Paddling Technique; what not to do.

As it was blowing a gale last night, so Ad and I did an ergo / core session for an hour, alternating every 5 minutes between the ergo and doing swiss ball exercises to work on our main weaknesses at the moment. I've never actually really looked at how I paddle so we took a little bit of video to see what's going on.

In terms of what I am doing well (which isn't much!) I seem to have some good rotation and I am most pleased about the fact that I have got my stroke further away from my body. I know that last year I had my lead arm far too bent, which drastically shortened my stroke. The thing that's really odd is that I could have sworn that my lead arm was high enough but while it starts off in the correct position by the time I have full extension it has dropped significantly below my chin level. It looks more like I am trying to chop wood than paddle a kayak. I really need to try to keep it up more (Ooh err Mrs). Also, when you look at my stroke head on it just doesn't look right. It's too.......swingy. I think I need to bend my recovery arm more aggressively. Not sure about that, I might need to take further advice.

Adam's main problem seems to be that his lead arm stays out too wide rather than coming into a central position which means he's inhibiting his rotation. Anyway, it gives us plenty to work on.

Long paddle on the Wey tomorrow as it's more sheltered than the Thames.

In other news...
Lots of cycling done although no long rides, but really beasting myself on my commute and my first swim of the year on Wednesday. Really enjoyed it but it was like swimming in treacle/ Just did as many 200m reps with 20 secs rest as I could fit into my lunchbreak.