I am training for a channel crossing SUP race and I feel so much stronger but I really suck at shorter distances.  Guys who train less and who are 20 years younger are slaughtering me during our morning workouts. I know it shouldn’t bother me, but can a person just be better at the longer distances? And how can I not let it bother me when people who don’t even do any serious SUP training  beat me.  Today I felt great and had fun, but when I found out a neighborhood girl beat me who I used to teach, in Jr. High, I don’t know, I felt old and I am not sure my training is doing me any good.

- Anonymous, CA

Certainly some athletes are more suited to longer distance events and others do well in short more intense sprints. All SUP races are endurance events compared to most other speed and distance oriented sports, but within SUP racing there’s a big range of intensity.

So, sure, you might consider yourself more of a long distance specialist and your training emphasis as well as race performance might reflect that. Longer distance is also a better measuring stick in many ways for experience and skill, because you can’t fake it, you have to bring all aspects together and maintain them from start to finish. The dedication required to train for and complete longer distances is also a measure of success.

There’s no reason to get bummed out at the flash performances of youngsters – youth reigns supreme when it comes to physical events, especially shorter ones, and there’s nothing to be done about that. That’s why we have age group graded racing.

When it comes to your competitive results, the only realistic thing to do is compare apples to apples – youngsters who are still on the upswing of their physical development and ex-competitive athletes showing up to your morning workouts  dabbling in SUP where their youthful enthusiasm can get them to the finish line quickly before they know what’s hit them, regardless of their untutored and untrained paddle technique – realistically they are not your direct competition, so why beat yourself up measuring your efforts against them?

When it gets down to it, stand up paddle racing is an individual sport, and the real competition is you against yourself and the course. Sure, awards are nice if you happen to be genetically gifted enough to win races, but if you find yourself feeling stronger and healthier and beating your old time splits or at least holding your own even as you get older, you’re winning. Look inward at what you can control, which is your own effort to learn, improve, and be fit, don’t let things which you cannot control (the performances of other people) dictate your happiness or satisfaction.

Roch and Huddle