To follow on form Part 1....As mentioned during training, many athletes just tend to focus on the traditional disciplines of adventure racing, so why not consider incorporating some of these additional activities into your sessions just for a bit of fun or use these in recovery sessions from time to time throughout the season. You just never know when you might need these skills along with your navigation practice!
There are 11 Components of fitness which can be divided into two areas:- Part 1 outlined Health Related Fitness including Body Composition, Cardio-respiratory Fitness, Flexibility, Muscular Endurance, Muscular Strength.
This section focuses on and Skill Related Fitness - Agility, Balance, Co-ordination, Power, Reaction Time, Speed)
Skill Related Fitness
Skill related fitness components are the components of fitness that we can use to get that edge
over our competitors, or when combined with health related fitness components
improve our performance or enable us to be efficient at the disciplines and
skills of adventure racing. Most of
these can complement functional strength activities and can be incorporated
into existing sessions.
Speed
This can
be developed through HITT training (High Intensity Interval Training) and has its place in adventure racing. You
should try to include at least one speed session per week, but this does not
have to be across each discipline. Speed work can be included when doing drills
technique work and should have long periods of rest in between intervals to
allow for optimal recovery. Participating in short adventure races are also great for developing speed as you only spend a small amount of time on each discipline, thus maximizing your speed.
Power
Explosive
strength, a combination of strength and speed. Incorporating activities that
are dynamic and explosive helps to improve power. You develop this naturally when mountain
biking (as when you need that little bust of energy to get through a technical
short, sharp climb) , running (coasteering/rock hopping is a form of
plyometrics) and paddling (paddling out
through a breaking wave, explosive starts from a stationary position) and can
be incorporated into skills /technique sessions (jumping, skipping, hopping,
bounding using body weight / extra resistance)
Balance
The key
to good technique in all disciplines – running, mountain biking and paddling and
is achieved through developing good core strength and functional strength.
Resistance activities that use your own body weight and require your body to
move through a range of motions whilst moving from conditions of more stability
to less stability help you to recruit your core first and then secondary
stability muscles, improving technique and balance.
Another key to good form and technique in the disciplines of
Adventure Racing, as without this you will lose power, and momentum and end up
using far more energy than you really need to. Drills can be practiced on the
bike, paddling as well as running, and should be incorporated into your weekly
sessions, whether they be during a warm up or at the end of a session. Vision
has a lot to do with co-ordination as well, so making sure you are looking in
the right place at the right time is always a handy tip!
Agility &
Reaction Time
In adventure racing this is the ability to change direction
quickly and make quick decisions fast and take evasive action. We develop these
skills naturally running off track, mountain biking technical single track, and paddling in moving
water, climbing and rock hopping . We
learn to react and adapt to the conditions we are faced with, so breaking the skills
down and testing yourself in challenging environments is a great way to improve
agility and reaction time and will ultimately improve performance.
So the bottom line is you don’t have to spend hours in a gym
getting fit for adventure racing. By getting out and being adventurous with
your training you can develop all areas of fitness, and be prepared for
anything that may be thrown at you. So if you don’t do adventure racing
already, what a great way to develop your fitness and the bonus is that you are
in fresh air, using your own energy to power equipment you are using, you
experience beautiful locations and your training becomes a journey and not a
chore!
