Training, Training, Training

During the school year it is very hard for me to get to the gym on a regular basis.  When I’m in season coaching (fall and spring) I generally work at least a ten hour day; much longer than that on meet days during track season.  The desire to see my family usually sees me trying to squeeze in a run during my prep period and then spending a few harried hours with the kids before they go to bed.  Ultimately, I don’t get in too many weight training workouts.  Ahh, one of the joys of summer then, is lots of free time.  I purchased a summer membership to the local gym, and said gym has a kids club, so we go three to four times a week.

When I was younger I worked in a health club and a few of the members there got me into power lifting.  I competed for about three years, and capped my career by winning the PA state championship for my weight class, as well as earning the best overall lifter award.  That was about ten years ago, and since then, very few weights have been lifted under my power.   Ah, I forgot how awesome it feels to do strength training!  I’ve only been back at it for about three weeks, but already I’m seeing gains both in strength and tone.  I never did much cardio when I lifted in the past, but this time around I’m combining 30-60 minutes of cardio into most of my lifting days, and getting longer cardio sessions in on days I don’t lift.  I”m excited to see how fit I’ll be at the end of the summer session, and to see how the training affects my performance in the two longer races I have scheduled for later this summer.  Now to figure how to keep the lifting in my schedule once school starts again in the fall…

Race Recap

Let me start by saying, the Seminole County Adventure Race (SCAR) was an absolute blast!  Bill and I were racing as team “We Blame Javan.” Information on the race promoter we have done all of our races to date with can be found at www.pangeaadventureracing.com

Adventure Racing – a race through woods and waterways looking to collect hidden “control points” along the way.  There is no set course, you’re simply given a map and a clue sheet, you use your compass and navigational skills to create your own route.  The team collecting the most CP’s in the shortest time wins.

The race was not without its non-course related challenges, however.  First, I loaded my 3 Liter pack bladder with fluids and set it down.  I picked it up about 10 minutes later and underneath was a huge puddle.  We thought maybe it just leaked out the threads of the cap so we refilled and set it down again.  Ten minutes later the bladder was down 1/3 of its content.  Fortunately we had some bottles that would both fit easily in my pack and hold the required fluids, so after a bit of a temper tantrum on my part, we were set to go.  Then, while transitioning to the bike from the canoe leg I realized that my front tire was completely flat.  As Bill had just filled it that morning, we were a bit concerned and contemplated changing the tube, but we decided to fill it and change the tube if/when we needed to during the ride.  Fortunately, it held the entire way.  Lastly, the blazing heat was a factor for all teams, but I think we handled that well.  It was about 95* for much of the race but we hydrated really well, which I believed really helped keep it from getting to us.  We were talking after the race and agreed that though we were both sweating buckets for the entire race, neither of us really felt “hot” until the very end of the trek, about 5 1/2 hours in .

In an effort to keep things short, I’ll keep the recap brief.  All teams started on the canoe leg, and it was absurdly crowded at the beginning.  We were able to collect 7 of the 8 controls, and finished in about 2:20.  From there we transitioned to the bike, and after the aforementioned tire issue, we were on our way.  I really enjoyed much of the bike route – not too much sand, lots of fun hiking trails to ride along, and challenging, but not too crazy, control placement.  There was a section of paved road a couple of miles long  that connected the two sections of forest we were searching, but that was the only part I didn’t really like.  After the bike came the trek.  We had about 1:40 to find the 8 controls in this portion of the race.  The first control we searched was a tough one as we had to bush whack through a very dense area of palmetto bushes and small trees to get to it.  I was pretty scratched up by the time we got out.  The next two were fairly uneventful, then came our big navigational error of the day.  The result was that we traipsed through about 50-75 meters of super densely pack 7ft high palmetto trees to find the CP.  Once we got to it, we realized that if we had followed the main trail another half mile or so, there was a much easier way in and out.  We found the next three controls pretty easily and then came decision time.  There was one control remaining, but it was a bit of a haul to get to it, and we only had 35 minutes to make it back.  After further consulting the map we determined that it was about a mile and a half to get the control and get back to the main TA (transition area.) We were both starting to feel the heat and were getting tired, but we figured we should be able to make it if we pushed so we went for it.  We made it back with 7 minutes to spare, finishing the entire race in 5:52:12.  When all was said and done that was good enough for 7th place out of 18 teams!

Pre-Race

Tomorrow is the big day!  My first “elite” race, with elite being about double the distance of the day’s “sport” race.  This one is short for an elite, only 6 hours, but still a bit intimidating.  The fact that its once again forecast to be 95 or so degrees with a touch of Florida humidity is not helping my anxiety. The fact that the race is only 6 hours, and not the 8 I had in my head, has helped tremendously.

Today was a very laid back day in the Dean household.  Bill and I puttered around the house for quite a while this morning getting our race gear together and organized.  I snuck in a little nap in the afternoon, and then we went for a carbo-loading family dinner to one of our new favorite restaurants.  We drove home in a torrential hail and lightening storm, then as the rains subsided got the van packed up for tomorrow.  The only things left to do are to get a good nights sleep and pack the cooler (post-race beverages are imperative) in the morning.

Oh, and I’ll be navigating 2/3 of the race tomorrow – Bill is going to take charge on the bike so that I can focus on making my legs get the peddles around.  Should be a fun day!

Getting Started

So, I’m taking the plunge and starting a blog.  I’ve decided to write about my journey into adventure racing, but this likely will become more about my journey back to being myself, finding the inner peace that comes with truly doing what you love and loving what you do.  I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few years doing things I was “supposed” to do as a mom, wife, career woman.  I’ve enjoyed it immensely, but  along the way I lost touch with the things I needed to do to take care of my core self, the athletic, competitive, nature loving part of me.  When that part of me is nourished and happy, all other things in my life seem to run more smoothly.  When that part of me is neglected, the rest of my life starts to become listless, cranky, burdened.

When Bill did his first adventure race last year I was dubious. He had so much fun, however, that he convinced me to do the next race with his team.  It was a four hour race, and at the end I was totally cooked.  I don’t think I could have paddled, peddled, or ran another foot.  I was in the midst of catching a lovely cold the kids had brought home, and I was significantly under-trained for a race of that length.  I had also had an absolute blast, and was well on my way to becoming hooked on the sport.  I mean, what could be better than biking, canoeing, and running through the woods with your buddies, looking for small orange and white flags, while competing against a bunch of other people doing the same thing?  I’ll tell you, — not much!  As soon as we finished I knew I would do another race.  I’m four races in now, set to do my fifth this weekend, and I’m starting to feel that core part of me come alive again.