interesting online reading... with pictures

[Craig Smerda]

"Jon (Lugbill) was allergic to exercise..."

http://www.daveyhearn.com/Coaching/Tech ... 205-16.pdf

http://www.daveyhearn.com/Coaching/Tech ... 058-92.pdf

http://www.daveyhearn.com/Coaching/Tech ... 96-359.pdf

more at http://www.daveyhearn.com/

o.k. time for bed...

[jakke]

Edit: I managed to empty-post; bad url was the cause...


Wow craig, a bit too heavy for breakfast .

Documentation looks old, but I quickly scrolled though it, and I definetly want to read those pages. I already spotted some interesting remarks.

Anyhow, also coming from Davy, and something I added to my flatwater runs are his slalom exercises. With some technique adaptations perfectly usable for open canoes and good fun:
http://www.daveyhearn.com/Whitewater%20 ... course.htm

[John Coraor]

"Jon (Lugbill) was allergic to exercise..."

My recollection is that it was Jon's brother, Ron Lugbill (5th at the 1979 World Championships in Jonquiere) who had the exercise allergy. I believe that it's why you saw Ron drop out of serious slalom training and competition around 1982.

I remember that around then was when Ron paddled a "Knealyak" in a few races. The "Knealyak" was a slalom kayak outfitted to be paddled knealing with a kayak paddle, a legal combination under ICF regulations at the time, which offered the greater reach and leverage of a knealling position combined with the rapid stroke rate of a double-bladed paddle...provided that you can handle manage the balance from the elevated position. As a world-class C-1 paddler, Ron had the skills to thoroughly test the concept and with his exercise allergy making it difficult for him to train seriously, he wasn't giving up future opportunities in order to test out this concept. However, the ICF quickly revised the rules to require that kayaks must be paddled while seated.

John

[Craig Smerda]

John... here's what I read on page 329 (via the 3rd link)

Cholinergic Urticaria

For two weeks after Bala, Jon did practically no physical exercise. When he started up again back home, he was shocked at the outcome: he broke into hives and had an allergic reaction. This happened every time he exercised hard.

It meant that Jon couldn't paddle hard in practice, which was immensely frustrating to him. He saw doctors, but they didn't know what to do. Their only advice: Wait it out, it might disappear as quickly as it had come on.

I would see Jon on weekends when he'd come home from college (he had now transferred to the University of Virginia, 2 hours away from the Feeder Canal), to train with the others. But every time he got to the bottom of the course, I could see his face was swollen and his sinuses blocked up. Still, he'd try to do another run, until finally he just could not do any more.

By December, 1981, things had gotten pretty desperate. It looked like Jon's paddling career was coming to an abrupt close because he simply could not work out hard. He talked about just going to races and taking all-out runs, knowing that the reaction would come after the run, but doing only long distance endurance training, nothing really intense. He was grasping at straws and we knew it.

Finally, my wife suggested I call a classmate of mine who was now a physician at the National Institutes of Health, near where we live. He arranged for a specialist to see Jon. The specialist quickly diagnosed the problem as "Cholinergic Urticaria" -- Jon was allergic to exercise -- and prescribed some pills to be taken before each workout. They worked. Jon could train hard again.

A month or two afterwards, Jon stopped taking the pills entirely but the reaction still did not return.

Jon Lugbill was back again, ready for another shot at the Worlds.

It's interesting to me partially because I used to break out in stress related hives on my face and chest and the two doctors I saw couldn't pin it down... then I quit that $#!++y job and I haven't had it happen since.


I've been especially enjoying everything from page 354 and onward.

THE MAX: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BOAT DESIGNING

To my mind, when a paddler, as opposed to a company, undertakes the vast amount of unpleasant work associated with designing and building a new boat, it is an indication of his very deep involvement in the sport. I think the outcome of the design is less important than the fact that the boater has cared so much about improving that he is willing to look at everything. Consequently he will be very familiar with the characteristics of his new boat. Davey Hearn once made a telling point when he said to me, "Many times we came up with a boat first and then developed ways to make it work. We had a vested interest in the outcome."

[Longboatin]

Craig, sweet post, great to check out a more indepth history of some heros of mine

[Smurfwarrior]

Yup, last paragraph says a lot.... big thanks to you and Jeremy for the boats!