Weather in GA – Clowdy and rainy, temps of 60s-70s all week
Training focus – I’ve been thinking about some upcoming marathon worlds try outs. This week, I wanted to get some distance paddling in during a week of light paddling for the rest of the team. With this, I focused on mentally being in a good place during these long paddles. It was awesome remembering how to turn the mind off and just paddle. An important skill of marathoning: knowing how to shut up and paddle. One of the things I enjoy about marathon is put less thought into each stroke. I tend to trust my arms more in distance paddling; I know that they know what to do: Vs sprint where every stroke must be precise and strong. Also I appreciate the grind of long continuous paddling; I feel like a monster in the boat. Workouts in K1 unless otherwise stated.
Monday – Morning: Run longer distances about 40 mins, Afternoon: paddle, 10k of long continuous paddling (about an hour on the water).
Tuesday - Morning: Run 20 mins, Afternoon: paddle, 8x 200m pieces – focusing on having a powerful stroke rate throughout all of each piece
Wednesday - Morning: Run about 50 mins, paddle: 2hours of LSD (long slow distance). Here again I was working on mental strength, keeping small thoughts throughout the whole paddle, and focusing only on what needed to be focused on. Afternoon: OFF, rest
Thursday - Morning: pull ups and abs, paddle: 1 hour easy, Afternoon: 5k running time control
Friday - Morning: pull ups and abs, paddle: interval work (4 mins on, 1 min off) for 1 hour, Afternoon: starts! 20sec pieces; working on fast stroke rates.
Saturday – Paddle: 2 x 4k in team boats. Distance race situations.
Sunday – Sleep, OFF
Epic Kayaks
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Week of Workouts
Weather in GA - Sunny all week, 60-80 temp wise. Love the south!
Training focus - preparing for a summer of flat water sprints, developing fast stroke rates; running wise: long distance building endourance through runs; lift wise: lots of pull ups! Workouts in K1 unless otherwise stated
Monday – Morning: Run and Lift, Afternoon: paddle, 1000m pieces - focusing on race plan
Tuesday - Morning: Run and Lift, Afternoon: paddle, 250m pieces – focusing on high stroke rate
Wednesday - Morning: Run and Lift, Afternoon: OFF, rest
Thursday - Morning: Run and Lift, Afternoon: paddle, 1 min pieces in team boats (K4 day) – focus on connecting within the boat
Friday - Morning: Run and Lift, Afternoon: paddle, starts (15sec pieces) – focusing on getting the stroke rate up quickly
Saturday – Time controls: 1000m, 500m, 200m - lots of rest in between races, treating these as real races
Sunday – Sleep, OFF
Training focus - preparing for a summer of flat water sprints, developing fast stroke rates; running wise: long distance building endourance through runs; lift wise: lots of pull ups! Workouts in K1 unless otherwise stated
Monday – Morning: Run and Lift, Afternoon: paddle, 1000m pieces - focusing on race plan
Tuesday - Morning: Run and Lift, Afternoon: paddle, 250m pieces – focusing on high stroke rate
Wednesday - Morning: Run and Lift, Afternoon: OFF, rest
Thursday - Morning: Run and Lift, Afternoon: paddle, 1 min pieces in team boats (K4 day) – focus on connecting within the boat
Friday - Morning: Run and Lift, Afternoon: paddle, starts (15sec pieces) – focusing on getting the stroke rate up quickly
Saturday – Time controls: 1000m, 500m, 200m - lots of rest in between races, treating these as real races
Sunday – Sleep, OFF
Stability
Secondary stability: it’s a phrase I’ve heard many racers throw around while out on group paddles or boat demos or any time a racing buddy purchases a new ski. “One thing I love about the new boat is its secondary stability.” It seems to be a quality that’s important in any new boat purchase. As a young racer who always grew up in surfskis, stability was a quality that came naturally with age. Early on in my paddling educations, there were never different types of stability; I either could or could not keep myself up right in the boat. For any new paddler, stability means simply: are you comfortable paddling that boat? Can you take strokes without bracing? And eventually, can you use good technique without bracing?
However, as I grew up within the paddling world, stability grew too be more complicated than just a vague idea of comfort level. Every experienced paddler can hop into a boat on flat water and either feel immediately solid or uneasy: that wobbliness. This is what I would call that whole initial stability thing. We as surfski paddlers then take it to the next level, and test our stability in waves, winds, troughs, roughs, rains, currents, swells, and surges. We push ourselves to see how that innate stable comfort changes in the boat as we paddle on any/all forms of water. How does the boat respond here? Does it pick up the swell and run with it? A paddler can be happy to have a ski eager to hop on waves. We need a boat that naturally wants to sit upright and stick to the front face of the groundswell; a ski with good attitude: good secondary stability.
Since switching to the flat water game, there are a few things I’ve discovered about this whole initial/secondary stability logic. Surfski’s have good initial stability (Relatively): if you are paddling out on a mellow day, the boat will naturally sit up right. A solid ski will also be smart in the waves: it will pick up the bumps. However when it comes to flat water boats, all bets are off. These boats prefer to be on their sides and prefer to bust through swells instead of onto them. Of course this is a result of the shape of the hull and their “purpose” on the water: flat water boats were never designed with big wave conditions in mind. However, what has fascinated me about the two genres of boats, is how much you must change (and train) your stability to match the boat. Flat water and ocean paddling are truly different sports. They require different focuses, goals, techniques, and, as I’ve just begun to understand, different types of stability.
However, as I grew up within the paddling world, stability grew too be more complicated than just a vague idea of comfort level. Every experienced paddler can hop into a boat on flat water and either feel immediately solid or uneasy: that wobbliness. This is what I would call that whole initial stability thing. We as surfski paddlers then take it to the next level, and test our stability in waves, winds, troughs, roughs, rains, currents, swells, and surges. We push ourselves to see how that innate stable comfort changes in the boat as we paddle on any/all forms of water. How does the boat respond here? Does it pick up the swell and run with it? A paddler can be happy to have a ski eager to hop on waves. We need a boat that naturally wants to sit upright and stick to the front face of the groundswell; a ski with good attitude: good secondary stability.
Since switching to the flat water game, there are a few things I’ve discovered about this whole initial/secondary stability logic. Surfski’s have good initial stability (Relatively): if you are paddling out on a mellow day, the boat will naturally sit up right. A solid ski will also be smart in the waves: it will pick up the bumps. However when it comes to flat water boats, all bets are off. These boats prefer to be on their sides and prefer to bust through swells instead of onto them. Of course this is a result of the shape of the hull and their “purpose” on the water: flat water boats were never designed with big wave conditions in mind. However, what has fascinated me about the two genres of boats, is how much you must change (and train) your stability to match the boat. Flat water and ocean paddling are truly different sports. They require different focuses, goals, techniques, and, as I’ve just begun to understand, different types of stability.
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