So its been over two weeks since my first event. Time has flown by as it doesn't seem that long ago!
I spent a good couple of days taking things gently to allow my muscles and joints time to recover, as they were a little tight and sore which was to be expected. After I had allowed my body time to recover it was time to get out and start training again, starting with some upper body exercises just to loosen everything up again. My first run followed shortly after with a gently 5 mile run just to ease myself back in to it and get some miles back in to my legs. This first run was tough, but it also felt great afterwards. With the recovery period over its time to start training again as the next OCR event is in a couple of weeks - Man vs Coast, which involves 20+ miles along the coastline with high cliffs, moorland, crashing waves, rough-hewn rocks, water jumps, short swims and of course a few obstacles. With this in mind I really need to start working on the mileage as unlike the Dirty Weekend Event, there will be a lot more running, rather than stopping for obstacles (there was over 200 last time). I also need to train with my water pack on to ensure that throughout the run I can take on necessary fluids to keep me going. Trust me though... I pick the hottest day of the year so far to do my first long run. After a great 5.5 mile run with a client I decide to run back and add another 11.5 miles on! It was great to see a lot of the area that I don't usually get to see from the car, and to start building up the mileage again. Thankfully I had my water pack with me to ensure that during the increasing heat I didn't get dehydrated. This week I will continue to concentrate on training with my full kit and will start increasing the miles again. I am looking for routes which will push me rather than just running on the flat so I can build up my stamina throughout the distance (getting ready for the cliffs and moorland as well as the crashing waves).
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My first OCR (obstacle course races) Event of the year - Rat Race Dirty Weekend, 11th-13th May 2018.5/18/2018 So excitingly the weekend started on the Friday morning with me packing my car with hopefully everything I was going to need for the weekend: · Tent and a big comfy air bed · Lots of water · A lovely pasta bowl for dinner on Friday evening · My drinks for hydration the night before and re-hydration for after the run · of course, all my running gear including trainers, base layers, shorts and a shirt · …and not forgetting my toothbrush It was then on to pick up Craig who was doing the event with me before heading off to Stamford to get booked in and registered for the run!! We then had the task of setting the tent up ready for a comfy night’s sleep but not before having some dinner and going for a quick walk around the event village!! We were very good though and ensured this was not a late night as we would be up early in the morning getting ready for our 09:15am wave. So on the Saturday morning we got up nice and early at 07:00am, got washed and dressed putting on our running clothes on, and drank some of our hydration drink to keep us going through the run. At 8.45am we walked up to the event village where the start and finish line is, locked our valuables safely away, took our little energy drink and headed for the start line to get warmed up and stretched off ready for the race. There are various waves setting off while we are preparing for our wave, and suddenly it’s our turn…we head of on our journey of 20 miles and 200 obstacles mixed in!! During the event we were having to run mainly over grass and completing obstacles ranging from: · 4ft to 20ft high walls · monkey bars · swinging hoops · open lake swim with inflatable obstacles to climb over · high tree top rope climb to name a few!! We ensured we made use of the water and snack stations to keep our fluid and energy levels up!! Towards the end we found ourselves facing the travellator, a 50ft high pyramid climb and then a slid down the other side towards the finish line…6 1/2 hours of running and completing obstacles and we cross the finish line a pick up our medals. It was then time for us to grab our things and head off for a nice hot shower before heading back to the tent to get some well-earned rest for an hour and take on some fluids before getting ready to go out to the after party and replace some of the calories we had burnt off doing the event.
After a good night’s sleep and resting our aching bodies Sunday morning come around quickly and time to start packing everything up and to head home. A lovely hot bath to help relax my muscles and joints waited for me!! …. it’s now time to start preparing for the next event on my list of big challenges this for this year – Man vs Coast!! |
AuthorI'm Chris a qualified Personal Trainer (G & J Personal Training). I am also a keen endurance runner in 2018 completed 4 events, including Man vs Lakes and Man vs Mountain. 2019 see's me take on the Paras 10 and Fan Dance! Archives
May 2019
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