Long test of the Speeder this Saturday. The weather was really pleasant, Sunny but not too warm, the water temperature was cold but not so icy that it was too uncomfortable to dip the hands, ideal weather to take the boat on the 22 mile Shrewsbury to Telford run.
I really love paddling this boat at the moment. Within a few paddle strokes it is up to speed and then the boat just glides through the water. I encountered a couple of grade 2 sections which the boat just punched through, with the high neck on the cockpit rim there was no splash into the cockpit and as I haven’t got a spray deck that fits this boat yet this is a good thing. My left leg went to sleep after a couple of hours but no worse than I have encountered in other boats and I suspect with a bit of modification to the seat padding I will resolve that.
I alternated between just paddling and then paddling good quality, high arm body rotation strokes which, according to the internet, is the best for speed and endurance. The low maintenance paddling is how I have always paddled and I default to that style, it isn’t super fast but is comfortable and I can do this all day. The body rotation paddling is more powerful, using the strong core muscles to develop the power. In theory because more muscles are involved you can keep a high pace going for longer.
I was going to time myself on my stop watch to find out how much faster this boat was, however my stop watch stopped after 2 hours and 36 minutes for some reason so I don’t know exactly how long it took me to cover the distance. Because I didn’t make an exact note of when I set off I am unsure to the tune of plus or minus 30 minutes, best guess has me covering the 22 miles in three and a half hours. That is an average speed of 6.28mph (about 5.5 knots) and I was quite pleased with my effort. I then wondered how much faster the Speeder was compared to my Dagger RPM. When I first paddled the route in September 2007 it took me five and a half hours (I did take a packed lunch and stopped to do a photo shoot though). Over the course of 15 months I did the trip several times and eventually got a solo best of 4 hours 30 minutes. Paddling with company (my dad in his boat) and we managed 3 hours and 30 minutes.
This vexes me. The Pyranha Speeder is fast, there is no doubt about it. When I met a couple of guys in playboats paddling from Atcham to Ironbridge (about half my journey) we exchanged a few boater pleasantries, and then I left them for dead. So why could I only match my best time in the RPM?
I have thought long and hard about why I have been unable to smash my best time with the Speeder, which I thought I would do, and I have lots of theories that in part may all be contributing.
Firstly when looking into hull speed I read an article about kayaks in particular which showed the drag over speed graphs of several kayaks. There was a mix of boats in there from stubby little recreation tourers up to sleek ocean going sea kayaks. Up to about 4 knots all of the boats had a similar drag rate and only above that speed was it noticeable how the sleeker hulls offered less drag. So I suppose if I was only fit enough to supply a paddling cadence that nudged the 4 knot band, it wouldn’t matter what boat I was paddling.
Secondly I was listening to an audio book on my iPod and for long stretches of the river I was caught up in the book and not focusing on driving the boat forward as effectively as I could. I am pretty certain that I spent longer just pootling along enjoying myself than I would have with thumping music to power me onward.
It also seems that without the peer pressure/support of another paddler accompanying me I kind of drift off into my steady paddling routine which has me just cruising along at a less than rapid pace.
What to do? Well first of all I need to improve my technique some more, as it stands at the moment I have achy muscles around my back and sides, these are the core muscles that I was engaging and they haven’t really been subjected to that sort of effort before. I also need to keep my focus, maybe I need some kind of prompt like a stop watch to get me back up and paddling hard every few minutes.
Boat is on the car for an after work paddle this Tuesday. Planning on spending some quality time working on my technique with some interval training.
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1/ If you can't find mileage downriver, try http://www.runfinder.co.uk/ . It's a bit of a bugger going around all the corners, but you should get a pretty accurate distance.
ReplyDelete2/ You seem to be having more trouble than me with injury & wear-related problems...your mum has suggested that I stop running to prevent damage causing geriatric immobility, so I'm compromising. I won't stop racing, but I'm going to change most of my training to less high-impact sports...
Sunday = long run day becomes long bike ride day.
Tuesday = 4 mile run becomes 4 mile run & 1km swim.
Thursday = 8 mile run becomes 6 mile racewalk
Saturday = good old-fashioned intervals becomes good old-fashioned intervals, but including some race-walked intervals.
Where's this race-walking come from? Well, I've done a few race-walks, and I seem to be a better walker than runner, so I'm going to take it a bit more seriously, and see how far I can go with it.
I suppose that the point is, if you've got the walking gene, why not try it at an age when you might still (just) make it big.
Quite some feet. Or paddle. 125miles in a kayak, reading this gives it some perspective. I wonder how you would compare the DW to your impending 154km (or 95-100miles) on a bike in the Welsh hills(/mountains) after we have the medal.
ReplyDeleteBeen interesting to catch up on your blog, would be good to see you blog again. Would have been quite an insight to have seen a blog from your training for your cycle challenges.