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Paddling smarter, not (just) harder |
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Saturday, 14 November 2009 |
 Back in the early-1990s there was a business book titled "Work Smarter not Harder", writes Jim Robinson. Essentially, the book shared the understanding, analysis and techniques
to become a workplace winner...
...without bashing your head against
unproductive walls. Put effort in the right places, it argued, and
you'll achieve far more than simply slogging your guts out. Go hard,
sure. But do it with finesse and strategy. It was a blockbuster.
Now if ever there was a sport that deserves the "Smarter not (just)
Harder" approach, it's surely kayaking. How many of us multi-sporters
are stuck in the harder lane? Seems that most of us put in all our effort to shave "go hard" seconds,
whereas a bit more of the smarts would save us minutes. Plus leave us
in a better state for the next leg.
And so, with the 2009 Motu Challenge all over, a group of us (some
committed multi-sporters, some less so) in the Eastern Bay of Plenty
decided to try and smarten-up. After a few phone calls and emails, we
had Gordon Walker and Ant Roebuck set up to run a weekend-long skills
course in Whakatane, for ten locals plus two out-of-towners. All of us
found the course was time and money well spent.
Gordon is of course the reigning Speight's Coast to Coast champion, and
a powerful kayaker - his speed based on technical proficiency rather
than brute strength. Ant is a former national kayak coach who took the
women's K4 programme for several years. He represented New Zealand in
down river kayaking for many years and has now turned his energies to
competing in multisport.
If we can easily organise this kind of stuff in Opotiki-Whakatane, it's
definitely possible anywhere in New Zealand. It's just a matter of
grouping together with a few mates. Food for thought for your region,
maybe? While our sample group of 12 is small, our flaws and strengths
are probably pretty indicative of any area. With that in mind, here's a
bit of detail of what we did, and a taste of what we learned.
Gordon and Ant drove to Whakatane, and spent two full days with us (8am
- 4pm), which allowed for a good deal of one-on-one time, as well as
group sessions. There was time on the water as well as on a kayak Erg,
in front of a mirror.
Speaking as someone whose technique has fallen somewhere between poor
(start of race) and woeful (end of race), I guess the only downer is
that you can't expect to become a Steve Ferguson over a weekend. But as
Gordon kept saying, the first step to paddling with good technique is
identification. If you don't know what you're doing wrong, you can
hardly give it any attention. Break it down, and start with the basics first. It doesn't need to do your head in.
All of us came out of the weekend with a range of areas to concentrate
on. It was interesting that at the start of the weekend, pretty much
everyone had different issues: some hunched the shoulders, some were
relaxed; some bent the arms, some didn't; some had reasonable rotation,
most didn't; some reached far enough forward for the catch, most
didn't. About the only area no-one had right was stroke separation.
As well as technique, Gordon and Ant also delivered a bit of pain. This
provided a benchmarking figure and an object lesson in required effort.
Armed with a GPS, Ant determined a 6km out and back paddle (start at
the Whakatane bridge, turn at the old stump, every river has such a
course!).
After a warm-up, we did this one-by-one, with Ant timing and
videoing us, and Gordon paddling - to show how fast is fast.
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Gordon on Whakatane
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The videoing was fantastic. Having the opportunity to see yourself is a
major benefit to understanding what you're doing wrong. Leads to a bit
of ribbing in the group sessions too. Recommended.
On the second day, with personal technique aspects to think about, and
an instruction to give it everything, we did the 6km again. This time,
Ant provided the how fast is fast. "If you can go faster than
five-minute kilometres [for men] you're going really well," Gordon
advised. Only two of us got close to that (excluding the instructors, they did
it with ease). But almost everyone set a new Bridge to Stump PB. About
half took minutes off their time.
"It's my experience that most multi-sporters train too long and too
slow," said Gordon. "They go out for a couple of hours and just paddle.
It's like always going out for a long slow run, every time." Judging by
our group, he's right. Except for those who just do the slow bit, not the long.
Gordon recommended all of us do the Bridge to Stump effort as a weekly
100% effort benchmark. He also talked about a range of other sessions,
such as breaking a paddle down into short hard efforts, such as
10-minute efforts at race pace. I guess most of us multi-sporters have
been told this stuff before. But somehow it slips off the agenda.
Include fast and short. Every week.
To help, he noted the benefit of a GPS. "It is the best thing I have
ever bought for training with in terms of value for money. It's a
speedo for your bike, run or kayak. It's a heart rate monitor. It can
map. It stores many, many training sessions and can be uploaded to all
sorts of training software. They are absolutely awesome tools."
Paddles were another thing we talked about. Interesting stuff, again.
"From what I've seen, most of you don't have the right paddles," Gordon
noted. He does, after all, have a reputation for saying it like it is.
Some of us found out we could do with a bigger blade, some a smaller.
Watch out on Sportzhub trading post for deals from the EBOP, maybe.
"I have tried nearly everything there is and for the [multi-sport]
races we do, the Jantex Gamma is my preference," Gordon said. He has
the Jantex as sponsored paddle, but it's his preference that drives the
sponsorship, not the other way around. Worth noting, the Legend
Fluid/Hydra is pretty much the same shape as the Gamma. "[The Gamma] is strong at the catch, yet forgiving enough to use for
long distance. It's fast too: Ben Fouhy set the world record for the
1000m with a Gamma Large Minus at 217cm," Gordon said.
Seats? "If you are comfortable where you are at with your seat then
don't change it," he reckoned. But it's worth noting, most of us had
our legs too straight, which precluded proper rotation.
| Tightening up
the gap allowed more knee bend, therefore more foot drive, and more
power. |
Gordon helps Craig Julian with Ergonomics
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We also covered footrests - where a bit of DIY could well be a good
idea. Gordon: "I prefer a system that has a bar right across the boat.
This acts to strengthen the boat rather than weaken it like most of the
systems [where the two pedals just fasten to the side of the boat].
In addition to the bar, he recommended fastening a foot plate, so you
can push with your heel as well as your fore-foot. "You can easily make
one yourself out of marine ply. Once again, nice and easy," was his
verdict.
Technique smarts: technique can obviously be fine-tuned to an infinite degree. But
broadly, there are a few main areas many of us let ourselves down.
Crunching several hours into a few paragraphs will always be a
compromise, but here's a dash over Gordon's advice:
· Posture.
"Don't be lazy. Sit up and sit tall. To rotate effectively you MUST sit
tall in the boat.
Don't lean forward, aerodynamics are not important!
Keep your chin up and focus on the horizon," advised Gordon.
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Gordon and Rach do Boat Position
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· Relaxation.
"Relax the shoulders. Don't draw your shoulders up to your ears. Your
shoulders must be relaxed so you can pull the shoulder blade back and
down with the powerful muscles of the back: lats and lower traps."
· Rotation.
"Rotation is not swinging the top arm across to the other side of the
boat. Rotation is a twisting of the spine with each vertebrae twisting
on top of the other. The pushing shoulder should pass under your
peripheral vision. Pull with the shoulder, not the hand! If you pull
with the shoulder, you will twist much better."
· Separation.
Not a pause between strokes, but a separation - a place where each
stroke ends and begins. "The KEY is to keep the pushing hand driving
forward and on the horizontal plane until the pulling hand has
completed the paddle exit and the shaft is parallel with the water."
Sounds good? Gordon Walker can arrange training courses around the country. Contact him on
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