Obstacle Course Racing & Trail Running Addicts

[Charlie_Quinn]

Welcome Mud Lovers!

 

 

This is a continuation of the Obstacle Racers, Assemble Group

This is an open group for anyone who is interested, curious, or completely obsessed with all things OCR related! Feel free to ask questions, share tips on gear or obstacle technique, or just let us know about a recent or upcoming race. Nothing is off topic and everyone is welcome.

 

In a slight change, we'll be adding trail running to the discussion too. For a lot of us, the obstacle racing season is winding down for the year, and trail running is a great way to train for OCR's in the quiet winter months.

[Sloth the Enduring]

I'm here for all the insanity.

[jonfirestar]

I hope @EricMN won't mind if I collate the WOW OCR Workouts here. I'd hate to lose this fantastic resource in the old thread!

 

I think I've got them all but let me know if I missed any!

 

 

 

 

 

[Maigs]

Here, of course!

[Jarric]

Woo, new thread dance!

 

 

Thanks for setting this up again C_Q.

[jonfirestar]

What is everyone take on the new 5K Tough Mudder thing they're advertising?

 

https://toughmudder.co.uk/events/what-is-tough-mudder-5k

 

It's cheap enough that I'm tempted to just give it a go. Though it'd cost me more to get into London

[Charlie_Quinn]

On 10/17/2017 at 7:46 PM, jonfirestar said:

I hope @EricMN won't mind if I collate the WOW OCR Workouts here. I'd hate to lose this fantastic resource in the old thread!

 

Excellent. Thanks Jon!

 

3 hours ago, Jarric said:

Thanks for setting this up again C_Q.

 

No problem

 

9 minutes ago, jonfirestar said:

What is everyone take on the new 5K Tough Mudder thing they're advertising?

 

https://toughmudder.co.uk/events/what-is-tough-mudder-5k

 

It's cheap enough that I'm tempted to just give it a go. Though it'd cost me more to get into London

 

I think it's great. Anything that gets people to do an OCR is good in my books. I also think it might be a great way to finally convince my brother to do one! Getting to Stratford is a real pain though. I'm glad they aren't charging for spectators. I've always hated that. I get charging 2 or 3 quid for spectators but not £10-£15!

[Sylvaa]

1 hour ago, jonfirestar said:

What is everyone take on the new 5K Tough Mudder thing they're advertising?

 

https://toughmudder.co.uk/events/what-is-tough-mudder-5k

 

It's cheap enough that I'm tempted to just give it a go. Though it'd cost me more to get into London

 

I like it! Spartan has the stadium series in the US, which takes care of the people who don't like the mud / water, but the prices are still SO HIGH. 

 

1 hour ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

I think it's great. Anything that gets people to do an OCR is good in my books. I also think it might be a great way to finally convince my brother to do one! Getting to Stratford is a real pain though. I'm glad they aren't charging for spectators. I've always hated that. I get charging 2 or 3 quid for spectators but not £10-£15!

 

My husband and I complain all the time about charging for spectators compared to the lack of activities for spectators. It's so expensive for him to go along to just sit in the sun and wait. 

[Charlie_Quinn]

8 minutes ago, Sylvaa said:

My husband and I complain all the time about charging for spectators compared to the lack of activities for spectators. It's so expensive for him to go along to just sit in the sun and wait. 

 

So much this. I've never understood how they justify charging people to go into an event village that only has food vendors that you still have to pay for! You are literally getting nothing for your money.

[Maigs]

That was a downside to the Tough Mudder; it was the most expensive race I've done plus they charged $20 for parking, $20 for spectators, and $10 for bag check. Maybe I just got spoiled by running local OCR's instead of big name ones but I've never had to pay for any of those extras

[Charlie_Quinn]

40 minutes ago, Maigahane said:

That was a downside to the Tough Mudder; it was the most expensive race I've done plus they charged $20 for parking, $20 for spectators, and $10 for bag check. Maybe I just got spoiled by running local OCR's instead of big name ones but I've never had to pay for any of those extras

 

$10 to check your bag! That's ridiculous! I think TM charge £3 for bag check here but the money goes to Help For Heroes.

 

I meant to ask you Maig, when you did Tough Mudder, was Everest roped off so you couldn't run up it? Did they let you run up and get pulled over the top by other competitors, or were you made to walk up holding a rope? They've stopped people running up Everest here and I'm wondering if it's a national or international change.

