January 23, 2006
Wildwater: The Basics
When I decided to write this training article, I wanted to include as many theories of physiology
and athletic training as I could. I thought that an article filled with complex theories and
discussions of arcane technique would somehow get my point across better. The more complicated it was,
I thought, the more legitimate it might seem.
Then I remembered that I was a racer once, too. I was young and ambitious and a member of a few U.S.
whitewater water teams in the mid 1980’s. And I remembered that what I wanted to know then was what
kind of training I needed to do to win races. Sure, I was interested in enzymes and volume of oxygen
uptake and lactic acid response and all those things. But I wasn’t a sports physiologist back then
and I am not one now. And it occurred to me that today’s racers would be better served if I wrote
from the perspective of an ex-U.S. team member, the way I wish someone had written about training
for me, 25 years ago.
So with that in mind, I set out to try to distill my years of wildwater racing experience into
something of use for today’s athletes. I fully expect argument and debate over every aspect of the
training program that follows. I have no problem with that, and in fact I welcome it. Feel free
to ask me questions or make comments. I’ll take the time to respond, but don’t dismiss me out of hand.
Yes I’m 45, and old school, and I don’t have a degree in sports physiology. But! I was there when
Chuck Lyda, Johnny Evans and Kent Ford won the silver medal in C-1 team at the 1979 World Championships
in Canada. And I was a member of the U.S. men’s kayak team when John Fishburn won the bronze at
the World Championships in Garmisch in 1985. I have talked to every U.S. medal winner except Al
Button who was bronze medalist in C-1 in 1973. I am friends with Andy Bridge, arguably one of the
world’s top five C-1 racers (see Andy’s bio on USA Wildwater Hall of Fame). I have raced and trained
with Andy, who these days lives about a 30 minutes from me. There’s also Brent Reitz, the famous
wildwater-racer-turned-sea-kayak-instructor and producer of a great video on the forward stroke.
Reitzy was 3rd in a world cup race in Landik in 1993; he’s also one of my best friends. So the
information that follows is based on training programs devised by coaches of the day and experience
gained from training with top athletes of the time, athletes who won medals.
So, here we go. Let's start with some basic rules (that you can break later).
Rule Number One: Wildwater is about making a canoe or kayak go really fast down a river
for 15 to 20 minutes. The more you focus on and understand this simple fact, the faster you will be.
Rule Number Two: Wildwater is not about running or cycling or lifting weights or plyometrics
or cross country skiing or aerobics or mountain biking or swimming. These things fall under the
heading of “Cross-Training” and will be discussed later. They will help you be a better athlete,
but they probably won’t make you a faster wildwater racer.
Rule Number Three: If you don’t paddle down a river A LOT, you won’t be as fast as someone
who does. You have to train as much as you can on the type of whitewater you will be racing on.
The more difficult the race course, the more obvious this becomes. Even on an easy course, a racer
with excellent whitewater skills can surpass a fitter athlete with average skills.
Rule Number Four: Don’t “Book End” your training. Athletes need to focus on developing
speed for a 20 minute race. Not an hour and not a minute, but 20 minutes as fast as you can go.
Many racers do hours of low speed aerobic base training and later, a lot of sprint work with very
little in the middle. But the race is all about that middle ground, the classic race anyway, the
sprint event is short but we’ll come to how to train for that.
Rule Number Five: It’s consistent quality training that matters. It takes a few years to
develop the musculature, form, and technique required to generate maximum speed for 20 minutes.
Quality training is required all year long, and its lack cannot be made up for by a lot of quantity
over a few months in the late winter and spring.
Training
Wildwater athletes need a strong aerobic base. You cannot gain an aerobic base by cross training
in some other sport. Well, you can but it won’t help you. You must develop an aerobic base of
fitness IN YOUR BOAT! It is the hours spent paddling aerobically that gives the well-trained
athlete the physiology necessary to develop speed.
Aerobic Base Workouts
Often called aerobic capacity.
CAUTION! Simply engaging in continuous paddling, albeit aerobically, can change your stroke.
It is difficult to maintain proper stroke technique for long periods of time. Athletes tend to adopt
more of a cruising style during long sessions. The workouts listed below are designed to give the
athlete something to focus on to help maintain proper form.
