Old Forum Spartan Race advice

[Chris F.]

Ladies and gentlemen, I've signed up for the Spartan Sprint in Philadelphia November 14. This is my first race of this type. Any advice would be appreciated. I'm treating it as a fun goal and for motivation. I took some time off from running since doing the Broad a Street race in early May (I'm not much of a runner but have done only this 10 miler the last two years as something to do and train for with my wife). S&S is my main protocol at the time and reckon that that's a good plan to stay on. Any thoughts, tips of course greatly appreciated!

 

[NCmedic]

Chris, I've done 4 spartan races in the past 2 years in all distances (sprint, super, beast).

Each one has taught me a lesson.

For general training, I think S&S will help ensure that you're strong enough for the majority of the obstacles. The swings will help condition you but I would still recommend that you establish an aerobic base (run, ruck, etc)

One thing that I'd highly recommend is adding pulling variations such as pullups and chinups to your routine. You will do a lot of climbing... rope climbs, walls, cargo nets, monkey bars, etc. You will also have to do a hercules hoist, pull a group of heavy sandbags suspended on a rope into the air and let id down easy. If you don't have a strong back with good grip, you will struggle on these obstacles. I prepared for this by doing weighted KB chinups and I was more than ready for all of the climbing and pulling I did.

If you fail obstacles, burpees need to become your friend. I'd practice those movement so that you are not unprepared when the race comes.

As Pavel said in another post similar to this, ankle mobility and strength is a must in order to prepare you for some of the uneven terrain, jumping, landing, etc.

November will be cold so make sure you dress accordingly. Expect to get wet and muddy, despite the temperature. The temperatures make the obstacles tough because of your hands... don't be surprised by this. Bringing gloves can help with some of the obstacles that are rough on the hands.

That's all I can think of for now, let me know if you have any other questions!

I love these races and plan on doing 2-3 more this year.

 

[Chris F.]

Tyler sir thank you for the awesome reply! Much appreciated! So you think weighted chins in lower reps are preferable to longer sets? This is good actually because I'm still recovering from a forarm issue that prohibits long sets. I can however do pulls with KBs hanging from my feet for lower reps. I plan on some hill running too. Thanks again!

 

[NCmedic]

I'm by no means an expert, just sharing what I've done.

The way I see it, to pull your BW up a rope or across monkey bars takes strength. So I trained with a strength goal in mind versus an endurance (higher reps of pulls/chins). . I did KB press/ weighted chinup ladders in the format of Enter the KB Right of Passage. As I progressed with my press, I would increase the weight on my chinups. If you're comfortable with weighted pullups, you should be OK with your BW when the time comes.

Hill running would be great as well. Another idea is to carry objects such as a sandbag, bucket, anything that weighs 30-50 lbs up and down the hill. You'll be doing some of those at the race as well.

 

[lsalasl]

Spartan races look fun, but mostly the obstacles. What would you say is the relative importance of obstacles compared to the running? What if I'm good at obstacles and do no running at all (but plenty of swings).

 

[NCmedic]

Well it depends on your goals. If you're looking just to finish the race then you can just run/walk if you need to. If you have a time in mind, you may have to push yourself further and the run part is where you have the most control.

On my last race, I did not conditioning other than swings/snatches. I did great until about 1-2 miles in and I had to start taking breaks to catch my breath. I also began to struggle after mile 2 from knee pain due to poor ankle mobility... I did extremely well on the obstacles and was able to do all of them without failure. Therefore, for the next race... I'll continue to focus on my strength goals while adding an aerobic base. Since I have some mobility issues right now... I do not want to run. I'll mostly walk, crawl, or ruck to condition my lungs and body for long periods of continuous movements. Once my mobility issues have been corrected, I'll begin to run (hopefully without pain)

The elite runners can finish a sprint in 45 mins to an hour. I finished two, one at 1:50 and one at 2 hours. For my next sprint, I'm looking at finishing in under an hour and a half. Goal would be 1:15.