What Gear is Fair?

There have been a few flareups recently in OCR ranks both at the elite and open levels.  What gear is fair to use on the course?  Opinions very widely.  With no regulations, the only general agreement among all comments I have read is, "Pick up your #$@&* trash!"

My buddy Charles "Jazz" Vassallo, an elite Spartan racer, got reamed for drying off his hands before an obstacle.  He used a t-shirt he found on the ground.  Some athletes called foul.  That's unfair gear.  Use the grass or your shorts or wave your hands in the wind.  But using a t-shirt or a rag you find on the course is an unfair advantage.

I got reamed for replying to an issue this week when somebody asked for advice on rope burns caused by dragging the feet on the Tyrolean Traverse.  I suggested wearing soccer shin guards in reverse beneath compression socks.  Oh the names I was called.  The videos and writeups I got for showing proper technique.  There were a few who liked my idea but they were in the minority.

I wear them for two reasons:  First, after my first attempt on the ABF Mud Run 125-foot rope, my calves cramped so bad because of the cold water crossings just before the rope.  I do the underneath monkey crawl technique.  But that pressure on my heels and calves totally spazzed  my muscles.  So I had the brilliant idea to use the shin guards.  Problem solved.  I don't have the issue of burns because I knew better than to drag.  But honestly folks.  Some of the videos people sent me showed the "proper" technique as dragging the feet while doing all the work pulling with the arms.  Ouch.

The second reason I wear them is similar to the first.  Getting over the top of walls, especially towards the end of some races when I use the leg up technique, there is that compression again.  I have seen so many people cramp and fall off the wall when that happens.  Again, the shin guard totally prevents that from happening.

Are they an unfair advantage?  They certainly don't get in the way.  They are not a hindrance to me in any way.  I am an open class runner so I don't have to worry about the wrath of the elites.

This is an open question friends.  What are your thoughts?  What other gear do you see out there that is questionable?  I'd like to hear all sides.

I'd also like to see as many of you as possible on October 3 at ABF Mud Run where you can put your theories to the test.  ABF was voted one of the top ten small race venues in the country as well as one of the top 5 toughest obstacles by Outside magazine.

Race Review - PA Spartan Sprint Week #2

All races in my family are a family affair.  We support one another.  We show up, cheer, and most importantly, provide route support.  My youngest son Aaron gave me five at the top of Blue Mountain yesterday.  That was great.  My wife and other two sons were there as well laughing and taking pictures of the old man in the mud.  But they also take it seriously and when it's all over, out come the recovery drinks and food.

Because let's face it folks, OCR is a shock to the system no matter how well trained you are.  I've talked a lot about recovery so enough said for now.  What I want to tell you about is how much I love this course.

This is my third year running this location.  It is tough.  Just about every Spartan will tell you that.  This year, the course changed again and the first two miles were just about all straight up.  The initial run out of the gate was wide.  But that quickly transformed into a single-track through the woods the rest of the way up.  Rocky, exposed roots, downed limbs, trees, you name it, the natural obstructions were across every bit of this steep uphill and later downhill run.  This terrain is by far the hardest part of the course except one bit I'll mention later.

After two miles of uphill with only three easy obstacles along the way, you reach the top.  And your first water break.  Over the years I have noticed the Norm Koch strategy coming into play as each obstacle is placed with devious purpose.  The traverse wall is now always after a dip in the mud.  Maximum slippery.  What used to be a no-brainer simple obstacle is now a hold on for dear life.  I slipped and did my thirty burpees.

Thanks to a Super race the week before, a lot of new obstacles showed up for this race.  A short Tyrolean Traverse, a ring rig, a new swimming pond, and a ridiculously long back-to-back downhill then uphill barbed wire crawl.  For whatever reason, I became very nauseous during the swim.  Usually a powerful backstroke is very relaxing while gaining me a lot of time.  But I struggled out of the water not feeling too well.  That only got worse a short time later at the crawl where most people elect to roll.  After two rolls I was ready to blow.  And the wire was too low this year to bear crawl.  So I dragged myself.  This was after mile four where up until this point my time was really good.  But this two-hundred year death zone killed me.

So I decided to post that on FB and say Oh well, next year I will just burpee out of it.  No such thing.  It's a mandatory obstacle.  So I will spend the off season trying to figure out ways to do this without rolling or barfing.  Your suggestions are welcome.  Always improving, right?

