I have been watching some of the threads and getting inquiries of late from friends and colleagues about snowshoeing. With the enormous amount of snow that has hit the mid-Atlantic states this season, the race staff has suggested to the participants of the Endorphin Fix that they add snowshoes to their gear list. So, we wanted to post our tips from Travis Macy (that appeared in our January 2010 issue) on snowshoeing.

Phatchicks.com, in partnership with RACEDAYRUSH, are hosting a contest where four selected participants will go through a 12 week training program in order to qualify for one of two spots on Team RACEDAYRUSH.com at Saucony RockstAR Adventure Race on July 24th 2010.

I have spent my life playing sports. A product of the American Midwest, my youth is best remembered as an athletic menagerie of freshwater lakes, kayaks, canoes, cliffs, campsites, forests and fields of grass as green as any gracing the Irish countryside.

I grew up playing organized football – the proper ‘football’, not the American bastardization of the beautiful game – basketball, tennis, golf and whatever else I could do. I have splished and splashed in a good percentage of Minnesota’s 10,000 lakes, traversed the tributaries of the mighty Mississippi and camped, climbed and competed in her pine forests for most of my life.

Do you remember the first time you crossed a finish line? Was it a Marathon, Adventure Race, or Ironman? Maybe it was crossing a finish line for a charity run? No matter what race or how long it took, you always remember the first time you crossed that line…

As AW covers the upcoming all-women off-road rally raid, the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles we decided to catch up with a team of first-time competitors to get a glimse of their perspective on this unique évent and take a look as they prepare for the unknown.

Some people talk about the weather when they have nothing else to talk about, whereas climbers and cyclists and runners and skiers, etc. talk about it all the time – as it plays a crucial role in their adventures. Weather patterns affect everything from the clothes they wear, the gear they bring, and when they head out. Recently, SLATE.COM posted an article about the Wind Chill Factor being somewhat deceptive and outdated. Apparently, for the past 60 years, the windchill factor has been grossly exaggerated, and a new “toned down” system has been created that is more accurately calibrated with the effects of the wind.

Words I here regularly around the house. My wife Paulette Kirby has joined up with Team Kayak Lake Mead for the February Patagonia Expedition Race. But we will have NO training at our house.

OK. I understand, but then what do you call last weekend?

As I tend to bike and run alone most of the time, I am always carrying my iPod but am always getting the headphone wires caught on my hydration pack or arm and pulling the ear buds from my ears. The answer came in something as simple as the Magneat. The solution is only about the size of a half dollar and gives you something to do with all of that extra wire coming from your MP3 player. I always attach my iPod to my hydration pack d-ring for easy access and by placing the Magneat near by, I am able to wrap the excess around circular piece. It attaches to your clothing via a 2 piece powerful magnetic clip that I have used with everything from shirts to cycling jackets.

My training program
As I said, I started to train for Mongolia 2010 way back in October 2008 but even before then I was always working out. I have given myself ample time to get conditioned both mentally and physically for this expedition.

I believe in taking things slowly and not overexert my body. I have measured goals that give measured challenges. I may readjust my objective as I go along to suit the body.

Physical training for the Mongolia 2010 Expedition commenced in October 2008. It’s my idea that the better I am prepared for this challenging expedition the safer and more worthwhile it will be.

Getting fit is one of the cheapest parts of my expedition – running, walking, mountain biking, pulling old car tires, yoga and lifting anything heavy is free! I also believe in spending time testing equipment, especially what I plan to use in Mongolia, and myself in cold or warm situations. Mongolia will throw some ruthless weather my way.

Krissy Moehl set a female course record as she placed first among women and 11th overall (highest ever for a female athlete) at The North Face Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc at the end of August. The race takes runners on a course that crosses through France, Italy and Switzerland.

Earlier this year, she finished second at the The Western States Endurance Run, first among women and third place overall in the Leona Divide 50-mile race in California and first place among women in the grueling Pocatello 50-mile trail run.

The Mongolia 2010 Expedition (M2010X) is the brainchild of British Adventurer Ripley Davenport. He will attempt the first recorded solo and unassisted traverse across the vast landmass of Mongolia, on foot from east to west, starting in April 2010. This effort to push the frontiers of human capabilities, challenge ecological values and inspire youth to reach beyond their perceived limits and engage their dreams.

Following a lifetime of basketball that ended when I graduated university I decided to give adventure racing a shot – seems logical right? You can thank Mark Burnett and Eco-Challenge for that. Between 1998 and 2003 I pretty much became an adventure racing addict competing in races from 36 hours to 6 days. I raced across Canada, the US and even into Brazil and Switzerland. Highlights include multiple top finishes in Canada’s toughest race, the Raid the North Extreme, winning the Raid the North Series Championships and competing in the inaugural Discovery Channel Adventure Racing World Championships.