#1: Two sets of ten times 1 minute on by 1 minute off
Start with a thorough warm up, 15 to 20 minutes including some accelerations to get your heart rate up.
I like to take mine up to the mid 150s a couple of times during the warm up. The idea is that in a
20-minute section, you vary the pace between “aerobic paddling” and something slightly faster. So
the one minute “on” is maybe at 65% of maximum and the one minute “off” is maybe at 55% of maximum.
The “off” part is not a rest and the “on” part is not a sprint. You are trying to vary the pace.
I’m at a heart rate of maybe 135 after my warm-up and for the “on” minute my heart rate goes up to
maybe 145. Then back down to 135 or so for the “off” minute. I do two sessions of this in the same
workout, separated by 10 minutes of steady paddling. My heart rate gets higher during the workout.
The workout lasts 70 minutes if you do a 20-minute warm-up.
#2: Four 15s (two times 15 minutes on by 15 minutes off)
A 15-minute warm-up (feel free to do 20 minutes) and a 15-minute piece very hard. Then a 15-minute
piece easy, maybe at 50% then a 15-minute piece very hard, like race pace. The workout lasts 60 minutes.
#3: 3,500 to 4,500 meter time trial distances
If you don’t have a measured course, anything will do, two bridges, a tree and a rock, whatever you
can find. Ideally you want two time trial courses, one about17 minutes and one about 27 minutes.
If you don’t have a stable body of water, you paddle on a river for example, you’ll have to make do
with doing a timed piece. Warm up for 30 minutes on time trial days.
#4: Fartlek workout
Sounds like a word I made up but it’s not. You can Google it if you don’t believe me. In fact do
Google it and read about it because there are a number of different ways to do it and I’m only going
to suggest one. Warm up thoroughly (I can’t overstate the importance of a good warm-up). Begin
paddling at around 50 to 60%. When you feel like it, begin accelerating. I count strokes, 80 total,
every 20 strokes I pick up the pace so that for the last 20 strokes I’m sprinting. Then slow it back
down to the 50 to 60% level again. This helps build in some intensity but not so much that it becomes
a sprint workout. Every two or three minutes repeat the process.
#5: Aerobic recovery workouts
These workouts are designed to help you build your body’s aerobic system and, more importantly, to
help you recover from strenuous workouts the day before. Generally they last 60 to 75 minutes and
the whole workout is done at around 50% effort. How do you know if you’re going easy enough?
You should be able to carry on a conversation with the person paddling next to you. I try to keep my
heart rate around 130 to 140.
Aerobic Power Workouts
Racers need to develop something called aerobic power. Aerobic power is the ability for trained
athletes to utilize their level of aerobic fitness in order to push themselves up to their maximum
output. Maximum output is often referred to as VO2max, lactate threshold or anaerobic threshold.
It relates to the maximum effort your body can produce WITHOUT going anaerobic. Anaerobic usually
means the point at which your body is forced to produce energy without sufficient oxygen, a process
that produces lactic acid. Lactic acid builds up in the muscles, causing fatigue. Most people who
have done some type of athletic training have experienced “going anaerobic.” Go for a paddle and
slowly step it up, faster, faster, faster, and you’ll reach a point where your muscles start to cramp,
you're sucking air, and you totally run out of gas. That’s going anaerobic. You’ve taken your body
out of the aerobic phase and “over the top” to the point where your muscles are overloaded with lactic
acid. Boost into your anaerobic zone during a race and you can fly! For about two minutes. Then
it’s sayonara baby, you’re going to have to slow down. So aerobic power workouts are designed to
help athletes find their level of maximum output. These workouts are often shorter, and are done
at a higher intensity than aerobic base workouts. They tend to leave the athlete feeling depleted or
thrashed and are often followed by a recovery workout the next day.
#1: Two sets of 3 times 5 minutes on with 1 minute rest
Thoroughly warm up for 20 minutes, then do three 5-minute pieces with a 1-minute rest between each one.
Paddle easy for 10 minutes and do three 5-minute pieces with 1 minute off again. You need to do the
5-minute piece really hard, faster than race pace. You should be thrashed when this is over.
