My TiVO picked this up yesterday and I watched it last night. It was 30 minutes in length and aside from the very dry race commentary I thought it was decent. They had a nice segment on CAF and the work that they do. Then they took a “Joe AgeGrouper” guy and did a little piece on him. They were really playing up how athletic he was and how triathlon is a big part of his sobriety, etc., which is cool. Then they ask him to talk about his training and he replies that he “tries to do ‘something’ 3 times a week” but he really prefers surfing to Swim/Bike/Run as training. He goes on to say what great aerobic training surfing is. I’m thinking, you’re kidding right? Is this how most age groupers really approach tri training? Are us STers really that much in the minority?
There are many days when I’d much rather be scuba diving than training. It’s a matter of trying to balance two hobbies that often conflict. For example I’m skipping tonight’s hill ride to go scuba diving this afternoon because it’s just not possible to fit them both in today. Both myself and the surfer have two hobbies. It takes planning to fit them both in over the same season.
There seems to be a lot of ST’ers that triathlon is the only thing they do other than work, but I’ll bet there are quite a few others that also have other sports or hobbies they enjoy just as much and have difficulty trying to balance them along with triathlon.
I get that totally. I enjoy other things as well (golf, playing with my kids, etc.), my point is that he seemed to be stating that he used surfing as a substitute for sport-specific triathlon training. They showed more footage of him surfing than anything else.
My TiVO picked this up yesterday and I watched it last night. It was 30 minutes in length and aside from the very dry race commentary I thought it was decent. They had a nice segment on CAF and the work that they do. Then they took a “Joe AgeGrouper” guy and did a little piece on him. They were really playing up how athletic he was and how triathlon is a big part of his sobriety, etc., which is cool. Then they ask him to talk about his training and he replies that he “tries to do ‘something’ 3 times a week” but he really prefers surfing to Swim/Bike/Run as training. He goes on to say what great aerobic training surfing is. I’m thinking, you’re kidding right? Is this how most age groupers really approach tri training? Are us STers really that much in the minority?
Most of the people in an IM are not driven to finish in less than 10 hours. Even fewer in sprint triathlons are driven to excell. So, those of you who are really are in the tiny minority.
OK, now I get ya. I’ve never surfed but I’ll suspect it’s a similiar type work out to something like downhill skiing. Skiers and surfers are definately athletes but I can’t see these sports as an aerobic substitute for the three tri sports. Sounds like he does triathlon in order to stay in shape for surfing.
Surfing is a great cardio and strength workout.
How do surfers get out to the waves?
Each ride, which can last as little as few seconds, requires a lot of paddling to get out. Then you have to sprint to actually get on the wave. Ride for a bit, then repeat. Next thing you know, you’re at the beach and have to paddle out again. Rinse and repeat.
I don’t surf, but I do paddle outrigger boats, which are great in the waves. Riding waves is a lot of fun, but it’s a lot of work. On good wave days it can take up to an hour of paddling against the wind and waves before I can turn around and ride the waves for ten minutes…
I wouldnt consider surfing good aerobic work unless you ride chicama in peru or pavones in costa rica which are about a half mile long. most of the time in beach breaks your paddling madly to miss the breaker and then you just sit on your board to observe nature unfold and wait for your next wave.
in the right setting i can see surfing helping your swimming since the paddling movement probably helps some of your freestyle muscles.
for any one who has surfed it is easy to understand how youd prefer to surf instead of training. i wouldnt exchange the feeling of gliding on a perfect 7 foot wave in Pakalas (south kauai) for any amount of training or tri winning/competing. but i dont think we were discussing “enjoyment”. to get back to the point. you are correct. in most cases surfing is not a great aerobic workout since you dont paddle for more than 2 consecutive minutes unless your in the right setting.