Learning to Sprint

This blog post appeared last weekend on the Paddle Monster blog page. While I’m not planning on sharing material posted on Paddle Monster anywhere other than that site on a regular basis, occasionally there are going to be posts that I think are too useful to keep from the SUP community at large. In that case I’ll share them here so that everyone can give them a read and see if they are of any help to their own paddling. The rest of the posts will remain at Paddle Monster only, but will of course be available for the cost of a basic membership.

 Enjoy reading this post. I hope it helps your paddling.
 Larry

Learning to Sprint

We’re in the middle of the summer paddling season. People are going in lots of races and realizing that doing a 6-mile race isn’t just a case of paddling at the ideal pace for that distance. They’re discovering you need to be able to sprint as well. Whether it is a sprint off the beach to the first buoy, a sprint to the finish, a mid-race pick up to get on a wash or hammering to catch a bump it’s not just helpful, but actually necessary to be a good sprinter that can change gears on demand and efficiently hit very high speeds for relatively short periods of time. So let’s take a look at sprinting and what you can do to make yourself a better sprinter.

The key to sprinting is getting the same (or for very short sprints even more) load on the paddle as normal but in a much more dynamic fashion so that your stroke rate is higher. The wrong way to sprint is to just throw strokes in. The right way to do it is to find load, just like when we work on the loading drill, but get everything loaded on the paddle and then unloaded really quickly. We want to engage big muscles rapidly with a positive blade angle and body weight on the blade, and then start to think about exiting sooner than we normally do so that it feels like we’re “getting everything done early” in the stroke.

To do this we’re going to need to focus on gathering water on the blade more rapidly than normal and working against the water more quickly and dynamically than normal. Imagine trying to generate the same or greater impulse that you do in your traveling stroke in a shorter period of time (or distance of blade travel relative to your board) than normal. You want to get good load on your blade as you do this and use your legs to continue to load into the pull till the blade is vertical. Then you want to very quickly unload the paddle by bringing your hips back underneath you towards your paddling side hand and straightening your legs, springing forward as you do into the weight forward, “tippy-toe” position so that you’re leaning forward and feeling like you might topple forward over your toes.

While you’re exerting greater amounts of force in a shorter period of time, you’ve got to be relaxed as you do it. Your hips, legs and arms need to be as free of tension as possible so they are able to move freely and naturally without any internal resistance. Remember, connection is about feeling water loaded on our blade. If there’s tension in your hands and arms you won’t feel that connection nearly as well and won’t be able to link it to the big muscles required to drive the movement. And if there’s tension in your legs and hips they’ll move more slowly, get out of rhythm and make you feel unstable.

Should I shorten my stroke?

Again, the idea of sprinting is to generate the same or even more impulse (which moves that board forward) than normal and as quickly as possible, then get the blade out of the water and prepare to do it again. You’ll find this a lot easier to do it you try to “get everything done early” generating as much impulse as possible with a positive blade angle and limiting the amount of time when the blade is in the water with a negative blade angle.

To do this you’ll be aiming for a stroke that feels a little shorter than normal, but that shortness needs to come from the back of the stroke rather than the front. Unloading the blade forcefully and dynamically will get it out of the water quickly, help you push the board forward off the exit and allow your board to carry lots of speed between strokes which actually makes the next stroke easier.

What you don’t want to do is try to get the blade out before your feet at the expense of loading the paddle. I’ve seen lots of paddlers try to paddle at very high stroke rates by getting the blade out of the water before the blade passes their feet. While in theory this is great, in practice it likely isn’t. Generally what happens is that in order to get the blade out so early, the paddler ends up cheating by lessening the load they should be getting on the paddle. They end up taking a great many strokes, but each one is less effective than they could be. By taking just a few less strokes but finding more load it’s possible to go faster.

On the other hand, if you pull too far past your feet with a heavy load on your paddle the blade is going to feel like it gets stuck behind you. This is a disaster if you want to go fast. Not only will it slow you down, it will make your board feel heavy and “sticky” in the water and suck energy out of you as you try to move a board that has bogged down forward through the water.

The fact of the matter is, even though you’re trying to get everything done early and make the stroke a little more compact by making sure you don’t pull through too far, your technique shouldn’t really be changing. You should be paddling pretty much the same as you always do mechanically; it’s just your rhythm and timing that should be changing to help make your stroke more dynamic and compact.

Tips to help you sprint

• Lean forward more. Find an aggressive stance on your board. Imagine standing in ski boots so that you’re leaning forward right from your feet. When you’re reaching forward think about your hips being forward. Imagine that if someone looks at you from the side they’ll see your bum is ahead of your heels. Get in the “tippy-toe” position I’ve talked about, where your weight is forward and it feels like you just might topple over your toes. Your whole body should be leaning forward except for your upper legs and your head should be in front of your toes. Imagine that from your feet to your head you could draw a line that would be almost the same but opposite angle that your paddle is at the catch. I know I’ve used this photo a lot already but it’s because it’s good technique. Check out Seychelle Hattingh in this position at the Lost Mills 200m sprint this past June.
• Generate the impulse that moves your board forward as soon or as early as possible. Obviously you don’t want to start this before the blade is properly set, but at the same time you don’t want to set the blade and then start to pull. You don’t have time. And if there is a lag between setting your blade and starting to pull, your paddle will actually be acting like a brake and slowing you down. The reality is it’s actually okay to be getting a little splash at the catch if you’re aggressively getting on your blade and getting it buried quickly. Lots of the top canoe-kayak athletes have catches that appear to be a little less than clean but they are aggressively burying and loading body weight on their blades which more than makes up for a tiny bit of missed catch up front. It’s a trade off, and while it is better to be aggressive and have a clean catch, I’d rather see someone who is trying to sprint be a tiny bit sloppy at the catch and aggressive than be perfectly clean at the catch and not aggressive.
• Generating the impulse that moves the board forward early means being aggressive and even more dynamic with your hips. You want to get the board feeling like it is up and on top of the water as quickly as possible by engaging your big muscles as quickly as possible. Your hips are the biggest, most heavily muscled joint in the human body. It’s essential to find a way to use them to generate force. If you look at video of both Connor Baxter and Seychelle at Lost Mills you see they both use their hips to drive their stroke in an explosive and dynamic fashion. Good top hand pressure directed down the paddle shaft helps stabilize the blade, which gives your big muscles connection to work against.
• In almost the same motion as you begin to engage your big muscles you want to get on top of your paddle with your body weight. Don’t be afraid to continue getting on top of your paddle with your body weight and building on the load you’ve already placed on your paddle at the catch. Your legs should bend a little bit more to facilitate this extra loading of body weight. Just make sure you don’t go too deep or you’ll have trouble exiting early and you’ll get stuck at the back of the stroke.
• Almost as soon as you’ve loaded weight on the paddle you want to start thinking about your exit. You’ll want to start coming up with your shoulders, straightening your legs and, most importantly, bringing your hips back underneath you towards your pulling hand. People tend to think that your reach shortens when you sprint. I suppose if you have a very exaggerated reach at slower speeds that is true, but what really should be happening when sprinting is the blade entering in the same place and the stroke becoming more compact by your efforts to get everything done early. If the stroke shortens it should shorten at the back. Try to start your exit even earlier than usual, but try not to sacrifice load to do it.
• Don’t just push off your paddle at the exit; spring forward off of it. If your paddle is well loaded as you exit and you’re able to feel connection as you bring your hips back underneath you, really try to make that motion explosive. As you’re bringing your hips forward straighten your legs and literally spring forward from your feet into the tippy-toe position. Get your weight forward for the next stroke as quickly and dynamically as possible. If you’re imitating that movement against a loaded paddle you’ll be accelerating your board forward off the exit more than you can imagine.