#2: Four 12s
Warm-up for at least 12 minutes, then do a 12- minute piece at maximum. Paddle easily for 12 minutes
then do another 12-minute piece at maximum. This workout has only 24 minutes of “on” time but if
you do it hard you will be flagging at the end.
#3: 3,500 to 4,500 meter time trials, for time
This is the distance we typically race in Wildwater Classic. Warm up thoroughly and race the
distance and keep track of your time. You should be toasted when it’s over.
#4: Medium-length intervals with 1/4 to 1/3 rest
These workouts consist of 5- to-12 minute intervals with rest periods that are 1/4 to 1/3 of the “on”
time. For example; three times 9 x 3. Means that you do three 9-minute pieces with three minutes
rest between each one. There are lots of examples using 5-, 7-, 8-minute pieces. Feel free to mix
them up but go for a lot of intensity and speed when you do them.
#5: Intense fartlek workouts
If you Google the word “fartlek” you’ll find a number of explanations. An intense workout involves
paddling aerobically and then increasing your speed over a minute or two until you reach maximum effort,
then slowing down in a controlled fashion. You don’t just stop paddling or paddle so slowly that
you’re barely moving. It’s hard to do these but it really helps you learn about your own lactate
tolerance level.
Specialized Aerobic Power Workouts: Street Fighter and Accelerator
These workouts require the use of a heart rate monitor and you must have a good idea of your own VO2max.
They are very hard to do and will leave you whipped if done correctly.
#1: Street Fighter
This workout got its name from a cool video game. In order to do it you MUST have a heart rate
monitor and you MUST have some idea of your own personal VO2max target. Heart rate isn’t the only
indicator of VO2max but unless you want to paddle around with a blood monitor hooked up to you, heart
rate is the only thing we have to go by. Let’s say you think the heart rate that you want to use as a
maximum is 170. Here’s what you do. Warm up thoroughly, you're gonna need it. Take off paddling
at race pace; you have 3 minutes to get your heart rate to 170. Hold at 170 for 1 minute. In a
controlled fashion, slow down a little so that over about 60 seconds your heart rate drops to 95%
of your maximum target, or about 162. When it hits 162 it’s go time baby! You have 60 seconds to
get back to 170. When you get to 170 hold there for 3 minutes and repeat the process. A 30-minute
Street Fighter workout (not including warm-up) involves five or six “attacks” where you are driving
up to where you think your VO2max is and then holding there. You are training your body to deal with
the stress imposed by racing. You get up to race pace (VO2max) and then back of for a bit (whitewater)
then back up to max again.
If you can set a higher heart rate, do. If you can’t then set a lower one, but the heart rate
target you use should reflect what YOUR heart rate does during a race or time trial.
#2: Accelerator
Accelerator got its name because I needed a cool name to go with Street Fighter and you do a lot of
accelerating in the workout. Let’s use the same heart rate target of 170 again. Warm up thoroughly;
if you don’t you’ll barf. Take off like this is a race or time trial. You have 3 minutes to get to
95% of VO2max or to a heart rate of 162. Hold at 162 for 60 seconds. At that point accelerate hard,
you have 60 seconds to get to 103% of VO2max, or a heart rate of about 175. When you hit 175 slow
down in as controlled a fashion as possible, easier said than done, take a minute or so to get back
down to 162 and hold there for 3 minutes. Repeat the process. A 30-minute Accelerator will thrash you.
Both the above workouts have a degree of subjectivity, you have to come up with a target heart rate
to use. But if you can find a target somewhere close to your actual anaerobic threshold, these
workouts will help you train to race at that level. You will find that your target rate changes
depending on levels of fitness and fatigue. If you did this once when you were really rested and
used 175 as the target you may only be able to get to 165 when you’re not as rested.
Also don’t be surprised if the first couple of times you kind of fall apart when doing them.
It’s really easy to go just a little too hard and go anaerobic, then you're fighting lactic acid and
will probably have to slow down and regroup for a few minutes. But that’s actually the point, as
a racer you have to find out just how hard you can go and then train at that level in order to push
it higher.
Anaerobic Power Workouts
This is where real boat speed comes from. Racers interested in developing maximum speed have to,
at some point, start sacrificing some of their overall aerobic fitness for the sake of sheer power.
