Disneyland in the Rain
Dragon boat practice was cancelled this morning because of rain so Vi and I went down to Disneyland. The crowd was light so we managed to ride 7 rides in only a few hours.
The line for Star Tours was less than 20 minutes and we saw the best version of Star Tours ever – Princess Leia and Bobba Fett made appearances – my 2 favorite Star Wars characters.
Oh, and I also got to take some shots of some kids having a light saber duel in the rain.
Rain in the Forecast
With the rain barreling down on Southern California this weekend, Ken and I headed out to do a longer OC1 piece this morning as it may be our only paddling for awhile. It rained on us a bit and I thought to myself this must be what paddling in Portland, Vancouver, and Seattle must be like.
Our New Stickers Have Arrived
The new LARD shield stickers have arrived. Looks great on the Kialoa Hybrid!
UCLA v USC at the Dodgertown Classic
Last night I shot the UCLA Baseball at Dodger Stadium. It was my second time shooting at Dodger Stadium. The Bruins beat the Trojans 7-2 extending their current winning streak to 11 games.
UCLA put up a photo gallery of my pictures. It can be found here.
I got to the game early and managed to catch the end of the Pepperdine/UCI game. Here are few of my favorites.
At Setup
Here’s a shot of LARD Black at setup. I took this photo recently at the LARD/Kialoa photo shoot.
Post processed in Aperture 3 and Photoshop CS5.
This Sunday, LARD will bust out the medicine balls for training for the first time this young season. I have seen quite a few different medicine balls over the years – some good, some, well, not so good.
I’ve seen plastic balls with sand in them. These do not work so well as the plastic will, sooner rather than later, burst. Before they break, they warp. I’ve also seen balls that don’t bounce – kind of like a shotput. I’ve also seen synthetic leather balls filled with sand in them. These don’t last too long either.
I recommend Nike’s medicine ball in your weight of choice. I have had my 10 pounder for about 4 years now and it’s bullet proof. It’s durable, is grippy and bounces. It looks like a colored basketball but really heavy. This ball is great for slamming-type throws. Here’s a link to the newer version of my ball. It’s not the cheapest ball but you’ll be happy with it and it will last you multiple seasons.
I’ve also seen Valeo’s ball that is pretty similar to the Nike ball I have. A few LARDies have that ball and it seems like a pretty good ball although I’ve never used one.
I’m not paid by Nike, nor is my team sponsored by Nike (although that would be pretty cool).
I don’t recommend getting those balls with the handles built into them – especially if you are throwing the ball to a partner.
The Two Components of Competitive LARD Training
First, as a disclaimer of sorts, the Los Angeles Racing Dragons (affectionately known as TeamLARD) is composed of both recreational and competitive paddlers. What makes LARD unique is that every single member is valued. It doesn’t matter if all you want to do is come out get some exercise and hang out with some good people or you want to become the best paddler you can possibly be. It doesn’t matter if you qualify for our Black boat (fastest), Red boat (almost as fast), or White boat (recreational/new paddlers), to us you are LARD.
If you fashion yourself a competitive paddler or want to become one, read on.
Although I am a lawyer by trade, and a LARD coach in my spare time, I am not the brightest person in the world but I am smart enough to know that to maximize a paddler’s abilities, she or he must be both coached and trained properly. Paddlers need to be taught how to effectively move a boat AND need to be trained to maximize one’s physical gifts in race conditions (of course, talent and being physically gifted helps!).
The Technical Aspects of Paddling
As for the paddling portion, the LARD coaches have a combined 72 years experience in both dragon boat and outrigger paddling. Granted, there are several ways to move a dragon boat but we believe we have an efficient and effective way to do it. We know how to teach you how to paddle. If what I am telling you doesn’t sink in, perhaps Leon, Jason, Chuck, Otto, or Megan will be able to better explain. Sometimes, it just takes a slightly different perspective or a slightly different explanation for a paddler to have his/her “ah ha!” moment and having multiple coaches with different coaching styles increases the possibility that your “paddling light bulb” will turn on.
The Physical Aspects of Paddling
I believe we have the technical aspects of paddling under control, but none of the coaches has a proper pedigree to effectively get our paddlers at their physical peaks for our target races. That’s the reason why for the last several years, LARD has engaged the services of professionals to get our paddlers peaking physically for our target races.
Dr. Will Wu is tasked with prescribing LARD’s land training. Dr. Will has a PhD in Kinesiology and is a professor at Cal State Long Beach in the Motor Control/Learning and Biomechanics Department. He also works with USA Track and Field and is USA Weight Lifting certified. He’s also my brother. 
TeamLARD’s land training consists of 2 weekend workouts and 2 midweek workouts. This is in addition to our 2-3 days of on water training. In the Spring and Summer, we have one weekly group midweek workout. Last year’s locations for the midweek group workouts were in Long Beach, Cerritos, Irvine, and Pasadena (Rose Bowl). Depending on need and desire we can add group workouts throughout the Southland. Some of our workouts are remarkably challenging, while others leave many of the uninitiated thinking that they need to do more but our paddlers realize that Dr. Will’s plan does not only relate to that one workout but the next target race and the multiple energy systems a dragon boat race requires.
The essence of dragon boating is to move your boat as quickly as possible from the start line to the finish line. Our workouts are tailor made for that goal. All that matters is how fast we can make our boat go. Every single rep and every single set that Dr. Will prescribes has that goal in mind. The goal is not body building. The goal is not finishing a marathon. The goal isn’t necessarily fitness. Working out harder doesn’t necessarily matter in a race. What matters is WHAT we are doing to become better paddlers. Are you doing a routine your coach watched on Youtube or read in Men’s Health? Or worse, did she or he just make up the workout? Or are you training the way a body builder or a fat person trying to get skinny trains? You should be training in a manner that will get you to your goal. If that goal is to lose weight, train to lose weight. If you want to finish a marathon, train to finish a marathon. But if you want to train to be the best paddler you can be at your next race, train to become the best paddler you can be at your next race.
Over the years, I have been able to witness and be a part of this team’s success. It always amazes me that we are rarely the most physically opposing team in our Competitive Division Final Heats. In fact, we are usually the smallest team in stature. But in racing, all that matters is how fast we can move a boat not how much we can bench press. Our training focuses on that and only that.
