Charlie Quinn Hatches a Plan

[Charlie_Quinn]

 

Hey everyone! I took a little break last challenge, but I've missed all you crazy Rangers too much to stay away for too long. 

 

The last time I did a challenge I was recovering from the glute tendonopathy that I picked up while training for an ultra marathon. The enforced break from running was tough on me mentally, but it allowed me to focus on lifting again after I stopped doing it to train for the ultra (which it turns out, was a really big mistake and may have contributed to the injury - Runners! Strength train!). I'm really enjoying lifting again and the glute injury seems to be recovering. And even more importantly, I'm running regularly again.

 

I'm going to ease back into this challenge with a basic K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple, Stupid) challenge. So I'm not listing any goals, I'm basically going to battle log it for a few weeks. I have a set amount of runs and strength training that I'll be doing each week along with my physio stretches and exercises.

Running 2-3 times a week

BMF (Military style bootcamp) once a week

Strength Train twice a week (depending on how much BMF kicks my ass)

 

Stuffs during this challenge

WEEK ZERO - OCR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS!

This weekend is the Obstacle Course Race World Champs which this year is being hosted in the UK. I'm not running in any of the main events but I'm volunteering on Saturday (the main 15km event) and I'll be running in the 7km charity fun event on Sunday with @jonfirestar @Jarric @Rhovaniel and my hubs. I can't even begin to explain how excited I am about this weekend!

 

WEEK TWO - NUCLEAR FALLOUT

 

This is my last OCR of this year, and it's going to be COLD. Nuclear is by far my favorite OCR event but this is the first time I've ever done Fallout. I'll be doing this with everyone mentioned above, hopefully there will be no hypothermia in the group! 

 

[jonfirestar]

5 minutes ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

(which it turns out, was a really big mistake and may have contributed to the injury - Runners! Strength train!)

 ditto.

 

I can't wait for Sunday! And I don't think fallout is going to be as cold this year as last and the hypothermia thing had a lot to do with the fact that @iatetheyeti and I walked the entire thing! We just need to make sure that we move as quickly as we can and spend as little time in the water as possible. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Welcome back! Ill be following.

[Salinger]

Yay CQ is back so happy you are here. Missed you. Good luck with everything you do, you will smash it all xx

[Charlie_Quinn]

1 hour ago, jonfirestar said:

ditto.

 

I'm never doing that again (stopping strength training I mean, the ultra will happen again!) Strength Training for life! I started deadlifting again yesterday, only light (30kg) but it felt so good to be doing those again. Next week, barbell squats!

 

1 hour ago, jonfirestar said:

I can't wait for Sunday! And I don't think fallout is going to be as cold this year as last and the hypothermia thing had a lot to do with the fact that @iatetheyeti and I walked the entire thing! We just need to make sure that we move as quickly as we can and spend as little time in the water as possible. 

 

It's certainly warmer than it was this time last year. Plus, wetsuits! 

 

1 hour ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Welcome back! Ill be following.

 

Hi! It's good to be back. 

 

11 minutes ago, Salinger said:

Yay CQ is back so happy you are here. Missed you. Good luck with everything you do, you will smash it all xx

 

Aw thanks. I missed being here. It feels like I've come home.

[Sloth the Enduring]

I can’t keep up around here, but I’m here for OCR awesomeness.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Rhovaniel]

Following, of course, fellow Dragon!!

 

1 hour ago, jonfirestar said:

I can't wait for Sunday! And I don't think fallout is going to be as cold this year as last and the hypothermia thing had a lot to do with the fact that @iatetheyeti and I walked the entire thing! We just need to make sure that we move as quickly as we can and spend as little time in the water as possible. 

Yes, moving quickly is a must. I learned that recently. 

 

7 minutes ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

It's certainly warmer than it was this time last year. Plus, wetsuits! 

Also wetsuits. All hail the neoprene!

[jonfirestar]

8 minutes ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

I'm never doing that again (stopping strength training I mean, the ultra will happen again!) Strength Training for life! I started deadlifting again yesterday, only light (30kg) but it felt so good to be doing those again. Next week, barbell squats!

 

Yep me too. It seemed like such a small thing to give it up and focus just on the running but I realise I made a mistake. I've been really enjoying lifting again! I did brave barbell squats today. Maybe not the best idea but I kept them relatively light so I live in hope that i'm not duck walking around Worlds. 

 

4 minutes ago, Rhovaniel said:

Yes, moving quickly is a must. I learned that recently. 

I really don't think it's going to be as big a problem as the Spartan because we really shouldn't slow down too much. The water submersion makes me a little nervous but I'd propose to make sure everyone gets in and out as fast as possible. 

