training day

KAVU athlete, Jeff Shapiro takes us on one of the early training days for his upcoming adventure across the Pyrenees

By KAVU

June 13^th, 2018

Day 1 simulation

My coaches, the uber badass' but eternally humble Mike Wolfe and Brittany Aäe agreed that I should be doing a bit of a simulation of the first day of the X-Pyr, just to get more efficient while running on roads with a pack toward a launch. Luckily for me, where I live has a good option so, most Sundays lately have been spent by shouldering my kit (consisting of the gear we are required to carry - paraglider, harness/rescue chute, helmet, instruments, water, etc), running from my house the 12 kilometers to the base of Mt Sentinel, power hiking to launch, flying and then after landing....running home.

The first day of the X-Pyr, we will run from the beach in Honderiba, 26 k's to the first launch and turnpoint. From there, I'll hope to stay in the air as long as possible to gain distance until the thermals shut off (if the weather allows flying, that is....). So, my training day isn't quite the same but, it's a good "day 6 of 6" in my weekly training schedule;-)

My partner Kara, came along to support my day out and snap a few photos with her phone. Having her smiling face to run past makes for some nice scenery;-)

landing

I launched in a stiff wind and some "punchy" conditions. It was fairly early in the day but a low pressure front was on its way into the valley and it was actually good practice getting down;-)

Lift Everywhere!

making good time

Funny.....I'm never attached to things like "making good time" relative to adventures normally. I like to move efficiently and it's fun to sometimes see how "fast" we're doing "the thing" but, for the X-Pyr, it's been fun to watch previous track logs from some of the prolific characters. Seeing my times on my Garmin Fenix 5 has been a cool benchmark for progress and as long as I'm not too attached to expectation, adds a fun dynamic to the training!

What's been really cool is that as soon as a training mission is over, the watch connects to the app on my phone, and then immediately populates my Training Peaks website which goes to my coaches so they can see all the numbers (altitude gains, heart rate throughout, distance and pace, etc.). Mike can then adjust my workouts if need be. I've never trained like this and have been learning tons!