Ron Lugbill Whitewater Slalom Racing Blog

switching in c-1

Switching in C-1

 

While most c-1 racers just paddle on one side, there are some who are "switchers".  That is, they switch hands on the paddle at strategic points to try to gain an advantage.  I'm not talking about cross-strokes- I mean putting the other hand on the t-grip of the paddle.

While I am not a switcher, I do have some proficiency on the other side and some knowledge about how it is done.  I do not recommend switching for beginners because then they never learn the full compliment of strokes on each side.  When they don't know how to do a stroke, they just switch hands to compensate.

That is not how top switchers do it.  Top switchers normally only do pre-planned switches.  It isn't a desperation move when they can't figure out how to put the boat where they want it to go.  And top switchers could paddle the whole course on either side.   They don't switch to compensate for weak technique, but to gain an advantage in a move.

And top switchers normally only switch when the boat is traveling at speed.  They don't switch when the boat has little or no boat speed, because that just delays the reacceleration of the boat and slows you down.  If you switch when the boat is already traveling fast, there is no lost time for the switch because the boat keeps gliding at full speed during the switch.

As for the actual switch, it needs to be practiced to be quick and effective.  You slide the bottom hand up the paddle during the recovery  and release the fingers, but not the thumb of the bottom hand so the thumb slides up the shaft to the t-grip and then the fingers catch on at the top of the t-grip.  You do a sort of controlled toss of the paddle to the other side during the recovery and the other lower hand catches the shaft of the paddle, ready for a new stroke.  The switch needs to be practiced to be effective.

Then, switches need to be planned for certain parts of the course where it will be more effective.  Usually the switch will be once the boat is traveling downstream at some speed, you can switch for an upcoming move, such as an upstream or a move across a hole.  Switch well ahead of the move while the boat is traveling at speed.  Switchers normally do right upstreams on the right and left upstreams on the left side, however this is not a hard and fast rule.

However, in observing many split times at races, the times are not usually faster for right or left c-1s.  The split times vary more depending on the speed of the racer and how well he does the move, not so much based upon which side he is paddling on.  But there may be some moves where you feel more comfortable paddling on one side or the other for the move and may have a greater likelihood of making the move clean and fast on one side, so this may be an occasion to switch for that move.

In any case, learn all strokes on both sides if you are a switcher and be able to do all moves on each side.  You need to have a full toolbox of strokes and moves, not just depend on switching if you can't find out the right stroke in a pinch.  Because that is an ineffective form of switching- emergency switching due to a lack of technique, rather than planned and fast and smooth switching.

specific strength training

Specific Strength Training

An often overlooked type of training is specific strength training.  There are various methods for doing specific strength training.

I like to hold onto a boat from shore in a flatwater location where the water is deep enough near shore.  You can either hold onto the bow of the boat or the stern.  Or loop a rope through the grabloop of the boat and have the boater paddle hard.  I usually do 20 strokes all- out, then rest for a couple minutes and repeat 2 times.

Or, a boater can tow or push another boat.  This provides a little less resistance than a stationary position of someone holding the boat on shore.  Or, I have seen boaters ram their boats into the mudbank and then paddle hard.

In a pool, you could have people standing in the water, holding both ends of the boat for strength training.  One advantage of this is you can do sweep strokes also while holding both ends of the boat.  In slalom, we are constantly turning and sweep strokes are very important, not just forward paddling.

I have experimented with doing specific strength training with a partner on dry land.  Hold the paddle while standing on shore.  Have a friend face you holding the paddle from the other side.  He resists as you air paddle.  It's a little awkward, but could be fun.  You can also do strength training for sweep strokes, back strokes, etc. using this method (unlike some of the other methods).

Some people have rigged up machines for specific strength training for paddling in indoor gyms.  These are also effective, but not any more so than the in-the-boat methods. 

Or, if you are alone, you can paddle hard forwards and backwards.  Paddle hard forward for 8 strokes, then back for 8 strokes and forward again for 8 strokes.  Repeat 5 or more times.

