Boss Man’s note: Paul Jackson is sharing his intense SUP race training regime with us all this week, as he and his squad prepare for next month’s Battle of the Paddle.  This is Day 3, so be sure to check out Jacko’s Gym, Day 1 and Day 2 if you missed ’em.

*****

Day 3 (morning session)

This morning’s paddle isn’t going to be too hard, it’s more about getting the small things right. In addition to paddling technique, work on things such as buoy-turns, race starts and any other technical stuff you feel you’re weak at.

These areas of your paddling can make a big difference in a SUP race. Think about a Battle of the Paddle race where you’ve probably got about 15 buoy turns to complete. If you’re just 2 seconds slower round the buoy than the paddler in front of you, that’s half a minute (and a much lower placing) by the end of the race.

Ok so here’s how our session went this morning:

• 1,000 metre warm-up paddle (focusing on technique)
• 3x 500 metre laps at 70% effort, focusing on technique
• 60 seconds reset
• 2x 500 metre laps at 80% effort, focusing on technique
• 60 seconds rest
• 1x 500 metre lap at 70% effort, focusing on technique
• 60 seconds rest
• Buoy-turning practice
• 500 metre warm-down paddle

And here’s how this morning’s stand up paddle race training looked on the Garmin GPS…

*****

Day 3 (afternoon session)

This arvo we’re going to do something really fun… hill running intervals! Yeah!!

If you can find a decent sized hill or set of stairs in your area, then you can use them for a great (free) cardio workout. We’re lucky (or unlucky?) enough to have a very long, steep set of stairs just across the road from our training beach. It’s never much fun while you’re doing it, but feels great when you’re done.

Here’s how our session looked:

Warm-up by doing 1x lap (up and down) of the hill at steady pace

Now the fun begins!

• Run up the hill for 60 seconds at full pace
• 60 seconds rest
• Repeat the above 7x more times…
• Run up and down the hill 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off
• Repeat the above 6x more times...
• Warm-down jog

I got to do the fun hill run, but Angie’s got a dodgy ankle so she gets off easy. If you’re injured or just struggle with running, then try something like this:

• 40 minutes bike spinning (on an incline level) plus weights session

Ok so that’s Day 3 done. It was a fairly easy morning paddle session with a focus on skills, then a pretty brutal cardio session in the evening.

We’ve now made it halfway through the week, hope you’re having fun so far!

Catch you tomorrow.

– Jacko

>>> Jacko’s Gym: Day One

>>> Jacko’s Gym: Day Two

>>> Jacko’s Gym: Day Four

>>> Jacko’s Gym: Day Five

>>> Jacko’s Gym: Day Six