Get some “Grit” and Go Faster

I’m engaged in an interesting study at the moment on behalf of Canoe Kayak Canada in which we’re looking at our past medalists at the Olympic Games or World Championships going back 30 years or more and identifying common traits and experiences they have had which might have helped lead to their success. In theory, if we can identify common psychological and personality characteristics it can help shed light into the type of athlete we’re looking for when we’re recruiting new athletes to the sport at a young age. If we can identify common features in their daily training environment, we can perhaps do a better job of tailoring the training environments of young athletes to maximize future success.

To me a study shouldn’t really be required. I think we can all identify at least some of the differences between champions and participants. However if you’re going to publish your results and use them in a publicly funded business like Canadian Olympic sport, you’ve got to do the study.

While we’re still waiting for all the results of our contacts with these past champions to come in, we’ve been having a lot of discussions about the characteristics of top level athletes (and for that matter, top-level performers in any field) and one of the things that always comes up is the concept of “grit”. Quite simply, we’re talking about the mental and emotional toughness of a person and their ability to persevere, overcome and deal with any challenge thrown at them. It’s a measure of a person’s resilience, determination and willingness to chase down seemingly impossible long-term goals.

We’ve all seen the top SUP athletes race and we’ve watched in awe as they combine incredible skills and fitness with mental and physical toughness. The confidence they show isn’t some false confidence quickly earned by a few successful attempts at whatever it is they are doing, rather it is a hard fought, deservedly earned and deep rooted belief in their abilities that is as much the result of past failures as past successes. When they’ve failed they’ve gotten right back up and tried again, always learning along the way. They aren’t afraid of challenges and, though they don’t like failure, they certainly aren’t afraid to fail. They’ll willingly put it all on the line, knowing that only by doing so will they get stronger, better and faster.

There are more athletes that I respect than I have room or time to mention here, but consider just a couple that we all know. Jamie Mitchell won ten consecutive Molokai to Oahu paddleboard titles. He won in all sorts of conditions and for a decade repelled whatever challenge the world’s best paddleboarders could throw at him. It wasn’t easy. There were huge challenges in each race and the preparation heading into them. Just to be able to train at the level required for a decade, without losing interest or intensity is an amazing feat. Winning an event like that once is insanely hard, to dominate for a decade is almost incomprehensible. Winning is fun, but all the work that leads to it isn’t quite as much, and it certainly isn’t as glamorous. And now Jamie chases swells around the world and rides some of the biggest waves on the planet. I know him. He’s not crazy. He’s found something he loves doing and does it very well. And he definitely has that mental toughness that for lack of a better word we can call “grit”.

Among all the SUP athletes I find so impressive, another worth mentioning is Annabel Anderson. Here’s an athlete who was a high performance alpine skier, training for the Olympics, who unfortunately spent as much time visiting the orthopedic surgeon as she did standing on podiums. It took six or seven knee surgeries to finally knock her off the slopes and into triathlon, where I think she ended up on the surgeon’s table again. After sort of stumbling into SUP she found she enjoyed it and was pretty good at it. So she put herself out there and traveled the world for a couple of years, visiting all the gnarliest patches of ocean to improve her skills and bring her level up to that of the world’s best. She’s paid her dues, been pounded by the ocean and in a way, as an outsider, had to fight to gain acceptance within the SUP community. Yet she’s overcome it all and continues to put it all on the line in races as the world’s number one women SUP racer. Nothing along her pathway has been easy. She’s definitely got tons of “grit”.

Angela Duckworth is a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania who has conducted a lot of research into high achievers and people who overcome adversity and has established the idea of “grit” as a predictor of achievement. She has devised a short test called the “12-Item Grit Scale” that can be used to determine a person’s “grittiness”. You can find this test and take it yourself - click here.

For most of us paddling is only a small part of our lives. Even if we’re competitive, we’re recreationally competitive. We’re not professionals, and although we want to do well when we compete we’ve got myriad other priorities that interfere with the type of commitment the top athletes are making to the sport. However that doesn’t mean that at the level of commitment we’re making we can’t harden up a little and dig a little deeper when we train or race.

Many of us might well score high on the “Grit Scale” even though we don’t think of ourselves as particularly tough paddlers. Many people demonstrate “grit” in far more important areas of life than sport. But if we score low on the “Grit Scale” does that mean we’re condemned to mediocrity when we race, or worse still in life? For those of us who aren’t quite as superhuman as Jamie and Annabel, does that mean that we don’t have “grit”? NO!! I contend that we all have the ability to persevere and overcome, to deal with disappointment and adversity, and to dream big and then chase that dream single-mindedly until we achieve it. It’s just that for various reasons most people don’t demonstrate that ability it in their daily lives, at least not in sport.