Some boaters also put something on their boat to increase drag or tow something behind their boat.  The important thing is to increase the resistance to build strength.  This should be something short and powerful.  Long slow paddling with resistance does not build strength- it just teaches the muscles to go slow.

I usually do the strength training at the end of the workout because then you are still fresh for the gate work.  But an Olympic champion I know does it at the beginning of his varied workouts.  You could conceivably do a workout that is just strength training and do a lot of sets of strength training.  However, most people combine it with other types of training in the same session.

Go hard but keep good technique during your strength training.  And don't increase the length of the bursts, but increase the speed of the pull or the number of sets to get more training effect.  And allow sufficient rest between sets so it is a strength workout, not an endurance workout.  This type of training is good to complement training on flatwater or easy gates, where strength isn't required as much as on courses with very strong current.

If training on fast whitewater, you could probably skip the strength training because you are probably already getting enough strength training from your training on the strong currents and eddies.  But many of us normally train on easier courses where there isn't the strong resistance, so specific strength training is very helpful.

Don't train for Loops World Championships.

Training for Loops World Championships

It seems that many paddlers are training for the World Championships in Loops.  They do frequent long continuous paddles of much greater lengths than the slalom courses we race on, which according to ICF rules should be about 90 seconds long.

I'm not serious, of course about the Loops World Championships.  There is no such race.  But it just seems that given the length of their training distances, it appears that they must be training for much longer races than the 90 second courses that we race on.

But even if they were training for the Loops World Championships, they aren't training properly.  Even long distance events require some resistance training, some specific strength training and some speed training. 

Regardless of distance, resistance training is important.  Resistance training helps strengthen opposing muscles and helps balance your strength which helps prevent injuries and resistance training helps your body produce hormones that are helpful in building muscle.

Also, some sprint training is important even in long distance events.  One of the best predictors of how athletes will do in any length event (10k, marathon, etc.) is how fast they are over a 20 meter sprint.  If you are very fast, when you back off and go at race pace, your body doesn't have to work as hard as it would if it were working closer to your maximum speed.

And specific power training, where you practice against some resistance, such as having the boat held still while you paddle is also very effective, regardless of the distance.  If every stroke you take is very easy because of your specific strength, you won't have to work as hard for every stroke, saving your energy over the length of the race.

Of course, these wouldn't be the bulk of your training for the Loops World Championships, but it would be better if you at least did each of these once/week.  So, even if you were training for the mythical Loops World Championship, doing all distance work would not be the most effective training.  Even if you want to be the best in the world at loops, you should do some sprints, some resistance training and some sprint training.  However, the bulk of your training would be closer to race pace.

In the real slalom world were we live, there is no Loops World Championships.  In our world, you need to do resistance training, some short sprints, and some specific power training.  Additionally, you should do training that is close to race pace, such as 30 second courses, 60 second courses and full length courses. 

I do not recommend training for the Loops World Championships because there is substantial research that shows that you cannot simultaneously train for power and long endurance because you cannot gain any power under such conditions.  Power is very important to slalom racing, where you are constantly having to reaccelerate the boat after a turn, upstream, etc.  Doing endurance training will prevent you from developing power.

You can simultaneously train for power and short courses, such as 30 or 60 or 90 second courses.  There is no problem building power if you are doing short courses, only if you are doing long endurance work.  So, it makes more sense to avoid or minimize long endurance training- anything over 2 minutes or so, except as recovery training for short periods at very slow speeds.  In any case, train smart and train for a 90 second whitewater slalom race.  Don't train for the Loops World Championships.

Acceleration Training

Acceleration Training

In previous posts, I have emphasized how acceleration is an important ingredient in whitewater slalom.  Top speed is rare, but turns and re-accelerations of the boat are frequent in slalom racing.  Every turn slows down the boat (although you should try to conserve as much speed as possible with each turn), requiring a re-acceleration of the boat. 

This is not unlike many other sports, such as ball sports (soccer, basketball, rugby, etc.) where the athletes are rarely running at top speed, but are frequently changing direction and re-accelerating.  So, this phenomenon of acceleration is not particular to whitewater slalom and has been thoroughly studied and researched.  Top athletes in other sports have already devised methods of training for acceleration and these methods have been tested and evaluated.