This is done by utilizing what are often referred to as speed workouts or sprint workouts. The
whole point of these workouts is to take the body beyond the aerobic phase and into the anaerobic
phase, repeatedly. These workouts build the most sport-specific musculature you can attain because
you are, after all, doing them in your boat. They are done at the highest intensity possible and
they hurt. Recovery workouts and days off are needed to gain maximum benefit from speed workouts,
the body must be allowed to recover in order to adapt to the stress imposed.
#1: Short sprints
“Short” means 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Usually these sprints are done in some kind of set or group
with the rest period between each sprint being ½ or equal to the length of the sprint. There is
usually a longer rest of say 2 to 3 minutes between each set. The sprints are done at maximum effort.
An example of a sprint workout would be; 6 times 30 seconds with 30 seconds of rest, followed by 3
minutes of easy paddling. Then six times 60 seconds with 60 seconds of rest followed by 3 minutes
of easy paddling. Then three times 2 minutes with 60 seconds of rest, followed by 3 minutes of easy
paddling. Then six 60s again, then six 30s again. It would read like this; 6 (30 x 30) x 3,
6 (60x60) x 3, 3 (2 x 1) x 3, 6 (60 x 60) x 3, 6 (30 x 30). You could also drop the “x 3” because
the rest between sets is assumed. How ever you write it, the object is to go like a bat out of hell.
Go hard! If you blow up and have to slow down on some that means you’re doing the right thing.
If you make it through the workout without frothing at the mouth and sucking air and building up lactic
acid, you are wasting your time. The above workout contains 24 minutes of sprint “on” time; that’s
plenty. Feel free to make up workouts with various sets. There’s no magic to it.
#2: Pyramids
You can do pyramids with any length piece you want but we’ll look at workouts that are built around
2- and 3-minute pieces. An example would be 2 minutes on with a 1-minute rest, followed by 3 minutes
on with a1-minute rest, then 2 minutes again. You might do that group three or four times with 3
minutes between each set, so the workout would read; 3 x (2,3,2 x 1) x 3. This workout contains
21 minutes of sprint “on” time, 28 minutes if you do four sets. 2- and 3- minute sprints tend to be
on the very outside edge of what most people can do anaerobically; anyone can learn to hang on for a
minute, but dealing with all that lactic acid for 3 minutes is brutal. If you don’t feel like it’s
brutal, then you aren’t going hard enough. When sprints are done correctly, at maximum effort, it
doesn’t matter who you are or how fit, they hurt. They hurt by definition because they are done at
such a high output of anaerobic power.
#3: 500 meter or 1,000 meter repeats.
Earlier we looked at an aerobic power workout where we did three 5-minute pieces with a 1-minute break
between them and then easy paddling for 10 minutes then another set of three 5s. When we are in the
anaerobic power phase we want to increase the rest period between the 5-minute pieces to allow us to
recover more and paddle harder. So if you have a measured course and can do 500-meter and 1,000-meter
sprints, you would want to rest 2 minutes between each 500 and maybe 3 minutes between each 1,000.
The idea here is to get maximum effort and speed. If you don’t have a measured course (join the club,
most people don’t) then do something like 3-minute and 6-minute pieces with 2 or 3 minutes of rest.
5 x 1,000 x 3, means five 1,000-meter sprints with 3 minutes of rest between each one, done in one big
set. You can do 500s at the same time or separately. 2 x (5 x 500 x 2) x 10. Two sets of five 500s,
with 2 minutes of rest and 10 minutes between sets. Again, go really hard or they are pointless.
Well, not pointless, they’ll help you aerobically but you’ll lack the top end speed necessary to win races.
Specialized Anaerobic power workouts
Towing
Okay this is such a no-brainer I can’t believe that more people haven’t figured it out. Take something
big, like a Clorox bottle that is full of water and tie it to the back of your boat. Then do 1-minute
sprints as hard as you can. Do six to ten of them with 3 minutes of rest between each one.
You sometimes hear about people tying ropes around their boats to get some resistance but I’ve never
thought that was enough. Tie something big back there, something that will make you really struggle
and put out some serious muscle-blasting energy to move it. Earlier I mentioned a way to train for
the Wildwater sprint event, well, this is it.
