Winter is coming, the tagline from a popular TV show and it applies here in Sweden too, although this year it seems winter is actually a little late because my drysuit is still packed away.
But in two very short weeks winter turned up with a vengeance, the drysuits have been unpacked and then winter kicked things up a gear freezing all the easily accessible water near me. With water based training now limited this seems a good time to sit down and look back at my season training with Michael.
The beginning
In case you do not know then I run SUP My Race, a distance challenge group for Stand Up Paddlers on Facebook and I am lucky to have Michael as one of the group sponsors. At the start of the year, before I contacted Michael I was a little overweight and coming out of a difficult period in my life and the opportunity to work with a world class coach seemed like a good idea.
Spoiler - it was!
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| February training in ice |
After a video interview with Michael I started on The Booth Training Personalised Plan late in February 2022, prior to that I had never done any structured training for SUP and at times training was a bit of a shock! You can read about the start of my journey with Booth Training here with the 'SUP My Race Training Log #0'.
How it works
Each week Michael sets out my training schedule in the software he uses, Final Surge. I then try to complete it and give feedback on each session in the app. Sometimes I will need to ask questions about the workouts, particularly the land based training, and Michael is quick to get back to me with guidance on how to do things. The sessions have been varied which has kept my interest up throughout the season both mental and physically.
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| Typical winter week on Final Surge |
How it has gone?
Spoiler - it has gone very well.
If you are going to train it is best to set a target to aim for, I run a virtual time trial series on SUP My Race and improving my performances in that were my main goal in 2022.
My personal best times from 2022 were 32 minutes 33 seconds for the 5km challenge and 66 minutes and 9 seconds for the 10km. Both quite respectable and set before I ran into some health problems, I was confident that with work I could get back to those times and beat them.
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| Fast paddle, fast board |
One of the first questions Michael asked me was my goals for the year and he set my programme to achieve them, they were to complete the 5km in under 32 minutes and the 10 km in 64 minutes. Difficult but achievable.
I didn’t get to tick both goals as complete. But I was really close!
The highlight of my year was to smash my 10 km PB posting a time of 64 minutes and 39 seconds. That was on a day with good but not great conditions and it felt great. One of those days when going fast felt effortless and I was surprised with my time, it didn't feel that fast and you can imagine how I felt when I checked my watch. Sadly after that great day I didn’t get conditions as good again for the rest of the summer but I achieved my goal and then set a new one, which will carry over to 2023.
My best 5km time fell short of my goal by a handful of seconds, 5 seconds to be precise. Setting a time of 32 minutes and 4 seconds was my best effort of the year and that was frustrating! I got close on several other attempts including one when I felt I was at my fittest but I came up short primarily because of boats! The day I took a gamble with conditions, going a little later in the morning hoping for less wind but knowing that there could be more activity on the water. Usually I see very few others at that spot but on that day several others were out enjoying themselves and I nearly swam several times on the return leg of my 5km. Disappointing after after maintaining over 10 km/h for the first 2.5km. But that’s life and sometimes you have to go back and try again, and again.
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| Winter / rough water board |
The end of the season saw me on a new winter / rough weather training board, 14’ x 27” which is perfect for the cold weather we have here though winter in Sweden and on that I was hitting near 10km/h though 1km intervals on flat water. Looking promising for 2023!
2022 Highlights
Going faster is obviously one of the highlights and beating my 10km time was fantastic but speed isn’t everything. The last year has seen me paddle in lots of new places and re-discover old ones, I have paddled with new paddlers and with trusted friends and I have enjoyed paddling more than ever.
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| EO SUP boards in Sweden |
Trying out new boards has been another highlight from the year, I got to have a go on boards from group sponsor EO SUP back in June when they came to visit. Through the year I got to play with boards that were narrower than my shoulders in Denmark and updated versions of boards I have known for a long time. Looking back the one thing I have not done is use my surfboards, need to work on that in 2023!
Is it all about speed?
My average and maximum speeds have measurably increased over the summer and now my training pace is faster than my race pace was in 2021, considerably faster. But I think my biggest improvements in 2022 have been in confidence and paddling ability.
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| McConks GoRace 14i SUP, fantastic for coastal exploring |
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| McConks GoRace 14i is also great for lightweight touring |
2022 has also been about distance, as I type this in the middle of December my Garmin stat for the year is 2038 km paddled, nearly 400km more than I have ever paddled in any previous year. Faster and further.
What’s next?
More of the same! Targets have been set and weaknesses identified.
Through the winter my training on water may be limited but Michael has that covered with bike and land training sessions scheduled. As a result of that I have started to make better use of the resources I have, my indoor cycling sessions on Zwift are now far more structured than they have ever been and I have acquired a workout mat and kettle bell for sessions at home, much to the amusement of my dog!
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| Winter training on Zwift |
Looking back at 2022
It was a great year on the water! Working with Michael has been a fantastic experience inspiring me to become a better paddler. You can find out more about Michael’s training programmes on his website and through his social media pages.
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| Taking a break on a longer session in a Swedish fjord at the end of summer |
You can find out more about Michael's training from his website Booth Training, from his Booth Training Instagram account and on his YouTube challenge BoothTV.
I hope these blogs have inspired you to paddle more and push your limits, lets keep it up in 2023!