In our training programs, you will see a number of “repeats” in your workouts.
Here’s an example:
- Warm up
- Main Set – do the following 1-4 times: (<- these are your “Repeats” — you’ll repeat the intervals 1-4 times)
- 5 x 4:00 at Zone 4, 2:00 at Zone 2. (<- these are your “Intervals”)
- Rest 5:00
- Cool down
In this workout, you would warm up first (of course) and then paddle at Zone 4 (your intended race pace) for 5 minutes, immediately followed by paddling 2 minutes at Zone 2 (your easy recovery pace).
You will repeat this 5 times without stopping.
After you have completed all 5 intervals, you should rest for 5 minutes. Unless otherwise specified, how you rest is up to you. We recommend you use the time to recover, do a drill, practice a skill (like walking the board, if you’re training on a SUP), or just paddle very easy concentrating on form.
Now you have an option. The workout instructs you to repeat those intervals 1-4 times. If you’re fairly new to paddling, 1 repeat might be enough. A little bit of self-coaching is required here (after all, nobody knows you better than you). Be smart about the number of repeats you do.
We recommend you decide how many repeats you’re going to do before you hit the water. Otherwise, once the intervals start to hurt, it’s too easy to talk yourself out of additional repeats. That said, it is better to stop one interval short of what you feel like is your max. Doing that extra interval does you no good if your form leaves the building.
Factors to help you decide how many repeats to do:
- Your current paddling fitness. Be honest with yourself. Biting off more than you can handle may lead to overtraining and injury. It’s better to do one less repeat and stay healthy!
- Available time. Sometimes real life gets in the way of paddling, and we don’t have as much time for the workout as we would like. Rather than skipping the workout, cut down on the number of intervals.
- Fatigue. If you’re dragging throughout the day, it’s possible you haven’t recovered fully. Hard-charging Type A athletes will want to push through the fatigue and do all four repeats. That could be a big mistake. Once you overreach, it could take days or even weeks to recover. If you overreach, you can’t perform your following key workouts at the optimal level, so listen to your body (and mind). If you’re fatigued, adjust accordingly.
