Quest Wales: The Adventure Challenge of the year!

So, having spent most of the winter training in cold, dark gyms dedicating most of my time to lifting weights and boxing, I realised it was time to find an excuse to take my training outside, and what better excuse than to train for an adventure challenge.

Having previously taken on Tough Mudders and military inspired weight-carrying mountain races (in the quite distant past), I wanted to do something a bit different that would mean I had to push my training in a completely different direction from the lift, box, eat, repeat monotony of winter training.

Not being a huge fan of long distance running AND having not ridden my bike for over a year AND having never kayaked, I thought what better than a run, cycle, kayak challenge… If you’re going to get out your comfort zone you may as well get as far out as possible eh… enter Quest Wales.

So what is Quest Wales?

Set against the backdrop of Snowdon National Park, Quest Wales teams trail running, cycling and kayaking to create three scenic routes over various distances from the challenging to the just plain crazy (25km, 42km and 53km). Having only 6 weeks to train for this I’ve opted for the 25km route to give me a decent challenge without biting off more than I can chew.

The 25km ‘challenge route’ starts off in Betws-y-Coed with an 8km cycle, followed by a 1km sprint kayak around Glyn Geirionydd, a 6km trail run back to bikes where we finish off with 10km bike ride back to Betws-y-Coed, which I’m guessing will be followed by me eating everything that comes within grabbing distance of my body.

My 6 Week Training Plan:

So the training starts now. Being a PT and knowing the many benefits of strength training to both health and performance, I will be keeping my usual strength training sessions for the entire 6 weeks. To this I will be adding the below more specific training to ensure I am fit enough to enjoy the race and scenery en route rather than fighting through pain and struggling to breath.

Week 1 – 5km road run, 10km bike ride
Week 2 – 5km road run, 10km bike ride, 5km trail run
Week 3 – 5km road run, 10km bike ride
Week 4 – 5km road run, 10km bike ride, 5km trail run
Week 5 – 5km run, long distance fell walk or hill climb
Week 6 – 15km bike ride early in week then lay off

So that’s it, I’m all signed up, training plan in place and ready for everything Quest Wales has to throw at me, well, I’m probably not but you have to try and appear confident don’t you.