Did you take the test? If you scored poorly have you reflected on the test and what it says about the way you approach life? Can you do better at sticking to it, persevering, taking risks, focusing and following through? If you scored well on the test and have demonstrated “grit” in areas of life other than sport, can you transfer the toughness you’ve demonstrated to paddling? I contend you can.

Stop taking the easy path in training. Challenge yourself. Go out in lousy weather, take the necessary safety precautions but don’t shy away from paddling in bad conditions. Don’t always wait till it’s nicely “lined up” to do your downwind paddles. Push yourself a little more in training. Join a training group and push others knowing they’re pushing you at the same time. Hold them accountable and expect them to hold you accountable for your effort. Paddle when you’re tired, not just when you feel great. Enter races and scratch and claw to beat every single person you can, knowing that even if you get beat there is always another race to beat that other paddler you’re always chasing. Go for it and understand that losing is only failure when you don’t learn from it.

I honestly believe that most of us think we’re working hard, when in reality we could actually be working a lot harder. I see it in athletes I coach in canoe/kayak every day. Setting higher standards in training (or whatever else you are doing) and sticking to them on a day-to-day basis makes you a higher-level performer in a surprisingly short period of time. Being honest about the effort you make and recognizing a soft effort for what it is can be the biggest step you take towards success. The truth is it’s not that hard to “harden the fuck up”. You just have to stop being so soft and do it. It’s actually fun and it makes you feel great, invincible. And you will see a difference in your performance. Guaranteed.

Keep your Board on Top of the Water

I’ve done a lot of writing about the concept of “gears” in paddling (see “Stroke Rate in SUP Paddling” ). Although it has been a while since I last wrote on the subject, nothing since has made me change my way of thinking. Everyone needs to find a gear that works best for them, given their own individual fitness strengths and weaknesses. They should also develop a range of gears they are comfortable using for various situations they are likely to encounter. What has happened since I last wrote about gears is that I’ve developed an even greater appreciation for the need to adjust your gear to the conditions you are paddling in.

In flat water you can paddle in pretty much whatever gear feels best to you. If you like a lightly loaded, faster stroke then go for it. I believe there is always value in doing drills in which you play with how you load the paddle so you’ll discover how to load the paddle more effectively while still maintaining the rhythm and feel of the lighter gear you prefer. However I don’t think people need to paddle in a “heavier” gear if the lighter gear they are using is effective.

Similarly, if you prefer a slower stroke which allows you to use a little more body weight in your stroke and feels like it is a little easier on your cardiovascular system that is fine too. Many adult paddlers, especially middle-aged men that aren’t highly trained athletes, find this slower stroke/more heavily loaded gear preferable and more effective.

When you’re paddling in choppy water things are a little different. I have the opportunity to paddle in lots of chop regularly on Lake Ontario that ranges from one to four feet. We don’t often get big ocean swell, but we get some sizeable waves in mostly choppy conditions. What I’ve come to realize is that in choppy water it’s absolutely necessary to select a gear that keeps the board on top of the chop. Using too heavy a gear or too slow a stroke in these conditions will cause your board to sink deeper into the chop and get “sticky”. It really doesn’t matter how powerful you are. It’s more a matter of providing impulse to the board dynamically and often enough so that it gets it on top of the chop and then doesn’t let it drop deeper in the water between strokes. It’s especially important if you’re a heavier paddler or on a board with less volume. Both of these are problematic in these conditions, but you can overcome these disadvantages if you paddle to the conditions really well by adjusting your gear, stroke rate and rhythm.

You’ll find the most effective way of finding a good “chop gear” is to start in the flats and play with your rate, load and paddling rhythm. For stretches of paddling try to lighten the load and increase the stroke rate. You may initially find it changes the rhythm of your breathing and you get out of breath, but stick with it for as long as you can and then go back to your normal, slower but more loaded stroke. Keep repeating this until the faster cadence with lighter load begins to feel more comfortable.

