RACE REPORT: The Fig VII

Joe R wrote a quick "race report" on his very first adventure race earlier this month. Tackling a 12-hour as your cherry-popper is pretty aggressive...but that's what Joe and his race partner Brad signed up for. The Red River Gorge American Classic AR in Kentucky is nicknamed "The Fig." Read Joe's tale below about how The Fig treated him during the 60 miles.

The race was brutal. Reading how others reviewed it and people's reactions after the race, I don't think I was the only one to think this. It was too long, too difficult, and the trails were too tough to complete in the allotted time. The lady who coordinated the race seemed a little overwhelmed, and I don't think she had anyone run the course before we did it.

First Leg - Trekking (7.5hrs)

This was all done through the Appalachians in Eastern KY, so needless to say the ups and downs through the hills were tough, but it was fun. We made it to the rappel portion (180ft) which I've never done. We get there and there was probably 40 racers waiting to rappel. We find out there was a lady stuck halfway down because the rope got caught in her hair. The rope ended up getting embedded in her head. Someone had to rappel down next to her, cut the rope off, hook her up to a new line, and lower her down. There was blood everywhere. We ended up saying, "F it," and walked down a steep path right near the rappel. Turns out that was a good decision because the wait turned into two hours, and the people who waited didn't have enough time to finish the race. When we got to the bottom we saw the girl getting loaded into the ambulance. We then finished the trekking portion. We all ran out of water about 5hrs into it, so we went 2.5hrs without water.

Second Leg - Bike (5.5hrs)

Got to the transition area and tried to rehydrate and eat something. At this point I was already beat. It was 3:30pm, maybe a bit later by the time we got on the bike. Right off the bat on the bike we had to go up this endless paved hill, the majority of it walking our bikes. This did provide for a great downhill. We did about ten miles on paved roads before we went off-roading. When we got to the second bike Check Point (still on Paved roads) my legs completely cramped up. I stopped and was yelling for my teammates. Luckily they heard me and came back. They came back to me standing up over my bike not being able to bend my legs. I was freaking out. Brad took my seat off my bike and rolled the bike between my legs. I stood in the middle of the road for about 5-10mins chugging water and taking a couple of potassium pills to help cramping. My legs finally loosened up, but they continued to bother me for the rest of the race. Once my legs loosened up, I jumped back on the bike, and we entered into the trails.

As you can see from the picture (above) the majority of the trails were not rideable. It sucked. Also in the trails were a bunch of toothless hillbillies that were drinking and driving these dune buggies. They were all laughing at us and asking us what the hell we were doing. At this point its getting to be almost 5:30pm and the sun is setting. We feel that we may be lost and we met up with about three other racing teams. We all agreed to stick together and not leave anyone behind because it was getting even darker. We also agreed to say, "F any more CPs, and get the hell out of the woods." None of us wanted to get raped in the woods. We finally made it to a paved street and stopped at this lady's house. She let us fill up on water and gave us directions back to the finish area of the race...which was about 12-15 miles away. It was brutal. When we were about a mile away, we stopped at this pizza shop and bought a large pizza and ate it in about 2 minutes. Then finished the race. Most of the people there were amazed that we even made it back to the finish line. For the few that did say they made it to the Canoe portion, they said the water level was too low. They had to stop and exit the canoe and carry it at multiple areas throughout.

I have never been so tired in my life.

• Water: I underestimated how much water I would need and consume (close to 10Ls and it still was not nearly enough).
• Food: I thought we brought a lot but it wasn't nearly enough.
• Electrolytes and anti-cramping pills: those will be a must for my next race.

It was fun, but next time I think I will stick to the 6-8hr races. A 13.5hr race through very rough terrain for my first one was not a good idea.

Joe

I love this stuff!! Any ARers out there who read this will certainly appreciate it too. We've all been there Joe! Reading this makes me want to race this weekend!!

Adventure race training...running.