Take a look at the following photos of this year’s “Fastest Paddlers in the World” from Lost Mills in Germany. Though Connor and Seychelle have very different techniques, they both do similar things when they sprint that allow them to paddle with a stroke that is both fast and loaded/connected.

1. Weight forward in “tippy-toe” position at catch:

2. Fully loaded in pull, notice Connor has slight splash from catch that is more forceful than clean:
3. Exit, springing forward to “tippy-toe” off exit:
 4. Slow motion video of stroke cycle

Can you gather the same amount of water on your paddle in a sprint as you do in your traveling stroke?

This is the big question everyone wrestles with. My answer is that it depends. In a very short sprint I don’t think you want to lose any connection so I actually think you can gather the same and maybe even a little more on your blade. Because you’re attacking the water aggressively and being super dynamic at the beginning of the stoke the board gets on top of the water really quickly. This makes the rest of the stroke feel lighter, even though it is fully loaded. And a really good exit that involves both the hips reloading forward and your legs straightening and helping everything spring forward helps really accelerate the board off the back of the stroke. The fast recovery in a sprint helps you get the blade back in the water for the next stroke before the board has slowed down much. This makes the next heavily loaded catch feel easier, making it sustainable for the duration of the short sprint.

However doing everything I just described above may not be very sustainable for a more prolonged sprint. Consider that you’re trying to sprint all out with perfect technique just like a track athlete running the 100m with absolutely perfect strides. It is not only tiring on your muscles but also the nervous system that is controlling them. You may only be able to sustain this for a very short time like 20 seconds or so, so you’ll either have to transition into your slower traveling stroke (which is not conducive to going fast) or learn to sprint in a lower, slightly less loaded gear.

Sprinting is a slightly less loaded gear should be just as aggressive and dynamic as described above but with slightly less water gathered and held on your blade at the catch, and your stroke may not be quite as loaded and deep in the pull. This lighter geared sprint doesn’t necessarily have to have a faster stroke rate as the heavily loaded one can be quite high for short distances, but it should definitely feel like it is more sustainable for longer periods.

Choosing the right gear (i.e amount of load) is really important. You won’t be able to sprint very fast if you load up a paddle so much you can’t pull it dynamically. Your gear should depend on your strength but also your cardiovascular ability. Some people will want to pull less but don’t mind breathing more quickly (remember, you should be exhaling every stroke), while others will want to breathe a little more slowly and don’t mind pulling a bit more. Experimenting to find the right gear for you is essential. I’ve blogged about this before -click here.

Trying to sustain a sprint really just involves keeping your board up on top of the water. Eventually you’ll feel like your board is dropping deeper into the water, your stroke is getting heavier and your board is slowing down – almost as if it is getting bogged down in mud. A great way to prevent this (or remedy this as it is starting to happen) is to recognize this happening as soon as possible. Recommitting to making the first foot of your stroke as dynamic as possible is usually enough to make the rest of the stroke feel easier, help the overall stroke feel lighter, get the board back up on top of the water and allow you to sustain your sprint a little longer. You may have to refocus on this a few times over the course of your sprint. **When your mid race traveling stroke seems to “bog down” you can focus on the same thing to help maintain your pace.**

Dead starts vs. Running Starts

The big difference between dead starts and running starts is, obviously, the initial speed of the board. For running starts the board is already moving, so it is much easier to lock into the stroke and rhythm described above.

For dead starts you first have to get the board moving before you can find the stroke discussed above. In my experience trying to pull a full length stroke usually results in the first stroke being too slow and often getting stuck in the water close to your body or behind you. Either way it is going to make for a slow start.

Instead you want to load and unload the paddle really quickly in front of you, with a good positive blade angle and almost the same reach as you’d have when sprinting from a running start. The stroke should be very short and all in front of you. It should basically be an “in, out” kind of stroke (or an “on, off” kind of stroke if we’re talking about body weight); just in the water with some weight on the blade and immediately out. If sprinting requires a more compact stroke and you need to feel like you’re “getting everything done early”, then a dead start needs to feel even more like that.

Once the board is moving you can lengthen the stroke a bit at the back and approach the stroke that you’d use to sprint with from a running start (in other words, you can make the stroke a little less compact so it is like a normal sprint stroke).

For most of you your sprinting will improve at pace with the improved ability to load and unload the paddle in your basic traveling stroke. As you get more and more comfortable with the elements of technique we’ve been addressing in our drills and your basic technique consolidates, you’ll be able to execute it at increasingly faster speeds with more relaxation and generate the same impulse in increasingly more compact stroke lengths so it feels more and more like you’re getting everything done early. It may take some time, but this method of learning to sprint, while perhaps taking longer to go fast initially than just going nuts on the paddle and thrashing away, will always lead to faster sprinting in the end.

All Star Showdown – The 2016 14’ x 25” All Star vs. the 2015 14’ x 25” All Star

I remember seeing a few internet posts in the winter in which there was some speculation on whether the 14’ x 25” 2016 Starboard All Star was as fast as the 2015 model in flat water. I’m here to put any speculation to rest. Forget about it. It’s a lot faster.

 Developing the Test Protocol

When testing boards the first thing you need to do is come up with some type of coherent test protocol. You start by asking yourself, “what are we looking for?”

As most SUP races are distance races, ranging anywhere from 5 to 30 miles, you want to come up with a test that assesses the board’s speed and efficiency over that distance, not a short, all out sprint. The trouble is, if you’re testing over that distance you can’t fairly test two or more boards in one day without the test paddler’s fatigue becoming a factor. You need to come up with a way to simulate the pace paddled in races of these lengths without actually paddling the distance. This allows you assess the board’s performance for distance races, without test paddler fatigue becoming a factor.

At the same time, since the efforts are going to be sub-maximal, in order for any comparison to be valid you need to establish some controls which ensure that the test paddler went equally hard in each test. Only then can you be ensured that the boards were tested equally.

So what controls can you establish? Well, the quality of the water you’re testing on is an obvious one. Conditions need to be consistent. Conditions affecting time are wind, current, water temperature and to a lesser extent air temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. Your tests should he run in calm, sheltered water and boards should be tested sufficiently close to each other to minimize the chance of changes in any of these variables.

At the same time, there needs to be some controls placed on the test paddler to ensure consistency of effort from one test to the next. We can’t easily control power output, but we can control stroke rate and heart rate, both indicators of the test paddler’s effort.

With those controls in place it is just a question of how long to test for and what data to collect. You want to test long enough that any differences between boards are discernable and outside the range of experimental error. And you want to collect every piece of meaningful data that you can reliably measure with the equipment you have available.

