Category: Training

Atomic AR – 30 Hour Adventure Race

On By DavidIn Inspiration, Training3 Comments

The Pangea Atomic AR, thirty F@$*%! Fun-filled hours of adventure racing!  I’m at a loss, I don’t really know what to say.  I can’t even imagine what a 30hr race is going to be like.  I have an idea what my bottom is going to look like after being on a bike for that long…

Atomic Booty

Like all things that we do that are difficult, painful, and outside of my comfort zone, I blame Stu.  You see, instead of getting out of the Air Force so that he could continue to work with the coolest guy ever–me–he decided to stay in.  As a thank you, the AF has decided to move him to the great metropolis of Dayton, Ohio.  What this means is that Stu will soon be leaving Team Disoriented and the Atomic AR may be the last time we get to do an epic adventure race.

The Atomic AR is May 31st, so we have 17 weeks to prepare.  How does one prepare for a 30-Hr race?  I have no clue.  Ana keeps asking me how we’re going to train for it and I keep answering, “Well, we should probably do a lot of running, biking and canoeing…definitely a lot of canoeing based on our past results.”

Probably not the training plan she is looking for.  So, if you know of a good plan, please drop us a note in the comments section.  For now, we are putting together a plan based on David Kuehls book, “4 Months to a 4-Hour Marathon.”

We’ve used this book to train for a marathon and 1/2 marathon and we really like it.  It’s very easy to follow and has an easy step-by-step plan for achieving a 4 hour marathon pace.  I’ve tailored the plan for a 2-hour, 1/2 marathon while adding biking and canoeing into the schedule.

While not the training plan of an elite team, I hope that this plan is enough to get us prepared for tackling the Atomic AR.  One thing that I’m really looking forward to is the night training.  The final 2 weeks prior to the Atomic, we plan on doing our long training at night so we can get an idea of what it’s like to run, bike and paddle in the dark.  This will also give us a good opportunity to check out our gear before the race.

If you want to see how a real team trains, check out this video from Team Tecnu.  These guys are amazing.

  • 2Hr paddle
  • 1Hr Crossfit
  • 3Hr bike
  • 2Hr run

Want to know more about the Atomic AR?  Check out this video from Pangea.  It’s a little dated but you’ll get the idea.  And don’t forget, leave us your training suggestions in the comments section.  Oh, and if you’re in the area and would like to come train with us on our long days, send us an email: teamdisoriented at gmail .com

Oak Mountain State Park Orienteering Course

On By DavidIn Orienteering, TrainingLeave a comment

Team Disoriented and Team Lil’ Disoriented headed out to Oak Mountain State Park, AL for some orienteering practice on their permanent O-courses.  As proven in the last AR, we’re in need of some orienteering practice.  We probably need some canoe practice as well, but that’s another issue.

Lil’ Disoriented with their game faces on!

Alabaster-Helena-20140126-00331

There are currently two O-courses maintained by the Vulcan Orienteering Club, the beginner course and the advanced course. Since we’re from Florida and not used to hilly terrain, our first stop was the beginner course. Looking at the beginner course map you can see that the checkpoints are all on major trails and rather easy to find.  But, by doing this course first, we were able to get some practice trying to match the terrain to the map. Surprisingly, there was a lot of variation in terrain.

Alabaster-Helena-20140126-00343In the picture above, you can get a feel for the landscape, open forest with many hills and small creeks.  We hit CP1, 2, and 3 rather quickly by following the trail. But once we hit CP3, we decided to put our nav skills to the test and left the trail and bushwhacked on a bearing straight to CP4.  We came upon CP4 easily so we did the same thing for CP5 and CP6, heading off-trail and bushwhacking straight to their locations.  Again, both were easy to find and it was a lot of fun taking the course at a leisurely pace.  After CP6, there wasn’t much reason to bushwhack so we stayed on trail and finished out the course.

It was getting late in the afternoon so we knew we wouldn’t be able to finish the advanced course, but we wanted to check it out and see if we could find a few CPs before heading home.  So, after a short break on a conveniently placed stump, reading material in hand, we pushed on.

Alabaster-Helena-20140126-00333

Taking a look at the Advanced Course Map you can see that these CPs are not on trails, but require a little bushwhacking to get to.  We decided to attempt CP5, 6, and 7 and leave the rest for another day.  CP5 was at the summit of a small but steep hill and we had a lot of fun trying to maintain our footing and not slip on all the leaves covering the forest floor.

We returned to the trail and tried to find CP6, but failed.  I’m sure the marker is there and I would liked to have stayed to find it, but the kids were ready to move on.  When I got home and checked my GPS track, it looks like we were about 50 yards away from it.  Oh well. CP7 was easy to find and by that time we were all starting to feel pretty good about our map reading skills but it was time to start heading back.  We had a 4-hour drive home and I needed some coffee.

