Any OCR runners on here.

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Hi

Just wondering if there is any like minded folk here and what events you have done and want to do. It seems to be a growing sport/hobby and i've certainly got a little be addicted to it and have now done quite a few and have some planned and others that i want to do.

over the last two years. I have done

2x Tough Mudders
5x Endurer Dash (Local one to me)
1x Titan Dash
1x XRunner
1x Adrenaline Rush


I do also distance/endurance stuff as well but not as fun for obvious reasons.

I have got the following planned this year in terms of OCR's

Man Vs Mountain
Tough Mudder (London South)
Rat Race London


My little girl is getting into it too and we are planning a few next year already to do some of the mini courses with her.
 
By the end of this year I'll have done 2x Dirty Dozen, 2x Tough Mudders, 4x Spartans, Suffering, Pukka Race Diablo, Viking Race and a few others.

However, not as a competitor, but as one of the official photographers!

Good fun. Everyone is smiling which is more than a 5k or 10k run.
 
That looks quite good, doesnt really look like there wis going to be much rope work at all judging by the obstacles. I think you will be fine.

I really need to work on my grip, not a lot can be done when the obstacle is wet but at the last tough mudder i seem to have less grip than anyone else.
 
The fact that I'm not sure exactly what OCR running is, added to the fact that I'm too lazy to look it up, means I'm not likely to be entering one of these events anytime soon !! :exit:

But seriously, after a few years of heart problems, a couple of heart attacks and a few ops later, I have finally been given the go ahead to start exercising a bit more than the gentle cycling I have been doing.
Although I doubt a mud run was what my cardiologist had in mind !

Maybe one day, who knows?
 
I really need to work on my grip, not a lot can be done when the obstacle is wet but at the last tough mudder i seem to have less grip than anyone else.

Towel pullups FTW. Put a clean sweat towel over a pullup bar and grab the bar with one hand and the towel with the other. Pullup until you can't pull up any more. Swap hands.
 
Towel pullups FTW. Put a clean sweat towel over a pullup bar and grab the bar with one hand and the towel with the other. Pullup until you can't pull up any more. Swap hands.
Probably better to just hang from the bar with both hands for as long as possible trying to increase the amount of time you can hang on. Then repeat with the towel before progressing to the pull ups. Once you've mastered that, whilst hanging from the bar with both hands pull up with one hand then the other so you swing from side to side, this will ensure the grip will be fairly even in both hands as well as the strength in your upper body, you'd be surprised how much you overcompensate for the weaker side by working both sides in unison and not what you want when climbing netting or ropes.
 
I'd like to do something like an OCR but I'm not a strong swimmer and some do involve an element of swimming. Plus I have a niggling pain in my lower back at the moment. Don't recall hurting it in the gym, I just woke up with it about a month ago. It's annoying as they are having a tyre flip challenge (170kg tractor tyre) along the length of the gym car park, After a few days with no back pain, I tried it last week in the wet, slipped and felt a twinge in my back again, managed a time of 59.3 seconds though. Fastest time in the dry is 39.8. 20 seconds faster but then the bloke is about 20yrs younger than me, he did 47.5 in the wet just before I gad my turn. I'm sitting 12th out of 20 times set by the Men so far and I'm determined to get a faster time in the dry. If I could match his wet time I'd be up to 4th. I was using tipping the tyre as a cardio workout this afternoon and wearing my belt but found it very restrictive to bend and lift the tyre, but it was painless as far as my back was concerned.
 
Choose your event carefully. Whilst most have some sort of water obstacles, not all require swimming and many you can wade through.

The key thing is that although some events are timed, and with the exception of the elites who tackle most things solo, and cover the course in incredible speed, the vast majority of competitors are there to help each other - arrive with no friends, leave with many. Some hate the water obstacles, others hate heights.
 
The fact that I'm not sure exactly what OCR running is

OCR stands for, in this context, Obstacle Course Racing. They are usually held over several distances ranging from 5km to 18km, although some do multiple runs of the course on the same day.

The obstacles are generally man made, but also they make use of local geography.

The best known to the public at large in the UK is Tough Mudder, but there are a huge number of similar events all over the country. A typical Tough Mudder will see maybe 14000 entrants over the weekend.
 
I'd love to be fit enough to have a go at this. I've seen a couple and they look great. Knackering, but great !
 
Having seen the tail enders - those who signed up for a laugh / office team building / hen weekend and have done absolutely no preparation or training - anyone can complete the course. However, I'd recommend a bit of training first!
 
Having seen the tail enders - those who signed up for a laugh / office team building / hen weekend and have done absolutely no preparation or training - anyone can complete the course. However, I'd recommend a bit of training first!

Yeah - that's my worry. Yesterday's run showed me that I'm nowhere near as fit as I'd like to be. I might be comedy guy at the back :D

Also, heights........
 
