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Welcome
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Ask the Paddlers… Q:
Why do you like to paddle? What magic does it hold for you? Mike: Having been a "wanna-be athlete" all my life, I have played at many sports since high school. I began jogging before it became fashionable in an attempt to maintain some semblance of weight control. I progressed to mini-triathlons until the knees and ankles gave out. I enjoy keeping fit and the challenge of trying to continue to improve skill level. I literally stumbled on to Dragon Boating when searching for a lifelong sport I could pursue as my body aged. This is a low impact sport that leaves me with the endorphin rush you get only after a kick_ _ _ _ workout. And while if done properly it is primarily a lower body and torso workout, after two years of paddling, my wife says, "Gee, you've got shoulders". As for the magic, the stillness in the morning with the sun rising over Mount Rainier is truly ethereal. Oh, and did I mention, my wife says, "Gee, you have shoulders". Q: How
do you mentally prepare for competition? Mike: Our coach has many years of competitive paddling experience, including preparing for Olympic competition. He plans our practices with strength, aerobic, workload and rest period elements aimed at bringing us to the appropriate fitness level for each race we enter. My job is to concentrate on the technique, strategy or race piece being presented and give it all I've got at every practice. Knowing that my teammates and I have prepared this way and most other teams don't approach this level of intensity erases any nervousness and replaces it with the feeling that we have the opportunity to win every race we enter. Q: What
do you eat before a workout or to refuel afterward? Mike: I try to hydrate properly but do not eat just prior a workout. I workout hard enough that anything eaten less than 45 minutes before has a tendency to try to come back out. If I eat before it is usually a banana or a bagel. Nothing spicy or greasy. I eat regular meals after a workout without much thought about refueling unless it is two day competition and then it's complex carbs in moderate amounts. Q: How
do you control your weight without compromising your nutrition? Mike: As earlier confessed, I like to eat and the easiest path has been to increase the exercise level with a minimal decrease in food intake. As age goes up and metabolism goes down, this issue has become increasingly important. I plan to take a much more disciplined approach to weight control in preparation for next year's racing season. The goal is to adjust the lean muscle to fat ratio toward that of an athlete. This will mean a body composition measurement before and after a planned program food intake and exercise. You will see 'less' of me on the water. Q: What
kind of training do you do in the off-season that helps your paddling? Mike: The coach is providing us with sets of weight training exercises which utilize our own body weight as the basis for a "paddle-specific" program. These are the exercises I will incorporate into the weight control program I mentioned above. Q: How
do you balance an over-demanding schedule? Mike: Balance, hmmmm! Family, work, paddling. Works for me. Q: Do
you have any advice for new paddlers?
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This page was last updated on 02/20/08. Contact Us Comments to Webmaster
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Mike is our interviewee for January 2003.
He's the outgoing President, a coach, paddler, and steersman.