Meet The Pro-Team: Miles Bartlett
After finishing a solid 1st place age group, 4th overall and being the engine that drove Nor'Easter OCR to it's first 1st place overall Team finish at Savage Race Maryland, we thought it would be a good idea to chat with Miles Bartlett:
Tell us first, what got you into OCR and made you transition away from track? Miles: I initially got into OCR as a bit of a joke/challenge from some friends. My first real OCR race was a Spartan Sprint in Texas and I fell in love with the sport after vomiting all over the finish line hahaha.
Training wise do you still rely heavily on your more traditional 'runner' routine or have you added a lot to it? Miles: Training-wise I still rely heavily on running. In my opinion, the sport of OCR is stuck in a rut where high level runners can easily transition to OCR after just a month or two of modified strength training. Thus, I see no need to overdo the lifting until the obstacles become so cumbersome that I cannot complete them consistently. With that being said I try to do a lot of core, grip, and sandbag/bucket carrying, but other than off-season conditioning that's usually the extent of it.
Touching on that same theme, the sport of OCR as a whole, do you see it moving away from a runners field, and into one that's more diverse and requires a well rounded athletic build? Miles: I definitely think that the sport is TRENDING away from a runners field, but at a snails pace. There need to be heavier sandbag/bucket carries and probably MORE of them or the runners will simply continue to run away from the field. I honestly think that runners will probably always tend to dominate the field, but when racers 1-10 come through the finish line and 8-9 of them are former elite level track runners/marathoners you can't help but wonder if you're running an obstacle race or just a trail run. It is my hope that mandatory obstacle completion will become a standard among all races but I don't see certain race companies doing that any time soon.
You've started out strong this year with some great finishes. Spartan has their Season points bracket, do you have a target this year on it? Miles: My seasonal target in the Spartan standings is a top-30 finish. I'm hoping that with a few more races this year than last that I'll be able to have some better consistency late in the season and jump up into the top-30 late. My biggest focus is just being ready for championship season. If I'm ready for that I feel the rest of my goals will take care of themselves!
