Training program for Molokai

[Rems]

What is your training program(1 year before) for a race like Molokai-Oahu(sup or OC1) : number of KM/day, downwind vs flat paddling, race and distance tests ...?

[SchUP]

Not sure about the day-to-day regime for this but, the Maui Canoe/Kayak Club events serve as good benchmarks for training:

http://www.mauicanoeandkayak.org/2009schedule.html

[Shawn Michael]

It is interesting that here on the racing part of the forum there is little discussion of training programs where on outrigger, dragonboat, surfski sites you see endless discussion of training, how intervals effect endurance etc etc etc.  Maybe most of the folks here do downwinders and surf so they are more focused on connecting the bumps and surfing or just charging out and getting a workout...after reading Lairds book I got the impression that he did a lot of his training working backward from a channel crossing goal and periodizing instinctively but there was  not a lot of information.

I can only train twice a week and go 7.5mile, 12.5miles, 17.5miles and repeat this sequence and then take a week off...I was doing this on relatively flat water and was slowly adding to it by 5 minute increments thinking I had a catalina channel crossing in my sights in 4-5 months BUT now that I am getting out in the ocean I realize that the flat water training is a good base but I really need to learn about the so cal ocean so I am "starting over" learing how to deal with side chop and getting real about how hard it is going to be to make 25 miles of open ocean vs. doing laps around the harbor.... ..Anyhoo here is a really simple post from a really smart guy (not me!)

"When you plan your program you need to think how far am I planning to race (i.e. how long will it take assuming a range of conditions). Always think of training in terms of duration rather than distance. As we all know, 10 miles into a 20 kn wind is different than 10 miles with a 20 kn wind...

When you have a duration range of race durations in mind (say 4-5 hours), you need to plan your season backwards from the target race date, keeping in mind your body will need to adapt to training in a systematic and progressive manner.

Many exercise physiologists recommend slowly increasing your weekly training volume (5-10% per week) so as to minimize the risk of overtraining and overuse injuries. Your longest single session paddle can safely increase by the same. Some programs may increase by a set 15:00 min per week, which although is greater than 15% at first, it becomes less difficult later on and workout pretty much the same as a 10% average increase over 18-20 weeks. I've calculated some long paddle options using the 5%, 10% and 15:00 min approaches below

Some sports science sources say 1 long easy effort per week, others once every 10-14 days. Between your long easy efforts you plan all your short-medium efforts (no longer than 75% of the longest; no shorter than 20-30 minutes) adn intensity training.

To further complicate things you also need to factor in recovery weeks every 3-6 weeks where you significantly reduce your volume to allow your body time to adapt, get stronger, faster, fitter, do the laundry, feed the dog, etc.

If you allow youself only 4 months to prepare you will be forced to accelerate your plan. A consequence of that is you'll get exhausted and need a lengthy time off to recover. A well designed training program should be able to see you almost fully recovered in 2-3 weeks of easy exercise or time off. The biggest difference between a short crash-training program and a very long term program is that the longer year round programs are usually part of your lifestyle, and you see much bigger long term (year to year) improvements as you spend less time de-training then re-training every season.

Have fun, Alan"

[Shawn Michael]

credit the above to
Alan Carlsson
http://eascoaching.blogspot.com/

Rambo's site is a great source of information too...there are several great books on cycling and the principals are applicable to SUP for long distance

[Byronmaui]

Here is some Molokai action..

[HaleiwaBill]

It is interesting that here on the racing part of the forum there is little discussion of training programs where on outrigger, dragonboat, surfski sites you see endless discussion of training, how intervals effect endurance etc etc etc.  Maybe most of the folks here do downwinders and surf so they are more focused on connecting the bumps and surfing or just charging out and getting a workout...after reading Lairds book I got the impression that he did a lot of his training working backward from a channel crossing goal and periodizing instinctively but there was  not a lot of information.

I can only train twice a week and go 7.5mile, 12.5miles, 17.5miles and repeat this sequence and then take a week off...I was doing this on relatively flat water and was slowly adding to it by 5 minute increments thinking I had a catalina channel crossing in my sights in 4-5 months BUT now that I am getting out in the ocean I realize that the flat water training is a good base but I really need to learn about the so cal ocean so I am "starting over" learing how to deal with side chop and getting real about how hard it is going to be to make 25 miles of open ocean vs. doing laps around the harbor.... ..Anyhoo here is a really simple post from a really smart guy (not me!)

