Whether you are an SUP racer or prone paddle athlete, paddle fitness grows by training then resting. Diagramatically paddle fitness grows like this:

If, however, you try to go harder every time you workout like this:

All you are going to wind up with is this

As you can see, if you try to go harder and harder in each workout you will get faster for a while. At some point, however, the training will catch up with you and the bottom will fall out. Once that happens the fatigue will prevent additional gains and you will find yourself going slower and slower.

Rest weeks are essential if you are going to continue to grow as a paddle athlete. In our book and training manuals we build in rest weeks every other week. In our experience over the years we have learned that  most amateur athletes, with their full load of work-life requirements outside of paddling, do best on a “2 on one off” program where two weeks of work are followed by one week of rest.  Elite and experienced athletes often do better on a “three on one off” plan. You might even consider doing a “three on one off” plan during your base building segments of the year and then go to a “two on one off” schedule as you build intensity into your training program later in the training year.

As a rule, rest weeks should not be weeks off from training. Rather, dial back your training but keep just a little bit of intensity in the mix so you do not go flat during your rest weeks.

Whatever you do – be sure you purposefully and periodically dial things back and let your body rest and recover from your training and racing. This will help you grow as an athlete, get faster, avoid plateaus, avoid injury, and even help prevent burnout.