Here is a link to an article that speaks about some of the research about acceleration training, both for methods that work and training approaches that have been disproven:

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/how-to-increase-acceleration-and-become-a-faster-athlete-31800

So, how do you train to develop acceleration?  Strength training is one important way to train for acceleration.  It has been proven to increase acceleration.  In fact, power lifters, who don't even train for running are often very fast out of the blocks when they try sprinting because of the great leg strength of the power lifters.  To train for strength, use heavy weight and low reps (1-5 reps).  This will help greatly with acceleration.

Another method that some athletes use is weighted sleds.  To be effective, the weight should be moderate, but not excessive.  The athlete tows a weight behind him and runs. 

Boaters could do something similar, sprinting while towing something behind the boat, having a rope wrapped around the boat, or pulling another boater.  This should be done sprinting, not as endurance training in order to develop acceleration.  And the weight should be proportionate to the boater's weight and strength, but not excessive.

Another method that some athletes use is plyometrics, such as hopping or bounding or bench jumps to increase the power of the legs.  This comes more into play for speed than for acceleration though.  In other words, it doesn't affect your time over the first 5 meters, but does speed you up over a 50-100 meter sprint. 

There are plyometric exercises that work the upper body and torso and could be effective for boaters also.  For example, medicine ball exercises and plyometric push-ups work the upper body and develop the explosive power that helps with speed.

Some techniques that haven't been proven to improve acceleration are endurance training, training with very heavy weighted sleds, and overspeed training, where you run downhill or with an elastic band pulling to increase your speed.  These techniques may affect other abilities, but not acceleration. 

Also, acceleration training should be combined with sprint training in a planned program.  Sprint training is training at or near full speed without any equipment or resistance other than the normal resistance.  There should be some combination of both acceleration training and sprint training in the program.

And the acceleration training should include not just straight ahead training, but turning and movements to each side at full speed (agility training).  In other words, just doing straight ahead sprints isn't sufficient- you need to do some gate training also- some combination of straight-ahead training and gate training.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/how-to-increase-acceleration-and-become-a-faster-athlete-31800

Inverted periodization

Inverted Periodization

Here is a link to an article about inverted periodization for triathletes:

http://www.sdxtraining.com/new/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=212:inverted-c

Rather than concentrate on building an aerobic base during the off-season, with inverted periodization, you work on motor skills, technique, speed and strength.  Then, when you get closer to race season, you add in more endurance training, but maintain some speed training year-round.

This contrasts to traditional periodization, where you do a lot of long endurance training during the off-season, then start more aerobic training during the pre-competition season.  Traditional periodization developed during the 60s and 70s, but since then, there has been more research that has shown it to be ineffective.

Periodization is nothing more than planning.  Planning is a good thing.  You need to plan out your training.  However, you also need to listen to your own body.

The author of the article lists many physical problems resulting from the common application of aerobic base training with high volumes of training.  Many athletes develop physical and medical issues as a result of this excessive volume of endurance training and would be better served by less volume and a more balanced approach.

This article is about an endurance sport- triathlon.  If traditional periodization is not effective for a very long distance, endurance-oriented sport like triathlon, it certainly does not work for whitewater slalom racing where the emphasis is on technique, precision, power and speed.

Instead of spending hours paddling slow on flatwater during the off-season, work on technique, speed and strength.  Get faster first, then work on being able to maintain that speed during the pre-competitive season.  In other words, do more short courses in the fall and winter and more full-lengths during the spring and summer.

Here is the link to the article on inverted periodization:

http://www.sdxtraining.com/new/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=212:inverted-c

Reduce penalties and time errors.

Reduce Penalties and Time Errors

Here is a systematic way of reducing both your penalties and major time errors in races.  Get a notebook and after every race, make a little diagram of the gate sequence where you had problems.  Do this for every touch (penalty) or major time error.  Have arrows showing what the sequence was and make a note of which pole was touched and what it was touched with (boat, body, or paddle).  Then, write your analysis of why this happened and what you can do in the future to avoid it.