It is important that you still find load on the paddle. You just can’t be as exaggerated with your loading the paddle or go as deep in the water. It is really important that you try to be DYNAMIC with how you work against the water with your paddle. In order to be more dynamic, I like to try to get everything done a little earlier in my stroke. I’m trying to catch harder and gather water behind the blade more quickly. I’m trying to initiate my pull more quickly by making sure I have excellent top hand pressure directed down the paddle shaft as quickly as possible and am engaging my hips to initiate my pull as soon as I have water held behind my blade. If I maintain that good top hand pressure down the shaft through the stroke, I don’t have to go too deep with my blade to maintain good connection. This means my blade is a little more on top of the water and that makes it easier to start my exit a little earlier. I think it is a mistake to be obsessed about where you are exiting, but it is imperative that you try to generate as much impulse as you can as quickly as possible in the stroke. If you take this approach, I’m pretty certain you’ll be exiting where it is most natural (and therefore best) for you.

Once you’ve become comfortable with this in the flats it is time to find this lighter, more dynamic stroke in the chop. You’ve got to just let yourself go and go for it. One of the most amazing things about paddling in rough water is the more you are worried about your balance and are paddling tentatively, the more unstable you’ll find you are. A faster, more dynamic stroke should actually make you feel more stable if you just forget about any fears you have of falling in and just go for it. In my experience, rough water paddling requires bold, decisive movements in order to have maximal stability. The less decisive you are in the way you move around the board or work with your paddle, the less stable you will in fact be.

To make things a little easier as you’re learning in the chop, start by practicing your faster, more dynamic stroke going upwind. It’s a little easier to balance going upwind then in side chop. After you’ve found the right spot on your board you should notice that the board stays on top of the water a little more and you don’t have as much water coming over the nose of your board. You’ll also find that your board doesn’t slow down as much between strokes which is always welcome.

Over time you can start practicing this “chop gear” in side chop. You’ll get the feeling pretty quickly of when you’re doing it well and when you’re not. When you’re on, you’ll feel like your board is just bouncing along on top of the waves. You’ll also feel surprisingly stable. When you’re not doing it well you’ll feel like your board is “sticky” in the water, you’ll have more water on top or your board and you’ll feel less stable.

It takes time to develop a highly effective gear for every condition. Certainly the adjustment that I have described here will not be something you should expect to instantly master. But by playing with your gears daily in the flats and then regularly taking advantage of opportunities to paddle in chop you’ll get it. It’s something that I’ve been able to pick up and I just keep getting better at it. Give it a try!

Training for SUP Part 7 – The Specific Preparatory Phase

As you’ll recall from part 4 of the Training for SUP series, the Specific Preparatory Phase is the macrocycle which follows the General Preparatory Phase, with the objective of converting the general fitness built in that phase to specific fitness that is useful on the board in preparation for the competitive season. It is also the phase in which sound technique is developed and consolidated. If you’re a warm weather paddler and have been on the water a couple of times a week all winter, you’ll be building on the technique you’ve been working on and only need to ensure that you maintain sound movement patterns during the high volume of work you’ll be doing on your board in this phase. If you’re a cold climate paddler and have been off the water through the General Preparatory Phase, you’ll want to be fairly deliberate in your execution of technique in this phase to ensure sound movement patterns are established. You will probably want to devote a portion of each paddle to technical drills.

This phase is approximately 12 to 14 weeks in duration and runs from approximately March 1st to the end of May, although it can be lengthened and adjusted to fit within your personal race schedule. You’ll most definitely need to adjust some of the work you do in this phase if you are going to race in the Carolina Cup at the end of April, however I don’t recommend shortening this phase as it serves as the foundation for a long paddling season that can stretch into October.

Remember, as with the description of the last two macrocycles we’ve examined, what follows is a guideline for the type of training you should consider doing and the rationale for doing it. You need to consider your own goals and objectives, strengths and weaknesses, time available to train and level of experience, and then develop your own plan that works for you. I’ll outline the types of training you should think about doing in each mesocycle of this phase, and then summarize things and give you some suggestions on how to put it all together.

The main focus of this training phase is the maximization of the specific endurance and technical abilities required to support successful high level competition in the stand up paddling racing season. As such, the vast majority of the work is done on the water with the work on land consisting of strength training designed to maintain strength and power gains made in the General Preparatory Phase as well as cardiovascular work that is more aimed at aiding recovery than maintaining or developing cardiovascular fitness.