[Maigs]

19 minutes ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

$10 to check your bag! That's ridiculous! I think TM charge £3 for bag check here but the money goes to Help For Heroes.

Right?! I don't know if it went to a cause or not, I left most of my stuff in my ride's trunk and stuck my ID and phone in their checked bag so I didn't actually go to the tent

 

19 minutes ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

I meant to ask you Maig, when you did Tough Mudder, was Everest roped off so you couldn't run up it? Did they let you run up and get pulled over the top by other competitors, or were you made to walk up holding a rope? They've stopped people running up Everest here and I'm wondering if it's a national or international change.

We were able to run up it. In fact there's a picture of me getting pulled over, I might have to track it down. Our super tall guy actually got pulled back over helping people over the top. He was fine but was worried about someone he accidentally hit on the way down

[Charlie_Quinn]

3 minutes ago, Maigahane said:

We were able to run up it. In fact there's a picture of me getting pulled over, I might have to track it down. Our super tall guy actually got pulled back over helping people over the top. He was fine but was worried about someone he accidentally hit on the way down

 

So it's just our crazy Health and Safely rules then! I hope it was just something they did as a temporary measure and it's back to normal again next year. I can see them losing a few regular racers otherwise.

[jonfirestar]

11 minutes ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

 

So it's just our crazy Health and Safely rules then! I hope it was just something they did as a temporary measure and it's back to normal again next year. I can see them losing a few regular racers otherwise.

Yeah I feel like they may as well do away with the obstacle if they are going to do that. There is literally no point to it otherwise.

[Jarric]

1 hour ago, jonfirestar said:

Yeah I feel like they may as well do away with the obstacle if they are going to do that. There is literally no point to it otherwise.

 

Agreed - I felt a bit cheated not getting a shot at running up it.

[jonfirestar]

20 hours ago, Jarric said:

Agreed - I felt a bit cheated not getting a shot at running up it.

I failed it but I was so damn close I really wanted  another shot. It makes me sad.

[EricMN]

What's up, fellow awesome people.

 

On 10/17/2017 at 1:46 PM, jonfirestar said:

I hope @EricMN won't mind if I collate the WOW OCR Workouts here. I'd hate to lose this fantastic resource in the old thread!

Thank you for doing this.

 

On 10/19/2017 at 6:25 AM, jonfirestar said:

What is everyone take on the new 5K Tough Mudder thing they're advertising?

 

https://toughmudder.co.uk/events/what-is-tough-mudder-5k

 

It's cheap enough that I'm tempted to just give it a go. Though it'd cost me more to get into London

I love this. There's a race States-side called City Challenge that sounds similar. I wonder if Will Dean stole this from there, we all know he doesn't have original ideas.

 

On 10/19/2017 at 8:20 AM, Sylvaa said:

I like it! Spartan has the stadium series in the US, which takes care of the people who don't like the mud / water, but the prices are still SO HIGH. 

All of Spartan is just too damn expensive. I get it that as a company it's expensive to run what... a hundred races per year just in the US alone, but I'd probably be less bitchy about it if they put money back into obstacle R&D.

 

On 10/19/2017 at 8:20 AM, Sylvaa said:

My husband and I complain all the time about charging for spectators compared to the lack of activities for spectators. It's so expensive for him to go along to just sit in the sun and wait. 

Don't get me started about Spartan and the poor spectator experience.

[EricMN]

Oh, and also as a FYI, y'all over on that side of the pond need to up your game. OCRWC will be heading over there somewhere for 2018, as confirmed by the organizer in an interview during last weekend's OCR World Championships weekend. The whole interview is worth a listen, but the interesting bits are between 8 and 15 minutes, if I remember correctly.

 

My money is on a venue in the UK, and if it is, I better see a whole lot of people there.

 

I'll be wandering around in this:

 

[Charlie_Quinn]

49 minutes ago, EricMN said:

I love this. There's a race States-side called City Challenge that sounds similar. I wonder if Will Dean stole this from there, we all know he doesn't have original ideas.

 

Nice burn. I snort-laughed at this.

 

45 minutes ago, EricMN said:

Oh, and also as a FYI, y'all over on that side of the pond need to up your game. OCRWC will be heading over there somewhere for 2018, as confirmed by the organizer in an interview during last weekend's OCR World Championships weekend

 

Time to seriously up my game! Although I'm upset I won't have an excuse to visit Canada soon.

 

47 minutes ago, EricMN said:

I'll be wandering around in this:

 

 

Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!! You got one! Welcome to the yellow army my friend. 

