Volunteer or Marshal? What the Future May Hold

Current industry practice uses volunteers to help run OCR events.  Current OCR events are mostly unregulated and unsanctioned.  Liability insurance is the biggest cost and plays a huge role in the lives of all OCR event sponsors.  It's all about risk versus payout potential in the event of something going very wrong on the course.  This post will focus on the specific aspect of three key areas that I believe will become tightly bound in the near future - volunteers (those actually at the obstacles), regulation/sanctioning of the sport, and insurance.

OCR started out wild and many would like it to stay forever wild.  But in the eyes of regulators and insurers, wild means risk.  Risk means cost.  While high cost can keep some of the more wild and risky events out of the game, cost is nonetheless unavoidable for those who remain.  While regulations and sanctioning bodies are surely on the horizon or in the works (think Olympic sport, enforced rules for failed obstacles, and personal equipment/clothing) they're not here yet.  In the meantime, event organizers want to keep costs down by any means possible.  That means that risk has to be managed and lowered in tangible ways, demonstrated through objective, empirical data.

Enough of the technical jargon.  If you want to reduce the risk of injury or death on a given obstacle, I see the following requirements on the horizon:

First, recognize that a large portion of OCR participants are first-timers.  They may be untrained both in fitness as well as on the peculiar mechanics and techniques of obstacles.  In other words, they may be physically and mentally unprepared to do an obstacle.  You can see how the risk factors rise, thereby increasing the likelihood for an injury.  Fact number one: this situation is uncontrollable in OCR as it exists today.  Anyone is allowed to race.  Everyone signs the waiver whether they read it and understand the risks or not.  In terms of risk management, this situation is what you call a "given".

Second, in a similar manner, OCR obstacle volunteers are also in many cases untrained in the mechanics and techniques of obstacles.  I have written about this many times.  However, unlike the race participants, I believe that the volunteer group can be effectively utilized in the reduction of risk on obstacles.  I believe that implementation of the process I am about to describe can result in two very important steps of progress in OCR.  First, through the reduction of risk, insurance costs can also go down.  Second, the process could naturally lead to the kinds of course regulation that many participants, organizers, and sanctioners would find attractive.  We all want the sport to grow.  Implemented and enforced safety through risk reduction activities can help to ensure our sports' future.

Third and finally, understand that when an injury happens on the course, at least two things can result.  First, we all come home with bumps, cuts, and bruises.  But many come home in much worse shape.  Broken bones, lacerations, concussions, and worse.  All too often, these are not reported.  They are left undocumented until the person goes to the doctor sometime later.  The medical journals and other literature indeed show a sharp incline in OCR-related injuries.  Funny things is, the insurance for the race does not pay for this stuff.  That's all on the individual.  

What really hits hard is the potential for catastrophic injuries on the course.  The more risky an obstacle, the higher the cost.  The insurance companies have studied the obstacles and determined the danger level of each.  If you have a lot of barbed wire crawls, electric shocks, ice baths, and other high risk obstacles like this, your insurance costs will rise accordingly.  Then there is the class of obstacles where technique is critical to success and remaining injury free.  Remember, insurance is based on potential.  Potential is partially based on historical data of actual injuries.  There are other factors as well.  But I want to focus  mostly in the injuries due to poor technique.

Because that is how the volunteer gets tied in.  Put a untrained racer on a difficult obstacle with an untrained volunteer and you have three ingredients of risk.  As I said earlier, the untrained racer is a given.  So is the difficult obstacle.  But an untrained volunteer element can be controlled.  And I think it should.

