Spartan Races

I've done other obstacle races, but not this one specifically.

I'd watch videos of past races to see what kind of obstacles you'd be up against, and maybe see what worked and didn't work for people trying to overcome them. Having a team will be a huge help, because you'll have people to give you a leg up when you're climbing a huge wall or something.

If you're not competing to win (which it sounds like you're not), you can always go around an obstacle if you absolutely can't do it. You'll be DQ from the event, but you can finish out the course.

My husband did the Super early last month and he focused most of his training on running the mileage with little weight training -- he did NOT prepare for the burpees. By the end of the 10+ mile race... I could see he was completely exhausted. He's doing the Sprint next week and he's been working on his upper strength more and his burpee skills -- all of this preparing for the Beast in the fall.

I agree with everything workoutgirl87 said!

I did the Spartan race 2 summers ago @ 195 lbs (I'm 5'6"). I had been working out, but was NOT in "shape" by any means! You can definitely do this and having a team with you will help you tremendously! The fellow racers also helped out more than you can imagine! The obstacle that tried my mind the most was the 1/4 mile, packed mud, uphill, under the barb wire crawl. It was near the end of the race and I was so exhausted and beaten up at that point that it took me an hour to finish that one obstacle. If it weren't for other racers catching me as I slipped repeatedly I would NOT have made it. (I ended up finishing in 3 hrs 21 mins, so don't worry about taking a long time, finishing was the goal for me)

I was beaten up pretty bad physically after this race, but don't let it scare you from finishing it. I had never felt as mentally strong as I did after I crossed that finish line!

Yes you can do it

This year will be my 2nd Spartan Sprint I complete. I am no where near my fitness goal and I couldn't complete most of the obstacles that involve upper body strength. The people who participate in spartan will encourage and push you and you will have a blast when you reach that finish line and get that medal.

now some warnings.

1 - This race will break you, you will reach your wall and you will need to dig deep inside you to push past the soreness and pain and continue
2- you will get dirty
3 - Injuries are a possibility no matter how careful you are
4 - Love burpees now
5 - Just finish

I'm very interested in doing a Spartan race, how many can be on your team? Where can you find out more info about these races?

I'm going to disagree slightly.

You're going to see a good number of out-of-shape people attempting OCRs; however, the risk of injury can be significant if you're not already in decent shape. I know a guy who tore a hamstring while attempting to run up the Everest obstacle at a Tough Mudder, for example. I also saw an out-of-shape woman fall from a small cargo net obstacle and land flat on her back, which was scary. (Admittedly, in her case, it might have been because she was too hasty.)

If it's not something easy such as a Warrior Dash, then I would think twice before doing this. Do you think you can handle the running without injuring yourself, for example? If it's a Spartan Race, then I suggest starting with the Sprint before attempting a Super or a Beast version.

As I said, I do see some out-of-shape people doing these things, and they do generally survive. Just please consider the degree of risk. If your trainer thinks you can do it, then that's a good sign -- but please don't rely on his word alone.


One last note: I tend to roll my eyes at couch potatoes who don't train and yet attempt a Tough Mudder or Spartan Race, just to say that they did it. That's not a very healthy attitude in approaching these events. If you are training and preparing though, then regardless of your actual fitness level, I have to salute you for that. It's a rewarding hobby, and it's a great way to motivate one's self to get better and better.

I'm looking at the one next March in Houston Texas, which gives me 8 months to train. I have been trying to do a more well rounded training. March 7th my wife is due with our 3rd kid and the 28th of that month I'll turn 30 and I think this is an excellent goal for myself. I've been in the farming and ranching my whole life, my kids are the 6th generation farmer/rancher and have always been active but not in the best shape I think I can be, so I'm changing that. And I am starting out doing the sprint first

I think they're stupid. You can seriously hurt yourself, and for what?

I just did my first ever Spartan Sprint two weeks ago - tons of fun, but really tough, ha ha!

I run 5km regularly and the Sprints are supposed to be 5km, but ours ended up at around 6.8km (not counting distance traveled in obstacles) all on super-hilly ski hills. Like, 30% incline or more for probably 800m (the big hill) kind of ski hills. It took it out of me completely - I had to walk between several of the obstacles and couldn't really push up through some of the longer hills. I didn't do hill training, though, so that was my fault.

I also missed 3 of the 20 obstacles - the "balance beam" thing (I tried to go too fast and I followed too close to the person in front of me and had to stop suddenly), the spear-throw (can't throw one of those to save my life - also never practiced) and the rope climb (dry rope starting on land, I can climb no issue. Trying to jump onto one out of a pool of muddy water on a bed of mud and grip a mud-slick rope? Nope).

There's definitely a chance of injury if you're not trained for it, though.

Atlas Carries/Bucket Brigade has you carrying near 35lbs (men carry 40-50) - on some courses, it might be easier, but the course we were on had us lugging this thing up a 30% incline for 300m uphill, 300m downhill with uneven terrain. Most women ended up dumping 80% of their bucket contents at the top of the hill. I love my deadlifts and heavy lifting and knew to lock out my arms carrying this thing - my boyfriend (in general much stronger than me) tried holding his by its ridges and, due to weak back muscles and poor leverage use, ended up with a seriously overworked back for the rest of the race and the week after.

Scrambling over walls, it's easy to wrench a shoulder, catch a foot on something or fall the wrong way. If you're careful, you're good, but if you're reckless, you're gonna have a bad time.

Also, I advise against thinking "it's just a bunch of physical fitness obstacles with sprints in between and burpees". Their burpees are squat jumps with a full push up in between - 30 of them in a row. The "sprints" are often going to be on insane hills (unless you live in flatlands, then maybe not). The "fitness obstacles" will usually have weights ranging from 20-50lbs (tire flips and atlas stones might be heavier) and include monkey bars and clambering over walls taller than you.

But you're right - train hard, train smart and account for the movements you'll need to do and you should be fine. We had a lady running with us who didn't really train hard and, with lots of help from the rest of us, she got over most just fine and got through her burpees okay.

I definitely recommend doing a lot of hill training, sprint training, endurance running, pull up progressions, monkey bars (just head to a park and do monkey bars until you can out-monkey a grade schooler), lifting heavy and doing a crap-ton of full-form burpees.

Day of, make sure you're hydrated and wear sunscreen. Especially if it's hot. I also recommend those rubber-dipped gardening gloves and taking a gander at wall-climbing (watch some tutorial vids, you can figure out the most efficient, effortless way to climb).

But definitely have fun. It's a blast and it's really awesome.

LacednLace wrote: »

To me I don't see a serious risk of injury unless there's no way you can physically complete the obstacles and in that case, why would you intentionally put yourself at risk?

There are ways. Carrying heavy objects over inclines and long distances, for example, can produce some pretty serious muscle injuries if you're woefully unprepared. For that matter, so can the running, if you're not ready for it. This would be less of a concern on the Sprint, of course, but on the Beast... yeah, there's a good risk of running injuries if you're not ready.

Trail running shoes. Some of them, such as the Inov-8 Roclite line, have been specifically designed for OCRs.

garrettwright08 wrote: »

What are the best kind of shoes for the challenge?

I use older running shoes that are at the end of their mileage. They are typically ruined after a mud race. Light weight helps a bit.