Fortunately, I have access to some pretty sophisticated monitoring devices through the Canadian Canoe-Kayak Team. Most national teams in sprint canoe-kayak send their crews out on the water in races carrying a small GPS/accelerometer device that allows meaningful data to be reliably collected for analysis. These devices can also be used in training to assess the quality of training and the degree to which training replicates race conditions. The devices the Canadian Team uses are called “SPIN units” and they collect a lot of interesting data.

The Test Protocol

I settled upon a three-minute test, paddled at an aggressive race pace to test the performance of each board and it’s suitability for a flat-water distance race. This pace was faster than I’d go for an entire race, but one I’d commonly use for parts of a race. For any test to offer valid information it needs to be repeatable with the same or similar results in each test, so I ran the test and collected data three times over a one week period. I would have preferred to run more trials, but had limited access to the SPIN unit. I waited for reasonably calm conditions and ensured that the conditions remained constant from the test of one board to the test of the next. I figured three minutes should be a long enough time to show one board being faster than another, and if it wasn’t, I would stretch the test out for a longer period of time.

To minimize the effect of warm-up/lack of warm-up and fatigue, I changed the order in which the boards were tested for the first two tests and flipped a coin to see which I’d test first on the third test.

I also decided to run a “max speed test”. This was performed quite differently. I removed any control on heart rate and stroke rate and just paddled all out for 30 seconds, allowing myself a three stroke build up before collecting data to minimize the effect of a good or bad start.

Data Collected (3-Minute Test)

I was interested in collecting and comparing data that would indicate a difference in performance between the two boards. As it turns out I was also able to collect and compare data that provides interesting insight into how well each board can be paddled, which in turn affects performance. Below is a summary of the data collected and compared:

1. Average Velocity: This is pretty straightforward and what we’re ultimately interested in. This is the average velocity for the three-minute piece and is collected in meters/second (m/s). I have converted it to kilometers/hour (km/h) as it is an easier unit for most people to understand. 
2. Average Pace/Km: This is the average pace for the three-minute piece expressed as minutes/km. This is the measure I normally use on my GPS when I’m paddling and that makes the most sense to me. 
3. Average Stroke Rate: This represents the average stroke rate or cadence for the three-minute piece. Ideally this should be the same in both tests. In fact there was usually a slight difference in stroke rate from board to board and test to test, despite my best efforts to keep it the same. The differences were small and I normalized them by dividing velocity by stroke rate in each test. 
4. Average Distance per Stroke: This value represents the average distance the board travels in each stroke during the three-minute test and, with stroke rate controlled, represents a good indicator of each board’s ability to glide and maintain speed between strokes. 
5. Average % Positive Acceleration per Stroke: This is the average amount of positive acceleration in each stroke for the three-minute test, expressed as a percentage of the total acceleration (positive and negative or deceleration). Given that we call the acceleration curve for the average stroke for each paddler a “stroke profile” and that it is like a fingerprint for each paddler, one would intuitively think that this would be more a function of the paddler’s technique than the board and would be fairly consistent from board to board. 
6. Peak Velocity: Though not as important in the three-minute test as the max speed test, I though it would still be interesting to see which board reached the fasted speed in the three-minute test done at constant stroke rate. Again, this was expressed in m/s and I converted it to km/h. 
7. Peak Pace: This is simply max speed for the three-minute test expressed as time per kilometer. 
8. Distance: This is the total distance in meters paddled in the three-minute test 
9. Ave Velocity/Stroke Rate x 100: This is my attempt to normalize average speed for differences in average stroke rate for each test. The greater the value, the better. 
10. Stroke Effectiveness (SE): This is a key indicator of performance for most national teams in canoe-kayak. After collecting data like distance per stroke, time to peak acceleration, ave % positive acceleration, peak acceleration, etc. for numerous time controls and races in canoe-kayak and comparing the data against performance it was somewhat surprising to learn that none of these pieces of data have a strong enough correlation to performance to be considered key indicators of performance. Some of the fastest athletes had very short time to peak acceleration, others much longer. Some had great distance per stroke, others much less. There was no one bit of data that seemed to correlate directly with average velocity over a given distance.
    
    However one piece of data that could be generated from data collected, stroke effectiveness (SE), had a very high correlation to speed and performance and, if the paddler could reliably produce a consistently high SE in training was a good predictor of performance potential. Stroke effectiveness is arrived at by multiplying velocity by distance per stroke. It turns out the distance per stroke is somewhat irrelevant when considered alone as distance per stroke values are generally higher at lower stroke rates. Yet nobody wins races with the low stroke rates required to produce high distance per stroke values. If we assume the stroke rate rises in some fashion as velocity rises, we can assess the quality of the stroke producing that velocity by multiplying the distance per stroke by the velocity. This turns out to be a strong indicator of performance. So I was curious, would one board allow someone to paddle with greater stroke effectiveness than the other? 

The results are summarized in the table below:



I also decided to quickly run a test to see which board seemed to have the greatest capacity for speed in a short sprint. Though less important to those racing distance races, it is still a beneficial quality for a board to have. The ease with which a board accelerates, and max speed it can attain for short bursts, can have an impact on the racer’s ability to catch a bump or a draft train, get into a turn first, get off the start quickly or win a sprint to the finish.

For this test I decided to do 30-second all out sprints and allowed myself a three-stroke running start. With the board moving slightly this would be a more relevant test of the board’s ability to accelerate, as it would better represent all of the dynamic accelerations required in a race except for the start.

 Again, I attempted to ensure that conditions were constant and that the tests were performed in the same stretch of water. I collected all the same data as in the 3-minute test but also added the time to peak velocity which is an indicator of the board’s ability to accelerate. As these were all out tests I did not bother to attempt to control heart rate so it was not recorded. Also, I did not bother to control stroke rate but did record rate as it is easily retrieved from the SPIN device.

The results for the 30-second test are found in the table below:



Discussion

 The 2016 All Star outperformed the 2015 in every measure. This wasn’t surprising. The board feels faster, and some of the data supports the contention that it is more “paddler friendly” when it comes trying to paddle fast. It’s worth taking a closer look at some of the data and also at the tests themselves, to explore whether or not they were sufficient to truly assess the differences between the boards.

In each of the 3-minute tests, the 2016 outperformed the 2015 in every single measure. In the first two tests the margins between the two boards were huge. In the first and second tests the average velocity of the 2016 was 6% and 3% faster than that for the 2015 respectively. In both tests the stroke rate was slightly faster on the 2016 (2 strokes/min in test one and 1 stroke/min in test two). Despite my best efforts to paddle at the same rate it is difficult to do it, even with feedback from a GPS device. This was anticipated and so in an effort to normalize speed for stroke rate I calculated a speed to stroke rate ratio for each test (velocity/stroke rate x 100). Even when velocity is normalized for stroke rate the 2016 performed substantially better, with the ratio being 2% and 1% greater in the first and second tests respectively.

In the third test I made a real effort to keep the stroke rate down on the 2016 board and actually paddled with a faster stroke rate on the 2015 (53 strokes/min to 54 strokes/min respectively). Yet the 2016 was still 1.5% faster over the 3-minute test, and when normalized for stroke rate the difference was a 3.5% advantage for the 2016.

