May was new board month and that has to be more interesting than stats but I am a creature of habit so you’ll need to read the update (or scroll past it) to get to the good stuff.
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| EO SUP Nebula FW at rest |
We are what we drink
My lack of weight loss has been explained! At the start of the year, I found a supplier in Sweden for what were my preferred sports products made in the UK, powder, gels and bars from a brand I used to use when cycling that taste great and that worked well for me.
Throughout 2022 I was using an electrolyte-only drink combined with occasional gels and bars as required for energy and I forgot that my new/old favourite contained energy, so I was accidentally double fuelling for sessions and therefore maintaining my weight. Running out of that product and finding it was no longer available here made me swap back to my old/new favourite and boom, 3kg weight loss in a month. There has been no change to my diet, still eating what I want when I want it, hmm chocolate… and it is surprising what a difference that small change made.
Jan 23 | Feb 23 | March 2023 | April 2023 | May 2023 | June 2023 | |
KM paddled | 208.69 | 122.34 | 152.94 | 273.27 | 260.77 | |
Weight | 98 | 96.1 | 96.3 | 98.7 | 98 | 94.9 |
VO2 Max | 46 | 47 | 47 | 46 | 46 | 47 |
Resting HR | 54 | 50 | 50 | 55 | 52 | 50 |
HRV | N/A | 48 | 48 | 45 | 50 | 54 |
Training load | N/A | 851 | 161 | 723 | 963 | 928 |
5km | 38m 18s | N/A | 33m 21s | 33m 7s | 32m 45s | |
10km | 1h 9m 47s | 1h 8m 44s | 1h 15m 55s | 1h 10m 13s | 1h 11m 7s |
Along with the weight change my resting HR has improved, dropping back to an average of 50 at the end of the month.
Paddling through the month has been steady, as my energy has dropped Michael has tweaked the sessions with longer, less intense ‘base’ work. But there was time for a proper TT, my McConks race board has some damage so I grabbed the Blackfish and went to the lake where i surprised myself with one of the fastest 5kms I have done, remember the BF is a 27” Flatdeck not some skinny flatwater race. I’ll use that in June 😉
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| Blackfish TT |
If you've been reading these posts for a while you may recall I refer to my 12-week Testosterone cycle. I take reasonably large doses of testosterone every 12 weeks, my cycle. The reason is because I am a cancer patient/survivor. Over 20 years ago I was diagnosed and treated for testicular cancer, twice. A little unlucky and very unusual to lose both. I, therefore, rely on external testosterone which I currently get by injection every 12 weeks.
This 12-week cycle defines a lot of things in my life, it can be very difficult functioning 'normally' with 12 weeks of the stuff in my system and performing to any level after week 9 is a struggle. I got my shot on 01 June, this recharges me and, for a while, it is like having a turbo-boost or nitrous injection on a performance car, then things settle to normal-ish for 8 weeks or so before I start to run out of zip.
If you are wondering the injection takes between 2 and 3 minutes with a very long needle in my right buttock. And yes, I stay VERY still throughout!
With the monthly recap out of the way here is the interesting stuff...
The new SUP My Race board
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| Nebula FW - F stands for Fast |
She is a Nebula FW from EO SUP in Latvia, 14’ x 23” with a volume of 260l she weighs in at 11.3 kg for the board and fin. She is a thoroughbred, no compromise race board made by Maris in Jūrmala and she is very fast!
Boards from EO SUP are made to order for the customer, except this one. She is a loan/demo board that has been around for a while and used by many customers before she got to me, I believe she was in action at the ICF World Championships in Gydina, Poland in 2022 and I am sure I have seen photos of her on SUP My Race at various events in the Baltic states. She is in really good condition after her travels, testimony to EO SUPs’ build quality.
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| A selection of Race SUPs from EO SUP in Latvia |
She is finished in an abstract red / carbon finish which would not be my choice but is growing on me and when wet, in the Swedish summer light she sparkles. It’s a good finish but when I visited EO SUP in May my heart wanted the sister Nebula CW in white and grey, don’t tell the red board! You can read about my little Latvian adventure here
If you are reading this then the thing you want to know about is speed… and there is plenty of that with this board.
On this Nebula I have smashed my end-to-end time on my lake by several minutes, recording an average speed of 10 km/h for 4.09 km. This was with a tailwind, not enough to make decent waves on the lake but it helped, contrast this to my previous best which was done in significantly windier conditions. The red board flies and that beautiful bow slices cleanly and efficiently through the water in all conditions.
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| EO SUP Nebula in Latvia |
The next paddle stats are from the river, on this day the flow was low, wind was erratic from the west giving a side/tail/head wind throughout, sometimes all three in the same km interval. Intervals #1, 2,6, 7 and 8 were with flow and wind from the right, the others were against the flow with wind on the left. I had to stop in #9 for a boat coming downriver, we met at the narrowest part of the channel and he was super-nice pulling over as far as he could safely do so, boat owners here are generally very considerate.
The most significant thing with these intervals is the upstream performance with a tired paddler, while I have maintained 10km/h before going downstream it was by sprinting for a km, and I have never held 9 km/h or higher against the flow.
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| Nebula at the river |
Is she perfect, of course not! If she was mine then there would be some cargo capability, enough for a drink and small dry bag, and there would be a forward leash point but the hull is fantastic and the cargo/leash point can be specified if that is what the customer wants. The flatwater performance is astonishing, acceleration is effortless and holding speed seems easy. It will be good to get some calm water in the next few days.
To find out more about EO SUP and their Nebula boards click here, while you are there check out their paddles too, they are beautiful and their performance matches the board.
Now back to the water and fingers crossed for some good weather so I can see how fast this new red, speed machine can go!
Invest in yourself
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, writing about all sorts of paddling for TotalSUP and now, occasionally, on Instagram.
See you on the water!
You can read the previous training logs here Training Logs and you can get to individual blog posts using the labels in the sidebar.