Fears and doubts

I've had a reality check this morning. My brother-in-law has just had to withdraw from a long-distance trek because of exhaustion. If a fit guy has that experience, then I may well be punching above my weight.

Hearing the news has triggered more questions. How do you manage exhaustion when you're on the trail? Is food or water the key? Both? Is it something else? Clothing? Shoes? What makes the difference? What training is going to be best to prepare?

What do you do with wastes - I doubt they have conveniently placed port-a-loos along the way (all the really big questions, as you can see).

This has also come after realising yesterday that I have a long way to go to get my fitness up to peak. I did weights and boxing classes yesterday, back to back. I enjoyed them and got through them fine (incredibly sore today, mind), but what was most concerning was how shattered I was for the rest of the day. It completely wiped me out. And that was just an hour and a half. For the GeoQuest race, I will be working at that intensity in continuous intervals for two days!

Even so, I'm still stupidly keen on doing this. It's just that now I realise I have to work harder to get into condition. That's cool - fun even.

t

I shouldn't stare

Wherever I go now, I'm checking out other people's bikes. I was walking to work on Friday and a guy cycled passed on a mountain bike with custom handles, two drink bottle holders and peddle straps to hold his feet in - I have no idea of the correct term for these, though I do know they weren't cleats.

A stream of questions rolled through my mind. What racing would that set-up be best suited to? Why those handles? How would they change your seating position - how would that feel? Are the peddle straps sensible? Are they old-school? What are they really called?

So much to learn! With all of the events Melissa and I have planned for the next two months, I'm sure I'll have some of my questions answered.

This has really got me hooked.

t

The challenge

Some years ago I stumbled on to the notion of adventure racing. I didn’t know anyone involved and had never excelled in any of its disciplines, but for some reason it appealed to me. Having never been a great athlete, even less so a runner or participant in any sport requiring strong cardio, the challenge never really seemed achievable.

I moved to Perth a few years ago, and after finding my weekends a little empty I seeked out some activities. I stumbled firstly on to orienteering, then rogaining, both of which highlighted my love of maps and navigation.

These were both realistic goals to me, and I fell in love with rogaining for its strategic challenge, escapism into the bush and the bonfire and red wine finish.

I was fully intent on continuing to race once I moved back to the east coast, however I was unable to find anyone interested in joining me for a long hike through the bush for hours in search of little white and orange squares. When asking friends to join me I got the usual uninterested look and the occasional ‘isn’t that hair loss cream?’ comment.

One weekend I mentioned my little pipe dream in passing to Taryn and to my surprise she broached it with me the following week. It may have been the white wine, that Friday after work happiness buzz, or other great inspiration, but that night a mutual goal was reached, a project plan created (we do work in communications after all) and the challenge set.

We have started to train both as a team and individually and have set short term goals that we both feel are reachable. My big fear is my cardio letting the team down or holding it back when racing.

Like Taryn I feel a little overwhelmed by the challenge we have set ourselves, however reaching the ultimate goal of completing a GeoQuest race is really a strong motivating factor.

Mel

a decision

I've decided to train for an adventure race.

About a month ago I was checking my emails. A newsletter for an outdoor retailer came through and at the end was an ad for GeoQuest.

I can't say exactly why it caught my attention, but it did so I clicked through and had a look at the website. In a very bizarre/fateful/impulsive/dumb moment I decided that competing in next year's race was the challenge I needed.

Since April I had lost the drive to stick with my training, so I was looking for something that would inspire and motivate me to keep working harder. This was it.

Two nights later I was out for drinks with Melissa and I mentioned my plan. She was keen and we started making plans; we were so excited. Melissa has rogained in the past and had wanted to do something like this for some time.

GeoQuest has a half-distance race that involves two legs of mixed disciplines, like trekking, rogaining, mountain biking, kayaking, estuary swimming etc. You need a team of 4, plus a support driver.

I need to learn a few important things, like how to mountain-bike (in fact, I need to buy a mountain bike and get used to wearing a helmet and having scary hair every time I remove it!), but I'll get there.

We've set an interim goal of competing in some smaller events in August and have planned regular sessions to build fitness and skills.

I'm so excited about it, but kind of overwhelmed by the size of the goal. What keeps me excited is how amazing it will be to look back over the year, at all the new things I will have introduced to my life.

taryn