 

15 minutes ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

It's certainly warmer than it was this time last year. Plus, wetsuits! 

 

7 minutes ago, Rhovaniel said:

Also wetsuits. All hail the neoprene!

The long range forecast is predicting about 10-11ºC it'll probably be wildly different in reality but at those temperatures I wouldn't bother with the full wetsuit but just a neoprene vest. But rather like the discussions about strength we've been having I've got a body mass advantage and don't suffer quite as much with the cold. 

[Charlie_Quinn]

32 minutes ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

I can’t keep up around here, but I’m here for OCR awesomeness.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Well there are only 2 OCR's in this challenge and then that's it for the year. I promise to continue talking incessantly about it though.

 

27 minutes ago, Rhovaniel said:

Following, of course, fellow Dragon!!

 

 

27 minutes ago, Rhovaniel said:

Yes, moving quickly is a must. I learned that recently. 

 

At least it's Nuclear, so there are heated changing tents for afterwards. I'm usually OK on the course, but once I stop, things go south very quickly!

 

14 minutes ago, jonfirestar said:

I did brave barbell squats today. Maybe not the best idea but I kept them relatively light so I live in hope that i'm not duck walking around Worlds. 

 

'relatively light'? Didn't you say you did 90kg?  I'm going to start light and I was thinking about 25kg! But then again, our injuries are different and overloading the glute is still a concern for me. The reason I'm waiting till next week is because of Worlds. 

 

18 minutes ago, jonfirestar said:

The water submersion makes me a little nervous but I'd propose to make sure everyone gets in and out as fast as possible. 

 

Me and 'fast' don't mix well when water is involved.

 

19 minutes ago, jonfirestar said:

The long range forecast is predicting about 10-11ºC it'll probably be wildly different in reality but at those temperatures I wouldn't bother with the full wetsuit but just a neoprene vest. But rather like the discussions about strength we've been having I've got a body mass advantage and don't suffer quite as much with the cold. 

 

You know what? I'd rather it was just cold, not this in between weather. At least if it's cold, I know what to wear and I know what I have to deal with. Guessing if I need a wetsuit of a vest or base layers is so annoying. I'm gonna say it, I hope it suddenly gets really cold and snows. At least it's something I've dealt with already!

[jonfirestar]

9 minutes ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

At least it's Nuclear, so there are heated changing tents for afterwards. I'm usually OK on the course, but once I stop, things go south very quickly!

 

The problem was simply that we were going too slow. Once we had run a couple of miles she was in much better shape. 

 

11 minutes ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

'relatively light'? Didn't you say you did 90kg?  I'm going to start light and I was thinking about 25kg! But then again, our injuries are different and overloading the glute is still a concern for me. The reason I'm waiting till next week is because of Worlds. 

 

Yes, relatively  tbh it was more than I'd intended when I went in but it felt good. I had to stop myself from adding more. I was a lot more cautious on the unilateral movements that loaded my achilles but I'm also told that the achilles is one of those areas that needs to be loaded in order to heal properly. On Monday I'm going to try for 140kg. The reason I didn't today was because of Worlds. 

 

15 minutes ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

Me and 'fast' don't mix well when water is involved.

I am just as slow as you in the water. I'd be pretty close if we raced  and kind of hilarious to watch us flap our way towards the shore! 

 

 I'm just kind of suggesting that @Rhovaniel GTFO of the water. One of the things I did very wrong last November was hang around in the water for Yeti. Like these things are apt to do I was feeling fine with it until I wasn't. 

 

23 minutes ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

You know what? I'd rather it was just cold, not this in between weather. At least if it's cold, I know what to wear and I know what I have to deal with. Guessing if I need a wetsuit of a vest or base layers is so annoying. I'm gonna say it, I hope it suddenly gets really cold and snows. At least it's something I've dealt with already!

Oh me too. I'd rather it be definite wetsuit weather. I do think my choices are going to be the wetsuit or the vest, unless there is a massive hike in temperature. 

[Maigs]

Glad you're back CQ!

[Rhovaniel]

3 hours ago, jonfirestar said:

I'm just kind of suggesting that @Rhovaniel GTFO of the water. One of the things I did very wrong last November was hang around in the water for Yeti. Like these things are apt to do I was feeling fine with it until I wasn't. 

Yeah, I think any water/swim sections, I'm going to need to swim hard, get out fast and run for a bit to warm TF back up

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

I had forgotten how hard it is to keep up with one of your threads.

[Big_Show]

Are you already planning out next year's OCRs too?

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[Charlie_Quinn]

16 hours ago, jonfirestar said:

I am just as slow as you in the water. I'd be pretty close if we raced  and kind of hilarious to watch us flap our way towards the shore! 

