BattleFrog on TV.....Here We Go Again!

Well, to be fair, it wasn't BattleFrog on TV the last time I saw obstacle course racing (OCR) there.  That was Spartan Race and their first attempt to break into the TV market [Obstacle Course Racing on TV...well, it's a start!] Naturally, I was very curious to see what the results would be last night.  OCR has been increasing in popularity exponentially since I started with it in 2011.  However, translating this into a following off the course has been even more of a challenge.

[The Present and Future of Obstacle Course Racing...and other secrets of the universe (Part one)]

[The Present and Future of Obstacle Course Racing...and other secrets of the universe (Part deux)]

BattleFrog is definitely on the right path with this format!  Brings to mind American Ninja Warrior meets dirt and mud.  One of the biggest problems with covering a typical 5k, 8k or longer race is that it's so spread out that the expense of following the race in total is just not feasible.  So what you're left with is snapshots (or is it snap-videos?) of the race.  And mixing in "human interest" snippets in between just bored me to death...personally.

So going with this ultra-short course allows you to see the entire race.  It also allows for closer races and a chance for comebacks (read: U Miami!....sorry, shameless plug) which many longer races don't have.  

This also begs the question...where exactly is BattleFrog going with this ultra-short course concept?  My guess is that they're not really looking to create a new distance for their race series.  Most likely it's a means of creating interest in the sport...and particularly in watching it!  As a proof-of-concept event, it also opens up the possibility of a longer short-course for future events.  That's  what I would personally love to see!

A longer short-course would be more in line with the general concept of the OCR races in general (a course layout I've been working on myself for some time now).  Bringing endurance back into the picture as well as being a much better lead-in to the real BattleFrog series of races, while still allowing for the same type of total race coverage you need to keep viewer attention.  Interestingly enough, this style of race reminds me of what Hobie Call and the short-lived Extreme Nation were trying to put together a couple of years back.  Maybe his idea was just a bit ahead of it's time.

The real genius though in this event was not just the ultra-short format, but the choice of racers.  College teams!  Even people who don't watch sports in general will root for their college in just about anything.  I mean some serious rooting here!  Some of the greatest viral vidoes are from rabid college football fans when their teams lose.  I've already given away that I'm a U-Miami alum and I know I'll be watching if it involves a chance for them to win...anything!  Put on full-contact debate squad and I'm in.

So...I will be watching the rest of this race series...even if Miami doesn't make it through.  I think we've seen the first real successful OCR event on TV.  And I suspect we'll see much more of this as BattleFrog builds on this success...but also as other OCR race series take notice and come up with their own TV friendly concepts.

The BattleFrog Miami...and my first non-Spartan race

This post should have been done weeks months ago.  But just as the post comes months after the race, the decision leading up to this race goes back months before race day.  While I was working in the Doral, FL area, I stopped at a Taco Bell for lunch.  I noticed a couple of guys decked out in BattleFrog gear so I introduced myself...and wanted to know more about it.  I'd seen some Facebook news about them and it sounded like a race I would like to do.  Well, it turned out to be two of the founders (Mike and Don I believe....but don't hold me to that...please).  So we spoke for a bit....and I was sold on doing the next Miami event.  May have actually promised to do it...and I didn't really want to break even a promise like that to a Seal.

That Miami event happened to be the February race and the opening event for 2015.  Now, I should have known right off that things weren't going to go quite as planned.  Not only did I mistakenly take a roundabout route to the race, but after taking 3 photos at the venue my phone was dead! (full disclosure - I knew my battery was going and naturally I waited until it did go to replace it).

So....now to the race!  First, let me say, I loved the course!!  It began raining while we were still in the corral...a few minutes before the start...and kept raining for the next couple of hours.  So a course that was expected to include a lot of water obstacles ended up being virtually continuous water for most of the day.  And you need to understand, I'm not the faster racer by any stretch of the imagination.  It's more the relentless effort that's my style.  So a slick course was definitely not my friend.  Having only run Spartan races up to this point, there were a number of different...and several more difficult...obstacles to deal with.  All in all, it was an extremely challenging course, which made all the preparation worthwhile and completion of the race more satisfying.

I had expected any number of water obstacles, but what surprised me were the number of climbing obstacles.  Those are always a challenge for me...partly because of my size, and partly because I'm just a bit too old for this kind of shit!  The added challenge on one of these was that at the very top, you had to climb through a relatively small (read: tiny) opening to get to the other side of the wall.  Being smaller (and less wide) would definitely have been an advantage there. [editor's note: I found out much later in the year that you go over the top, not thru it!]  Of course, after all the brutalization they could dish out over 15K, they had the "down and up" monkey bars leading into the final ramp climb.  And if (when) you fail the monkey bars, it's right into the water trap which makes the ramp climb all but impossible.  Although I did give it my best shot, a slip at the top sent me slamming onto the ramp, then sliding down with a jarring stop into the dirt and sand at the bottom.

