ORM presents the series of stories on OCR Transformations. Runners and athletes whose mind, body, and spirit have been altered through obstacle racing.
This month’s OCR transformations features Patrick Mitchell. Patrick Mitchell is 34-years old and married with two children. He has a 4-year old girl and a 12-year old son that keep him on his toes. Patrick and his family currently reside in Charleston, SC where he has worked for DuPont for the past 5-years.
THE ATHLETE WITHIN
Through school, Patrick lived a life that was very active. He played baseball and tennis competitively for years, which kept him in a great mental and physical state. He played varsity baseball for 4 years and varsity tennis for 2 years. Up until he was 18, Patrick played on a travel All-Star team for baseball. This hard work and dedication lead him to a great opportunity…to pitch for Indiana Tech in Ft. Wayne, Indiana after high school. Patrick has always been competitive and active in sports and recreational activities. However, once his baseball career ended, Patrick somehow “let himself go”.
FAST FOOD FRENZY
Two years before his first OCR, Patrick married his wife and shortly after that they had their first child. During his wife’s pregnancy, Patrick put on his own “pregnancy” weight and began to stop caring about his diet and exercise. After his daughter was born, he continued to be lazy and lost motivation to care about physical fitness. “I would come home from work and fall asleep on the couch. My diet consisted of fast food, fast food, and more fast food. We would occasionally go out to dinner, which I gorged myself and ended the night with dessert”. Patrick continued to have no energy and failed nearly every physical he took.
FEELING RUGGED
The event that changed Patrick’s view on OCR was the Rugged Maniac in 2012. He felt like he was going to die prior to finishing the race. He was out of breath and could barely walk. He remembers feeling like he was in the worst shape of his life.
His brother motivated him to take on his first Rugged Maniac. At the time, his brother was in much better shape than he was. Patrick’s brother had run in the race the year before and convinced him he would have a blast. Patrick finally broke to his brother’s constant harassment to register for the event. He did run in the event; however, finished way behind the other guys running in their group. This left Patrick extremely discouraged and defeated. Realty set in, “here I was a former college baseball player completely out of shape and feeling I couldn’t breathe”. Patrick remembers not wanting to finish crawling through the mud to the finish line. He just wanted to quite.
After running in the Rugged Maniac and feeling sub-par, Patrick decided to see a doctor and get a physical. Everything he was tested for came back high or bad. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, and every other test came back unhealthy.
After getting his test results, Patrick decided to make a change! He refused to be so unhealthy at the age of 31 and with a family to support.
BECOMING AN OCR MANIAC
Patrick’s first OCR made him realize the amount of work he had to put in physically if he wanted to continue participating in obstacle events. He felt horrible, physically and emotionally after the Rugged Maniac. That, plus his physical results from the doctor forced him to make a change.
When asked if there was an OCR event that was most memorable Patrick said, “the second Rugged Maniac that I ran a year after the first one”. The first event took him almost an hour to complete. After amping up his training and working his butt off for his second event, he finished in just under 43 minutes. His third event he ran was in 2014 and he finished in 37 minutes. His goal for 2015 is to finish in less than 30 minutes.
His training also paid off for other race series. Patrick finished 6th in his age group for BattleFrog Race Series, which counted as a qualifying event for OCR World Champions. From his first event in 2012 to now, Patrick has shown much improvement in his physical and mental training game!
CONTINUED DEDICATION
Patrick has dedicated himself to getting in the best shape of his life. He trains 6 days a week with only one goal in mind…to win an obstacle race! Patrick refuses to let himself go back to his old way of life. He knows he has the dedication to make his goal a reality. When asked who in his life has shown him support Patrick said, “my wife has been super supportive of me and has been there for me the whole time”.
His main motivator to get fit and stay fit is his family. Patrick wants to be around for his family and to coach his daughter’s sports. Once his wife put his health into perspective for him, Patrick realized that if he continued down this unhealthy path he would become obese with a handful of potentially fatal health issues.
CURRENT WORKOUT PLAN
Patrick currently trains 6 days a week with 3 days of weight training, 2 days of CrossFit training, plus a 30-mile bike ride every week. He is always looking for new and better training methods to stay motivated and on top of his OCR fitness.
His diet is very strict. He currently follows a Macros diet in which he eats a certain about of protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Patrick uses MyFitness Pal to track his diet daily. However, he does allow one cheat meal about every two weeks (Japanese is usually his meal of choice).
His previous weight in 2012 was 217 pounds and about 30% body fat. As of January 2015, Patrick is 175 pounds and about 12% body fat.
Follow Patrick on Facebook and Instagram.
Allison Dacus
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WTG PATRICK
…VERY INSPIRING….YOU LOOKS GREAT. BE PROUD OF YOURSELF. GOOD LUCK IN YOUR FUTURE RUNS.
That is an awesome and inspiring story! You should be proud of all your accomplishments! You look fabulous!