By Kelly Guest
Feb. 22, 2007 -- The instinct to explore new training venues as opposed to sticking with what is comfortable and familiar can offer be attributed to an interesting difference in mentality. I have trained with one of the world's best triathletes (and in my mind one of the toughest guys I have ever met) who hates exploring. He would ride the same three-hour loop every week we lived in Australia, and my guess is, he is still doing it. Good on ya mate!
I have another training buddy that I honestly think is one of the most talented men in the sport of Olympic-distance triathlon, and he is always exploring. If you head out for a run or ride with him it is a good idea to bring food, lots of fluids, a tent and brush up on your outdoor-survival skills -- you may need to cut down some trees and bind them together to create a raft. Right on dude!
Which are you? I think I come in on the exploring side of center. During structured workouts I want to know where I am going and what to expect, but as soon as it is an open window of training to fill I don the Columbus suit and off I go.
I am a solid three weeks into my decision to race purely on the dirt, and I can't be happier about it! I am serious; I have been riding my 'cross bike a fair bit, and I even ordered a pair of the coolest "ugly shoes" that I have ever seen from Brooks. They are the Brooks Cascadia Trail shoe, and they are ugly . . . so much so that I think they are almost too cool to get dirty . . . but not quite because they are also the only trail shoe that I think is worthy of being run in.
Gear aside, a big reason for the smile on my face these days is because I am exploring all kinds of new trails. I found this wicked 18km trail run that is really hard, really hilly and really cool. Out of the total 18km, about 12km of this run is total single track. Running through this trail, if you twist an ankle you are more likely to be found by the bears than another person -- that's a great motivator to get home. The best part is this run starts and finishes at my front door.
The day after finding that cool run, I found another fantastic single-track trail that descends gradually for about 6km into a huge park full of logging roads and more trails. This trail is about 8km away from my house -- 8km of trails that is. I was pretty smashed from the run the day before and was only supposed to run for 45 minutes, but I found this new trail at about 25 minutes in and just couldn't turn around. My run ended up being 80 minutes.
The only downside to this new decision is I am having too much fun exploring to hook up with friends for workouts. This is one of the goals that I am going to work on for the coming build cycle.
Maybe after reading this article and seeing the huge smile on my face it will be easier to convince them to make the trip out to my neck of the woods. Until next time see you on the trails -- or not.
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Kelly Guest is sponsored by Giant Bicycles and Brooks. He is coached by Competitive Edge Training.