Athlete burnout is very common in the world of obstacle course racing. With events taking place year round, there is often not enough time to step away from the sport to decompress and refocus. As we begin the new year and a new race season, let's take a moment to look at the risk factors for burnout and develop a plan of action in the event you experience any of these symptoms.
As many OCR athletes enter the dreaded off-season, we reflect on the skills that need developing in the coming months. In my informal research, I see a very common thread among us—we must build that iron grip. “Nevermore will a rig claim our burpees/souls!” we exclaim in our goals for 2018. That’s a solid goal, but where the heck does one start? Enter Grip Builder 101 developed by the team at OCR Beast.
Hill training is one of the most important components of a solid OCR routine. Learn the basics of hill training in this OCR 101 article.
If you’ve ever run a Tough Mudder, you know its credo is recited before each race. My favorite line from that inspirational speech goes a little something like, “I don’t whine. Kids whine.”
You could feel the nervous tension in the air at the OCR World Championships at dusk on Thursday night. In 12 short hours, the first racers of the weekend would be taking their mark. Athletes from 67 different nations were congregating around the obstacles as the finishing touches were being made. Strategies were developing and although we did not speak the same languages, you could tell we were all thinking the same thing; this course is going to be brutal.
We’re all fans of Tough Mudder, Spartan Race, Warrior Dash, and BattleFrog (RIP), but there’s a type of race that can never really compare to the massive marketing Goliaths taking over the obstacle course racing world. This type of race continues to entertain both competitive and everyday mud runners who crave the next challenge but are not ready to drop another 200 bucks to play in the mud.
For a bit of context, let's start out with a little bit about me. I finished off 2012 at the doctors, sick and obese in horrible health. I knew I needed to do something about it so I set a 2013 resolution to get healthy and loose some weight. Fast forward, I've lost almost 75lbs and had a child in 2015.
Evan does a beach workout with American Ninja Warrior & Spartan Race TV star (and all-around awesome person) Rose Wetzel.
I’m a naturally competitive person and I’ve also always loved climbing and monkeying around on things. After doing a couple races, I found that the community is great and I have a natural ability with obstacles that I really enjoy. I love what I do and that’s important. This week on Faces at the Races we profile Jacob Kohler.
Tyler Markley if this week's featured athlete on Faces at the Races. From Markley, OCR was initially just a "fit goal" that I set to keep motivated when I first began training. After my first race (Savage Pro), I realized that I had stumbled upon something that I not only enjoyed but also something that I was quite good at.