I reiterate this story for purposes of illustration.  On one particular course where I volunteered, there were two log hurdle obstacles.  I was on the second set, probably a mile or so from the first set.  Two racers approached, one in obvious pain.  The other was running full speed at the obstacle.  I stopped him politely and asked him how he was going to accomplish the hurdle.  I knew the warning signs here.  A trained racer knows running up to the log hurdle is the wrong technique.  I'll tell you why.  The first guy, the one in pain, told me he ran up to the first hurdle a mile before, and ended up exactly as I knew he would - flat on his back.  He was certain he broke a rib.  He walked the rest of the course.  But his buddy wanted to finish.  I wanted him to finish too, just not injured like his partner.  So I showed him the simple squat jump muscle up technique of the log hurdle.  He got right over.  His friend said, "I wish the volunteer had showed me that back there.  Then I wouldn't have gotten hurt."

A trained, actively engaging volunteer can help reduce the potential for injury on obstacles.  Reduce the potential, reduce the risk.  Reduce the risk, reduce the cost.  While that may mean one day that volunteers are paid course marshals, that cost could pale in comparison to that of insurance.  If you want an Olympic sport, those marshals are trained, paid, regulators.  They enforce the rules.  But unlike the Olympics, OCR marshals could and should provide reasonable and actual assistance to racers who present potential risk for injury.

There's a lot left unsaid here, many avenues to explore.  But I welcome your thoughts and responses.  Do you agree/disagree?  What direction do you see OCR taking in terms of risk reduction and cost?  Have at it.

Heat Advisory

Heat advisory and poor air quality warning the last two days in my part of the country.  That could make for rotten outdoor training and racing if you are not prepared.  What should you do?

As my good friend Charles Vassallo wrote yesterday, "Hydrate."  Just can't say it enough folks.  Drink lots of water.  The nice thing about water weight is it comes right off by the end of your workout or race.  Water burns easy.  So drink up.  Better to have a slight bulge around the midsection than passed out or cramped up.

My wife didn't want me to go out today.  93 degrees, humid, and smoggy best describe today.  I wanted to do a playground run.  We compromised.  My playgrounds and cabanas are all located on lakes.  Oh yeah.  I live in Medford Lakes.  We have twenty-two of them in our little two square mile boro.  Three of them are conveniently on my training circuit.  So I added them right in.

Lakes make great leg workouts.  The resistance is phenomenal.  You can adjust it by how deep you go.  Run forwards, backwards, sideways, leg over leg.  Then get down and do some flutter kicks.  And then, while your hands are good and wet and slick, get up on the beams and do some hangtime for extra grip strength training.

While everybody else is out playing volleyball or tending their little tykes in the shallow end, I made grand use of my natural surroundings.  At the same time, I stayed nice and cool in this otherwise too hot day.

The last two years I ran the PA Sprint at Blue Mountain in the late afternoon.  Both times were really hot.  If you've run a Spartan, you know water stations may be sparse on the course.  And sometimes they yell at you for taking a second cup!  But again, as my buddy Charles says, it's hardly worth it to carry a Camelback on a Sprint.  Just hydrate properly before and after the race, take what they hand out if you need it, and then, as I figured out at Tuxedo two weeks ago, I slowly suck on a Sports Bean.  That keeps the saliva flowing, my mouth moist, and my breathing passages open.  I double bag them and keep them in a SpiBelt.

Oh, and Medford Lakes also has this really cool event every August called Canoe Carnival.  Just another great use of the lake on a hot summer night.

Blind in one eye

My grandfather had a lot of sayings.  Whenever he couldn't find something, and then there it would be right in front of his face, he would say, "I'm blind in one eye and can't see out the other."  I feel like that sometimes.  Maybe it was that kick in the face last week at Tuxedo.  Maybe it's my bionic eye (as my eye doctor likes to call my crystal lens replacement after cataract lens replacement).  But for the past few years I have been doing what I call "playground runs" for OCR training.  The equipment there can simulate a lot of obstacles.

I thought I had seen everything and used every possible playground object out there.  But after ABF Mud Run added "Black Ops" to their course last year, I needed to add beam traverse training.  Well wouldn't ya know that right next to my playgrounds were these gigantic wooden cabanas with exposed beams.  Perfect for me.  Been there all the time.  I even helped build some of them.  But until that race, I never used them except for shade.

