TIPS & UPDATES

Your Canoe or Your Skills – Which One Makes You Faster?
I’ve noticed that whenever a new canoe comes onto the market, people start wondering if that new canoe will make them faster. They begin to doubt their canoe, or start

Struggling with Training? It Might Be Your Hormones (Here’s What I Learned at 50)
During the pandemic, I took exercise physiologist Dr. Stacy Sims’ courses Menopause For Athletes and Women Are Not Small Men. Dr. Sims kept pointing to a haywire-looking graph and using the word

Are Quickblade’s Stingray Paddles Worth It?
I tested a Quickblade Stingray Paddle in downwind, surf, and flat water. Here’s what I found. Quickblade describes its Stingray Paddle as revolutionary because of its shorter length, which reduces

How to Fix 10 Common Endurance Mistakes
Once upon a time (pre-2010), my “endurance training” went like this: Step 1: Start paddling.Step 2: Increase effort until time or energy runs out. Step 3: Finish tired and hungry, collapsing

Muscles Matter: Why Strength Training is Essential for Women OC1 Paddlers
When I was in high school weightlifting wasn’t emphasized for me even though I was an athlete. The gym was mostly full of guys then, and it still is today.
The Importance of Protein for OC1 Paddlers
While there still is nowhere near enough research about athletic women at all phases of life, more and more studies are showing that we need to adjust our eating as

Dec. 12-14 OC1 Downwind Primer
This three-day workshop is for intermediate downwind paddlers who want to improve their OC1 downwinding and surfing in Hawaii conditions. It is designed for women who have been on downwind runs

Sharpen Your OC1 Downwind Skills by Practicing on Flat Water
There was a time when I was at my peak strength and fitness, but it didn’t translate to speed when I was paddling downwind. I would paddle as hard as

OC1 Surf Skills Flat Water training plan
Here’s a simple plan you can add to your flat water training to help you improve your OC1 downwind surf skills: See the Results for Yourself The paddlers I coach