Explorer’s Club Member Jennifer McConachie Offers Guidance on Outdoor Adventures
No matter the conditions, if you embrace them, you can find a way to train for multisport.
Multisport is the new frontier for extreme and endurance sports. And more specifically, it is the act of combining multiple human-powered sports together to explore, go on an adventure, and challenge yourself.
It is also an all-weather, all-season activity! It is easy to be deterred by extreme weather, but multisport is all about taking on the extreme. Below are a few ways to embrace the weather for multisport training:
1. More than Mountain Snow: When conditions are snowy, this gives a great reason to try familiar multisport sports, like running or biking, in an new enviroment, in this case, in the snow.
This winter I ran to a predetermined destination on fresh powder, then switched to biking along the same path home, with a few off-piste detours to add challenge to my workout. I didn’t need to travel to a mountain town to try the sport of snow biking. I simply waited until my region got snow and hopped on my mountain bike to give this new-to-me sport a try. A few other ideas for embracing the snow for multisport training include cross country skiing, skate skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing and ice paddling.
2. The Heat & Sun: During the high heat of summer, try adding water sports into your multisport repertoire for a built-in way to cool down and get refreshed.
For beginners, run to your local outside pool during lap swim hours, swim a mile, and then run home. If not a runner, then try biking or walking. For more advanced swimmers who are comfortable in open water, run to your open water swimming destination. For those of us who live in land-locked areas, try lakes, reservoirs, and even rivers! Once you have mastered the run/swim multisport or bike/swim multisport, add a kayak after or even a kayak and a stand up paddleboard for additional ways to stay active, workout, and train for multisport in the heat and sun.
3. Cold & Tropical Rain: Rain is a wonderful tool when it comes to multisport training. Tough conditions like cold rain on long runs can help prepare you for challenging races to come.
When in tropical climates, where you might already be getting wet from showers each day, head to the water to try local iterations of sports. For example, try outrigger paddling while in the Pacific. When in coastal areas, either in the heat of the tropics, or cold of northern climes where wetsuits are needed, go for whitewater rafting, coasteering or canyoneering. You can take advantage of local geography, conditions, and your situation for more multisport options than what might be easily available on a daily level at home.
Using the weather to train for multisport allows you to tackle adverse conditions, try new sports and sport combinations, and prepare you for whatever may come on race day in any extreme direction.
About the Author
Jennifer Strong McConachie is an ultrarunner, mountaineer, marathon swimmer, distance paddler, and multisport athlete. An Outward Bound graduate, she is also a Fellow in the Royal Geographical Society and member of The Explorers Club. She trains for mountain ascents around the world, including several of the Seven Summits. Jennifer has several certifications in fitness teaching including from the American Council on Exercise. As a professional speaker, presenter and trainer, she leads groups and workshops on business goal setting and leadership. Jennifer has written two books Go Far: How Endurance Sports Help You Win At Life. and Go Multisport
Praise for Go Multisport
“If it feels like an adventure to you, then it is an adventure! Multisport gives you the freedom to interpret adventure in the way that works for you.” —Alastair Humphreys, National Geographic Adventurer of the Year
“Jennifer has done an incredible job providing us all with a clear and concise picture of how important and powerful adventure can be in all of our lives.” —Ray Zahab, Arctic world record holder & author of Running for My Life
“Go Multisport offers fun, inspirational advice for adding spice to our exercise, training, adventures, and life.” —Roman Dial, author of Packrafting! & national bestseller The Adventurer’s Son