Aloha everyone! This is a special introduction post and one that I hope you’ll follow, comment on and support. I’d like you to welcome Brian Coppedge of Haiku, Maui to the wonderful stand up paddle community and encourage him to follow his adventure and goal into the year of 2013 and  beyond. I hope that from this entry forward you will be inspired and help him realize his life and fitness goals.  I thank you all in advance,  Suzie Cooney

Welcome Brian Coppedge

Brian’s first day and already flexing the heck out of that paddle! Look out!

The concept seems simple enough – move to an Island you’ve got to get yourself a water sport.  After a bit of research and tons of conversation, or should I say “talking story,” I decided that I wanted to take up Stand Up Paddle boarding. I of course have never been on any type of a board, not a skate board, not a surf board, not a paddle board, and I was assured serving on the “board” of a non-profit organizations would not translate to the water.

It was this point that a bit of serendipity entered my life, and I was introduced to Suzie Cooney.  Suzie is always upbeat and optimistic, so when I approached her about training to do a downwind paddleboard event she was onboard.  When I told her I wanted to do the Olukai’s Ho’olaule’a Maliko down wind event – she wisely suggested, “ why don’t you start with the 3 mile fun paddle”.  Cooler heads prevailed, leaving me to wait until our first training session to tell her, “no way I want to do  the full 8 mile race”.  Without missing a beat she backed my decision and started putting together a training plan, both on land and in the water that would set me on my way to meet my goal.

If you will let me I would love to bring you all along with me on my journey of getting in shape, and learning the necessary board skills to pull off my goal of completing in the Maliko down winder in early May.  My idea would be to post training updates at least twice a month, here on Suzie’s site, to be brutally honest about the process and hopefully have lots of new friends to share the in process with me online and in person.

I promise pictures, maybe even some videos and my best running commentary through the whole build up to the event.  Now in the spirit of transparency, I must confess that only recently have I been able to get serious about the training component and I  have only been in the water on a SUP twice- much more time was spent in the water than on the board!

Here are some basic stats so we can all judge my progress over the next several months.  I am 49 years old, 5 foot 10 inches tall and current weight about 210 pounds.  My goal is to get that down to around 180 by the time of the race.   I am currently working out with Suzie on land once a week and then on my own for the rest of the week.  I have been out on the board for some great basic SUP tips with Suzie once and out on my own only one more time.  This week will be the first week that I start to record how much time I am on the water, and I promise to share all that data with you as I go forward.

 Thanks for reading and I hope you will all check back in and follow me as I blog my experience under the careful tutelage of the wonderful Suzie Cooney.

    Brian is an inspiration to me and to others. Brian is one of those guys where I need to look him in the eye and monitor the real athlete in there, because there is no off switch! His workout will consist of timed interval paddling sprints, loaded balance training, upper body endurance strength training, serious core work, and self myofascial rolling. Nutrition will be key as will rest and recovery.

 So now he’s shared here with you and the world so drop a line, give him a cyber high five and be sure you’re looking over your shoulder at the next downwind race here on Maui. He’s going to do great and I can’t wait!

Mahalo, Suzie Cooney.