Question: Good morning, I am looking to purchase one of your ebooks to start training. In october I have registered for both Battle of the Paddl e and the Chattajack 31 stand up paddle races. This has me kind of confused on what training route I should take with the BOP being sprint and medium distance and then the Chattajack being a long distance flat water SUP race. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hmmmm….Good question right there. You stumbled on one of the issues that every coach wrestles with. How do you prepare athletes for different types of races within a few months of one another.  The Chattajack race this year is on October 25th. The BOP race is on October 5. That gives you exactly 20 days between the races.

Based on your question, you already know that it can be difficult to train for an ultra endurance SUP race like the Chattajack (31 miles) and a hard, short stand up paddle race like the BOP. These two races rely on different physiologic systems which need to be trained a bit differently. The good news is that there is overlap on your training. The bad news is that one of the two races needs to be your priority race.

I cannot make the decision as to which should be your priority but given that fact that the BOP is first and the Chattajack is second, here is what I would do.

1. Most of your training for Chattajack will have application for your BOP race. Think of the Chattajack training as “base” training for your BOP race. All of those long distance paddles will help in the BOP. The fact of the matter is that it only takes a few weeks of intensity to get your “high end” systems firing. These are the systems you will need for the BOP.
2. Do your longest Chattajack paddle 4-5 weeks before your Chattajack race. Normally we would position this a little closer but, trust us, the bottom wont fall out.
3. After you get your base/distance stuff sorted, focus on shorter and more intense sessions until the battle of the paddle. Most athletes don’t need all that much intensity to get the high end firing.
4. After the BOP take a week of recovery and then dial things back down with a moderately long paddle the week after and then taper for two weeks before Chattajack.

As we said previously, this is a solid question with no simple answer. This is just one approach to your late season SUP races. Another option would be to focus on your BOP and risk not having the endurance to get you through the Chattajack.  As you can see, however, we feel that you have a better shot at doing well in both races if you have your base and long stuff done well in advance.

Roch