May 2024 was a HUGE month for me
At the start of the year one of the
goals I set with Michael was to paddle (and post in SUP My Race) more than 300km in one month, something that, despite all the time I spend on SUP My Race, I had never managed to do. My highest monthly total was set back in July 2022 with 281.4km and I knew at the start of May this this was going to take some planning
But before we get to that here's the usual year-so-far graphic
| Jan | Feb | March | April | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec |
KM | 12.96 | 120.71 | 230.88 | 217.3 | 363.66 |
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Weight | 101.4 | 97.3 | 98.3 | 98.2 | 98.6 | 96.0 |
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VO2 Max | 49 | 50 | 48 | 49 | 49 | 49 |
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Resting HR | 54 | 52 | 53 | 53 | 51 | 51 |
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HRV | 45 | 48 | 50 | 47 | 48 | 52 |
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Training load | 434 | 804 | 1402 | 942 | 1001 | 1510 |
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5km | N/A | 33m 47s | 32m 33s | 33m 41s | 31m 7s |
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10km | N/A | 1h 7m 29s | 1h 11m 23s | 1h 7m 39s | 1h 3m 35s |
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And 2023 for comparison
| Jan | Feb | March | April | May | June | July | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
KM | 208.69 | 122.34 | 152.94 | 273.27 | 260.77 | 248.81 | 200.4 | 225.94 | 155.90 | 184.02 | 222.03 | 135.03 |
Weight | 98 kg | 96.1kg | 96.3 | 98.7 | 98 | 94.9 | 97.1 | 95.1 | 96.0 | 94.9 | 98.4 | 99.3 |
VO2 Max | 46 | 47 | 47 | 46 | 46 | 47 | 47 | 47 | 46 | 48 | 48 | 48 |
Resting HR | 54 bpm | 50 bpm | 50 | 55 | 52 | 50 | 49 | 49 | 52 | 51 | 51 | 53 |
HRV | N/A | 48 | 48 | 45 | 50 | 54 | 54 | 56 | 46 | 46 | 44 | 45 |
Training load | N/A | 851 | 161 | 723 | 963 | 928 | 913 | 1001 | 615 | 1173 | 242 | 170 |
5km | 38m 18s | N/A | 33m 21s | 33m 7s | 32m 45s | 30m 33s | N/A | 32m 25s | N/A | 31m 57s | 32m 40s | N/A |
10km | 1h 9m 47s | 1h 8m 44s | 1h 15m 55s | 1h 10m 13s | 1h 11m 7s | 1h 3m 10s | N/A | 1h 2m 59s | 1h 4m 8s | 1h 4m 55s | N/A | 1h 16m 44s |
As result of all that paddling weight is back where it should be and my other stats are all pretty consistent. My May total put me, just, on the podium at the end of May a mere 660m ahead of sixth place in one of the busiest months I have recorded on the site.
My Huge Month
What you do not see from that single screenshot is that there are paddlers who post well over 300km a month, every month and I never really appreciated how big a challenge it can be to get there. At the end of the month I can say it was tough finding the time, and I'm virtually retired!
Hitting 300 is a simple maths problem, paddle for more than 10km a day and the total will take care of itself. Simple.
I started badly with 8.35 on day 1 and zero on day 2. Then my trip to Denmark helped me catch up with over 20km around Copenhagen with
Danish Michael before falling behind schedule again with my day with
Australian Michael at the
Booth Training Clinic, working on technique is not a great way to add kms!
Then things started to work in my favour, good weather and the long, long days of summer here in Sweden with the sun setting at 10pm really help with getting on the water. A mix of my usual training sessions, more of them, and some social paddles saw me glide past 150km mid-month. My task was helped by the visit of Thomas from Airboard, the current distance record holder on SUP My Race with over 1000km in a calendar month. He wasn't here to push me along but to bring me a new Airboard Rocket iSUP, more on that later 😀. That weekend we were also joined by SUP My Race legend Thorsten Jacobsen helping me to log a few more KMs.
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| SUP My Race with Thorsten and Thomas |
Mother Nature decided to add to my challenge as the month ended with a solid week of massive thunderstorms, forcing me to get out early to avoid them but, I did it! Achieving my goal and a lot more.
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| Waiting for sunset in the Gothenburg Archipelago |
363 stats
I like stats and spreadsheets so it will be no surprise to know I have some 360 Stats! Over the 31 days in May I paddled on all bar 4, I recorded 36 SUP activities for my total of 363.66 KM. Those 36 activities took me 2 days, 4 hours, 39 minutes and 34 seconds, of that I was moving for 1 day 22 hours 48 minutes and 29 seconds, that difference almost entirely spent drinking coffee on beaches! My average pace was 8 minutes 19 seconds per km which is 7.21 km/h and in that time I made 111,771 paddle strokes.
May Time Trials
I also managed to log two decent time trials at the start of the month.
The 5km went OK on a day when I hadn't planned to do a TT and my result reflected that, if I had committed to the first 2 km then maybe I'd have clocked a PB, my return 2.5km into a headwind was at a very good pace.
The 10km was a scheduled long training session with the TT cropped from it, on a day that was challenging at times I really faded in the last 2km but still managed a good time. Off my best but showing promise.
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| New Airboard |
Airboard Rocket Light
After talking to Thomas at Airboard about my demo Discovery Sweden model we decided that the Rocket, their inflatable race board was a better fit for my use - those days when a carbon hardboard would be unwise and for overnight trips to the archipelago in the summer. I suspect that Thomas was also looking for an excuse to visit Sweden for a paddle!
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| Airboard Rocket Light |
And at the end of the month, I picked him up from Gothenburg airport and we went paddling. The full review will follow but here are the important Rocket stats from the Airboard website:
- Dimensions 14' x 28" x 6"
- Volume 306l
- Max load 160kg
- Weight 8.3kg
For me the standout feature of this unusual board is not the shape, it's the weight. 8.3kg is staggeringly light, I will be checking it on my sales but I can confirm that this is easily the highest 14' SUP I have ever picked up. And, more importantly, it copes with me (and fika) very well.
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| Saying goodbye to the Airboard Discovery in Sweden |
This blog is about investing in yourself because investing in yourself is the BEST upgrade you can make, with no exceptions. And that is what this series of blog posts are all about, investing in this paddler with the help of World Champion Michael Booth.
You can find out more about Michael's training on his website Booth Training, from his Booth Training Instagram account and on his YouTube channel BoothTV.
You can find me running the Facebook group SUP My Race and now, occasionally, on Instagram.
You can read the previous training logs here Training Logs and you can get to individual blog posts using the labels in the sidebar.
See you on the water!