All work in this phase should be directed towards achieving the following objectives:

• Establishing effective technique based on sound movement principles
• Neuromuscular adaptation that allows for sound technique to be applied at increasing speed/stroke rate throughout the phase
• Establishment of a comprehensive base of specific aerobic endurance
• Introduction of training for specific aerobic power
• Development of specific strength and power through use of resistance
• Maintenance of max strength and power
• Continued development of power endurance
• Maintenance of flexibility developed on land
• Development of flexibility/range of motion on board
• Introduction to race distance work and development of tactical and pacing strategies

The first 3-week mesocycle of this phase should be transitional in nature, moving from the dry land focus of the last phase to the on water focus of this phase somewhat carefully. I would suggest gradually increasing the paddling volume over these three weeks in order to avoid injury and to ensure that technique is always good and not compromised by muscles and a nervous system that are fatigued because they are not yet used to high volume paddling. Dry land work should consist of power endurance strength training 2 to 3 times per week and one or two light runs or cycles which elevate heart rate only to a maximum of 50% to 60% of max in order to increase blood flow to the main paddling muscles while they are not acting as the primary movers. This should facilitate the removal of waste products and delivery of nutrients to muscles that are fatigued by the new stimulus of daily paddling.

The paddling in this first mesocycle should be low level aerobic in nature, designed to develop specific aerobic paddling fitness and transfer general aerobic abilities developed in the General Preparatory Phase to on water work. There should also be a great deal of technical work done in this mesocycle. Each training session can have a 20 minute component of technical drills. Once the drills are completed and the actual work commences it will be performed at a low enough level to still allow for a high level of attention to detail on technique. Care should be taken in this paddling to ensure that while technique is a focus, it does not impede natural, flowing movements essential to effective paddling. You don’t want to force movements, you want them to come to you naturally.

At the end of this first 3-week mesocycle I would suggest doing the first testing of the phase. I’d suggest a longer on water test like a 5 km or 3 mile time control and a shorter test like 2 to 3 times 2 km or 1 mile. These of course should be done on different days with adequate recovery, and in neutral conditions. You can read more on this type of testing here.  These tests results will serve as a benchmark to measure progress against through the rest of the phase and the competitive season that follows.

On-water Development of Specific Aerobic Abilities

The main aerobic ability developed in this phase is aerobic endurance with only an introduction to aerobic power training which is designed to maximize one’s aerobic capacity (% of VO2 max which can be sustained for endurance exercise). Aerobic power work is much more intense than that which develops an aerobic base.

If you consider a phase lasting approximately 12 weeks it is practical to divide it into 4 mesocycles of three weeks duration. The first mesocycle, as described above should be introductory in nature and focus solely on lower level aerobic paddling with lots of technical drills to establish strong technique fundamentals. Successive mesocycles can see the introduction of more intense aerobic work or more structured aerobic workouts.

The first table below summarizes on-water training zones in a simplified manner. It defines each training zone by the percentage of VO2 max, percentage of max HR and blood lactate level that you work at in that zone. It also provides guidelines for workout duration within the training zone and offers examples of workouts for each zone. It is important to recognize that these are guidelines for each zone. As we’re all different we’re all going to have slightly different relationships between the indicators of effort (%VO2, HR, and lactate). As such you’ll have to work with the zones a little to determine the best method to define each training level for you. I would suggest HR is likely the easiest indicator of training level to use, and a HR monitor is not an outrageous investment for someone who is relatively serious about training. You should also remember the concept of polarized training when considering the zones in this table (see “Polarize your Training Program” ). Zone 4 represents the type of “in the middle” threshold training you should be careful of and minimize in a polarized program. While it is necessary to train in this zone for SUP you should probably consider doing it in one “block” or mesocycle rather than doing this type of training to excess throughout the entire phase.

It is important to note that there are many methods to define training zones. While the terminology you’ll see used is different and the number of zones may differ depending on how precisely the zones are defined, the concept remains unchanged from method to method. The key is to find a method that you’re comfortable with and stick to it so that there is some level of organization to the approach to aerobic work in your training program.

Using the training zones provided it is possible to structure the training for each mesocycle within the phase. We already know that the objectives of the first phase involve transitioning from dry land to on water training, development of a specific aerobic base and establishment of sound technique fundamentals. Most of the water work in this block should come from zone 1 with some work from zone 2 introduced in weeks two and three. Technical drills should be conducted at the beginning of each paddle and, since the work is mostly low level, you can do entire paddles with a technical focus a couple of times per week if you choose. What should the other mesocycles look like?

