Information in this Edition
- Achievements
- Race Starts
- Body Care
Achievements
So much good work is being done in practice. I’m seeing strong hinging to plant blades, sitting up with straight outside arms, and inside hips moving with top arms to lift the blades at exit - Bravo!
Working on fundamentals builds a strong foundation of technique. We will continue to come back to these basics tenets. Use your warm up time and cool down paddling to give attention to the areas you've received coaching on. Everyone develops at their own speed, and you are great right where you are. If you want to improve your paddling, continue to show up to practice, apply what you've learned, and be patient with yourself. You didn't become a great runner/cook/cyclist/headstander/driver/parent/baker/sales rep/stylist/accountant/nurse without time and practice.
Next Step: Race Starts
With two crews preparing for the Paddle for Life event, our next step is learning the Race Start.
When we start paddling from a dead stop, the boat is sitting low in the water. Light to moderate intensity paddling moves the nose of the boat through the water and it feels heavy. Our first objective in racing is to lift the boat on top of the water where there is less resistance and it can move more easily (i.e. faster).
This is done through the race start.
Our race start is broken into pieces: the first 3 strokes, the next 10 strokes, the second 10 strokes, and the third 10 strokes. The start sequence is 33 strokes.
The First 3 Strokes
To lift the boat up and get going, we start by taking 3 deep, hard strokes. Because we are starting from a dead stop, it feels very heavy and isn’t very fast because of the resistance of the water.
The Next 10 Strokes
After the first 3 strokes the boat gains some momentum. To continue and build this momentum, we paddle 10 hard strokes at a building pace.
The Second 10 Strokes
Then we paddle 10 strokes at a faster rate than we can sustain for very long. This is called the over-rate. The focus of the over-rate is stroke speed, rather than intensity. From this high rate we settle into race pace. Race pace is the pace that we’ll keep throughout the race.
The Third 10 Strokes
The next 10 strokes are at race pace with maximum intensity. Because we've settled the rate, the focus is now on intensity.
The start strokes are slightly shorter than our regular strokes because we’re focused on getting the boat up and moving. After the start, we “get long” which means we focus on getting our full, long, hard strokes and regulate our breathing.
Check out this video to see how a start begins, gets faster, and then settles down. There are several types of teams represented. I think the last example best represents what we are striving for.
Get ready for Monday - we’re going to break it down and work the pieces of our start.
...Anita
Pushing Your Body and Being Ready for the Next Practice
First and foremost , make sure you fuel after a workout. You should aim to have about 20 grams of protein and a like amount of carbs (not sugar). If you use an amino acid supplement, now is the time to take it along with the fueling or before. This needs to be done within an hour of getting off the water. A great way to make that time increase is to carry your aminos with you so you can start right away and then still get a meal in quickly.
Ice: Yes this is the go to - if your shoulders are feeling a little pinched start with ice. Then don't work your shoulders hard the day after paddling. That means , no scrubbing floors or walls. It might mean no vacuuming. Definitely no pulling ivy or berries out of the yard.
Stretch : There are great stretches to do, the rule is to be warm before you stretch. Paddle on Monday, walk /run and stretch on Tuesday. This link is to some great shoulder stretches to try. I really like the windmill stretch , which our Pink Rebecca Hamilton showed me several years ago.
Sit Bones: No one told me about this when I started paddling. We plant a sit bone with weight on one side while we rotate on the other hip, then we switch. The sure result is soreness. The soreness can come from your hips so that is where to start. Stretch the hamstrings and piriformis. Start again with ice and see if that helps recovery, then go to strengthening and stretching. This is one area where foam rolling could hurt if you don't know exactly the problem. For me, it is bruising and the piriformis and the stretches shown here are really helpful.
The best news is that as you train and your body gets used to paddling it will be less taxing. That means you can train harder and get stronger.
See you on the water.
...Pat
