For most of my adventure racing career I have trained without a formal training plan.  My strategy was to get as many base miles as I could fit into my schedule, add some intensity as the season approached, and ramp up the training to a peak of exhaustion about 12 days before an important event.  Years ago when I raced bicycles on the road and track I had a very formal plan.  I paid a coach to design a workout plan for riding and another coach to design and monitor my weight training.  This season I have decided to use my experience and knowledge to go back to having a training plan to maximize my performance.

 I am NOT a naturally gifted athlete.  I am a average athlete that has success by being more efficient, opportunistic, and by working harder than my competition.  Hiring coaches brought me the most success I’ve had in my experiences as an adult athlete.  I now support a wonderful family and no longer have the resources to pay some one to be my coach.  I can barely keep my bikes working.  For 10 years I haven’t bothered to try to make a plan for myself, but that is going to change.  The Dirty Avocados are getting faster and I don’t want to be the team anchor.  So here I am, staring at the blank calendar pages wondering where to start.  I know I have several factors to balance: training hours, covering all core AR disciplines, planning and rating training intensity, weight/resistance training, and scheduling training cycles to meet target events.  Those are the basic components of the plan I hope to create for myself.  I also have to figure out how to adjust the plan so it still works when I go on vacation with my family, work overtime shifts, or other family matters take precedence over a given  day’s plan.  This will be a multi-part blog.  This post will discuss weight training.  Future posts will address training cycles and how to rate intensity during training.

Weight training and resistance training, is it important?  I believe it is but only if executed using a smart plan.  Good personal trainers and chiropractors can tell what sport an athlete practices just by observing their posture, cyclists shoulders roll forward and their necks alignment is different because of looking up, runners have a distinctive pelvic tilt.  These are the effects of specific training, training for specific sports and developing the muscle groups used in those sports without working the opposing muscle groups.  These imbalances can result in injury to joints and disks if not corrected.  The off season is the ideal time to undertake a resistance training program.  Read some books, hire a coach, use an experienced trainer at the gym.  Get a simple plan that exercises opposing muscle groups.  Make sure that the coach or trainer understands that your goal isn’t to get huge, or build big arms and chest to impress the girls.  His or her job is to help you get a simple and effective routine and make sure that you use good and safe technique.  I recommend using dumbbells as much as possible because they force the muscles that support the joints into action.  Machines basically work the main muscles and ignore the smaller supporting muscles so in essence it’s like putting a bigger door on the same small hinges.  Adventure racers need strong joints. 

I incorporate four phases into my weigh training plan.  I start with “Basic Strength” with the goal of getting my body accustomed to weight training.  During this phase I start with light weights and only two sets.  I build to three sets and by the end of “Basic Strength” I am doing 3 sets of 10-12 reps to the point that I can’t do another rep on the last set.  If done correctly, I build it up gradually and manage to get through “Basic Strength” without getting sore.

The next phase is hypertrophy.  Hypertrophy means adding muscle.  I hate the idea of adding body mass but experience has told me that once I’m into the racing season that mass melts away quickly.  In this phase my reps are a little lower and the last set is done to failure, meaning I need help to finish the last rep or two or I fail to finish the last rep attempted. 

The third phase is power.  In the power phase I incorporate exercises and modify my technique to include more explosive motions.  In the first two phases work a three count, pause for a one count, and three count to the stating position for another one count.  It’s slow and controlled at all times.  In “Power” I use lighter weights and rapidly push (or pull) before a three count back to the starting position.  The classic “power” exercise is the power clean.  Do not attempt the power clean without some instruction, it can be dangerous.

After power I either taper for a target event, or go into ”Maintenance”.  In ”Maintenance” I cut back to two or three workouts a week and by May or June I only train my upper body with weights as I am usually working my legs hard on the bike and trails. 

 At the very least all adventure racers should have a good routine to work their core, the muscles of the midsection above the hips and below the ribs.  All work we do involves our limbs pushing or pulling and what they all pull against is the core.  The core is not to be ignored.  The results of a neglected core is often chronic back pain, or an injury to a disk. Take a yoga or pilates class, or do a variety of exercises that ecxercise the core on your own. 

The training race was billed to offer a little something to everyone and was true to the elements of adventure racing.  The name itself “Cold Feet” described how many people fear the idea of real adventure racing where your team is given a map with route choices to and from various check points  using various forms of travel from running, biking, etc.  Over the course of at least hours you make your way in usually a wild setting.  Also, the training promoted itself as a great place for experienced teams to come out and work out the cob webs.  The race offered quite a few route choices and a true physical challenge for those willing to push it. 

