Last year Jamie Mitchell competed in the SUP race from Sandringham to Half Moon Bay and back (around 5 k's). I know he was a hell of a long way in front of me, but does anyone know what time he did it in?
Trying to stay motivated on my morning paddles and want to test myself. How do you test your paddling? Is it time or distance that you go on?
I think Jamie went so fast that he reversed time, Superman style.
I used to go by time, see how far I could go and what max speed I could hit over set time intervals - one minute, two minutes, five minutes, 20 minutes etc. At the moment, I'm doing the opposite, going by set distance, namely kms. Someone on Seabreeze posted that they aim to do each km in 6:30 to 7:30 mins. When I started on that a few months back, I was struggling to achieve 8 mins per km. Now I've got it down to 7 mins, or 6:30 with some wind or current assistance. This morning I did 7km in 51 mins, flat water, no wind, so I lost a couple of mins in the last half of the session. This is all on 12'6" boards.
On flat water I'm looking at averaging 8.5km an hour and on the weekend I did 33km in 4:12 which is about 7.8km/hour. That was against the tide but with a 10 knot tail/cross/head wind as the river snakes its way up stream.
haha, its always against the tide or upwind, i should know, it always happens to my times
If you can cover 8km in 60 minutes, you are doing pretty well. At The Great Melbourne Paddle, the leaders did about 50-52 minutes for 8km, in relatively calm conditions, with a mild amount of bump and boat chop.
So these guys were up at about 9 to 9.5km/hr.
Get yourself a course, and measure it on Google Earth. Even just 1km is good. Do a series of 1km "sprints". But only with a 45-60 second recovery. Check your time in the recovery, reset watch, and go again!
www.supvic.com/coreban-great-melbourne-paddle-results/
Hoagie,
What paddle do you use? Just curious.
But big blades lend themselves to power athletes, and smaller blades are perhaps better for aerobic athletes. And you are both right?
Wiki lists you at 208cm. I assume you didn't cut anything off the paddle shaft!?
Have you read any of these?
www.davidkalama.com/2011/01/tempo/
www.davidkalama.com/2010/09/sequencing/
www.davidkalama.com/2011/09/three-common-mistakes/
www.davidkalama.com/2011/03/kalamas-5050/
www.davidkalama.com/2011/03/possessed/
Hey Simon, as my 8km time hovers above the one hour mark in ideal conditions, I've convinced myself that the Great Melbourne Paddle was just a bit shorter than 8km. If I remember correctly, the 4km lap at Green Point was beach to beach whereas the race started on the water and only went to the beach for the finish. So that probably cut as much as 500 metres off the distance. Can't remember if anyone GPS'd the actual race.
Brendan said he had a measure on it, bang on 8km.
The mud map in my brain, with a play on Google Earth, give a result of close to 3900m per lap. Plus the extra 30 metres to shore, and 20 metre sprint on shore.
When you play around with the "trapezoid" shape, all options at 3980-4000m laps don't look right.
But it was damn close to 8km.
So Woody, I agree. 
(minor Edit, as Lacey grabbed my post)
Woody, I found this pic to remind me of exactly where the bottom marker was...
www.whitecapsphotography.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=114376847
Then I found this photo !
www.whitecapsphotography.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=108760576
Yes, I think 3900 laps.
You guys, please stop posting all these inconvenient facts. I want believe, nay, I MUST believe that my current times are not that crap. At least until Sunday when the delusion is shattered in the first race of the season.
I have a Dean Snow paddle too. I think 8.5 inches across. Beautifully light paddles. Great balance, feather weight paddle, but so strong!
of the sun.
I've been into shorter paddles lately. 15 minute warm up paddle, then I've got a set of stairs (around 100 steps) that i run up and down 3 -5 times with sets up push ups, sit ups pull ups, squat jumps all on the sand in between each set of stairs. Throw in a few 200 meter sand runs as well. 15 minute paddle back, then i do a few 200 meters prone paddles and also on my knees. I find it's a good quick workout that gets the heart pumping before i head off to work. Only problem is running in the sand early in the morning with no shoes on, it kills your feet when they are cold. Also got to be wary of any nasty things sticking out of the sand.
What are other's doing with their workouts or is it all just about the paddle?
of the sun.
