When it comes to gaining an edge with new training techniques, people percolate over the multitude of approaches you can take. Steve’s latest facination is with ‘deep practice’ – a phrase coined in Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code.
Patterning perfect motion over and over, learning from your mistakes and making corrections is the way to build meylin connections in the brain so that automatically your body follows.
And so Steve has returned to his roots, to intentionally feel the muscle patterning setting in, and then putting it to use in a race. He isn’t on a one man canoe, he’s on a surf ski, or ‘kayak’. Not so long ago, it was the only independent training available out side of the six man canoe.
One perfect stroke after another, over and over again. Not at speed, not in full conditions. Slowly taking the perfect stroke rate up and noticing where things fall apart. Making adjustments, and starting over.
Last week, he took his badly worn ski out to Kalapaki where the first race of the Kauai Hoe Wa’a season took place. (His ski was salvaged from several he lost when Hurricane Iniki hit Kauai). He hulied twice during the race – there’s no crutch (ama) to lean on when you are on the water. It was difficult to stay focused in ‘deep practice’ mode, as all the competitors he was ahead of would pass him on the huli’s, but he did the best he could. In the end, just after the finish, his boat sank. No matter how well mentally prepared you are for a race, you have to have sea worthy equipment.
While the change up to a surf ski is mentally refreshing and stimulating, the Kole’Gear waistpack worked fine on the surfski.
