No one just shows up and wins a world championship. Anyone reading this can understand and respect that. But in 2015 when I won the Spartan Race World Championship, after only three races prior to the event, many were surprised, including myself. Looking back to four years ago I’m still trying to figure out why my transition to OCR was so seamless. I’ve been trying to top the SRWC podium again, falling just short three years in a row earning the bronze.
What exactly made my performance in 2015 so different? That is the million-dollar question, literally, since that is how much is on the line in 2019. That is if I can pull off the near impossible, earning enough race points while also running 100 miles at the Spartan Race Ultra World Championship in Sweden. Yes, November in Sweden is not Hawaii but it is these damp, cold and dark conditions that test your mental and physical strength. And where your nutrition, rest, gear and training ultimately decide when you cross the finish line.
For a long time I tried to stay fit mostly for the physical benefits. But lately I’ve come to value training because it forces me to stay disciplined in how I treat both my body and my mind. Setting goals and committing to the follow through demands a level of persistence that I wasn’t born with. Both in athletics and professionally I trend toward impatient. My inclination is to want results and want them yesterday. But setting big training goals forces me to wait―in some cases years―and to trust the process. Put simply, athletics is where the sum of my small efforts over time add up to something tangible, something I can see and feel within myself.
I truly believe it was all the time on the bike that really built my quads for what was stamina needed as an endurance athlete. Long days of cycling alternating between low gear slow cadence to build power and other days with steep climbs of high gear high cadence helped me and my legs launch into OCR through events like Spartan.
From 2009-2010 I set out to be the sole male to represent the US Army in the military category at the Kona Ironman World Championships. However, building an impressive resume was of course required to be selected for the 140.6 mi race. I did some research to find that Boulder, CO was the capital of Triathlon Training, so I packed up and moved to the mountains. I started cycling five days a week turning in about 400 miles on top of running and swimming. The days were long often putting in 4-6 hours of continuous training. I finished the Boulder half Ironman in 4:10 and full Ironman Louisville in 9:30 before the Army accepted my application to represent them on the World Stage. I took first in 2009 and also won the team championship in 2010.
After meeting my goal in Ironman, I decided to test my skills at winter biathlon, actually first coming into the sport during the summer by winning the IBU Summer North American Championships in 2011. I would later find out that trying to do the same thing on ski’s during the winter was a completely different story. Though with countless km’s and plenty of cold hard work, the Army National Guard took me into their developmental program where many have moved on to the US Olympic team.
My wife and I moved up to Wilderness, CO where I was able to train daily at high elevation and have unlimited access to cross-country skiing trails during the winter. Skate Skiing was my new fix and I absolutely enjoyed the full body workout requiring you to make massive climbs and fast technical descents on just two-inch-wide skis with no metal edges. The cold weather will make your lungs burn and your fingers numb at times, but the feeling you get after a long workout is unlike any other.
I spent two winter seasons traveling to Vermont, Montana, Utah, Spain, as well as local Colorado cross country ski events. However, I found that despite strong shooting skills my very late entry to cross country skiing would never match the technique of those who grew up doing it. Again, looking at other World Champion athletes Zuzana Kocumova and Lindsey Webster with in-depth skiing backgrounds, there are no coincidences here why they have also exceled in Obstacle Course Racing.
My next big life decision was to pursue a Special Operations Career within the US Army so I set out to complete the two year training program known at the Special Forces Qualification Course. These two years are very demanding and the majority of those who start don’t finish. It’s not only physical demanding but much more mental toughness and dedication that will lead to earning a green beret. This mental toughness I would later find comes in handy throughout OCR mountain courses with long brutal climbs and heavy strength carries. As a medium build guy I may not have the brute strength of the bigger heavy set guys, but all my years carrying a ruck in the military now allow me to not get broken off, again fitting in another piece to the puzzle as to why OCR is my perfect sport.
After two years as a Special Forces Detachment Commander I got the call from COL Collins to compete at the Lake Tahoe Spartan Race World Championship as a member of the All-Army team. The combination of being a multi-sport athlete in Triathlon, Cycling, Cross-Country Skiing, Running, and my military training are what made me a World Champion that day. Since then I’ve committed to one single sport, OCR, for the past three years. This season I’ve gone back to my roots and again started to incorporate more cycling into my training program. Will it be enough to get my 2x World Championship title? Only time will tell.