"When you plan your program you need to think how far am I planning to race (i.e. how long will it take assuming a range of conditions). Always think of training in terms of duration rather than distance. As we all know, 10 miles into a 20 kn wind is different than 10 miles with a 20 kn wind...

When you have a duration range of race durations in mind (say 4-5 hours), you need to plan your season backwards from the target race date, keeping in mind your body will need to adapt to training in a systematic and progressive manner.

Many exercise physiologists recommend slowly increasing your weekly training volume (5-10% per week) so as to minimize the risk of overtraining and overuse injuries. Your longest single session paddle can safely increase by the same. Some programs may increase by a set 15:00 min per week, which although is greater than 15% at first, it becomes less difficult later on and workout pretty much the same as a 10% average increase over 18-20 weeks. I've calculated some long paddle options using the 5%, 10% and 15:00 min approaches below

Some sports science sources say 1 long easy effort per week, others once every 10-14 days. Between your long easy efforts you plan all your short-medium efforts (no longer than 75% of the longest; no shorter than 20-30 minutes) adn intensity training.

To further complicate things you also need to factor in recovery weeks every 3-6 weeks where you significantly reduce your volume to allow your body time to adapt, get stronger, faster, fitter, do the laundry, feed the dog, etc.

If you allow youself only 4 months to prepare you will be forced to accelerate your plan. A consequence of that is you'll get exhausted and need a lengthy time off to recover. A well designed training program should be able to see you almost fully recovered in 2-3 weeks of easy exercise or time off. The biggest difference between a short crash-training program and a very long term program is that the longer year round programs are usually part of your lifestyle, and you see much bigger long term (year to year) improvements as you spend less time de-training then re-training every season.

Have fun, Alan"

Excellent points Shawn. Its not just about being fit, having the right board or finishing a few local races. Crossing the Kaiwi channel is one of the most challenging in the world and is nothing like doing an 8 mile downwinder. Its full blown open ocean paddling where dozens of factors come into to play. Like months of training, fitness, experience, equipment, knowledge of the channel, understanding the currents, mapping the correct route, hiring an experienced boat captain and much more.

I had the privilege of going on an escort boat at last years Molokai race to see the channel crossing first hand. And All I can is??.........Damm, I did know how much I DID NOT KNOW........LOL.........until I saw whats required to accomplish that amazing and grueling race. The night before the race I listened intently to the intense training regiments these guys (and girls) did to prepare for this race. Many as you said started a full year in advance.

I also discovered that several would be contestants were (rightly) turned down by Quiksilver event director Mike Takahashi becasue they were not qualified. I would have to dig through old notes to find the exact criteria, but suffice to say you have to be a proved racer to be allowed in the event. They require that you have entered X amount of distance races and finished within a specific time.

As for seeing more info, especially IN DEPTH info on training for distance races, I see that coming and hopefully coming very soon. Obviously SUP is still in its infancy and those of us with surfing backgrounds simply never did any type of distance racing, let alone train for it. The outrigger paddlers who now do SUP racing seem to be the most prepared and best suited for this race . Most if not all of the top placers in last years race (Dave & Ekolu Kalama, Duane Desoto) have long distance outrigger paddling in their backgrounds. As this aspect of SUP grows and I have NO doubt it will, I am sure we see a lot more info on proper training.

But whether we do something like the Molokai race or just do some local downwind runs for fun & fitness, I see downwind runs being hugely popular this summer and beyond. For the first time? well ever! I am actually excited about facing a summer without waves!

[PonoBill]

But whether we do something like the Molokai race or just do some local downwind runs for fun & fitness, I see downwind runs being hugely popular this summer and beyond. For the first time? well ever! I am actually excited about facing a summer without waves!

