How to Plan & Implement an Adventure – or 10 tips on How to be a Weekend Warrior
I remember the first time I saw someone traveling by bicycle with all his stuff attached to his bike. I was giddy with excitement, my eyes were open to the possibilities. It was 1985, I was 18 years old, and had just been accepted to Acadia University to study Recreation Management.
In 1993 I began, operated and sold in 2005 an adventure tourism business. Throughout it all, I have been a weekend warrior, balancing work, husband, and father responsibilities.
Some things I’ve learned, that might be useful to you.
- You have to maintain your fitness. This likely means you need to exercise nearly every week a very minimum of 3 hours, and more likely a minimum of 6 hours. Many weeks, you will exercise 9-12 hours. (An hour everyday during the work week, and then a longer activity on Sat and/or Sunday).
- You have to accept – there is no bad weather – only bad clothing/equipment choices.
- Choose your adventure, and pick a date to implement.
- You need supporters. Whether you are a spouse, parent, work colleague, business owner – you need to set in place things to be taken care of while you are away.
- You must be selfish. There are many reasons why you should not embark on your activity.
- Ask or invite 3 different people or groups of people to join you on the same weekend. It’s nearly certain that 2 groups will bail out at the last minute. (This was especially true when I was in my 20’s.)
- Take courses … but not too many courses. Personally, I am an experiential learner. Courses can be long, expensive, and boring. Yes – you need to know how to be safe.
- Join clubs. There is a club for any activity you can dream. People who belong to clubs advance through the club, and are keen to share their love of the activity.
- Race. I don’t race to win, but race to do my very best. In the preparation for racing, I think much about nutrition and efficiency. I learn fastest while racing. Having a race on my calendar also motivates me to keep my weekly fitness.
- Be grateful & celebrate your weekly training partners, your adventure mates, and the people in your life who allow you the privilege to explore.
These tips have served me well over the last 35 years and have enabled much fun in sea kayaking, surf ski, SUP, cycling, windsurfing, kite surfing, climbing, nordic, alpine and ski mountaineering. These tips will not only get you out on weekend adventures, but have you on the podium. In addition to being a consistent top performing Calgary RE/MAX Realtor, I have been on the Podium as a age group athlete at Ironman triathlon races, multi-day adventure races, trail and road running, nordic ski and ski mountaineering, kite surfing, cat 3 road bike racing and mountain biking!
This is part of a series of pieces, written in about twelve minutes, proof read once with tiny edits and then posted online.
Someday, probably not, I may publish a book entitled: Bryon Wrote This Book in 12 Minutes.
You can learn more about me and my real estate business at www.TheHowardTeam.net.
