The best tool for understanding efficiency is the GPS. @Craig_S combines the GPS output with his heart rate monitor and uses the output to take performance to the edge. He probably shouldn’t shares his data, but I don’t think his competitors are paying attention to his posts, and I don’t think he cares, because he’s confident with his ability. His reply to any doubters is - Bring it!
By comparing the readings from both of his devices, I was able to better understand the peaks and valleys in my graphs, which is how I flattened my spikes. I found that it isn’t about paddling harder, but paddling smarter.
Our body regulates itself by monitoring blood levels for oxygen/Co2/acidity/blood sugar. Glands secrete hormones and enzymes to prevent being overwhelmed. You can’t cheat it, but you can read the signs and reduce the spikes. It’s senseless to argue the accuracy or reliability of the devices or the data. What matters is the ability to measure improvements in performance.
When I look at logs from years ago, I notice how inconsistent avg trip speeds were between different trips, and it had less to do with conditions than how I applied effort. Improvement in performance and greater consistency followed with learning how to read the data, especially after using the GeoTrack which records the speed on a graph. It doesn’t matter how accurately the chart tracks the actual speed. What matters most is how it compares to other trips when applying different techniques.
You mention how you can go faster, but it over taxes your joints and muscles. You’ve seen my charts. The chart below is one example of using two different techniques on one trip. Bear in mind that the trip is actually broken into four quarters, with each quarter defined by a down spike defined by a 30 second water break at each 2.1 mile segment. Each quarter is a reverse that is into or with the conditions. Same person, same trip, same physicsl state, same conditions. One shows what happens when you just paddle like a donkey and paddle harder. The extreme spikes shows how the body overloads then shuts down to recover. During that recovery phase, all the progress made by paddling harder just burns off energy reserves that can’t be replaced. Immediate energy replenishment doesn’t come from eating a power bar or a basket full of bananas to compensate and recharge. In fact, eating simply diverts blood from muscles to the stomach and intestines to aid in digesting the food. It takes 24 hrs to replenish usable energy. That’s one of the reasons why sleep is important for recovery and why forty-eight hour recovery is recommended following an extensive workouts that focus on specific muscle groups. That doesn’t mean that different muscle groups can’t be targeted during the recovery. It’s important to understand how the body can shut down other functions to concentrate on recovery and repair. For example, if your trip relies mainly on the muscles involved in torso rotation, the muscles of the shoulders and biceps are largely untapped. The bulk of my trips use torso rotation in the aerobic mode. If I balance the output and reserve the muscle glycogen in my arms and shoulders, the app speed graph displays a speed plateau above my average speed during the last two miles (20 to 25 minutes) of the trip. If the speed graph shows erratic speeds or a drop off below the average, that is evidence that I overused those muscle groups to overcome adverse conditions. I’m not suggesting that anyone should follow my suggestion and monitor performance to the same degree. Rather, I’d suggest suggest that anyone who asks the question about “How can I go Faster?” They should measure technique and performance. The three times I didn’t have the deck mounted GPS, I was able to anticipate and estimate my avg speed to within .1 mph, as recorded on the phone app locked in the waterproof Pelican case attached to my seat strap (once I left the GPS home and only had the data from the phone in my Pelican water proof case; another time the battery died mid trip; another time I failed to clear the previous trip so the readout included the drive over to the launch site making the avg speed worthless).
Despite Craig and I using completely different techniques (different paddle type/length/sq inch blades/brands; high angle vs. low angle; feathered vs. unfeathered; slower cadence vs. high cadence), we both enjoy similar benefits. What I took away from the time I watched him testing the 180 Tempest, by paddling with him, and viewing the video of him paddling the 180 Tempest, it wasn’t the smoothness of his technique but the effortless, relaxed execution. Steve, you desribed the same execution watching your friend. Speed happens in one of two ways. You can waste energy flogging the water like you’re beating dust out of a dirty carpet, or you can focus on efficiency. Watching paddlers in the distance, you can see the inefficiency of the paddle stroke that looks like a lumberjack chopping wood using an ax that has a head on both sides of the handle, or shoveling snow with a scoop on both sides of the handle. Imagine shoveling snow the way you hold a high angle paddle. The suggestion is to keep the blade close to the keel line to keep the boat tracking straight (works for a canoe, as long as you j-stroke at the end or do something like a rudder-stle correction with the paddle). If you think that technique is efficient and effective, try it while shoveling snow. Shovel snow with a two bladed shovel fir 45 minutes, 2 hours, 8 hours. Try it with different square inch blades. Ok, not the same thing, but does it offer the best mechanical advantage. Can you keep the blade perpendicular to the effort (or does the kayak paddle skitter, slip, oscillate, flutter, form bubbles on the blafmde that feel like you’re stirring a coctail topped with seltzer water.