Oak Mountain State Park is amazing and a great place to practice for an adventure race.  There are miles of running and mountain biking trails as well as the o-courses.  There is even a nice lake for canoeing.  We plan on coming up here in the next month or two without the boys and having a long training day. I can’t wait!  And now for the fun part, I’m off to check Ana for ticks 😉

Alabaster-Helena-20140126-00340

Round the Bay Relay and Ultra

On By DavidIn Gear, TrainingLeave a comment

LogoSince we missed the Turkey Burn AR and there weren’t any adventure races close to us between now and the Resolution AR in January, we decided to sign up for the Round the Bay Relay and Ultra.  Stu was visiting his family in south Florida and couldn’t make it, so we ran it as a 2-person relay.  The day prior to the race, the forecast called for 100% rain with up to 1 inch per hour and temps in the low 50’s.  Let’s just say that neither Ana nor I were very excited by this.  We live in Florida so we don’t do cold weather very well and we consider anything less than 70 degrees to be cold.  We made a late night decision to run to Columbia at Silver Sands Outlet to look for rain gear that we could wear during the race.  Ana got a sweet deal on the Compounder rain jacket and I chose the Tech Attack.  There are some really nice benefits to living close to an outlet mall as the prices were much lower than retail.  We also scored some new gloves.  Paired with our Under Armour cold gear that we got before Tough Mudder, we were set.

Our start time was 6:30AM.  The race course started at Fudpucker’s on Okaloosa Island and made a giant loop around Choctawhatchee Bay for a total distance of 36.77 miles.

map

Luckily for us, the forecasted downpour stayed away.  While it drizzled the whole race and the temps started in the 40’s, the weather was much better than it could have been.

I thought that the relay format was a lot of fun and we look forward to doing it again next year but with a team rather than a pair.  Not because the mileage is too much, but rather because we think doing it as a team relay will make it a lot more fun.

I don’t have our official time but looking at the Runtastic GPS time, it appears that we averaged an 8:30 mile pace, which for us is pretty good.  The best part is that supposedly we burned 2550kcal each and so I feel no shame having eaten the pizza, beer and Oreos post race.

IMG-20131228-00253

The Bestest Present Evah!

On By DavidIn Gear, Inspiration, TrainingLeave a comment

scalefromhellThe other day I gave my wife the bestest present evah!  I was so excited about it that I couldn’t wait until Christmas to give it to her so I gifted it a few days early.  I mean, who wouldn’t want a digital scale for Christmas?  Look at this thing, it’s stainless steel with blue backlighting…BLUE BACKLIGHTING!  I could see the tears of joy in her eyes as I told her how it measures not only one’s weight but also one’s body fat percentage.  Now, every morning we can instantly see how much fat our bodies are composed of…freakin’ awesome!  I couldn’t tell exactly what she was saying as she got in the car and drove away, but I’m sure she was so grateful that she was rushing off to WalMart to find my special Christmas present.  She didn’t have to knock over my new bicycle on her way out, but I guess that’s what love and excitement will do to someone.  I’m sure she’ll be back any minute now.

The main reason that I wanted to get a new scale was because I just finished reading, “Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance” by Matt Fitzgerald and one of his recommendations is to track one’s body fat percentage.  His main premise is that performance, i.e. speed, strength and endurance are optimized when athletes obtain their ideal racing weight.  Yes, I know, not quite the earth shattering discovery.  The book also gives diet and exercise recommendations for obtaining one’s ideal racing weight and also gives examples of the body fat percentage of elite athletes.  Now, I am in no way an elite athlete, nor will I ever be–beer, pizza, and chocolate being three reasons that quickly come to mind.  But, I am interested in increasing my endurance and speed, so I got really interested in finding out and tracking my body fat percentage with the hope of reducing it to a level that is optimal for performance without becoming a drag to maintain given my lifestyle.  The easiest way to monitor one’s body fat percentage is by using a digital scale that uses bioelectrical impedance to estimate it.

But, here’s one thing that you should know, it seems that all of these scales are incorrect and measurements made by the same person can fluctuate greatly depending on the time of day, amount of water one has consumed, wetness of your feet, planetary alignment, and a host of other things.  So why buy one of these scales?  Because, if the measurements are taken under nearly identical conditions; first thing in the morning, before eating or drinking and after using the bathroom, it is possible to get a good trend analysis.  So, even though the scale may say my body fat percentage is 17%, which it does–stupid, lying machine!  If I consistently take measurements over time, I should be able to see whether I am losing body fat or not.  Plus, it is a good motivator for me.  So, if you get a chance, read Matt’s book, get yourself a new scale, and start working on obtaining your racing weight for peak performance.