When averaged over three tests, the average velocity was 3.6% greater for the 2016 and, when normalized against stroke rate the 2016 performed 2% better.

Peak speeds reached in each of the tests were higher for the 2016, and the distance per stroke and total distance travelled in each test was greater for the 2016 as well.

Surprisingly the average percentage of positive acceleration for each stroke (Ave % POS acceleration) was substantially greater for the 2016. Ave % POS acceleration is a measure of the average percentage of each stroke in which the board is accelerating vs. decelerating. Imagine an acceleration curve for each stroke like the one seen below:

Each different colored line represents the acceleration for a different stroke from the sample of strokes collected. The black line represents the average acceleration for the entire sample. Anything above the X-axis is positive or forward acceleration, while anything below is negative acceleration (or deceleration). The shape of the curve tends to be like a “fingerprint” for each paddler and describes the way their boat or board responds to the forces they produce during the stroke. If technique is consistent one would expect the shape of the curve and the relative proportions of acceleration to deceleration to remain nearly constant from board to board, with differences perhaps seen in the magnitude of the acceleration and deceleration. The % POS acceleration is represented by the area under the acceleration curve.

Surprisingly, the % POS acceleration values were consistently and dramatically higher on the 2016 All Star as summarized below:



This is a remarkable difference in the % POS acceleration between the two boards, with the minimum difference being 7.1%! 

This got me thinking about the “paddleability” of the two boards. I am extremely familiar with both, having spent over 2000 km on the 2015 since June 1st 2015 and more than 800 km on the 2016 so far this year. Familiarity with and comfort on the boards should not be an issue. I’ve done enough paddling to know that my technique is consistent from test to test and board to board. Yet to me, the 2016 feels faster. It seems to climb out of the water and sit on top of it much more easily. It also seems easier for me to paddle with a faster stroke rate.

I have always been a paddler that prefers to paddle with power more than stroke rate. If you use a cycling analogy, I’d prefer to ride in a higher gear rather than a lighter gear. I’ve realized that if I’m going to improve and go faster, I need to develop more comfort in a lighter gear and paddle effectively with a higher stroke rate. The 2016 board seems to help me with that. Because it seems to sit so high in the water the strokes feel lighter, and the feeling of a lighter load makes it easier for me to put more strokes in in a sustainable fashion.

While I can feel that the 2016 seems to be more user friendly for me in terms of stroke rate, I can’t honestly say that I can feel that it accelerates for a greater portion of each stroke compared to the 2015. However the data doesn’t lie, particularly when the differences between the two boards in this metric is so large. For me at least, given the way I paddle, the 2016 board seems to have characteristics that make it easier for me to make it perform.

In the 30-second test, the difference in average velocity between the two boards was negligible in the first test. In the second test it was dramatic. Stroke rates were slightly different, so the best way to compare the two boards is through the velocity to stroke rate ratio. Considering the velocity to stroke rate ratio for each board in the two tests we see:



Again, the 2016 outperforms the 2015 by a substantial margin. All other measures again show the 2016 to be a better performing board, and just like in the 3-minute test we see that the 2016 stays in positive acceleration for a longer period of each stroke by a sizeable margin.

While I believe strongly in the validity of the tests and the technology used to gather the data, it is fair to ask the question whether the sample size is enough to draw firm conclusions in each of the two tests.

For the 3-minute test I believe it is. Though I only had access to the SPIN unit for a few days since it was being used by the National Canoe-Kayak Team, I believe I could have run the test 100 times with the same outcome. I can feel the difference and, despite heart rate values being comparable for the tests performed on each board, the perceived exertion from the perspective of load on the paddling muscles feels less on the 2016. As much as I have grown to love the 2015 All Star in over 2000 km of paddling in all conditions, I feel even better on the 2016. When testing the 2017 All Star vs. the 2016, I’ll aim to run up to 10 trials between each board and should hopefully have less of a problem accessing the SPIN unit as it will be after the Olympics.

For the 30- second test there is, in my opinion, less certainty in the test results. While the 2016 outperformed the 2015 by a substantial margin when stroke rate was accounted for, the fact that it is a) a small sample size and b) I have not done much speed training making the data collected a little less meaningful and more random. Given the current state of my training and the inconsistency of my performance from one effort to the next in short sprints at this point in the year, I think it would be useful to have a much larger sample size for this test. I’ll aim to do at least 10 separate trials over 30 seconds when comparing the 2017 to 2016.

What is particularly impressive to me, and what gives me great confidence in the equipment I’m using is that I used the exact same test protocol and technology to test a variety of different boards in June 2015. As I was looking for a new board to ride I wanted to test as many as I could to find the one that would perform the best for me. The 2015 All Star was a hands down winner over the other brands I tested. The only board I tested that outperformed it was the 2015 Starboard Sprint.

Given that the 2016 All Star outperforms by a considerable margin the board that outperformed all the others I tested last year, I feel really confident that I am riding the fastest 25” board available. And given that it’s design allows it to really shine in rougher conditions I think I can say with confidence that I couldn’t be on a better board.

The Monster has Arrived!

On March 2 I published a blog post about called “Hatching a Monster”, in which I described an on-line coaching project that I was working on with John Beausang of www.DistressedMullet.com. Well, after about 8 months of planning it’s here. We launched about two weeks ago and we’re off to a great start!

Why Paddle Monster?

Why Paddle Monster? Well, when we first discussing the idea it seemed that there wasn’t anything in existence that did quite what we wanted to do, so we knew if we created something we’d be one of a kind.

Both of us have marveled at the sense of community that exists in SUP. I noticed it at my first race, way back in January 2011 in Wrightsville Beach where I first met John. He’d already noticed it and had already created a website to foster it and cater to it. Since then we’ve both met so many awesome people in stand up paddling (and paddling in general), that we can honestly say we’ve never met anyone in paddling that we don’t like. People in paddling love hanging with each other and talking story with each other. Unsolicited, they share their knowledge and ideas with others freely and unconditionally. Experienced paddlers take newbies under their wings and then those newbies, when they’ve gained some experience, do the same thing with the next crop of rookies. It’s quite amazing and I’m not sure than any other sport is quite the same.

Have you ever noticed that when you see another paddler on the water that you’re drawn towards them? How you paddle over and have a look, see if you know them, and whether you do or not, you say hi? This doesn’t happen in every other sport. There’s something about those people who get drawn to the water in a sport like SUP. They’re people people. And they form a community.

We wanted to create something that would serve that community, help build it and give people in that community who are crazy about paddling but have never had any coaching a chance to learn, find information that will help them paddle better, and in the process have more fun.

A one-stop SUP resource

When I first started paddling SUP back in Fall 2010, I immediately went to the Internet to search for information on it. The lack of quality information was shocking. Fortunately I was pretty confident with a paddle already so I just applied what I knew from sprint canoe and found it worked pretty well.

Over the years more information has found it’s way onto the Internet and really amazing paddlers with tons of solid knowledge like Jimmy Terrell and Dave Kalama have put up some great information. There are other sites that provide good information and at the same time sell training programs. There are a couple of decent SUP forums. There’s definitely more information around than there was five years ago. But there’s still a lack of really good quality, solid information compared to what’s available in many other sports and none that caters to the community of SUP as a community. We decided to change that.

