5S Athlete Shaun Wilde – OCR World Championships – Macclesfield Strength and Conditioning

5S Athlete Shaun Wilde is off to the OCR World Championships in Canada this October!

He is definitely going in with some confidence after placing 2nd in his age group at the European Championships.

Shaun has recently completed his “Coach in Running Fitness”, which is a UK Athletics coaching licence in that takes a minimum of 6 months to complete. It’s designed for those who want to coach non-track endurance based activities and events to people from the age of 12 e.g. road, fell, trail, cross country and OCR.

He works with 5S for OCR and running fitness, and Macclesfield Harriers for running fitness. He can work individually with people via Strava, Garmin Connect and Training Peaks, for planning training programmes, and coaching using Pace, Power and Pulse (HR).

Shaun’s own training involves running 3-4 times per week, and S&C/Obstacle skill work 3-4 Times per week at 5S Fitness.

The running focuses on 3x quality sessions: a hill or speed session, a fartlek or tempo session, and a long aerobic development run. Each one focused on different energy systems and the lactate threshold that separates them.

At 5S Fitness, we can specifically programme your S&C to best compliment your sport or lifestyle, and currently work with numerous endurance athletes from various disciplines.

Short Q&A with Shaun:

1. How long have you been obstacle racing for?

My first race was the London River Rat race in 2014 and then I dabbled with a few races through to the end of that year. It was part of what I called my Fit@50 project with an initial intention to do one race per month from my 50th birthday in July 2014 through to July 2015. I then got hooked on OCR and became fully competitive from Jan 2015 starting with Tough Guy. I had a full winter and summer season last year and competed as the oldest elite at the OCRWC

2. What got you in to it?

Mainly the above but I’m an ex-soldier (1980-1996) so it very much appealed to me combining obstacle courses and endurance/trail running. I joined the Army as a 16 years old apprentice in the Royal Signals, and left when I was 32 attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant. I’m now a co-owner and Director of an IT company specialising in learning and talent management.

3. What other events do you take part in?

I’m an ex canoe slalom athlete initially in the Army Team and then in my 40’s up until 2010. More recently I have dabbled with mountain and adventure racing, although I now focus on OCR with the odd road and trail race.

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