John and myself started our winter training with the goal of completing the Devizes to Westminster race in a time of around 24 hours. We started in October and have been paddling twice most weeks. This is an account of that training.
Some outings with Freestyle before the Hasler’s in a K2 and after Hasler’s in K1 mainly working on correct paddle position in the power phase. The exercises we did were 500m sprints with two turns, all timed to show improvement.
What I took away from these sessions was an improvement in my blade position. I have concentrated on a more vertical paddle position, which is maintained more consistently throughout the stroke.
* You cannot have a good stroke unless you are confident about the balance of the boat.
* You need somebody to watch and criticise your stroke
Starting to build distance work including paddling on a Tuesday night. I have suffered with a lot with discomfort in the boat.
We did a session working on balance by using some drills. Bow only paddling with stern holding his paddle out of the water and above his head and reversing the roles. Accelerating the boat and then taking a glide with the paddles held high. I find this builds the confidence between the paddlers and improves the balance and timing of the pair.
I have solved my discomfort by moving my seat forward to give a good 100 to 120 degree bend at the knee, it took several conversations with Robin and John but eventually even I can take advice. We have been timing all our runs and taking interval times based on the milestones. We are doing between 11 and 12-minute miles.
Really starting to build distance now and the balance is very much improved. On Sundays we have upped the distance to as far as 35 miles and Tuesdays are now 10-mile sessions. We are using the Sunday paddles for more DW style trips, portaging regularly and feeding. The Tuesday paddles have know settled into a pattern. We paddle alternate miles moderately hard, then flat out. We usually maintain 10minute 15-second miles on average including 4 turns. We have stopped using head torches and have found that there is plenty of background light to see what we need to.
The Sunday paddles now include trips to Whaley Bridge and back as well as paddles on the Weaver and the Dee. We both have piped energy drinks that we sip all the time as well as energy gel, mini mars and normal sandwiches when we stop. I like to chew food and feel cheated with something like an energy gel, even when it contains the same energy. We have been in the habit of paddling the first 10 to 14 miles in one stint then portaging every milestone. Our times are showing 11 minutes 15 per mile on these trips (23 hours for the DW).
There is a real a feeling of satisfaction from a smooth stable transfer of power from the paddle through the water to boat speed.
This is a bad month for training. Both of us have been away at weekends hence we have been reduced to 10 miles on a Tuesday night and two 16-mile Friday knight paddles. The DW is on the 10th May and we need more miles 381 miles in 68 hours (including portages and stops) is not enough.
March.
We have had some good paddles. Friday the 5th we took some time of work and had a good 45-mile paddle on the canal. The Northwich race was on the Sunday afterwards in which we had a very good performance. At the Macclesfield race there was not a 5/6 K2 race so we opted for the K1 div 5 race. I was pleased with my third place although John had a less successful day.
The highlight of the month was the Weaver decent on which we chose to paddle both ways, paddling up stream from the finish then joining the race to paddle down stream back to the car. 6 hours and 2 minutes, not bad for 34 miles.
We finished our training on Sunday the 4th May with a light 16 mile paddle.
When we paddle at night the wild life is not good at spotting us and we frequently hit geese and ducks up the arse. On one occasion a group of what seemed like 100 geese were asleep in the middle of the canal when they were woken. Some bounced of the boat and the rest of them managed to scare me almost as much as they were scared.
On one night, on a flying mile we hit a section of frozen canal. As john had not warned me the first I new about it was an awful noise from the bow, the boat slowing down and my paddle entry changing. Also when you paddle on very cold days ice forms on the loom (posh name for shaft) in very delicate layers.
Note added by John – Our final training tally was 574 miles in 102 hours. Making allowances for portages and feeding we averaged 10.5-minute miles which put us on target for our 24 hour DW goal.