Good & Wet K1 Practise

The K1 practise today was at Deas in the Thunder. It was raining non-stop the whole time, but the good thing about it was it was warm.(Not like winter, when it is raining all the time and cold.) I liked it, because you can regulate your temperature better, then in the heat. If you get too hot you can strip off a shirt or two. In the heat there really isn't much of an option than to get wet.

After getting my gear ready and my boat down to the water, I went to the rowing club's porch to do my stretches. I wanted to stay dry for a little longer, before going out and being soaked for the next hour and a half. My coach is really on me about stretching before paddling, and the more I do it the more it becomes a habit. I can really notice the difference if I have not stretched before hand. My rotation is not very good, and my legs really cramp up.

So now before I start paddling, I make sure that I have done my stretching routine. This workout was going to be a steady technique paddle, and after each lap get out of the boat and stretch. The water on the first few laps was flat from one end of the slough to the other. During all the rest of the laps it was a different story, the wind had kicked up and made some nice waves to practise on.

It was not the same from one end to the other though. At the club house side, because of the trees around the slough, the wind was low, but at the marina side, the wind was blowing. This was great. I like paddling in bouncy, wavy water to get used to it. Especially in the Thunder. With these conditions I would practise powering up in the flats and then in the wavy section focus on getting my blade in vertically and power all the way through the stroke.

Turning at the marina end was fun as well. Practised cranking the tiller bar over, and turning slowly around, to maximize the effect of the beam waves on the boat. I wanted to practise technique with the boat really rocking from side to side.

After about an hour and twenty minutes, I decided that was enough. My technique was going south rapidly, and I was getting tired. The one good thing about it, was that even though I was tired my balanced stayed the same. Usually at this point I am bracing like mad, but it was only my technique that was suffering.