What’s up Crew,

The Spartan New Jersey Trifecta weekend went down this past weekend, and that first day, Saturday, was absolute chaos.

We’re Talking:

It was one of those races people will be talking about for a while.

And I had to chat with someone about the Race for this week’s issue!
So, check out the Joe Rucco Interview below:
Talking Spartan New Jersey, World’s Toughest Mudder, training, Hyrox and more.

Your OCR Energy Boost
Shoutout to our Friends at Intrachew for keeping us powering on.

Rumor is, none of the Racers who took Intrachew during the Spartan New Jersey Race DNF’d.
That’s just the word on the Street. So I’m for sure taking some with me on my next big RACE!

EXCLUSIVE OCR Crew Newsletter Code:
OCRC30
gets you 30% your order! 🔥

Grab some here.
Your body will thank you.

If you don’t know about Joe Rucco

When Joe and I set this up, I asked you guys for questions!
The OCR community and from other Racers who experienced Jersey this past weekend.

Some great questions came in and it made for a great interview.
Here’s what he had to say 👇

So we kicked things off talking about the Spartan New Jersey race on Saturday.
And one question that a couple people wanted to know, was if Joe could have run down Josh Fiore (who came in 1st place, 19 minutes ahead).

And Joe answered it by talking about his training and purpose for showing up, which kind of reframed his whole race.

So yeah, this wasn’t a taper-and-send-it kind of race.
This was more like controlled chaos on tired legs.

He said the plan was to treat it as a training effort for bigger goals later this year (World’s Toughest Mudder) and not necessarily go all-in from the gun.

And you could see that early on.

Joe said that Josh Fiore (1st) and Tristan Gregoire (3rd) went out HARD.
As many of you know, the Jersey course starts with an uphill, and those two just took off sprinting up the mountain.
Joe hung back, taking it conservative.

Instead, he settled in, somewhere around 8th or 9th early, and just let the race come back to him. A few climbs, a few passes, and by the time he hit transition, he had worked his way into 3rd place.

Still about 10 minutes back from Josh & Tristan… but in position.

The first lap was mostly a drizzle. But by lap two, things got bad. Fast.

That second lap sounded brutal.
Weather getting colder. Mud everywhere. Downhills getting sketchy.

Joe says, “I didn’t want to risk injury on a super muddy, slippery course trying to catch people.”

Initially, Joe had a pace goal in mind. But after the conditions changed, his strategy changed and it was all about effort > pace.

But… did he fall?
We had some questions and the People really wanted to know!

Joe said he did fall twice.
Only once was almost a big deal.
He comes up to a large group and goes to pass around them and ends up going down quick.

Thankfully it was a spot with no roots or rocks and just straight mud, so he was all good to go.

At one point in the conversation, I asked about when he caught Tristan…
And Joe just kind of laughed.

“I didn’t even know I passed him!”

Somehow, they missed each other on course, turns out it happened at the spear throw, but Joe had no clue until after the race.

It wasn’t until about 2 miles to go, near the sandbag carry, that they finally saw each other.

“We both kind of looked at each other like… wait, what?”

But at that point, Joe realizes… he’s now in 2nd.

“At that point, I was like, I’m not giving this up.”

That was the only real “flip the switch” moment the whole race.

Up until then, it was controlled effort.
Now it was race mode!

So Joe held the line and got that 2nd place finish in 7hours and 19minutes. 🥈

If we zoom out and sum up Joe’s Race:

A lot of you asked about Fueling, Wet Obstacles, the Cold and his Training.

So let’s get into those.

As for Fueling in these conditions, Joe says:

“For the most part, weather doesn’t really change my fueling unless I’m going for solid foods.”

For Jersey, he kept it simple, just Neversecond gels & Skratch carb mix.

“I was essentially liquid nutrition the whole time… just gels and carb mix.”

He keeps it steady the whole race, saying:

“I’d take a gel every 35 minutes… and take sips of the Skratch about every half mile, just constantly dripping carbs into the system.”

