The Nuts Challenge "winter" 2014 review - Extreme tough OCR Course - 1st / 2nd March 2014

The Nuts Challenge "WINTER" 1st & 2nd March 2014

My review of such a epic course - 14km on 2nd March 2014 - Terry Matthews

Oh boy, this course we incredibly awesome and very well organised, a course set in a natural surrounding of woodland, fields, hills and streams with man made obstacles stretching a distance of 7km's with the challenge offering up to 4 laps of nuttiness with the extremities of wind, rain and extreme coldness.

This is not a course to be taken for granted in such conditions, be prepared and ensure you have suitable kit even for 7km.

Get your kit from www.obstaclekit.co.uk

My brief advise would be Leggings, Base Layers, Tech t-shirt and trail shoes & most of all pit stop fuel for anything over 1 lap!

If you get your kit, fuel and training right then Wayne and his team will have everything else covered!

Despite the extreme conditions on site due to recent weather and high rain fall every effort was made to get you parked safely with previsions in place to assist with any cars that may have got into a mud run and stuck.

Heated tents throughout the site, friendly marshals and registration staff to get your ready for the off!! Wayne the owner of The Nuts Challenge was on site greeting participants and organising staff and still smiling, what a dude!!!

10am first wave of the day (Sunday 2nd March 2014) after a warm up with Zumba we set off!!

WATCH FOOTAGE HERE - SORRY CANT INSERT VIDEO AT MOMENT

http://youtu.be/oIpdBYXfrq8

As you can see the conditions of 1 lap were exciting enough for most, with my Gopro camera dropped of safely, i tucked into my supplies at the pit stop ready for my second round of muddiness and nuttiness.

- A protein shake with carb was welcomed for some sustaining energy and a couple of SIS hydrate gels sucked down as i set back off into wilderness and madness of the nuts course.

Really buzzing at this point i plough through the start but come a cropper when i hit the new wave of runners struggling with the severity of sucky mud and energy zapping obstacles, along with a few stragglers from my wave now finding the temperature dropping and hitting them like a shovel in the face.

Even knowing whats to come didn't prepare me enough when the temperature of my body dive bombed about the second lap 5k Mark, already helping and pushing along a fellow racer Ollie who had experienced this little short fall of cold before me, i knew i had to keep moving and i only had 2k left…

Pushing through the last obstacles and dipping into that last river before the haystacks was a awesome feeling and achievement, being my first 14K obstacle race and finishing in the conditions that was presented to me, i was grinning from ear to ear!!

Greeted with my Medal in the tent and wrapped up like a turkey in the foil blanket i retreated to the changing rooms to find my fellow races and get out and watch the other waves bundle in..

A great day and the best atmosphere from every single person i met that day.

Big shout out to all the team of Nuts and a huge thank you to the Search & rescue volunteers that were there on the day.

Would i recommend this course?

Absolutely

Suitable for beginners?

Yes but Winter nuts 7k is hard, expect to be on the course for 1 1/2 - 3 hours as a beginner & i would highly recommend you have a form of good fitness! I consider myself to be average fitness within OCR and my first lap took me 1:20mins

Any good for elite oct runners?

100% yes, 4 laps at 28k will push your mentally to the limits, out of 200 only 17 finished the 4 lap course!! be prepared and do not take this as a jog in the park!!

Parking: Muddy but organised with provisions in place to assist with any car that became stuck

Facilities: Top job!! Heated tents, toilets, changing room and bag room, hot food & tea!!

Marshalling: Plenty, smily, helpful and professional

Water Stations: Loads and maybe not all needed for winter but will be very welcomed in summer

Obstacles: Awesome, safe and well manned… Not gonna miss hamburger hill mind!!!

Reward: Medal - Love it, great design and lanyard

Get booking now guys www.thenutschallenge.co.uk

Kit review at "The Nuts Challenge" Dorking - Inov8 ROCLITE 315 - 2XU long sleeved flex compression top - Skins compression leggings - Inov8 mud socks

Thursday 20th February 2014 - 

Awesome day with some OCR nutters local to myself in Sussex.

