New to ar: Skills and Training - Foot and Bike

By Brent Freedland

Diving into adventure racing can be intimidating since it requires a wide and somewhat unusual skillset. Bikers have to be comfortable riding trails. Runners have to be prepared to leave paths altogether and head overland, sometimes bushwhacking across technical terrain. Many new racers have very little experience on the water, and paddling in AR may require you to be comfortable on anything and everything from flat water to white-water to open-ocean kayaking.
 
If that isn’t enough, someone on your team needs to be able to navigate with enough competency to complete a course void of directional signs, ribbons, or paint. For those jumping off the cliff into an  ARWS expedition race or an event like World's Toughest Race: Eco Challenge, you might also need to learn ropes skills, mountaineering, horseback riding, rollerblading, or other more adventurous disciplines.
 
As we've suggested in previous posts, start with realistic goals. For shorter events, beginner and intermediate racers with a baseline level of fitness and skill can generally expect to cross the finish line. It may not be easy, but with the right attitude and proper expectations, even those with novice-level skills can have a good experience.
 
In this installment in our New to AR Series, we will focus on some general tips, truly meant for beginners. We will start off with two of the core disciplines in AR, and next week, we will examine the others. Remember, this isn’t intended to replace a training plan, and you will need to get out there and learn the skills, but hopefully it will give you some direction!

Photo Credit: Brent Freedland

Foot
OK, let’s start with what is arguably the most basic of the AR disciplines. Efficient foot travel in adventure racing is extremely important, and I believe people sometimes take this “skill” for granted, especially in longer events. How hard can running, jogging, or even walking be?
 
Anyone that has participated in a multi-day race knows that more experienced, efficient, and skilled teams can open-up massive leads on a foot section. Being able to move efficiently through technical terrain requires both skill and art, and just piling up the miles on a treadmill or your local trails won't necessarily translate to an adventure racing course. What should you do to better prepare for the unique challenges of adventure racing foot-travel?

• First off, spend time on your feet. Toughen them up. In most adventure races, your feet will get wet, and even if you don’t cover massive mileage, you’ll spend a fair bit of the race on your feet. Make sure they are ready for it. Running, hiking, walking: everything counts. Longer sessions are important though to help your feet get ready.
• While many adventure racers train by running, make sure you mix in some hiking as well; trekking is sometimes all the terrain will allow for. We’ve seen plenty of savvy teams finish races successfully without ever moving faster than a steady walk.
• Add a pack to your runs or hikes and practice carrying weight. Doing so will also improve your leg and core strength.
• On that note, try to squeeze in some core and upper body strength. Running fast on a local trail is great for speed, but AR isn’t a trail race. You need to carry weight, you won’t be moving as fast, and you need your core to be ready for this extra work.
• Hills. Get your hills in. Unless you are racing in the flatlands, expect hills. Lots of them. You don’t necessarily have to run the hills when preparing; hiking them will do the trick as well. And don't neglect training for descents, too. Giving your quads a good pounding on a training run will pay dividends on the race course by building strength and holding off fatigue.
• Bushwhacking. While beginner races might not require hours upon hours of off-trail travel, being comfortable moving quickly overland will pay off. No one needs to go train in a thorn bush or a thicket of mountain laurel, but you’ll encounter these obstacles with frequency in adventure races, and the more comfortable you are with off-trail travel, the more efficient you and your teammates will be. Practice identifying old trail beds or animal trails that allow for faster travel when off established trails.
• Rocks: when you leave trails, you're bound to find rocks. Be prepared for technical terrain. Find a local boulder field. Don’t shy away from rockier trails. Practice hiking or even running on uneven terrain to help improve your dexterity, strength, and speed.
• Don’t forgo speed training, especially if you are focusing on sprint races, but remember that adventure races are endurance events, and often ultra-endurance in nature. Make sure you get in some long training sessions on foot. Get in some extra hills, and try to do at least some of your training off the pavement or treadmill.
• For those starting out with more beginner-friendly races, you can expect approximately 5-10 miles of foot travel in a sprint race and roughly 10-20 in a half-day race. The mileage increases with 24-hour races and longer, though remember that the mileage may be broken up into multiple stages. You don't need to be trained to run a steady marathon to finish an adventure race, even a day-long one. If you can run 5-10 miles at a pop without killing yourself, you probably have enough of a base to at least finish beginner friendly races. You might not be competitive, and it might hurt more, but you can finish!