Towel pullups FTW. Put a clean sweat towel over a pullup bar and grab the bar with one hand and the towel with the other. Pullup until you can't pull up any more. Swap hands.

Probably better to just hang from the bar with both hands for as long as possible trying to increase the amount of time you can hang on. Then repeat with the towel before progressing to the pull ups. Once you've mastered that, whilst hanging from the bar with both hands pull up with one hand then the other so you swing from side to side, this will ensure the grip will be fairly even in both hands as well as the strength in your upper body, you'd be surprised how much you overcompensate for the weaker side by working both sides in unison and not what you want when climbing netting or ropes.

thanks guys. will give them a go when im back in the gym, however might be a while since i have man vs mountain and full marathon to train for and suffering from a pesky cold at mo which isnt helping.
 
going up and over mount Snowdon this weekend. Trying to beat average time of 6hrs. 22miles with obstacles apart from the obvious big one.
 
going up and over mount Snowdon this weekend. Trying to beat average time of 6hrs. 22miles with obstacles apart from the obvious big one.

Woah - that actually sounds pretty cool.

BTW any advice on shoes for an OCR? Apparently the deep tread mud shoes I have aren't very nice if somebody needs to boost you over a wall. One of the mags says trail shoes, another says knackered road shoes.
 
would go trail shoes never had an issue boosting someone over the wall with them. Had people stepping up on thighs and shoulders with no problem.

some obstacles require a run up and you cant grip with just road runners.
 
'k next dilemma (did I mention this was my first time?) - somebody in the team just asked what kind of gloves everybody was wearing. Gloves? GLOVES?? That's not a real thing is it?
 
Shoes - trail shoes - Merrill / Salomen / Reebok - I think all the major sports shoe firms does a trail shoe. Something thats going to provide some grip during the muddy sections.

Gloves - sensible idea. You will be on your hands and knees during an event. You may have to do monkey bars / rings. You may have to carry something heavy - such as logs or buckets full of gravel, or pull ropes attached to weights . You always have the option of taking gloves off if you have them - but if you haven't you can't magic them up out of thin air. Rope burn - no thanks.

Whilst I see many men wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and socks/shoes (sometimes just a suspenders panties and a bra) , there is a significant proportion of men who opt for the full body coverage option and let that take most of the physical abuse rather than your skin.

If you take a Go-pro type camera, make sure you have a floating case - I've lost count of the number of people who've lostexpensive cameras when jumping (or falling) into water obstacles. Not many find them again.

I was on fire jump duty for Spartan last weekend, here is the Facebook teaser gallery - https://www.facebook.com/spartanrace.uk/photos/?tab=album&album_id=947366272076209 - study what people wear and the obstacles they cover.
 
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I can lend rent you a suspenders panties and a bra!!! Full refund on the rental charge if shots are posted!!! :p
 
Shoes - trail shoes - Merrill / Salomen / Reebok - I think all the major sports shoe firms does a trail shoe. Something thats going to provide some grip during the muddy sections.

Gloves - sensible idea. You will be on your hands and knees during an event. You may have to do monkey bars / rings. You may have to carry something heavy - such as logs or buckets full of gravel, or pull ropes attached to weights . You always have the option of taking gloves off if you have them - but if you haven't you can't magic them up out of thin air. Rope burn - no thanks.

Thanks. Now I'm really worried..... ;)

Most articles I've read say no gloves for monkey bars. My worry is basically that if I take them off I'm bound to lose them. Hmm, I never worry this much about running.

I think I might just wear by beaten up Cheviots for shoes. Ludicrous amounts of grip and I don't care if I trash them as the manufacturer has already replaced them under warranty :D My Salomons are actually still nice shoes so I don't want to rip the grip off them.
 
so since I last updated on here I have done the man vs Mountain adventure race over Snowdon. Due to high winds and next to no visibility due to horizontal rain the summit was closed off. Still managed to do the 20+ miles and the obstacles at the end were really hard after that distance. My finished photo looked like some black ops agent. Really want to do it again.
 
After that I feel a bit of a lightweight even mentioning my run today.....

Major Series 10K race at Tunbridge Wells. My first OCR but definitely not my last ;)

Enjoyed it a lot though I learned I am not yet over my fear of cargo nets. Mud was very deep and sticky, water was VERY deep and rooty. Event was extremely well organised by those nice chaps at British Military Fitness. Had a great time and would highly recommend it as what I think is a fairly gentle intro to OCR. If you can run 10K of trail and don't mind getting muddy you'd certainly make it round.
 
Yeah Dirty Dozen looks tough but doable. I'm a bit concerned about all the wood though. Wet wood always scares me for some reason and I just see myself getting properly hurt.......

