EVENT PROFILE

For some great wee video clips on last year's Rob Roy Challenge - and what the participants have to say, follow http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0l3MfoWfoo

Reccomended Kit List

15 litre small day sack.
 Map of the Rob Roy Route provided by the organisers and compass.
Camelback/platypus water container (2 litre recommended) with energy drinks. 
 Well broken in pair of walking boots and trainers.
 Full set of waterproofs.
 Spare change of clothes and towel.
 Wide rimmed sun hat, sun cream and sun glasses.
 Midge repellent and midge net.
 Cycle shorts and Vaseline.
 Basic first-aid kit.
 Energy food (nuts, fruit, chocolate and energy bars).
 Head torch with spare batteries.
 Mobile Phone and whistle.
 Woolly hat and gloves. 
 3 pairs of spare socks.

Top Tips

Feet - Toughen your feet by walking as much as possible. Trim toenails and use foot powder. Tape your feet with Zinc Oxide (Army type recommended) before you start to protect areas prone to blisters.  Socks - Smart Wool socks are recommended. Change your socks at each checkpoint. It is important to keep your feet as dry as possible.
Boots - Light Goretex type boots are fine. Make sure they fit, allow for foot expansion and ensure they are well broken in.
Trainers - Fine in dry weather on most of the Rob Roy Way, although not recommended in wet conditions. 
Rubbing - Wear lycra cycle shorts and use Vaseline to prevent chaffing.
Stretching - Warm up before stretching and stretch both during and after walking. Remember to stretch down after the event.
Hydration - Drink regularly.  Please see the section on hydration.  Use the Camelback/ Platypus water container. Mix energy drinks with water and ensure you have sodium with water.
Blisters - If you feel a potential blister forming, stop and deal with it there and then. Puncture the blister with a pinprick, drain and dress it. Compedes are a great solution to blisters.

Temperature - Maintain a constant body temperature and prevent your body from overheating by continuously adjusting your clothing. Zip tops make this easier. If you feel cold put your hat on.
Check points and support teams - Keep stops at checkpoints to a maximum of 20 minutes or your muscles will begin to sieze-up. Support team members must make sure that they are well prepared to receive the walkers with chairs, food, clothes and sock changes, first aid and replenishment of water and food supplies.

Training as a team

It is important to have a discussion before you start with the rest of your team about speed. You may decide to a) stay together no matter what speed the slowest team member is going at, or you may decide that b) the faster team members will speed on ahead. Either way it is important to have this discussion so that you are prepared for all eventualities, i.e. for scenario a) if you are fast, you will have to be prepared to go slower and not get impatient (which is much harder than going fast); equally if your team decide to go for scenario b) the slowest member must be prepared that the speedy ones will go on and leave you. It is very important that you understand how to look after yourself in the big outdoors no matter how proficient the rest of your team are.

Physical Training

As there are different disciplines to the Rob Roy challenge, there are some important things to consider. Below is a guide to developing fitness and strength to complete the event.

Hike

Train with walking poles, this will build up your arm muscles and relieve your hip joints. Like the bike section, you must ensure that your training involves walking up and down hills. It is easy to see the participants who train in a gym as their feet are unprepared and result in blisters, leading to mal-alignment, limping and injury. You will need to buy your footwear at least 2 months before the event and wear them in properly. Practice walking in different clothing and find the right solution for you. See our kit and equipment guide above. For example, it is vital that you walk in a waterproof with an attachable hood so that you do not get rain down your back as this can lead to hypothermia.

Bike

It is not enough to train in a gym, you want to practice on rough terrain and with a mountain bike to understand how the gears and brakes work on different gradients. Many gears and brakes can be damaged due to technique and to avoid waiting on the course for a bike engineer to make their way to you - practice before you come and reduce this risk.  Remember that if you are hiring a bike, it can still get a puncture - and with rough uneven paths - you need to know how to fix a puncture.  Ensure that your training routes involve going up and down hills. If you are not used to cycling, you may want to buy a padded seat or padded shorts.  It is absolutely compulsory to wear a helmet within the event and we recommend that you use one while training. Below is a guide to some training distances to build up over the next few months.