Ok, now to the shortcomings.  When you walked in from the parking lot there were no signs directing you to the festival area/start line.  So people...including me...wandered back and forth a bit just trying to get in.  The sign in and baggage check went well.  But the backups that plagued the first part of the race began right at the starting corral.  I had noticed when signing up that they had a number of heats starting at the same time.  There were 5K and 15K heats going off "together".  I'd thought there might be two start lines, but it turned out that everyone was going out the same chute!  Apparently the heats were too large also and we had to split up on our own to go out. 

Unfortunately, the delays and bottlenecks didn't end there.  Within a quarter mile or so, we hit the swimming obstacle.  The way they had the rescue/aid set up, every time a person had to be helped (helped...not rescued) the entire obstacle came to a dead stop for a few minutes.  The next bottleneck occurred about another half mile in, at the cargo net climb.  Just not enough space for more than 2 or 3 at a time and there are always people who are going to be slow on these.  At that point, anyone thinking of going for time had to give up on the idea completely. 

Up to that climb, the 5K and 15K courses were running together (most likely the reason for the delays...along with the timing of the heats).  Once past the cargo net climb though, the courses parted and allowed whatever pace you could handle....which for me is generally SLOW (although I like to think of it as methodical). 

The rest of the race was pretty much free of bottlenecks...and tough as hell by the way!    I even got to do a version of the Braveheart speech on the monkey bars to a guy I had been keeping pace with the last couple of miles to the finish.  Even though he didn't make the full distance either, I'm sure he was glad he tried.  I know how agonizing it can be to go home that night knowing you didn't give something your best shot because it looked too tough.

With all the little snafus in the beginning of the race, the biggest surprise for me though was at the finish.  There was no more beer!!!??  No...I'm not kidding!!  One of my favorite parts of the race has always been to have that beer and grab a bite to eat while hanging at the festival and watching racers still finishing.  Not only that, but the festival was all but closed.  So....no beer....no food....and nothing else there to drink either.  Very...very disappointing to say the least. 

I realize that the rain was not the ideal situation but really....not only did many people pay a nice entry fee to race, but for many this would be one of the few races (maybe the only race) they would run.  They deserved a much better event than this ended up being.  The surprising thing to me...allowing for the fact that it was their first event of 2015...is that these guys are known for taking care of the details. Specially since this was opening up in their hometown.

In the end, course-wise, I definitely would like another shot at a BattleFrog.  I know they'll be back here to close out the 2015 season.  I'm fairly certain they'll have the kinks worked out by then too.  I'm just not so sure I want to bet my money on it....again.  If I do though, I'll make sure next time to BYOB and a BBQ!...just in case...

The Summer of 2013...and why I haven't been blogging...or training...

Since my last blog on the Spartan Sprint at Tuxedo, the summer took a turn for the incredibly busy.  Between then and now: I've run two Spartan races; helped build the course at another; driven my daughter and my grandkids back and forth from Florida; been sick twice; and went on some great outings with my kids and grandkids...including an epic trip into Manhattan.  Oh...and in between I did just a bit of real estate work and prepared to move again.  Unfortunately, this left very little training time in there!  Other than that, it was just a typical summer.  Ironically, my first trip to a NY beach will probably be this Wednesday (although I will admit to a trip to South Beach...the price of the Florida drive...as always!)

Since there's been so much going on, I won't try to detail the entire race this time around.  The first race I ran after Tuxedo was the Spartan Sprint in Palmerton, PA.  Although this would be my 6th race, it would be my first non-stadium race other than Tuxedo.  Well, not counting Miami...although that was the longer Spartan Super and the temperature was a factor there, the lack of any serious elevation change made it a much easier race for me overall.  Anyway, the PA course was everything I had expected...and a bit more.  The initial hill climb was typical of all Spartan races...brutal.  Add to that the sandbag carry over the last part of the climb and you are bordering on genius...in terms of pure torture anyway. 