We decided to create a one-stop resource for all things SUP including training programs; instructional videos covering basic paddling principles, technique and drills to enhance technique; a variety of tips and information on training and racing in a blog; video analysis; and a monthly webinar featuring some of the most widely acclaimed experts in paddling sharing what they know. But we wanted to do this in such a way that people learned together, trained together and shared their experiences together. The result is Paddle Monster. A community based on-line coaching resource that is like a virtual classroom for all things SUP (and hopefully in the near future outrigger, surfski and prone as well).

We’re up and running!

We launched about two weeks ago, on May 11th. I’d like to invite you to check out the website if you haven’t already at www.paddlemonster.com. We’re stoked at the look and feel of it.

Much of it is a member only access so let me tell you a bit about it. There is a blog that already has lots of posts in it. If you’re reading this post you’re familiar with the blog posts I’ve been making here for the last few years. Members can expect the same attention to detail and commitment to thoroughly exploring topics related to all things training, technique, and racing in the Paddle Monster blog than you’ve grown used to seeing here.

In addition to the blog there is a video library with over 80 videos covering basic paddling concepts, technique and drills, and training, including 47 brand new videos we’ve produced that have never appeared anywhere but on our site. And we’re not finished. We’ve got scripts and storyboards for lots more that we’ll be adding from time to time. Picture it being just like a real library that adds to its collection over time.

But by far the most important part of the site is the forums. It’s where I post three levels of training programs every week and where the members interact with me to adjust the programs to best meet their own needs as they relate to things like availability to train, injuries, race schedules etc. To this point there have been 792 posts to the forum asking a variety of questions or from members sharing information. Of those, 229 (29% of all forum posts) have been from me, providing detailed answers to questions, providing suggestions on how to alter the training programs to best meet individual needs, or offering insight into training data that members have shared.

I think the thing that makes Paddle Monster unique and separates it from any other sit
e in paddle sports that offers on-line coaching of any kind, is the degree of interaction that people have with the coach. I’m interacting multiple times per day with well over 100 All-Access members, and the information I provide in every post is available to every member.

So if you haven’t already, drop by www.paddlemonster.com and take a look. The Monster has arrived! Sign up for the free level if you haven’t already. You’ll get a weekly newsletter that tells you what we’re up to and will keep you in the loop. If you’re really serious about your paddling, and have found the blog posts offered here helpful, then join at the All-Access level. There’s much more offered there and you’ll be hiring me as your coach.

The Monster and Sea 24, Toronto Style

I’m almost recovered from last weekend’s 24 hours of the Monster and Sea 24 paddle to raise money for families battling cancer.  It was an incredible experience, but was it ever hard.

I was in Florida when I saw the Facebook post Jessica Rando made, looking for paddlers interested in getting together to do the “24” in Toronto.  I won’t say that I jumped at the chance but the idea of paddling regular shifts around the clock appealed to me at a time when I was obsessed with chasing distance for the 100/100 Paddle Challenge.  So I thought, why not?  It’s for a great cause, will fill a training need and, with the right group of people, will be a lot of fun.  I contacted Jess and was part of the team!

Our Toronto team for the “24”was awesome.  First let me say a few words about Jessica Rando, our captain.  Jess is an amazing paddler that too few people know about.  This is largely because she’s also a really good coach and is generally busy running training camps or coaching when she could be at races like the Carolina Cup or Key West.  As a result, not a lot of people have gotten the opportunity to meet her.  I’m pretty convinced that at a race like Key West she’d do really, really well and am hoping she arranges date of the training camp she runs so that she can race it next year.  Carolina Cup is more of a challenge for her, as the date seems to conflict every year with her Florida camp for northern-based paddlers, but she’d do well in that race too I think.

Jess put everything together for us for this event.  All we had to do was promote the fundraising page and show up to paddle.  She pulled together a fantastic team, with diverse backgrounds, experience and personalities, and everyone got along fantastically well.  I shouldn’t be surprised really, because everyone I’ve ever met in SUP is fantastic and would have made good teammates.  But our group for this was especially great and really supportive of each other through the wee hours of the morning on what turned out to be a pretty cold night. 

Jess’s first recruit was her husband Del DaSilva, and Jess and Del, living only a block from the river offered up their house as the staging area for the event.  They totally opened up their home to five other paddlers and all their wet, stinky paddling clothes and made sure their kitchen was stocked with food (with a fantastic level of support in the form of soups, pasta, corn bread, cookies etc. from the local SUP community).

Joining Jess and Del were myself, Anthony Bruzzese, Tracey Finley, Steve McKenzie and Julie Postill-Connolly.

I’ve paddled with Anthony for a couple of seasons and regularly over this past fall and winter, and he’s became one of my more frequent training partners.  And Tracey made her way out to my end of the city a lot over the winter to join us on the water for chilly winter workouts.  I hadn’t paddled with Steve and Julie as much, but they’re awesome and incredibly into it.  Having this kind of positive energy in the group was essential, because although this wasn’t a race, it was still a huge challenge.

I knew that Anthony was going to be my partner on the water.  Jess had decided to break us into three groups, each doing one hour shifts.  Anthony and I would be a pair, Jess and Del a pair, and Julie, Tracey and Steve would paddle together.  So about a week before I spoke to Anthony about the strategy I thought we should employ on our shifts.  I suggested a conservative approach, as I didn’t want to kill myself with some pretty big races coming up towards the end of April.  I wanted to make sure I didn’t get too tired doing this event and end up compromising some quality in the preparation running into the Carolina Cup. 

As it turns out, we ended up doing a fairly aggressive pace as we both took a few days easy leading into the 24.   After the first one-hour shift from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, I knew I could average 8.5 km per shift at least into the night, if not for the whole thing.   For Anthony and me it became a challenge in consistency, trying to paddle well at a fairly aggressive pace each shift for exactly 60 minutes, and targeting 8.5 km each time.  We actually got through 8 of 9 shifts hitting that pace exactly, before I hit the wall with about 10 minutes left in shift eight.  I was on track to hit 75 km in 9 shifts but backed off a little in the last shift from 7:00 to 8:00 on Sunday a.m. and finished at 74 km.

While this pace was a little off race pace, it became progressively difficult from shift to shift and the whole thing became more and more of a challenge.  To the point where, now that it is over, I can say it was one of the harder things I’ve done in paddling.  So how does paddling just below race pace on flat water for an hour every three hours compare to Chattajack? Or Molokai? Or Blackburn?

