Spartan Race Training

This coming Saturday, I'll be competing in my first Spartan Race!  They have 4 different Spartan race styles differing by length and difficulty.  The one I'll be participating in will be the Pacific Northwest Spartan Sprint on June 16th, 2012 located at Washougal Motocross Park.  Lots of hills and lots of mud!!!  The Spartan Sprint is 3 plus miles long with approximately 15 plus obstacles.  Examples of obstacles are jumping over burning logs, crawling in mud under barb wire, rope climbing, carrying cinder blocks for long distances, or running past gladiators who are trying to knock you to the ground.  The problem is that they don't tell you ahead of time what those obstacles are going to be or at what point in the race you'll encounter the obstacles.  And that's what makes training for this race so difficult.  Hard to prepare for the unknown.  And since this is the first time for me doing a race like this, I have no past experiences to draw from.  So my goal was to become a jack of all trades and do an all-around training program working on both strength training, interval training, and cardiovascular endurance.

Strength Training

I would do strength training 3 to 4 days a week.  My goal was to work all major parts at least once (Chest, Back, Shoulders, Arms, Legs).  I added a lot of variety to my strength training because of the variety of the obstacles.  I had my high weight/low reps days, low weight/high reps, did a lot of body weight exercises such as push-ups and pull-ups, worked on my stabilizing muscles by lifting weights on one leg/arm or on unstable surfaces such as a medicine ball or stability ball, and even utilized a weight vest.  If you read other entries in my blog, you can preview some of the routines that I've done.  I also think it's important to be able to weight train at a fast pace and while you're fatigued because the obstacles you'll encounter will be after you've ran a considerable length of distance.  Best to train in the environment of race like conditions.  I wouldn't say I'm super strong, but I'm confident that I have enough upper and lower body strength to compete competitively. 

Interval Training

CrossFit is a big thing right now and along with my weight training at home, I dabbled into that type of training at a local gym.  This type of training will prepare me for some of the obstacles that require explosive movements while pushing through muscle fatigue.  Also some of the obstacles are very CrossFit based, so again...training in the environment of race like conditions. 

In addition to the CrossFit, I would do a series of hill sprints.  Washougal Motocross Park has some wicked hills!  So training to be able to keep your momentum while running up the hills was critical.  I would find a hill with a very steep incline (roughly 30 degrees) and run as fast as I could for 50 yards until I reached the top.  Then I would walk down the hill (this was my "rest" period) and repeat the process.  After 8 to 10 sets, my legs would be toast.  As I became more comfortable with the hill sprints, I would increase the intensity by running with a weight vest.  Just continually trying to get comfortable with the uncomfortable.

Cardiovascular Endurance

But with all the obstacles on the course and the need for strength and being able to do explosive movements, this is still a 3 mile race and a majority of your time will be running.  Personally, I've never been a long distance runner so I felt cardiovascular endurance was my weakest area.  And you'll only get good at something unless you work at it.  So that's what I did.... a lot!  I would try to run 3 times a week.  And it didn't matter where.  On the street, a track, a trail, a basketball court...anything that required me to run.  I'm not going to lie...it hurt!  There is a real mental game when it comes to running because you're mind is telling you to stop but you have to overcome those thoughts and push through.  I would give myself silly little goals like once I finish, I could have a nice cold Vitamin Water waiting for me at home.  The more I ran, the more comfortable I was and the better my techinique got.  I read on a different blog with someone asking a question "What is the best type of cardio"  and the administer of the blog responded with his own question "What are you training for".  That made sense.  You're not going to tell an MMA fighter to run 12 miles a day when their matches may only last 5 minutes.  The blogger coined the phrase "Time In The Saddle".  Meaning if you're training for a race, then you need to run.  If you're training for a boxing match, you need to start sparring.  Basically the point is that people get so overwhelmed with what type of training they should be doing because their are so many mixed opinions and options out there.  You just need to make it simple and train in the activity you're participating in.  So that's what I did.  Time in the Saddle.  Running...whenever I could.

I feel pretty confident right now, and we'll see how well my training will transilate to the course as the race is only one week away.  I'll do a follow up blog entry recaping my experience of my very first Spartan Race.