Unfortunately for me, about 20 yards into that sandbag carry, I got a back spasm.  Yes....the word "sucks" comes quickly to mind...along with several others.  I knew immediately that this was a result of my modified (read: ignored) training schedule all summer.  So there I was.  Moving about ten baby steps at a time up this slope, and all the time thinking that I've still got 90% of the course to go still...assuming of course that I can even make it up this hill.  All I could think of was what would Tom Hanks do?  NO....not in Forrest Gump, the one where's there's no crying..."There's no crying in OCR!"  So, the short of it is, I didn't drive two hours plus to crawl off that damn mountain and limp home.  Although I had a few spots where it was still difficult, I did manage to finish.  Even though I think the first climb was tougher at PA, overall I still feel that Tuxedo was more challenging over the entire course.  I admit, I'm biased about that...Tuxedo was my first OCR race and will forever be that which all else is measured.  And no, the word "easier" does NOT even enter the conversation! 

Although I did manage to get some formal training sessions in during the early summer, there were some informal ones.  Like the trip into Manhattan.  During that marathon day I would take every opportunity to run up any stairs...usually at the subway stops.  And of course always carrying the pack and stroller.  One particular climb comes to mind, when I challenged my 4 year old grandson to a race...me up the stairs and him up the escalator with my daughter.  It was only after throwing down the gauntlet that I looked up to see five...very...long...flights of stairs.  Again, words like "oh, shit" came to mind very quickly.  Yes, I did it...and yes, I needed oxygen at the top...but at least I made it a race.

We also had another chance for some sprint training that evening.  After taking the train back to Long Island, we were down at street level and heading toward the van.  I issued another challenge (yeah...I know, but learning lessons is often lost on me).  I shouted, for my grand daughters, that "first one to the car gets to drive home!".  Obviously I was watching them like a hawk...this was NOT a race I would let them win...they'd have me in court on breach of a verbal contract or something!  Well, they never made a move.  The words hadn't finished coming off my lips though, when junior (aka my grandson) took off like a cruise missile toward the car...running back and forth off the curb towards his first chance to drive!!  And here we go again...trying to beat a four year old, still carrying the pack and stroller and at the same time, trying not to run him over in his unintentional serpentining.  Now THAT was fun!


So, as of this writing I've already run the Spartan Super in NJ.  That story will have to wait until my next time.  Meanwhile, nursing the continuing ailments, I'm readying myself for the final goal of this year...the Spartan Championship Beast in VT on Sept 21st.  While I still have a healthy respect for it, I no longer fear it.  After the NJ race I'm confident that I can finish!  Exactly how or in what shape?...who knows.  In preparation for this, I have adopted the following as my official song for the Beast.

With it or on it...those are the only choices for this race!

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Spartan Sprint at Citi Field - April 2013

When the Citi Field Race was announced I knew immediately that I was going to run it.  Whether I ever ran another stadium event, I just had to do this first one.  Besides the opportunity itself, I wanted to know what a stadium race was like...and not just from reading what someone else thought about it.  In the end, I'm very glad I did!

 

I have to admit, when I got there and sat down in the stands to watch some of the race, I really wasn't feeling it....maybe it was the cold!!  There have been mixed reviews about the race, like this one in Obstacle Race Magazine...(Obstacle Racing Magazine/Heather Gannoe - Spartan Citi Field 4.13.13: A Mixed Review).  I think that those who were disappointed were more likely the hard-core mud racers (like myself, I admit) who really weren't prepared for this "clean" course.  As a matter of fact though, I did take some of the warning track clay and rub it into my shirt...but that's just me I guess...one way or another, I was getting my "mud".

 

One thing I knew going in was that there would be stairs...a lot of stairs!  They also made great use of the ramps...which I also feared.  True to Spartan Race, they come at you hard right from the start.  The first obstacle was a series of ramps from the first level up to the top of the stadium.  Of course, just running up a ramp is too easy...so they strung rubber cords across virtually the entire length.  Some you had to high-step over, some you had to go under and a few series where you had to alternate between them.  Not surprisingly, that was brutal for me.  Seems no matter what I try to anticipate, they make it worse.  And I suppose these stadium races also lend themselves particularly well to some unique obstacles too.  Like the "Hobie Hop", where you have to climb up a number of flights of stairs with a giant rubber band wrapped around your ankles.  Yes...it feels (and looks) as stupid as it sounds...but that is one tough climb!...which is all that counts in these races.

 

This course was also packed with obstacles.  I guess what they couldn't do in mud and barbed wire, they would make up in sheer quantity.  The typical obstacles were there like the rope climb, wall traverse, sandbag carry, cargo net and spear throw.  The Hercules lift was there too, but they seem to have found a frictionless rope to use...which you can't seem to actually hold on to...clever!  Naturally, there were also a number of walls to climb over, under and through.  They had a water jug carry too (of course it was up and down stairs...you have to ask??!)  This probably replaced the tire carry...watching tires careening down the rows of seats and ramps might have been a sight to see, but I doubt the Citi Field management would have seen the fun in that. 