The second 3-week mesocycle should build on the first, with continued development of the specific aerobic base and consolidation of sound technique. Technical drills should be continued as required and technique closely monitored. It is important to finish workouts paddling just as well as when you started in order to develop sound movement patterns. Level 3 work should be introduced into the training program in this mesocycle a couple of times per week and should be well spaced out with level 1 and 2 work in between. Recovery paddles can be used after harder level 3 training sessions to facilitate recovery and maximize readiness for the next hard session. Recovery paddles should be shorter in duration and HR and technique should be carefully monitored to ensure that you stay within the training zone and maintain good movement patterns. Common mistakes in recovery sessions are a) going too hard and b) paddling with lazy technique since it is easy to lose focus when you are paddling with minimal effort. It would be appropriate to test towards the end of the last week of the block.

If you’re going to add a block of training at threshold, mesocycle 3 is the time to do it, with one to two workouts from level 4 in week 1, two in week 2 and one in week 3. Objectives in this block involve developing endurance at anaerobic threshold and maintenance and consolidation of technique at progressively higher intensities. Multiple workouts from level 4 should we well spread out through the week and recovery paddles or level 1 workouts can follow level 4 sessions to facilitate recovery. Workouts at threshold should be done as hard as you can go without rapidly accumulating high amounts of blood lactate. In this phase it is important to maintain technique as intensity increases. Technical drills, performed as required, can prevent slippage in technique or development of bad habits due to increased effort or fatigue.

Mesocycle 4 should see a return to a focus on specific aerobic base development with the introduction of aerobic capacity/aerobic power training from zone 5. This training involves high intensity work that maximizes the use of one’s aerobic capacity, and promotes the physiological adaptation that involves increasing the percentage of VO2 max that can be maintained for extended periods of time. This work should be performed at higher than race pace and is of course much shorter in duration. As always, these high intensity sessions should be well spaced out with lower level specific base work in between. By this time it should be possible to do zone 1 or 2 work rather than recovery paddles, however fatigue levels should be carefully monitored and recovery paddles are always useful when warranted. Testing at the end of this mesocycle is a must, and both the longer and shorter distance tests should be performed.

Table 2 summarizes the paddling objectives for each mesocycle within this phase and provides suggestions for weekly totals for on water work. Again, it is important to recognize that these are guidelines. A range of volume has been offered for each week, with the minimum load based on 5 to 6 paddles per week and maximum based on 8 to 10 paddles per week. Whether you choose to train at the lower or higher end of the volume spectrum, it is important to remember that the recommended ratio between lower and higher intensity work in a polarized program is about 8:2, meaning one of every five workouts should be higher intensity. For shorter periods, like one or two weeks within a block it is fine for those paddling at the lower end of the volume spectrum to do two higher intensity workouts in every five sessions. However care should be taken to respect the concept of polarized training as well as periodization and recovery or easy weeks within each mesocycle. You’ll note that the last week in each mesocycle sees both a drop in total volume and in the amount of more intense work. It is essential to follow this pattern in order to get the most out of the training block that follows.

An outline of a fifth mesocycle is included in the table for those that choose to prolong this phase. It should look much like mesocycle 4, with continued aerobic base development and more work aerobic power work.

Strength Training in the Specific Preparatory Phase

The objective of strength training in this phase is to maintain power and power endurance developed in the General Preparatory Phase. For those training at a higher level, strength work should be done 3 times per week. Those training at a lower level should do strength work a minimum of 2 times per week. The simple truth is that SUP paddling requires a high level of strength to do it well, and the strength and power developed in the General Preparatory Phase cannot be maintained if training in the gym is done less than twice per week.

At the end of the General Preparatory Phase there were two 3-week blocks of power and power endurance. I would suggest continuing with this type of training through the Specific Preparatory Phase as outlined in table 3. The focus should be on power endurance, however to maintain a reserve of max power the middle two mesocycles can be a split focus between max power and power endurance. Strength workouts can be slightly shorter than in the General Preparatory Phase; each workout should last approximately forty-five minutes.

Ancillary Training

In addition to technical drills, three other types of training should be added to your program and similarly be incorporated into other workouts.

Flexibility work should be added to the end of each on-water session. This type of training is often ignored and easily forgotten in busy lives. We have a limited amount of time to train and tend to use it all up on the water. Then, when we’re finished, we jump in the car and head off to work or home and carry on with our busy lives. It is especially important when getting back on the water after a period of focus on dry land training that time be made for ten to fifteen minutes of stretching at the end of each paddling session. This will help maintain flexibility and range of motion in your paddling stroke. If these short stretching sessions are missed, you’ll find that you get progressively tighter, especially after long paddles, and this can over time limit range of motion in your paddling, causing regression in technique and an increased risk of injury. It is also very important to do this stretching after level 4 and 5 workouts of higher intensity.

