Mongrels Adventure Racing

The Official Home of

The Mongrels
A Texas Adventure Racing Team

Training & Gear
Training

Overview:

Every person on our team has a full-time commitment outside of racing ... training time is a scarce commodity and even though there are many rigorous training programs out there, we want to share a couple of approaches that is a little more manageable for the average weekend warrior

If you want something a little more intense and time consuming, check out some of the links on our resources page

Richard's Thoughts:

Richard is busy remodeling his first home and works fairly long hours in his dayjob. In addition, he is 100% not a morning person ... so he does all his training late in the evenings and takes advantage of availability on the weekends

He used to have the goal of loosing 10 lbs, but is now in desperate need of loosing about 25 lbs (that's going the wrong direction isn't it?). Richard was in the hospital for two weeks, on an antibiotic IV for 2 months after that and not able to race or train for the better part of six months ... all because of a nasty staph infection in the spinal cavity ... getting back in shape has been hard. Richard will post some his progress over the next six months as he attempts to get back in "prime" racing shape

In the meantime, there are a couple of training hints that might help you if you're new to the sport.

The primary objective should be general aerobic conditioning. Varying the exercises you use to reach your aerobic heart rate zone is great and only helps keep you injury free. Invest in a heart rate monitor and train in that 70-80% of hear rate reserve target zone. (Heart rate reserve is calculated by substracting your resting heart rate from your maximum heart rate ... google it if you want to know more)

Second, condition your feet. You do this quite effectively once you build up your running mileage. Get on your feet for hours at a time each week ... it's really the only way.

Lastly, don't let kayaking take a backseat to the more easily accessible training options. Even if you can't get out in a kayak, there are good indoor alternatives that work quite well ... rowing on a Concept II rowing machine (Erg), supplemented with low weight, high repeat strength workouts for your shoulders work wonders

A typical training week migh be:

    Monday         - 1 hour interval spin
                        - 1 hour endurance row
                          (usually 15 km on the Erg at
                          about a 2:20 pace)

    Tuesday        - 6 mile easy run (heart rate
                          between 60-70% of max)

    Wednesday    - 3 mile easy run to the gym
                        - 1 hour strength training
                          (including at least 4 different
                          shoulder specific exercises)
                          all done in three sets of about
                          15-20 reps
                        - 1 hour fartlek row ... short
                          sprints on the Erg to 80% of
                          max heart rate with a slow
                          recovery to 60%
                        - 3 mile easy run home

    Thursday       - 1-2 hour fartlek run
                            or 1/4 mile intervals
                            or pace run

    Friday            - OFF

    Saturday       - 1 hour interval spin
                        - 1 hour strength training (like
                          Wednesday)
                        - 2 hours trail ride / road bike
                          / roller blade / climbing etc.

    Sunday         - Long run ... currently at
                          13 miles for these runs, but
                          will continue to build distance
                          until he reaches 20

    13 hours per week
    25 - 30 miles running
    15 miles rowing
    2 x strength training
    2-4 hours ride

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