I've been doing some race-specific training. In preparation for an adventure race, my pack and I have been sharing quality time on the trails. My pack weighs in at about 30#, bringing my total weight to 265-270#. The above photo is from the Midwest Monster AR in Quincy, IL. The pack is a CamelBak Transformer. I really like the set up, including the waist strap, chest strap, pocket design, cargo size, and ergonomic shape of the back. The extra load obviously affects not only speed, but the impact on joints. Some racers who do not train "under load" find their arms and hands going numb during the race!!

Here are my last two trail runs:

• 8.1-mile Yellow Loop
• Swallow Cliff FP, Cook County
• Ran it CCW
• 1:30:30 total, for 11:10/mi pace
• 
  
• 9.5-mile loop
• Waterfall Glen FP, DuPage County
• Ran it CW
• 1:47:23 total, for 11:18/mi pace
• NOTE: Dreaded uphill btwn 5 and 4 markers = 12:23

To get in the desired weekly mileage, my other workouts suffer. I find myself teetering on that fine line of finding my limit and overtraining. With a race approaching, I cannot afford an injury. I've been injury free for many races now...mostly I attribute to the reduction of my other General Physical Prep (GPP) style workout sessions. As the mileage in any given run rises (up to 16-18 miles?) so does the time required to complete it. I expect my bodyweight to drop, which is a good thing for this clydesdale adventure racer!

I have plans to train with a US Navy nurse who is running a team endurance event. Allison G is heading up a team of four naval officers that has to carry a single 40# pack over 14 miles (trading it off along the course). That's in addition to a ton of other events such as rope climbing and team pushups. I'll be muling a pack with her on some trail runs.

the Adventure Racing bug...

So I got a couple of emails today from friends who want to break into the world of adventure racing. Awesome!!

So I got all excited thinking about the 2009 season of ARs.  Even with all the snow outside right now...I'm feverishly searching all my favorite AR websites to select a few races to propose to my teammates, The Sloppy Hogs.

The best quote of the video: "There really isn't a trail there until you make it. That's what's exciting about it."

Click here for some of my other posts about ARs.

Sloppy Hogs - Midwest Monster Race report

Another race....more poison ivy. Seems to be the surest bet around these days.

The Sloppy Hogs participated in yet another adventure race: The Midwest Monster. The Monster is a great annual race held in Quincy, IL, each September. It funds the Quincy Regional Crimestoppers program. And this was the third time Brian and I participated. This was, however, the first time we registered as a 2-person team rather than a 4-person co-ed team. We also made the trip down to Quincy with two other Chicagoland teams, the "Fat Kidz" and the "Kettlebell Mafia" both who train out of a local gym, CrossFit Tri-Cities.

The exact course and components are kept a secret until race day. It proved to be 39+ miles of biking, 10+ miles of running/trekking, 2 miles of carrying a 40lb sandbag (each), kayaking around a lake, running through a flooded creek for 1.5 miles, navigating a dense forest, and a variety of agility and strength obstacles. Each of the disciplines was broken up to no more than 5 miles of running or 6-8 miles of biking at a stretch.

Yet again I ran out of water and food. It's a painful lesson I'm forced to learn again each year. One of these days I'll actually remember to pack enough food and water in my CamelBak backpack to last. So with the mild dehydration, the physical exertion, and realization of how far we were from the next transition point (with our staged food and water)...I did what anyone would do: turn into a whiny bitch.

Brian kicked some major butt while getting us through the LandNav portion of the race. His compass reading and pace count was right-on for each of the orienteering points we had to locate in the forest. He also dished out a statement early in race that kept me going strong, "If it were easy, everyone would be doing it." That motivated me into digging deep for those extra bursts of energy.

The mountain biking was probably the most challenging. A lot of the late-race off-road course was on a sandy river bank...totally unmountable. Also, I couldn't believe how many fallen trees were across the trails. These were mostly trees that I would normally jump or ride over. But late in the race, I did not have the power or coordination to time any jumps or techniques....other than the old standby: get off and carry the bike over or through the obstacle. My odometer said 39-point-something miles, but that didn't account for all the distance I carried that bike on my shoulder!!

