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Well, well, well, look who decided to join the party, you bunch of hill-climbing, wall-scaling, rig-flowin', mud-racing lunatics!

Welcome to the OCR Crew newsletter.

We'll be covering topics like:

• In the News,

• Training Tips,

• Community & Race Spotlights,

• Ask A Pro / Ask A Coach,

• Gear Reviews,

• Workout of the Month, & more

From keeping you up to date, Asking Pro's the questions you're too afraid to ask, to shining a spotlight on the unsung heroes of the community.

We're here to make you think, laugh, and maybe even train smarter.

This week’s Sponsor is: HUEL

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💪 WORKOUT OF THE MONTH 💪 

Does anyone listen to The Running Public podcast?!?!

Hosted by endurance athletes and coaches Kirk DeWindt and Brakken Kraker, The Running Public podcast delivers high-level running knowledge in a practical and accessible format. With over 500 episodes, they cover training strategies, injury prevention, and race preparation, blending expert insights with engaging discussions. The podcast caters to runners, hybrid and obstacle course racing (OCR) athletes, featuring actionable advice, guest interviews with top athletes, and personal stories that inspire and educate.

Check it out if you haven’t yet 👍️ 

Way back in early 2021, they had an episode titled: Our All-Time Favorite Workouts!

The guys talked through probably 30 workouts. Covering workouts for long runs, track sessions, hills, and OCR.

One that stood out on that episode was the classic Chutes & Ladders that Brakken loves to do and prescribe for athletes.

Let’s dive into this one today 💪 

The "Chutes and Ladders" workout, in the context of running, is an analogy for the ups and downs in a workout. The term draws inspiration from the classic board game "Chutes and Ladders," where players climb ladders to progress and slide down chutes to fall back, reflecting the variability in running performance or effort during such workouts.

When it comes to the specific Chutes & Ladders workout Brakken and Kirk discussed, it starts with finding a good hill you can run up and down on.

So. Find a hill that replicates your race, and ideally one where you could go up, down and up within a 3-5 minute period.

REPS: For Rep 1, run up the hill easy, down the hill easy, then up the hill HARD.

REST: Take about ½ rest for the rep time you just did.

REPS: For Rep 2, we’re starting at the top. So run down easy, run up easy, then run down the hill HARD.

REST: Same as Rep 1. Take about ½ rest for the rep time you just did.

Continue this for an amount of time and reps that make sense for your fitness and training level. Could be 4-12 reps. And remember the warm-up & cool-down.

What this is doing, is teaching you to jump back and forth between going hard up the hill and then down it.

You end up descending when you’re tired of climbing, and then climbing when you’re beat up from descending.

For those of you who enjoy Spartan venues, this is a popular style of racing.
Up and down, Down and up. Try not to fall. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

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