When paddling many miles, at some point my muscles get tired, and paddling is not such a pleasure (maybe after 2 or 3 hours). Depending on where I am, it may get a little boring [edit: I meant to say “bored” lol] and I’m thinking more about my body and how far I have to go. Speaking of which…this usually happens before I am ready for my lunch and coffee break and by the time I am done with that I feel pretty good and am ready to paddle again. The coffee really helps I think, at least psychologically and I think physically. I start again and usually finish the day with renewed vigor and enjoyment. I am wondering though if there are foods or dietary supplements like electrolytes or whatever that increase endurance or accelerate recovery. I know that practice and good technique are important but that’s not really what I’m asking. I’m wondering what foods, for example, I should pack for lunch if the objective is to replenish myself and quickly get my muscles back to good working order for part II (e.g., proteins like a tin of fish, fruits like banana’s, carbs or other sugar sources). For convenience only, I often end up with a sub sandwich that I pick up on my way to the ramp. Conversely, what should be avoided (e.g., what makes you sleepy). Are a couple of Ibu’s a good idea? I know when I get home, a nice old-fashioned really hit’s the spot but that’s another story.
I just completed a paddling event that had me on the water for 61 hours paddling non stop, two full nights on the water. This area was a big focus for me….While I’ve done quite a few of the ultra distance paddle marathons before, this one was the longest single session event without stopping, also in 100 degree heat
I think there are a number of factors to consider here, not the least of which is how you mentally handle being tired or sore, both inevitable in any long session. If being sore or tired has your brain telling you to stop, but you think you want to still paddle long distances, that’s something to put some effort into as it’s going to happen. You will feel both. So start with comfort, make your surroundings as comfortable as possible, seats padding footwear and placement etc.
Once you wrap your head around paddling in those conditions then you can focus on how to manage your body and brain. How do you stay sharp enough to be safe? How do you stay conditioned enough to avoid injury?
I always tell people who wonder how to psych up for long distances that you psych yourself for whatever distance you plan to go. For me, a ten mile distance is just as much a workout as a 250 mile distance, they each just require a different headspace. I break long distances into segments and don’t think about the overall. How far to the next bridge, etc…
Nutrition is also absolutely paramount to the long distance endurance athlete, no matter what sport you are doing. And I think more the basis of your inquiry… Finding a good absorbable electrolyte that doesn’t wreak havoc on your stomach is a good place to start. While hydration is of primary importance, hyponatremia is a risk when consuming plain water in adverse conditions, I usually save plain water as a “treat” for the overnight paddling when cooler weather is expected. There are a few good companies out there that will generally give sample packs to try various supplements but generally you want something that will replace basic electrolytes, particularly sodium potassium magnesium. I used to find potassium rich bananas to be a good way to relieve muscle aches but they don’t agree with my stomach. Oddly, it took me years to figure out that was the cause, I never considered the banana… now I’ve settled on a hydration powder that works well with my stomach, use salt stick electrolyte tabs and then consume simple carbs/sugars hourly via gels and bars. Try reaching out to Hammer or The Feed to secure a few samples that you can experiment with in your paddling environment
I also find that real foods are important, this may be more a mental thing than anything else so my focus is on my head more than what it offers me nutritionally. white potatoes and cherries are my goto but I also like cold watermelon and other melons. This is an important one to be sure your stomach can process under duress as what you handle well at home may not be palatable on the water. The “sub sandwich on the way to the launch” might work well for you, maybe it will be as much a mental break as anything else so dont necessarily skip it just because it’s not included in the “science” part of the discussion.
Caffeine is an interesting subject and you will get differing opinions on its use. I am a black coffee drinker and have been known to request morning coffee from my pit crew but I carry caffeine pills also as part of my pill regimen to use if needed… I regularly use prilosec, NSAIDS and Tylenol to manage pain and inflammation. I carry an antacid also. I use Vaseline on hot spots, aquaphor on hands and lidocaine on sore areas. I generally avoid chafing as much as possible as it becomes an area of mental focus when you have an area of your body screaming at you. I was able to completely avoid any broken skin or such during my last event. Sounds weird, but managing your groin and butt to be as chafe free goes a long way. Liberal Vaseline use I strongly advocate! Take care of your butt!
