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KERRY, IRELAND (Team Geared Up) - Last weekend Nathan Kingerlee ran an Adventure Racing training weekend in Killarney with his business OutdoorsIreland.com. In this 2-part TGU guest post series, Nathan covers his 8 top tips for adventure racers.
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1. Lightweight Equipment
Even the shortest of adventure races will take several hours. Throughout this time any weight you can save yourself from carrying will reduce your energy expenditure, reduce stress on your joints and muscles and reduce your time on the course! All of the gear used in adventure racing , bikes, boats, helmets, harnesses etc is available in various designs and models, some light, some not so light. In general lightweight materials are more expensive and less durable but the payback comes on race day.
2. Pace yourself
You must think about the length and duration of the races you intend to take part in. The longer the race the slower you go if you want to avoid burning out half way through. Put this into practice in training also. Try to do some training over similar distances and durations to the races you plan to take part in. Running 10 miles in an hour is very different from covering 50 miles in 10 hours!
3. Nutrition
During a race you must keep energy and fluid levels in your body topped up. There are hundreds of products out there, from the humble mars bar to high tech energy gels and electrolyte drinks. We all have slightly different metabolisms and tastes. You need to find what works best for you. Experiment with different products, vary the intervals you eat and drink at during training, ask others what they use. It’s not uncommon for people to try new products/approaches on a race day only to find that their stomach can’t handle it.
4. Learn about the course
If you have done loads of hill running in the Wicklow mountains you might be surprised when you arrive in the Kerry or Connemara Hills at how different the terrain is. If you know the course, or even just the region, there is no excuse for having the wrong shoes, or tyres, or boat etc. Also you should try to do some training on terrain that is similar to race conditions just to ‘get the feel of it’.
-Nathan.
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Catch tips 5 to 8 in part II tomorrow (Friday).
Learn more about these skills at Adventure Race Training with Nathan Kingerlee of Outdoors Ireland at info@outdoorsireland.com or +353 (0) 86 860 45 63.
Latest Comments (11):
errrm… has Nathan ever actually raced in an adventure race?
(1) I’ve seen loads of teams retiring from adventure races because they brought along equipment that was too lightweight for the conditions. Thats not very good advice.
(2) If you plan to take part in a 5 day race does this mean that training sessions should be 5 days long?
Featured on:
http://theadventureblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/8-tips-for-adventure-racing-part-1.html
Eoin it would be great to hear some of your tips/ secrets!
;-) Maybe you’d do a guest post for us about how to survive a 5 day race?
Fair question from Eoin all the same though!
I’d be genuinly interested to know the answer. He has a clear commercial interest in trying to establish himself as an AR expert. However I can’t recall hearing of him at any adventure race (which would account for his off kilter tips).
Over the years I’ve heard a lot of useless or even counterproductive advice and opinion given about AR, so I’d hate to see another waffler join the fray and be taken seriously, especially if his only interest in AR is to make some cash on the back of non-existant expertise.
He may well be a qualified climbing or kayaking instructer (I don’t know), which would make him an expert in those areas, but that is all it does. AR is more than the sum of its parts, but it helps to take part in the races to figure out why.
I’m emailed Nathan to alert him of this thread…
Me too, I have a very limited experience in AR racing(3 races) & even though I have a lot of experience built up over the last 25 years in some of the individual pursuits such as m’biking, running & climbing - I expect that my knowledge of AR will come through competing in lots&lots of races.
I will happily part with all this knowledge for cash(if I ever figure out the secret) - get back to me for course details in about 10 years or so!
Hi Eoin, I wouldn’t call myself an adventure race expert. I run an outdoor training company specialising in some of the disciplines found in racing, such as kayaking & abseiling. The recent course I ran wasn’t for experts like yourself but novices looking for an intro to the technical skills needed for racing, ie kayaking, abseiling, etc and also for outdoor enthusiasts looking to improve their techniques.
Regarding lightweight gear - in my opinion it’s better to pay a little more for well designed lightweight gear than be lugging heavy gear over the hills with you. Do you heavy gear is the way to go?
Regarding training sessions - if you are doing a 15km swim or a three-day mountain marathon do you not think that you should put yourself through similar conditions beforehand, both in order to develop your stamina & to learn from whatever mistakes you make, in order to be fully prepared for the real race?
I’d be delighted to offer you a 20% discount on any of my training courses if you’d like to come along and we can discuss this in more detail?
Fair play…. I reckon there are a lot of new to AR people about who are doing a first or 2nd race and have come from a running background - and all of a sudden need to learn to paddle or bike, or attach themselves to a rope to compete.
@Nathan:
I was presuming that you had expertise in one or two disciplines, since you run an outdoor training company. I’ll take it from your non-answer to my simple question, and from the nature of your other answers, that you have never competed in an adventure race.
If you confined your tips to your own areas of expertise I wouldn’t even be replying in this thread. However you are giving out tips specifically on adventure racing, an area in which you have no experience, and boy is it showing. So you seem to be trying to give the impression that you are some kind of adventure racing authority, which you clearly are not.
I would be appalled to think that novice adventure racers were paying good money to get bad advice from someone with no expertise in the subject area. Running training weekends on Kayaking or ropework, concentrating on bringing people up to the standard to allow them to compete in AR is great. I’d be delighted if AR in Ireland grew to the extent that someone could make a living doing this. However, handing out advice on areas you don’t have expertise in is crossing a line. To be perfectly frank, if someone asked me where to go for training I would be more comfortable sending them to one of the instructors who I know is not going to be handing out spurious advice.
Adventure racing is a lot more than the sum of its parts. If you actually go out and race you’ll hopefully start figuring that out for yourself.
On lightweight gear: I often go to races with two sets of gear, and choose the optimal one depending on circumstances. I have a few bits of extremely lightweight gear that I bring on races, but only if I know for sure that I won’t be using them. If you don’t understand the logic of that, then get out and race and figure it out for yourself. As I said earlier in the thread, I have seen teams pull out of races because their (expensive) lightweight gear wasn’t good enough to enable them to get through the conditions they encountered. Its very easy to beat teams that operate on the simplistic unintelligent assumptions you are handing out as advice by simply surving while they wilt.
On training: The short answer to your questions is absolutely no way would I recommend anyone to do a 3 day hike to train for a 3 day mountain marathon (or do 3 days of non-stop AR training to train for a 3 day non-stop AR). Thats just plain stupidity.
Sorry lads I was away for a few days at the end of last week
Some very interesting points brought up by both Eoin & Nathan
In the absence of any answer to Eoin’s original question I think we have no option but to give Nathan and this site the benefit of the doubt and assume that he has competed in many races and has built up the knowledge necessary to advise people of all levels on how to successfully complete an adventure race.
If this is not the case - well possibly going any further than this on the subject - would be like shooting fish in a barrel!
If there is one thing I have learned from some of the more hardened AR competitors - is don’t believe a word they tell you(especially if they give you tips midrace!!). Secrets & strategy are all part of the fun of Adventure Racing.
Looking forward to seeing you all racing this season.
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