Sometimes an athlete will go off to college or just live somewhere where there is no whitewater training site. That does not mean that they can't continue training. If you can get out on some flatwater and do some weight-lifting and other conditioning and once in a while get to a whitewater training site, you will still do fine.
You can continue training on flatwater. Hanging some gates on a pond or river would be great. It makes for more interesting and more specific training than just paddling on a lake by yourself.
When I went away to college a long time ago, I hung some gates on a pond on campus and paddled there. But if you can't hang gates for some reason, you can just train on a lake. I don't suggest just paddling long distance on flatwater though. It doesn't build any speed or strength and is not very specific to our sport. Here are some flatwater training ideas:
- Do some sort of strength training in the boat. For example, ram your bow into the bank and paddle hard for 30 strokes. Or have someone hold your boat while you take 30 strokes. Repeat 4-5 times with complete rest.
- Do sprints for a specific number of strokes. For example 15 x 60 strokes. or 10 x 90 strokes. Or 20 x 30 strokes. Have complete rest between sprints.
- Do a simulated slalom race on the lake. Visualize a recent race and do it on the lake. Repeat 6 times with complete rest.
- Find two points on shore for a start and a finish- about 1 minute apart. Time yourself from point A to point B with your own watch. Repeat 10 times.
- Paddle forward for 6 strokes, then backwards for 6 strokes, then repeat 2 x. Rest completely and repeat 15 times. This gives you some specific strength training and works on acceleration.
- Do some of the stroke drills listed below on one of my blog posts. Combine this with one or more of the workouts listed above. For example, stroke drills, then 10 x 30 second sprints, then strength training for 3 sets of 30 strokes.
If you do fast and varied training on the lake and can sometimes get to a whitewater training site, you can continue to make progress even though you don't live somewhere there is a whitewater slalom training site. Lots of people train like this and if you can sometimes get to a whitewater course, you can do quite well without actually living near any whitewater.
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