I know what you mean Bill. I'm at least as much into downwinders now as I am into surfing. It troubles me to say that. I still will go surfing over doing a downwinder if good conditions for both exist, but that's more because surfing you can only do when the swell is working, while you can always do some kind of downwinder (though the wacky Maliko stuff we've been getting lately is pretty special). I think raging downwinders will be one of the great attractors of this sport, though people have to try them to appreciate them. the first time you hook three swell rides together, or go down the face of a 20 foot swell, you get a thrill that's very similar to dropping into a good-sized wave. But instead of getting that jolt every ten minutes in surfing, you get it constantly.

[Shawn Michael]

SUP is strength training perfection for outrigger.  After 4 months pulling a 10in blade on a 84' I just rip with the OC paddle in my OC-1...cardio, however is a bit more taxed in the OC-1 IMO due to the higher stroke rate.

For me SUP is still limited by my legs out on the ocean.  I hope soon my legs will do their thing and I will just be able to paddle as hard as I do on the flat focus on that without struggling to stay balanced.

[noa]

I know what you mean Bill. I'm at least as much into downwinders now as I am into surfing. It troubles me to say that. I still will go surfing over doing a downwinder if good conditions for both exist, but that's more because surfing you can only do when the swell is working, while you can always do some kind of downwinder (though the wacky Maliko stuff we've been getting lately is pretty special). I think raging downwinders will be one of the great attractors of this sport, though people have to try them to appreciate them. the first time you hook three swell rides together, or go down the face of a 20 foot swell, you get a thrill that's very similar to dropping into a good-sized wave. But instead of getting that jolt every ten minutes in surfing, you get it constantly.

very well said Bill,
personally i'm now seeing it the other way around. i'll go downwinding whenever the conditions are there and if they are not, i'll look at what the waves are doing. anyway where i am, the waves are wind driven. so when there is wind, there are waves but there are also good downwind conditions. hmmm, tough choice.
these days it's simple, if i have someone to pick me up, i'll go downwind. anyway like you said, out there we're surfing just as much, if not much more. a lot of people in our sport don't yet understand what the appeal is and the general public certainly does not comprehend what we're doing. but again like you said, link a few bumps and drop into a bigger one, then a light goes on.
in regards to us having a bit of a hard time comming to terms with this new aspect of our sport, this is my take on it :
i think we are having a somewhat "hard" time admiting to others and ourselves that we are getting so much into downwinders because first and formost we have been led to believe that surfing is THE sport to be part of.
i'll explain my point of view which is only personal, but i suspect there are many others in the same boat.
before starting stand up paddle surfing, i was not a surfer. i have been a windsurfer, a kite surfer, going further away a sailor, a diver etc... even though i surfed waves with lets say, my windsurf gear, i was still not a "surfer".
they where always a different group, a closed familly that was somehow above me.
however, when i started sup, i was somehow now part of this group. it's like the "cool" group when you're in school, you're either part of them or you're part of the "insignificant" rest. and if you somehow someday make it into the cool group, you do whatever you can to stay there. so, to my great pride i was now part of the fraternity and able to call myself a surfer. wow !
i was slowly climbing up the ranks of this strict society full of invisible codes, when, unanounced comes along a new discovery. donwwind.
see, i was happily splashing around the lineup with my fellow surfing brotherhood. playing the stand in line, catch your wave, paddle back, wait your turn, merry go round. it was all good and we where having unfathomable amounts of fun. i was the envy and admiration of my non suping friends who now came to me with the hope of being indoctrinated into our secret society. my ego was as puffed up as a hot air balloon.
then one day in the lineup no different to others, i heard the "voice". it was faint at first, but quickly grew louder. it was the voice of the open sea. it was inviting me.
why would i go there, what would i do ? but i did go. and my whole world came tumbling down.
just like that, everything i knew as true, no longer was. everything i aspired to was now invalid. could it really be ? could paddling in the open sea, dancing with the wind and catching endless swells be the form of expression that was the closest to my soul ? i feared that yes.
i feared it because it would take me away from those friends i had made in the now distant lineup. i feared it because it would tarnish my self and public image as well as put my surfer title in jerperdy. and i feared it most because i would no longer be providing food for my always hungry ego. but is life not just about that ? is it not about stepping out and discovering your true self, despite what everone tels you you should aspire to be ?
with the wind singing in my ears and that realization in mind, i took my first paddle stroke towards the open sea.
in the distance, i could already see some others doing the same.