Then it happened again in April.  ABF added two rigs to the course.  They sent me to the penalty box and I was not happy about that.  The bars were no problem.  But the chain grips got me.  So last night as I was trying to decide what to do on my run this morning, I chose the playground run.  Then it occurred to me that there was something I had missed, even though it had been there all the time.  Yep, I was blind in one eye and couldn't see out the other.  Swingsets!

I was almost ready to go to the hardware store and drop $5 a foot for chains to hang in my backyard gym.  Not gonna happen.  These playgrounds are loaded with chains on those swings.  Perfect.  And right in front of my face.

So now I'm thinking that I have to get ahead of the game.  What other obstacles have I not seen yet?  When will they pop up on some course and surprise me?  You see what I mean.  I need eyes in the back of my head.  I need eyes to see the future.  I need to see these obstacles and start training for them before they see me and gobble me up.  I hate to fail new obstacles on a course.

I know it's bound to happen.  My devious friend and obstacle designer Larry Cooper will see to it.  Oh well.  Keep training my friends.  Keep your eyes wide open.

2015 Spartan Sprint Tuxedo Race Re-Cap

The 8:15 wave took off to the usual fanfare and motivation.  But the smokebomb was missing.  And for that I give you my sincere thanks.  It was not an obstacle.  It was a toxic health hazard.  Following that huge plus, there were plenty more to come on this perfect morning for a race.

That blissful state was almost ruined at obstacle #3 when at the top, some guy accidently kicked me in the face, knocking my contact lens out.  That could have been terrible trouble navigating the single track without stereo vision.  Fortunately the lens was still there miraculously and moved back into place.  A DNF for something like that would have sucked.  I guess I would have walked but…who knows.

By far the toughest obstacle out there was the terrain.  The steep, rocky, uneven single track was very technical and extremely fun.  And there were miles of it.  I’m glad I was in an early wave so that I could run this at full pace, not stuck in mule pack lines of the nearly 6000 runners who competed.  I learned that lesson last year after suffering a 20 minute delay at the last obstacle just because I had to wait in line.

There were a few new obstacles I have not seen at Spartan.  The rig was a three-section apparatus with an incline bar, four rope knots, and a horizontal bar.  It was difficult given its strategic placement after a muddy barbed wire crawl making the grips almost non-existent.  The Z-Traverse was also tough given its slippery placement right after another barbed wire crawl.  Kudos for that.  I slipped on both of these, did my thirty burpees each, and powered on.  They were my only two fails for the day.  Lesson learned – train with wet, muddy gloves.  Seriously.  Maybe I could keep my hands out of the mud if I could roll through the wire like other people.  But I get horribly dizzy.  Any suggestions?

There were lots of volunteers out there and most were vocal and helpful.  Likewise, the photographers seemed well-engaged.  Unfortunately, and this is my only negative, the fan viewing area was limited to the bottom of the course.  No chair life rides to the top.  Still, it was nice to have a few encounters with my support team down there amid the cheering throngs.

I enjoyed seeing some of my friends out there, and thrilled especially to see Charles “Jazz” Vassallo podium twice in a row in the elite master’s division.  There’s over a decade of age between us though and given the profiles of yesterday’s top placers, I have to wonder why Spartan set their elite master’s age beginning at 40.  In running races, that age is typically 50.  Heck, the top male open division finisher came in at an elite pace and he was 55.  Spartan needs to recalibrate their brackets.

The obstacles were well built, well placed, and well manned.  Some of them, particularly the cargo webs, were almost too good.  They were so tight that they were more like climbing ladders.  Loosen them up like they used to be.  Make them tough and challenging again.

Put a catch net at the finish line too.  After the fire jump, the track was so steep I had a hard time stopping.  It was also very rocky with loose scree.  So it was tough to dig in and stop.  I flew right past the guy with my medal and the people with the scissors who wanted to snip my timing chip bracelet. 

I loved this race and was very well prepared for it.  The tire drags all winter long in flat South Jersey paid off.  I shall return next year.