Robby Robertson – WSI Cycling Team

October 6, 2014

BattleFrog Pittsburgh

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I never figured myself to be the type of guy to do an obstacle course but it is also rare for me to turn down requests from friends either. I was recently asked by a family friend to compete in the BattleFrog Pittsburgh OCR. What is BattleFrog? Well, this is direct from their site “To challenge even the most rigorous obstacle course / mud races in the market today, former Navy SEALs have launched BattleFrog , the most adventure-packed, 15K, 5K or 1K obstacle course race (OCR) series in the history of the sport. The race raises money for the Navy SEAL Foundation, the Navy SEAL Museum and Memorial and the Trident House, underscoring BattleFrogs commitment to memory, legacy and family. The obstacle course challenges are inspired by BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) Training.” So, for my first ever OCR, I decided to go BIG and tackle the BattleFrog Pittsburgh 15k!

BattleFrog Pittsburgh was held at Mines and Meadows in Wampum, PA on Sept 27th. The Pittsburgh event was the first time that a mine was included in the OCR series! Tim Castleberry, Chris Gillette and I did the event as a team as part of a birthday adventure for Tim. The course was 9 miles of over 20-plus obstacles with plenty of hills and switchbacks that kept us out there for hours (just under 4). We could not have asked for a better weekend….road trip with lots of laughs, beer and a very challenging obstacle course!

Our wave went out at 8:30 a.m. but it was the events leading up to the start that really put the event into perspective. A ceremony honoring fallen SEALS really made an impression and, for me personally, made me thankful to have people willing to put their lives on the line to protect the freedoms we enjoy in our GREAT country! I am truly in awe of the feats that our armed forces men and women are able to accomplish and I was proud to honor them in a small way through the event (and challenge myself at the same time).

After a mini boot camp of jumping jacks and push-up’s complete with unison counts (or having to start the push-ups again) we were given the command to scale the wooden fence to the starting corral and prepare for the start. The race director made it clear that the goal in the open division was to work as a team and help out the fellow racers (unlike the Elite racers who had left the chutes before us). Being part of a team is something that puts me at ease so I was able to get my mind and nerves settled and really enjoy the start!

Two explosions marked the start of the race and the herd of runners maneuvered down a bed of rocks and into a field to hurdle a 4 foot wall, followed by another wooden wall with a picture window opening and finally into our first of many mud pits. Runners began losing shoes and I was thankful our team from Battle Creek had made it through without any issues. The next phase was onto a creek bed run. The water was just over my toes so my feet were numb pretty quickly into the run. The creek run was fun as it forced you to constantly evaluate the terrain, scanning for rocks, roots and anything that was going to have you face planted.

One of my fears going into the event was how I would handle the climbing obstacles. Coming out of the creek bed, we hit the first wall built of 2×6 boards, forcing the participants to climb up one side flip the legs up over the top and climb back down. Thankfully, I did not have time to think and I was able to get up and over without issue. The next set of hurdle walls I had to rely on my teammates for boosts to get up and over but I was determined to get through as many obstacles as I could! I really felt a sense of accomplishment as I was able to scale all of the cargo net obstacles and the A-frame climbing obstacle without hesitation or assistance. When I bellowed my first Hoorah! After the A-frame obstacle I heard a man behind me say “I am glad to see that there are civilians out hear that get the meaning behind Hoorah!”. Turns out that man was a former Navy SEAL who had broken his back and was told he would never walk again. What an inspiration! The man still had little strength in his left arm but there was absolutely no quit in the man. After seeing and talking to the man on the course, I had no issue attempting the 12 ft. wall climb. I still cannot believe that I got myself up and over that thing!

When we reached the mines portion of the event we were roughly 3 miles in. I thought it was so cool when they started handing everyone a head lamp to enter. The temperature immediately dropped when we got into the mine and I just tilted the head lamp down toward the ground and started jogging. We had one climbing wall to traverse but the rest was just natural rolling hills and terrain….until we hit the water. All participants were told to grab an intertube and hit the water. Someone said the water was 49 degrees and I don’t think they were lying. Once I hit the water, I remember telling myself to breathe as the shock just made people lose their breath. We were able to wade through the water for a bit but it eventually dropped off to over 8 ft. so it was time to get on the tube and start paddling for the other side. The picture below is me post water turning in my tube.

I only bypassed 2-3 obstacles on the course which was better than I thought I would do given the short amount of time we had put into training. I had some comical dismounts throughout the day, falling backwards off a cargo net, slamming my head off the backside of an inverted wall and getting my leg caught in a wire robe ladder that are still being joked about by my team. The event really made me push myself, both mentally and physically. I did things I never really thought I would/could do and it also really hammered home the power of working as a team. Below are a few more photos from the event. This event taught me so much about respect…for our military, for myself and for my team. I just can’t say enough great things about BattleFrog!

June 3, 2014

Spring Into Action 10k

I decided the Wednesday of race week to sign-up for the 10k race. It was my forst 10k running race and with the goal of an Olympic triathlon distance this summer it was a perfect time to see where my pace and endurance levels were at.