There are a number of things that the 24 throws at you that makes it a challenge:

• Distance:  Okay, so it’s not non-stop, but it’s still 74 km in a 24-hour period.  I have never done that type of volume in racing or training before.  To do that distance, I had to travel at a pretty aggressive pace.  It certainly wasn’t a cruise.  It was a solid training session, repeated 9 times, and starting every 3 hours.
• Rest:  When I train twice/day I generally have 6 to 8 hours rest between sessions.  Three hours is incomplete recovery, even if the pace isn’t all out.
• Repetition:  Doing two, three or even four shifts was easy.  It wasn’t until the fifth shift started from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. that it started to get hard.  After that it was a challenge.  I’d come off the water, walk my board up the street to Jess’ house, drop it in her front yard and then start changing into warm, dry clothes.  After tossing the wet clothes in the dryer, there was about 30 to 40 minutes to relax, get something to eat and drink, and try to stay somewhat loose.  Then it was time to start suiting up again.  The walk back down the road with the board, in the dark and cold, was just long enough to allow me to mentally prepare to get on the board and immediately fall back into my pace.  But each time I got back on the board in the overnight shift I first had to soak the deck pad of my board in the water and then try to rub all of the ice off of it.None of these things on their own should wear on you mentally, but when combined and repeated over and over there is an undeniable effect that starts to wear on you, each time more than the time before.
• Lack of sleep:  It’s one thing to paddle hard.  It’s another thing to do it round the clock.  I found the deeper we got into it the more difficult it was just because of lack of sleep.  I began to feel a lot like I do when I’m driving to or from Florida non-stop by myself.  Mentally this felt a lot like being at the wheel of a car for 22 hours straight.  I’d like to think that this was a much healthier and less mentally challenging endeavor, and there was some consolation in the fact that I wasn’t going to end up against the guard rail if I fell asleep paddling.  But the fact that this was physically demanding and done without any sleep, made each successive shift more difficult.
•  Weather:  Over the course of this winter I’ve discovered that paddling in the cold often feels more fatiguing than in the summer.  I’m not sure if it has something to do with dense, viscous, near freezing water or whether it’s just psychological and has more to do with the need to suit up in all kinds of gear and tread carefully on your icy board so you don’t slip off.  Add to it the fact that in this case we were paddling at night, in a river running with a substantial current, and it makes it even tougher.  It’s just that little bit harder to relax when you have to really pay attention to where you’re going and how you’re moving on your board.  Put it this way, I’m sure this would have been easier to attempt in Toronto in June.

In the end, I’d have to say this was harder than I’ve ever found Chattajack, even though in Chattajack I’m paddling non-stop for 5 hours.  I didn’t draft for one stroke of 24,which undoubtedly made it harder.  And then, of course, all the things I’ve mentioned above made this a really difficult challenge. 

I would have to say that as a way to accumulate volume it was great training.  The fact that I was able to do that volume with a high level of quality made it even more effective as a training activity.   So it’s nice when you’re doing something worthwhile for other people and having fun with the people you’re doing it with, and getting such a great training benefit from it as well. 

In the end our group raised over $8000 for local families who have a family member battling cancer, and had a ton of fun doing it.  The 24 is a great idea, and it’s pretty cool to be part of an event that is going on in so many other cities at the same time.  I do question the wisdom of holding it so early in the year.  I understand that it is less likely to conflict with summer races if it’s held early, however as it turns out we got lucky with the weather which allowed us to complete it.  Northern climates don’t really lend themselves to this type of activity in March, at least not with any degree of reliability.  If the river had still been frozen we wouldn’t have been able to complete the event, as the lake was too wavy to safely paddle at night.  Furthermore, as I write this one-week later there is snow on the ground and an overnight temperature of – 10 C before wind chill.  Staging this event in May would make a lot more sense.

This was a fun event and I’m glad I did it.  Sign me up for next year!

The 100/100 Challenge Complete! Now on to 1000 km…

Well, I did it. I managed to complete the 1%er version of the 100/100 Paddle Challenge – 500 miles or 805 km in 100 days. Actually it only took 79 days, 13 of which I didn’t or could not paddle, so I was able to complete it in 66 days of paddling.

You’ll recall when I wrote about taking on this challenge  click here.  I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to make it. There is just too much uncertainty with the weather in a typical Canadian winter to set a goal like that and have a high certainty of being able to achieve it. But the weather cooperated and I spent 16 days in Florida (including the coldest weekend of the year in Toronto), so in the end it wasn’t quite the impossible challenge I thought it might be.

To be sure I had lots of days of paddling in sub-zero Celsius
 temperatures, with wind chills in the –7 to –10 C range. There were lots of days where I had to contend with ice building up on my board and paddle, and even the legs of my dry suit. But the massive ice shelves, which sometimes form along the shore of Lake Ontario didn’t build up this year, which allowed me continued access to the water. There were only a few days with big storms blowing in from the east that rendered the lake un-paddle-able with massive waves and winds so strong you couldn’t possibly paddle into them.

Instead I enjoyed lots of days with moderate winds and waves
in the 2 to 3 foot range, which gave me lots of opportunities to refine my skills in the type of water we’ll see in the Carolina Cup. Conditions actually couldn’t have been any better! So let’s take a look at how this experience has had an impact on my preparation for races in 2016.

Maintaining strength training while chasing mileage

One of my big concerns throughout the challenge was maintaining development of power and power endurance while chasing kilometers. If you’ve read some of my early blogs on periodized training, you’ll know what a high priority I place on strength training for SUP. You’ll also know that throughout my career as a sprint canoe paddler I always had a period of two to three months off the water in which the training focus was development of a non-specific aerobic base, max strength and power/power endurance. That time off the water allowed me to take a step away from the boat and recharge and refresh mentally for the season ahead. I’d get on the water fit beyond belief and hungry, and this resulted in a sustained high level of performance throughout the season.

This year, once it was apparent that it was going to be possible to be on the water regularly at least four times a week for an extended period into the winter, I had to take a different approach to periodizing my work, moving to something called “block periodization”. I’ll explain more about block periodization in a future blog post and will be applying it to training programs for year round paddlers over at Paddle Monster, but for now it’s enough to say that I was diligent to get into the gym a minimum of three times per week for quality strength work in which I ran through two cycles of basic strength development, power development and then power endurance development. Actually I’m just finishing the second power development cycle now and have a three-week block of power endurance leading into the Carolina Cup.

As I log all my training and keep track of what I do from year to year, I know that my power is actually better this year than it has been for many years, while my power endurance is at a high level after only one cycle. It’s somewhat ironic that in a year where I’ve paddled more and been in the gym a little less that my power is better. I think I’ve found the optimal balance between paddling and intense gym work this winter and the results are showing in the weights that I am able to move explosively.

Development of technical skills

The development of technical skills really falls into two categories. The first is the refinement of flat-water technique that is associated with moving the board fast and efficiently. The second has to do with the array of skills required to make the most out of whatever big, open water conditions are offering, while maintaining some semblance of the flat-water technique that makes the board go fast.

In November and December I was blogging a lot about technique and looking at subtleties in the stroke that make it easier to pull your board past the paddle as effectively as possible using big muscles and body weight. The best water to train that technique on is stable, flat water like I have on the tiny river I grew up on in Oakville. Conditions don’t change much day-to-day and that allows me to do the quality repetitions required to develop really effective technique and develop an acute awareness of what I’m doing. As my technique has subtly evolved since starting SUP, I’ve increasingly learned to isolate parts of the stroke, experiment with them and see the effects of this experimentation through speeds recorded on my GPS. I feel like I made big progress technically in the early part of the winter before the river froze over, improved my flat-water speed for both short sprints and extended periods, and discovered new drills and new ways to explain what I am feeling to others.