Adam Chase will be competing in the TransRockies Run on August 23-28. On this 6-day stage race through the Colorado Rockies, up to 150 teams of two will cover 113 miles in this spectacular running experience. The TransRockies Run will take teams from Buena Vista to Beaver Creek, through the heart of the White River and San Isabel National Forests. The course includes a mix of singletrack and forest road with nearly 25,000 feet of elevation gain (reaching altitudes of over 12,500 feet). Adam has given us his 6-tips for running/preparing for such an event.

Travis Macy has seen success as a professional adventure racer and world-class trail runner and mountain biker. He grew up in Evergreen, Colorado, ran on the varsity track and cross country teams at CU-Boulder, and now lives in Golden, Colorado. He raced with Team Merrell/Zanfel Adventure Racing at Primal Quest Montana in 2008 (2nd place) and will be racing with Team Salomon/Crested Butte later this week at Primal Quest Badlands in South Dakota. Below are his 5 training tips for better performance in any adventure sport.

Five Tips:

1. The 5:00 a.m. Rule
When you make a plan for a training session, particularly those early/late/cold/wet/miserable ones, create the plan ahead of time and stick with it. Don’t wait until the moment and then decide if you’re going to do it or not.

Way to go Amy Golumbia! An impressive showing at the 2009 Canada National Trail Running Championships…next stop: The Worlds in Campodolcino, Italy, on September 3-7, 2009.. Check out her writeup of the race.

“Race day was chaotic as usual. I performed my usual routine: forgetting a pair of shoes or shorts, then spending the hour before the race madly running back and forth between the bathroom, my car, and the start line. (That actually works as pretty good warm up and certainly gets my heart rate up.)
Then it was race time.”

Well, since my last post, we’ve all been busy preparing for Primal Quest. Not only in terms of training but also getting the right gear together and planning logistics. It’s been time consuming but we’re slowly getting there. It’s amazing how after years of racing, every race requires a new piece of equipment. Our garage at home can no longer accomodate a single car. Just the way it should be!

Since my last blog, I’ve been putting some consistent training sessions with 2 notable longer ones.

Sara Outen arrived in Mauritius at 8:27PM local time to a celebratory welcome from friends and family after becoming the first (and youngest) woman to row solo across the Indian Ocean. On March 31, 2009, Outen set out from Fremantle (Western Australia) enroute to Mauritius in an attempt to become the youngest (and the only female) person to ever row across the Indian Ocean solo. The 24-year-old (celebrated her 24th birthday at sea) completed the open ocean voyage of over 3,000 miles in just 124 days.

During her journey, she experienced everything that the Indian Ocean had to offer from major storms to a rolled boat. Not to mention that she spent 4 months alone at sea rowing between 8-12 hours per day.

You may remember the story we did on Jordan Romero last year within the pages of Adventure World (he was also on the cover). Jordan is a 13-year old that has set out to climb the highest peak on every continent. He has already achieved the highest peak on 5 of the 8 (some consider Australia the continent and others consider all of Oceania as the continent…therefore, there are 8 total). His achievements thus far include Kilimanjaro (Africa), Kosciuszko (Australia), Mount McKinley (Alaska), Aconcagua (South America) and Elbrus (Europe). After they were thwarted from their most recent quest to conquer No. 6 due to political unrest in Indonesia, Jordan and team went to Mount Rainier (Washington) for a little practice for the upcoming season ahead.

This past weekend Aaron Rinn and Myself, RVG, joined a handful of other Pacific Northwest seasoned racers in the fourth annual Peterisoba. This is an underground AR that is held just out of North Bend, WA and is within 45 minutes of Downtown Seattle. A majority of the race took place on the mountains that divide the North and Middle Forks of the Snoqualmie Rivers and had up to 9,000 feet of climbing and took teams from a base elevation of 1,000 feet up to the Green Mt peak of nearly 5,500. This was exactly what both of us needed to help get us primed for PQ.

Last weekend, I did my second marathon in the mountains after doing my first a week earlier. The first which consisted of the first 26 miles of the Angeles Crest 100 ultra proved to be quite challenging to say the least. Although we only ran between 6,600′ – 9.400′, I could definitely feel the rarified air and I had a pounding headache. It seems like I don’t do well at altitude as I age! Oh, well, maybe the lack of long distrance running also played a role. In the end, we climbed over 9,000′. A good all around day and stunningly beautiful with ideal weather (it’s hard not to in Los Angeles).

So, to take advantage of the long weekend and to kick off my long distance trail running sessions, tomorrow I’m running the first 26 miles of the Angeles Crest 100 mile race course with my business partner, Christian Burke of FeedTheMachine and SportMulti, Eric Sullivan (Sully) of team Salomon / Crested Butte who is visiting from Colorado, and Sylvie my regular and fast ultra running partner.

Over the coming weeks leading up to the 2009 edition of Primal Quest, we will be following Team nuun-FeedTheMachine as they prepare for this epic event in the Badlands of South Dakota. We will discuss their gear, training, nutrition and more from one of the top teams (the team, DART-nuun, finished 4th in 2008 PQ Montana) in adventure racing.