If you'd like a comparison to Tuxedo, then I'll tell you that Palmerton is by far much harder.  It's the terrain.  But they are both incredibly fun races.  Which reminds me of my friends who ran both weekends, yes all three races.  And they had plenty of gas for more.  Incredible spirit, power, and ability.  My Mud Smear Award goes to fellow ABF team member Katie Crane Sidoli.  She smiles through it all and she's always ready for more.  Rumor has it she went for an eight-mile ruck this morning.  Wow.

Having family and friends on the course is wonderful.  It's a shame Spartan charges $20 for spectators.  I hope my family got their $80 worth.  I sure did as I got to hear their cheers, encouragement, and help along the way.  Blue Mountain is by far the best venue I know of for spectators to see a lot of the race from top to bottom.  You get to ride the ski lift up where fix or six obstacles are up-close for great photography.  The only downside to that yesterday morning was the mountaintop socked in with fog.  It cleared up later in the morning though.  Down at the bottom, access to probably ten obstacles is perfect for viewing and action shots.

Is it age or was it the killer crawl that knocked my percentages down this race?  I'm used to being in the top ten for age.  I dropped pretty hard to 25th percentile.  I blame it on that wire.  That gives me reason to train.  What other excuse can I offer?  My friend Charles "Jazz" Vassallo podiumed again with a first place finish for Master's Elite.  How many weeks in a row now buddy?  But even he asked in a FB post, "It's getting harder and harder.  What else can I do?"  I know he has all the support from his little girl and the entire Spartan community.

And you know what, we thrive on it.  One person posted yesterday that she had decided to end her life back in February.  But instead, she trained up for and did a Spartan.  And she found new life in a community of new-found friends/family who support her, encourage her, and help her find a purpose.  That's really what OCR is all about.

Us and Them

I mentioned to my wife this morning as I scanned through the Spartan PA results what I suspect many others may have been feeling.  I wish I was there.  I am signed up for the Sprint next week.  At the end of the season last year I planned to do yesterday's Super.  But in the meantime, I learned a few things.

As Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood), "A man's got to know his limitations."  But that doesn't mean I have to like it.  I will always push the boundaries to find out what those limits are.  I watch in awe as my peers complete multiple laps of the Super, then do the Sprint the next day (and still podium!), and then do it all again a week later.  Honestly, this OCRMudmaster does one Sprint a month and I'm pretty spent.  Nevertheless, I am pretty happy about my numbers.  I just keep working harder to get better.

There's probably a fine line between excuses and limits.  Sometimes we need someone else to remind us of the difference.  Usually that's my wife.  Her preferred running distance is the half-marathon.  But she is slowly discovering that the 10K is probably her limit.  The deciding factors all come in during training.  Somewhere around the 8-mile mark, breakdowns start to occur.  Injuries.  Chronic issues.  Long-term bad stuff.  Stay below that threshold and everything is A-OK.  Perhaps if we spent a boatload on some sports trainer we could find out why.  But she and I do our things for fun, fitness, and life.

We don't concede such things easily and we're not happy about them, ever.  But we don't give up.  After about six miles of running, I start to have my own issues.  They all stem from injuries sustained long ago.  Things that did not heal well.  Cumulative micro-traumas.  Here's a good one.  I've told you plenty about my L-5 herniated disc.  Well I am so glad to hear that next week's Sprint will not include the log carry that they did at the Super.  I know for a fact that the log carry will probably set off my spine issue through repetitive compression.  No thanks.  I just don't do that obstacle.  My ABF buddy Brian has had five lower back surgeries.  He knows his limitations.  But he was on the course this weekend.  Oh yeah!

Never give up before you find that limit.  Push hard.  Work with a coach.  Pay attention to your body.  Dr. Kevin Gyrina, also an ABF'er and a chiropractor, always reminds us to do this.  I've learned a lot from him.  He is generous to dispense his knowledge and care on the course.  After all, if you want to be an athlete, then that's what you have to keep on doing.  You don't want to get sidelined because of an injury you could have prevented.

For every ten posts I saw this weekend on great races, times, and places, I saw one on injury.  Doing a Spartan is a battle on your body whether you are 20 or over 50 like me.  Serous micro-trauma has taken place.  Equally serious recovery is necessary.  That pre-existing micro-trauma can sometimes turn into injury if not allowed to recover.  Even in the most innocent ways.  Like the one post I saw about a guy who did multiple laps of Super yesterday.  Today he was just playing in the yard with his kids.  Broke his foot.

