|  As
adventure racers, we tend to focus most of our training in two categories: endurance
activities like long runs, full days of mountain biking, or distance paddling;
and skills acquisition such as learning new rope techniques, improving our ability
to read whitewater, or picking up an entirely new sport like riding a horse. Ensuring
that we have the cardiovascular stamina, muscular conditioning and basic know-how
for various race disciplines is important to our success in any AR event.
What many of us tend to neglect is speedwork. Speedwork improves the body's adaptation
to stress, promotes efficiency of movement, increases power, and can help raise
the lactate threshold. Even if you are strictly an expedition-length racer, there
are times when an all-out effort is needed to pass another team or prevent one
from passing you. But if you're like me, the last thing you want to do on a sunny
Saturday afternoon is log intervals on the local high school track.
I found my solution a few years ago, when I began entering solo single-sport races
on non-racing weekends. I now spend the occasional Saturday running a trail marathon
or doing a mountain bike race, treating them as training days.
If you're looking for a real challenge in speedwork, the three-day Jay Challenge
is ideal. Held in the Jay Peak area of Vermont, the event is comprised of a 26-mile
flatwater paddling race on day one, a mountain marathon on day two, and a 55-mile
mountain bike race on day three. Most of the participants are single-sport enthusiasts
entering only one of the three races, so the pace of each day is intense. But
a small number of people each year sign up for the full three days and travel
home on Sunday night in a state of completely satisfied exhaustion.
The marathon and mountain bike races are more than just off-road events; they're
truly adventure events. Race director Dan Desrosier's background in adventure
racing led him to create tough courses, on terrain which tends to shock the average
runner or mountain bike racer. The marathon course includes bushwacking, river
crossing, knee-deep shoe-sucking mud, and a brutal climb up Jay Peak. At one point
runners must run in a river, and one of the river crossings requires a swim. The
mountain bike course is similarly rugged, with some steep technical downhills
and another climb up Jay Peak. At a cost of $75 per
day, the registration fee is a bargain for three days of racing. And the small,
charming village of Jay, Vermont makes for an ideal weekend getaway, nice enough
to tempt a non-racing spouse to make the trip with you. For race stories and registration
information, visit www.jaychallenge.com.
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Anna DeBattiste is a freelance writer
specializing in adventure racing, and has written for Adventure Sports Magazine,
Adventure World Magazine, and Trail Runner. She has been racing for four years,
primarily in 24 - 48 hour events. She lives in Summit County, Colorado, where
she works as a ski instructor for Copper Mountain. | | 
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