[Jarric]

On 20/10/2017 at 3:51 PM, jonfirestar said:

I failed it but I was so damn close I really wanted  another shot. It makes me sad.

 

I know, but there's plenty of other races (for now at least) with half pipes - I think you'll get yours soon enough.

 

On 20/10/2017 at 6:11 PM, EricMN said:

Oh, and also as a FYI, y'all over on that side of the pond need to up your game. OCRWC will be heading over there somewhere for 2018, as confirmed by the organizer in an interview during last weekend's OCR World Championships weekend. The whole interview is worth a listen, but the interesting bits are between 8 and 15 minutes, if I remember correctly.

 

My money is on a venue in the UK, and if it is, I better see a whole lot of people there.

 

I'll be wandering around in this:

 

 

Oo, exciting! I'd love to make it to this.

[Teancum]

Hey everybody! Newb here, interested in doing OCRs, never done one but I think they'd be a ton of fun! 

 

Just wanted to get some insights from you guys regarding proper preparation. Right now I'm 260 lbs, 6'2. Still working on my first chin up, not much for running. 

 

Where were you all at Fitness wise when you did your first one? Any recommendations on where to start? 

 

Thanks! 

[jonfirestar]

7 hours ago, Teancum said:

Hey everybody! Newb here, interested in doing OCRs, never done one but I think they'd be a ton of fun! 

 

Just wanted to get some insights from you guys regarding proper preparation. Right now I'm 260 lbs, 6'2. Still working on my first chin up, not much for running.

 

Hi welcome along! I don't think you'll find many people here who won't agree that OCRs are a ton of fun!

 

You really don't need to be as prepared as you think to do your first one, if you pick the right one, of course. I was 240lbs at 5'8 when I did my first one earlier in the year. I'd just managed to get my first pull up (neutral grip, for reasons I am unable to even try to do chin ups). I did Tough Mudder and had been doing a ton of running because a 10 mile OCR was a scary concept. I'm happy that I am able to run relatively long distance events, but running, especially on the short events, isn't essential. 

[Maigs]

7 hours ago, Teancum said:

Where were you all at Fitness wise when you did your first one?

I've done 30 miles worth of OCRs this year while barely being able to very slowly jog a 5k and I've never done a pullup in my life.

 

7 hours ago, Teancum said:

Any recommendations on where to start? 

Honestly the hardest part is signing up and getting your butt to the start line. After that your golden. For a first one you can either try for a less intense big name one like Warrior Dash (vs. a Spartan which still kinda scares me) or check around for local ones. You might be surprised at how many local ones are around you. I live in Nebraska and 12 of my OCR miles were local races and I had to miss another 5k because it was the same day as one I liked better

[Charlie_Quinn]

7 hours ago, Teancum said:

Hey everybody! Newb here, interested in doing OCRs, never done one but I think they'd be a ton of fun! 

 

Just wanted to get some insights from you guys regarding proper preparation. Right now I'm 260 lbs, 6'2. Still working on my first chin up, not much for running. 

 

Where were you all at Fitness wise when you did your first one? Any recommendations on where to start? 

 

Thanks! 

 

Welcome! I agree with what the others said. It's easy to get caught up in worrying about training for your first one, but if you pick a 5km OCR, preferably one that lets you walk around obstacles you aren't comfortable with, you don't need to do much training before hand.Just have fun, get help from others on obstacles you can't do alone and help others if you can. There's no rules to say you can't walk the course if you aren't interested in running right now. Just make sure you get a few longs walks in before the day so you know you're comfortable doing so. A bodyweight workout circuit once or twice a week will help with the obstacle side of things.

[Sylvaa]

10 hours ago, Teancum said:

Where were you all at Fitness wise when you did your first one? Any recommendations on where to start?

 

My first one, I was a hot mess. I could barely jog, couldn't get myself over most of the obstacles, and spent 5 hours on a Spartan Sprint. Anyone can finish one of these races as long as they have realistic expectations. 

 

3 hours ago, Maigahane said:

Honestly the hardest part is signing up and getting your butt to the start line. After that your golden. For a first one you can either try for a less intense big name one like Warrior Dash (vs. a Spartan which still kinda scares me) or check around for local ones. You might be surprised at how many local ones are around you. I live in Nebraska and 12 of my OCR miles were local races and I had to miss another 5k because it was the same day as one I liked better

 

This! Not all races are created equal. The Warrior Dash is an amazing starting point (it's more of a trail run with a few obstacles, most of which are fairly easy).