After 9 hours and 48 minutes of non-stop action, we crossed the finish line. As always, it was a great race. It keeps getting better each year. Well, except for that damn poison ivy I seem to find my way into!

This was my last endurance event for the season, so I get to alter my training schedule a tad. My plans are to:

• finish the 100 Day Burpee Challenge,
• add more functional weightlifting and gymnastics sessions through Oct 12th,
• more stair workouts,
• limit the distance running and mountain biking,
• do shorter, more intense interval and sprint runs,
• and wait for the October 13th start of the now-famous 30-day Prison Workout.

That seems like a pretty solid plan for the rest of Fall 2008. That will bring me into the cold months....any ideas? You know I'm already thinking of skyscraper stair races....

Adventure Racing

The below passage is a reprint of a column published in the December 2007 issue of the STRIKE Tactical Newsletter. This is a timely article, since the Sloppy Hogs are participating in the Midwest Monster Adventure Race this month.

In recent years, marathoners and triathletes alike have been following a trend into adventure racing. I’m sure those athletes chased the same attraction I did when I began adventure racing…the adventure. And if adventure racing is new to you, maybe you’ll see the same lure. It doesn’t take long to realize racing does not build character. It reveals it. And the fabric of Mind, Body, and Spirit shall be exposed for all to see. Even as a weekend hobby, the lessons along the way may help you in your tactical career as well.

Adventure racing falls into the category of “multi-sporting.” Teams of two to four racers take on challenges of mountain biking, trail running, orienteering or navigation through dense forest, a ropes course, paddling, and a laundry list of obstacles and tasks. The race lengths range from Sprint (under 6 hours), 12-hour, 24-hour, to Expedition (72-hour). All members do the entire course, with many races requiring teams keep members within 100 yards of each other. Lastly, teams must carry all the required equipment like packs, first aid kits, water, navigation tools, dry bags, and the sort.

Some typical 12-hour races include 20-30 miles of mountain biking, 10-15 miles of running, a couple miles of canoeing or kayaking, and completing mystery events along the way. Some of the unorthodox events I have done include carrying a 40-pound sandbag for two miles, zip-lines, human wheelbarrow races, shooting archery, and agility courses. Teams are issued “passports” which are punched at various stations to ensure the team passed through all the checkpoints. And oh yeah, most of the racecourses aren’t even marked! You need to pre-plot checkpoints on the supplied maps and find your way with a compass. Sound like fun yet?

There’s a huge spirit among fellow racing teams. One rule in most races is this: you can only accept help from other teams, not outsiders. You wouldn’t believe the help another team will offer you when you’re in need. Whether you need assistance fixing a bike or begging for food or water, teams express an unparalleled sense of sympathy. Everyone realizes the tables can turn, maybe in the next race or in as little as five or ten miles up the trail. What goes around comes around.

Physical training for these races is obviously critical. The human body must be ready for a grueling day(s). Workouts must include combinations of running and biking, or running and paddling (mirroring triathlon brick sessions). You need not be a master of all disciplines, but you better be a jack-of-all-trades. Some races will only announce approximate distances and give no order to events, leading the participants to prepare for anything in any order. The adventure begins sooner than you think, sometimes months before! While endurance is the name of the game, peak physical conditioning is only one segment of preparation.

Logistical readiness sets teams apart. What foods and nutritional supplements do I eat during the race? What changes of clothes or shoes should I have? Do I have all the tools and material to fix broken equipment along the way? How will I patch up my injuries along the course? How many fresh batteries for the headlamps? Planning for these contingencies proves valuable. Rolling the dice on whether to bring along a spare bicycle tube is the sure path to failure. An old military saying is, “Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.” Rhodesian Tracker Combat Unit member and author David Scott-Donelan adds, “If you take it, you have to carry it.” Some equipment is mandatory. For the other stuff, team members must find that balance between preparation and wasted bulk. It’s not always an easy compromise. I’d rather run ten miles with a light pack, than a heavy one….but I also need to make sure I have all the right stuff along the way.