Potential Injuries

The most likely problem or injury that participants have during training is from mal-alignment from the feet, knees or hips. Mal-alignment can be caused from a previous injury that has not healed correctly, from slightly different shapes between your left and right side or poor technique on a bike. Doing repeated movements (like cycling or hiking) in the wrong alignment will cause micro-trauma of your joints resulting in tears. If you want a complete health check where your alignment can be assessed and your muscles/joints examined for potential injuries with a guide to injury avoidance, please contact http://www.athletesangels.com/”mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Nutrition

For all your information on nutrition both before, during and after the event, please click here.

Note that you should get used to eating on the go, little and often, through your hike and bike sections. Your food intake should include salty foods (look on the back labels of foods and sports drinks for sodium) in order to absorb water. Please see examples of nutritional meals and foods to use during training.

Hydration

For all information on keeping well hydrated, please click here.

Note that for endurance events, we recommend 300-400mls (half to one pint) of water per hour for smaller people (unless it is hot, when you can take up to 600mls of water per hour) and up to 800mls (1 pint and a half) per hour for bigger people who may sweat more. Combining this with salty foods such as salted peanuts, chicken noodle soup, pot noodles, instant mashed potato with sliced salami, tomato juice and use tuna based in brine instead of spring water.

Please alse read the section on dehydration and hyponatremia.

Stretching & Muscle conditioning

Stretching your muscles before and after training will help keep them conditioned and also prevent mal-alignment. It is important to only stretch a warmed up muscle and not to bounce on it. Keep a gentle sustained stretch for 20 seconds. You want to stretch your quads (front of thighs) hamstrings (back of thighs), calf, Iliotibial bands (side of thighs) and your back as a minimum. Many participants find that going to a weekly class of yoga is an excellent way to keep their muscles in the correct state and help prevent injury. By adding in other sports such as swimming or pilates, you will strengthen your core stability muscles (muscles around your stomach, pelvis and back) this really helps in endurance events.  Regular massage also helps with flexibility and injury prevention.

Training Schedule

It is important to combine both the hiking with the biking at least once per week. Obviously individual fitness levels and time for training vary greatly, so we have put down the minimum training sessions with a view to finishing the event within 12 hours. We have also aimed to guide you in days/distances, so that you can train with your team members no matter which distance you are aiming for. For very approximate times, allow 3 miles an hour for hiking and 6-10 miles an hour (depending on hills/speed) for biking. For more information on individualised specific training schedules please email http://www.athletesangels.com/”mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ”

Nb. The below schedule has been refined by feedback from participants since the event started.   As previous feedback was not to include gym workouts and to put training into two sessions per week.  Dont forget to include hills in your training routes.  (And dont forget to stretch and condition your body during training too..!).

Medical Information

Below is some essential medical information to be aware of.   Any of you or your team members may be vulnerable to getting ill and we have listed the 5 medical conditions most commonly seen on the Maggie's Bike and Hike in the past. 

Your continuous assessment and knowledge of these signs and sypmtops and what to do may be vital.   The potential is high - please take responsibility. 

Rob Roy medical hazards seen on previous events... please read the below

 carefully and avoid putting yourself, your team or the rescue teams at risk.

Hyponatremia

Dehydration

Hypothermia

Hypoglycaemia

Heat exhaustion

“Any fool can be cold…” Dr Hallam, ex-Royal Marines. Being safe in the hills includes responsibility in:

• Wearing and carrying the right kit (see recommended kit list above)
• Being prepared for the distance (see schedule above)
• Eat foods with nutritional value (see nutritional advice above)
• Keep hydrated and not over hydrated (see hydration advice above)
• Know your route (map and compass)
• Knowing weather structures (check night before departure)
• Be prepared for medical complications (See Medical section above).
• Telling someone where you are going and your expected time of finishing.

If you are a past or present participant and would like to offer advice to other participants, please let us know at http://www.athletesangels.com 

If you are having any medical or musculoskeletal problems and would like to get advice, please contact our sports clinic on :   This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it