Throughout the winter, and exclusively once the river was frozen
over, I was often paddling in some type of choppy water. Even those conditions that could be considered “flat” were very windy. Conditions on Lake Ontario are different every day, and with the stronger winter winds I paddled in lots of two to three foot waves, and occasionally ocean like conditions with shoulder high waves. Seeing these conditions so regularly helped me get a lot better at making the most of whatever the conditions are offering, so I’m confident I’ll feel more comfortable racing on the ocean this year.

Normally every spring I have to go through a period of readjustment as I get back on the water after a winter break. There is very much a period of relearning some of the finer points of technique. It takes me a while to feel the water again even in flat water, let alone feel comfortable in bigger conditions. This year I feel like the learning never stopped. I got better day-by-day through the winter just like I usually do through the paddling season. This should put me in good stead for early season events like the Carolina Cup and Key West. When you consider that two years ago I raced Carolina with less than 200 km of training under my belt and did okay, I should be much better prepared this year to face the challenge of racing most of the world’s best racers.

Transference of non-specific to specific fitness

Normally, when I take a break from paddling over the winter I come back to the water in incredible shape. I’ve worked hard at developing various aspects of cardiovascular fitness on land and strength and power in the gym. While this helps provide me with a tremendous foundation of fitness to carry into the paddling season, it doesn’t immediately transfer into being in improved “paddling shape”. It takes time to convert dry land fitness into the fitness required to paddle hard for extended periods. Paddling places different demands on connective tissue than training in the gym does, and the movement patterns and sequencing of contractions of muscles involved is entirely unique to the paddling movement. Similarly, it’s hard to engage the specific paddling muscles as effectively on land as it is on the water for cardiovascular work, and even after engaging in a solid winter of dry land cardiovascular work the oxygen carrying capacity and mitochondrial activity within specific paddling muscles isn’t at the level it is after effective on water training. It takes time to transfer superior dry land fitness into something that is truly meaningful on the water.

With the different approach I’ve taken this year by being on the water all winter any fitness gains I’ve made through non-specific (i.e. non-paddling) methods on land have been consolidated concurrently with gains in specific fitness I’ve made working on the water. The result is that I feel I’m in fantastic paddling shape on an almost daily basis. Does that mean I’m in race shape? No. Far from it. There are specific things involved in developing race fitness that I haven’t gotten to yet, but will over the next few weeks heading into Carolina. I’m hopeful that with the paddling base I’ve done, that race preparation training will go more smoothly, and be more effective than normal for this stage of the race season.

Psychological effects of paddling all winter

Staying on the water all year may have negative psychological effects for those that regularly, from year to year, are able to paddle year round. At some point there must be a mental fatigue that is going to set in, even if programming is carefully monitored to avoid a physiological fatigue. This staleness can most definitely have a negative impact on your performance in daily training. And if your daily training performances are suffering, over time this is going to catch up with you and result in a decline in race performance.

However after just one winter of continued paddling I have never been more excited about it. This winter has been a gift. It’s been the easiest psychologically of my life. It’s officially spring now and I feel like we didn’t even have a winter. For sure, the unusually mild weather alone has had an impact on the mental state of everyone living in my part of the world. Compared to the last few winters everything has been easier. Less snow shoveling, fewer days of bitter, polar vortex cold and more sunshine creeping through the usual cover of winter clouds have all combined to leave people in higher spirits in mid-March than usual. But it’s more than that for me.

Someone said to me recently that I “seemed really happy”. I’ll admit to normally getting a bit grouchy by mid-February as winter drags on and on. I thought about it, and yes, I have been really happy. This person said, “maybe it’s because you’ve been paddling all winter”, and I have to say I 100% agree.

Being on the water has always been a place that’s made me happy. There’s something about being away from all of the noise and commotion on land that I find very peaceful. Even when the water is choppy and the wind is howling I find it relaxing and cleansing to be off shore and away from it all. You’re more in tune with nature, and the great part about finding that link to nature on the water is that I don’t have to travel the great distances needed to find that connection on land. It’s right there, just a few moments away after I push off the dock or wade into the water and hop on my board. I’d have to drive a few hundred kilometers to find the same connection to nature on land.

There’s something about the feeling of water loaded against your paddle that makes you feel like you’re part of it. What can be more natural when the adult human body is 60% composed of water than feeling that connection to it? When life as we know it on land evolved millions of years ago from the ocean, what else can connect you more to what’s basic and essential on this planet than being on the water? I want to feel the water against my paddle, watch the nose wave as my board cuts through it, and hear the sound that I identify with good, effective strokes. Some people enjoy putting on their ear buds and listening to music while paddling. I could never do that as I’d be deprived of the incredibly symphony of sound all around me. I want my senses to bask in everything that being on the water can stimulate them with. It’s cleansing. It’s refreshing. Even the most demanding workout on the water, or paddling in the roughest, most challenging conditions always leaves me mentally refreshed and recharged. Being on the water lifts my spirits; it makes me happy.

I don’t think you can truly appreciate how intensely beautiful winter paddling on a big body of water with an endless horizon like Lake Ontario can be until you try it. With the sun lower in the sky, the intensity of the sun’s reflection, glistening like billions of diamonds is even more intense than in the summer. And whether it’s because such brilliance is set against a greyer, harsher background or because we generally don’t see the sun as much during the winter, you appreciate that beauty much more than in summer.

There were many days in a row where we didn’t see the sun, but that only allowed me to realize that all the various shades of greys and icy blues of winter can paint an incredibly beautiful picture on their own. Some of the skies I was privileged to paddle under this winter were breathtaking. I found myself taking a few moments on just about every paddle, usually when turning around, to sit on my board and just soak in my surroundings, marveling at how incredible they were and how lucky I was to be out there, alone, appreciating it. I’d never seen this side of winter before, and never would if I wasn’t out on the water.

While some of my most cherished moments with nature came on the days I paddled alone, I was fortunate to be able to paddle at least half of the time throughout the winter with others. I’ve always enjoyed the social aspect of paddling, and SUP in particular, and have found that sharing the joys of being on the water with others always makes paddling better. But facing the challenges of winter paddling together with others seems to intensify that experience. Dealing with icy cold wind, ice building up underneath your feet, lifting a heavy, ice laden board up onto your car after paddling, and changing after a workout outside in the intense cold are things that aren’t for everyone. Overcoming these challenges together and then sitting inside warming up over a coffee, feeling the residual tingle that crisp winter air leaves on your face, and talking story about the paddle you just completed takes the typical bonding that doing a workout with others provides to an entirely new level. New friendships were made this winter and old ones intensified, all from going through those few extra hoops that winter demands in order to do an activity we share a love for.

Engaging in the 100/100 Paddle Challenge this year was the best thing I could ever do. Not just because it was a great motivator that helped me paddle more through the winter than ever before, but also because it got me outside, and back on the water where I’m happiest. It was a like an incredible gift to me. I never imagined I could paddle regularly throughout a Canadian winter. In actually doing so I saw some of the most beautiful things I’ve seen on the water. Having competed this winter on the water I can’t imagine not attempting another.

So I’ve completed the all 805 km of my 100/100 Paddle Challenge goal. It’s now on to new goals, the first of which has to be 1000 km, which is a nice round number and approximately 621 miles, by the end of the Challenge on April 9th. Achieving that goal will undoubtedly help me achieve others I set for the summer. Thanks to Julia and Lisa for their hard work in creating the 100/100 Challenge and moderating the Facebook page that everyone shares their experiences through. To everyone who undertook the Challenge and shared his or her experiences this winter, thank you. You motivated and inspired me and helped me appreciate even more how much I love to paddle.

