Experienced Adventure Racers Share Tips and Tricks
I’m just getting started in adventure racing and could use some tips and tricks before my first race.
Have you competed in or completed a 12 hour, 24 hour or longer adventure race? What wisdom can you share with me and other readers on the subject?
Please leave a comment on this post with some adventure racing advice or lessons learned that will help me and others getting started in the sport to complete and enjoy our first adventure race.
To get comments started, here’s a tip that I recently received . . . but first my bio:
36 yrs old / male / competitive swimming background, now running, biking & cross training 5-6 days per week / first 12 hour adventure race coming up this weekend.
Adventure racing tip: Know your step count for 100 meters. Keep the number low by counting only every other step (i.e. when your right foot strikes the ground). Now is know that a marker 150 meters away is about 90 steps for me.
Here are several tips from my blog of a week ago: http://www.untamedadventure.com/post/AR-Training-Building-Your-Navigation-IQ.aspx.
excerpt:
Route selection is critical in adventure racing, and when looking to get from point A to point B, a good orienteer can usually find several options. The key is knowing which route is the fastest, and this takes experience to get right. If you’re just starting out, take the most simple approach and guarantee you find point B — worry about finding point B 2 minutes faster after you’ve got a good foundation with map and compass.
Good luck and I hope you come to enjoy the sport as much as I do!
I think navigation is the most important aspect of adventure racing! Don’t ever race faster than you can navigate and be sure you know what scale you’re using on the map and match your pacing to that scale and terrain. For instance, I know I cover 1km on rough terrain in approx 10-12 minutes at a brisk walk pace.
Also, don’t overpack. For my first adventure races I brought way too much stuff and used way too large of a pack. I was using a 24 Liter pack for a 12 hour race with 100oz bladder. I now use a 18L pack with 70oz bladder for every race I do, including a 36 hour race. I have the Camelbak Octane 18X.
One more tip…wear smart wool socks…..I use Darn Tough socks and also Smart Wool brands. These socks are fairly thick, so I had to go up in a shoe size. I lost both my big toe nails one race because my shoes were too tight and we constantly had to walk down hills. I also recommend wearing lots of body glide and using some anti-chafe stuff in your socks. I like Asics Chafe-Free:
http://www.asicsamerica.com/chafefree/
Oh, one more tip…most maps they give you at a race are both waterproof and tearproof, so there is no real need to spend tons of time ensuring your map is in your carrying case exactly right…
Also be sure to consider how you’re going to filter water. I use a Katadyn Hiker Pro water filter and have it configured so I can attach the output nozzle directly to my Camelbak line….this way you can simply pump water into your bladder without having to take it out of your pack.
And the winners of the free Adventure Med Kits are Christian (@ironracer) & Grant (Untamed Adventure (@Untamed_Adv) – my expert adventure racing advisory panel – your advice was indispensable. THANKS to both of you.
I was able to incorporate both of your input to make my first adventure race a success.
Grant, unfortunately I was over 20 minutes into the swamp and knee deep when your advice came to mind. But it was exactly your input about not short-cutting between A & B just to save a few minutes that made me cut my losses and return to a known route.
I’ll contact you both soon to get your mailing address and preference on medical kits.
Great news — that’s cool about the Adv Med Kit too. Thanks! I’ll prob. have you ship it to a friend in Virginia (organizers with http://www.HRAdventure.com — a good mid-Atlantic race org to check out), as he’s coming over to our Swiss event in April.
Congrats again on a successful race and I hope you continue to enjoy the sport!
Adventure race training tips… http://www.explorecompetelive.com/2011/12/02/race-training-for-december/
- Repost from Grant’s Twitter feed (@Untamed_Adv)