Medford Lakes Memorial Day 5K Race Re-Cap

Aside from the true meaning of Memorial Day (never forget), three other great events also happened yesterday.  First, a re-cap of the Medford Lakes Memorial Day 5K.  Although this is a very old race, it has only become USATF-certified a few years ago.  This, along with the beautiful course through the lakes and forests of this little boro in South Jersey, attracts a very fast class of runner.  Of the 146 who participated, I’d estimate that better than 80% of them finished in the 20’s.  The returning #1 male winner regularly completes in the mid-teens.

But the real thrill yesterday was three-fold:  Two of my sons ran.  This was the first race for my eldest.  He and a friend completed in 32.  They are training for a 25-mile, 3-day hike of Devil’s Pass next month.  My youngest also ran it in 26.  I hope one day he’ll realize what a runner he could become with practice and coaching.  The other highlight was just the overall experience of the race directed by my wife.  She makes it look easy.  Maybe 146 runners sounds light.  But she also directs a race in November that attracts nearly 1000 runners.  Finally, a good friend and professional sports photographer Bob Mulholland contacted us at the last minute that he would be in town and wanted to shoot our race.  We were delighted to have him on the course and awards ceremony.  And it's always great to have South Jersey Race Timing on board.

www.medfordlakescolony.org/memorialdayrun.html

www.sjtiming.com

The second cool thing about yesterday was the OCR crowd on Facebook.  I see so many men and women running the Murph.  That was a great honor to a fallen hero.  Some folks did it at body weight while others wore a weighted vest from 10 to 40 pounds.  I saw times as hot as 38-minutes and none over an hour.  What fantastic effort.  I also saw some folks building backyard obstacles.  This is the caliber of athlete that we see more and more out on the course.  This sport is real and I love being a part of this gang.

The last thing was for me a huge deviation in training.  I got on my bicycle again after about three years off as I dove into OCR full time.  I switched from thousands of road miles a season to hundreds of trail miles.  But a minor injury has running to the sideline.  So why not pick up the bike to keep the cardio going?  Spartan Tuxedo is this weekend so riding the hills was the next best thing to running.

I hope you all enjoyed your extended weekend, trained hard, remembered in tears, thanked your local vets, and hugged a Gold Star mom.  Stay strong, brave, and humble.

Fear This

Sometimes recruiting newbies to OCR can be difficult.  One young lady assured me that she was a runner and was interested in doing her first mud run this season.  She asked me how to train up.  I told her to do "the Murph".  That was the last I heard from her.  Later she told me that it was just too intimidating.

What is there to fear about "the Murph"?  For those of you who don't know what it is, here ya go:

Run a mile.  Then do 100 pullups, 200 pushups, and 300 air squats.  Then run another mile.

I even explained to her how to break it down into doable chunks of 10-20-30 in series.  Then I noticed her funny look and explained how to break it down into easier moves by using resistance bands, knees, and all the other tricks that everyone can use to build up to it over time.  She was a no go.

Why did I suggest "the Murph" to a newbie?  Because, as I have mentioned many times before in this blog, those three moves are done repeatedly on the course.  The only change I would make is doing muscle ups instead of pushups.  Don't believe me?

8-foot military wall - squat jump then pullup then muscle up

Log hurdle - squat jump then muscle up

Warped wall - big jump then a pull up and a muscle up

Rope climb - lots of pull ups

Inverted wall - squat jump then pull up then muscle up

Destroyer (an ABF exclusive) - squat jump then pull up then muscle up

Shall I continue or do you get the idea?  Do "the Murph".  It will make most obstacles a breeze.

If the Glove Fits....

...or in my case, the glove.  I bought a pair of gloves for OCR.  A five-dollar pair I spotted at Bass Pro Shops.  Heck, I figure, if they stick to fish, they'll stick to anything.  Two problems people: First, they tended to slide off when traversing the beams.  And second, they did not stick at all on the rigs.  I don't know why.  But I was sure shocked to find out in the middle of a race two weeks ago.  I thought I had just slipped.  Nope.  Bad gloves.

Gloves need to fit.  So if the gloves fit, wear them.  They should be snug.  The grip material needs to grip hard but not stick stuck.  One guy told me today his gloves did that.  He could not release to get to the next hand hold.  The gloves need to drain.  They will get wet.  So don't try wearing full rubber gloves from under the kitchen sink.  I also learned that the glove should have a wrist wrap.  That will help to minimize the slippage problem like I had on the beam.

But here's another thing folks.  Equipment problems will be even bigger problems if you let them.  The slipping gloves became a distraction.  So during practice today that distraction helped cause me to drop off the obstacle.  No big deal today.  But on race day that would be a penalty - burpees or whatever.

So if the glove fits, then make sure it really fits.  Try out your equipment under extreme conditions like you will see on the course.  Don't wait until race day to find out the issues.

