Hey – thanks for the support!

The answer to you question is a tough one. To demonstrate why this is a difficult answer lets take an extreme example to make a point. Lets say you are a world class Kenyan marathon runner who runs around the world looking basically emaciated, your ribs are sticking out all over the place, and your arms are twigs and now you want to start paddle racing.  You know your LT while you run. How does that translate to paddling?

On the one hand,  you are a world class athlete when you run. You have a huge engine and your  RUNNING LT will be super high. Your arms, however, are as useless as the forelimb buds on a tadpole. Although there is some relationship between your RUNNING LT and your PADDLING LT, any formula for a relationship between your running LT and your paddling LT is 1) specific to you (how many other paddling world class marathoners are there?) 2) likely to change dramatically over the next few months as you paddle. This is because your paddling LT will go up rapidly as you gain paddle fitness while your running LT may go down unless you continue to run.

The bottom line on all of this is that there is a conversion formula but it is specific to your situation, your physiology and importantly, your PADDLE experience and fitness. Without knowing you further, there is no great way to offer you a reliable  conversation recipe at this time

Keeping that in mind, over the last 20 years I have been keeping notes about the triathletes I have worked with. WIth triathletes there is a 10-20 beat difference between their running LT and their swimming LT. Although I do not have as much data  about SUP racers, it seems that the spread with paddling is even greater. As a general rule I expect to see a 15-30 beat difference between running and paddling. The reason the spread is larger than between swimming and running is because with swimming you are using your arms, core, and legs. Because you really only use your arms (a relatively small muscle group) and core with paddling your LT will be lower .

My recommendation is to perform a paddling LT test to know for sure but if that is not practical or possible you can estimate a 15-30 beat difference between paddling and running If you are a multisport athlete and your upper and lower body are reasonably fit and/or you have been paddling for a while you can expect to be on the lower end of the range. Conversely, if you are an ultra runner and you are  paddling for the first time, expect it to be on the higher end of the range.

Roch