You won't want to do this probably.  You feel that you already know what went wrong.  But, by writing down and analyzing every error, you will reduce your errors systematically.  Eventually, you will have made every error and analyzed them all and filled up your notebook.  At that point, you will be making very few errors.

Another method is to have someone take videos of you and the top boaters at every race.  Then, you can analyze the runs by watching the video after the race.  Video analysis should be part of your training.  The more you learn by analyzing videos, the better you will be at analyzing race courses ahead of time.

A very important skill in our sport is being able to look at a course and figure it out from shore, before you take your run.  You look at the gates, the water, etc. and based on your prior experience, you know what you need to do and where you need to go through the entire course.  The most experienced boaters are better at this than less experienced boaters.  But you don't have to just wait for the passage of time to get this experience- you can do training and analysis that will help you acquire this skill more quickly.

Try to get as much race experience as you can on good, hard courses.  Do race simulations and full lengths in practice on good whitewater slalom courses.  Plan out your runs extensively in practice, just like you would in a race.  Analyze your runs afterwards with videos.  And keep a notebook of all penalties and major time errors and your runs will become more and more perfect.

Work on technique or speed first?

Develop Technique First or Speed?

Which is more important to develop first, technique or speed?  Should you only work on technique until you feel that you are very good technically, then start working on speed?

They are both important.  Except for beginning paddlers, who are just learning the strokes, rolling, etc., slalom racers should be working on all elements of the sport simultaneously.  Work on technique, speed, quickness, strength, power, acceleration, agility, range of motion, and speed endurance at the same time. 

You will probably have some sessions where you are only working on one element, for example, speed endurance, however you should be working on all of them.  Technique should be an element of every workout.

I know one boater who never worked on speed though.  He spent all year paddling slowly, working on his technique.  He felt that he shouldn't do speed work until his technique was perfect.  So, at the team trials, he was slow and clean and didn't make the team.

Other sports don't do this.  Basketball players don't play basketball slowly to work on their technique.  They play their best (or should be trying to play their best) in practice.  Soccer players don't play slow soccer to perfect their technique.  They play all-out and do their best in practice.  No hockey coach has his players skating slowly in practice so they perfect their technique and waiting a year before they start skating at full speed.

Professional athletes in other sports don't practice slowly all the time to work on their technique.  They work on their technique and their speed.  Our sport is no different- you need both.

Sometimes, it might be necessary to slow things down just to learn a skill.  For example, I teach sweep strokes rather slowly so the learner can watch the blade throughout the stroke and try to imitate it.  But once learned, you need to do the skill at speed and start applying it in race-like situations.

So, work on speed and technique at the same time.  Don't let one interfere with the other.  Don't let your technique suffer because you are trying to go fast.  Maintain a quality stroke even when you are tired.

I believe that speed training and technique training go together well.  Because if you are doing speed training, you are doing many short bursts and then taking a break.  During the break you can get feedback and try to use that feedback immediately on your next run. 

On the other hand, If you are doing fewer runs on 2 minute loops, you don't get quality feedback until your 2 minutes is up.  And you are doing fewer runs so you get less feedback.  Less frequent feedback and less overall feedback because there are fewer breaks than if you are doing very short courses.

So do both speed and technique.  Do very short courses and get feedback between runs, usually in the form of your time and penalties, but it could be coaching advice, or watching other boaters do the same course or watching a video of your own run between runs. 

Don't be a one-sided paddler who is fast but has poor technique, or a slow paddler with good technique.  You need to be both fast and have good technique to perform well.

Fabien Lefevre in c-1

10,000 Hours = Greatness?

A frequently quoted research study is that it takes 10,000 hours to be great at something. It comes from a study of violinists in Germany that asked people how much they had practiced over the years.  They had often started around age 5 and had been playing 15 years.

