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dragonboat talk for dragonboaters.

Goal setting is a powerful tool used to help us achieve a result. This is applicable to any part of your life and I’m going to be discussing this specifically for Dragonboating.

One issue that I see happen time and time again from any paddler and even myself is staying focused and motivated in this sport. When you first start, it’s easy to learn so many new techniques and improving the quality of your paddling. Though, there reaches a point when you start to plateau and this is the time when we need to boost our motivation and set new goals. Whether you have just started or have been paddling for years understanding how goal setting can work for you will not only get you motivated, it will take you to another level of paddling.

I use the S.M.A.R.T approach when it comes to setting goals for Dragonboating. It is a simple principle to follow and can help you take your paddling to another level if you apply it properly.

The S.M.A.R.T. principle

1. Set Specific Goals. Research shows that specific goals are the most motivating. For example, a specific goal is to reduce your 200m water time trial time by 30 seconds within 6 months. Many people just say they want to get faster. This goal is far too general to really motivate you in your training.
2. Set Measurable Goals. Simply saying that you want to get faster is not enough detail. You need to be able to chart and document progress toward your goal. One way to measure your progress is to document your performance at set intervals. In the above example you may want to record your 200m water time trial performance every 2 months so you have a good measurement to work on.
3. Set Adjustable Goals. This means your goals are flexible enough to accommodate unexpected challenges without becoming obsolete. An injury may force you to modify your goal. If your goal is to compete at the Dragonboat National titles in 6 months and you are injured, you may need to change your goal to allow for an extra 3 months to recover from injury. It doesn’t mean you abandon all your plans. At the same time, you may find you are progressing quickly and need to raise your goal. Set Action-Oriented Goals
   Another important aspect of goal-setting is to keep focused on personal action. Don’t forget to consider not only what you want to achieve, but how you plan to achieve it. I will discuss this in another post.
4. Set Realistic Goals. Start where you are, and increase your goals accordingly. If you haven’t ever paddled a 1000m race, it’s probably not a wise goal to say you want complete this in 20 minutes. While that may be your long-term goal, in the short-term you may want to shoot for the a 500m race first and condition your body for racing conditions. This sort of progression is healthy and realistic. Also, keep in mind that as you become more fit towards your full potential, the room for continued improvement gets smaller. Similarly, if your goals are too simple, you won’t feel much satisfaction by attaining them. Only you truly know what is realistic for you.
5. Set Time-based Goals. Look again at first example: reduce your 200m water time trial by 30 seconds within 6 months. This is specific and time-based. Without a time line there is a tendency to procrastinate or get bored. You may also need to set interim goals with shorter time lines to keep you on track. Consider the previous example of working up to a 1000m race by completing shorter distances first. This is breaking down your goal by being time specific. In general, goals that stretch out beyond 6 months are too long to keep you interested and motivated. Try to re-evaluate your goals every 2-3 months.

Goal setting is an art as well as a science, but if you make sure your goals follow the S.M.A.R.T. formula, you will find you are more likely to stay motivated and reach goal after goal.

With this in mind, start putting down your goals for Dragonboating. I would love to hear your goals for 2009, so please add your comments below.

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Recently a reader asked a comment about Mesocycle and what is an ideal Mesocycle for Dragon Boating. Here it is below:

The definition of a Mesocycle:

“Part a training programme that lasts between 1 and 3 months. It usually consists of a number of microcycles and focuses on the development of a particular training component, for example, the development of general aerobic fitness in the pre-season stage of training.”

Mesocycle for Dragonboating

As Dragonboat training varies with each team’s style and individual’s goals, there is no set training programme that everyone has to obide by. Though there are some ‘ideal’ Mesocycle programmes that top dragonboat teams have been using leading up to State and National titles during a season.

Below is a sample training program used by the Hong Kong Island Paddle Club (HKIPC). They have explained it in quite some detail and may take you some time to read through, but it is worth the read:

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The basic concept is that a weekly micro-cycle varies intensity from one day to the next allowing us to balance hard work with recovery time. Macro-cycles prescribe increasing levels of intensity week to week in order to achieve specific performance goals within a 4-8 week period. Our bodies tend to respond best when stressed and then are allowed to heal. The healing process is what makes us perform better in the next cycle.

The three main Macro-cycles are:

• General Fitness Preparation
• Strength and Endurance Development
• Speed Development and Race Preparation

General Fitness Preparation (4-8 weeks)

The objective of this Macro-cycle is to create a performance base. Development is to be more general allowing for a broad range of distances and variety in exercises during this phase. Work should never-the-less be more specific than in the off-season and focus of paddling related activity to build up local muscle endurance ie. the muscle groups which will be used for racing.

a) General Aerobic Conditioning

Work in the boat will focus on low intensity, larger volume exercises such as steady state intensive paddling sessions mixed with longer extensive sessions if training seeks to develop marathon abilities. Work should be comfortable but strong earlier in the cycle but should progress to uncomfortable and fast paddling. The cycle will end with a level of intensity which borders in painful ie. Maximal Aerobic work.

