Today we catch up with the legendary Oscar Chalupsky, just a week after he scared the world with a FB post of him in a hospital bed surrounded by nurses and doctors. In our discussion today, Oscar gives us the blow by blow detail leading up to his episode of Arterial Fibrillation. While the incident was not life threatening it was a serious wake up call that has forced Oscar to considerably cut back his alcohol consumption.
Beyond discussing A-Fib we also took this opportunity to catch up with Oscar on what is new at Nelo. Lots of great stuff happening there including a new tandem and some plastic boats coming out very soon.
And of course a podcast with Oscar is not complete if we don’t dive deep into downwind paddling. Today Oscar discusses some new concepts that I haven’t heard before including how he catches waves on the shoulder first then maneuvers into the steeper power zone of the wave. This had me scratching my head and contemplating for a long time, it isn’t easy to articulate, but I have to wonder if this is one of the secrets that makes Oscar so good in big conditions where you simply can’t paddle directly onto the steepest part of a wave. Similar to the concept of using small waves to build speed and catch the bigger waves, perhaps there is also this idea of catching the wave on the shoulder and surfing into the steep power zone.
Below is a brief summary of all the items we covered in this Podcast:
An overview of all the apps and tools Oscar uses to track his health:
- ithlete is the tool that Oscar has been using consistently for several months now. Prior to the AFib it had been sending warning signs
- On our first podcast Oscar went into detail on the training protocol from Phil Maffetone that he follows closely. Oscar again references MAF when referring to his aerobic threshold level for training
- Oscar’s HR Monitor of choice is made by Wahoo Fitness
- Oscar weighs himself daily and records his weight and eating using the myFitnessPal app
- Oscar has been a disciple of Timothy Noakes Real Meal Revolution
An update on what’s new from Nelo
- Oscar provides us with an update on the latest surfski models hitting the market from Nelo including a 20 foot tandem and a 17 foot plastic boat, the Nelo 510
Downwind tips and tricks including the following:
- Focus on your destination and work the runs that lead there – not the runs that are easiest to catch
- The key to catching runs – take fewer strokes, but make them powerful. Think about a Tour De France Winner sprinting for the finish. They are always in a big gear throwing down power.
- Crank up the cadence only after you are carrying a lot of speed
- Try to catch the wave on the shoulder and surf onto the steepest part – the opposite of what a surfer does
- Too many people try to catch too many waves – know when it is too late and wait for the next
- Start paddling as soon as you feel yourself falling off the back of the wave
- When there are no more runs, use the opportunity to work your way back out and reposition your line to surf the waves to directly to your end point
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