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:
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 environment, 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.
With a few added layers from my multisport mountain climbing gear pile, including a rain jacket and rain pants, I was ready for a snow running and biking multisport training session. It was a blast getting wet from the splash of my bike tire and seeing the city through a fresh perspective on a bike in the snow, even if it was cold. The resistance of the snow texture was invigorating and exciting.
A few other ideas for embracing the snow for multisport training include cross country skiing, skate skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing and ice paddling.
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. It doesn’t have to be the ocean. 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.
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 by building your capacity for suffering.
Training in tough conditions at home sets you up to tackle them on race day. If you train in the rains of spring on your bike, you will be ready when an early season storm beats down on Ironman triathlon day.
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.
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. She is the author of GO FAR: How Endurance Sports Help You Win At Life and GO MULTISPORT: Fun, Challenge & Exploration to Your World.
