What is the Kathmandu Adventure Race?
An off road adventure race – rough and hilly terrain - Lysterfield National Park
teams of 2
mountain biking
trail running
kayaking
navigation
Course and distances for each leg are unknown until the morning of the race
Expected race time – 3-6hrs
What made me do it?
Not sure...brain fart? Saw it online, and stopped and thought for a moment who would be willing to be the other half of my pair....none of my mates are that crazy. Id been chatting to a chick Meleah at the tri club bout mountain biking...she seemed fit and adventurous....wasnt sure bout the crazy bit though! Dropped her an email....thinking that na, we were almost strangers, she prob wouldn’t be keen...seriously within about 5 mins, i got the “Hell yeah!” response!
Holy crap, wasn’t expecting that, seems shes crazy too....god, what had i gotten myself into??!!
Training:
So I had 6 weeks to get adventure race fit....did I mention i like challenges?
First thing was to get faster on the mountain bike. Popping out to Lysterfield weeknights after work (dodging roos on the trails), as well as weekends certainly helped....but the biggest improvement happened when i did 1 thing and 1 thing only....wait for it....this is a bit like those internet ads....”Click here to discover the 1 secret way to LOSE WEIGHT FOR LIFE/ENLARGE YOUR MANHOOD/EARN $10,000 A DAY.”
But no, I wont make you sign your first born over....Ill tell you for free! Yes....I increased my cadence! For those who don’t know, cadence is pedal speed. The higher your cadence, the more work your cardio system does, rather than your legs. Your cardio system can go for a whole lot longer that your legs can, particularly if you are killing them with a heavy gear! Yes, to start with, i did spend ride after ride bouncing around on the seat like a barbie doll in a spin class with no resistance (and squealing out “I feel like a nuffy!”)
But before i knew it, I had the feel for the right cadence, and I was flyyyyyyiiiinnnnnggg! As an aside, trees creep up much quicker the faster you go! Hehe!
Training:
So I had 6 weeks to get adventure race fit....did I mention i like challenges?
First thing was to get faster on the mountain bike. Popping out to Lysterfield weeknights after work (dodging roos on the trails), as well as weekends certainly helped....but the biggest improvement happened when i did 1 thing and 1 thing only....wait for it....this is a bit like those internet ads....”Click here to discover the 1 secret way to LOSE WEIGHT FOR LIFE/ENLARGE YOUR MANHOOD/EARN $10,000 A DAY.”
But no, I wont make you sign your first born over....Ill tell you for free! Yes....I increased my cadence! For those who don’t know, cadence is pedal speed. The higher your cadence, the more work your cardio system does, rather than your legs. Your cardio system can go for a whole lot longer that your legs can, particularly if you are killing them with a heavy gear! Yes, to start with, i did spend ride after ride bouncing around on the seat like a barbie doll in a spin class with no resistance (and squealing out “I feel like a nuffy!”)
But before i knew it, I had the feel for the right cadence, and I was flyyyyyyiiiinnnnnggg! As an aside, trees creep up much quicker the faster you go! Hehe!
Next I thought Id better learn to kayak....having never done it before, I hired what can only be described as a 2 person sit on top tabletop, I found my river legs, and felt like Id been doing it for years down the Anglesea River...then i turned into the current! Doh!
But just in case that wasn’t challenging enough, my mate decided I should take the tabletop into the charging surf.. by myself. Between you and I, I think he just wanted some entertainment! And boy did he get it!! Trying to get that slab of plastic out through the surf, THEN trying to get on the thing...hahaha! I lost count of the number of times it chocked me in the head, and how many times I was dumped unceremoniously into the surging waves. At one point I was stuck under the damn thing, gasping for air, convinced i was going to drown underneath that bloody fluorescent yellow implement of torture! God I was glad the kayak leg of the race was on a lake!
But just in case that wasn’t challenging enough, my mate decided I should take the tabletop into the charging surf.. by myself. Between you and I, I think he just wanted some entertainment! And boy did he get it!! Trying to get that slab of plastic out through the surf, THEN trying to get on the thing...hahaha! I lost count of the number of times it chocked me in the head, and how many times I was dumped unceremoniously into the surging waves. At one point I was stuck under the damn thing, gasping for air, convinced i was going to drown underneath that bloody fluorescent yellow implement of torture! God I was glad the kayak leg of the race was on a lake!
Lessons Learnt in the kayak:
- Manouvering the kayak sideways into the waves guarantees getting dumped in a spectacular fashion!
- You don’t notice the 12 degree temperature of of ocean when you are trying to avoid death!
- A helmet in the surf is MANDATORY! I also highly recommend body armour....
- Never trust boys who say “C’mon, it will be fun”!!!
And last, but by no means least....there was running training. To be honest, I simply buried my head in the sand, and hoped that the running would take care of itself! Oh I did do the 10k Melbourne Marathon event, some small 5km and fartlek sessions, and I even ran into work with my backpack on once! But coming off a recent “I fell down a volcano in Bali” knee injury, I was hesitant to push it too much. Thats my excuse and im sticking to it!
As you can see, I was super prepared for the race....well for the bike leg at least.....1 out of 3 aint bad.....
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