A frequent misunderstanding is that adventure racing is done by individuals next to each other. Wrong. It is done by TEAMS. There is a difference. Teams win together. Teams get lost, and passed by faster teams together. Teams get bogged down by a leg cramp together. Teams argue about their position on a map together. Teams share food and water, and treat cuts and scrapes, and tackle obstacle courses together. When racers are fatigued and malnourished (AKA “bonked”), and then get lost, stressed, and panicked, conflict rises and arguments happen. Teammates must be sympathetic and work through disagreement to get back on track, both literally and figuratively. Leaders must take charge. Staying focused and mitigating disagreements among the team is absolutely necessary to complete the course. I once saw a husband-wife team get disqualified after the wife was arrested mid-race for domestic battery at a gear staging area! Tempers must be controlled for a team to be successful. Racers must stay calm amidst confusion, and remain positive and encouraging with struggling teammates.

Some racers find the biggest challenge in the navigation and orienteering. The more members on your team that firmly grasp the principles of topography, dead-reckoning, UTM grid coordinates, azimuths, pace, and resection…the better. A team full of Olympic-caliber endurance athletes might be in peak physical fitness, but they’ll fail if they can’t navigate through the course, locate the checkpoints, and stay motivated. The mental side of using a compass, a map, and navigation techniques must not be overlooked. During training, do not sacrifice orienteering practice for the sake of physical conditioning. I remember pointing a lost team in the right direction, and receiving thanks from crying team members. But not as vividly as I recall the disappointment I felt in myself for yelling at my partner one race when we found ourselves completely lost in the woods. Navigation can make or break teams, as it’s usually the most frequent reason for quitting or disqualification.

Maybe you have found yourself a bit bored with some of the monotonous running or biking races you’ve been doing. I have learned many lessons from adventure racing. The navigational skills alone have been extremely helpful when drilling with my SWAT team in rural and wooded searches. I now have a much better understanding of my body’s nutritional needs during both shorter and longer endurance races. At work, I can better prepare myself for the hunger and thirst that comes with extended SWAT missions. Through racing, I have experienced the pitfalls of allowing fatigue, stress, and panic to seep into disagreements with teammates. My appreciation of a positive attitude and encouragement hopefully helps me to grow in my leadership position within SWAT. Logistical planning (such as supply, equipment-staging, and problem foresight) has helped me identify potential obstacles during tactical missions. Lastly, I have experienced increases in physical fitness, endurance, strength, coordination, and agility by training for adventure races. Those are tough benefits to argue against!

Mind: Know your equipment, how to troubleshoot it, and fix it. Understand how to orienteer and navigate through tough terrain. Plan accordingly.

Body: Attain peak physical fitness. Experiment with various combinations of food and liquids. Know your body’s limits. Avoid injury, and learn how to treat them.

Spirit: Stay calm. There’s more honor in helping one in need than winning the race. When the morale is low, and the discouragement is high, remind yourselves how the finish line feels.

During the last ten minutes of a recent grueling eleven-hour-plus race, I recall saying to my teammates, “Nothing can stop me right now. If scientists could bottle up the natural chemicals flowing through my bloodstream this minute, I’d be unstoppable forever!” It wasn’t the first nor the last time I’d felt that invincibility in my veins. The reality is that those chemicals are waiting in reserve for the right times to come out. For those of you who have experienced it, it’s unbelievable, isn’t it? I’m not sure how long that burst of energy would have lasted, but I ran faster in those ten minutes than probably ever! But to get me to that point just ten minutes from the finish line took a lot…a lot of teamwork, preparation, prayer, know-how, Gatorade, physical endurance, belief, leadership. And in the months before the race, I trained and trained.

I’m always looking for new racing teammates. Look me up. I’m up for a new challenge. But I’m warning you: I race outside my comfort zone.