How to Move On, From Flatwater to Beyond - Week 2

Photo Submitted by: Julio Filho

SARASOTA, Florida - Have you ever wanted to move beyond flatwater stand up paddling and get into something a little more challenging and fun, but simultaneously have some real fears, concerns and lack of knowledge/experience to be able to make it happen on your own? If yes, then these notes which will post each week for several weeks to come will be extremely helpful and motivating. 

Follow Karla Gore on her incredible real life journey from Flatwater to the open ocean and beyond.  It also helps that her husband/coach is an accomplished stand up paddler and surfer, Aaron Pollard.  Together they will bring you some incredible information which we will share with you here at Supconnect!

Lessons Learned:  Week 2 of Moving Beyond the Flats - Notes By Karla Gore

If you read my post from last week, you will know that I am a paddler who is comfortable in flatwater but am trying to push myself to paddle more in rougher conditions. My ultimate goal is to get comfortable enough in the wind and waves to do the Maliko Gulch Downwind next year. I am working with a coach, Aaron Pollard from SURFit USA, and am trying to stick to his training program as best as I can.

It was really nice to hear from readers last week that seemed to share some of my same concerns. One person mentioned that my post made her actually seek out some rougherwater, rather than always looking for the flats. I’m glad that my little story actually inspired someone else to push out of their comfort zone. It is not easy to do. Let’s support each other!

Lesson One:·Know what you are Getting Into

At this point, we (my coach and I) are working on my base---getting time on the water--before we really delve into the longer endurance runs and the sprint work. However, Aaron did encourage me to paddle in my first race this weekend to get an idea of my baseline.

I was very nervous to compete in the race because 1) I was a bit afraid of what the conditions might be, 2) I don’t like to be too close to other paddlers and 3) I am competitive with myself and I just didn’t want to do poorly.

As I arrived the morning of the race, I checked out the big sign with the race course and I almost turned around and went home. The race was a 1.5 mile loop, a short run up the beach, and then another 1.5 mile loop. Even though I am a runner, I was just not mentally prepared for the run in the middle of a paddleboard race. It was enough to make me doubt even doing the race at all.

Luckily, my friends Kelly and Jewell coaxed me into getting out there and I am glad I did. I didn’t make my goal of catching up to the guy with a big back tattoo. I didn’t do graceful buoy turns. But, I did finish the race in 46 minutes on a 10’6” surf SUP. And, I did get my baseline time on which I can work towards improving upon. Even though the time may not be impressive, I was proud of myself for doing something that was a bit scary and new!

Lesson Two:·Work on Transitions

After the race, my coach and I talked about the run portion and why it was so difficult for me. He explained that in triathlon training, you actually train for the transitions--from the swim to the bike, the bike to the run--and we hadn’t done any of that. This week Aaron has added some transition training to the weekly workout. For those drills, I basically paddle out to the swim buoy (100 yards), turn around paddle back to shore, run up to a fixed point on the shore line and then head back out to do it again. And again. And again. Not only do these give me practice on the transitions, I am getting lots of practice on the turns as well and learning to work with any little bumps that might help me in getting back to shore. They are very tiring but are actually kind of fun.

Lesson Three:·Learn to Love the Rest Days

I did not stick to my workout schedule this week. I added three more paddles on top of the four that were scheduled. After the race, I was feeling good and strong and I wanted to paddle more. On Saturday evening after the race, I went out on a full moon paddle which was pretty mellow and nice until the end. There was a pretty severe headwind and we all arrived at the beach exhausted. On Sunday, a scheduled day of rest, I was at a paddle clinic which was a couple of hours working on drills and dodging boats and jet skis.

Needless to say, by Monday I was exhausted and dealing with a sore shoulder. My workout schedule for this week has been modified to deal with the damage I did last week. I couldn’t do my easy paddle on Monday--my body was just exhausted. I could barely paddle to our SUP Yoga site on Tuesday--my shoulder was so sore. It took until today (Thursday) to regain enough energy and to feel like my shoulder was ready to paddle again. I lost five days of training this week because I was stubborn and didn’t stick to myschedule. I have learned my lesson. I will never ignore my rest days again.

If you want to know the specific training schedule I am following, I will post it on my blog each week. Here is the link: http://www.surfitusa.com/blog/

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