There are two objectives for this Cycle. To improve our the general cardio-vascular potential such as cardiac stroke volume, VO2 max. etc. and to increase capillary density in our paddling muscles. This will provide the staying power for races even as short as 500m.

Alternative sessions to the boat would be running, swimming, kayaking or rowing (boat or ergometer) as long as it’s working to the same level of intensity and duration. Effort should be made to raise anaerobic threshold levels and to achieve maximum aerobic functioning.

b) Base Strength Development

Muscle mass should increase (hypertrophy) and base strength should be developed in the gym for all muscle groups (see section 2.2 for dryland strength development — Hypertrophy Phase). Even a simple routine of push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and dips at home can go a long way in developing a base strength that can contribute to better paddling performance.

A small amount of resistance training in the boat is good at this stage as long as the resistance level is also low eg. dragging a tire or having 1/2 of the boat paddling for 50-60 strokes.

Strength and Endurance Development (2 cycles @ 4 weeks each)

This Cycle seeks to make improvements to paddling strength and specific race endurance. Neuromuscular recruitment is important, so effort both in the boat and during dryland training should be intense striving to ‘feel’ for maximum resistance during a paddle stroke. Speed work should begin in the later stages of the cycle.

The Paddling Programme includes two Strength and Endurance Macro-cycles allowing for a period of transition. The second Cycle starts from a lower level of intensity builds to a higher level much faster that the first Cycle. The purpose for this is achieve a better balance between aerobic and anaerobic conditioning exercises which are taken to greater extremes in the second Cycle.

a) Aerobic/Anaerobic Endurance Training

The range of work should begin with Anaerobic Threshold training and advance to Lactic Tolerance training later in the Cycle. The emphasis is on intense interval sessions at least once a week alternating with intensive steady state paddling on other days in the week. Close attention should be paid to heartrates during activity to ensure that work is targeting the appropriate intensity. This is air-sucking, heart-pounding, rubber-leg kind of work, so don’t expect improvement if your going for an easy jog.

b) Maximal Strength Development

The initial Cycle should accompany the dryland Strength Phase (see section 2.2) and the latter Cycle should correspond to the Maximum Strength Phase of the Dryland Weight Training Programme. The level of resistance in the boat should also be increased during resistance training sessions. Care should be taken to avoid back to back strength training sessions ensuring that proper recovery time is allocated.

Race Preparation (4 weeks)

This is the Cycle where speed becomes the main feature, converting the strength gains which were made in the earlier Cycles to power. Maximal intensities will be stressed with a duration of work which is closer to the actual race. Race rehearsals will be conducted where all of the trained aspects will be put together for a specific target performance. Smoothing out the transitions from utilization of one energy system to the next is the goal in discovering the optimum racing pace.

a) Race Specific Aerobic/Anaerobic Conditioning

Maintenance of aerobic conditioning is important in this Cycle both in the boat and on land. Longer distance steady state paddling sessions will provide recovery activity for extreme lactic tolerance training. Specific endurance for the sprint race distances is the goal to the extent that there may be some decrease in long distance endurance.

Interval training on land should continue to stress improvement to VO2 max. and anaerobic thresholds.

b) Development of Power

Strength work should focus on converting absolute strength to power. Fast contractions and less load should replace maximum loads early in the Cycle (see section 2.2 – Power Phase). Acceleration drills and maximum speed exercises will be carried out in the boat the stress maximum application of power throughout the race distance. Endurance of strength is important and is best to be improved in the boat, paddling.

The Taper

Critical to top performance is tapering down activity to limit damage to muscles and let our bodies recovery for a race event. It does not mean that work stops all together, particularly for sprint races. Generally the density of practices is reduced, but is replaced by extremely high intensity work for short duration to maintain speed. Alactic activity is stressed, limiting extreme work to 15-20 seconds in order to prevent accumulation of toxins. Low volume is also a must to avoid over-stressing central energy stores.

The duration of the Taper Cycle if difficult to determine. Where the density of training high ie. 10 to 12 sessions per week then typically the taper is longer, perhaps 2-3 weeks. For a lower density training of 3-4 sessions per week, the taper probably needs only 1 week.

Combined with proper nutritional preparation, the end result is a performance peak.

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If anyone else has a Mesocycle training programme for their team, I would love to hear about it – simply leave your comments below.

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Recently I came across some people who were being invited to attend a dragonboat session on the weekend. When the weekend came around they didn’t turn up. That gave me an incentive to find out why they didn’t come rather than just go, oh well, they had other things on. I think these are the top 5 excuses people make:

1. Time / Priorities – My partner (wife or husband) needed me to home or with them for something
2. Fitness – It looks really hard and I’m not fit to do it.
3. Money – I don’t have enough to be able to afford the dragonboat equipment
4. Friends – I’ll wait until so and so joins and I’ll try it then.
5. Lack of Motivation – I’m too lazy and I can’t see myself rowing. It looks too tiring.

Until their perfect scenerio is met then I doubt any of these people would even try dragonboating. Maybe we could think of ways to counteract these excuses with some other incentives.