Oh, one more thing.  It seems that people tend to really underestimate their body fat percentage.  Here are two really cool website that talk about that:

Their suggestion is that the easiest way to estimate body fat percentage is to compare your own physique with photos of people with known body fat compositions.  So, here are a few pictures blatantly stolen from their website.

malebodyfat11menbodyfat2womenbodyfat1womenbodyfat3

Hey, thanks for noticing my picture in the middle of the top row.  Next time I won’t use so much bronzer.

Training Day 12/15/2013

On By DavidIn TrainingLeave a comment

RunAnother training day for Team Disoriented.  We were hoping to go up to Auburn, AL where there is a permanent orienteering course, but the forecast called for 100% chance of rain so we decided to stay home and train.  I really wanted to run, bike and canoe but with temperatures hovering in the 50’s and 15mph winds, I chickened out on the canoe bit.  Instead we ran 7.5miles on trails at Rocky Bayou State Park and then went to Timberlake and rode 11.5 miles of trails.  Ana conquered the big drop that cracked her tailbone last time.  I’m very proud of her for taking the challenge head on and not letting fear get the best of her.Timberlake

I really like the mountain bike trails at Timberlake, but sometimes I have a hard time figuring out which way to go.  Today we attempted Carbo and had a great run (check out the trail map for Timberlake under Local Links on the sidebar).  The trail is a bunch of switchbacks where you go downhill for a little way, do a 180° switchback and then climb back uphill before doing another 180° switchback and going back downhill.  By the end, my legs were burning pretty hard on the up hills.

After Carbo, we attempted to follow Speed Demon.  We got about halfway through and then I chose the wrong path and we ended up backtracking on the part we had already done.  You can see this in the GPS plot above.  I like Speed Demon because it doesn’t have the downhills and roots that the other trails have.  As the name implies, you can get to some pretty fast speeds on this section of track.  Well, someone with mountain biking skills could get to some pretty fast speeds.  We more or less meander down the trails as we build up our courage and skills.  Did I mention that on Carbo we were passed by a runner.  A RUNNER!  I felt like throwing a stick at him as he whizzed by.

Once we realized we were lost on Speed Demon, we took an exit to the main road and then went over to Stinky Creek for our last trail.  Stinky Creek is very well marked and it is a lot of fun.  Good drops, hard climbs, some tight sections and plenty of opportunities for disaster.  At the approach of the Big Drop, Ana said a little prayer, closed her eyes, gripped the handlebars until they bent and launched herself into the abyss.  I was there with the camera just in case she wanted to trying flying again.  But this time she nailed it and rode through without any issues.  By now, the sun was setting, the temperature was dropping and we were all ready to finish and go get some sushi and hot and sour soup from Red Ginger.  We finished the trail as quickly as we could and headed off to our favorite post-workout restaurant.  It’s awesome knowing that you just spent 3 hours burning 1700 calories and can go stuff your face with beer and sushi.  At least I think it’s awesome.

Training Day

On By DavidIn Gear, TrainingLeave a comment

Team Disoriented hit Eglin AFB range today for some multi-sport training.  We didn’t have time to do any canoeing so we opted for trail running and biking.  While the grandparents watched the boys, we headed out to Timberlake for a couple of hours.  Since we didn’t know the area that well, we decided to run the mountain bike trails that we would later attempt to ride.  Unfortunately, Timberlake isn’t very well marked and it was somewhat difficult knowing where we were supposed to go until we stumbled upon the Stinky Creek trail, which was emblazoned with pink markers.  It was a lot of fun to run the trails as we have mainly ran on the street during our training.  I’m pretty much like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz when it comes to flexibility so running the trails was definitely a good workout for my knees.represent

Following the 6-mile run, we decided to try some of the energy gel packs we bought before heading out on the bikes.  I’ve read that these are good to carry when doing endurance events and I wanted to try a few to find the ones we liked prior to our first major event.  On today’s menu we had: Lemon Sublime, Tri-Berry, JET Blackberry and Mandarin Orange all by Poo, I mean GU.  I can’t believe that people actually eat these things.  They have the consistency of honey and the taste of dish soap mixed with a pound of sugar.  I will say that they seemed to have worked well as I never felt fatigued during the 16 mile bike ride that followed our run.  I’m really hoping that we find a flavor or two that we like as I’m sure they work great.  We have about 8 more flavors to try…I can’t wait…really.

