Category: Kayaking

Dan and I paddled at the Genesee Waterway Center. The goal was to do some 2000 metre intervals. It started off sunny but a bit windy an a bit cool, but it go progressively windier and cooler, and clouding over. There was some sort of rowing regatta going on, which meant we had to go upstream a bit to get away from all the rowers. We did a long warm up upstream but down wind.

The first 2000 metres was 500 metres upstream then 1500 metres into the wind. It felt much harder into the wind, but I was actually going a tiny bit faster. The second 2000 metres was downwind/upstream, but it was really hard. I barely finished it, but I did finish it. Dan gave me some help letting me ride his wash. The third interval was into the wind, which was really biting by then. I was tired, and Dan let me stop after 1000 metres because my speed was dropping.

We paddled back to the junction of the canal and the river, and we did some 500 metre intervals. I was still tired, but I managed to keep up a decent 6.1 mph pace for all three intervals. But after three, I was freezing. We paddled back to the dock just as Stephen was getting ready to leave.

The GPS only recorded while I was doing the actual intervals, so it doesn’t count the distance I did for the warm up, and distance between the first set of intervals. But what it does record is 4.85 miles, which probably means the total workout was nearly 6 miles. It thrills me no end that the sort of distance that last September I was doing as a long slow distance workout is now what I can do as part of a much harder speed workout. I feel my old fitness coming back like an old friend. I missed it.

I’ve created a Google Calendar for paddle races in the North East NY, and Ontario and Quebec, in the hopes that it will be useful to other paddlers in the region. Please let me know if you find this useful, otherwise I won’t bother next year. Also let me know of any races I’ve missed or any mistakes.

You can add the calendar to your own (if you use Google Calendar) by clicking here and clicking the plus sign at the very bottom beside the Google Calendar logo.

Tonight the kayak team met to do interval training. We were doing 5 sets of 0.5 mile interval with 10 minutes recovery between. The 10 minutes gives you plenty of time to paddle upstream to the start of the 0.5 mile section, drink some sports drink, and let your heart rate recover a bit. The GPS is awesome for this, since it will automatically stop the timer when you hit 0.5 miles, and then count down the 10 minute recovery.

One of my goals tonight was to keep my interval times consistent, and having constant feedback on distance travelled and time helped a lot. My times were 3:57, 3:58, 3:57, 3:58 and 3:56. It doesn’t get much more consistent than that. Sure, my times were about 40 seconds slower than the other guys on the team, but being heavier puts me at a huge disadvantage, especially in shallow water. And besides, I’m not really “A team” material, I just like hanging around with them.

It wasn’t until afterwards that it struck me that between the half mile paddle up, the half mile interval down, and the warm up and warm down, I paddled 6 fairly fast miles. Last year, even at the end of the season, a fast 6 mile work out was pretty long. So I’m making progress. My two goals for this season were to beat 20 minutes in the Baycreek 2 time time trail, and to finish the 9 miler at the Long Lake Long Boat Regatta. I’m not sure about that 20 minute goal – I have a feeling I’ll be striving for that one all year. But at this point I’m feeling like I could probably enter one of the early season 7-10 mile races and have a hope of a not too shabby finish. Maybe I should look at the “Round the Mountain” or “Tupper Lake 9 miler”?

Yesterday, the team was supposed to do a 5 mile workout – either on the bay or up the creek. But the weather utterly sucked – the temp was barely above freezing, and there was wet snow in the air. No thanks.
Continue reading “Long kayak workout”

Last night I went out for the first time with the bulk of the team. As well as myself and Dan, we also had Ken A, Doug R, Stephen B, Paul D. Mike was missing because he’s taking some sort of training class. As well as having a big group, I also tried out the new camera mount for the first time. Except for the fact that it was pointed a little too far up, it worked out great.

The gathering storm

Here I am at the beginning, just warming up and milling around while the rest of the team gets ready. I’m really concentrating on my technique, and I think it’s paying off. (Note: this part hasn’t finished uploading while I’m posting this, so it might not be here when you look.)

The gathering storm

Here’s a bit at the beginning leading up the creek. You can see most of the team in the background – yes, I was in the lead most of the time. At first I thought we were just waiting for people to catch up, but it turns out that the team was comfortable with the pace I was setting. I got some good sustained paddling and my shoulder wasn’t bothering me at all at this point.

See if you can catch a glimpse of Ken in the bright orange top. He’s got the most amazing style – almost no movement in his shoulders at all, just totally in the torso. I asked him if next time I could put the camera on his boat so I can study it, and he said that would probably be ok.

The gathering storm

This is on the way back. We’d gotten into a really shallow bit and had a strong head wind, and I’d fallen behind, so I yelled up again that I was turning back. Rather than just letting me go, the whole team turned around and paddled part of the way back with me. This part is towards the end of that, until the camera ran out of storage. I was really tired and my shoulder was starting to hurt, but to me at least it seems like my technique isn’t falling apart that badly. I’m proud of that.

Soon after this, the rest of the team stopped to practice buoy turns or something and I continued back. I made it a goal to paddle all the way back to the dock without stopping or even pausing, and I did it.