Training for OCR Races

This week I’m going to discuss some important areas to consider when you start training for OCR events.
1) Building a strong aerobic running base is very important. It takes time to accomplish this effectively while also avoiding injury. If you’re just getting started with a running program, it’s very important to slowly acclimate your body to running long distance or for long durations of time. In many cases, the cardiorespiratory system could jump right in and be fine but it’s the body’s musculoskeletal system that needs time to slowly adapt. The body is so amazing and when introduced to a mental or physical plan, it’ll start adapting and improving. A person with very little running background can start with 3-5min a day 5-6 days a week and slowly increase. Someone currently logging 30 miles or 4 hours a week looking to increase, needs to also take similar advice and increase slowly. Recognizing things such as muscle imbalances and pain associated with running, is very important and should be addressed early on. Certain shoes, gait analysis, Yoga, foam rolling, physical therapy, chiropractic care, and/or working with a running specialists can all play a role in helping you ensure a long term running plan that brings you a lot of mental and physical peace and happiness. Ignoring problems as you’re increasing time/mileage will normally lead to more dramatic problems. The majority of the time/mileage we run has a very specific purpose. You’ll see that I have the athletes spend a lot of time in the aerobic training zone pace which is appx 75-85% of their max HR. Great results occur when we spend significant time in this zone. We will spend some time in the tempo zone (appx 85-90% of max HR). We will also spend time sharpening our speed with intense all out or near all out efforts.
2) Grip/pull strength and grip/pull strength endurance is the 2nd most important part of training for OCR events. Without it, there are a laundry list of obstacles you will struggle with. As you’ve seen from the workouts, we spend a lot of time working to improve in this area. If you stay consistent with the training, you will become more efficient and confident with dominating the obstacles that require grip/pull strength and grip/pull strength endurance.
3) Climbing and climbing while carrying heavy things. If you’ve ever done an obstacle course race, I can almost guarantee you did some climbing and there were also times when you were climbing while carrying something heavy. You can take a very strong runner who’s not used to training on hills/mountains or treadmills at incline and they are going to struggle. You’ll see in the training, I work volume climbing in to the workouts. Just like with flat running, your body adapts and you’ll become a better climber. Whether you’re climbing with or without weight, your muscles from the hips down are put under greater loads and the body requires more calories to accomplish the work. It’s very common to see strong climbers beating strong flat course runners in OCR events. Matt Novakovich is a great example. He consistently beats athletes who can run a faster mile, 5k, 10k, or marathon than him. Matt is one of the best climbers on the planet. It’s safe to say that half or more of the volume I program for the athletes is climbing volume. Building workouts that simulate what goes on our on course is important for creating body adaptation that will provide great results come race day.
4) Minimizing rest time and in many cases avoiding rest all together during workouts is important. There are no rest times out on course and modeling workouts the same way results in highly productive training. The greatest endurance runners of all time spent or are still spending a significant amount of time logging long time durations in certain training zones. This a fact that’s really not debatable. Tying a significant number or our total workouts together without allowing long or any breaks is going to translate very well to the course on race day.
5) We shouldn’t be “racing” most of our workouts. Professional athletes/coaches in other sports know the importance of not going “beast mode” all the time. There will be times when we sharpen things up with certain workouts that are high tempo or race pace but heart rate zone training is very important as well as allowing the body adequate time to rest and recover.
6) The few things I’ve listed above is most definitely not an all-inclusive list of things to do or not do but they are things I’ve found to be very effective during my time training top athletes in our sport as well as many open category athletes and athletes knocking on the top tier door. Yes, we absolutely want to have fun with OCR racing and training. Even if you’re the best in the world, you should still be able to have a great time racing and training. The majority of top level athletes in all sports spend appx 98% of their time training and 2% of their time racing/competing. That 98% timeframe usually isn’t hyped up with thousands of others competing, starting corrals, bright lights, fans, medals/awards, etc. To be successful, you need to find a way to enjoy the heck out of the 98% part of the equation. Always spend the majority of your time focusing on the process and not the outcome. I spoke of this in a previous weekly message but it’s very important. All the 98% timeframe is the process and if we can’t enjoy the timeframe that takes up 98% of the equation, we’re never going to have true peace with what we’re doing and we’re definitely never going to come close to reaching our full potential.

Until next time, here’s to a great week of training and I hope to see you all soon at a future race.