{"id":25229,"date":"2019-06-11T21:44:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-12T03:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/big-wave-surfer-lenny-cross-training-in-vail\/"},"modified":"2019-06-11T21:44:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-12T03:44:00","slug":"big-wave-surfer-lenny-cross-training-in-vail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/local-news\/big-wave-surfer-lenny-cross-training-in-vail\/","title":{"rendered":"Big-wave surfer Lenny \u2018cross\u2019 training in Vail"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Kai Lenny finished fourth in the Yeti Downriver SUP Sprint at the GoPro Mountain Games in Gore Creek on Saturday in Vail.<\/strong>
Benton Inscoe \/ Special to the Daily<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

VAIL \u2014 World-class waterman Kai Lenny sees the swift current of Gore Creek as an ideal cross-training opportunity.<\/p>\n

He also plans on entering in the Yeti SUP Surf Cross competition today.<\/p>\n

Stand-up paddleboard racing arrived in Vail in 2010 in one of the first river SUP races ever seen by a large audience and the longest-running race to this day. Lenny raced in 2014 but hasn\u2019t returned since.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a lot colder and rainier,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This time around the water temperatures aren\u2019t bothering him, but he\u2019s definitely feeling the elevation, as few people spend as much time at zero feet above sea level as professional surfers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anything, I\u2019m below sea level at times,\u201d Lenny said.<\/p>\n

Lenny competes on the World Surf League\u2019s Big Wave Tour, where he finished this season at the Jaws Challenge. He also enjoys hydrofoil paddling races; in 2017 he made headlines by beating the Molokai 2 Oahu course record by more than an hour.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery sport I do, endurance plays a key role,\u201d Lenny said. \u201cInner-island channel crossings on a hydrofoil, but big waves, as well, because \u2026 if you get caught inside on a really big wave, or you get caught on a big one, you\u2019re gonna have to have that stamina to last those minutes of getting absolutely tortured underwater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top river racers<\/p>\n

As he\u2019s in a bit of an offseason at the moment, Lenny hopes to cross-train by taking to a river rather than the ocean waters he calls home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is totally out of my wheelhouse,\u201d Lenny said on Saturday, after racing in the Yeti Downriver SUP Sprint. \u201cI\u2019m typically riding water that moves in much different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, in training across various water venues, Lenny hopes to surf well out of his comfort zone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a new challenge,\u201d he said. \u201cSomething that is unique and fresh. \u2026 I\u2019m looking at this as maybe a platform to project me into a really good training run when I get home.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Saturday\u2019s downriver SUP sprint, Lenny said he appreciated the level of athleticism on display at the GoPro Mountain Games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have some of the best river guys in the world chasing behind you, it\u2019s an extra little bit of fire to try to go as fast as you can,\u201d he said. \u201cI really just focused on my paddling technique, and the little knowledge I do have of a river, to try to make my run quick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lenny finished fourth behind Spencer Lacy, Michael Tavares and Bradley Hilton.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put it all out there,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was super-fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Crowded lineup\u2019<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Lenny was scheduled to participate in the Yeti SUP Surf Cross competition, where all competitors take to Gore Creek at the same time.<\/p>\n

Race organizers described it as a \u201cbattle royal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s gonna be like being in a crowded lineup at a surf spot, and everyone\u2019s caught inside, and they\u2019re trying to make it out for the next wave,\u201d Lenny said before the event. \u201cIn this type of racing, you can get bumped wrong, and you can just miss all the gates. \u2026 It\u2019s probably a lot more well suited to the river guys, but I\u2019m really excited to throw my hat into the mix.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story is from VailDaily.com.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kai Lenny finished fourth in the Yeti Downriver SUP Sprint at the GoPro Mountain Games in Gore Creek on Saturday in Vail.Benton Inscoe \/ Special to the Daily VAIL \u2014 World-class waterman Kai Lenny sees the swift current of Gore Creek as an ideal cross-training opportunity. He also plans on entering in the Yeti SUP […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-25229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-11 22:03:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KIFT - The LIFT FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25229\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}