How To Prepare For Your First OCR

If you haven’t done an Obstacle Course Race (OCR) yet, you’re missing out! It’s a fun way to get fit and, for those wanting to push themselves, is a great way to test your strength, endurance, agility, and flexibility. The main thing you should bring with you on race day is an open mind: OCRs can be challenging, but they’re also meant to be enjoyable! Our Rood Rampage OCR is going to be off-the-charts fun!

Preparation is key

Preparation is the key to learning how to run an obstacle course. While there are many ways to prepare for this type of event, your pre-race plan should be based on your personal strengths and weaknesses.

What obstacles will you face?

Learn about obstacles in advance (we generally publish ours beforehand, but we do like to keep a couple of secrets, too 😉.
Know what to expect from the weather conditions. Rood Rampage takes place in Wiltshire in June, for example, so you can safely assume it’ll be warm and dry (but don’t hold us to it!). Because of that, it’d be wise to bring water with you to avoid dehydration.

Work on your grip

Grip strength is an important part of obstacle course racing. To get yourself ready, you may want to start working on your grip strength before the race. You can do that with exercises like gripper workouts, where you hold onto a handgrip and squeeze it as long as possible before letting go. Here’s 3 more grip strengthening exercises.

Get cardio fit too

While those exercises will help build strength in your upper body in particular, don’t neglect cardio too. You’ll need to cover a fair amount of ground to complete an OCR, so include fast walking, jogging and running into your schedule to get those lungs working.

You’ll need to persevere

Obstacle course racing is a sport that requires endurance, perseverance and grit. In order to do well you need to be able to push through obstacles with the knowledge that there will be more ahead of you. If you are mentally weak or easily frustrated then obstacle course racing may not be the right sport for you.

Expect the unexpected

Be prepared for the unexpected. While you may have been training with a certain type of terrain in mind, race day can be unpredictable. You might find yourself on a particularly muddy or rocky course, or your lovely local race organisers may throw in an unexpected obstacle or two at the last minute.

Remember, you chose to be here (and it’s meant to be fun)

At the end of the day, remember why you’re doing it. An OCR is a great means through which to raise money for charity or simply bond with work colleagues. Whatever your motivation, it should also be fun so approach the day with a determined but positive attitude and you’ll have a fantastic day.

You’ll finish empowered and stoked with your accomplishment and you’ll be signing up to your next one before you know it.

Conclusion

Obstacle course racing is a fun and challenging way to get in shape, but it can be intimidating. But it’s a great way to meet new, likeminded people. At our OCRs, you can sign up as an individual or as a group of friends, colleagues or family.