Palmerton PA 2015 – The experience

I just returned from a weekend of racing in Palmerton PA at the Reebok Spartan NBC weekend Super & Sprint. What a beautiful part of the country. Matt Novakovich, Ben Greenfield, and myself stayed in this old home in Jim Thorpe, PA (reminded me of my great grandmother’s place). Mountains everywhere and a beautiful river rolling right through the middle of town. This was my first NBC race. The NBC presense if very apparent on race day morning. Cameras everywhere, play by play commentator Christmas Abbott hovering around, etc. Warming up with Spartan celebrity Matt Novakovich pre race requires stopping 25 times so he can graciously take pictures with everyone asking to meet him. Very cool to see our sport in the position it is in today.
The competition was very strong both days. Saturday’s field was packed with almost all of the big names in our sport. I’ve had some strong podium finishes this year but this is only because of the fact that many of the top athletes in our sport weren’t present. I enjoyed those races but I really wanted to get out to Palmerton to get a feel for where Norm’s head is at right now as far a course design goes at a course that gives him some of the same geographically similar treats that Squaw Valley will provide (minus the elevation of course). My goal was to be top 20 Saturday and top 10 Sunday. I believe I ended up 18-19th range Sunday and around 26th Saturday. I did go burpee free both days with no close calls on any obstacles. There is simply a ton of great talent out on course now. I had two of the best races I’ve had so I’m happy with my placement. I placed 4th both days in the Master’s category. The field was stacked with a bunch of strong master’s athletes. I think Sunday had 6 40+ athletes in the top 20. I believe this race gave us a good understanding how Squaw Valley will feel this year. Norm threw an intense climb at us right out of the gate. We went from the base of the mountain to the very top with only a few very short little traverse sections where it was flat. At the top the first appx 40-50 elite men had a double 40lb sandbell carry down what seemed to be a double black diamond ski slope and then back up. Women and the remainder of the men had a single 40lb sandbell carry. Over the years, there have only been a few times during a Spartan race where we were faced with an obstacle that seriously got in your head and this was one of them. I remember taking note of the fact that I was sweating profusely. I experimented with several different carry methods and settled with a method that I think worked well for me. I saw many different methods being used but I’ve learned from previous races like WC’s last year in Killington that saving your grip strength is important if you want to increase your chances of going burpee free for the remainder of the course. Some resort to farmer’s walking the bags and this can spell disaster later in the race where you’re thrown a bunch of upper obstacles that can expose lack of grip strength that was destroyed during a double sandbag carry. Long story short, I’ve learned to do everything possible to preserve grip strength. The method that worked best for me on the sandbell carry was saddling one of the bags on my shoulder in a way where it was balanced well and resting on the side of my head. I carried the other bell in front of my like the bucket carry. With this bell resting against my chest, I didn’t require much arm/grip strength to hold it in place. I switched shoulders appx 4 times on the way up and to accomplish this, I would bring a knee forward and rest my front bag on my knee and quickly switch sides on the shoulder bag then reposition the front bag. Even though this was a VERY tough obstacle, I was happy with how this method worked for me. I’m confident the elite men will have a long steep double bag carry at WC’s this year. The only way to prepare for this is to get out on a local climb and start carrying two bells or bags. Practice with different methods until you’re comfortable with a method that works for you. I see a lot of people going until they’re completely exhausted then sitting down on the mountain and resting. If at all possible, try and maintain a pace while going up that prevents you from redlining. No matter how slow it is, maintaining a consistent pace will always be faster than taking yourself to the point of having to take breaks. If you’re carrying one bag, I feel carrying it on your shoulder is the best method and same as above, get out and start climbing with your bag/bell. The Super on Saturday had a few additional long ascents/climbs, some fun descents/downhill sections, some short sections that were somewhat flat, and a tough log and bucket carry. All the typical obstacles that challenge grip/pull strength and grip/pull strength endurance were present – herc hoist, tyrolene traverse, z wall traverse, rig, walls, monkey bars, etc. The stump jump was a little different. There were appx 8 logs we stepped traversed across then a 2″x6″ piece of wood appx 8′ long that completed the traverse and you had to touch a final log before jumping off. This obstacle definitely requires a little more focus that the traditional stump jump. There was one of the longest barbed wire crawls I’ve ever experience at a Spartan race. It was positioned on a green ski slope at the bottom of the mountain. We crawled down for I’d say appx 100+ yards, followed by the slippery wall, then back up the green slope for almost the same distance. All the wires were pretty low and if you’re not acclimated to rolling during the barbed wire obstacle, this would have taken forever. A bit of advice for improving your barbed wire crawl is to get out and roll a lot during your workouts. We do it Wednesday nights during my local weekly workout/race. Your body will get acclimated to rolling and it’s a game changer for this obstacle. Practice switching sides every 6-10 rolls to prevent extreme dizziness/nausea.
This was definitely a race that reminded you of Killington the past three years and though only a Super, a great preview of a lot of what we’ll see at Squaw Valley for WC’s. Minus the elevation of course which would have put our heart/lungs in a serious vise during this race. Palmerton is that rare case of a beautiful mountainous ski resort area at very low elevation (1,540′ summit peak). Squaw will be a much different story.
I did leave this race with the same reassurance I’ve had for years. You need to be able to do the following well if you want to be a top OCR athlete or an athlete who wants to continue improving and completing all obstacle. 1)you need to be able to climb. 2)you need to be able to run. 3)you need grip/pull strength and grip/pull strength endurance. 4)you must be able to carry heavy stuff uphill. To be a top elite, none of these four areas can be a weakness and you need to be consistently working toward making all four of these a strength.
It was so great meeting a few of you in Palmerton last weekend. One of my goals when I started Yancy Camp was for each and every one of you to feel like you’re part of our training family. Each and every one of you have a special place in my heart and I’ll do anything I can to help you enjoy your OCR experience. Have a great week of training.