 

There were new obstacles too...which seemed to be right out of gym, or maybe Crossfit, training (I'm not really sure since I've never been in either one).  One of the first ones I ran across was the Ball Slam.  No...really!!...you lift a 20lb semi-deflated ball over your head and slam it down in front of you...twenty times.  Then they had the giant jump rope...about 3 inches thick and weighing who-knows-how-much...try fifty of those suckers.  I'm only too glad that there were no videos of that little fiasco.  Just one more time I would have been thoroughly out-performed by an eight year old.  And I suppose the 5 gallon concrete block carry with burpees, that I first saw in Miami, was just too much fun to leave off the list.  Another interesting change were the monkey bars...although they weren't quite traditional.  I did manage to do them...however, since there was no one there in front of me that I could watch, and no one offered any explanation, there is every reason to believe that I may have invented a whole new way of traversing them!  One challenge, which I'm going to fail to mention, is the "box jump" on the home stretch by the visitor's dugout.  I will leave it as an independent assignment for the reader to determine how wonderfully this one must have gone, to be left out completely!

 

The thing about this event, was that the race was only a part of it.  Even with some long delays at the traverse wall and spear throw....not to mention (and I didn't) the rowing obstacle...the course was challenging, surprising and enjoyable.  Besides that though, it was also a spectacle and a festival, in a way that none of the other races can be.  There will be those that never grow to love these...or even like them...but if you can let go of the need for the mud and barbed wire for a day, you'll find a great way to share the racing experience with family and friends.

 

 

[For more on the state of obstacle racing and the evolution of stadium races see (The tale of two races or is it three?)]

 

Miami Super Spartan - 2013

Until the Miami Super Spartan, the only Spartan races I had ever run, in fact the only obstacle races I had ever run, were the Spartan Sprints at Tuxedo NY.  I had read from one of the top Spartan racers that the Tuxedo course (3.5-4 miles) was just as hard as a Tough Mudder (appx 10 miles) and harder than the Miami Super (appx 8 miles).  Nevertheless, I had never run that kind of distance and I found the thought of doing it very intimidating.  But if you're going to avoid challenges because you might fail, you can never expect to experience the thrill of achieving something you thought was impossible!  My first time was Tuxedo and I just want to keep finding ways to have that feeling again.

 

So, once more, I prepared to face down the doubts and fears you have when going up against an unknown challenge.  In general I knew the biggest hurdle (no pun intended) was going to be the distance and heat.  I'd lived in Miami for 14 years so I knew very well that the heat, even in February, would be grueling for us northeners.  Even on the shorter Tuxedo course, muscle cramps were a factor.  So I took some steps to try to limit the damage.  Besides a training program that included a lot more running, I also took along a Camelbak and some "packs of GU"...(which I'll leave as a homework assignment for you to find out what that is).  I also knew that I needed to work on my upper body strength.  The rope climb, the Hercules lift and a few other dainties are unforgiving if you don't have the strength.

 

Of course the one consistent factor about the Spartan races is that you never really know what to expect.  The spear throw was AWOL...and I think I had that one down!  The rope climb was off dry land for once...I liked that!  Someone somewhere decided that lifting and carrying a concrete cylinder the size of a 5 gallon bucket 20 feet, then doing some burpees was fun...oh, and bring it back over here when you're done...please.  And how many walls were there on that course??!!  I can remember 12 but I'd swear there were more than that.  Who knows...maybe I climbed a few twice...it was a long, hot day out there.  Maybe the biggest surprise...hills!  Well, they wouldn't be called hills in most parts of the country.  But knowing that the highest point in the everglades is 3 feet above sea level, I was absolutely shocked to find climbs throughout the course of 15-20 feet.

 

Another experiment no doubt, was the placement of 4 of the obstacles in a row at the end of the run.  I'm sure this was to give the spectators a chance to see more of the actual race.  Not a bad intention, but for the racers, having to do the rope climb, wall traverse, mud crawl and "slippery incline" one after another was a bit much.