 

Yeah, that wouldn't be pretty. The race would stop being between you and me and would be between the lifeguards rushing in to save us! 

 

16 hours ago, jonfirestar said:

Oh me too. I'd rather it be definite wetsuit weather. I do think my choices are going to be the wetsuit or the vest, unless there is a massive hike in temperature. 

 

When we booked the fun lap for this weekend, I assumed I'd need my neoprene vest. I'm not so sure now.

 

15 hours ago, Maigahane said:

Glad you're back CQ!

 

Hello! I'm glad to be back.

 

13 hours ago, Rhovaniel said:

Yeah, I think any water/swim sections, I'm going to need to swim hard, get out fast and run for a bit to warm TF back up

 

^This. Even if you don't feel like running after swimming, you have to force yourself to. It sucks, but shivering and blue lips suck more.

 

10 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

I had forgotten how hard it is to keep up with one of your threads.

 

Nah. We're still on page one! 

 

2 hours ago, Big_Show said:

Are you already planning out next year's OCRs too?

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 

 

If by planning next years OCRs, you mean I already have about 4 booked, some volunteer codes to use to book some more, and waiting for pay day to book a couple more then yes 

I'm aware I have a problem. I'm OK with this problem.

[jonfirestar]

43 minutes ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

When we booked the fun lap for this weekend, I assumed I'd need my neoprene vest. I'm not so sure now.

 

 

I just checked the weather at Nuclear for Sunday and it's predicting 18ºC!! WTF. I'd second guess a base layer at that temperature. Although I'm sure the water, if there is any water, will be much colder. It's a little weird knowing what is at the venue but having no idea what the race itself is going to be. 

 

46 minutes ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

I'm aware I have a problem. I'm OK with this problem.

But what about what you've done to poor Stu!  

[Charlie_Quinn]

Wednesday 17th Oct

First post is a rest day post. I'm doing a deload week, partly because of the stuff this weekend and partly because it's shark week. I did a lifting session on Tuesday and I'm going to BMF tonight. Morning brain tried to talk me out of going to BMF tonight. Morning brain got told to STFU and I've packed my stuff ready for the class after work.  I made a deal with myself that if I went to BMF, I could have pizza afterwards.

 

One other nice thing from yesterday, my Mudd Queen leggings arrived yesterday, in time for OCR Worlds!

They look like this, 

 

and I love them. So now I can represent for both Mudstacle and Mudd Queens at the same time this weekend. 

[Charlie_Quinn]

24 minutes ago, jonfirestar said:

I just checked the weather at Nuclear for Sunday and it's predicting 18ºC!! WTF. I'd second guess a base layer at that temperature. Although I'm sure the water, if there is any water, will be much colder. It's a little weird knowing what is at the venue but having no idea what the race itself is going to be. 

 

Hmmm, it's a tough one. Anything above 15c and I'm running in a t-shirt, but the wind in the open fields at Nuclear can be really biting. I guess it's going to be a case of take everything and decide 20 minutes before we start!

 

26 minutes ago, jonfirestar said:

But what about what you've done to poor Stu!  

 

Meh, he'll live. I think we're a bit weird. We had a conversation last night about what would happen if one of us died close to a race weekend. We both agreed we would want the other to still go and race.  Other couples talk about this stuff too right? RIGHT?

[Jarric]

22 hours ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

This is my last OCR of this year, and it's going to be COLD. Nuclear is by far my favorite OCR event but this is the first time I've ever done Fallout. I'll be doing this with everyone mentioned above, hopefully there will be no hypothermia in the group!

 

20 hours ago, jonfirestar said:

The long range forecast is predicting about 10-11ºC it'll probably be wildly different in reality but at those temperatures I wouldn't bother with the full wetsuit but just a neoprene vest. But rather like the discussions about strength we've been having I've got a body mass advantage and don't suffer quite as much with the cold. 

 

19 hours ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

You know what? I'd rather it was just cold, not this in between weather. At least if it's cold, I know what to wear and I know what I have to deal with. Guessing if I need a wetsuit of a vest or base layers is so annoying. I'm gonna say it, I hope it suddenly gets really cold and snows. At least it's something I've dealt with already!

 

Yeah I just checked the long range weather too - if it's 11*C I definitely won't be wearing a wetsuit, and as I don't have any neoprene it will just be layers!

 

Sunday's looking more and more like a t-shirt and shorts kind of race.

 

Also I love the leggings!

[Charlie_Quinn]

16 minutes ago, Jarric said:

Yeah I just checked the long range weather too - if it's 11*C I definitely won't be wearing a wetsuit, and as I don't have any neoprene it will just be layers!