The ones who had logged 10,000 hours were great violinists, while those with fewer hours- 4,000 or even 8,500 were good violinists but none of them were great.  Here is a link to an article about this study:

http://www.wisdomgroup.com/report/10000_hours_of_practice/

I am not sure about the carry-over from violin playing to whitewater slalom racing.  The research in sports is a little different. 

In sports, a high volume of specialized early training does not really correlate with success later.   A more varied sports background is generally preferable to a lot of specific training in one sport.

And in sports, a high volume of training can lead to overtraining and worse results than a more moderate volume of training.  In our sport, the quality of the training is more important than sheer volume of training.

Others have criticized applying the study on violins to sports because the training effect in sports is highly individualized.  Different people react very differently to the same training program.

However, I feel that the study may be an example of the tail wagging the dog.  Correlation does not mean causation. 

I believe that the difference between the violinists who did the 10,000 hours versus the ones who did less was that the ones who trained more did it because they loved playing and just wanted to play more.  They were more highly motivated.  So, not only did they play more- I suspect they played better during their practice because they loved playing and wanted to do it well.

The real cause of the greatness is the person's own motivation and love of the activity.  The hours they practiced are a result of their love of music.

The presumption is that the number of hours playing was the cause of the greatness.  I suggest that it is not the cause, but a symptom.  I suspect the real cause was the person's drive and motivation and love of the music.  That inner drive then caused the person not only to practice more, but also to practice better, and to produce more beautiful music.

Likewise, with elite athletes, they probably love the sport so much and are so driven that they probably practice more than others.  However, the real source of their greatness is not the volume of training, but the love of the sport and the motivation which makes them want to spend as much time as possible practicing the sport and to strive for perfection in the sport. 

Train on artificial courses.

Train on Artificial Courses

Most of the world's top athletes in whitewater slalom now train on artificial courses.  Most of the top races are held on artificial courses, not on natural rivers.

However, many people do not live near an artificial course.  But they can still compete at top levels if they make accomodations. 

Even if you live near an artificial course nearby, it is too draining on the body to train on it every day.  Alternating days, with one day on easy water gates and one day on whitewater gates is one approach so that you don't get burnt-out.

If you can get to an artificial course on weekends or for monthly training camps, that would be a very good addition to your training.  Your main training could be on a class 1-2 training course or on flatwater, but on weekends or holidays you could go to an artificial course for training.

The techniques used on artificial courses are different and they require practice.  Often on artificial courses, you have a tighter approach to upstreams because of the strong upstream current in the eddies.  Also, on offset gates, you often don't swing wide before the gate like you would on a natural river, but just do a tight turn (often a pivot turn) to get angled towards the next gate.  These techniques need to be learned and practiced on artificial courses.

On natural rivers, you can often just show up the day of the race and race on the course.  On artificial courses, this is not the case.  You need to spend time at the race site ahead of time to get accustomed to the water before racing.

Just showing up and racing on an artificial course without adequate time to practice on the course ahead of time is a recipe for disaster.  Many athletes spend the week before the event practicing on the course, even if they know the course from previous years.  It's hard to make the transition from racing on class 2 water at local races to competing on artificial courses at the big races.  Spend some time training on the course ahead of time, rather than just showing up for the event.

Spending the summer on the European racing circuit, training on artificial courses and racing and watching the top racers is an excellent way to improve your racing.  Even if you don't live near an artificial course at home, you can get in a lot of artificial course experience in the summer traveling the circuit and racing.

But do not expect to do well at your first race on an artificial course if you have just been training on your local flatwater training course and then show up and race at one of the big artificial courses.  It takes a lot of time to get the course "wired".  Each artificial course is unique and the locals know it in and out.  There is a big home course advantage on artificial courses, with the Germans doing well at Augsburg, the Spanish doing well at Seo d'Urgel and the Slovenians doing well at Tacen.

However, there are also some experienced foreign racers who have been racing and training at these courses for years and they can also do very well at these sites even though it isn't their home course.  They have a lot of experience on these courses and can compete and win on other racers' turf.