You don’t need a GPS or heart rate monitor to improve, but it helps you to become more sensitive to the performance output. Once you become sensitive to your breathing, tension, the rythem of the boat, the resistance of the paddle against the water and the sound the of the bow wake, you are on the path to efficiency. The splashless catch shows that your freind is matching his stroke to the speed of the boat. When your paddle splashed at the catch, it shows that you’re overpowering the paddle. If you doubt that, slap the surface of water with your hand and see what happens, feel the shock of the impact. That splash is wated energy. Its one thing to waste energy in a sprint and a different matter when your goal is covering 30 miles. A 400 meter sprint. A 1,000 meter sprint or a 3 mile sprint for a person in peak physical condition is only just tapping the energy reserves (about 15 to 30 minutes of glycogen energy reserves).
Compare the concept to what you know well - shooting. Having high energy in a heavy bullet has obvious benefits, but what happens to the energy when a bullet over penetrates. Do you need a .300 Winchester Magnum for both an elk and a prairy dog, or would a more efficient round be sufficient? The question isn’t about trajectory, range, or resisting deflection by the wind or objects along the flight path - it’s about whether there is any benefit to using the components to accomplish the goal and whether overkill was necesssry. So back to paddling. How much energy is needed to cover a given distance? Do you have the energy reserves to waste? Do you even care, or do you just paddle until you get tired and go home? If my math is right, a two mile race at an avg speed of 5 mph takes 20 minutes.
You understand that if you verify the two mile course by using a 7.5 min topo map or an accurste nautical chart, and check the time to cover the distance, you can verify the accuracy of the GPS or app. It has nothing to do with algorithmic equations, satellites, dumbing down the output to prevent adversaries from using the technology, and all the astute BS that intellectuals conjur to look intellectual. The relative accuracy is easy to verify. There’s no ignoring the reality that today, you can program your phone to determine travel time to a destination that’s 100 miles away and arrive within minutes of the estimate. Ot even calculates alternate routes. I recall discussion on this forum that dispute the accuracy of car speedometers. The realitt is that you can set the speed control on your car at 60 mph, and start the time at the mile marker, then check the time to reach the next mile marker, and find that it’s 60 seconds (what is thecratebof error if its actially off by +/- one second). So try it over ten miles. I actually covered the difference in avg speed if the distance is an error of +/- .3 miles, or one to two minutes. The degree of error is insignificant, and I’m still waiting for a rebuttal.
Tunnel vision is dangerous. I doubt that many people really know how Captain Blithe traveled nearly 4,000 miles to hit Timor, how ships traveled oceans using hand drawn charts, measuring speed with an hour glass and a board attached to a rope with knots in it. Yet, the accuracy of a GPS is challenged. That defies logic.
Steve, watch your friend and copy his style. Stop focusing on power and learn to relax. How your paddle eases into the water for a splash free catch is what you should try to achieve, then keep increasing your effort until you lose the splashless entry and back off. If your joints or muscles burn, your body will shut down to keep from going into oxygen debt. It takes longer to clear out the Co2 than it does to prevent Co2 building up in the first place. This may sound silly, but put a skillet on the stove and burn the contents. Are you better off to turn on the exhaust fan before the pan starts to smoke or wait until the room is full of smoke before you turn on the fan?
We both have the same paddle. Based on our discussions, I know you are a stronger paddler and capable of higher speeds while covering greater distances. Yet I still believe you’re overpowering the paddle and wasting energy in the stroke. Evidence to support my opinion is your muscle soreness. You’re stroke gives you speed, but it cuts your endurance. You’re still powerul and fit enough to absorb the excess energy output. The first step is focusing on the clean catch that your friend achieves. Then start from there. Slow is fast? Make sure your paddle blade gets maximum resistance and that it locks in the water rather than moving through the water. The paddle has to be as stationary as possible. If the paddle is fluttering, its moving through the water, not providing resistance to move the boat. Period! Flutter is the paddle moving! Period! (I expect the retort of “all paddles move . . . !”). I’m looking for an alternate answer to explain why your friend manages a splash free entry . . .