Some additional flexibility should be done during short, dynamic, dry land warm-ups before on water workouts. However the purpose of these brief warms-ups is more to increase blood flow to muscles that will be used in the paddling workout rather than to maintain or develop flexibility.

The other type of training that should be incorporated into your on water work is resistance training (see “Use a Resistor to Improve Technique and Develop Specific Strength” ). This can be built into the on water warm up, your technical drills or you can chose to do part of the workout with a resistor. I would not do more than 20 minutes of resistor work per workout, and would only do it two to three times a week max. As usual this type of work, if done multiple times per week, should be well spaced out.

Lastly, easy running or cycling should be added as needed for recovery. Heart rate should remain low; approximately 50% – 60% of maximum, and work should last for only about 20 minutes. These recovery sessions are extremely useful for aiding clearance of waste products from paddling muscles and supplying nutrients to them, both via increased blood flow. There is enough aerobic work being done on the water to maintain a high level of aerobic fitness, and since paddling volume is so high in this phase there is no need to do more aerobic work on land. In the competitive season, running or other dry land aerobic work should be reintroduced into the training plan at specific times.

Hopefully this information will help give you some idea of how to structure your return to the water if you have been frozen off the water for the winter or you’ve taken a break from high volume paddling for any other reason. It is important to note that, if necessary, this phase can be extended for another 3-week block or mesocycle to stretch it out to 15 weeks.. It really depends on you and what your upcoming competitive season looks like. In this case you can continue with development of your specific aerobic base while doing more aerobic power work

Next, we’ll look at the Competitive Phase and training within the competitive season.

Do Regular On-water Tests or Time Controls

One of the most important things you can do in your training is testing to both assess your progress and your current training state. If you’re racing frequently then you have an opportunity to assess your training through race performances, however race courses and conditions are often drastically different from race to race, which really affects the quality of the information you gather and your ability to draw meaningful insight from it. The best way to assess your progress and state of training on an ongoing basis is to perform standard tests on a regular basis that you can perform in reasonably controllable conditions.

When you’re in the middle of the competitive season it still doesn’t hurt to do periodic dry land testing as a means to assess strength and power maintenance, however the most important testing should be done on the water. When I was paddling on the National Team in C1 we used to test regularly, and at certain times of the year we’d test weekly on the water. Even workouts that weren’t tests per se, were often performed over marked courses in controlled conditions so we could gather data that was useful in both assessing progress and training state (fatigue levels, etc.). I discussed one of those workouts in last week’s Tip of the Week.

Most of the testing we did were simply time controls over race distance (500m or 1000m). You can certainly perform the same tests for SUP if you want. It won’t hurt you and it might be a great way to track your speed endurance development and assess your preparation for the two to three minute sprint to the first buoy in races. However a more appropriate test for SUP might be another one we frequently did for canoe, usually early in the season, over 2000m or 2 km.

2000m is a great distance to test. In canoe a top-level athlete is going to do it between 8:30 and 9:00. Even the best athletes in the world aren’t able to go much longer than 2 minutes using anaerobic metabolism exclusively, so it is great for testing high-level aerobic power. In order to do a really fast 2000m time in this test you need to manage your early anaerobic-alactic effort, settle into the maximum pace that you can travel using aerobic metabolism (i.e. travel just below your anaerobic threshold) and then know when to resume anaerobic effort late in the test so that you hit the finish line just as you’ve maxed out and are about to blow up from accumulation of high blood lactate.

If the very top racers were to do this test on a SUP board my guess is they would do a time between 11:00 and 11:45. My personal best so far is 11:27. An excellent time that isn’t quite world class would be 12:00. Many will struggle to go under 13:00. The approach on a SUP board should be much like it is when doing it in a C1, it’s just that you’ll be travelling a little longer aerobically in the middle section of the test. It’s still a question of maximizing aerobic travelling speed and the amount that you can do anaerobically without accumulating deleterious amounts of blood lactate too soon. If you consider someone doing the test in 12:00 and the fact that most people can’t go longer than 2:00 to 2:15 anaerobically without failing, then the energy profile of the test for that person is:

Anaerobic-alactic: 15 seconds/720 seconds x 100 = 2%

Anaerobic-lactic: 120 seconds/720 seconds x 100 = 17%

Aerobic: 585 seconds/720 seconds x 100 = 81%

If it takes someone longer to do the 2000m than 12:00, then the aerobic contribution will be even greater. Any test that relies this much on aerobic metabolism is a great test for SUP paddlers racing distances of 5 miles or more. However the beauty of doing a 2000m time control instead of a 5 mile test is that it is much easier to repeat and control.

