You need many things if you are to succeed at adventure racing. Good team mates, an easy-going but determined personality, good equipment, money, and luck are just some of them. Many of these can be hard to control. There is however one thing that you personally should be very much in charge of your training. That isnt to say that it is easy to fit it into a busy lifestyle, find the motivation and avoid injury, but its surprising what can be achieved if you use your head and plan things out. The trick is to be time-efficient, organised and to make your training fun.
One of the reasons adventure racing can be so much fun, is that it involves so many different sports. Theres always something new to learn, or to improve at.
These are the main ingredients of my adventure training program:
Fun
Because even racing should - in a strange, demanding, painful kind of way be fun.
Adventure
What its all about. Why restrict your adventure to the races? Use your imagination when you plan your training exercises. Try a navigation exercise at night, even if its just with a street map. Paddle that river near where you live, in whatever boat you can get your hands on. Climb the highest hill or mountain you can see from your home.
Endurance
Even the shortest adventure races take longer to complete than a marathon or a triathlon. Endurance is all about non-stop exercise for long periods of time. Incorporate long single-discipline sessions (say 2 hours of running, 4 hours of cycling or 3 hours of paddling) into your routine, or combine more than one sport into a single long session. Cycle down to where you can paddle. Run or walk to somewhere you can climb.
Strength
Most sports require some degree of strength, and are easier to do if youre stronger. The main aim in adventure racing is to have sufficient strength to be able to overcome whatever obstacles you may encounter without leaving you exhausted for the rest of the race. You can build strength using exercises like weight training or circuit training, or more efficiently (and enjoyably) you can combine strength training with skill training. Use paddling, rock climbing, yoga or martial arts to help build up your upper body strength. Run or cycle on hills to build up your leg strength.
Skill
High skill levels in an activity mean the difference between smooth efficient progress, and struggling through depleting your reserves of energy - stumbling from one disaster to the next. Say you are sea kayaking or white-water rafting, and you capsize because you dont have the necessary skills to stay afloat. Not only will you lose a lot of time, but you may also become cold, tired and dispirited.
Increased skill levels, also mean that you need less strength and endurance to move at a given speed, or that you will move faster for the same effort. If more than one of your team cant navigate accurately and consistently (including at night) then you will never be able to do well in adventure races like the Eco Challenge, Raid Gauloises and Southern Traverse.
This is your motivation to improve your ability in each discipline: mountain running, kayaking, mountain biking, horse riding, climbing whatever the race you are training for involves.
Diet
There is a saying you are what you eat, and certainly what and how much you eat will have an effect on your performance and ability to train. Your diet doesnt need to be incredibly scientific, but it does need to be balanced, and it should include plenty of fresh foods where possible: vegetables, fruit and (unless you are a vegetarian) meat. For someone living an active lifestyle, it is usually hard to eat too much, unless you are very dedicated to doing so!
You should be eating plenty of carbohydrates in the form of bread, pasta and rice. Along with the contributions from other foods containing carbohydrates, they should total about 40% of what you eat. While excessive amounts of fat in your diet are undesirable, your body does need a certain amount of it to function normally. In total fats form about 30% of a well-balanced diet. Protein important for building up strong muscles, and much more besides, is the other 30% of what you should be eating. My favourite meals include fish with rice, vegetarian spaghetti bolognese, chicken casserole and baked potatoes, and good British Fish and Chips the last of which I try not to eat too often!
Over 90% of your body is composed of water. As exercise increases the rate at which you sweat it out, its especially important for someone active to drink plenty of water. At least 2 litres a day is a good minimum. Again, while fruit juices and milk are good contributions to a healthy diet, plain water is something you should be getting plenty of. Coffee, tea and alcohol are all okay in moderation, but shouldnt be your main source of fluids!
Look after your body.
You only get one, so you need to take good care of it.
For all forms of training its very important to warm up carefully before exerting yourself. Take it easy for the first 10 minutes, until youre properly warmed up. After exercise is the best time to do stretching, and you should try and do a 10 minute routine after every session. Not only will your muscles will be warmed up and easier to stretch, but after exercise they will have shortened slightly and if you dont stretch them they will tend to stay that way.
I also go to a yoga class once a week for improved flexibility, strength and balance. Also because it helps improve my ability to concentrate and to relax. Alternatives are martial arts or other traditional exercises.
Regular sleep is also very important if you are to benefit from training hard.
Free training
This is what I call training that doubles up with time you have to spend on other things, of which travelling to work is the most obvious. If at all possible I always try to run or cycle to work (I never had the chance to canoe, yet!). Depending on where you live it may even be quicker than driving or using public transport. The more time you spend exercising when you would otherwise be sitting behind a wheel or on a bus, the more time you have free for the rest of your life. Important things like seeing friends, watching TV or reading about how to improve your racing performance in SOLA.
A Week in the Life of a Top Adventure Racer
Training : A typical week of training with no race at the weekend. Exercise not mentioned includes cycling 2 miles to work and back every week-day, and cycling around town to go shopping, visit friends, go to the pub etc. I work in an office environment Monday to Friday.
Monday:1.5 hour Yoga session and then a quiet evening in.
Tuesday: Cycle 20 minutes (each way) to the canoe club and paddle a K1 with the marathon group for 1 hour.
Wednesday: Run after work: 1.5 hours over as much rough ground and as many hills as possible.
Thursday: Group ride with cycling club 1.5 hours of intense riding.
Friday: Finish work early and go rock climbing in the Avon gorge if its dry, or at the climbing wall if its wet. Go for an easy 30 minute run later. Out to the pub in the evening for some liquid carbohydrate.
Saturday: Mountain bike ride with friends in the Welsh mountains for 3 hours. Dinner with friends in the evening, and a few glasses of wine.
Sunday: 2 hour run from home mixture of asphalt and off-road. As hilly as possible.
The Long Term
Its also very important to plan your training over a number of weeks and months. If you are training up for a Race a long way in the future then you should start by building up a base of endurance. As you improve you need to build up to doing long steady training sessions, interspersed with shorter easier ones for recovery. Note that in general you should never increase your training by an average of more than 10% per week.
Work on your skills and concentrate especially hard on your weaknesses. This will give you the biggest pay-back for your time. As you get nearer your big race you should start to concentrate more on speed and strength. Introduce faster, more high intensity training.
Finally, with about 2 or 3 weeks to go before the race, you should begin to taper your training reduce the amount that you are doing, and introduce more easy sessions in between high intensity training sessions of moderate length. The aim here is to get to that race feeling both strong and rested. At this stage its better to 10% under-train, than 5% over-train.
While I hope this gives you an idea of how to approach your training, there is far more to know than I could write here, or even put into a book. Always try to learn from other people around you. Everybody has things that they are good at thinking of exciting training ideas, keeping a good routine, knowing when to rest. To get better at a particular discipline, find people who do it all the time: runners, climbers, canoeists and cyclists. Ive trained and played with all of them, and learnt more than I ever could have from one person or one group.
Have fun, and train smart.