CAUTION. Ironically, we don’t tow during the sprint phase, do it during the aerobic base phase and
the aerobic power phase. Towing tends to be very strenuous and can slow you down a bit. It also
changes your stroke slightly and you don’t want that to happen as you get close to races.
WARNING. The thing your are towing could snag on something and you could drown because of that.
“Drown” means that you would be dead. Make sure you have a release of some type that you can reach
from the cockpit.
Strength training:
“Imagine how fast I’ll be if I get really strong lifting weights and then use all that muscle
for paddling!” That’s my favorite line of all time, and sadly, to the unknowing it makes sense.
I’ve heard it dozens of times over the years and in fact when I started racing wildwater seriously
in 1980 that’s exactly what I thought. I spent 90 minutes lifting weights three to four times per
week. So what was I trying to do? I was trying to do the impossible. I was trying to make my body
develop tremendous anaerobic power from lifting weights AND be an aerobic animal from paddling, at
the same time. What happened? I didn’t excel at either weight lifting or paddling. Sure, I got
a little better at both but not good at either. So after a couple of years of getting my butt
kicked by people who didn’t lift weights at all and talking to some excellent racers who did lift,
I began to understand how and why strength training might help. The first thing you need is the
right mind set; “Imagine how fast I’ll be if I get really fast in my boat and then slowly, judiciously,
carefully strengthen muscle groups that are involved in the forward stroke.” Now that’s better;
first you do the thing that you actually want and need to do, and if you can you give yourself a
little boost by strengthening muscle groups involved in paddling great. Problem: try finding exercises
(other than towing) that use your muscles the same way as paddling; it’s almost impossible.
Listed below are some exercises that might help strengthen muscles used in paddling.
Sit ups
Yes, ug, no one wants to do them, but you use your abs a lot in paddling.
Straight leg dead lift or back extensions
Won’t that hurt my lower back?! Noooo, not doing something to strengthen your lower back is what
causes it to get injured. Start slowly under the supervision of someone who knows what they are doing.
A strong lower back will help a lot.
Squat
Now you think I’m crazy for sure! But I’m not. You get more power from all the muscles in and
around your waist and lower back and gluteus maximus than from your shoulders and arms. But
shoulders and arms are what paddlers tend to focus on. Do some squats, but not too many; great
big legs ain’t gonna help none either.
Power clean
Do the first half of the Olympic-style clean and jerk and then put the bar back down. What muscles
do you use? Glutes, lower back, lats and shoulders. What muscles do you paddle with? Glutes,
lower back, lats and shoulders. Do some if you have a big Olympic bar.
1-arm bent over rowing
Stand on something so your feet are about ten inches off the ground. Bend forward so your upper
body is parallel to the ground. Reach out with one hand and support yourself on a bench or chair
or something stable. Reach down to a dumbbell with the other hand; you should have to twist at
the waist to reach the weight. In one motion, untwist at the waist and use your arm to pull the
dumbbell up and out to the side slightly like you were taking a stroke…Oh the heck with this nonsense,
go tie a Clorox bottle to the back of your boat and do sprints.
Pushups
Pushups might help, maybe, I suppose, can’t hurt too much I guess. Okay that’s pretty clear, do
two sets of pushups a couple of times a week.
Listed below are exercises people love to do that don’t have much to do with paddling;
- Bench press
- Chin ups
- Military or shoulder press
- Bicep curls
- Triceps extensions
- Pull downs (lat pulls)
The first group of exercises strengthens your core, your abdominals, gluteus maximus and others.
The notable exception is pushups, which don’t work core muscles but might help because in a canoe
or kayak you should be trying to get some leverage on the shaft with your top hand.
The second group strengthens other muscles and if you think about it, the forward stroke does not
resemble, in any way, a chin up or a bicep curl or lat pull downs. And let’s be realistic, if you
are paddling correctly your arms are along for the ride. They don’t do much compared to the core
muscles- that really generate the torque necessary to go fast. Biceps? Most racers don’t even bend
their arms to 90 degrees. Pump ‘em up if you want, but they won’t help you go fast.
There is a really great article written by Chris Hipgrave on the USA Wildwater site.
