Spartan Race: Tough training with less than month to go

Share

Race day is just three weeks away from the Spartan Sprint Race at Killington, Vermont. We’ll hit the mountain the morning of Sunday, Sept. 20. Love this time as the anticipation builds, but also hate it because the training really becomes tough the final weeks before the race.

As I mentioned in my last post, I was planning on changing my training regiment and have done that. This 30-day training plan is from the folks that manage the Spartan Race. I’m doing it but adding some additional tweaks.

I think it’s been great to force me to run and in different manners. As I’ve said before here, I hate running but it’s so critical to this event and not just for stamina. The interval/speed training has been very tough but also hiking aspect. I don’t have a lot of “hiking” or areas that have hills near my apartment so I’ve been doing this on the treadmill.

Essentially, I’ve been using the “hill” workout on the treadmill but jacking up the incline very high. In this workout, the incline will go from 9-15 percent (max on my machine) at usually 4.5 to 5 mph. It doesn’t seem tough, but after running miles hard then doing this for an extended period wears out the body. Additionally, I’ve added jogs on the treadmill at very high incline to train for running up the mountain. Last year, I felt that was the hardest “obstacle” just running up the mountain straight. This type of training will have me much better prepared for this aspect of the race.

I’m nearly four weeks into this training program. It’s been great especially for my legs, they’re almost consistently cashed and rest days are very necessary. However, I’ve also added a few tweaks in terms of total push ups, pull ups and burpees. I feel like the recommendations in the workout were a little low so I’ve augmented those numbers to ensure after each workout I’m maxed out. Additionally, things like bucket carry, sandbag lunges, etc. are great to improve grip strength, which is critical in this race. 

One very interesting difference this year is I’ll be running the race in a group. It will be two of my friends from college who now live in the area (Marques and Porter) and my fiancée Adrienne. The team aspect will definitely help to push through fatigue and overcome obstacles. But I think we’ll all be at different levels of fitness so I’m interested to see how everyone responds when there bodies start to fade.

Marques started doing this 30-day regiment but his work travel schedule really effects how and what he can do. Adrienne will also use this as a baseline for her workouts over the next month but she ran the race last year so will have better sense of what to augment to ensure her workouts are tailored to her weaknesses. Porter is a bit of a wild card. He’s a former college basketball player, like myself, but I don’t think he really thinks this will be tough. I wonder how much he’ll train and if he’ll step it up in the coming weeks. As of now it seems his training consists of margaritas, some stretching, arm circles and the occasional lift/jog. If he doesn’t step it up in the coming weeks, I think he’s going to be in for a rude awakening on the 20th.

That said, how we all fair on the day of the race is anyone’s guess, but the next three weeks should be fun as we prepare.

 

Contact Us