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 Celsiustemperatures, 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.
