Non-Physical - You will need a team, or at least one teammate, to compete in Untamed New England. Solo racers are not permitted due to the extreme back-country nature of the course, so you need to join a team or start your own to participate as a racer. There are lots of strategies for finding teammates, specific to Untamed New England you could:

• post a note to the race Facebook page looking for teammates
• post to the race online message board looking for teammates
• email the race organization to inquire about teammates in your area (we actually get several such inquiries like this each year)

More generally, if you're in the market for other adventure racers, I would check out smaller, more local races and any racer forum they might have. MeetUp Groups and Yahoo Groups have brought many teams together; do some web searching to see where active/outdoors people get together near you. You could post something at your local gym, bike shop, kayak shop, climbing wall. You could ask at your local outdoor shops, as they usually have a good handle on who might be into something like Untamed New England. I know people who have had success finding teammates through triathlon clubs or running clubs. You may not always find a teammate for Untamed New England right away, but you're bound to meet some new mountain biking buddies or something along those lines. In time, these sort of connections can develop into strong adventure racing teams and you never know where they lead.

Physical - One of the great things about adventure racing is that you can do just about any form of activity and consider it "training." I'm not going to lay out a step-by-step training plan for you to follow, with prescribed "run 30 minutes at heart rate level 4" instructions. That kind of thing is all over the internet for triathlons and you can adapt one to adventure racing if that's what you're looking for. Instead, I suggest you work to be as active as possible over the next 7 months (the race is 8 months away), and plan to ease back that final month prior to the race.

Success at long adventure races is built in months and years, with a gradual accumulation of experience, skill, toughness, and fitness. With 8 months until the race, you're looking to build your base endurance and comfort with the tools (mountain bike, nutrition, etc). So for training guidance for November, I'm going to promote just two areas to focus on:

• Intervals. Whether running, biking, or paddling, you should work some good interval training into your schedule. This might mean bike intervals one week, then running intervals the next, with paddle intervals the third week. Don't overdue the interval work because it's intense and your body needs to recover, but once a week having a big interval session can really jumpstart your fitness level. You'll burn mega calories with intervals, elevate your heart rate, and develop strength along the way.
  
  There are lots of interval workouts. A generic approach might be to aim for 100% efforts (sprints) for 30 or 60 seconds followed by 60 seconds of rest. One specific workout I like to do is running sets of descending rest:
  • Easy warm-up jog for 10 mins
  • 5x200m sprint with 60 secs of rest in between
  • 5x200m sprint with 45 secs of rest in between
  • 5x200m sprint with 30 secs of rest in between
  • 5x200m sprint with 15 secs of rest in between
  • Puke guts out (optional)
  • Cool-down
• Maps. The crux of Untamed New England is the navigation; for 4 days, your team will be finding their own way between race checkpoints. There are very few mandatory routes and, at times, few roads or trails to guide you. To be good with this, you need lots of practice reading maps. Get a topographic map of your area (1:25k or 1:30k scale is best, with grid) and when you're out on a run use the map and your compass to orient yourself along the way. Notice how often you glance down a the map (this is called "making map contact" for hardcore orienteerers), and try keeping track of exactly where you are on the map. Get a feel for the way the map represents terrain, and how long it takes you to move 1 kilometer or 1 mile. Do this once a week, at least, and notice how it starts to become second nature for you. When you get the real topographic maps at the race you will have an instant level of comfort.
  
  So many novice adventure racers get blown away by the map/navigation element at Untamed New England, but this will help you arrive prepared. This isn't just an exercise for the designated "navigator" on your team, either, as Untamed New England includes an orienteering relay that has every racer complete a leg in a relay where you each navigate with map and compass; there are easy and hard legs of the relay, but each person should be capable with a map!
  
  For extra credit, you should check out the website for USA Orienteering and find an orienteering club near you. These clubs are typically very beginner-friendly and it's a great community. Attend one of these events and develop your map and compass IQ!

Untamed Aspect - It's getting towards winter, and being on the water in the cold can be no fun or even dangerous. If you live in a place where you can still paddle without freezing to death, it would be a good idea to start getting comfortable with packrafting and what it all entails. If you don't have a packraft to borrow, and don't want to drop $800 on an Alpacka Packraft, I suggest the Flytepacker at $300 or go even cheaper with a Sevylor inflatable product for $100 or less. You could consider putting more than one person in a boat (provided it holds you all!), as that might ease the hit to your wallet. I know this is a tough balance of cost vs weight and performance; just keep in mind that you DON'T want to find youself in the middle of the race with your cheap raft trashed after snagging on a log near the shore, and having to do a 10 hour trek instead of a 3 hour packraft!

Once you have something to paddle for any packrafting sections, take it out on a calm body of water to start getting comfortable with it. Ferry from one side of the lake to the other, notice how it handles and take inventory of what you need to do to be safe, comfortable, and mobile in the packraft. Start figuring out how you will travel in the raft and how your backpack will fit etc (make sure everything is attached to the raft, is my suggestion).

With the cold weather approaching, curling up with a book can be an appealing option . . . consider reading the book "Packrafting!" by Roman Dial, to really build your understanding of packrafting. Just remember, there is no substitute for getting out on the water.