The Longest Day and other trainings

With Untamed New England around the corner we are using every possibility to get ready for this brutal race. Last weekend part of the team that didn't go to Wild and Wonderful, spent long day and night in Catskill mountains. Marcy did perfect navigation job and prepared the most detailed race report. We used the same gear we will use at Untamed new England and it was the last big test for our gear and body.

Yesterday was another good training day:
Packraft upstream along islands of Potomac: (run, unpack, inflate, paddle, deflate, pack) x 2 + 3 hours bushwhacking with packraft, PFDs, paddles and all other gear + 30 miles of biking including 5 miles of technical single track. Biking was also with packraft, PFDs, paddles and all other gear, because you never know what to expect at Untamed NE race. In the process Druce learned that stingy nettle grass is the national Russian tree.

Superbowl weekend training

Tamir, Alex and Nick joined the A-List morning ride at difficult run and met Dima's race partner from several races last year, Michelle Faucher. While the A-listers headed off for pancakes, we decided to continue on and rode the trails into Great Falls. Great day for riding and a much needed stop at Trader Joe's for chocolate and beer on the way home! (6 pounds of dark chocolate should last a few weeks. The beer a night or two.)


At the same time Dima and Stephanie have been running at the Maryland side of the river. 15 miles of the Greenway trail was a good training for the next month Greenway 50k run.



Everything went pretty smooth until we lost the new unmarked section of the trail and had to include a little bit of adventure racing into our run:

Patapsco Valley Park training.

Michelle Faucher from teamhalfwaythere.com put a nice training session this Saturday in Patapsco park. Three hours of fast riding at the first day of summer were a lot of fun and excitement:

Dima was a camera man this time and made this 3 minutes video from the three hours of riding.
Enjoy "First Day of Summer" starring Jared Macary and Michelle Faucher:

Slick Rocks and 9000 feet of elevation.

We're in Moab! Yesterday we went up to 9000 feet for altitude acclimatization. It's snow up there and La Sal Mountains in the background:

Today we spent a few hours riding Slick Rocks. There is no such thing on the east coast:

Race check-in is in one hour. I am going to get in line.
Dima, Vlad Red Cliffs Lodge.

Off to race in Moab!

Odyssey Finale results are out long time ago, but we had no time to put an update. Dima raced solo and finished 3rd in solo and 4th overall.

The final O-course of this race was extreme and sadistic experience and almost cost severe injury to Dima. But everything is recovered now and tomorrow Dima and Vlad are going west to Moab, UT for Checkpoint Tracker National Championship. Dima will race and Vlad will provide support and photo coverage. Click "Live Updates" tab to follow team Calleva and don't forget to send your Shout-outs from "Shout Box" tab. The race starts Friday 8 am.

Dima's uneasy choice.

There are two races this weekend: NYARA SHAG and Hampton Roads Tidewater Traverse. Both races start at dark and are 16-18 hours long. Both are in a modified rogaine format and have the same disciplines. Even registration fee are almost the same. Shag provides kayaks for all racers and it's nice compare to almost unrestricted personal kayaks of Tidewater Traverse. Shag terrain is very rough, navigation is the most challenging (2008 Safari, if you know what I am talking about :-). Tidewater Traverse is all flat and swampy that is also very hard to navigate. For 20 miles paddling leg of Tidewater Traverse you better get the fastest boat you can find, because you will see $10K (or more) watercraft with the most experienced east coast pilots. So what is my choice? This year I'll skip my favorite Shag. I did it twice, but have never tried Tidewater Traverse before. My paddling sucks and it's good reason to improve.

But for the future, Race Directors, please talk and schedule your races for different weekends.

This weekend I will paddle fast and beautiful Andromeda from Jacks Boat House. I was introduced to her last weekend:

By the way, that's very likely the area of Calleva 2011 race. Start guessing...

Muddy Buddy 2010

This Sunday 600+ teams of two ran and biked their way through the hilly course of the Pocahontas State Park near Richmond, VA, stopping at intervals to complete obstacles that included a giant inflatable slide, a cargo net and the finishing mud pit. The Incredibles: Dima, Karen and mini muddy buddy Avery made it through the mud pit taken the second place in division! Last year we finished third, way to go!

Lake Training--1.3 miles in cold water!