The important point is to take the time to get away and train on artificial courses if you don't have one nearby.  You can still do well even without an artificial course near home, but you have to make accomodations to spend time training and racing on artificial courses if you want to compete at top levels in this sport.

http://rlugbill.typepad.com/my-blog/

More Sleep = Better Performance

Here is a link to an interesting study on sleep with college basketball players.  After a baseline time period, the players were told to get at least 10 hours of sleep per night.  Their speed and performance improved when they got more sleep.  Here is the link:

http://www.journalsleep.org/ViewAbstract.aspx?pid=28194

So, I suggest you do the same.  Get at least 10 hours per night and your performance will get better.

Additionally, the quality of your sleep is just as important as the quantity.  Sleep in a room that is cool, quiet and dark.  I suggest putting dark blinds on your windows to keep out any light and not have any clocks, electronics, etc. on in your room.  And have a fan on all night for white noise so you sleep better.  The fan isn't for cooling- it's for white noise so you won't hear disturbances during your sleep and can continue sleeping.

Also, to improve the quality of your sleep, don't eat right before bed and don't use electronics, tv, computer, or cell phones during the hour before bedtime.  Do relaxing activities during the hour before bed- nothing stimulating.  Relaxing activities include taking a bath, stretching, reading, or going for a walk.

Your body gets stronger at rest, not when it is exercising.  If you don't have quality rest, your body won't recover adequately and your muscles won't get stronger- they could get weaker.  Emphasize the rest periods, not just the exercise periods in order to improve your performance.  Here is the link:

http://www.journalsleep.org/ViewAbstract.aspx?pid=28194

Train for fast-paced slalom racing, not just general training.

Overall Fitness Not Enough For Athletes

Some people use a general fitness program to get in shape for their sport.  Examples include popular programs such as you find in popular fitness books or magazines, or Crossfit, Insanity, or your own mix of cross-training and conditioning.

General fitness is not enough for a top athlete trying to do his best.  It's good for the average person who just wants to get in shape or feel good or look good.  Read this article about how just doing general fitness isn't appropriate for top athletes:

http://jeffblairfitness.com/blog/Beyond+Fitness%3A+Fast+Twitch,+Slow+Twitch+and+the+Athlete/

Top athletes have different, conflicting goals.  They aren't just trying to look good or feel good or be generally fit.  Elite athletes work on their strength, power, endurance, speed endurance, range of motion, injury prevention, quickness, and flexibility.  Athletes train in a specific way for their sport, not just in a general way.

Some general fitness is good when you are first starting training.  Perhaps a general conditioning workout such as bodyweight exercises for a month when you start training.  And a general strength and power program and injury prevention and flexibility training are also important parts of a training program.  If you read this blog, you know that I advocate strength and power training, based on the research. 

For serious athletes, the workouts need to be mostly oriented towards their event.  That means that for slalom, most of your training should be in the boat, at race pace or faster, and on whitewater gates as much as possible.

The workouts need to train your body for the specific needs of the event, so your body knows how to adapt so you get better at your sport.  For example, a sprinter or football player wouldn't train by running long slow distance.  They are more interested in developing their fast-twitch muscle fibers. Running long slow distance could actually lower their power and slow them down. 

Having football players run laps is something out of the 1960s and 1970s.  Good strength and conditioning coaches no longer do that sort of thing for sports where explosive power is important.  But there are still some coaches who are unaware of this and are still stuck in the 1970s and have their football players run laps or have their sprinters run with the distance runners.  Their athetes will not reach top speeds or have the explosive power that is important in their sport. 

Slalom racing is an event that lasts about 100 seconds now.  It is a speed-endurance event, with some power moves.  It requires some different movements (varied strokes, not just the same stroke repeated constantly), some changes of speed, but is generally a very fast-paced speed-endurance event.

Training for slalom racing should reflect the sport.  We should not be doing the paddling equivalent of running laps, such as doing long distance paddling.  Some paddlers are still stuck in the 1970s also.  They do long loops or distance paddling, allegedly to build stamina, but this detracts from speed and power.  Instead, they should be doing speed training and speed endurance training, which is fast paddling at or near race pace to build endurance because the pace and movements are more specific to our sport.

