book snob, but not in the way you'd think.  The book is targeted to readers that want simple answers and simple motivation, and it delivers perfectly.  I noticed there was a lack of high-brow language, and that served the book's purpose exactly.  He tells you how he does what he does, simply and effectively.  By "book snob", I mean that I think a book should deliver to it's target audience and purpose, and this one does.

His book provides an insight into how one of the most talented athletes in the world approaches nutrition, training, and spirit.  It's full of good insights, attitude, and even nutrition, which will take you miles farther than overly-detailed target heart rate graphs.

I finished the book feeling energized.  I also felt like I had seen into the mind of somebody who was doing it all in a way that we should aspire to attain.  It's a good read.

I got my copy at Amazon.com.  

What is "Land Paddling"? Gear and Initial Impressions.

Tools of the trade. No, I don't want to trade.

I recently found out about "Land Paddling" and fell in love with it.  You get on a longboard armbreaker skateboard and push yourself along with a Kahuna Big Stick, a lot like stand up paddle surfing.

I've done it a few times with a homemade push stick, a tennis ball on the end of a bamboo rod, which was pretty fun but not as effective as I wished.  The tennis ball was eaten up pretty quickly, but the bamboo stick was light and stiff.

I ordered the Kahuna Big Stick for $89 and waited patiently for it to come.  The difference it made was tremendous.  The carbon rubber bottom and nicely shaped handle at the top was like adding icing to a cake.  

The workout goes like this - You get a longboard skateboard and push yourself along.  When going downhill, you swoop side to side like surfing, working your balance coordination like crazy.  When on the flats, you "paddle", working your abs, lats, shoulders, arms, and forearms pretty nicely.  When going uphill, you can pretty much triple the flat land workout.

When you put it all together, it's like surfing, casual flat water paddling, or intense white water "holy sh*t, look out for that rock!" paddling, depending on the amount of slope you are on at the moment.  If you get up enough speed on a downhill, it can even be, "Holy sh*t! I'm going to die at Pipeline!" intense.  

What's really nice is that you are actually going somewhere and it's as challenging as you make it, so you can put in an hour of land paddling and not even know it.  I did 40 minutes of it last night and woke up today nicely sore and could definitely feel it during my swim.  Sweet!

You will either need some prior skateboarding experience or a full body helmet for the first few days.  If you're good with that, it is an awesome way to get in a great upper body and core workout while cruising around your neighborhood.  I give it a big thumb's up.

Why Go Offroad?

Here's a video of the waterfall/grotto that I found when mountain biking near my house.  It's a great spot to chill out and enjoy the vibe.

I never would have found this jewel if I wasn't exploring unknown areas of the woods.  What a great discovery and motivation to get off the beaten path every once in a while.

Downtime

Billy always wondered what asphalt tastes like. Now he knows. (Image credit: Bikehugger)If I could hang a sign on the door of this blog, it would say "Gone mountain biking and land paddling."  

Sure, the rider is having a bad day, but at least the guy on the far left is enjoying the hell out of it all.

How to Build Endurance with Joy

I'm reading Laird Hamilton's book "A Force of Nature" (Full review coming soon) and there is a great section on how to build endurance.  He said he doesn't mess with heart rate, graphs and charts, and all that jazz.  He goes by feel instead.

Laird says that if you're not enjoying yourself, you're not doing it right.  Make every workout an adventure and push yourself to really feel the thrill of the workout.  Now, we've all heard that stuff, so I thought I'd put it to the test on a long bike ride.

I did my regular Sunday morning long bike ride focusing on joy and meeting the challenge with the right amount of effort to keep that joy.  I pushed hard enough to get the full experience, but not so hard that it was painful.  Instead of targeting a heart rate, I targeted the smile on my face; too easy and the smile would go away as I got bored, too hard and the smile would change into a grimace.

Lo and behold, this effort level was smack in the middle of Zone 2 -- The land of beautiful and bountiful endurance building.  It was so dead on, that it has me rethinking some of the workout descriptions for my coaching clients.

Heart rate ranges change from day to day and experienced athletes know how to use perceived effort instead of sticking exactly to numbers.  And best yet, the "Keep a smile on your face" method re-enforces that this whole triathlon thing is supposed to be fun.

Give it a try for yourself and let us know how it works!