Chris Robertson: From Decathlete To Obstacle Course Racing
Joshua Allen / Chris Robertson • June 8, 2020
Train Smarter, Not Harder
Chris Robertson has been a Nova Health Club coach for three years. When he joined with us he was a competitive decathlete who was early into his osteopathic studies. Chris has grown over the years as a professional and an athlete and we are proud to have witnessed him successfully complete his decathlon career during this time.
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Chris being a natural high performance athlete has made the transition into a new sport - obstacle course racing - specifically the Spartan Race series. In this interview we hear from Chris how he has managed to work with Nova, study for osteopathy and transition from an explosive sport like the pentathlon to endurance racing in the Spartan series.
Q: What is your background and tell us how you got into sport and human performance?
After graduating high school in Moncton, NB and competing at an elite level in both hockey and track and field, I pursued Kinesiology at Western University in London Ontario. I graduated as an Academic All Canadian and was captain of the Varsity Track and Field team in my final year. A year after leaving Western I decided to pursue Osteopathic Manual Therapy at the Canadian Academy of Osteopathy in Hamilton. This decision was made after working for a year in the personal training industry and recognizing the health concerns many members were experiencing that were only being prolonged by the care they were currently receiving. The philosophy of osteopathy immediately resonated with me and after four years in the program I can say with certainty it is the best educational decision I have ever made. The knowledge gained through my program guided my growth as a personal training coach, helping create programs very specific to the anatomical and physiological needs of every member I encountered.
Q: You have a history competing as a professional in Decathlon. Tell us about the years in this including some of the highlights and why you decided to hang up your jersey from this sport?
The decathlon was my outlet for expressing physical and technical skill across a broad array of sports. While I was agile, explosive, and had the tall body for most sports, I never quite found a specialty to excel at. The decathlon was my chance to use those skills in ten different events averaging into one result. In 2011 I realized my potential in the sport when I finished third in the country in the 19 and under category. My physical strengths really began to evolve in 2017 however at this time I was training on my own in Hamilton while studying for Osteopathy. It wasn’t until I sought guidance and followed a structured program for jumping and sprinting that I had a breakthrough, winning the Canadian National Championships in 2018. With graduation approaching and a professional career I knew retirement was something I needed to consider. However in the winter of 2018 I suffered from extremely painful back pain for months on end. It wasn’t until after months of my own osteopathic treatment and careful training was I able to return and finish 2nd in the country. Knowing the demand of the sport was becoming too taxing on my body to continue, I decided to leave the sport of Track and Field to focus on school and a new activity with less impact.
Q: You have recently changed focus from Pentathlon to Obstacle Racing. The requirements for a human to perform at their best in Pentathlon is very different from Obstacle course Racing. The Pentathlon is very much maximum power, sprinting short distances while obstacle racing requires much more endurance. How has the transition from an explosive type sport to an endurance sport been? What challenges have you found making this transition?
In the decathlon my specialties were related to technical skill and explosiveness. Upper body strength and endurance were my weaknesses. As an individual who always strives for a challenge I decided to pursue Spartan Races, endurance events loaded with obstacles requiring upper body strength. I learned quickly casual trail runs and chin ups weren’t going to cut it as the races feature slippery hand holds for climbing and hills like you wouldn’t believe. In the fall of 2019 a 15km race in New Jersey took me two and a half hours. This was completely due to the sheer volume of elevation (3700 feet). Since then I have become an avid rock climber and have been challenging myself on trail runs. I will finish this month with over 200km of running and over 6km (20000 feet) of vertical elevation. When I began training I constantly used my height and weight (6’3, 200lbs) as an excuse for my sluggishness, but I am now using it as a motivation in testament to my sport versatility.
Q: What are you currently training for and what are your future athletic goals?
I am currently training for a 50km virtual Spartan Race (Chris completed this on May 31st). This will be more than double the longest distance I have ever run but I am confident in the preparation I have been doing over the past ten weeks since the start of COVID lockdown. For the month of June and possibly July I am going to transition into 5km training and focus more on shorter endurance. This will give my body a break from the heavy mileage and will be more suitable for the hot weather. My current goals are to get my 5km under 20 minutes and to run the 1500m faster than I ever did in ten years doing the decathlon (under 4:44).
Q: You are also studying your final year of Osteopathy. How have you been able to balance this, with high level training and holding down a job with Nova Health Club?
Nova Health Club has been the enabling force behind being able to train competitively, study for osteopathy, and being able to work. By agreeing to work evenings and Saturdays at Nova, I opened up weekdays for class weeks and to drive to York University where I had access to all training facilities needed for the Decathlon. The situation was well suited to a decathlete as I needed to carefully juggle three large aspects of my life while maintaining a personal life as well with my fiancée, Victoria, and friends. Since retiring from the decathlon I have had the opportunity to slowly transition into endurance sports and rock climbing while focusing heavily on my final year of studies at the Canadian Academy of Osteopathy.
Q: Covid19 has presented many challenges for us, how has this affected your training as an athlete and your studies in osteopathy? What opportunities have you found over the last few months that you are taking advantage of to become better and to reach your goals?
Lockdown has presented challenges and opportunities alike. The final six months of my program required before graduation are focused on hands-on clinical experience. This is clearly not an option. To stay sharp with my studies I have volunteered many hours as a tutor for the students currently in their classroom semester and am working away at two large final reports required before graduating. The biggest opportunity given to me is the chance to improve my endurance skills. My monthly mileage has increased exponentially, having run over 400km and almost having climbed the vertical equivalent to Mount Everest (8800m) on those runs. With personal training I have found the transition to virtual training a natural process. I believe the world was more than ready for online personal training but didn’t even know it. The members who have continued to train with us online have recognized that while the gym setting is the most ideal for specialized training needs, the simplicity of online video sharing matched with the vast training knowledge and experience of coaches at Nova has translated into quality sessions from the comfort of their homes.
Q: What advice would you share for those wanting to excel at sport or take their performance to the highest level?
Personal fitness is not rocket science, it is a function of effort and time like most things in life. In the time it takes to become mediocre at online video games you could completely overhaul your mental and physical abilities. While personal fitness is a function of time and effort, elite performance is a function of both time and effort with the inclusion of specificity. I didn’t become a Canadian champion by following my training regime from the past eight years, I maintained technical training while swapping my strength program for a specialized training program in the gym geared towards sprinting and jumping explosiveness. With only small changes to time and effort but a specialized approach to my specific strengths and weaknesses I raised my game to the next level. The lesson here is nothing we haven’t heard before but is one we as trainers can’t echo enough: train smarter, not harder.
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