Stroke Rate for Racing

[Rideordie]

I have been playing around with my new Speed Coach Sup and have been watching my stroke rate and speed. I am beginning to find that my race pace stroke rate is in the low to mid 40's using a Kenalu Konihi 95 blade. My  6 mile race pace is about 5.0 to 5.1 mph on average. I am planning to purchase a 90 inch blade and wonder how that will impact my stroke rate and speed.  I would appreciate any thoughts you may offer.

[FloridaWindSUP]

You've got a decent race pace for 12'6 but you'll almost certainly be faster if you can increase your cadence to at least the upper 40s / low 50s. A smaller blade might help you to increase your stroke rate, but it won't make as much difference as just putting deliberate attention on increasing your stroke rate. One thing you can do is try to make the recovery snappier, so you're bringing the blade forward as quickly as possible between strokes. Another thing you can do is make sure you're not leaving the blade in the water too long after it passes behind your feet. Let us know how it goes.

[PonoBill]

Konihi paddles pop especially well if you twist the shaft as you lift. Doing the movement Dave Kalama recommends, which is turning your bottom hand inward as you lift the paddle like a sword is particularly effective with this blade. The wings and blade shape seem to push the blade out of the water. if you keep the wrist bent inwards as you start the recovery push, the blade is feathered with makes the move back to the reach position quite a bit faster. You don't have to think about turning the blade flat at the end of recovery as reaching straightens your wrist. I don't attempt high cadence paddling, I don't have the fitness level or the joint elasticity to support it, but just doing these simple things increases my cadence without pushing any other part of the stroke.

[Rideordie]

Thanks guys!!

FLWSUP, I paddle. 14, not a 12 6, if that matters. I paddle pretty hard. I am 55 and weigh about 200 lbs. I may be pulling a bit too far in my stroke. Will try to pull it out sooner and stay in the power curve.

Pono, I do feather my paddle, but not every stroke. I rely on my top hand to rotate it inwards. Will try to use bottom and see how that works. I can get my revs up but have to drop the effort in each stroke a bit to get there. Seems like that either slows me down or is unsustainable. I am thinking that dropping my blade size a little will put me in the sweet spot. Kinda of like getting the right prop on a speed boat. Seems like I recall you had that experience with the Konihi 84 versus 95. After reading your experience, seemed to me that 90 would be a good compromise between stroke power and stroke rate.

[kayadogg]

I've done a lot of stroke rate work with my Speedcoach over the last year. An interesting thing that we (the group I train with) found is that if we focused on paddling at 40 strokes/min, then 50 strokes/min, then 60 strokes/minute he distance we covered was almost exactly the same. This was done on a measured course and was something we repeated several times. I'm not saying this will hold true in a race or over longer distances but it was interesting to see that breathing, heart rate and quality of the stroke all play a vital role than just how many times the paddle goes in the water.

+1 on FloridaWindSUP's advice on a snappier recovery. A drill I work on a lot is a very fast recovery and then slow strokes while the paddle is in the water. Basically try to minimize the amount of time the paddle is out of the water. Have fun, the Speedcoach is great but can make you go crazy with all of the analysis and insight into your paddling.

[Rideordie]

Very interesting KD. So what is your race pace stroke rate?  Just curious.

[PonoBill]

Anything that decreases the amount of time spent coasting down will increase average speed. Given the same board, if your reach is consistent and you pull the blade out at the same point the distance traveled per stroke should be nearly identical, but with a higher cadence the percentage of time under power is higher, so average speed is higher. Faster recovery does the same thing--reduces the coastdown time. It does increase cadence slightly. Take a look at the old Quickblade video showing distance per stroke--illuminating.

Looking at cadence a different way, if the distance traveled per stroke remains constant, and you increase cadence overall by 10 percent, you must be going about ten percent faster (not exactly since form and skin friction increase with speed, but close enough). If recovery is 30 percent of the stroke cycle, and you cut that to 20 percent (very hard to do) you are also going ten percent faster. Working on recovery speed is worthwhile. Look at any of the fast unlimited OC6s and watch the blades flash forward. Their asymmetric stroke cycle is worth emulating.  Recovery cycle time is also why kayak blades are faster than canoe paddles. Unfortunately we stand up, which makes a SUP kayak blade very long, which means the recovery advantage is eliminated and is entirely offset by windage and the long paddle movement past the user's feet.  Good kayak paddlers don't windmill. Goofy SUP kayak blade paddlers all do, at least as far as I've seen.

[Area 10]

A complicating factor is that different boards seem to work differently according to stroke rate. Or perhaps it's not the rate but what happens to your stroke when you change the cadence. I don't have an explanation for this. But it does seem in principle possible that certain board designs favour certain aspects of a stroke and that different cadences may emphasise one or another. You'd have to be a technically superb paddler for your stroke at 50 per min to be exactly the same as at 40 (excepting the cadence difference).

[PonoBill]

The biggest difference in boards is the percentage of maximum speed held. Longer boards benefit more from higher cadence because they enable a higher fraction of maximum speed to be held. Big boards decelerate faster between strokes, but can reach a higher speed for the same effort.

[Beasho]

Take a look at the old Quickblade video showing distance per stroke--illuminating.

This one:

[PonoBill]

Yup.

[burchas]

Unless you're operating in the exact condition all the time, you should probably consider working with different styles and stroke rates.

I used to try keeping my stroke rate around mid 40's regardless of the conditions, but I discovered I have better results with varying stroke rates. It also helped me relieving stress points and muscle fatigue happening from the repetition. at least that is my experience.

From all that I've read there is no such thing as magic stroke rate that will work every-time, every-where.

[TeachSB]

So, bear in mind, I'm not an expert on paddling at all. 

Still, I thought I could add to this from a cycling perspective.  Cadence is a huge debate in cycling, and it was launched mostly by Lance Armstrong (who obviously had other factors leading to his success than his high cadence). Nevertheless, this lead to a lot of research into training for higher or lower cadences.  The result:

Training for a higher or lower cadence than the "natural" one lead to decreased efficiency.  Every time.

So, while Pono's statements make sense in a rational way, I wonder how that actually translates to the human body.  If it were cycling I would say to train at a variety of different cadences but usually just use what "feels good" and increase your gearing as you get stronger/faster/more efficient. 

In SUP, maybe a bigger paddle? I dunno...

- Teach

[Bean]

...Training for a higher or lower cadence than the "natural" one lead to decreased efficiency.  Every time...
- Teach

That makes a lot of sense, but for the average weekend warrior, how do you find your "natural" cadence?

Chances are, we might be paddling with the wrong size blade, a board that's too wide/narrow, too little/much rocker and our stroke might be completely inefficient.

And, is it possible for someone to have a different optimal stroke rate for left and right side paddling (non- wind/current dependent)?

[FloridaWindSUP]

@Rideordie- Sorry for confusing what board length you're on. I reckon 5 mph is quite a good pace for a wide 14' board, especially being 55 and keeping it up for 6 miles. Ride on!