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:

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.

It’s a race weekend ya’ll 😎

I’ll be running the Spartan New Jersey Ultra this Saturday.

A question that I see asked on Facebook, message boards, Reddit, etc. probably every 2 freakin’ weeks is something along the lines of “What should I put in my ultra bucket?”

The question has been answered to death.

But.
There’s always some fresh racers who sign up and have no clue what’s going on.
So we might as well keep helping them out.

So, what should you put in your bucket?!?!
There’s literally over a 100 things you could pack in there. Check out this post on the SITE that goes into the Data from almost 60 racers about everything and anything they put in their bucket to get some ideas 💡

But I’m going to provide what I’m doing for my Spartan Ultra this weekend.
In hopes it'll help some fellow racers out there in the future when they’re bucket prepping.

Well. We’re not to the bucket just yet.
Let’s start real quick with clothing & gear so you can see where I started from and how my bucket items are connected.

Anything over 2 hours and I’m bringing my Salomon hydration running vest. One flask is water, the other is mixed with Tailwind Endurance Fuel.

VJ XTRM 2 shoes on the feet with some Belega Blister Resistant socks.
Shirt, shorts and some fuel for the first lap. I typically start with something dry like the Honey Stinger waffles and move to Gels later in the race.

The hope?!?!
That these start line items get me to the transition area in good shape 😃

Now here’s what everyone is curious about.
Let’s take a look at everything going into my Spartan Ultra Transition Bucket.

I’ll start with EMERGENCY items.
New Jersey weather is looking fine this weekend. So no need for warm clothing, etc. But I do add in extra clothes, socks and shoes (if needed), placed at the bottom of the bucket.

Additionally, for an emergency I have Compeed Blister care bandages on deck. And extra contacts. Sometimes that dunk wall can screw with my contacts and my vision sucks. So best to be prepared.

Now for adding FUEL items.
You can see, I have two extra flasks that fit nicely into my Salomon vest. They’re not Salomon brand, it’s some cheap knockoff. But they do the job and fit well.
Again, one’s water, one’s Tailwind.

And then we have more Honey Stinger waffles & gels.
Along with a PB&J sandwich and some granola bars.

Now for my 2 favorite items in this picture.

1.) The BREASTMILK COOLER.
You heard that right.
I searched all over Amazon for a mini cooler bag that would fit nice into a 5gallon bucket along with my other items. And this is what I found.
I put ice into it, my extra flasks, a Dr. Pepper and maybe some kit-kats. And they’re all nice and cold for me at transition 😋
It’s ideal for any hot races!

2.) That 5 Hour Energy.
I had a fair share of these in my teens and early 20’s…
But since then, I have only consumed these in ultra events. And honestly, my experience so far has been great!
It’s such a small amount of liquid, it goes down quick even if I’m not thirsty for it. Kicks in and makes the last few hours of my race feel, freakin’, fantastic.

In which year did the Spartan Ultra World Championship first take place in the US?

Answers at the bottom of this email 😎

It’s a great way to show support for the page & look good at your next event 😎
Check out the Store page here.

Trivia Question Answer

2021

The 24-hour Spartan Ultra World Championship debuted in the U.S. at Telluride Ski Resort, Colorado, on October 9–10, 2021, after previously being held abroad. Racers faced 10-mile loops with 4,000+ feet of elevation gain.