Here is the link to the article about how overall fitness is not enough for athletes:

http://jeffblairfitness.com/blog/Beyond+Fitness%3A+Fast+Twitch,+Slow+Twitch+and+the+Athlete/ 

Lower Volume Training

Lower Volume Training

Here is a link to an interesting article about running science:

http://trainingscience.net/?page_id=675

The article states that according to the research, intensity and specificity are highly correlated with performance, but volume is not.  In other words, it's important to train fast and close to race pace, but the number of days you train is less important.

Many people erroneously believe that they would be faster if they trained more.  So, some athletes start training more and more, thinking they will get faster, but they rarely do.  Instead, they should increase the intensity of their training and the specificity of their training.  Train faster and make your training more like a race to get faster.  Paddling more times per week may not get you the results you are looking for. 

The author also states that few, if any elite runners actually train like they recommend- 2 or 3 days per week and thus, it is difficult to tell if the elite runners would do better on lower volume, but that is what the research tends to indicate.  Additionally, higher volume training is significantly correlated to increased risk of injury and a shorter athletic career.

Very interesting article.  It's actually part 5 of a series on "How Much Should I Train?".  Here is the link:

http://trainingscience.net/?page_id=675

short courses are aerobic

Short Courses Are Aerobic

There is substantial new research that says that the aerobic energy system is used a great deal even for short courses.  Here is a summary of some of the recent research on this topic:

http://www.zone5endurance.com/

There is a study of flatwater kayak racers that shows that at around 40 seconds into the race, it is half aerobic.  By one minute into a race, it is about 90% aerobic and then it plateaus at around 90%.  And this study just looked at a race.  In training, the first run may be half aerobic at 40 seconds but by the time you are halfway through your workout, it is mainly aerobic if you are doing 40 second courses.

So, this is much shorter than sports physiologists had previously thought.  The take-home for us paddlers is that you don't have to do those long paddles for the training to be considered aerobic.  You can paddle at or near race pace and as long as the distance is 30 seconds or more, it is mainly an aerobic workout.  If you are doing  1 minute intervals, it is about 90% aerobic, yet the pace is specific to your event.

You don't have to paddle long and slow for a workout to be considered aerobic.  Paddling long distances is not specific enough to be effective training.  But, anything from 30 seconds on up is going to be a mainly aerobic workout.  See this article that provides summaries of recent research:

http://www.zone5endurance.com/

Spaced practice better than massed practice.

Spaced Practice Versus Massed Practice

One common educational finding is that spaced practice is more effective than massed practice.  In other words, it is more effective to learn something by learning it during 6 different sessions for 10 minutes each than to try to learn it in a single one hour session.  See this link for a meta-analysis of the research on massed practice:

http://kinesiology.unlv.edu/classes/KIN750/meta.pdf

The implications on learning kayaking skills is that it is better to have more shorter practices than to have fewer longer practices.  Much of the learning actually occurs between practices, not during the practice.  So, it's more important to keep coming back to skills rather than just hammering at them for a long period of time during one session.

I often organize practice sessions by teaching a skill, having the athletes practice it, then moving on to the next skill, sometimes before the athletes have mastered the skill, but before they have had time to be bored by it.  I know I will come back to the skill in future sessions and the athletes will learn a lot more by doing more skills in a session that by just concentrating on one or two skills.  By organizing practices this way, we can touch on skills more frequently instead of practicing a skill only once a month or so.

I know that some people don't like this approach.  Perfectionists feel that you have to perfect one skill before you move on to something else.  I don't look for perfection, but just aim for some progress.  And it is not interesting for those who already know a skill to spend 30 minutes working on it.  But if they only spend 5 minutes reviewing something they already know, it is actually a worthwhile exercise in reminding themselves how to perform the skill. 

In most groups, you have some more advanced students and some who take longer to learn something.  Moving quickly through skills rather than dwelling on them and then coming back to the skill again at a later date is a good compromise to keep things interesting and to review and re-teach the skill at a later date.