 

After you managed to do Winter Nuts this year without any neoprene at all, I think I'm worried about you the least! You can clearly handle the cold better than the rest of us!

[Salinger]

Hope you are having a great time xx

[Charlie_Quinn]

Phew, what an incredible weekend! It took me all of yesterday to get over it as I was so knackered. It started at 3:15am on Saturday morning, I got up and drove to Nuclear Races, the venue for this years OCR World Championships. I was due to be helping out in the village all weekend, but as they were short on volunteers, I got moved onto the course, which is where I wanted to be.

It was a day full of mixed emotions. I got to see the elite racers doing their thing up close - wow, those guys and girls are insanely good - and I may have fangirled a little.

 

It was also amazing to see all the racers from different nations that had made the trip over to run the course. But unfortunately there were a few people that soured it a little. A few runners were rude, some tried to bend the rules or straight out cheat. But the nice people outweighed the bad and that made the day for me.

The world championship has a band system and mandatory obstacle completion. This means that if you can't complete the obstacle, your band is taken and you don't get classed as 100% completion. You still get a medal and a time, you just aren't eligible for any prizes. Losing that band is a big thing for some racers, which made it very emotional when people had to give it up when they couldn't complete the obstacle.  My obstacle only took about 6 bands all day, as it was a hoist so relatively easy for most people (the only people that couldn't do it were the some very very small women and a few small teenagers)

It was a very long day and I was exhausted by the time I got home so went to bed at 9pm and slept for 10 hours!

 

Sunday was the team race and charity event. The charity event was basically a fun run so no bands and no timing chips and this is what @jonfirestar @Jarric @Rhovaniel Stu and I had signed up for. We were going to join the Mudstacle Fun Wave. For those that don't know, Mudstacle is an OCR community in the UK. They have a pro race team, but 99% of the members are people who run OCR for fun. At big events they will get as many people as possible to sign up to one wave and do a Mudstacle take over. Nothing about it is serious, hardly any running is done and there is music and games played throughout. I'm sure there will be a video of our antics soon so I'll link it when it is. But for now I'll just say that it was an incredible, ridiculous and silly race that left us all smiling from ear to ear. After the race we all sat in the village and enjoyed a beer in the sunshine (who'd have thought there would be blazing sunshine in mid october) and it was the perfect end to the weekend.

 

It was so great to get a chance to play on world championship level obstacles. And although it wasn't a serious race for us, I was a little disappointed at how much my grip and obstacle technique has dropped this year. Because I spent so long training for my first ultra, I basically dropped all climbing and grip training. There is also the fact that a year ago I had a broken finger, and I didn't really do any grip work once that finger was healed. So this is going to be a priority for me in the next few months. My plan is to see if I can go bouldering once a week and see if I can get to an obstacle training ground once a month. I really want to run one of the competitive waves at the OCRWC next year, but I've got a long way to go to do able to get myself to a point where I feel I've done the best I can. I don't mind if I don't keep my band, but if I'm going to lose it, I want to know that I lost it giving it my all. 

 

Let operation OCRWC 2019 begin.

[Salinger]

yay so glad you had fun Charlie!!!

 

Im excited to watch you smash all these goals. You are a powerhouse and an inspiration <3 xx

[iatetheyeti]

Sounds like it was a great weekend! It's a shame that some of the racers acted the way they did, but it's good to know they were in the minority, and I imagine it would have been something of a relief to take so few bands over the course of the day, all things considered. I've seen some videos of Mudstacle fun waves past, and if yours was anything like those I can just imagine how much of a blast it would have been  

 

And long way to go or not, I've got no doubt you'll be able to run a competitive wave next year. 

[Charlie_Quinn]

On 10/23/2018 at 12:05 PM, Salinger said:

yay so glad you had fun Charlie!!!

 

Im excited to watch you smash all these goals. You are a powerhouse and an inspiration <3 xx

 

 I've never been called a powerhouse before. I like it!

 

16 hours ago, iatetheyeti said:

Sounds like it was a great weekend! It's a shame that some of the racers acted the way they did, but it's good to know they were in the minority, and I imagine it would have been something of a relief to take so few bands over the course of the day, all things considered. I've seen some videos of Mudstacle fun waves past, and if yours was anything like those I can just imagine how much of a blast it would have been  

 

And long way to go or not, I've got no doubt you'll be able to run a competitive wave next year. 

 

Yeah it is a shame that there were a few gits. I can imagine it was a tense day for the serious racers, so emotions were running high. Which I get, but the lengths some people tried to go to keep their band was slightly ridiculous! 

I'm so glad I wasn't on one of the rigs as they took so many bands and that must have been hard to do.