The XPD race site is now live. In 2 weeks time, 47 teams from over 7 different countries will be embarking on an expedition into the unknown in tropical north Queensland.

Click here to follow their final preparations and every movement in the race.

Live GPS tracking and team blogs from the course will give viewers at home an unprecedented insight into the highs and lows of expedition adventure racing. There will also be live feeds linked via twitter, race reports as well as video footage and photos.

From today, fans, family and friends can cheer on and provide valuable morale support to their favourite teams by sending “trail mail”. This will be received by teams in the lead up to the event and at various points on the course.

The revolutionary site is a combined effort by Geocentric, TrackMe360.com and Untamed Adventure.

XPD is open to mixed, all male or all female teams of four. The exact course is kept secret until 24hrs before the start. Then with much excitement and anticipation, teams are provided a course booklet and their race maps. The course booklet contains the location of each of the race checkpoints.

Once teams start, racing is 24 hours per day; teams choose when and where they will sleep. The winning team is expected to complete the course in 4-5 days. All other teams will be permitted up to 10 days to complete the expedition without mid-race cut offs. XPD will be challenging for first time racers and experienced teams alike.

As a member of the AR World Series, XPD is a qualifying event for the Adventure Race World Championship (ARWC). The AR World Series is an international circuit of premiere adventure races representing 10 countries creating a 12 month calendar of professional events around the world. The top two teams at each qualifying event receive automatic entry to the ARWC.

Click here to visit the website!

Rapid City and the Black Hills are hosting the World’s Toughest Human Endurance Competition beginning this Friday August 14th and ending on Sunday August 23rd.

At 600 miles and ten days in length, Primal Quest Badlands will be the longest and toughest adventure race in history. Thirty seven co-ed teams of four from fourteen different countries will be competing for $175,000 in cash and prizes.

The course is riddled with demanding physical challenges including trekking, mountain biking, paddling, swimming, spelunking, and climbing over a distance of 600 miles. Along the way competitors will race through lands where dinosaurs once roamed, run in the footsteps of Native American Tribes, passing herds of wild buffalo and navigate through the endless towering spires, rock faces and waterways of the Badlands National Park.

Teams will be equipped with the SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger™ which sends location-based signals via communications satellite allowing for real-time public viewing on SPOT enhanced Google Maps™, MyTopo Maps, and an innovative race leaderboard for team position and race course check-point updates.

Due to the remoteness of the race the SPOT Satellite GPS Messenger™ will also provide competitors and race staff with satellite-based messaging and emergency communications independent of cellular networks to assist with on-course safety.

“SPOT revolutionized the adventure racing experience last year in Montana not only for the athletes but also the race staff and fans around the word,” said Don Mann, Primal Quest director.

“For the first time ever extreme adventure racers have a tracking device that is light-weight and rugged enough to withstand the punishment of this race and reliable enough to provide location-based tracking of the teams online. SPOT is invaluable for race logistics and safety but also opens up the adventure racing world to fans who want to share the experience and see where their favorite teams are at any moment.”

New this year is the integration of www.SPOTadventures.com SPOT’s new online social community providing additional team profile information and individual team tracking history allowing viewers to monitor their favorite team in real-time.

SPOTadventures.com will allow the Primal Quest teams to document and share their race experience with others after the race by uploading geo-tagged photos, writing blogs and archiving their race maps and location data history.

The DVD will be available later this year from Race Day Films.

Having experienced his best performance after four weeks on the Paleo Diet, U.S. Olympic Triathlete coach Joe Friel used the Paleo Diet to coach national and international caliber athletes.

This performance enhancing diet isn’t just for Olympic hopefuls, though. The Paleo Diet has helped many individuals overcome personal challenges and poor health including Kelly who shares her story (below).

After an embarrassing failure to climb Mt. Hoffman, Kelly turned her life around to ultimately make it to the top of Yosemite’s highest peak. With the help of Chris LaLanne (who continues grand uncle Jack LaLanne’s fitness legacy), she learned to use nutrition and exercise to regain lost fitness. Chris introduced Kelly to the benefits of the Paleo Diet, and here’s what that has meant to Kelly:

It was spring of 2008 when I finally had had enough: enough with being uncomfortable in my own skin, enough with being incredulous at the reflection in Kelly Before the mirror, enough with disparity between who I thought I was and my actual physical reality.