 

The funny thing is though, when I finished, I wasn't dead!  I had fully expected to be.  Before I left NY, I had carefully bequeathed all my office paraphernalia to my teammates...knowing full well what awaited in Miami (and I think they were surprised and disappointed too, when I returned to reclaim my stuff!).  I told my daughter, who lives in Miami, that whatever we were going to do, needed to be done before the race, because I planned to be horizontal from the finish until my plane trip back.  I honestly don't know how much to credit my training (and GU...thanks Janice!) or the fact that the elevation changes were minimal compared to NY, but I actually felt a bit disappointed.  I know, it sounds strange...but somehow, not being brutalized and beaten to a pulp by the course left me feeling like I missed out on something!  So I guess maybe I reached another level.  I've got Citifield coming up in around 2 weeks, so we'll see how that goes.  Overall though, I have to say I'm still enjoying this sport and feel like there's greater potential yet untapped.  Time will tell.  One last thing...I finished Tuxedo in around 2:39.  I finished Miami in around 2:52.  That means I finished the extra four miles at an average pace of 3 minutes, 15 seconds!  Hey, do the math!!...I'm just saying....

 

I would be remiss if I didn't thank my daughter Dawn and her husband Brian for the airport rides, the rides to the race and for putting me up (or is it putting up with me...maybe both) for the days I was there...and to the grandkids for...well...just for being themselves.  Until next time....

Spartan Race 2013 World Rankings....and how the hell did I get on there?!

One of the special moments in writing a blog is when you see that people all over the world are actually looking at it. I have no idea who they are or what they think about it. But just knowing that someone in Croatia or Ukraine or Australia is reading these is exciting. Another special (read: strange) moment is to one day wake up and find that you are an internationally ranked obstacle racer! No really...stop laughing...here's the picture to prove it.  I wouldn't lie to you!  Well...ok...maybe I would, but not about this.

Ok...the fact is, everybody that finishes a race has a ranking. And while being 118th out of 222 in my age group is personally gratifying, I'm not expecting Reebok or Wheaties (do they still make that??!) to come knocking on my door anytime soon. The truth of the matter is, there is great advantage in attrition! Being old lessens the competition. You can check out on their website, the formula for how Spartan Race calculates these ranking points.   It's pretty simply to understand really...I only had to pull out my college calculus, physics and actuarial books to follow some of the math.

So, at the age of 55, it seems I've managed to achieve something in sports that I'd never even thought of before. I had all but given up hope on an NFL career (anyone that knows me will tell you I have this little problem with giving up on things). Even a respectable college football career seems unlikely and I will have to settle for attending that NFL football factory now known as "The U".  But somehow, through the magic of Spartan Race, I have become a world ranked obstacle racer!  How does it feel?  Well...it doesn't suck!!

Spartan Race Times Square Demonstration Event - 2013

Some opportunities in life come along once...and you have a choice to either make the sacrifice to do it, or know that you missed out on something that will never happen again.  That's the way I felt about the Spartan Race demonstration event in Times Square NY last month.  Originally it was to be held last November 1st...but Hurricane Sandy hit just days before that and Spartan Race wisely postponed the event.  When it was first announced I offered immediately to volunteer...having absolutely no idea what was involved.  Just being a part of this event sounded exciting...so I was in!  The sacrifice??!...besides taking off from work, it meant being in Times Square by 3:00am for the setup....which also meant being up at 12:30am to do that.  Yikes!!  Then staying until after 3pm for the dis-assembly...and for anyone keeping score, that's a long day on what amounted to a nap the night before.  Add to that, freezing temperatures, no "facilities" on site and no where to change out of wet clothes...well, it was typically Spartan.  

So spending the wee hours in Times square, helping put together this mini-Spartan course was a blast.  I even got the plum assignment of stenciling on the Spartan logo for the vertical wall!  The most exciting part though was the event itself.  Between the Spartan racers that showed up...including Hobie Call and Team Braveheart, celebrities and broadcasters, it was pretty much a non-stop day of competition and fun.  We also had the privilege of watching Team X-T.R.E.M.E run the course twice...the first time I think I just stared, simply in awe of these individuals.  And the best part...besides meeting a new friend...is that we watched the entire event inside the course at the finish line...even handing out the medals when no one else was doing it.  In fact...the funny thing is, watching all the videos, seeing all the pictures, I realized that we were standing right there with the photographers the whole time.  Like I said...some opportunities come along once...and this was one I'll never forget.  If there was any regret that day, it was that I never got to run the course.  My "plan" had been to wait until around midday so I could run it once then change...somehow/somewhere...and finish the day in dry clothes.  But after 7 hours or so, standing out in the cold, my legs were stiff and my hands wouldn't grip, so I had to fore-go that chance.  It was a bit of a disappointment but in the big picture, I don't even think about it now.

So for now, it's back to training and the next stop is the Super Spartan in Miami.  That is the major test of where I am physically after all the work in the gym.  Very excited...and very anxious too!