Today marked three weeks since the ABF Mud Run.  Two more weeks until the Spartan Sprint at Tuxedo.  Are you in full training mode?  I lost a whole week of training this week due to getting a late season flu and brutal allergies.  If I hit 80% today I was lucky.  Sometimes our human bodies don't perform the way they were designed.  Sickness, injury, and other things can often impede our success on the course.

But it's the only bodies we have.  So if they fit, wear them.  Just keep them as fit as possible at all times.  On the course today we learned a few other valuable lessons I want to share with you.  First we did some obstacles in the order we are used to doing them on the course.  Then we turned around and did them backwards order.  Mind-blowing.  I loved it.  Threw me out of the routine.  Took my mind off my recovery.  Change your workout routines.  Don't get comfortable.  You never know what will be around the corner.

I got to try out a lot of technique on the rigs today.  Some worked.  Some did not.  We spent a lot of time on the parallel bar teaching people to do a muscle up.  When I mentioned I had one of those in my backyard, one of the new guys was shocked.  Then he thought about it and said, "I gotta get me one of those!"  Lesson - make your backyard or your schoolyard playground your gym and practice the three basic OCR moves to perfection.  Pull up.  Muscle up.  Jump squat.  We practiced these over and over today.  I was not shocked at how few people understood much less were able to execute.  Mix everything else up but keep these three constant.  You will need them on almost every obstacle.

Having ABF Mud Run near my home is a blessing.  I get to work out on one of the best courses in the country almost any time I want to.  Some folks come from over two hours away to practice with us.  I was thrilled to see that probably half of the 30+ people there this morning were newbies.  That means growth.  Many of them were kids.  One kid in particular ran with the elite group.  He was a natural.  I hope he inspires his friends and family.  In addition to helping local charities, ABF exists for this reason as well, to help everybody be the most inspiring, most fit, and most fun in their lives.  ABF fits me like a glove.

Do You OODA?: How to make a midcourse correction anytime, anywhere.

This winter I made a very specific decision to train up in a very specific way for my first race in April.  I knew I needed lungs on hills so running and sled work were givens.  I also knew that on the certain course I was going to race on, the distance between obstacles was very minimal on the second half of the course.  They were rapid fire.  So I figured the right method to train was explosive reps for short counts.  After all, most obstacles don't require high-reps.

In hindsight, perhaps you too can see the tactical flaw in this method.  Although the reps are short per obstacle, when you stack obstacles back-to-back, the reps multiply accordingly.  It was an error that cost me in endurance.  The Crossfitters call this AMRAP.

So I am making an early season course correction.  I was convinced of this just moments ago when I looked on Facebook and saw a picture of an obstacle at an upcoming race in the U. K. - a monkey bar over 100 meters long.  For the metric challenged, that's 328 feet - longer than a friggin' football field!  Plus, I should have known better with the 125+ foot Tyrolean Traverse rope on the ABF Mud Run course that I have only successfully crossed once.

This kind of tactic is known in military circles as the OODA loop.  This technique was developed and taught by Air Force Colonel John Boyd and became the basis for modern supremacy in air warfare.  But his method works just about anywhere, including the obstacle course.  It is a way to see, anticipate, calculate, and adjust (or OODA - Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) real-time to overcome and defeat any opponent.  It is a difficult technique to master so I won't go into it here.  Just download and read as much as you can on this and get to work.

The lesson here is, don't make your routines static.  Everything else will change and then you risk loss.  Do the OODA to avoid the OOPS.

Product Review - Reebock All-Terrain Sneakers

Last summer Reebock and Spartan Race held a sweepstakes - Reebok Spartan Race World Sweepstakes.    I won a pair of Reebock All-Terrain sneakers.  After many unexplained delays and emails, the sneaks finally arrived just before Christmas.  By that time I had bought another pair just in case.  The orange pair I won is for shorter length races (Sprint) while the blue pair for a present is for longer races (Super +).  So I am set for the season.

I didn't start trying the sneaks until mid-March after all the snow was gone.  I was told by others that these AT's don't hold up well after about five races.  So far mine are doing well after one very wet and muddy race plus a lot of training miles (mostly dry).

The size 11's I won are cut very tight.  There is no wiggle room in them.  So unlike running sneakers that are cut large so you can swap sole inserts, forget about it here unless you get a pair a half-size up (maybe).  So I am running without my insoles in sneakers that are pretty much spray painted to my feet.  They actually feel good that way.  They do drain well.  But again, because of the size issue and tight fit, there is very little support in these sneaks.  I was very concerned about that because the sneakers I usually use are designed specifically for injury prevention by the insoles and supports.  What we have here in these AT's is little more than an extremely light weight sneak that drains really well.

There's more.  I like the tread.  Great grip in all kinds of terrain.  The knobs really bite into the ground on the uphills.  Not too slippery on the wood ramps and walls.  They did what I needed them to do on my first race with 50+ obstacles.  So I expect when I take them to Tuxedo at the end of this month they will do just fine.

Thank you Reebock and Spartan Race for the cool sneaks sweepstakes prize.  I'll let you know more at the finish line.