A senior infantry sergeant told me that a soldier moves on his feet and butt. Take care of both.
I used to do some very difficult one-day events on the road bike and I found a pretty good system that worked well for me. It works in the kayak, too.
First, what you eat the day before matters a lot. Some protein and a bunch of complex carbs. Spaghetti and meatballs! Some pancakes for breakfast.
On the bike or in the kayak: plenty of peanut M&Ms (power pills) and plenty of salted pretzel rods (cigars). I think electrolytes is a fancy name for salt. This combination gives you simple and complex carbs, electrolytes (salt) and some protein. For liquid I’d take one bottle for water and another for gatorade. Good luck.
Oh… don’t paddle, get hungry, and eat lunch. The idea when doing endurance is to stay fed and hydrated. Eat BEFORE you get hungry. Drink BEFORE you get thirsty. Munch on a few power pills or a cigar every now and then.
The most exhausted I can remember was after a 22 mile fast walk on a hot day in Houston. After driving home my legs were very unhappy. A tablespoon of honey and a hot tub got me straightened out.
In prepping for longer trip, even if it’s just a day of casual flat water paddling, planning how to meet your body’s nutrition requirements is worth the effort. Unfortunately, subjects related to nutrition and health attract more online charlatans, fraudsters, and miracle snake oil remedies than just about anything else, so it’s difficult to sort reliable info from the cacophony of crap.
However, if you understand how the body accesses calories from fat, protein, and carbs, including the different kinds of carbs (glycemic index), you can roughly predict your caloric needs. In this regard I have found that dietary guidelines for Type 1 diabetics can be helpfuI to the rest of us too. I find websites like those from the Mayo Clinic, Harvard Health and the American Diabetes Assoc. to be trustworthy, I am skeptical of .com websites, and I ignore social media entirely.
For me, nutritional preparation for a long paddle (my “long” is nothing like @darkstar 's “long”, btw!) means including extra protein at breakfast (eggs, cheese, Greek yogurt, perhaps a bit of meat) along with low glycemic carbs (pinhead/steelcut oats, whole grain toast) to provide an extended baseline of available energy. Lunch also includes extra protein (jerky, nuts, string cheese, etc) with carbs from whole or multi-grain crackers. Also, for a quick energy boost as needed throughout the day, I carry a sugary stash. I’m partial to Skittles (they don’t get gooey and they’re easy to portion), but any such vice will do.
As far as hydration is concerned, I try to imagine the max amount I might need, then take a little bit more. Plain water is my preference, but I’ve tried adding and electrolyte powders and that’s OK too. Electrolytes are all highly soluble salts that the body will quickly eliminate if not needed.
Bottom line goal is to give your body what it needs before the need becomes critical and not wait until the tank is empty.
Got it!
For lunch, go for:
- Proteins like jerky or tuna
- Complex carbs like whole grain crackers or fruits
- Electrolyte-rich nuts or dried fruits
- Healthy fats like avocado or peanut butter
Avoid heavy, greasy, or sugary foods. And yeah, maybe skip the subs.
Ibuprofen? Use it sparingly. Save the old-fashioned for after the paddle!
Remember that any food you eat and anything you drink beside water, especially fats and protiens, requires bloodflow to the stomach and intestines, which deprives oxygen flow to the muscles.
This recommedation might be blasphemy, but the information has been scientifically researched and tested in the bicycling community. A simple inquiry about the eating schecule for bicycle racing has all the details you need, including individual preferences and food sensitivity, what to eat, when to eat, what to avoid, how to replenish enery stores to the muscle groups and the liver, how the glycogen replenishment cycle works, and how long the process takes.
I know, its not paddling-related, and the major cycling tours, especially the ultimate race, the Tour de France can’t match the athletic requirement of a kayaker, but the race is 21 stages, typically 75 to 130 miles a day, climbs up to 10% and more of over 8,000 feet in the Pyrenees and the Alps, at speeds ranging from 27 to 45 mph and 60 mph downhill. No athletic body studies endurance, and oxygenation of blood like bike sponsors. Just sayin. Hope you find what you’re looking for.