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I thought that this was a great video that Hydroblades created. It looks like it did take some time to create as it was definitely not a quick video put up in 5 minutes. I give them credit for their work to promote their team.

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About Dragon Boat Program
A company called Dragon Boat Program located in Vancouver, USA has a number of courses they run that helps maximise a dragon boat paddler’s potential. There are a series of classes or workshops, clinics, and weekend or weekly camps that run throughout North America. These classes or workshops have been individually tailored so that any paddler wishing to develop their dragon boat skills will be able to do so through a one on one coaching program.

The Dragon Boat Program brings together numerous state and national coaches that will help train novice to elite Dragon Boat Paddlers all in a structured training environment to bring the best knowledge and skills to the program.

They also have programs that are dedicated for corporations and businesses allowing them to do team building sessions and mix in fitness to their busy work lives.

What Programs Are There?
Dragon Boat Program offers numerous tailored programs that is suitable for most dragon boat roles, e.g. paddler, steerer, coach, team manager:

Below are the following different programs currently available:

• Novice Paddler Program
• Intermediate Paddler Program
• Advanced Paddler Program
• Dragon Boat Coaching Program
• Elite Coaching Program
• Novice Race Officiating Program
• Basic Race Officiating Program
• Race Officiating Program
• Steering Certificate Program
• Competitive Drumming & Calling Program
• Festival Management Program
• Fundraising & Sponsorship Program
• Time Trial Program

How Much Does It Cost?

The Dragon Boat Program compared to other courses is at the top end and starts at $600 (before the 1st December 2008) for each individual for a 5 day program. It goes up after that date.

Other similar courses I have heard from other companies cost:

Great White North: $425.00
Double Fifth San Diego: $600.00
Water’s Edge: $750.00

You can visit their website for more information at http://www.dragonboatprogram.com or you can contact them at:

Telephone: 1-971-222-3679

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Over the last few days I have been focusing on what types of food to eat for weight loss in Dragonboating. Today we are moving onto how to maintain your weight whilst keeping your fitness in Dragonboating. So my main focus today is to discuss what types of food to eat and also staying consistent in your eating habits. The most important point here is keeping to 6 meals a day. Once you remember that then it’s a matter of timing and type of foods you eat that makes all the difference. By ensuring all meals include (lean) protein, you will be on your way to maintaining your weight and being fit at the same time.

Eating protein with each meal is essential to avoid triggering a carbohydrate/insulin response, which will make you hungry and increase cravings and bingeing. (This easily leads to eating junk food such as chips and lollies.)

Always remember the 3 hour rule
(If you don’t remember what that is, I talked about it in my previous post at Role of Food in Dragonboating

Below is an example of a good diet for maintaining your weight. A good mix of protein and fruit is essential.

1. Breakfast – 1-1.5 Protein serving + 1-2 fruit or 1-2 starch

2. Snack – 1 Protein serving

3. Lunch – 1-1.5 Protein serving + unlimited salad/vegetables

4. Snack – 1 Protein serving

5. Dinner – 1-1.5 Protein serving + unlimited salad/vegetables

6. Snack – 1 Protein serving

What are the protein servings mentioned above and which foods are they?
The main food we have been talking about is Protein. It’s important to eat Protein that is lean in nature and here’s a good reason why: lean protein allows you to maintain muscle mass and keeps your metabolism running at full speed. Lean protein also is an excellent choice when it comes to satisfying hunger and keeping blood sugar levels steady.

In relation to the meals servings above, you can work out how much protein you need to eat depending on your gender:

• Female meal portion sizes (approx) = 100g or less
• Female snack portion sizes (approx) = 50 – 100g
• Male meal portion sizes (approx) = 150g or less
• Male snack portion sizes (approx) = 50 – 100g

Or even a simpler method, this can be estimated as palm size portion.

Some examples of lean protein are:

Meat & Poultry: Beef, chicken breast, light ham, lamb, turkey, veal, pork tenderloin, egg, egg white.
Seafood: Fish, crab, lobster, shark, oyster, prawn
Vegetarian: Tofu, lentils, chickpeas, dried beans, vegetarian sausages, vegetarian mince.

Protein Supplements
Ideally it would be recommended to eat real food at every meal, but it’s not always practical. So for your snacks you may want take protein bars or shakes which maybe more convenient. Main meals are social times and should be real food whereas snacks should be there to help keep your metabolism in running mode.

Generally keep to protein snacks that are low in carbohydrates and low in sugar. As a rule of thumb, when buying protein bars, make sure the carbohydrate content is less than 10g per 100g and protein is 30g or more per 100g. Remember though that real food is always best!

Tips for successfully maintaining your weight:
* You can have unlimited salad/vegetables at breakfast with protein if desired (in moderation of course)

* As well as starch at breakfast you can also have starchy carbohydrates at lunch if desired.

* Drink at least 2-3 litres of water a day.

* You can have a choice of either 1-2 serving of fruit or 1-2 serving of grain with your protein at breakfast and lunch.

* I recommend taking a daily multivitamin with omega 3.

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