Training Plan for a 100-miler?

[Bulky]

Started another thread about the Rivers for Change 100-mile race on Memorial Day weekend.  http://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php/topic,31197.0.html  Hoping some other Zoners will jump in and do it with me.

Regardless of that, I'm trying to chart out a training schedule and wonder if anyone has any experience with this kind of thing.  Found an old CCBC thread that talked about 3-4 short paddles a week and then a longer one that gets increasingly longer as the date approaches.  I should be able to do this as part of my regular routine--just need to carve out longer outings on the weekends.

I'd love any input you might have.  I should note that the event does take place on a river so there's ample assistance from the current (even moreso this year with all the rain CA is seeing).  So it's probably the equivalent of doing 60-70 flatwater.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[yugi]

I’ve always gone with the advice for distance events to train regularly 1/2 the distance. I know on an event day I can do double a distance I’m comfortable with in training.

3 or 4 short sessions mid week and long ones on weekends sounds good.

Have you done much river paddling? If not do some. There are some skills to develop which will save you lots of energy. Those funny little eddie currents can knock you over if you’re a nOOb. Once you get used to reading a rivers currents, and get a bit used to the funny sideswipes you can get you do get a lot better at it. As a general rule it’s the transition from curent to still water which is the tricky part.

[lucabrasi]

  I should note that the event does take place on a river so there's ample assistance from the current (even moreso this year with all the rain CA is seeing).

Yes, everything yugi said, watch for eddy. He's a slippery bugger.
What you said there made me think. I am not familiar with the river (I don't think tides effect it where this is at?) but if you are familiar with it at all so you have something to gauge it from this site can be helpful.........might be enough to make you think too much as well.
 https://waterdata.usgs.gov/ca/nwis/uv/?site_no=11342000&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060
I looked at the flows from May of last year and far different than what it is running now. Imagine that but even with May maybe being the start or even peak runoff in that part of the country and this being the middle of winter......quite the difference.
Hard to say how soon spring will hit and what it will be like. A 8 hour paddle last May could be a 5 hour one this year. Not sure how many dams upstream from where you running. If reservoirs are full by then they will be letting her through, if not, they will be holding her back.
Regardless, have fun and good luck. Should be quite an event.

[PonoBill]

Don't train at full distance unless you lower your effort substantially, Half the distance would still be a lot. Keep an eye on your joints. Carpal tunnel is easy to encounter with long paddling. If you get your wrists all fired up it might take a long time to recover. the most effective non-surgical approach I've found is the goofy and expensive tape system some doc sells. About 180 bucks for both hands for a relatively small supply. I've found that using it for about a week or so clears up my hand problems for a few months. Doesn't look like it should work, but it does for me.

https://www.mycarpaltunnel.com/fixing-carpal-tunnel-relief-without-surgery-natural-treatment-therapy-fix-syndrome.shtml

If the river current is substantial, get someone to teach you how to ferry. It's counterintuitive. If you lean on a rail to turn your board disappears.

[deepmud]

Find Robert/Blue Planet's run last year on Facebook  - lots of pics of the river, He gps'd almost the entire run.
Fairly small as rivers go  - no tidal - you can see a lot of detail on Google Earth too. Wish I was going ......


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10209904287187677&set=t.100000906979095&type=3&theater


EDIT - you know this already  finally read your link to your other thread. This is about physical training, not river training, right?
My apologies for linking the obvious

[ukgm]

I’ve always gone with the advice for distance events to train regularly 1/2 the distance.

I don't think that's great advice. It can apply to high impact sports like running. However, for low impact sports like SUP or cycling, you should continue to build duration up of at least one session per week progressively, gently and to focus on the specifity of what you'll be facing. I wouldn't recommend a duration increase of anything more than 10% a week (I actually mreasure training 'load' myself using trainingpeaks but you get the idea). This all said, I agree with you that training regurlary is more important than doing one killer session once in a blue moon.

Personally I don't think many paddlers (who wish to race) train long or hard enough and some proportionally rely too much on high intensity intervals.

[Bean]

Wouldn't there be a significant difference in the training approach, and event day planning, depending upon whether your goal is to be competitive in a 100 mile race as opposed to simply participating and finishing?