Consider how difficult it is to find a 5-mile stretch of water than isn’t affected by wind, currents or tides. Finding a 2000m stretch of water isn’t always easy, but at just a little over a mile it is certainly easier to find than 5 miles. I can’t stress enough the importance of controlled conditions for your testing. If you want to compare results from test to test in a meaningful way, you need to know that conditions are as consistent as possible from test to test. You want to test yourself and changes in your paddling ability, not the strength of the wind or the amount of tide.

The other reason I think 2000m is a great distance is that as it only takes approximately 12 to 13 minutes or so to complete it doesn’t fatigue you too much when you do the test. The physical toll it takes on you to do an all out 2000m shouldn’t be a lot different than the physical toll of a normal workout. In fact, we used to do 2-3 x 2000m with about 10 minute rest each time we tested. Doing the test repeatedly actually tests your ability to recover from a hard effort and handle a larger volume of hard work. Those are both useful abilities for a SUP racer. Now that I am older and training SUP exclusively I regularly do 2 x 2000m.

Whether you choose to use 2-3 x 2000m as your test or choose a different yet similar distance, this week’s Tip of the Week is to do regular time controls as part of your training to both assess your progress and monitor the affect your training program is having on you. If you test regularly you’ll know what your performance should be and when you see a deviation from your performance norm it can give you valuable insight into the effectiveness of your training program. A performance decline can be an early indication of cumulative fatigue from training and a sign to cut back while an improvement can be an indication that you are rounding into peak form. The point is, if you don’t test regularly you miss the opportunity to acquire this information.

Scout out the water near you and see if you can find a suitable stretch of water, which regularly has neutral conditions, as a course to test on. Then build regularly scheduled time controls into your program. You’ll find that it’s fun to track your progress, that it will help you set goals, and will provide you with valuable information on your training. Give it a try!

Do Speed Training

One of the most important things you can do in training for endurance events, and something that often gets overlooked, is develop your speed.  While it seems counter-intuitive that someone racing a 12-mile race should be training speed, having the abilities that come from regularly training speed at your disposal provides you with a distinct advantage in distance events.

Obviously the first place speed becomes useful in a distance race is on the start.  The ability to sprint off the beach and through the surf, or to break away from the pack in a water start, is extremely important and is often the sole determining factor on whether or not you end up in the first group for the remainder of the race.  We’ve seen that every year at the BOP and at every other big race like the Carolina Cup or Lost Mills.  While there are certainly other skills required to get off the beach quickly, if you don’t have sprinting speed no amount of those other skills is going to help you get in that first draft train.  Training your speed is imperative.

Having the ability to sprint at a high speed also helps in other ways in a race.  When drafting, speed is useful for catching up to the draft train or trying to break away from it.  When you’re downwinding, speed is useful as it can help you catch bumps you might otherwise be unable to get.  To any experienced racer these benefits of speed should be obvious.  But there is another way in which speed is going to help your performance in a distance race that is less obvious, and it has to do with something called a speed reserve.

If you consider that your typical travelling speed in a race is a given percentage of your maximum speed, in theory you might be able to increase your travelling speed if you increase your maximum speed.  Failing that, you will almost certainly be able to travel at the same travelling speed with less effort if you can increase your maximum speed – you’ll be working at a lower percentage of your maximum speed.  This in turn leaves you with the ability to go faster in late stages of the race or have more energy left for your finishing kick.  Either way, a higher maximum speed should allow for improved performance in a distance race, provided you’ve done the rest of the homework you need to do to be successful, both physical and technical.  Speed reserve can therefore be defined as the additional speed you have at your disposal above your travelling speed.

An analogy to speed reserve can be found in the weight room and is typically referred to as a strength reserve.  For example, if your maximum bench press is 150 lbs. and you’re asked to do a test in which you do your maximum number of reps at 100 lbs., you’ll be lifting 66% or your 1RM (one rep max) when you do your test.  However if your maximum is 200 lbs. you’ll be testing at 50% of your 1RM, which should be a lot easier.  In theory, you should easily be able to do a lot more reps in the test because of your greater strength reserve.

So what type of training should you do to develop your speed and establish your speed reserve?    Strictly speaking, doing short sprints in the range of eight to fifteen seconds, which train your anaerobic-alactic physiology and neuromuscular system, develops speed.  This is the type of speed training required for an event like the 100m dash in athletics and forms a large part of the training for the 200m sprint events in canoe/kayak. However in addition to our aerobic system, paddling over distance for longer periods of time requires us to train our anaerobic-lactic system over periods of time from 45 seconds to one minute, so this is the type of high intensity speed training that we really ought to be doing for SUP.   True sprinters would actually call this speed endurance. 

