No, It's Not Too Late To Get Ready For That Channel Crossing
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Great article but how about a more in depth interview with Matt Walls or Kyle Daniels. Weight training nutrition, flexibility training etc. How long do they consider a speed run?. When race day comes how much time before that do they take off. Kyle might not want to give up some information but others might be more than happy to help a novice.
Keep up the great work
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Anyone wants to joins us we have a pretty solid and consistent crew here in San Diego North County. The group paddles every tuesday and thursday am from Cardiff By The Sea state beach arround 7am, when we start going longer 6:30am start. Then on the weekeds we ussualy decide during the week what day and where, we like to try other places just to keep things interesting. At this point the group paddles about 6 miles mid week, with some interval training and 2hr weekend longer paddles. I think the miles will start to go up soon. Most people hit the gym about 3x per week and pool or run 3x per week. I would say 90% of the paddlers here are working toward Molokai or Catalina. Besides myself and couple other everyone else is on stock boards. -george |
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Hey Gordon,
I will try to answer all of your questions to the best of my ability. In our group of about 20+ guys we have paddlers of all ability levels and ages. We have twenty year olds up to 60+ year olds. We have elite athletes to beginners. Some of our Fasters guys do cross train with some weight training, while most of the guy’s just surf on their non-paddle days. Our three-day a week training schedule is the base that we go off of. The faster guys will usually mix in another day or two on the paddleboard. Some of us that are going over for Molokai will mix in some additional days in the wind for an extra work out. For most of the guys three days a week is what they put in on the paddleboard.
I hope I have shed a little light on some of the questions that some of you may have on getting ready for The Catalina Classic or Molokai. My only other advice is to Keep it Fun.
Thanks
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Matt,
Thanks again,
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No Worries Gordon. I hope to see you a race this year. Matt |
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Walls, I don’t think Pilates sounds gay, but I do think Kyle’s D’s weasel squeezers look gay...guess when you win you can pull that look off! Thanks Coach! Weems |
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Remember back in December, when it was late in the afternoon and you and your buddies had just gone for a good surf in some overhead waves, and you were sitting on the porch having a couple of beers? Life was good then, and you were talking about things you wanted to do--surf trips you wanted to take, places you wanted to travel to, and then, for no reason other than that it seemed to fit and it felt good to say, you proclaimed, "Oh, yeah, I think this year I’m going to paddle one of the channel crossings."
Remember that?
Well, chances are your buddies probably do, and now that it’s early April, chances are that they’ve probably gone ahead and reminded you it’s time for the rubber to meet the road on that one.
Which means that, if you’re the kind of person who keeps his word--and we’re guessing you probably are--you’ll find yourself smack dab in the desperate middle of a very large body of water at some point this summer, wondering how in the hell you got yourself there, and, perhaps more importantly, how in the hell you’re going to get out.
When you get there--because pride’s a bitch, and you’ll be there, trust us--you’ll have a lot of time to think about how prepared you are or aren’t for that moment of reckoning. And you’ll probably have a lot of thoughts about how you could have spent your time preparing yourself back when life was good and you were drinking beer on the porch in the winter.
The good news is that it’s not too late to back up the talk and actually train for that 20- to 30-miler. With the Quiksilver Molokai and the Catalina Classic slated for late July and late August, respectively, there is, according to the closest thing to experts that we could find, still plenty of time to begin training, even if you haven’t been paddling at all yet. (It’s possible, by the way, that we asked this last question with more than a bit of personal interest--as in, "Let’s say you haven’t trained at all yet. Is there still time to get in shape for a big race?")
"Plenty of time," says Matt Walls, who leads an informal training group in the South Bay of Los Angeles called the Donkeys. Walls, who finished his first Classic in ‘96 and trains last year’s Classic winner Kyle Daniels, says that with months left to go to the start of the races, now’s as good a time as any to get going.
The key, he says, is to start early and to pace yourself.
"When you start late and you pack on a lot of mileage very quickly, that’s when you’re really running the risk of injury or burning yourself out," says Walls.
To that end, the Donkeys’ training schedule builds gradually toward the goal of having its members paddle the 32-mile Catalina Classic in late August.
"Basically, it’s three times a week," says Walls. "Wednesday is flexible, and we might do some speed work or some gradually longer paddles. Friday’s lighter, more of a social thing, just paddling three miles or so, and then Sunday is when we start doing our long paddles."
Those Sunday paddles, Walls says, will be built up gradually over time.
His top protege, Kyle Daniels (two-time Classic winner), says that what’s most important may be the days that you don’t paddle more than the days that you do.
"What you need to consider with the high mileage," Daniels says, "Is getting enough rest. A 12 miler followed by one day off and then a 15 miler the following day may be doing too much. Consider the ultimate goal and when you want to peak for it. If the goal is Catalina, work backwards from August 24th, considering your taper length and then make sure you build your mileage up accordingly. It’s great to get some long ones in early, but make sure you get a lot of rest (I’d suggest two weeks between 20+ mile work outs), especially if you are going to be doing other races."
If you’re apprehensive about committing to doing a longer race mainly because you’ve never done it before, moral support can be a huge boon to your confidence. To that end, joining a paddling group can be the best thing you do to turn that ambiguous goal into reality.
"I got to the point where I really didn’t enjoy paddling by myself anymore," says Walls. "That’s why I started the Donkeys. I don’t mind organizing everything and getting the group together, just so long as I don’t have to paddle by myself," he jokes.
While groups in San Diego and L.A. seem to be growing in number, finding even just a few friends to paddle with can keep you committed and motivated.
When it comes down to it, though, it’s going to be you and your willingness to get yourself across that channel that matters most.
Luckily for you, there’s still time to make that experience a far less painful one.