I think the best advice I can give on knowing and learning your limitations is to just to establish good recovery habits.  Take the day off.  Get a massage.  Foam roll.  Eat well.  Get a lot of sleep.  Just relax.  Unless you are a Navy SEAL in training, then by all means, continue to kick ass.  No one can stop you anyway.

The sky may be the limit for some, but mine is on the ground!

Hill Training for Flatlanders

Yesterday an FB friend posted a complaint about the Spartan World Championship taking place at altitude.  “It’s not fair for people who don’t live and train at altitude,” he said.  As a New Jersey flatlander, I have to take some exception.

Number one pal, read the other FB posts from fellow OCR athletes.  “No excuses!”

Second, here are my flatlander tips on training for altitude. 

I will tell you right up front that as an experienced altitude outdoorsman, there are three major factors to consider from the perspective of an OCR athlete.  Two are obvious – your legs and your lungs.  These two you can train for on flat land and do well at altitude.  I run the Tuxedo and Blue Mountain Spartans with just flatland training.  Some of the podium finishers this year at Tuxedo likewise are flatlanders.  So the advice I give you here is not just from some old guy, it comes from moneywinners like my good friend Charles “Jazz” Vassallo who lives and trains in flat as a sheetcake Brooklyn, NY.

The third, and not obvious factor in altitude training is air pressure.  As a flatlander, there is absolutely nothing you can do about this.  Running “mountains” like Tuxedo and Blue does not really involve this factor.  Get above tree line, say over 9000 feet out in the Rockies, and air pressure is a potential game changer.  This is the factor that can produce altitude sickness.  Not only is there less oxygen up there, but the air pressure delta also affects breathing, equilibrium (inner ear fluid balance), and bloodflow.  Wearing a flow restriction mask does not help you train for these factors.  Only training at altitude can help.  That’s why, for countries that can afford it, they send their Olympic athletes to at-altitude training centers.

That being said, there are a few things you can do on flat field training to help compensate for this last factor.  I’ll mention just one here then move on to the legs and lungs.  Train harder!  Higher intensity.  Way past your comfort zone for breathing.  Make your lungs and blood vessels as big and efficient as possible.  That is all.

I find the best flat land training for hills/mountains to be the tire drag.  Sled pushing is also good.  But sleds are expensive.  I made my own tire drag rig with a tire from the junk yard (free), an heavy gage extension cord (free), and a leather weight lifting belt (had it since I was seventeen).  Tie it up and get going.  Fast.  Long.  Hard.  Add weight.  Find little bumps and rises on wooded trails.  Make it tough.

Now mix it up with footwork.  Hills go up and down and sideways (the fall line).  So besides dragging your tire forwards, turn around and run backwards.  That simulates the downhill run and will burn your quads like you won’t believe.  Now turn to the right and the left to do sideways work.  Simulate that narrow single track trail running where you are constantly turning side to side, up and down.  Do foot crossovers in front and back.  Do shuffle steps.  Go fast, long, and hard, just like you do on the course.

Now for a little technique.  Some people complain that the tire drag hurts their back or core.  So posture is critical here.  The heavier your tire, the more you have to lean in to get moving.  The lean has to be straight body.  Don’t bend at the waist.  That’s where the lower back pain and core issues come in.  Just before you start your run, stand up straight and check your spinal alignment.  Then lean into your run by bending at your ankles.

Next, arm pumping.  Efficient uphill arm pumps have been shown to help improve speed.  So unlike flat or downhill runs where arm pumps can be full swings, do uphill pumps by making sure on the backstroke that your elbows do not pass your body.  On the forward stroke, your fist goes no higher than your chin. 

Finally, use your hips.  Hopefully you at-altitude trainers already know this trick from the ancient native Indians of the mountains.  You walk uphill like a catwalk model.  Swing those hips.  Boxers and martial artists know this too.  Throwing punches with the leading hip maximizes power by all that added mass moving forward.  So run from the hips, not the calves, not the knees, not the upper legs, but by swinging the legs forward using those big, powerful hips.  Rotation happens where the spine meets the hip bones.  So your upper body remains pointed uphill, arms pump in the same direction, but swing those hips to get the whole body moving up.  It is a tough technique to master.  It is best taught by folks who practice what is called chi-running.  Look it up here  Get the book on Amazon here.  Great stuff.

See you on the mountain.