Chris is a U.S. team member in men’s kayak, past U.S. National Champion, and a certified
International Sports Science Association Fitness instructor. Go to USAwildwater.com and look under
the Training and Technique tab in the middle of the home page.
Sample Training Program
Base phase sample training program using the workouts mentioned above. 6 workouts per week in
your boat. Total training (including some cross training) 460 to 500 minutes per week. Do the base
training phase for about 6 weeks then move on to the next phase.
A note about cross training: Earlier I made a big deal about what wildwater was and I made a
negative comment about cross training. I did that so people would understand that you have to become
a fit wildwater racer in order to be good at wildwater racing. But there are a couple of reasons
you want to add some other athletic training into your overall program. One, you need to be fit at
something else, running for example, so you have something to do to maintain your athleticism when you
can’t paddle. And two, it’s true that some other exercises might help you a little. The problem many
people have is they get into a gym environment and the next thing you know they are doing all kinds of
resistance exercises and heavy weight training with multiple sets of increasing loads with declining
reps. Man! They look great! But they almost never go fast. Those are not the kinds of muscles you
want! You want muscle developed from hours spent in your boat, muscles that are so deep in your
body’s core that you may never see them. So yes, strength training may help you but take it easy
and be careful how much you do. And don’t tell me about the guy who is on the Chinese flat-water
team who can bench press 350 pounds and won the men’s 10,000 meters at the last world championships,
I know that guy and he’s a freak of nature.
Monday: Aerobic recovery workout. 60 to 75 minutes paddling at about 50% of maximum.
You should be able to feel fairly relaxed at this pace.
Tuesday: Four 15s. 15-minute warm up (or more), 15 minutes hard (race pace), 15 minutes
easy (10 minutes easy if you want), and 15 minutes hard. Workout lasts 55 to 65 minutes. Go hard
or it won’t work.
Wednesday: Fartlek, 20-minute warm up followed by 10- to 20-minute sections of fartlek work
with 5-minute breaks between the sections. Workout lasts 60 to 70 minutes. You should be paddling
at around 60% and then maybe up to 70% during the fartlek piece. Not too hard yet.
Thursday: OFF.
Friday: two times, 20 minutes of 1 minute on 1 minute off. This is similar to a fartlek
workout but the “on and off” time vary only slightly. You are trying to add a little intensity
and give yourself something to focus on.
Saturday: Time Trial distances. Warm up for 20 to 30 minutes and do at least one time trial
distance. Two would be better; do them at around 80 to 85%. Write down your times but don’t worry
about the time. You are training the distance, not racing it yet. If you don’t have a time trial
set up then do a warm up and one 20-minute piece or two 15-minute pieces. Workout lasts about an
hour, more if you do two pieces. If you’re on the river, even better!
Saturday P.M.: Towing. Thorough warm-up and five to ten times 1 minute towing with 3
minutes of rest between each “on” piece, more rest if you want. This is about building muscle.
Total workout lasts an hour or so, but a lot of the time you are sitting doing nothing. Rest here
means not paddling at all or very easy. Towing is mostly anaerobic, ironically, you should do it
during the aerobic training phase and aerobic power phase and stop doing it during the anaerobic power
phase. The reason? It slows you down. Yes, it builds paddling muscle better than any other exercise
but it slows you down and later, when you’re really going for speed you want to take that muscle
and shape it into a very fast machine.
Sunday: Off, unless you can get on the river, in which case do so and take some other day off.
Add to this a couple of running workouts of 30 to 40 minutes and a couple of strength sessions of 20
to 30 minutes and your total for the week (including the cross training) is around 460 to 500 minutes.
During the aerobic base phase you can sacrifice a little intensity to add more volume. If you want
to add in a little more, that’s fine; lengthen the workouts or do a workout on Sunday, for example.
Also, if you are out doing river runs on the weekends then don’t take Sunday off and move the time
trials around to fit your schedule or do the distance on whitewater.
Do this for six weeks then move to the next phase. By the way, six weeks is not long enough to
build an aerobic base. But don’t worry; this program is based on the concept of periodisation.
We’ll be back doing these workouts again in a few weeks and that way you won’t get bored doing the
same thing for six months.