The morning of the race was chilly but turned out to be great once we started running. The course is fast and perfect for setting PR’s. It was great to see the team there leading us out onto the course. Just prior to the start I was able to take a picture of the team volunteer’s and thank them for coming out and volunterring their time.

The start of the race was on the Lakeview HS track. We went 3/4 of the way around the track before heading off onto the strret. As a tech consultant, I have been trained to plan “go-live’s” and I treat race days in the same manner. Pre-race checklist, estimate race time based on training times, etc. For this race, I was planning on a 9 min mile pace. In order to help me stay on pace, I set a 10k workout on my Garmin 910 to keep a pace between 9:00 and 9:05. From the start of the race my watch was alarming to let me know i was heading out too fast. I was at an 8:23 pace as i was leaving the track to head out on the road and managed to start slowing my pace.

As i made my way around the course, I was hoping I was not annoying other runners with my watch alarm. I was maintaining a a faster pace than what i had set but I was feeling comfortable and strong in the run and made it a challenge to stay under the targets I had set in the watch. As we made our way back to the HS, I got a photo opp from Nikki Elder (Thank you) and got encouragement from our team of riders.

As it turned out, I finished second in my age group. I missed the award ceremony because it was opening day for Avery’s LYA team. It was a pleasant surprise to receive a medal in the mail about a week after the event. My kids thought it was pretty cool!

Male 35 to 39

                                                                                              Total  
    Place    Name                              City              Bib No  Age   Overall         Time        Pace  
       1    Eric Greene                       Battle Creek  MI      159   39        2          46:15      7:28/M
       2    Robby Robertson                   Battle Creek  MI      116   37       18          53:53      8:41/M

June 3, 2014June 3, 2014

Double Time Tri

I was anxious to see how my off-season training was going to pay off this year. 2014 officially marks my 3rd year in the world of triathlon. To-date, I have only attempted sprint distance, but with help of Adam D, Mike W. and RJ, I am aiming at an Oly this summer. Having never used a wetsuit, I decided to bypass Seahorse and “tri” the Double Time, trusting the water temps would be warm enough to go sans wetsuit.

As any team member with children will attest, finding time to train can be a challenge. I made a conscious decision to dial back some of the early morning workouts this winter (i.e. Masters Swimming) and concentrated on biking and run training. For me, I could easily hit the treadmill and rollers at home after the kids had been put to bed and it fit around my dynamic work schedule. With that said, I was a little worried about my swim time heading into the event…not from the standpoint of finishing the swim, but from a pace perspective. Pre-race, I had jitters fluttering through my head like “Please let me swim in a straight line. Remember to pick your head up and sight the buoy. Remember coach said to picture your arm reaching over a barrel and let your hand drop 6” under the water before starting your pull, etc.” As you can imagine, I was glad when the horn finally went off and all of my nerves and jittery thoughts went flying out of my head! I found my pace where I felt I was not fighting the water and my energy level was comfortable.

Once out of the water, it was a jog to the transition area making sure to avoid rocks with my tender bare feet. First transition of the year was a little clumsy as I could not, for the life of me, get my jersey on. After a quick check for shoes, helmet and sunglasses (post jersey debacle) I was off.

My goal was to avg at least 20mph on the bike. That quickly went out the window as my Garmin 910 was only displaying my overall time in the multisport mode so I decided to just go by feel but lucked out finding another rider to pace/race with. The roads were surprisingly smooth so it was easy to get into a good cadence. I dropped into the aero bars and began playing a game of “leap frog” with the other rider. Each time we leapt passed each other one of us would shout something positive to the other which was fun! While we were not racing under USAT rules, I still purposefully avoided drafting 1) because I thought it would be good practice for any USAT sanctioned races this season and 2) in my mind it seemed more like “fair play” to avoid the draft in a race. We caught a few riders on our way around the course (again I tried to say something encouraging as we passed by…probably a Pavlovian response I have picked up from Trizelle training). I had to keep a mental check not to drop into heavier gears as I knew I would have nothing left for the run if I did.

A quick check of my overall time on the way in from the bike and at 45 mins, I realized I was not going to make my goal time I had set for myself. Once I was off the bike, my legs were feeling heavy but I tried to keep my biking partner in my sites for as long as I could. In my mind, I was sure I was running a 10 min/mi pace. Just when I started wondering where the turn-around was, I got a mental break when a road raging motorist started honking his horn and yelling at all of the runners on the course with expletives and in no-uncertain-terms, to get off the road. To be honest, it was nice to think about something other than how tired my legs were getting. As I neared the finish, a quick glance at my watch gave me the inspiration to pick up the pace. I finished in 1:12 which was a PR by at least one minute.

Post-race, I got to explain the jersey to Cara Smith from Trikats. She had seen the jersey’s at events but my team training kicked in and I explained what WSI stood for and and snuck the jersey into a Trikat team photo. Turns out, I knew my bike course pacer. It was Scott Miller from Agility Physical Therapy (turns out we had done the same sort of thing at the Cereal City Tri last year). My race time breakdown is pictured below.