Nothing fancy.
Just disciplined.

🧗 Wet Obstacles

We talked a bit about how bad the obstacles got later in the race, especially that second lap.

Everything soaked. Covered in mud. Grip completely gone.

And this is where Joe dropped something that I think a lot of people get wrong:

His focus wasn’t speed, it was control.

“If you miss when it’s wet, you’re coming off almost for sure.”

What stood out even more, is that he actually trains for this.
Not just grip strength, but for these exact conditions.

He said it started a couple years ago when at World’s Toughest Mudder, they had the obstacle with Banana grips and lots of people kept failing it. Joe decided to buy Banana grips along with a few other weirdly shaped grip components and train with them.

That’s next level preparation most people just aren’t doing.

🧥 The Cold & What to Wear?

“I saw a lot of people in shorts and t-shirts, I can’t imagine how cold they got.”

With temps in the 30s–40s and constant rain, it wasn’t just uncomfortable, it was survival.

His setup was pretty simple but intentional:

Nothing bulky, just enough to retain heat while still moving well.

“As long as I’m moving, I’m generating enough heat, but you need something to hold it in.”

Meanwhile, people around him were finishing the Beast course or being brought in from DNF and getting wrapped up in emergency blankets.

You’d think someone crushing ultras in the mountains is living on trails.

Not really.

“Most of my training is actually on roads.”

The Reason?
Injury Prevention.

“It’s a lot easier to twist your ankle on a trail than it is on the road.”

He still hits trails, but more as a specific skill closer to races.
The speed side of things is coming from somewhere else too.

“The Hyrox and hybrid training has been a big catalyst… I’ve been doing a lot more threshold work.”

So much so that he mentioned he hit a half marathon PR last month just in a training session!

And we had a Question come in that seems relevant to the level of Racing & Training he’s going after.
Joe was asked - How does one have enough endurance to come in 1st place at WTM while at the same time being absolutely jacked out of their mind?

He says that it was when he went to college that he found the gym and started realizing he really enjoyed lifting weights and gym time. And put some good training in there, building up the muscles.
And then a little after, started to get into the endurance space and test his abilities there.
So the muscles came first. And now life just involves running, eating and just trying really hard to keep muscle he had built up.

“It’s more holding on to the muscle that I got during that time. You know, trying to maintain that, when I’m running a ton, lifting when I can and eating a bunch. Trying to not cannibalize my body while doing all this stuff.”

🔮 So, What’s Next

Toward the end, we talked about what the rest of the year looks like.
And it’s a pretty wild stretch.

Joe says his two “A” races for the year are Hyrox World Champs in Sweden, where he’s qualified with AJ Golik for the Men’s Doubles & Kelly Sullivan for the Mixed Doubles.
Followed by World’s Toughest Mudder, just a week later!

Two extremely different races and demands on the body. But it’s what he likes and the way he trains, and it’s been working out for him.

And he might have a few other Races thrown into the mix.
Like Boston Hyrox and the Hyrox Doubles in New York in early June. Where his Doubles Partner is Mike with Obstacle Running Adventures. Mike chimed in to our Questions for Joe and wanted to double check and make it public that Joe’s not going to let him die out there.

Joe said he’s got your back and will make sure no one dies!
Worst case scenario, I’m sure Joe can just fireman carry you to the finish line 💪

I threw a few quick ones at him to wrap things up.

The more we talked, the more it was clear:

This wasn’t a perfect race.
It wasn’t even a peak race.

But it was controlled.

And on a day where nearly half the field didn’t finish…

That mattered more than anything else.

Joe has some big Races coming up in June with Hyrox & WTM. So be sure to follow him on Instagram here and keep up to date with how it’s going.

Saving CASH means you can sign-up & travel to more races 🤘
Use these codes, Support the People & Brands that Support us.

From talking with Joe, he mentioned taking the Neversecond gels and how he was a big fan of them.
I’ve never personally tried these out but will be picking some up soon to test out 🤞