You Can Get Anything You Want

Does your obstacle course have a name?  Something to make it personal?   I think I'll name my backyard course "Alice's Restaurant" because there, I can get anything I want (except Alice).  Oh, and one other thing - motivation.

There are two kinds of motivation according to the people who study that kind of thing.  There's extrinsic motivation, the kind where you need a KITA.  Then there's intrinsic motivation, the kind where you have that inner drive to push yourself and you don't need anybody else.

Take for instance the FB posts we see every day in the OCR world.  Catchy phrases to pump you up.  Folks post their workouts to encourage others.  At the starting line, we have our beloved motivational "speakers" to get us hopped up before a race.  But out there on the course, all of that is gone.  You have nothing but intrinsic motivation to get you through.  It can be tough and lonely out there when nobody is in your face.

I was halfway across a 125-foot Tyrolean traverse when I started to flag.  I could hear my buddy Joe Bendy yelling at my like crazy, "C'mon Larry!  This is what you trained for!"  I thought to myself, "Well, I certainly don't want to let him down, so here goes."  I tried a few moves to get going but it was not enough.  Off the rope I went.  Penalty box.  Not one single stinkin' intrinsic motivator came up to give me what I wanted, that little air horn at the end of the rope.

Sometimes I tell myself I need those people yelling at me.  But honestly, I usually don't hear them.  I'm in the zone.  When I'm in that quiet place, the intrinsic motivators are firing on all circuits.  Really that's all I want and all I need.

Here's the problem with extrinsic motivation.  It's not always there for you.  So if you rely on it and never internalize your motivation, there is a lurking danger.  You won't get what you want.  Weight loss?  Faster time?  More power?  If you need someone to always push you, you have a greater chance of giving up when they are not around.  That's what the experts say.  I believe them.  Here's why.

At work, most of us in the ranks can't stand motivational posters.  We know they are not real.  They rarely tell the same story as management.  The man responsible for turning around the economy of Japan after World War II, W. Edwards Deming, told his followers to do away with slogans.  Give people the truth instead.  Motivational posters are necessarily lies.  But they don't always tell the truth about the bottom line.

The same goes out on the course.  My bottom line is all about the truth I tell myself inside my head when nobody else is around.  I can get anything I want.  But I have to draw very deeply.  That day on the rope, well, that was unfortunately just a bitter taste.  Next time, I want a full meal.  That will happen in my backyard between now and the next race.

This week's Mud Smear Award goes to Joe Bendy.  Brother, you tried.  The award is not for trying.  But for that totally bad ass picture of you on FB at last weekend's Savage Race.

Volunteer for This

Who is primarily responsible for safety on the course?  The EMTs?  The Race Director?  The volunteers?  None of the above.  It's you.  True story:

Two runners come up to my obstacle, the log hurdle, where I was a volunteer.  One was clearly hurt and out of action.  He was in the race at this point just for "moral support" of his buddy.  This other guy was getting ready to run up to attempt the log hurdle.  I stopped him in his tracks.  "Do you know the proper technique for getting over this?"

"Nope."

In one minute I showed him the jump squat muscle up technique.  He got it immediately and sailed right over the log hurdle like a pro.  His injured buddy was clearly not happy about something however.

"I wish the volunteer way back on the first one of these had showed us that.  Then I would not have gotten hurt."

Now despite what the insurance folks might say, let's just you and I take a vote here.  Who's at fault here for this guy's injury?  Who is primarily responsible for your safety and well-being and overall injury-free completion of an obstacle course race?  It is you, and me, and every other individual runner.

Don't count on a volunteer like me to be out there to show you the right way.  I do all I can and help literally hundreds during a race.  Don't count on the Race Director or the web site or the course map with devilishly clever obstacle names.  This is just my own estimate folks, but I believe over 80% of the open class runners out there have either never run an obstacle course race before and/or never been trained before showing up.

While I believe that puts a huge burden on the volunteers to help out, the onus really happens months before a race.  That onus is on the runner during training.  Which means that if you, my reader friends, are recruiting people to come to your race, join your team, or just sign up, please take the next step of accountability to help train them.  And don't assume they know anything.  I see plenty of elite racers make the most elementary mistakes.

Here's one.  In this season's BSR Challenge, only one of the competitors used their legs on the 20-foot rope climb.  After completing all those other mind-numbing, bone-chilling, strength-draining obstacles, a mere 20-foot rope was all that was left between the runner and victory.  One challenger succeeded.  Her technique on the rope was flawless.  In fact, her technique on the entire course was flawless.  She beat the former champ's time by nearly eight minutes (if I remember correctly).  I'll step way out and state that the primary reason she won by such a margin was due to her technique.

It kept her safe.  It cut down on  mistakes.  It cut down time on the course.  It cut down on energy expenditure.  In fact, after she won, she had so much gas left she did a leaping back flip and a little dance.  She will be tough to be next year.

Get trained.  Train others.  Friends don't let friends do OCR without proper technique.