Schap Camp 001

A workout to try and why I think this workout is appropriate for OCR training...

The Workout

Repeat the following 5-10 times:

• Run for 2 minutes at a pace that puts your heart rate in the MAF zone (180 - age; plus or minus 5 beats); focus on impeccable form
   
• Complete the following in 2 minutes:
  
  Do 10-15 burpees (chest to ground and feet leave the ground on the jump)
  Do 5-10 pull-ups or 5-10 chin-ups (alternate each set)
  Do 10-15 box jumps or 10-20 (per leg) plyo lunges on a low box (step with 3 risers)
  Recover for the rest of the 2 minutes (should have about 30 seconds left)

To track improvement, I'll note the distance at the end of the workout.

So why am I doing this workout?

I admit. I've gotten away from "beast" workouts, tabata (although I plan to include tabata once a week during the season) workouts, and other HIIT workouts, because OCR isn't calling for these types of workouts. A strong OCR athlete will be a strong runner first and foremost with a strong engine (heart and lungs). After that, the athlete will need to be agile and strong enough to manage the carries, the terrain, the "intervals" between obstacles, and the grip-intensive obstacles.

One HIIT workout per week is enough. I didn't have one in my routine currently, so this workout above will be it. It's taking the place of BODYPUMP or, most recently, the 300 burpees (10 EMOM) I would do on Thursday mornings.

So we now have the above workout. You get your running. You get your sport-specific movements (i.e. burpees). You get to work grip strength while your heart rate is elevated. You get to work your explosive power and then get right back to running.

We'll see how it goes, but after the first day, I think it will be more helpful than my previous Thursday morning workouts without negatively impacting my Friday morning lactate tolerance training run.

Analysis of BSX Endurance Run Test from December 9, 2016

At first glance, having your anaerobic pace drop from a 5:43 to a 6:08 is disappointing. But the heart rate training zone results are encouraging. And I didn't think this BSXinsight Endurance Run Test "felt" good.

Back in February when I hit 5:43, I hit that heart rate at 162 BPM (which was up from 160 BPM in November 2015). Now, I don't hit my anaerobic threshold until 165 BPM. I'm no expert, but this tells me I'll be able to do more work (bigger engine) at lower heart rates (totally a diesel). I just need to get my speed back up there (turbo diesel?), which I obviously did over a two month time frame last year. Why can't I do the same thing this year? (All that Ultra Beast training zapped my "speed.")

Similarly, my aerobic range moved from 131-146 up to 133-149. Which kind of sucks, because I have to work harder to get into that range. But this explains why I've felt comfortable chugging along at 150ish BPM recently.

How can I use this information?

Until my next test, I'll continue to shoot for 145-150 for my MAF training runs (instead of keeping it below 145). And for my threshold interval runs, I'll remind myself to feel comfortable pushing all the way up to 165. I tend to freak out when I see 160 BPM. It's a mental game. I've told myself that I'm not supposed to be able to run this fast.

Heart Rate

Pace 

Because this test didn't feel so hot, I plan to test again on Friday, December 30, 2016.