Here is an interesting article about muscles and baking soda.
" The ion buildup “increases the acidity … in the blood/muscle environment that limits exercise performance (i.e., the ‘burn’ of exercise),” Hew-Butler added. “Thus, the (benefit) of ingesting baking soda before exercise is to reduce the acidity in and around the working muscles, which can improve performance in short-duration, high-intensity exercise.”
Some studies have shown that ingesting baking soda an hour or two before exercise can improve performance during up to 12 minutes of high-intensity activities such as cycling, running, rowing, boxing and karate, according to a large 2021 research review by the International Society of Sports Nutrition. But it’s possible for the effects on pH to last up to three hours, Hew-Butler said.
Participants who consumed baking soda in a study involving strength training were able to do more reps with less muscle fatigue than the placebo group."
I cant comment on ultra distance, but I’ve done 15 milers before with an AV speed of 5 miles/hr, so about 3 hours in the hot-seat.
I run races so I do train for speed, but there I run 5.8-5.9 mph in the touring class but this is only 3 miles, so it’s a sprint, and I’m in the boat for for that for roughly 30 minutes and there I’m spent.
So why tell you this, this gives me a maintainable cruise speed, for 5 mph or on flat water so depending on conditions wind, waves, current, i could be maintaining 4.5-5 depending on these factors.
but this is a cruise for me and is a maintainable cadence. So I guess what I’m trying to say here is my top end drives where my touring cruise speed winds up based on my paddling shape. (round is a shape right?)
So you need to find your cruise cadence SPM/Push-Pull effort, and figure out where this is maintainable for you for continuous paddling.
Most people don’t workout daily to improve Strength or cardio, I do an hour of each daily with the goal on cardio to max the resistance out (I’m halfway to max.) 7 days a week, and paddle 10 mi every chance I get. just for one or two races a year.
and there’s nothing that says you can’t stop paddling for a bit to catch your breath. but the big key here is to learn where your performance level is to be able to do it all day even if that means only moving the boat at 2 mph.
when I start on a 10 mile training, I generally eat nothing nor drink anything. Your body only has so much energy to digest, so if you eat big before paddling you’re going to rob yourself of energy you could be using to paddle. If anything I might take an aspirin, and a small glass of water before to thin the blood out (easier on the heart. that way.) but other than that I save the food and drink for after since I’m only looking at maybe an hour or two. on the water for 10.
unfortunately at my age now circulation is becoming a problem and sitting (even in the super comfy phase 3 seating.) ly legs start to go numb (also happens at work in my chair.) so my longer distance paddles are fast becoming a thing of the past for me.
The same principles apply to paddling that apply to any endurance sport: cycling, running, nordic skiing, etc. As Jyak said, the TDF riders have it figured out. I use the same gels (or chews/blocks), hydration powder, and Clif bars that I use for everything else. I know ultramarathon runners have to get used to consuming “real” food during activities, but I have never learned to eat like that running or biking or skiing. It does not sit well, and you don’t want all your resources going toward digestion. But I have never done an ultra. I’ve gone up to 10+ hours skiing or biking this way, and 7-8 hours paddling. By the way, chocolate milk is supposed to be the perfect recovery drink (which I always hated, even as a kid, but I’ve learned to like it after an all-day outing). Apparently it has the right ratio of carbohydrates to protein.
Edit: general rule of thumb is to not eat anything for at LEAST an hour before training. You want the nutrients in your bloodstream and muscles, not in your stomach.
Edit #2: there is a good reason your coffee helps you. Caffeine is a known performance enhancer. The chews I use have caffeine in them. You don’t want too much, but this would definitely explain why you perk up.
Join the army they’ll teach you how to eat like a horse then do strenuous exercise right and immediately after eating. Just make sure you pick the right MOS for this training.
Thankfully I kept this Up after I separated.
My biking logs actually showed a performance impovement if I drank coffee before, rather than after a bike trip (too many variables to accurately compare benefit when paddling open tidal water).
I gave up energy drink in favor of plain water. One time when I diverted off the trail and didn’t have enough water to make it to a water refill spot, I drank a cold 12oz coke that a person was selling at the entrance to the trail. It felt like I had been kicked in the stomach, and it ruined my performance.