 

Photo Credit: Vlad Bukalo

Bike
First, no, you don’t need to buy the fanciest bike in the world. While many racers dream of the newest, lightest bike, be aware that bikes take a heavy beating in adventure racing. This isn’t a buyer’s guide for a new bike, but any bike capable of tackling dirt will do when you start out.
 
In adventure racing, you will need to be prepared for all sorts of riding. Even in a shorter race, you will likely encounter different flavors of biking. Yes, the section may be called 'mountain biking,' but AR riding can and does involve the following: paved surfaces, dirt roads, old jeep tracks, single-track trails including smooth, groomed trails and gnarly technical ones, and even sections where one simply dreams about riding the bike they are, in reality, hauling on a shoulder, shoving from behind, or throwing into a ditch. In short, be prepared for everything and anything! Here are some considerations for training: 

• Most important, all biking counts. Road riding, single track, indoor trainers. They all do the trick in helping you build endurance on the bike.
• As is true for all AR disciplines, make sure you spend quality time in the saddle. Build up your sit-bones, and try to sneak in a long ride or two each week.
• Hills are hills, regardless of whether you are on foot or bike. So, make sure you do some hill riding. Find a steep hill, a long one, or both, and do some repeats!
• Trails: Especially if you are new to AR and to mountain biking, building up your skills on the trails will change your race experience. You don’t need to master bunny hops or get comfortable dropping off a short cliff face, but you’ll want to be able to handle the typical rocks and roots that you find while trail-riding. From my experience, riding fast, smooth, flowing trails in an adventure race is an exception. More often, you will find stretches of the course that require an intermediate level of comfort with rocks, roots, and elevation. You don’t have to ride it fast, but if you end up getting on and off your bike every couple of minutes, you won’t have much fun and you may have to skip other parts of the course. It’s OK if you do, but getting comfortable on trails might be the single best thing you can do for yourself as you prepare for biking in an adventure race. You just need to make steady progress!
• Join a local mountain biking club or find some friends who ride. Getting out there with fellow mountain bikers, learning from them, and working on your skillset while trying to keep up is, perhaps, the best way to learn. If you can take a local skill-building course from an instructor, great. But just getting out and practicing with other riders goes a long way.
• Ride those trails, but mix in some long rides on pavement, too. In day-long and multi-day events, races often include long stretches of road riding to connect more interesting parts of the course or to navigate around private property. Racers who have a small armada of bikes sometimes prefer this sort of training on sleek road bikes, but I’d encourage you to ride whatever bike you will be using on race day (likely not the sleek road bike…). As I said, you want to get comfortable on all surfaces. No, you won’t cover as many miles, but that’s OK. It’s more about the time in the saddle and building fitness. You’ll do both, and I’d argue you might get a better workout on the heavier, clunkier bike with poor wind resistance than the dialed-in carbon bullet that allows you to hum along at 25-30 mph.
• When gearing up for your first race, consider that a sprint race usually includes approximately 15 miles of biking (+/-). A half-day event might include twice that amount, maybe a bit more, and your can expect 50 miles or more in a 24-hour event. Terrain and course design tend to correlate with distances. A course with significant amounts of road riding might include higher mileage on the bike, whereas those that are more rugged will have less.

​Alright! That does it for today. Check back in next week for some discussion of the other core disciplines in AR: paddling and navigation.

Other Articles in the New to AR Series:
If you haven't already, like or follow USARA's Facebook page, join the AR Discussion Group, sign up for our newsletter, or consider becoming a USARA member to stay up to date on everything AR-related. And ​stay tuned for future articles in the "New to AR" series including:

• How to Get Started
• Terminology
• Terminology - Glossary​
• Skills and Training - Paddling, Navigation, and More
• Gear
• Time to Race – Final Preparation (coming soon)​​