A pre taster of the Nuts Challenge in Dorking in the run up to the main event being held on 1st & 2nd March 2014

www.thenutschallenge.co.uk

Meeting Wayne the owner of the nuts course and getting a insight on what's to come on the day and his description of the gruelling challenge ahead made me want to jump in and get a head start of the elites coming in a weeks time.

With options of 7k, 14k, 21k & the nutty 28k this is the assault course of OCR's and a challenge to all.

So the down to the real stuff!!

We were allowed open use of about 3.5k of the course with a number of gruelling obstacles including tunnels, water, mud and cargo nets and more mud and as much water as you can imagine!!!

My choice of kit and review:-

Upper body -

Item:- Compression top

Brand:- 2XU Flex Compression long sleeved

Price :- £60 (discounted with membership) £54.00

Supplier :- www.obstaclekit.co.uk

Worn with a standard tech t-shirt over the top

Lower body:-

Item:- compression long trousers

Brand:- Skins

Price :- £45

Supplier:- sports shop

Worn with basic sports shorts

Feet

Item:- trail shoes 

Brand:- Inov8 rocklite 315

Price:- £45

Supplier:- Amazon

Item:-Socks

Brand:- invo8 mud socks high

Price:- £14 (2 pairs)

Supplier:- Obstacle kit

I have reviewed some of he items before on here but this was the first time I have worn them togther and at a course.

My first serious kit was the skins leggings and these are a good must have and seem to get better and better with everything I do, I have had them nearly a year & half from starting my running passion before OCR's and the difference is remarkable and for once what's written on the box is along the lines of spoken truth.

Normal running id say these are cool and you can notice a difference in muscle soreness but these come into a different category in OCR, they assist wih recovering from cold water strikes and wick water away quick and return energy and warmth back to your legs in half a minute if not less.

They provide protection from grazes and as yet have not ripped!!

Must have a a rating of 9/10 from me!!!

I've yet to try anything else!!!

UpperBody!!!

So having leggings for a while, I've neglected my upper body.

reasons??

Well I get hot quick and always shrugged off base layers and compression tops but during my training recently in very cold water lakes, and incorporating body circuits I was fatiguing and failing in my upper body, my arms would not work, but my legs were fine and received the same cold water punishment!!!

It must be the compression leggings, so I sought advise and was pointed towards dedicated supplier Tim @ Obstacle Kit.

His reviews and advise was very welcomed and his hand picked simple choices on his website landed me with a new 2XU Long Sleeved compression top to add to my OCR bling!!

It preformed so well, the tight fitting, good looking top felt comfortable and sporting!!

During a pre run of The Nuts I was head under water at many points and every few minutes my upper body strength needed to its fullest to tackle the obstacles.

At no point could I not do it and it may seem like a advertisement brand plug but my training was not as intense at this course and I failed with such tasks in such extreme cold temputures without this top!!

Providing protection also from brambles and scrapes it is now a long term item of my kit bag for OCR's.

It wicks water super fast and while moving kept my body temputute well.

Big thanks for your honest advise Tim!

Trainers and Socks:-

I've reviewed these Invo8 trail shoes before and I am so pleased with them and hesitant to change them.

For a mud filled course these are great.

Draining water well, staying on my feet on ground sucking clay mud and almost pushing me up hills and holding me upright down them I can't fault them in that area.

However I am still very unhappy with the transistion of going from mud to hard standing!!

Yesterday at the nuts the amount of hard standing in sight was little to non, but on our 3rd extended lap we found a small 5 meter stretch over a road and immediately I felt the ground force through them and it's horrible, and a mile or two of that and id be crippled.

Id love to hear other reviews from OCR racers that may have encounted this problem with this shoe!!

Inov8 Mud socks, I'm not going to review these yet!!!

I need to test then a little more!!

Aside from kit, Wayne at the Nuts is the nuts. Proper mans man and a great sport for letting us visit the site and have a play while he was so busy!!

The ground and course was epic and not going to lie to anyone, it's going to be tough but without a doubt fun!

You have the Rat tunnels with water incorporated and to be honest not many obstacles didn't involve water!

