Ron Lugbill Whitewater Slalom Racing Blog

running draw stroke

Running Draw Stroke

This is a stroke that isn't frequently taught, but top boaters use it.  It's a draw stroke that moves the boat sideways when the boat is moving at speed.  It's used to make small lateral movements when the boat is traveling, not stationary.  It is similar to the regular draw stroke, but takes advantage of the fact that the boat is moving forward and you convert some of that energy into sideways movement.

To learn the stroke, first, paddle straight ahead for at least 4 or 5 strokes so the boat has some speed.  Then, reach the paddle out to the side of the boat- not forward or back.  The paddle shaft should be nearly vertical.  And the blade should be slightly angled so it catches the oncoming water.

You simply hold the paddle out to the side for a couple of seconds and the boat shifts to the side.  There may be a slight movement of the bow ahead of the stern, but the idea is to pull the whole boat sideways at the same time, rather than first pulling over the bow and then moving the stern in behind it.  That is the way you do most turns, with a duffek stroke, then moving into a stern draw.

This stroke is useful when you need to only move a couple of feet to the side.  You do lose a little of your forward speed in doing this stroke, but the boat should keep gliding forward.  It is sometimes used when you are only slightly off course and the boat is moving fast and you need to just pull the boat slightly to the side to avoid hitting a pole. 

 

sprint training develops endurance

Sprint Training Develops Endurance

Suprisingly, sprint training is superior to long, steady-state aerobic training in developing endurance.  Here is an article about some research on cyclists who did 30 second sprints with 4 minutes of rest:

http://trainingscience.net/?page_id=389

The ones who did the 30 second sprints improved their endurance (time to exhaustion) more than the cyclists who did longer steady-state training.  It may seem counter-intuitive, but sprint training is superior to long steady-state training for endurance.

Clearly the sprint training is superior for short events, but this research shows that sprint training is also superior for longer endurance events. 

I like to do short courses for time and penalties or short straight sprints for training for whitewater slalom.  Rather than doing longer loop courses, performing 30 second courses is more effective to develop endurance. 

This isn't what I call speed training.  Speed training is shorter courses- 5-15 seconds all-out, done at the beginning of a workout, not at the end.

30 second courses are what I call speed endurance training, where you go all-out and have complete rest between runs.  I suggest that you have someone time you and count penalties on these runs so that there is feedback on how your run went and so that the focus goes up.  Self-timing at this distance is not that accurate, so it's better to have someone on shore timing you.

Here is the link to the article about sprint training for endurance:

http://trainingscience.net/?page_id=389

going through the motions in practice

Going Through the Motions in Practice

 

You want to have high-quality, focused practice sessions.  You don't want to just be "going through the motions", lacking intensity and enthusiasm in practice.  Every practice should be focused.

Here is an article about the issue of athletes just going through the motions in practice:

http://www.educ.msu.edu/ysi/articles/lauerpracticeintensity.pdf

The going through the motions syndrome has various causes.  Sometimes the athlete is tired.  Sometimes the athlete is uninterested.  Sometimes there is something else going on in the athlete's life that is distracting and lowers the focus.  Often, the athlete is over-trained and tired.

In order to avoid going through the motions syndrome, try to do practice races as often as possible.  Also, vary the workouts- don't just do the same thing every time.  Try to get feedback in your workouts, such as having a coach, getting timed and scored, and getting videoed.

And avoid over-training.  Do active recovery training.  Get a good night's rest. 

It is better to skip a day of training than to do a low-focus, poor quality workout.  Because your practices establish habits.  You don't want to establish poor habits by having poor quality workouts.  Practicing bad technique does so much harm that it is better to just skip the workout altogether and get a good night's rest and come back tomorrow with a better attitude towards training.

Sometimes coaches unwittingly foster conditions under which the athletes are more likely to be just going through the motions.  Coaches should emphasize the focus of the workouts, rather than emphasizing telling the athletes about a particular energy system that is being developed during the workout.  Coaches should hold frequent race simulations.  And coaches should keep the workouts varied to keep the interest levels high. 

If you keep moving from one type of training to another during the workout, it helps keep the athletes focused and interested.  For example, do 10 minutes of stroke technique, followed by 10 minutes of gate technique, followed by a timed and scored short course for 15 minutes, followed by a timed and scored 60 second course for 20 minutes.  This is more interesting than just doing one hour of all stroke drills or one hour of all sprints, for example.

Having a group to train with also helps avoid the going through the motions syndrome.  It is much more interesting to train with a group than to train alone.  The social support of the group helps keep people motivated and enthusiastic about training.  And you learn from others- you watch their runs and figure out how to do your own run better.

The best athletes have the best practices.  They bring a high focus to practice sessions.  The practice sessions are well-planned to keep the interest high.  Then, the best athletes simply use the good habits they have developed in practice on race day.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.educ.msu.edu/ysi/articles/lauerpracticeintensity.pdf

Pool training

Pool Training

Pool training doesn't have to be just rolling or doing long boring loops.  Instead, I suggest a varied session with some technique, speed, speed endurance, specific strength training, some rolling and some fun activities.

We often start with some short sprints after warming up.  We do 6 second sprints all-out for time- 6 or 7 times from the backstroke flag on one end of the pool where a gate is hung to the backstroke flag on the other end of the pool where there is another gate.

Then, we might move to an aspect of technique, such as forward stroke or feathering the paddle or sweep strokes, draw strokes, duffeks, reverse paddling, etc.  We usually cover a couple different techniques, rather than just dwelling on one.

After speed and technique, we might next do some specific strength training.  Either I hold a boat and the paddler takes 10 strokes all-out- repeat twice, or they do the same sprint course as above, but drag a swimmer behind the boat. 

Next, we move to doing speed-endurance- a course for time and penalties on the gates- a 20-30 second course where you go up and back and do an up or a reverse gate and then rest and repeat this 5 times.

After this, we might work on rolls.  All of my athletes have rolls, but we work on off-side rolls, hand-rolls, and combat rolls.  I often have them hold the paddle over their heads with only one hand and then flip over so they have to set up underwater.  Or, they do a course on the gates and in the middle of the course, they have to flip just holding the paddle in one hand. 

I also give them some free time.  I think it's important that not all of the time be structured.  However, we limit this to 10 or 15 minutes.  They sometimes go on the water slide during this time or mess around in the water.

And we do some fun activities.  This is what keeps them coming back for more.  We do races, relay races, relays hand-paddling, hand-paddling with one hand.  We also do cross-stroke races or relays, where every stroke is a cross-stroke.

Or, we practice "paddling without a boat".  You race across the pool with a kayak paddle, but no boat. 

We sometimes do a relay race where you paddle from one of the pool to the other.  Then, you put your paddle on the shore and hand-paddle back, then leave your boat on the shore.  Next you swim to the other end, then grab the paddle you left there and "paddle without a boat" on the way back.  Then, the next team member gets the boat and paddle and does the same thing.

We also do enders in the pool.  I lift up the stern of the boat from shore and someone standing in the water pushed down on the bow and they do an ender.

Or, we get 2 people in the water and lift up someone in a boat and carry them and their boat above our heads through the gates in about 3 or 4 feet-deep water.

In other words, we get creative and make the sessions fun as well as working on strength, quickness, agility, technique, speed, rolls, and speed endurance.  We keep moving through different activities, with each activity lasting no more than 10 minutes or so.  And we try to include some free time and some structured fun activities.  So, even though we are stuck inside in this frigid cold weather, we are having a good time and learning and training.