Kayak trips are always without intermittent food or snacks. On trips under 10 miles, I carry two 33 oz bottles of water. On trips under 20 miles, I carry two 2-liter bottles of water. On an 8 1/2 hour trip, 4 liters wasn’t enough. I dehydrated hard. The last 4 miles was rough.
The food you eat takes 24 to 48 hours to process in your system, so wait until finishing exertion, then start eating within four hours to improve absorption and replenishment.
My app graph shows that when I exceed my aerobic capacity, any speeds gain above the avg speed will drop roughly equal to the temporary gain, but it takes at least three times as long before being able to get back to the average speed. Essentially, it ends up being a loss in the long run. My strategy is to assess my speed potential based on conditions, then keep the speed as close to the avg speed and within a range that remains aerobic.
The measure of success comes at the end, and it show up in the graph. A speed above the avg shows I had excess Anaerobic capacity left in my muscle group, while a speed below the avg shows I used that limited energy to fight conditions. My goal is to have that energy available at the end - it’s considered an emergency reserve. By burning it out and ending the last 1/4 mile with a drop in speed, it shows that I timed it exactly. The last 30 minutes of effort serves to exhaust existing muscles and activate more. On the next trip, I consistently realize a .05 to .1 mph improvement in avg speed. That might not be scientific, but it works for me. Comments about the GPS not being accurate enough to register those minor amounts. . . It doesn’t matter, because the progress predicable, linear and upward, not random. If I miss a regular trip interval longer than one week, the average drops, but the difference is made up for on the next trip. It’s conditioning.
The chart with the yellow circle shows a consistent warm up average a few tenths under my anticipated avg speed. Spikes showed peaks where I pushed, followed by a steady decline back to the avg line, and it shows the output declined as the trip progressed. I know I didn’t go too far into my Anaerobic zone, because I still had energy at the end. I would have faired better by trying for a flatter avg of around 4.3 mph, rather than the spikes and drops. The strategy would have failed over a 20 mile course.
Best advice I’ve seen on the whole internet.
A few things, what is the nature of the long paddle? Race? trying to get your kayak on plane for eight hours straight? Or a normal higher mileage paddling day at moderate comfortable cruising speed? If the latter, I don’t believe it needs to be overthought. Could just be a normal mid-morning slump. Stop, take a break, have a banana and a decent granola bar or trail mix.
Second, you get bored? Maybe you need to rethink why you are paddling if you get bored. And boredom has an effect on your physical wellbeing. Shorter trips, new or more interesting locales. Get in that zen, one with nature state of mind so time disappears. Maybe you need a brand new shiny boat to help the ailing paddle craft industry.
Lastly, regarding subs for lunch. It is obvious that you are experiencing a sub deficiency or in medical terms hypohoagieitis. Focus on more high quality, non-franchise chain hoagies/subs for maximum performance.
That’s a fact. Eat high calorie food in a hurry and get back to it.
Yes - caffeine during, and probably before. Afterward wouldn’t help you during the workout, and I’m not sure if it would aid recovery or not (maybe a mental perk-up, but not so sure about muscle recovery).
Mmmmmm - nope. 58 years old. No thanks. And I already eat like a horse, especially by female standards (and it has caught up with me). Closest I ever came to that schedule was swimming on the YMCA team in high school. Practice was at 6:30 pm in the winter. Mom & Dad were adamant about family dinner. So, home from school, big meal, go to practice……. I’m here to tell you that backstroke an hour after dinner is not good. Never actually “blew chunks”, but it was incredibly close.
Been there more than once. GasX and Tums are readily available.
Agree
Caffeine makes a huge difference in so many ways. I’ve never needed calories while paddling (I do long distances within the rate I can pull calories from fat), but I have stopped to make a cup of hot coffee along the way. A small emergency stove with sterno pellets, a tin cup, and instant coffee packets packs very well in a kayak.
When I bike centuries, I like chocolate flavored Power Gel/Gu/Cliff Shots, the ones with caffeine. One of my favorite tricks on organized century rides is to suck down 2 of them about mile 88 and then come flying down the last 8 miles, passing people dragging to the finish. I imagine those things are what doping feels like.