Transitioning your Paddling Focus from Volume to Intensity

This has been one of the best winters I can remember and I think I have the 100/100 Paddle Challenge to thank for that.

In all of the 41 years I’ve paddled, I have never done as much paddling through December, January and
February as I’ve done this year. Not even close. While I’ve paddled in every month of the year numerous times, the January and February paddles have usually been one off, isolated paddles made possible only by the river being swept clear of ice after a short, but unusually warm spell. However it generally freezes again quickly and I’m stuck doing dry-land training again. This year, thanks to the motivation of the Challenge and a winter affected by a particularly strong El Nino, I’ve been able to paddle almost every day on Lake Ontario, and I’ve loved it.

As I’ve described in a previous post, if you’re geared up right winter paddling can be not only safe and enjoyable but also extremely productive. I’ve discovered there is absolutely no reason you can’t get as much out of a workout in temperatures at or just below freezing as you can in summer conditions. The hardest part of winter paddling is just stepping outside, putting your board of the roof of the car and committing to it. After that it’s no more difficult than paddling at any other time of the year.

At this point I’m just shy of 700 km since January 1st. That means I only need just over 100 km over the next 4 weeks to reach my objective of 805 km or 500 miles.

Because I did a lot of mileage in October and November and paddled all December I was able to begin the Challenge with a strong base. Knowing that, I made a real effort to push the mileage early in the Challenge, partly because the uncertainty of the weather in a Canadian winter means you never know what to expect so you should get your miles in while you can, and partly because as April approaches I don’t want to be doing a lot of long paddles chasing mileage. One of the biggest races of the season and largest events in the World is on April 23rd this year, only 13 days after the Challenge ends. I want at least 5 weeks of clear, focused preparation for the Carolina Cup. And that means I’ll want to have at least three weeks of increased intensity in my training and lots of time to rest that doesn’t necessarily fit with the focus on paddling volume that is part of the 100/100 Challenge.

Let’s be clear. There is a distinct relationship between volume and intensity. As intensity increases, the volume that you can expect to do in your training decreases. You may be able to do high volume at high intensity for a short period of time if you’re a really highly trained athlete with a sound base and good technique and are riding a good board that moves through the water comparatively easily. But eventually it’s going to catch up to you. Either your intensity will begin to lag and you won’t be able to train at the desired level, or you’ll break down and won’t be able to maintain the volume. Or both. You run the risk of getting sick or injured, and by pulling hard too much for too long without proper rest you run the risk of fatiguing your central nervous system. Once that happens, you’ll feel weak, fatigue quickly and you’ll feel like you’ve totally forgotten how to paddle. Your ability to feel the water and control your technique will be dramatically affected and your performance will completely bottom out. I’ve been there. It usually takes weeks to recover. Trust me, it’s not the way you want to head into an important competition.

So if you’re chasing miles as part of the1%er version of the 100/100 Challenge (and it seems like a lot of people are) AND are planning on racing at the Carolina Cup, I strongly suggest you take a few minutes now and look at the calendar.

As I write this we’ve got 4 weeks left in the Challenge and 6 ½ weeks till the Carolina Cup. Take at look at the mileage you’ve accumulated to this point and how much you have left, and if you haven’t already start figuring out a plan or schedule for logging the miles you have left. Make sure you’ve got at least 4 weeks leading into Carolina where you can focus on intense, quality paddling and rest. You know that the Challenge ends April 10th so you’ve got two weeks before Carolina where you won’t be chasing miles, but I strongly suggest you focus on intensity for at least the last two weeks of the Challenge as well, meaning you really want to have most of the Challenge complete by Easter weekend (March 27th).

If you were pacing your mileage out through to April 10th and were planning on doing Carolina, you may want to up your mileage a bit over the next two weeks so you’ve got less to do than you originally planned at the end. This will buy you more time to focus on quality and rest in the last two weeks of the Challenge and the last four weeks heading into Carolina.

What should the training look like? Well, there are many different approaches you can take to designing workouts but in the end, if it’s a well thought out, solidly planned program they’ll all be accomplishing the same thing.

You’ll want to do some higher level training heading into Carolina, and if you haven’t been doing some work once a week at threshold already, you’ll definitely want to include that type of work. You’ll also want to do some work above threshold. You’ll want to do some speed, speed endurance and lactate tolerance work, all of which are going to make you better prepared to go hard off the beach (or start, if you’re not doing The Graveyard) at Carolina and be able to do things like sprint to catch draft trains, catch bumps and beat people into the beach on the finish.

While I’ve been doing some threshold work over the last month or so, I really haven’t done any structured speed, speed endurance or lactate tolerance work yet. That training is intense and demands a reduction in volume and an increase in rest. And since I’ve been chasing kilometers since January 1st, I really haven’t had time to fit it in. For sure I’ve played with speed in some training sessions but that has been more from a technical perspective, trying to hone the efficiency of my stroke at higher tempos. I need at least a good three-week block of this type of work before Carolina and at least one easier week at the end to taper if I want to be ideally prepared.

So right now, with 6 ½ weeks to go and with the Paddle Challenge well under control, I’m starting to transition from volume to more intense work. I’ve done some hard accelerations this week with a bungee to work on some explosive power; I’ve done some threshold work and will start to build in some speed endurance early next week. I’ve cut back the volume a little and am making sure these more intense sessions are well spread out and that I have some good quality rest between them. Pushing the mileage does not usually correlate to good quality rest.

We’re all a little different, and our training background, fitness base and experience all are factors that need to be considered when we try to manage the balance between volume and intensity. I would suggest that, as intensity becomes a greater focus in the last 5 to 6 weeks before Carolina, volume start to decrease accordingly to the point where in weeks of maximum intensity it’s at about 50% of what it was during the Challenge.

So what should you do if you’re racing at Carolina but are behind in the Challenge and really need every day up till April 10th to pile up the miles? Well, you can try to reach your mileage goal and hope for the best when it comes to your Carolina preparation. You may well end up doing better at Carolina than you ever have before just by virtue of the fact you’ve paddled more this winter than you ever have in the past. In this case you’re already ahead of the game compared to previous years. You don’t need to worry about higher intensity training and whether or not you’re properly peaked. All those miles you’ve put in are going to make you better than you’ve ever been in the past.

However if you’re experienced, have raced the Graveyard before and really want to lay down your best effort on April 23rd then you really ought to do more in your training than just rely on your mileage. You’ll need a full block of more intense work and have at minimum one week of super low volume that serves as a peaking week. If you’ve got too many miles left in the last few weeks of the Challenge, you may have to make a choice – finish the Challenge or prepare optimally for Carolina. I know the choice I would make.

Congratulations to all of those who have taken on the 100/100 Paddle Challenge. Thank you for inspiring me this winter and keeping me company while I’ve been on a mission to pile up kilometers no matter the weather. Here’s wishing you good luck in the last few weeks of the Challenge and in your Carolina Cup preparation. I’m looking forward to seeing you on April 23rd in Wrightsville Beach!