Hi guys!

Life has been good in the South. I’ve been training down in Georgia for the past three weeks with the Lanier sprint canoe and kayak team. We’re hosting a bunch of races this year which is a lot of fun! My sprint times are finally starting to drop seconds, but it’s a hard-knock life for a surfski-to-sprint paddler.

It tends to be a cool 75 degrees at 6:15am when I walk to the car with a protein bar in one hand and tennis shoes in the other. I tend to be groggy after 8 hours of sleep which isn’t enough to compensate for these high intensity workouts. I’ve been staying with very kind host families down here who are unbelievably welcoming and contain at least one son or daughter who is on the team. Everyone is eager to show that southern hospitality. The orangey sun is usually just coming up as I and the aforementioned son or daughter drive the short distance to the boat house.

The morning workout is always high-intensity, short-sprint work. We usually practice on the 1996 Atlanta Olympic course, which is a convenient 1k warm-up paddle from the boathouse. This gives us extra practice in a course like setting and will hopefully give us even more of an advantage with that whole “home court advantage” thing as we host nationals in August. I’ve been paddling my new Epic Legacy M which I’m in love with. It has a similar feel to the V12… if there is any way for an ICF boat to have a surfski feel. I guess Epic siblings share a lot of genes.

In the mornings, we usually do workouts consisting of 8-10 pieces of any 200m-1000m distances. We frequent a lot of pyramids as well. We favor the early hours of the morning because the motor-boaters do not (although I always enjoyed a little wake/chop). However, the glassy water is pretty nice for a new ICF paddler who is trying to completely change my technique to fit in with all of those flatwater-ers. Hints for anyone going from the surfski world to sprint: straighten your top arm before the catch; don’t let your top hand cross in front of your body; exit quickly; exit closer to the boat; angle your paddle more for the exit; USE THE LEGS; and pause…. Who knew there’s supposed to be a pause in your stroke???

Morning paddles are followed closely by morning runs. These consist of 30-40 minutes of short sprints on a circular track; why not tired the legs out too? This is followed closely by breakfast #1 and breakfast #2, a 2-3h nap, lunches #1 and #2, and then afternoon practice. At this point the temp is at a steady 92ish.

Afternoons usually consist of longer paddles with longer pieces. I value these workouts for a more focused opportunity to work on my new found sprint stroke. These are also often used for team boat practice: another foreign subject to me. It’s an interesting shift going from lone paddles on an icy river in a Maine college town - to workouts in bath water with up to 3 extra people IN MY BOAT. If there is anything to be said on this learning experience it’s timing.... also, sometimes you just have to shut up and paddle. Afternoon paddles are followed closely by afternoon weight circuits; might as well empty out anything else left in the muscles. Then that finally brings us to dinners #1, #2, and #3, maybe a quick movie, and bed.

It’s a crazy day to day life, but I’m so grateful to be doing it. We next have a lake placid regatta in a couple weeks, which should be very telling on how these workouts have either improved us or tired us out too much. I’m planning to continue to do sprint workouts until August, where I’ll switch back to my first love, surfski racing, for August and maybe a few races in the fall. Every time I hop back in a ski it feels like home again. Hope everything’s great up north! I’ve been checking the results each weekend. Drop a line or two back; it’d be great to hear from y’all!

Alex