Earth Day updates.

1. Join us for what Earth Day is all about!

Join forces with Calleva, Potomac Community Resources, Wholefoods, the C&O Canal Stewards and the Nature Conservancy at Riley's Lock at 13015 Riley's Lock Road, Poolesville, MD 20837. We need your help cleaning up Riley's Lock after a season of flooding! We will be cleaning flood debris, repainting fences & picnic tables and beautifying our park!

Saturday, April 24, 2010 from 10am-2pm or longer-- 'till we get all our work done!

SSL hours can be earned!

2. Couple of photos from this weekend training.
Phil, Ted and Karen at the top of the Woodstock Tower:


Karen in full lotus relaxation after 10 hours, 100 k training:


3. E-Fix race report
Written by our friend Monika (aka Sunika) from team Trakkers.
"Paddling in the canoe would not normally be a big deal….for someone who is awake"
Read the full story and smile!

Training this weekend

Come join us this Sunday for 12 hours half night, half day AR training at the Elizabeth Furnace.

Schedule:
We will start 2am (YES 2 AM) Sunday MORNING from the Elizabeth Furnace trailheads parking lot. We will leave the parking lot at 2:30 the latest. We will run and navigate at night, we will bike on forest roads and some simpler singletrack. We will train transitions from bike to run and back, and repeat everything during the day. The whole training will take about 12 hours, but you can leave earlier, if you want. You also can try to come later and wait for us at the parking lot, but it might be a while until we get back.

Directions

Gear:

• Mountain bike with bright front light and rear red light. *
• Biking helmet, biking shoes.
• Pump and Spare tube for your bike.
• Really bright headlight. *
• Running shoes. 2 pairs would be better.
• Spare socks.
• Backpack with hydration system.
• Racing food.
• Water and water purification tablets.
• Compass.
• First aid kit.

* items with star are mandatory for night. We will not ride with you, if you don't have biking helmet. If you are serious about the race in May, consider to have all gear from the race list (click the gear tab).

Please let Dima know, if you want to have a topo map of the area (similar one will be used on the race in May), or just get National Geographic's Trails Illustrated #792 to have some navigational fun.

What's up with our weekend weather?

Views of frozen Lake Linganore during the run this Sunday:

Photo Karen Stump
That's not what we need for our next race! At Swamp Stomp near Tampa, Florida we will worry more about alligators and not safety of ice cover. Next 3 weeks trainings are about running on flat, running in swamps, and not getting lost when running in flat forest.


Who said this planet is round?

Train your reflection.

The most miserable weather of the year didn't stop 6 racers from getting to the start of 40 k training at Sugarloaf mountain. The strongest rain hit us on bikes creating nice reflections on pavement.

Top of the mountain was covered by big cloud, but the rain stopped despite weatherman predictions. We finished the training totally soaked and cold in Pizza Hut in Georgetown. All photos from the training are here.

Team training and meeting.

Sunday January 17 the training is on weather be dammed!
We are going to have fun at Sugarloaf Mountain. Prepare your bikes and running shoes. Trails are still covered by snow/ice, but creeks are not frozen any more.
We will start from the lower parking lot at 9 am. Plan for 30+ k of mountain bike and 10-15 k of trail run. After the training will be pizza and final 2010 plans discussion.
Here is photo from our previous Sugarloaf training:

Shag training.

Last year Shag race was so much fun that we can't afford skipping it this year. Unfortunately it's only 12 hours and we are going to miss night time fun. We also have to move fast to keep it in line with fast sprinting teams. Team Calleva is upgraded by Red Fox navigator Fedor, who proved his amazing skills on today's training. Michelle always brings luck and first place to Calleva and we hope for good result next Saturday.

Impossible 30 pounds.

Today was the final Untamed New England race training. We worked out different rope techniques: chest ascender - hand ascender, two hand ascenders, prussic - ascender, and heavy-back-pack-on-rope technique.

Untamed will provide ascending gear and we want to be ready for any configuration. We decided not to take our gear, because... we can't fit it into allowed 30 lb weight limit. Yes, most of today's training was not about ropes. It was about gear. Unlike last year, transition gear bins are limited not by volume, but by weight. Only 30 pounds are allowed. We took our last year 24 gallon Untamed New England bins, and filled it out for 3 days race... 41 lb was the minimum weight. Suppose, we will start on bikes, so biking gear are out... still 37 lb. So far the problem remains open and we hope the race director will increase the limit. Grant, please!

