Primal Quest media partner Bare Essentials Magazine has released its May/June issue online, and as usual, it is packed virtual cover-to-cover with outstanding articles on outdoor adventure, training, and nutrition.

The Australian based online magazine is designed for “women of action” but has plenty to offer any outdoor enthusiast or adventure athlete. For instance, in the latest issue you’ll find a review of the top energy bars, tips for high altitude mountaineering, and insightful ways to incorporate tekking poles into your workout, amongst plenty of other great tips for health, travel nad more.

To preview the latest issue, click here, and if you like what you see, head over to the Bare Essentials subscription page to sign up for a subscription of your own.

A birthday has come and gone again.  I really like birthdays so I spend them how I want.  And this time around I went on a training vacation.  It is a great place called Moab not very far from here and I took my lovely Scott bike, Salomon running shoes, Goode skis and Scarpa boots.

It started off great.  A short ride in Fruita.  A great trail: Lyons mixed in with Troy Built.  When we got to Moab it had just snowed and lets just say NOT WARM!!!!  So we camped out and decided to sleep in the next day till the sun hit our camp site.  Like I said it was my birthday week.  So we got some work done at the local coffee shop and busted out Slick Rock trail.
The next day, my birthday, we backcountry skied the La Sals.  Mt Tuk was a great peak around 13,000 ft and 4 hours round trip.  Perfect conditions and the turns, well lets just say they were the best present a girl could get.

So then it was off to the Canyonlands, south of Moab, called the Needles.  It was warmer that day and we ran for 1 hour 45 minutes.  It was great.  A bit windy but great to be outside without layer upon layers of clothes.

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Mother Nature released a torrent of weather on Colorado with this week, resulting in significant accumulations of heavy, wet, slushy snow, road closures, broken trees, power outages, and race cancellations all over the place!  The moisture is much needed, and a final dumping provides a nice change of pace in training and life.

Saturday:  The first Rocky Mountain Orienteering Club meet of the season took place at Chatfield State Park outside of Denver, and I thoroughly enjoyed navigating the Orange and Green/Red courses set by a fellow area adventure racer.  I squeezed in a couple hours of mountain biking on the gorgeous Colorado Trail from Waterton Canyon before the meet.

Sunday:  90 minutes of trail running before a nice catch-up dinner with Dave Mackey, an old ‘mate from Team Spyder who is focusing again on ultra running and will soon enter Physician’s Assistant school in California.

Monday:  Caught a virulent cold/caugh from the kids at school and almost decided not to train all week but concluded that training while sick promotes mental toughness.  Ran 50 minutes.

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PQ media partner Bare Essentials continues to provide excellent pre-race coverage leading up to Primal Quest Badlands presented by SPOT this summer. Chief Editor Inga Yandell is has launced her PQ 2009 Training Journal, in which she chronicles her own preparations for the race, including her own week by week training updates.

In addiition, Bare Essentials, which bill itself as a magazine for “women of action”, is compiling a list of PQ Role Models, as well as a set of great training resources focusing on team building, navigation, nutrition, and a whole lot more.

Expect even more surprises from the online periodical in the weeks ahead as well. Each issue is packed full of great articles, not only on Primal Quest, but other aspects of fitness and adventure. And if you like what you see, you can subscribe to Bare Essentials by clicking here.

Hello Badlands Team Captains!

We’re pleased to provide you with the April Competitor Newsletter, which includes a great deal of valuable information as we move closer to the race in August.  Please ensure each of your team members reads the newsletter in its entirety.  I’m available to answer any questions you might have.

Enjoy your spring training and racing, and we look forward to seeing you in just three and a half months!

Dawn Taylor Mann
Primal Quest Competitor Relations/Operations Director
Dawn.mann@ecoprimalquest.com

There are only two times in my life that I wanted to be just like Lance Armstrong: when he started dating Sheryl Crow and now.  As you know, Lance broke his clavicle recently and had to have it surgically repaired.  Now you may think that this would be a silly time to envy a guy, but bear with me, I do have a point here.

I was training on my bike here in the Netherlands (the world’s most bike-friendly country) and was hit by a car.  It was an amazing sight as I found the wind beneath my wings as I flew off the bike, landing hard on the street.  After landing hard, I cleared my dazed and confused head (like Chester Cheetah) just long enough to watch as the driver sped away.  He was obviously not impressed by my acrobatics.

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