Adventure Race????? HELP.

[nautica]

I have an adventure race coming up at the end of August. It is a 2 day race, which runs continuosly.

Mt Biking
Navigational Hike
Canoeing
Running.

Not sure of the milage of each section yet. They will not let us know until closer to the race.

I know I am not built for this type of race, but it will be a challenge for me. AND I LOVE A GOOD CHALLENGE.

My stats: 5'10", 215 lbs, 7-8% bodyfat. Not dieting now so I should be able to drop down to 200 lbs extremely easy by the time the race gets here. Really have no desire to get much smaller than that - I worked to hard to get here. But if it happens, it happens and I can spend the next month bulking.

Anybody have any recommendations on training.

Right now I have cut the weight room down to 3 times a week to avoid overtraining.

Run about 3-4 miles a couple times a week.

Ride 2-3 hours a couple of times a week. Exept for Sat and Sun and I am trying to get in 4-6 hours each day.

Canoeing - This will be my week point (although I did grow up on the creeks so I am not a complete idiot in a canoe), but plays a very little part in the race. (besides, I don't have a canoe - I guess I need to find one).

Navigational Hike: It is a local course - I have lived her for 31 years, so this should be an advantage to me.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Training, diet, performance enhancers, I am willing to try anything. I don't like to loose, even if it is something I have never competed in before.

Thanks
Nautica

 

[Thaibox]

A few years ago, I put a team of four highly motivated people together including the mandatory female that was a kickass triathlete. This was before I became abnormally obsessed with building strength and size, so dropping weight didn't bother me that much. We spent a ton of time riding. I had some orienteering skills, but one of the other guys was an ex Air Force pararescueman, so he was on top of teaching us land nav and such. Not too far from here there was a good training area in the mountains. We'd drive up, kayak hard down the feather river to a lake, drop the kayaks and swim across the lake, run a pre-planned CC trail, then ride road bikes the few hours it took to get into the nearest town. We'd eat like mad, toss the bikes into a truck, crash for a few hours, then get up and hike back to where we started, which took all day. We had three trucks, and one guy that would help in transport of equipment(kayaks, bikes, etc).

I would recommend upping your running distances considerably. 2-3 miles probably won't cut it. If you can't cut the distance, just fart lick until you can.

Don't use ECA shit during the race. Its too long in duration, and dehydration is too much of a threat. My buddy does the long adventure races and says they can't use Creatine because of the hydration factors.

Unfortunately, I was sleeping with the girl on the team and we broke up a couple months before the race. It never happened. So, I don't have any real first hand racing experience to share, but just wanted to wish you luck. Adventure races are great. Good luck

 

[nautica]

Thanks man. I appreicate the input.

Nautica

 

[nautica]

little bump.

 

[fhg43]

Nautica-
Sounds like you are on track with your riding. Try to do lots of your bike training on the road as it is more effective. A 4-6 hour offroad ride can be overly fatiguing. You may have to ride that long offroad but don't try to approximate that during training. This way you are fresher and can do more workouts. Going too hard and not being able to workout effectively for a few days is worse than consistently doing moderate intensity workouts everyday. Endurance is built first thru consistency-later you can focus on intensity.

You should up your runs to 6-9 miles gradually. More than anything you need to prepare your legs for the pounding. You really want to approach this aspect (running) carefully since your are 210lbs. You don't want to overdue it and injure yourself. Running injuries tend to halt running training entirely-you can ride thru cycling related injuries as they tend to be less traumatic. Your size will work against you since it is an endurance event, but like you said you want to keep the size so...just be mentally prepared for difficulty in the running and cycling sections. As long as you can keep pace with your slowest teammate you'll be okay.

As far as supplements go avoid ECA bigtime like Thaibox said. ECA is great for short :15min-6hr endurance events but for and adventure race, you'll crash hard after it wears off and you don't want use it continually for 3 days. I don't know if you are cycling (AAS) but it won't hurt you in the race. It will make you stronger (obviously) and you'll notice this increased strength on the ride. Depending on the AAS of choice you'll get pumps in your legs while running and riding-like I said this really depends on if you are 'on' and what you are using-you may have already noticed this.

I'd look into a good carb dring like Endurox R4, Revenge, or Extran to use throughout the race. Endurox R4 @ 1 scoop per H2O bottle works well. Energy gels like Clif shots or PowerBar Gels work great. You need to continuously take in carbs to fuel this extended event. Obviously you guys will be stopping to eat real meals (maybe not!?!) but it is important to drik a bottle carbo drink to keep glucose stores high. Don't forget to drink pure water too-dehydration is your WORST enemy. Id' alternate between a bottle of carb drink 1 hour and pure water the next and always have some gels or easily consumable bars handy. Eat before you are hungry. Since your are larger than the typical endurance athlete you'll need lots of fuel as you have larger muscles-the bigger the muscle the more fuel it takes to work effectively. In fact you may need to use more powder in your drinks than the manufacturers recommend and you may want to take in 2 gels or bars every other hour!

Email or PM me with questions. I have tons of experience in the endurance training and fuelling field-hell its all I do!!

FHG

 

[nautica]

Thanks man,

I appreciate it alot.

nautica