obstacle course racing

“Me and My Buddy” workout for trail runners and Obstacle course racers

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This is a workout taken from Daily Outdoor Workouts, one of our sister sites.  Enjoy!

ME AND MY BUDDY

Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.   – Helen Keller

NEEDED: 
A “Buddy” AKA:  A rock, log or hand-weight that is 10% or more of your body weight.

COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING WITH YOUR “BUDDY”

Standard Strength warm-up and then….

  • 3 mile hike/run
  • 50 walking lunges
  • 50 overhead presses
  • 50 russian twists
  • 50 ground to overhead squats

—->  The workout can be completed in any order, just don’t drop or put down your Buddy the entire workout!
—->  If you are really looking for a suffer fest, repeat the workout twice!

*A note from Lauren: 
I came up with this workout when I was training for the Warrior Dash World championships race last summer.  We drove up to Guanella pass (near the base of Mnt Bierstadt, a front range 14,000 foot peak) and I completed this workout at altitude.   Whether you are training for an OCR event or just love trail running, this workout will help you gain strength and fitness to run stronger, longer!

Fort Carson Spartan Super race recap: The good, the bad and the reality check

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A couple of weekends ago I competed in my first obstacle race of the season and my first Spartan race in the elite category.

There have been plenty of people posting race reports recapping the event so I wanted to compose a post that details more about what worked and what didn’t in my training in the hopes there might be some takeaways that will help others properly prepare and train for such an event.

To start, let me say that you can never be perfectly prepared for any obstacle course race, let alone a Spartan race for that matter.  Even if the race is at the same venue year after year, the course and the obstacles themselves can change drastically.

I am also training for some long distance trail races, culminating with an ultra marathon run of the Grand Canyon or the Rim to Rim to Rim.  With 42 miles and 11,000 feet elevation gain, this is a Goliath of an event and so running will always take the priority when it comes to training.

My strategy back in 2015 was to train for speed.  I was having some pretty major health issues back then so I wasn’t able to really put in the time to build a good running base.  So I spent several hours a week doing crossfit classes and speed work on the track.  And it paid off, compared to this year I was definitely much stronger and faster.

me at fear the deer
Racing in the Fear the Deer trail 1/2 marathon. I placed 6th overall for females!

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