Training Log for Sept 7, 2008

This was our last team training leading up to the UntamedVA race.  We had hurricane (literally) rans on Saturday soaking everything for the next several days so we had to restrict our ride to roads.  Luckily there are pleanty of hilly roads on the south side of Baltimore.  After an hour of riding, for some reason I thought a hike a bike would be a good idea.  Mike suggested a steep gravel road leading up to telephone towers within Patapsco Valley State Park.  It was a nice push up the road and once at the top Mike said the next hill over had a great view, so of course we had to go check it out.  After wiggling around a bit on very brief single track (don't worry we didn't kill any trails, no one ever rides where we were) and more fire road we get to the view.  Mike was right it was great, perfect adventure racing view; rock outcrops, steep hills vegetated with a variety of biota and a forested back drop.  After taking in the view we bushwacked down back to the road and banged out another hour.  Nothing too much for this training; the taper has begun.  Race day is soon and I am excited to see how our preparations payoff and what Grant can throw at us!

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Training Log for September 1st.

ARMD took advantage of the Labor Day holiday by riding, running, and even a little paddling.  The paddling was done strickly as a time trial to figure out our speed differences between 2 in a canoe, 1 in a kayak and 3 in the canoe.  We've decide that 3 in the canoe is the way for use to go.  The only tricky thing is that leaves us a little wobbly and I hope the rapids are minimum.  Last year's canoe section in the UntamedVA left some definite impressions on pushing the canoe's limits and hopefully the rapids will be less severe to keep us afloat.  Keep an eye on us for dumps; though I'm hoping that's not the case!

After establishing our paddling choice we were on bikes for 2.75hrs in Patapsco Valley State Park, one of the best parks around for serious mountain biking.  We are hitting the single track hard to get Greg up to speed on his technical skills for our 13 miles in the UntamedVA.  Check out the pics to see if we all made it over a few obstacles.  After the bike session we laced up the runners and went for a solid 1+ hr trail run, scaling many of Patapsco's hillsides. 

We'll do one more team session next week as our last training prior to the race. Next week's will bring down the duration and just get us together as a team for some last training and teasing. 

Kathy,

Be ARMD

 

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8/16 and 8/17

 

Greg and I managed to get out on Saturday for some bike and run training.  Right from the start, we ran into mechanical problems as Greg hit his brake rotor on a log and made a very nice pretzel.  Rather than wasting the nice weather running to the local bike shop, we used the materials at hand (read big stick) and managed to make it almost straight again.  I figured if nothing else it would be good training resistance.  Little did I realize it would make nice a cooking aroma when we went down large hills fast!

 

After we rode for a while, we ditched the bikes and went for a trail run.  Nothing real long, only about 3 miles or so, as we were starting to run out of time.  Then back on bikes to finish the training day.

 

Sunday Greg and I decided to get out and do some paddling.  Since he lives in Annapolis, and I had never paddled there, it sounded like a great idea.  On the drive down, as I was getting blown all over the road, I started to wonder about our sanity.  As we must both be very stubborn, we went anyway.  The wind and waves were great fun, especially the Sever River Rodeo as Greg calls it!  I have never managed to plug my kayak into a wave far enough for it to come all the way into the cockpit until this paddle.  Of course, neither of us had a bailing device.  Just more training weight!  However, Greg’s boat just seemed to have lots of water in it for some reason.  We didn’t find out until the end of the paddle that his drain plug was completely removed, which allowed a lot of water into his boat.  And I thought I had it rough!  It’s a good thing he is a strong paddler.  

 

We ended up cruising the Annapolis dock area at the completion of the paddle.  There were lots of good food scents there!  We ended up with about 10 miles of paddling, not too bad.  I definitely have to go back there and paddle in those big waves again though.  Talk about a blast!

 

Mike

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After being foiled by thunderstorms that disappeared before they actually rained on us Greg and I finally got out to do some mid-week training.  We ended up doing some road riding on our mountain bikes.  Since we were both limited by time, we maximized our training by doing some hill repeats.  We chose a hill not too far from my house and basically sprinted up the hill as quickly as we could in order to make a small hill as nasty as possible.  The goal was to get as many repetitions as possible.  We ended up doing four repeats before the temperature and darkness caused us to call it quits.  Not too bad, as it was after a long day of work.

Saturday, Greg and I needed to get out and do a long training event.  Unfortunately, Kathy had an excuse (putting in a new kitchen floor).  I suppose you could consider that a type of cross training, but I would much rather be outside getting beat-up that inside any day.  The rain finally came down hard on Friday night, making sort of a mess of the trails.  So Greg and I decided to do some trail running instead.  We ended up doing about 6 miles before it was my turn to call it quits due to time.  Just a nice run in the park.  I think we both would have liked to go for a lot more miles, but that time thing causes issues.  

Next weekend we are going to make up for the lack of training that we did this weekend.  There is a local trail race (5.5 or 11 miles) that we are going to run, maybe with full packs just to make it even more enjoyable, and then get out and do some paddling.  Should be fun!

Mike

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I am very pleased to be racing the Untamed Virginia again this year.  I raced it last year with a group of friends from my old stomping grounds (they came in from Chicago!), but this year with the formation of my own training and racing club, Adventure Racing Maryland (ARMD), I am bringing a new team for this great race.   We will be racing as a three person co-ed team.  We will be training in the greater Baltimore area as we prepare for the race on September 13-14, 2008.   I will be racing with frequent teammate Mike Stasiowski who will be navigating for us.  Mike brings years of racing and navigation experience to the team with a consistently upbeat attitude.  Though I’ve raced and trained with Mike several times, this will be the first race with him where he’ll lead up the navigation.  My other teammate is Greg Care.  Greg is a fairly new participant to adventure racing, but has proven he can go the distance with 24 hr races.  This will be my first race with Greg, but he’s big and strong and I’m hoping he’ll be a great mule!  We all need a great mule, and besides he’s got great legs!  Sorry folks he’s taken.  Then there is me, I’ve been racing for over 5 years and plan to race hard and strong with my fellas as we compete in the UntamedVA.  

Our first training as a team starts this week.  We’ll be plugging away for the next month and a half as we work to become a unit.  First session, towing, let’s get that mule hooked up!!!!  I have to get up the hill some how, right!  As we prepare for the race we’ll let you know how things are going through the UntamedVA site.  You are also welcome to check out our group’s website at http://adventureracingmaryland.com.  

Kathy Hoverman

ARMD co-founder

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