Where do the legs go?

One of the things about dragonboat that has been baffling me is legs placement. I see different people do it differently depending on individual preference. So in order to know my preference, I need to know my paddling style and how my body works while paddling.

Since I started paddling last year, I put my left leg forward and right leg back ( I'm a left paddler). And then as time passes and I start to twist my body more, my stomach tends to meet my left leg and sort of obstructs my body from dropping lower during the dip. Or maybe I'm trying to push my bodyweight down more in the dip. Whatever it is, I find the position of my left leg forward causing some issue. 

So at yesterday's session, I switched legs. Right leg forward and left leg back. It felt a bit weird and somehow more tiring for my body, so am not really sure if I'm doing it right. It certainly feels easier to twist and drop my bodyweight forward though. The only way to know is by trial and error in the next coming sessions. 

Reflect to improve

I want to start reflecting on my workout and training sessions so that I can learn something and use that to improve. Last weekend, after dragonboat lake training, coach said 'Go home and think about what you want from this, what you learned'.

He is right. If I just continue to do things mindlessly, I will never get anywhere. Not that I do things mindlessly, but if I do not make it a habit to reflect and write that down somewhere, then I shall be apt to forget what I learned, what with old age catching up and all.

Last week was a tough one. I am following Pat Flynn's 14-Day Kettlebell Fat Funeral program, which ends tomorrow (yeay), and I had 5 lake training sessions during this period. I used to think that I would not be able to workout/train every single day, considering how intense kettlebell and dragonboat can be, but I did manage to get through, even having both kettlebell and dragonboat sessions in the same day. So it is mind over matter.

Last weekend's dragonboat training was also something new to me. We paddled over 10km during the entire session, doing sets of 1km (6 minutes paddling). I usually loath warm up because it means 6 minutes continuous paddling and I would be huffing and puffing. But during this session, I can feel my endurance improving. More is better in this case.

And maybe it's those daily kettlebell sessions, but I could feel stronger when pulling water. And all it takes is 15-30 minutes of kettlebell daily. When broken down to two sessions of 15 minutes, it really does not feel long at all, and very do-able, plus the huffing puffing later of course.

I think I should do the kettlebell program for another round, and see where that lands me. And I really need to fit in a cycling session somewhere.