I had always been athletic throughout school and in college (swim team, crew team) and on my own without the structure of the NCAA (adventure racing and marathons). Then a series of injuries and their subsequent surgeries and rehabs had me ‘out of the game’ for over three years.

When a photo assignment came to shoot a portrait on top of Mt. Hoffman, Yosemite’s highest peak, I took it with relish. ‘That’s right up my alley,’ I thought. The panting, sweating difficulty I had on the climb (and inability to make it to the summit) was so embarrassing it wasn’t just a wake-up call: it was a five alarm/bucket of cold water/shake you out of bed realization. This is what I had become – unfit, flabby and fat.

I started going to my local gym using the treadmill and stairmill. I counted calories. I was never a ‘junk food junkie,’ but portion control wasn’t part of my vernacular either. I thought a calorie was a calorie, regardless of the source. Of course, I did lose a few pounds as will happen on 1,000 – 1,500 calories a day, but I was ALWAYS hungry – stomach growling kind of hungry.

I knew this was a battle that needed reinforcements, and help arrived when I stepped through the doors of LaLanne Fitness. I did the ‘Baseline’ workout and although I’m sure I was another panting, sweating mess, all I remember was that it was fun. Chris laid out the interconnectivity of the CrossFit model: strength/speed/ flexibility/diet in the simplest common sense approach. The irony is that it is far from common. Fads and quick fixes are much more numerous despite being ineffective time and time again.

I saw results from the CrossFit workouts immediately. I had never lifted weights beyond bicep curls, and now I was giddy about strength workouts. I had to do almost everything scaled, but I did it. I had good fitness momentum but as soon as I addressed my diet, my health and capabilities went to the next level.

First I learned and incorporated the Zone Diet. I admit that I struggled at first because I was now forced to pay attention to my food. No more mindless grabbing of the cereal box, and having my third or fourth bowl of the day. Now I was enlightened to the fact that a calorie isn’t just a calorie. Fat isn’t bad and the USDA’s food pyramid holy grail of grains isn’t always good…A leaner, fitter athlete kept emerging.

I was having success but realized even with my Zone block approach, I was still eating some heavily processed foods. Food bars and soy milk were part of my daily intake.

Chris LaLanne introduced us to the Paleo Diet at a Saturday nutrition talk. What a revelation. It took baby steps, but my 5 + year addiction to vanilla soymilk ended. In fact, my sweet tooth became manageable for the very first time – EVER. Now if I have a ‘treat’ (such a misnomer!), I feel the negative effects (sluggish, headache, sugar seeking) within the hour.

I have no idea why I thought it was okay to not give my body good, clean fuel when I’d never do that to my car. Strange. Chris has us keep nutrition logs so there’s accountability amongst my fellow CrossFitters, but more importantly to myself.

It’s been one year since this journey began. My 60 + pound weight loss accounts for all the new clothes in the closet, and the Paleo Diet accounts for the whole organic makeover of my cupboards and refrigerator. My foods are now perishable instead of shelf stable. And, I’m ‘back in the game’ going for the summit every day.

Click here to learn more about the The Paleo Diet Implementation Program.

News from Primal Quest “The Worlds Toughest Human Endurance Event”

PIERRE, S.D. – Primal Quest Adventure Racing requires the teams competing in the human endurance race be co-ed. This year’s race is holding strong with 35 women and 93 men (32 teams total) signed up to cover the Badlands of South Dakota; with more teams talking about registering daily.

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Follow along on the Adventure of a Lifetime as the Lil’ Rotty takes on the Ultimate Challenge to prepare for Primal Quest an expedition level adventure race in the Badlands SD. This exclusive bonus program is part of a special online training journal and will give you a glimpse into the very sweaty reality of an athletes journey to prepare for ten days in the wilderness!

Lil’ Rotty’s 3 Month Progress Report

Month 4 Training Program