12 hour adventure race............

None of us knew the trails were going to be like that, we thought it was going to be rock roads with some concrete. We didn't find out until we actually got on the trails what we were in for and oh boy were we in for it! The race organizers keep it ultra secretive for a reason, so you really can't prepare for what's ahead very well. We were guessing 30 to 40 miles overall and surprised when it was 60-70 instead! It very well may have been muscle fatigue, I didn't concentrate on the biking as much as I should've, but then again I was guessing on what the event was going to be. I'll have to look into those S caps for next time and pound some Gatorade and salt pills like you said, much earlier, I knew I was probably too late.

 
Orienteering is a competitive international sport that combines racing with navigation. It is a timed race in which individual participants use a specially created, highly detailed map to select routes and navigate through diverse and often unfamiliar terrain and visit control points in sequence. Courses also can be enjoyed as a walk in the woods, with difficulty levels from beginner to expert offered at most events.

 
Well, I'm stupid, I'm doing this event again this June and obviously learned a lot about the event having had the opportunity to do it last year. I'm going to add an additional water bottle to my bike and change my training. The link above that GM Todd gave me before said to train for a half-marathon, I did that and failed miserably so I'm going to create my own training plan instead of trying to find one. I think last year I suffered from more muscle fatigue than muscle cramping from lack of fluids. The mountain bike portion was intense and my legs weren't prepared for that nor was I prepared for that mentally. So I'm going to switch up my weight training program to include legs 2 times a week and I'm going to include biking, whether it's in the gym or out 3 to possibly 4 times a week, just depends on what I come up with.

I'm planning on doing weight training on legs first and then go and bike. That way my legs are fatigued and I have to get used to that and learn how to overcome that while taking my legs past that "I need to stop!" point. I'm not doing much running, I'll get enough cardio work from the biking and the running was useless for me. I'm in good enough shape I can walk through the woods without much issue on the orienteering portion of the race. I also have to keep up on my upper body training because I'm going to be the main paddler for the canoe due to my upper body strength from weight training. So here's what I'm initially thinking for training, it'll be 12 to 14 weeks total leading up to the race.

Monday: Weight training with legs and calves then biking

Tuesday: Weight training on biceps, triceps, chest and abs

Wednesday: Long bike ride, 20 + miles, designed to get seat time in, if weather sucks, then I'll do what I have planned on Monday's.

Thursday: Weight training with shoulders, back and abs

Friday: Weight training with legs and calves then biking

Saturday: Rest day

Sunday: Rest day

I'll play the weekends by ear, just depends on how tired/sore I am and whether I think I'm challenging myself. Will probably add in paddling on one of those days once it gets warmer out.

Thoughts?

 
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