 

[stoneaxe]

I've never trained for anything as much as I did the 1st CCBC. I was scared shitless I wouldn't make it. I started training about 6 months ahead and gradually built up the distance. That training (what you described) made it easy. I know that because I haven't trained as hard in subsequent years and it's shown in how I feel during and after. 3-4 sessions a week with a long one on the weekend is how it usually worked out. If there was surf I'd skip training and surf longer as replacement.

#1...make sure you do some training in a river with similar conditions. My CCBC training also included going out in conditions where most folks thought I was crazy to be on the water. Nor'easters turn my local bay into an effective SUP treadmill. Heavy chop and winds only made the training better and definitely helped when we had 2' side on chop hitting us mid way. As already mentioned current makes rivers very different from ocean/lakes. We've had folks that trained hard for the CCBC doing the miles on a lake or placid river and then got their asses handed to them when we hit open ocean conditions. Since I haven't had much experience on rivers...especially one with some rapids...I'd definitely get some training in (with instruction from someone who does) to match the conditions.

[yugi]

Sh!t. I'd be pretty happy to train up and do a decent pace on 100 miles!

If you start your training early and get really comfy,  you'll be a lot more competitive.

My feeling is on a race that long is that if you like the event and then train better and more for the next year then you'll keep doing better year by year. Distance events like that do need years and years of specific training.

Either way you'll be damn fit and live longer with mo' better grin factor.

Best advice to be competitive is to perfect your stroke. A few lessons and coaching and a bit more efficient stroke will go a looooong way on those kind of distances as well as reduce chance of injury. In fact I'd start with that precisely to avoid injury on your ambitious training schedule.

[Bulky]

Thanks, all.  My goal is largely to finish and I'm probably in Stoney's 1st CCBC camp.  Would be a bummer to drive all that distance, take my wife up on her offer to drive support and not make it. Where I place is a secondary concern.

A major challenge with living in SB is getting any exposure to river paddling--there's really nothing like where the race is anywhere near here.  Googling river paddling in SoCal gets you nothing closer than the Kern River in Bakersfield.  Probably a few places that are seeing some runoff so I'm looking into it.  The thought of getting into the LA River makes me cringe..

Been in contact with Robert S. and CapoBeachBoy and they indicated that the rapid sections aren't overly sketchy.  Judging by the photos and people doing the race on 14ft carbon boards it can't be full-on whitewater.  That said, I certainly don't shy away from going out in messy conditions--even though dynamics in the ocean must be very different from a river.

Good point on paddle technique, Yugi--might look into that.

Appreciate the tips--keep em coming!  Or even better--join me!

[ukgm]

Wouldn't there be a significant difference in the training approach, and event day planning, depending upon whether your goal is to be competitive in a 100 mile race as opposed to simply participating and finishing?

Yes, and your nutritional needs will require some thinking about too. It's worth finding out how many calories you will typiclly shift per hour at your chosen pace. Bear in mind that a back-of-pack paddler might be out there twice as long as an elite one which makes it a very different physiological challenge. I had written an article that runs over the basics of SUP training. Most of the latter stuff won't apply to you as its aimed at a different kind of event but you might find the first few paragraphs useful to help you plan: https://www.supboardermag.com/2017/02/03/sup-event-training-n1sco-naish-part-1/

[Bean]

Nice work UK!

[ukgm]

Nice work UK!

Part 2 (including the training plan itself) is now here: https://www.supboardermag.com/2017/03/01/sup-training-101-first-event-part-2/

[SUPDaddyBear]

Nice work UK!

Part 2 (including the training plan itself) is now here: https://www.supboardermag.com/2017/03/01/sup-training-101-first-event-part-2/

Well done with the articles Bryce... very helpful... I just need to get out there and do some!

[UKRiverSurfers]

Ive done loads of very long paddles... I don't do any training at all, and especially not 'planned out' in any way.

Just get on the water as much as you can - day or night, whatever the weather. Thats what I have done nonstop since 1991 and I reckon I could whip the fastest paddlers we have in the UK, even the ones who do 'scientific' 'spots nutrition' etc etc...

That is just chasing the rainbow. Just get on the water and the rainbow will come to you.