Training for the first race...

Our first adventure race was something special. But let’s first talk about the training we did before it. Actually we can talk about the almost non-existent adventure race specific training we did or didn’t do before it. We knew prior to the race that there would be a mountain biking element that could range from 8-10 miles. We also knew the trail running would be 4-6 miles. We thought we would be OK with the running because we could run 4 miles without stopping …on a flat, paved surface. Now the biking…we knew we would be in a little over our heads, but that was definitely an understatement. Prior to the race we took our bikes out about 3 times, maybe. Twice on a paved surface and we probably biked 6-8 miles. We also took the bikes out once on a “trail”. I put “trail” in quotes because it was a trail for about 200 feet, then it tapered off into wooded, unmarked terrain. In the 15 mins that it took us to bike into the woods, realize there wasn’t really a trail, cross a small creek carrying our bikes, then turn around and head back out to the cars; Kristen cut her leg and was bleeding and she also managed to come in contact with poison ivy. What goes on?? That sums up our training. Although we felt poss a bit unprepared, excitement was still at an all time high.