There are a lot of banks to negotiate and the wooded hilly run also is a energy sucker and tests your core stability for sure.

The rope swings are amazing and hat gap is a lot further than you think.

I'm not going to fully go into every obstacle as I hopefully will be there next week for the weekend event!!

Have fun everyone!!

My run - Getting out in the mud! - my new must have advise is get trailshoes

So Tuesday afternoon, I rig my running gear currently being double skin socks, skins compression tights, basic running shorts and a wicker t-shirt.

Now the important new found friends of mine - invo 8 roclite 315

After a ankle twist / sprain in December after wearing normal running trainers on a seriously muddy trail run and being out of action for 6 weeks and still suffering, I plunged in and bought these.

They drain water well, they are light and they chew mud and hold me steady, winner, however I find them particular hard on the foot (and my bad ankle) when on hard surfaces, but don't hold me to that it may be because of my ankle I feel it more.

Anyway off I go -

Setting off onto the public footpaths of the local golf course, this was epic! The mud was wet and upto my ankles, with stream banks bursting at every corner flooding my route.... Flooding my route?

No creating a more fun and suitable route, wading through with freezing water to my thighs folloŵed by more mud.

I've only followed others near this route and got a little lost but that was no problem, I kept the tempo up as much a I could and backtracked the route to more similar surroundings.

I ended my run with a dip upto my waist in the man made lake shown to me by Gavin, this is a test in it self to keep running the water is freezing, my legs and feet were going numb and took me a good minute to get running again afte getting out.

A quick retreat home and I finisnhed my run with 50 press ups, 50 full sit ups, 50 crunches, 1 minute mountain climbers and 30 lunges with a 26kg water barrel on my shoulders.

A great run, slow but good and my trainers are proving to be a good buy, my ankle is getting stronger and I have 6 weeks before my next race.

Obstacle Course race training = Mud - train in mud not just pavement

Train in mud

- If you going to tackle a obstacle course then they will contain a hell of a lot of mud and if I'm wrong then training in mud will improve your normal running so win win.

After a ankle injury in December 2013, I ventured out on my weak ankle for a little run to test out my new trail trainer and of course my ankle.

I knew I needed mud so I ventured down a right of way footpath near a golf course and I found mud alright.

This was just above ankle at points and perfect to stride through, and nice mix of large puddles and mud pits as I wadded through.

At this point I would suggest running through the mud, crawl trough in and if the land allows climb it, then continue running.

Acclimatize yourself with running in wet, no sorry sodden trainers and socks, with the added feature of heat sucking mud.

Puddles are a good point to lose as much mud as possible and haveing a little splash is not just for kids, I do it.

Although my fiancé refers to me as a kid far to often!!!!

If your new to running in mud, your normal marathon trainer or 10k sprint trainer will not cut the mark and I would suggest getting advise on a good multi trail / running trainer.

That's it on the mud front for now, my safety advice would be:-

Keep close to home

Tell people where you will be

Take a mobile phone (keep in plastic bag)

Take a torch

Partner up if you can

Be safe and alway smile

For more information on obstacle training or obstacle events visit

www.sussexbodyblast.co.uk

No gym - you don't need one

Ok I do run a pt company but that doesn't mean I train in a gym or say anyone should eithier....

Bodyweight excercise is amazing and adaptable in so many ways to get into shape and melt that fat you want rid of.

But what about adding some muscle or intensifying the exercise?

Go buy some weights if you have a couple hundred £ to spare or simply make some...

Start with small weights of .5kg with baked bean cans, 1kg with juice bottles or 2ltr bottles for 2kg of weight

As a rough guide 1ltr water is 1kg in weight.

Get a little more serious with these 25ltr drums filled with water to the max weigh in at a serious 28.6kg each costing only £5.00 each

Use these with varied amounts of water for lunges, dead lifts, lat raises and so much more.

How about home made pull up bar or monkey bars with a home ladder spread across two points or even vertical up a wall and climb on the inside without use of feet

Sand bags, tyres and so much more can be used and infact better than a gym as it's more realistic than them fixed machines in these futuristic gyms.

Do you have any other ideas?

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