Words of wisdom from a racing champion/IT guy.

Don Kiesling, 35, spends part of his week solving 404 error messages for retail shop Seattle Raft & Kayak. But when the whistle blows, the two-time Deception Pass Dash winner is preparing to win his next open-water race. How does he do it? He trains like he’s racing and visualizes railroad ties (Just read. It’ll make sense.)

Race Simulation: A few years ago I started thinking about "training like you want to race." If you want to race fast, you need to train fast. A lot—once you have some base fitness. More recently I discovered a brain-centered approach to training. In short, you slow down because of fatigue, and fatigue is created by the brain in response to many physiological factors, as opposed to being created by the body in response to some hard, physiological limit. Therefore, you need to train your brain to raise your fatigue threshold. Short version is, do a lot of race-simulation-type stuff. One other tool I use I call The Hour of Power. I paddle for 60 minutes at 7.5 miles per hour. It’s easy for the first 15 minutes, but there’s no external motivation like someone racing you. It’s all internal motivation.

Throw Throw Throw Your Boat: Imagine you’re paddling over railroad ties and that you’re planting your blade on the forward side of each tie. It helps you with planting on the catch. Kind of imagine yourself pole-vaulting yourself up to the next tie. You don’t actually lift your butt off the seat, but try to visualize yourself suspended in air to throw your boat forward.

How It Feels: Most paddlers and coaches looks at technique from the standpoint of what the stroke looks like. How high are the hands? How is the body rotating? What are the legs doing? But for a while I've been approaching it more from the standpoint of, How should it feel? I think that many paddlers get lost in the details of how it looks and are forgetting that to go fast, you need to be literally throwing the boat forward on each stroke. The kayak stroke should feel very similar to hitting a ball, swinging a club, chopping wood, jumping up onto a box. The same things that make those activities effective are the same things that make a kayak go fast.

On the Home Stretch: Make small intermediate goals to keep yourself going strong. Like, “I’m going to make it to the next point,” or “I’m going to hang with this other boat.” I use a GPS, so the speed number is definitely huge. If I see my speed drop to 7.4 MPH, I say, “I have to get back up to 7.5.”
Also, find ways to relax certain muscles that you shouldn’t even be using, like when you grit your teeth. It’s a waste of energy. And tune in to small features. If the guy you’re racing is 10 yards ahead, catching a tiny wave or identifying a tiny eddyline can help you catch him.

Cross Training: I lift weights and bike some. I'd like to run, but my knees are ornery. Recently I got into paddleboarding (not stand up), which I'm really enjoying and, in fact, focusing on right now. I've got my sights set on doing some of the big races like the Catalina Classic or Molokai. Both are 32 miles. Paddleboarding is similar to kayaking but uses different muscle groups. You need very good technique and need to be very efficient because your "paddles" are your measly hands.

Eat, Drink, and Go Veggie: I've generally just gone for it with regard to diet, but I do put some more thought into it these days. About a year ago my girlfriend started making dinners with less carbs, so instead of meat, carb, veggie, we're now trying to do more meat, veggie, veggie type meals. This seems to be working well. I recently read some great news about mushrooms for heart health, so we try to add sautéed white or crimini mushrooms a couple of times a week, and grilled portabellas once a week.
I'm also a big believer in hydrating and taking in calories during and after workouts. I almost always take a one- or two-liter Platypus with me, with a mix like Heed or Accelerade. I just following the instructions and drink six to eight ounces every 15 minutes. I set my watch to beep very 15 minutes to remind me in races. Afterwards I like Recoverite, R4, or chocolate milk.