Poo

We finished our 16-mile dirt road ride on our new Trek bikes and I must say that they are great except for the seat, which after 5 miles felt like the seat had fallen off and I was riding on the post.  The 29-inch wheels ate up the miles with little effort and I felt like we were flying compared to our old Schwinns.  The shifts were precise, the brakes were awesome, but my bum was screaming, “Get off!”  We’ll be back at Bob’s Bicycle shop first thing on Monday to look for a granny seat.  For adventure racing, I figure it is better to be comfortable and the extra weight will be well worth it in the end (see what I did there).

After the dirt track ride, we had a little time to kill before taking the boys to soccer practice so we decided to ride the trail we had ran a couple of hours earlier.  We set off and everything was going really well but I could instantly tell that the 29er was not as nimble as the 26er that we were used to.  I think that once we get used to the bigger bikes, and trail riding in general, that the 29er will handle just as well.

Ana and I were riding through the woods and we came across this big drop off.  I make it through fine and looked back in time to see Ana doing her best Superman impression, the bike was on the ground and she’s flying through the trees with her arms outstretched.  Luckily, she didn’t hit any trees or roots.  Most importantly, the bike wasn’t hurt at all.  I’m kidding.

crash

Ana handled it really well but we were out of time to ride any more, so we packed up our pride and headed home.  We’ll be back next week with our granny seats to tackle that drop off again.

Training Day

On By DavidIn Training, VideosLeave a comment

Perhaps the most boring YouTube video to date but I wanted to play around with Google Earth in preparation of documenting the Turkey Burn AR.  This is the GPS timestamp of our training brick on Google Earth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcOiJC1eUn4

While Super Stu was out doing his 4th Tough Mudder, the rest of Team Disoriented had our first training brick in over 3 weeks.  You see, the old man blew out his Achilles tendon and hasn’t been able to run since.  It was good to get back out and be active again.  We started at 4:40PM and since it gets dark really early now, we started off canoeing because honestly canoeing up a creek in the dark kinda freaks me out.  We went 1/2 mile up Rocky Creek against the current before turning around and heading across open water to Rocky Bayou bridge.  I like to mix creek paddling with open water paddling because going against current up a narrow creek  helps us work on control of the canoe.  The first time we went up Rocky Creek we ran into at least four overhanging trees.  And do you know what likes to live in overhanging trees, big ass spiders.  Each time we ran into a tree, 3 or 4 spiders would drop into the canoe as we worked on dislodging ourselves.  Ever try dancing in a canoe to get away from big ass spiders?  It’s not easy.  Needless to say, we quickly became much better at avoiding overhanging trees.  The trip to and from the bridge was uneventful as we’ve become much better at paddling a straight line.  The first few times out we zigged and zagged across the bayou.  Using our new kayak paddles instead of canoe paddles has really made a difference in control as well as speed.

Once we finished the canoe section, we grabbed our bikes and headed to Rocky Bayou State Park to ride the trails.  I wanted to ride them at night so that we could test out our new bike lights.  Night trail riding is a lot of fun and we only crashed once.  Once we finished the trails, we were hoping to do another 10 miles of street riding but it was really dark and we don’t have tail lights yet, so we wisely cut the ride short.  Back at the transition area, we dropped off the bikes and completed the night with a 5 mile run.  In the end, not having done much in the last 3 weeks, I would say it went okay.   But, I’m a little nervous about being in condition for the 12-hour Turkey Burn AR in 27 days.

Pensacola Marathon

On By DavidIn TrainingLeave a comment

Pcola

It all started with Stu wanting to do a Tough Mudder and me absolutely refusing.  In fact, I think my exact words were, “No way in hell.” Then, he had to go and tell my wife about it and she, of course, thought it would be super cool.  So, there was no way I could refuse and retain my Man Card.

A Tough Mudder is typically 10-12 miles with 20-25 obstacles and since I had never ran more than 3 miles at once, I was in desperate need of training.  Ana had already completed a 1/2 marathon and a full marathon, plus she does P90x and Insanity on a regular basis, so she was good to go.  The only thing I do on a regular basis is drink beer.  The next thing I know, Ana has me on a training plan.  We used an abbreviated plan from the book she used for her marathons, “Four Months to a Four Hour Marathon” and trained for a 1/2 marathon.

About 2 weeks prior to the Tough Mudder, we had a long run day that was supposed to be 12 miles.  Ana calls me at work and says that since we have to run 12 miles, maybe there’s a 1/2 marathon going on nearby and we can just do it.  Come to find out, the Pensacola Marathon was going on that weekend and all of us signed up.  My goal was to complete it in under 2 hours, which I thought was respectable.  Ana and I came across at a corrected time of 01:55:20 or 8min 43sec per mile.

Pensacola Blue Angels Marathon

Stu came in slightly behind with a very respectable 02:08:01, that we blame on the chili con carne from the previous night 😉 The event was a blast, though I doubt I’ll ever run a 1/2 marathon again.