Another implication of spaced practice is that two workouts a day is better than one.  There is a concern about overtraining when doing two workouts per day.  However, if you are really only doing one workout that is split into 2 sessions, then it will be an advantage. 

For example, rather than doing a full length workout of 6 full length runs, do 2 workouts of 3 runs each.   If you do 3 runs on one course in the morning and 3 runs on a different course in the afternoon, then you have the opportunity to learn 2 courses, yet do the same amount of training. 

This is a good approach when you are in a situation like when you are traveling the race circuit and have time between races with little else to do but train.  Be careful not to do more total work during the two sessions or you may end up overtraining.  Particularly if it is right before a race, you should be lowering your total training volume (tapering), rather than increasing your total training volume.  So, if it is in the week before a race, you could just do 2 full length runs in the morning and 2 in the afternoon.  You have the quality and practice on the race course doing 2 different courses, but you have the lower volume so you will perform at your best on race day.

Another situation where the spaced practice concept is useful is in deciding how to use your resources for training and racing.  Should you take a month off in the summer to train full-time and have to work 2 jobs all year to pay for it, or should you work part-time so you can train more year-round at home?  The spaced practice concept would argue more for the year-round consistent training schedule rather than a less intense schedule followed by a month of full-time training.  But if you can't get quality training at your home site (for example, if there is no whitewater, only flatwater), that could also be a factor in your decision.  What are your thoughts on this?

Tony Estanguet

Practice Does Not Make Perfect

"Practice does not make perfect.  Only perfect practice makes perfect."

- Vince Lombardi, American football coach of winning Green Bay Packers.

Your goal should be to have excellent runs in practice.  Training is not about just some physical conditioning to train a particular energy system.  Training is about learning to have top quality runs so you will have top quality runs in competitions.

If for some reason, you cannot have quality runs in practice, you are better off not training than to practice having poor runs.  Wait for another time or another day to practice when you can do quality runs. 

If you are too tired, in such a bad mood, sick, have bad equipment, or for some reason you are not up to having a top quality practice, then you should not go out and just do poor runs for the sake of conditioning.  Rest, fix your boat, do what you need to in order to get yourself ready to have good quality runs.  And only then should you go out and train.

Training is not an addiction.  You shouldn't just train out of habit or because it's what you are supposed to do.  It's not like homework where you just do it in order to get it done but the quality doesn't matter- just whether or not you have done the assignment.

Training is your work of art.  Something you focus on and plan for and care deeply about.  Training is about producing your masterpiece.  You put your soul into your training.  Every stroke, every gate should be carefully planned.  You should never leave the eddy without a plan of precisely what you are going to do all the way.

You wouldn't just "wing it" in a race.  So, don't just "wing it" in practice.  You can't figure out a course once you are on it in a race.  Likewise, in practice, you need to figure out the course carefully and thoroughly before you take your first stroke.

If you take your practice sessions seriously, you will be used to achieving quality runs in practice.  Then, in the race, you don't have to change things because you are used to having top quality, focused runs.  Make your practices perfect and excellence will be your norm.

Be the Imaginary Boat

The Imaginary Boat

Before you make a run, try to visualize how the perfect boater would do it.  The Olympic or World Champion- how would they do this course.  By implanting that mental imagery in your mind, you will start to become more like the ideal boater.

Watching videos of top boaters is also a way to start having good mental images in your mind.  There are many videos of top boaters available on the internet and you tube.  This should be incorporated into your training- video analysis.

Instead of just thinking of yourself, you can try to visualize yourself becoming a top boater.  Think of how the best boater in the world would do this move, then try it yourself.

In 1992, this is how 1992 Olympic gold medalists Joe Jacobi and Scott Strausbaugh would train.    They would imagine how the ideal boat would perform the move.  This changes the paradigm so that even if training alone, you had something to compare your run to.  Or, if you are training with others, you aren't just trying to do better than their runs, you are trying to have the ultimate run.

That should be your goal in training and racing anyway.  Instead of thinking about how the other boaters are doing, something that you have no control over, think about how you can be the imaginary boater, doing the best you can.