I'm not fit enough for a Spartan ATM.
 
I've never been to a Nuclear races, but I've seen a lot of Spartans. Spartans are timed and there is a penalty of 30 burpees for not completing an obstacle (monitored closely for the elites, but more relaxed for the others). As well as usual obstacles - cargo nets, a-frames, monkey bars there is a series of lifting challenges - sandbag carry, bucket carry, atlas stones, tyre lift or log lift, There is a rope climb, spear throw, fire jump...

Whichever, you'll have fun and leave with more friends than you arrived with.
 
planning on doing a Spartan next year. Possibly going for the triple in Barcelona to get the trifecta on one weekend. Only thing that has put me off is the 54 page rule book.

in November I'm hopefully doing the Dash of Titans double race day with 5km to start then quickly followed by a 10 miler...

this ocr stuff can get addictive..

I do like the tough murders though, cheeky pic added.. Going to try and complete 10 by August next year. This is where my first big ocr was last year and fitting to get the 10x there too.
 

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Did anyone do the Nuclear Fallout race yesterday?
 
Did anyone do the Nuclear Fallout race yesterday?

Not me :( Thought about it because I wanted a free DryRobe but in the end it's cold and I had some work. Also, a grateful client bought me a DryRobe...... :D Looking at a new race in Kent called Elements next year. A mate keeps nagging me to do Brutal.
 
That dry-robe was perfect on Saturday. I got very wet in the rain. I was positioned at the death-slide. It looked brutal haha.

I was working for the Nuclear Race photography team and wondered if I had got any shots of anyone on here. Thoroughly enjoyed it though and got a bit of a taste for it. I wouldn't mind photographing a few more if you know of any that are looking?
 
I don't think I'm fit or strong enough to do most of the OCRs you guys are discussing but I've signed up with some people from work to do one that uses inflatables: https://begung-ho.co.uk/
It looks like good fun. I even persuaded my wife to sign up too and neither of us have even run 5k in probably ~10years. Got until May to get the running ability up though :)
 
I don't think I'm fit or strong enough to do most of the OCRs you guys are discussing but I've signed up with some people from work to do one that uses inflatables: https://begung-ho.co.uk/
It looks like good fun. I even persuaded my wife to sign up too and neither of us have even run 5k in probably ~10years. Got until May to get the running ability up though :)

Hi TopBanana, GungHo looks good but in my experience don't get your hopes up too much.
Depending where you are in the UK can change on where you go? If you're in the Midlands, I would be saying to look at Reaper day or night run as they are very friendly and put on a challenging course, they do events for kids too and ive been to 5 of their events so far.
IronRun in Kettering is good, very big slide.
X-Runner is fun and usually has a lot to offer.
Menshealth I found very sedate with the obstacles not really being obstacles.
Nuclear is always fun! (essex)
Cliff Lakes, even as a training ground can put on a good run.
The Obstacle Gym, like Cliff Lakes but smaller area.
Any of the Spartan runs, very challenging and good for a start.
Bootneck Challenge in Feb, meant to be good but not much water.
Any of the RatRaces will be awesome!! Dirty Weekender is fun, dont be put off by the distance as Ive seen people walk it or some one in a wheel chair.
Zeus Races, small but yet again they'll do a triple double event day, from kids to dogs to night run and even a zombie chase.
Airfield Anarchy - Yet again, another fun packed weekend or day.
Could even recommend a Tough Mudder cause as they state 'Tough Mudder is not a race but a challenge'

If I can help with anything, let me know.
 
Tough Mudder doesn't have burpee penalties although the course is longer than many. They've introduced a shorter course, called Tough Mudder Half.

Zombie Evacuaction Race was good fun to photograph. No real obstacles as such, but the aim was to get to the finish without loosing velcro tags - you have three and the zombies around the course try and grab them.

Two well supported events have closed - Dirty Dozen closed at the end of last year, and the owner refunded all entries received, and Rock Solid Race who didn't. I'd expect a few others to disappear as the market is probably saturated with this type of event
 
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Tough Mudder doesn't have burpee penalties although the course is longer than many. They've introduced a shorter course, called Tough Mudder Half.

Zombie Evacuaction Race was good fun to photograph. No real obstacles as such, but the aim was to get to the finish without loosing velcro tags - you have three and the zombies around the course try and grab them.

Two well supported events have closed - Dirty Dozen closed at the end of last year, and the owner refunded all entries received, and Rock Solid Race who didn't. I'd expect a few others to disappear as the market is probably saturated with this type of event
I dare say a few will disappear but its down to too many people in the same market and also people wanting more and more for free.

Tough Mudders are good and to run for £0-£15-£30, I can not really complain, Well not after doing 16 events now anyway and Europeans Toughest Mudder in May 2017.
 
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