{"id":1382,"date":"2024-06-24T11:51:46","date_gmt":"2024-06-24T11:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jessedeheer.com\/?p=1382"},"modified":"2024-06-24T12:51:01","modified_gmt":"2024-06-24T12:51:01","slug":"ocr-european-championships-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jessedeheer.com\/nl\/ocr-european-championships-24\/","title":{"rendered":"OCR European Championships ’24"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I went to the European Championships with a clear mission: to defend my European title. It was a weekend with ups and downs, but now, a week later, I can conclude that I ran one of my best European Championships ever! Two silver medals, just behind teammate Stijn, and team gold!<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Race Summary<\/h4>

Most of the race details have already been covered, but here\u2019s a brief summary:<\/p>

Short course:<\/strong> Not my best race, I lacked sharpness, but still secured a solid second place.<\/p>

Standard course:<\/strong> 12 km through the mountains. I had a fantastic race. I had to fight my way forward from the second starting group to ultimately finish second, just 3 (!) seconds behind the winner. I never thought I could be so strong in a mountain race.<\/p>

Team race:<\/strong> Put the two best athletes in Europe together with powerhouse Frank Oosterom in a team, and you have an almost unbeatable trio!<\/p>

Looking back at this European Championship, I can only conclude one thing: our preparation and training methods work. The gap between us and the rest of Europe is widening. Therefore, in this blog post, I want to focus on how I prepared for this race over the past few months.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Training for the European Championships<\/h4>

Last year\u2019s European Championships were in Hungary. That course suited me perfectly: flat terrain with very technical obstacles. I won the short course and finished second, 30 seconds behind, in the 12 km race. After that race, it was clear to me that I still had significant gains to make in endurance. I planned my fall training to improve this; I scheduled several long survival runs (>20 km) and took the road bike out more often to increase training hours. This paid off at the Dutch Survivalrun Championships, where I won all three distances. Additionally, racing for 8 hours in the Arabian desert went better than expected.<\/p>

After the Dutch Survivalrun Championships in April, my preparation became increasingly specific. The survivalrun season had provided a good base of fitness and muscle endurance for the obstacles. The challenge now was to convert this into a specific race form for an OCR race in the mountains.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Obstacle Training<\/h4>

After 20 years of survival running, my endurance and coordination in obstacles are excellent. However, OCR requires a bit more explosiveness, so I added specific upper body strength training twice a week: one session focused on maximum strength and one on explosiveness. On Saturdays, the Hang On training was always on the schedule, where running was alternated with obstacles.<\/p>

Running Training<\/h4>

Since the European Championships were in the mountains this year, it required different qualities than the flat terrains of Hungary. I did more tempo training in hilly terrain. Consequently, I trained short intervals less often, but I expected to need top speed less. Last year, I made the mistake of focusing too much on this, possibly leading to excessive anaerobic adaptations.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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A Typical Training Week<\/h4>