During the summer months especially, racers are often at good whitewater courses and racing on the weekends. There is a dilemma- should I train hard during the week to improve and (possibly) to get to know the course better, or should I cut back on training so as to peak for the race on the weekend? Standard peaking advice is to cut the volume in half, while maintaining the same intensity for 2 weeks prior to a big race. But, if I cut back that much, will I be wasting possible valuable training time on this great whitewater course I'm at?
Here is one approach so that you get top-quality training and profit from the great whitewater course, yet stay fresh for the race so you won't be burnt-out. Do technique sessions on the difficult sections of the whitewater course.
Plan a 4-5 gate challenging gate series and work on getting consistent, clean runs on it. Carry back up each time and repeat. You won't get overly tired because the course is short- 20-30 seconds and there is a long break between runs when you carry back up.
Most paddlers don't like to do this. They either want to stay in their boats to do lots of short courses where they can paddle back up, or they do full-length runs. Few do short courses and then carry back up.
But by doing more runs on the difficult section of the course, you are improving your technique without getting so tired from doing full-length runs. Running drops is very important and sometimes neglected because people prefer to stay in their boats and practice on the run-outs below the drops. Instead, try to get more runs in on the drops, where the moves are difficult and improve your technique on the difficult sections.
If you have a coach or someone who can video you or some other paddlers that you can watch doing the same move between runs, that will improve the quality of your practice session. Just set a 4-5 gate sequence in a difficult part of the course and try it repeatedly until you can consistently make the move well. Then, you can change the course.
This is a very good method when you are traveling to different race sites and traning there during the week and then racing on the weekend. Do a tough section of the course and then carry up and do it repeatedly. This way, you will learn the most difficult section of the course very well, so you will be ready for race day. But you won't be too tired out so you will still be fast on race day.
Your friends are unlikely to want to do this. They will either do full-lengths or do short courses at the bottom of drops. Let them do this if they want to- they will tire themselves out and they won't learn the difficult part of the course as well as you and you will beat them in the race. Good luck!
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