Next phase…
Aerobic Power; Flirting with Disaster.
Aerobic power phase: We change the workouts to help you find your VO2max. The idea is to get the
intensity up to the point where you find out just how hard you can go without going anaerobic. You do
that by really pushing yourself and then realizing “…ooops, Mongo tired cannot go so fast for 8 minutes”
and then your workout falls apart but that’s okay. Recover for a couple of minutes and go again.
It really helps if you have a heart rate monitor.
Monday: Aerobic recovery workout.
60 to 75 minutes not too hard
Tuesday: Lactate tolerance workout, Street Fighter or Accelerator
If you don’t want to do one of those, you need to do some very intense pieces, like two 15-minute pieces.
Wednesday: A.M. two sets of three times 5 minutes on with 1 minute off
Again, you're looking to push up to the top of your aerobic zone. Intensity with not much rest.
Wednesday: P.M. Towing
If you’ve never done this, take it slow, but you can really add some serious speed by training this way.
Thursday: OFF
Friday: Four 12s
A short but tough workout. The two 12-minute “on” pieces should be done very hard.
Saturday: A.M. Time Trial
If you don’t have a time trial, it’s back to some other length piece or you can use Accelerator here.
Saturday: P.M. Fartlek
Should last about 60 minutes and not be too intense.
Sunday: A.M. Off
Sunday: P.M. Sprint Workout
30-second to 120-second sprints, totaling around 24 minutes of “on” time
Okay here’s what we’re doing. Monday is easy so you can recover from the weekend. Tuesday is hard,
Wednesday is really hard, therefore you get Thursday off. Friday is not too hard but Saturday is really
hard so you get Sunday morning off but Sunday afternoon is hard.
The concept behind these workouts is that you are going to drive yourself to the very top of the
aerobic zone, VO2max. The lactate tolerance workouts (Accelerator, for example) should take you into
the anaerobic zone and make you deal with lactic acid building up. If you are not thrashed after a
lactate tolerance workout you didn’t do it right. Go harder next time. The sprint workout must take
you into the anaerobic zone. Sprint workouts are hard and nasty. You should really feel it after
the sprint workout.
During this phase you are in the boat eight times per week. That’s around 480 minutes if the workouts
average an hour each. If you add a couple of foot runs and a couple of strength training sessions you’re
at about 600 minutes. If you want or need to cut back take out the Wednesday P.M. towing workout and
the Saturday P.M. fartlek workout. If you feel like adding more, you really need to assess whether it’s
better to add more volume or to go harder. 600 minutes total training is a lot.
Absolutely move things around to accommodate time on the river. If you can get on the river, try to
do a lot of sections (1/4s and 1/2s ) for time to increase the intensity.
When you’ve done a workout, if you feel like you want to go to the gym and do a full weight lifting
routine you are not paddling anywhere near hard enough. You should get off the water and think “I’m
not sure I’m gonna be able to recover in time for the next workout,” not “let’s go lift weights for
an hour, fun!”
Do this for about 4 weeks then move on to the next phase.
Next Phase…
Anaerobic Power Phase
We change the type of workouts again and focus more on speed than anything else. We sacrifice
some of the aerobic conditioning we were working on in the first phase in order to get as fast as
possible. These are the kind of workouts you want to be doing in the weeks leading into a big race.
The success you have here is dependent upon how well you trained in phase one and two. During this
speed phase you will get faster but if you didn’t lay down a strong base you won’t be able to hold
your speed for an entire race.
Monday: Aerobic recovery
60 to 75 minutes of paddling at 50 to 60%
Tuesday: Lactate tolerance
A workout that takes you up to the danger zone of anaerobic threshold, Street Fighter, Accelerator,
or 2 x (3 x 5 x 1) x 10
Wednesday: A.M. Speed workout
Sets of 30-second to 120-second sprints, totaling roughly 24 minutes of “on” time.
Wednesday: P.M. 4. 12s
Two 12-minute pieces done at very high intensity, separated by a 12-minute break
Thursday: OFF
Friday: Pyramid 2,3,2 x 1, three to four sets.
Another sprint workout, but this one with slightly longer pieces. You could do 500 meter sprints instead.