The Training Venue

The San Bruno Mountain just south of San Francisco, California played host to the training.  The park might be best described as one that is not very traveled, but incredible cared for by the park’s employees and the many volunteers, who we ran into during the race.  A little fact about the park is that it is the largest park in an urban setting in the United States.  The park itself showed a good cross section of terrain, fauna, and weather of the Central Coast of California including eucalyptus groves with trails cut through the vines and poison oak at the lower elevation, steep rocky switch backs between sage colored brush mid-mountain, and breathtaking 360 views of the San Francisco Bay Area at the top of the ridgeline.  The morning warmed up enough for many racers to wear tee shirts and bike shorts.  By the post race BBQ a marine layer rolled in locking in most the day’s warmth.

The Brave Challengers

The field of teams was a true collage of experience and goals.  Some wore uniforms, others wore costumes.  A few were there to try out new team mates, but the majority was there to check out this ultimate sport in terms of multisport team endurance challenges.  People drove as far as three hours away, while one team was able to drive to their nearby home to take their unwelcome dog according to rangers back!  However, we were all united in bucking up and getting up early on a cool saturday morning to unite in our teams, challenge this mountain, and roll through to the finish. 

The BBQ

You can tell a lot about an adventure race by the mood and gathering at the finish line.  The BAARBD race planning was incredible as most teams on both the short and the long courses came in close together.   Everyone gathered over a few picnic tables sharing stories of the race’s fun.  Then Rick B., the Master of Ceremony and occasionally chaos dressed in a tux shirt and bow tie handed out a few awards for the first teams.  While Dirty Avocados related teams with two new racers completed both the long and short courses first the real winners of this event was everyone that walked away with some new friends, a new sport, and some sharper skills to race this year.

Next Event

BAARBD told us at the BBQ that they will be putting on a pre-season bash the night of March 21st in the city.  Go to http://www.baarbd.org for more information.  Thank you everyone at BAARBD and all the volunteers for putting on this event.

The training race was billed to offer a little something to everyone and was true to the elements of adventure racing.  The name itself “Cold Feet” described how many people fear the idea of real adventure racing where your team is given a map with route choices to and from various check points  using various forms of travel from running, biking, etc.  Over the course of at least hours you make your way in usually a wild setting.  Also, the training promoted itself as a great place for experienced teams to come out and work out the cob webs.  The race offered quite a few route choices and a true physical challenge for those willing to push it. 

The Training Venue

The San Bruno Mountain just south of San Francisco, California played host to the training.  The park might be best described as one that is not very traveled, but incredible cared for by the park’s employees and the many volunteers, who we ran into during the race.  A little fact about the park is that it is the largest park in an urban setting in the United States.  The park itself showed a good cross section of terrain, fauna, and weather of the Central Coast of California including eucalyptus groves with trails cut through the vines and poison oak at the lower elevation, steep rocky switch backs between sage colored brush mid-mountain, and breathtaking 360 views of the San Francisco Bay Area at the top of the ridgeline.  The morning warmed up enough for many racers to wear tee shirts and bike shorts.  By the post race BBQ a marine layer rolled in locking in most the day’s warmth.

The Brave Challengers

The field of teams was a true collage of experience and goals.  Some wore uniforms, others wore costumes.  A few were there to try out new team mates, but the majority was there to check out this ultimate sport in terms of multisport team endurance challenges.  People drove as far as three hours away, while one team was able to drive to their nearby home to take their unwelcome dog according to rangers back!  However, we were all united in bucking up and getting up early on a cool saturday morning to unite in our teams, challenge this mountain, and roll through to the finish. 

The BBQ

You can tell a lot about an adventure race by the mood and gathering at the finish line.  The BAARBD race planning was incredible as most teams on both the short and the long courses came in close together.   Everyone gathered over a few picnic tables sharing stories of the race’s fun.  Then Rick B., the Master of Ceremony and occasionally chaos dressed in a tux shirt and bow tie handed out a few awards for the first teams.  While Dirty Avocados related teams with two new racers completed both the long and short courses first the real winners of this event was everyone that walked away with some new friends, a new sport, and some sharper skills to race this year.

Next Event

BAARBD told us at the BBQ that they will be putting on a pre-season bash the night of March 21st in the city.  Go to http://www.baarbd.org for more information.  Thank you everyone at BAARBD and all the volunteers for putting on this event.