Posts by Ohx803T

It’s pretty early in the season, so opportunities like this one don’t come along too often. However, I recently was able to race a 10-mile race in one of my favorite locations; the North Park Boathouse loop in Allison Park, PA. I’ve raced out here a few different times, but it’s been a full year since the last time! In the past, I’ve used the race series at North Park as a building prep for the Pittsburgh Marathon. Unfortunately this year, I’m unable to run the marathon, but the races are still nice little “testers” as the season approaches. In fact, the season might already be HERE!

I love racing for a few reasons…first and foremost, it’s always a great opportunity to test your fitness. Regardless of whether you’re in phenomenal shape or if you need to start dialing things in a bit more…races will expose you for exactly where you are at that part of your training. Whenever you race, you should ALWAYS have an intelligent plan, and go after it. Racing brings out significantly more adrenaline than any training session can. So going hard during a race truly is your best expression of where your fitness currently lies. I also like racing for the comraderie. I’ve been coaching with VictoryMultisport for awhile now, and the community is just second to none. We had a handful of athletes racing, and even more there to support and cheer each other on. It was awesome. Race day energy is like no other energy, and it’s even better with teammates to support one another. Very thankful for the VMS crew!

So my plan for the race was really just to go hard. 10 miles is short enough that I can push pretty hard the entire time, but long enough that if I make a mistake, it will count. Well, I made a small mistake, but it really wasn’t a huge deal. I came out a little hard for the first 2-3 miles, averaging about 7:45-7:50 per mile. That’s nothing too fast, but it was a little fast for me where I’m at RIGHT NOW. So I was forced to calibrate a little bit and I pulled back. I ended up average about 8:12/mile and I’m completely happy with that! It was a very cold day, I chose to wear only short sleeves, and at first I was concerned with that decision, but it ended up being a good choice. I heat up fairly quickly, and short sleeves helped me stay cool and controlled.

I love opportunities to truly test fitness. When mistakes are made, however big or small, they’re really just learning opportunities. So for me, coming out too hot taught me a small lesson in terms of where my fitness is right now. It’s not quite where I thought it was at the start of the race, and that’s okay. I have over 4 months until my first race of the season, and tons of time to prepare. In my eyes, the real race season begins when I’m about 4 months away from my first “A” race. My first “A” race is HappyValley70.3 in early July. So in about a week and a half, I’ll begin a 4-month specific prep. That’s what I consider to be the “in-season” and I can’t wait.

For now, I’m just happy I got the opportunity to race and test my fitness! Congratulations to all other racers who got out there and braved the 25-degree starting line!

Onto the next one.

#HillPursuit

Back pain articles are not rare. They simply can be found by searching “back pain” in your Google search engine. This article is not a medical journal. The below article is just from a man that trains for performance and battles with back pain.

The below information should not be taken as a prescription for your back pain.

The following information is not a recipe or prescription to heal anybody else’s problems. Let me put in this disclaimer, I am not a doctor. If you need medical attention go see a doctor.

I have been training consistently since I was in sixth grade. From then until this point in my life, I would say six of those years, my training mimicked a dog chasing its tail when it’s owner comes home from work. With that being said, I was always under the assumption that I had a strong and mobile back but over time, I have come to a realization it is a weak point of mine. I am also beginning to wonder if I have other areas that need addressed that are also causing this issue.

Since I was a middle school athlete, I experienced back pain. The pain was never chronic, but I have experienced spasms that would set in without any warning. The spasms would take my breath away and they would decrease my ability to move without saying a prayer before I did so.  This led me to having to work around the current spasm I was experiencing. Being young and dumb, I usually never said anything to my coaches and just grimaced through the pain.

Looking back, it is safe to say I would experience these spasms about one time per year. I made trips to the chiropractors, but the spasm never seemed to heal any quicker and I never thought the problem was ever addressed. I eventually visited a message therapist when I was experiencing a spasm, and this was the quickest relief I had experienced. After a few days, the pain normally decreased and I was able to perform movements without the pain sweeping away my breath.

Fast forward to now and I have been having pain that is more isolated to my lumbar area. About one month ago, my lumbar area flared up and I was experiencing pain that traveled to my hip flexors. Again, it made moving difficult and it happened to be whitetail season at the time. This made climbing and sitting a tree stand not so fun. I had to call an audible in order to sit a stand that allowed me to sit without my back screaming. Whitetail season comes once a year and I was not letting a banged up back keep me out of the fight. I was going to be in the woods one way or another. With all that being said, this pain was different then my normal spasms. It radiated more towards my hips which I usually did not feel with the spasms I previously experienced which normally were in my thoracic area.  I performed mini mobility movements, heated the area, took Motrin and over time the pain began subside and I was able to reenter the weight room and feel decent.

Fast forward about a month and I found myself deadlifting after coming off working a night rotation. I was not at my normal gym so I figured I would use a trap bar and work up to a moderate to heavy triple. Very early in the session, I could feel by back was not up to par. I also could tell my bracing did not feel right. It was just one of those days.

As I was working up, I made the decision to work up to 315 (three plates on a side because that is 315 for me regardless of the bar I am using) and then I will drop down for some lighter working sets. Not listening to my inner voice saying this this a stupid idea, I loaded the bar and began pulling. The first rep was fine, second rep I could feel things becoming a bit unstable, then on the third rep I felt what nobody wants to feel. I was at the top of my lockout when I felt a slide in my lumbar area. I immediately dropped the weight and thought to myself how I dumb I was for not listening to my body. I always preach to others to listen to their body and to live to train another day. I did the exact opposite. I began to pace around the garage.

I was not experiencing much pain at this point but for anybody that has had similar experiences the fear is in what lies ahead. I had in my head that my back was going to spasm, and I would be locked up for a while which meant limited training while also making any hunting I did more difficult. I did what has given me any relief in the past. I continued to move. I walked and performed a variation of the reverse hyper using a glute ham developer.

I realized I need to make a change that provides a permanent solution. I began to heavily research why low back pain exists and ways to fix it. My search led me to Kelly Starrett. Since the garage, I have been implementing many of his movements into my daily routine. My back did not go into spasm as I anticipated, and I am back performing movements that would have previously taken me weeks to perform. I have been focusing on taking the sheer stress off my low back through stretches. I have also been focusing on movements that I can do on my own to reset my pelvis.  I recently purchased a reverse and will be implementing it into my program as both a strengthening and restoration tool.

The modalities that I am implementing recently helped me work through a tweaked low back. The point of this article is not to provide a program to fix your back. If that was what you were looking for I am sorry. The point is that problems are not going to fix themselves and I was naive to think otherwise. I realized I am the one responsible to find ways to fix the problem and make myself strong and mobile. Not just get hurt and push on without any change. My body is telling me that it needs change. I am in this for the long haul so I realize it is my responsibility to make the adjustment so I can stay in the fight.

Please comment if you have experienced back pain and what modalities you have implemented to drive in hunting, sport, work, or life.

-Coach Mitch

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– 3 days leading into the event

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