It is amazing: started in 1969 already with working on paddletechnique and still finding out new approaches.
This time it was, when paddling my weekly 20km tour to the club, that I came in a paddling-cadence making me remember a way of paddling, from long ago, which proved successful in competitions I joined 30 years ago.
What initiated this was another position of my backbone while paddling.
Because I am working at the moment on my neck-, abdomen- and back-muscles to prevent headaches and neck-problems, I went to Mensendieck-therapie first and yet I work further on this with "Perfect Pilatus"; a kind of fitness program. Paddling for years already I assumed that abdomen- and back-muscles should have been in perfect condition. But in fact I was astonished how much this could be improved.
The first results are that it became possible to hold the backbone straight(er) during paddling by using the proper muscles to do so without them becoming tired while under tension.
It occurs that this new position effected my way of paddling in a positive way. I followed my progress with astonishment: 2 weeks ago was the first time this worked out like this and I recorded an average speed of 9,5 km/h which I could maintain easily over ca. 15km´s without the usual loss of concentration because of which it was on earlier occasions difficult to maintain speed.
Yesterday it was easy to reproduce this; in fact I could even go further and reached easily an average of 10,2-10,5 km/h under similar weather-conditions. And I was NOT paddling a race kayak but the same touring-kayak as 2 weeks before.
Yet I did not meet the loss of concentration as a limit: after 13 km´s the concentration was still there but I simply run out of "fuel" (for the evening only carrying just a bottle of water) and had to go down to 8 km/h. Not to bad either. It is clear you use more energy while paddling faster.
Analysing what happened, I concluded that I, when younger, had a stronger back doing the same (without realising it at the time) what I found out today. Over the years it occurs you are sporting less, sitting quite a lot in car-seats, working behind a desk etc. All the kind of things making your back rounder and rounder and not holding it as straight as before any more and thus weakening these important muscles. You get a lazy back! And of course I am ageing as well.
BUT: working on these muscles now makes a difference!
What happened ?
I think it is quite simple to explain:
- with a straight back and while leaning forward a little bit, you can start a paddle stroke more forward. This not only results in a longer stroke but it seems also that you can apply most force (by push and pull) in that forward part of the stroke. The Kinetik-wing paddle I use, seems also to have most efficiency in that part of the stroke
- The better shape of back-muscles prevents them becoming tired, thus maintaining the longer stroke and preventing dropping the speed.
- It feels that, with the constant position-tension of the muscles in the back, more energy is put into the stroke
- The cadence I "remembered" is that the "collapsing"-sound of the hole you draw in the water with the blade, must synchronise with the moment you are lifting the blade out of the water. May be that the lifting of the blade out of the collapsing hole, at the correct time, gives less drag. But also mentally: the sound helps enormous to feel like some sort of machine working at constant pace: there you've got my cadence which is sound related.
- normally the speed drops after some time, but listening to the sound is pushing me to maintain the rhythm.
All this of course supported by:
- looking forward
- leg- and footwork: during each stroke pushing the foot on the pul-side against the footrest.
- at the end of the stroke the elbow is leading in lifting the blade. The hand just follows: this results in a relax-moment for the muscles and a better trunk-rotation; thus a longer stroke and more driving force per stroke.
Besides this:
I can mention that it could have been that I was working/learning with the kinetik wing paddle in the wrong way: at first I was concentrating on trunk-rotation and letting the paddle-blade fly sideways. This required much concentration to do so.
Using the wing I Yet switched back to concentrate on pushing and the (variable) balance between pushing/pulling. Just as I did with a normal paddle. The trick was to learn to allow the pull-hand to fly sideways, without thinking, as is required for a wing-paddle. Doing so the collapsing sound comes back a little bit, but this has the positive effect as mentioned above.
I am curious where this paddling-quest will bring me.
I guess it will at least add to comfortable seapaddling and create a reserve from which to pull out more power or speed when required in all kind situations you can meet at sea.