Rain, rain, every day...

Val is trying to get ready for PQ in 2 months. South Dakota is a very dry place, 200 oz of water are mandatory on some PQ trekking sections. Here in Maryland  for the last two weeks we had continues rain with short brake for the weekend. Trails remain wet and water fills our shoes. 8 miles of trail run and 8 miles of biking was a good warm up for the next month races.

By the way, this trail will be a part of the Calleva Race this year. Any idea where is it?

WW results and NE training

Karen finished Odyssey Wild and Wonderful 25th overall and 5th in solo (first and only female solo). Missing CP6 cut off by 20 minutes was the story:
"The last bike leg took considerably longer than they told us it would. And it went through a very poorly mapped/marked area. I still don't understand where I took a wrong turn. Anyway. I felt great through the whole race. I wasn't tired until I missed the cutoff, I was upset for that. I am not really sore now, no blisters, feet are great, and my navigation was good. I felt very strong through out, so no matter where I placed, I had a great race."

We continue training for Untamed New England race. This weekend was about paddling and boat logistics:

Yep, there is a kayak inside this canoe and we are far away from water. After last year Untamed Virginia we have to be ready for any surprises. By the way, the race is 10 hours longer now: 70 hours...

Wild and Wonderful this weekend

Karen will represent Calleva Adventure Racing on this weekend Odyssey Wild and Wonderful Race. Like last year she will be the only female solo to start the race. Way to go, Karen! The online coverage will be provided by the Checkpoint Tracker. Send your Shout Outs to support Karen.

Meanwhile, Dima is very busy taking care of this little guy:

Leon Isaac Kaganovich was born on May 7th and, according to speed he jumped out of his mom, he will be racer, no doubts about that. Now we have to make him smart as well.

Our next big event as a team will be 3 days Untamed New England Race in 1.5 month. We train hard to get ready. In the last 4 (working) days Dima had a wonderful commute: 105 miles of biking, 12 miles of paddling and 10 miles of running.

Perfect commute. AR style.

posted by Dima.

I know quite a bit racer working 9 hours a day Monday to Friday. Yep, we have to work hard to pay all these registration fees and to buy expensive gear for races. I also spend 9 hours a day in the lab. I like what I am doing, and when results are good and keep going, I can stay overnight to collect them all. But eventually I have to go home and return next morning. And that’s the problem…

I live 14 miles straight line from my work. Straight line of North-South diagonal of Washington DC, the city of traffic jams, bridges across Potomac and Anacostia rivers, president cortège, wise-president cortège, secretary of state cortège… You cannot drive your car through there and my commute is 30-35 miles each way around the nation capital. The drive takes about 45 minutes in perfect conditions, but perfect conditions do not exist around the capital beltway. That’s why 2 years ago I switched to biking.

I still cannot go straight line because of the rivers, but 16 miles of trails and sidewalks is no so bad and take me about 55-60 minutes. I ride year around, including rainy days, snow and frizzing rain. I learned how to ride my bike in any conditions and have no more crashes during real AR events. But recently I started a new chapter in my commute, turning it into mini adventure races (two per day). Here how it works:

Stage 1: Biking on Capital Crescent trail from Bethesda to Georgetown – 7 miles.

Stage 2: Transition from bike to paddle at the Jack’s boathouse. Thank to Anna, the owner, for nice service of keeping my sea kayak there.

Stage 3: Paddling from Georgetown to BAFB (military base across the national airport) – 6 miles.

Stage 4: Transition from paddling to running at coast guards station (thanks to guards for letting me in).

Stage 5: Running to the lab – 1 mile.

Now my commute is a perfect straight line. And it takes me 90 to 110 minutes depending on wind direction and my spirit to work hard. I am still not doing it every day, alternating with bike only commuting, but as weather gets better, I will try it more often.

By the way, it’s a good training. Try it.

Weekend training.

The weather was almost perfect. The top of Sugar Loaf mountain was foggy enough to take a wrong trail. 30 k of biking and 10 k of running was more like swimming. That's typical AR conditions, get used to it...