Below a blog by Jay Wild, elite international paddle board and outrigger canoe competitor, owner of Watermans Landing and o2fitness athlete.

Last September I stopped using a coach for the first time in three years and while I was nervous to embark on a training program on my own I was also excited to put what I have learned to the test.  After a winter of paddling my OC1, some strength training with the crew at Crossfit Avalanche  and lots of skate skiing I felt that I was ready to put a program together leading into the stand up paddle racing season.

At the same time, the Lake Tahoe season was transitioning from Winter to Spring and I was seeing my time for training going into preparing Watermans Landing for a busy summer. I found that every time I sat down to develop a training program leading into a specific race I would instead work on things for Watermans Landing, telling myself that I would get to the training stuff later.

As the weeks continued to pass I was still paddling but with no specific program and was really starting to question where this racing season was going to go. That was a scary feeling, being that the previous four years was totally outlined ahead of time with specific races and training goals. At one point I was thinking that I was done racing, there was too much stress and I was putting so much pressure on myself that paddling wasn’t fun anymore.

After focusing on work for a couple of weeks I was starting to miss training and when I sat down to figure out my next race and a program for training I realized that I needed help. Thats when I contacted my friend Julie Young with O2Fitness and explained my dilemma.  Julie has only paddled a couple of times but her knowledge of training is amazing and I felt as though we could work together on a training program, rather than her just writing it up and me following. She is open to discuss how a paddler can train different than a cyclist, runner or triathlete. I am just a couple weeks into training with Julie and I am very happy with the communication and training program.

I am excited to race again but also understanding that I do not have the luxury of just training and racing. I have a family to support and two businesses to run. Luckily I have an amazing wife and a great support crew that will help me achieve my goals. Thanks and happy paddling!!

After just a few weeks on the o2fitness training plan I was able to come out with a win at the Jam from the Damn race here in Tahoe and take the overall points lead from Rob Rojas in the O’neill Tahoe Cup series!