Saturday: A.M. Time Trial
If you don’t have a measured course, do a race-length piece
Saturday: P.M. 2 x (3 x 5 x3) x 10
Intense intervals with a longer rest time than before. You could also do 8- or 9-minute pieces.
3 x 9 with 3 minutes rest for example.
Sunday: A.M. OFF
Sunday: P.M. Speed workout
Back to a speed workout with short sprints again. 30 seconds to 120 seconds with rest of at least
half the on time to as much as equal the on time.
Once again, Monday is easy because you’ll need to recover from the weekend. Tuesday is tough because
it’s a lactate tolerance workout like Street Fighter or something equally hard. Wednesday is very hard
because it’s a full-on speed workout in the morning and then two 12-minute pieces in the afternoon.
Thursday is off. Friday is hard because it’s 2- to 3-minute sprints done in groups. Saturday morning
is a time trial (lactate tolerance again); the afternoon is a hard set of five minute pieces or 1,000
meter repeats. Sunday morning you get off but Sunday afternoon you really have to go hard for another
speed workout.
This is eight workouts per week in the boat. At an hour each, that’s 480 minutes total in the boat
plus whatever else you do, maybe 600 minutes total. Again, this should be really hard, if you want to
add more be careful not to sacrifice intensity for volume. If this is too much, start by cutting out
the Wednesday P.M. workout, then the Saturday P.M. workout.
Do the speed phase for about 4 weeks, but it’s a good idea to give yourself a break by doing the full
workout for a week then cutting out about ? of the workouts and having and easy week, then a week or
two of full schedule.
After about 4 weeks of this, if there are no big races coming up, go back to the base phase and start
over.
Notes on Monsters
Yes they are out there! Big, scary monsters who actually do train twice a day, six or seven days a
week, and run and lift weights. They paddle for an hour to an hour and a half in the morning and the
same amount in the evening. That’s 2 to 3 hours a day, averaging something like 20 hours a week in
the boat! They lift weights and run and do all kinds of physical testing. Who are they? They are
state-sponsored athletes, with professional coaches. The former Eastern Block countries of Europe
have a reputation for having their athletes spend incredible amounts of time training. Why do they
do it? They think it makes them faster. The Croatians are really fast right now and they have a
reputation for piling on huge numbers of hours, but they aren’t really blowing everyone else away.
The French and Italians and Germans and Brits don’t have the same reputation, but they win medals too.
Another reason the monsters may train so much is they have to justify their existence. If you are a
professional athlete, the people paying you expect you to be doing something all the time! So coaches
tend to design training plans that include high numbers of hours at relatively low intensity. Trust me,
I’ve trained with some of the toughest hammer-heads who ever paddled, and you can’t blast away on
yourself for 1,200 minutes a week. You’ll never recover. There’s something else to think about too;
their reputation precedes them. If they show up at a race and win, and everyone thinks they train fo
days on end with no rest, it’s very intimidating to the other racers. And there’s one last thing,
Sometimes the coaches don’t really know what the athletes are doing. Let me share a little story.
I was talking once to a member of the Hungarian flat-water team. He spoke English well enough for
us to get by and we got to talking about long workouts and how they fit into training for the flat-water
sprint events. He talked about how in the fall, his coaches would have the team put on great heavy
wool sweaters and go out for these long paddles. I mean long, like 3 hours or more. The theory was
that the body would respond to this type of stress by producing certain enzymes that it didn’t
normally make, and that those enzymes would ultimately help the athlete’s performance. Well, we’ll
never know if it worked because the paddlers thought the whole thing was idiotic and never actually
did the super-long workouts. Yes, they wore the sweaters and set out on their journey, but when they
had paddled about 20 minutes and were out of sight, they all pulled over, got out of their boats and
sat around on a dock for 2 hours or so before paddling back. When it came time to race they did well,
probably won some medals and were then stuck doing these laughable marathons in the fall. Which, of
course, they didn’t actually do. So sometimes when you hear about monster training programs you really
have to look deep and find out what the whole story is.
If you have questions or comments the easiest way to contact me is via the www.wildwaterusa.org
listserve. If you haven't already signed up for this listserve, you can join by logging on to
www.wildwaterusa.org.
Best regards and good luck racing,
Doug Ritchie