One of the best workouts I’ve done for developing the type of speed that is most useful for SUP is 10 x 1’, all out, with 4’ rest.  When I was training to race C1 over 500m and 1000m, I used to do this session each week during the competitive season, usually on a Thursday evening.   Although there were other workouts that were shorter distance/higher speed that did a better job of developing my speed reserve in C1, this workout was the most valuable for its contribution to development of speed endurance and lactate tolerance.  For a SUP racer competing in long five to twelve mile races 10 x 1’ should be sufficiently above race pace to develop a considerable speed reserve while at the same time developing some other very important abilities that a high level SUP racer needs.

I used to do this session back and forth over a marked 250m course.  I’d do each piece from a dead start and go as far as I could in one minute, with my goal being to go further than 250m each time.  I would paddle easy for the four minutes rest, turning around during this time so I could start the next piece on the 250m course going the opposite direction.  Here is an example of a typical session, this one from August 26, 1983:

 

Piece	Time through 250m	Conditions
1	0:53	No wind both directions
2	0:54
3	0:55
4	0:56
5	0:56
6	0:57
7	0:58
8	0:57
9	0:59
10	0:58

In this workout each piece needs to be an all out effort.  You can’t hold anything back.  Obviously you’ll go the furthest in the first couple of pieces.  In an all out effort of one-minute duration a considerable amount of lactic acid is produced, so let’s imagine that after the first piece blood lactate is 6 – 8 mmol (up from 1 – 2 mmol at rest).  The four minutes of rest does not allow for complete recovery, meaning that at the start of the next piece blood lactate is still elevated above normal, perhaps as high as 4 mmol.  After the second piece blood lactate will be a little higher than after the first, perhaps as high as 10 mmol, and before starting piece three will be maybe 5 – 6 mmol.  Blood lactate will continue to climb through the workout in a similar pattern, meaning that the first few pieces and the last few pieces will have a different training effect.  From a neuromuscular standpoint the last few pieces won’t be as effective for developing speed, but they will be excellent for developing lactate tolerance.  The entire workout is useful for improving lactate clearance as well, which is also useful for a SUP racer. 

Let’s consider a SUP race with a beach start.  You want to be able to sprint as fast as you can off the beach and maintain an aggressive pace for the first few minutes to the first buoy.   You’ll be working anaerobically, but if you’ve trained your speed, speed endurance and lactate tolerance you’ll be strong in this section of the race. At some point you’ll need to settle into your race pace and start working aerobically, and you’re going to find it difficult for a few minutes because of high blood lactate.  But if you’ve done adequate lactate tolerance training you should be able to get through this difficult section of the race while your system works at clearing the lactate you’ve built up.  Then it’s just a question of managing your pacing over the rest of the race, working close to your anaerobic threshold and taking care to not go above threshold for extended periods of time.  If you’ve trained your speed and developed your speed reserve, you should be able to do this at a slightly higher pace than if you’ve just trained aerobically.

There are technical adaptations that arise from training speed as well, which can be described in terms of gears (see “Stroke Rate in SUP Paddling” ).  If you do a workout like the 10 x 1’ I’ve described here on a marked course you’ll be able to monitor your progress in terms of speed and speed endurance.  It won’t just be physiological adaptations that allow you to improve, but also neuromuscular and technical adaptations.  The result of this is that, without realizing it, you’ll develop comfort with new high-end gears that are optimal for the type of sprinting you’re doing.  You’ll be able to take this comfort with these new gears with you into your next race, allowing you to go faster, more efficiently, when you use them. 

There are many advantages that can be derived from an endurance athlete training speed and speed endurance on a weekly basis.  This week’s Tip of the Week is to incorporate this type of work into your training program once a week to develop a speed reserve and both physiological and technical adaptations that lead to improved performance. There are lots of workout possibilities.  If you’re going to try my 10 x 1’ with 4’ rest, I’d suggest you start by doing just six.  You’ll likely have a significant drop off in the distance you travel from your first to your sixth.  When you can minimize the drop off try adding another piece and continue in this fashion until you can do all ten.  It’s very challenging, and you’ll want to make sure the next workout is fairly easy to allow for some extra recovery. Give it a try.  You’ll notice a difference.
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