After warming up, I did another three of my 8-stroke sprints. A good explanation of what I'm trying to do here comes from Scott Shipley in his book Every Crushing Stroke: The Book of Performance Kayaking.
Combinations of forces: Another name for this is "coordination." The best paddlers coordinate their entire body into making each stroke. Each muscle fires in coordination with all the rest such that a steady crushing force is applied in a controlled yet explosive manner.
This passage is what's on my mind during the 8-stroke sprints, and most of the rest of my sessions, too. Once I plant my blade for the catch, giving it a split second to get seated in the water, I try to coordinate all the muscle groups I use for a stroke--the legs, the hips, the abdominals, the lats, the arms--in one nice fluid-but-powerful motion. Though it might not look it to the casual observer, a lot of stuff has to happen just right to produce the best stroke I'm capable of. And that's the point of all this practice.
For the rest of my 60-minute session I did another round of ultra-short race pace training. Right now forty minutes seems to be a good duration for this work. If I go longer, my form and concentration seem to start falling apart.
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