After coming off an impressive win at Primal Quest Badlands this summer, Team OrionHealth.com is preparing to head to Portugal to defend the title that they took back to New Zealand last year. Team captain Wayne Oxenham spends a lot of time traveling with his day job but took a few moments to answer a few questions for us in our continuing interviews with some of the teams heading to the AR World Championship early next month.

How psyched are you to race in Portugal this year?

Wayne: I’m still very busy at work, trying to get ahead of the load before taking the next 2 weeks to race in Portugal, so haven’t had much time to get too psyched yet. I’m sure the excitement will kick in as soon as I do some packing and head to the airport. I can tell you what I’m not looking forward to … that’s 30 hours of travel to get there.

What other international races have you competed in? How are they different?

Wayne: Over the past 5 years we’ve raced in a number of different countries including Australia, Brazil, France, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, USA, UAE and China. All the races differ simply from a cultural and terrain perspective, but also from a course focus perspective, some race organisers like to have plenty of transitions and short legs, others like to send us off for days at a time on one leg. Some of the non-core sports that are included are also a key difference, with such things as camel towing, inline skating, glacier crossing, caving, open water rowing and even jigsaw puzzles.

What is your team doing to prepare for the big race?

Wayne: Making sure we’re all fit and healthy and well rested for the race, and learning how to inline skate without falling down. We’ve all got pretty good endurance bases, so just making sure we’re in good mental and physical shape for the strain the race will put us under is a key focus.

Speaking of training, do you have a coach, log your training, or use any gadgets (heart rate monitor, power meter, etc)?

Wayne: No coach, don’t enter training in a log, haven’t used a heart rate monitor for a very long time, and have never used a power meter. I like to train with good friends and I try to focus on a couple of key sessions each week. Unfortunately I travel a lot for work so can’t keep up a regular training plan, so have to be very flexible and kind of go with the flow.

Now we’re getting to the good stuff! How about footcare during a race?

Wayne: We’ve got very good shoes by New Balance and socks by Thorlos, and don’t really find our feet are a big problem. We do try to keep ‘bits’ out of our shoes and if we do feel a blister coming on we’re pretty quick to react. So fingers crossed, we can continue without any serious foot issues in Portugal.

In a longer race you’ll surely need to catch a bit of sleep; can you talk about your sleep strategy?

Wayne: Our sleep strategy will develop as the race unfolds, but generally we’ll aim for at least 2 hours per night … but ideally 3. Just depends on how important it is to be in the lead, put pressure on other teams, how the team is feeling, and strategic sections of the race that may be better to do in the day or night.

If we looked inside your race backpack in Portugal, what would be surprised to find?

Wayne: Probably too much stuff that we don’t need but carry just in case … eg. too much food that we don’t like to eat, or spare socks.

How do you stay focussed and motivated during a long race?

Wayne: Competing is motivational. Not letting my team mates down is motivational. Remembering the taste of victory from previous races is motivational. It’s really pretty easy.