Spartan Sprint - Malaysia
My first ever spartan race..
So I had a client approach me in September asking if I thought she would be 'fit enough' to do her first Spartan Sprint in December. Having little knowledge about the Spartan Races I went and did some research...
Spartan Races are obstacle races around the world. You have various distances including:
Spartan Sprint (3+ miles, 20+ obstacles)
Spartan Super (8+ miles, 25+ obstacles)
Spartan Beast (13+ miles, 30+ obstacles)
Ultra Beast (26+ miles, 60+ obstacles)
I knew she'd be fine with the running, but I was concerned with the obstacles. From what I could see obstacles included a rope climb, fire pits, barbed wire, monkey bars, climbing over various sized walls etc and for every obstacle not completed you would have to do 30 burpees at each station failed.
I thought she could do it but she needed to train. So I stupidly made a deal...
'If you commit to this race and your training, I will run it with you' and guess what, she did *face palm*..
As well as our weekly 1-2-1 training sessions, I set up a Sunday bootcamp, got some of our friends involved and started researching key training we needed to hit over such a short period of time.
I spent the next 9 weeks making them carry sandbags, bear crawl, skip, run, box jump, row and everything else I thought they needed. Some days they loved me, some days they hated me. But they had to get their strength and confidence up.
During those 9 weeks I hit two fractured shins. The week before the race I sprained my ankle by falling from a box jump - basically I'm an idiot. But there was no way I wasn't supporting my girls on this course (even if I couldn't run - I just had to be careful with my landings).
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Race day I couldn't stomach food. Mainly fear of the unknown, partially for the fact my first ever obstacle course earlier this year, I was like a bull in a china shop due to adrenaline and fear, and lastly my two fractured shins and one sprained ankle.
When we got there we ran into two friends who had just completed the Beast - telling us it was the hardest Spartan course they'd ever done. Not filling us with confidence. And looking at the first mile, pure up-hill terrain and every competitor resorting to walking up it - I was nervous. You then have a 4ft wall to get over, just to get into the starting pen. In all of our training we had never had a wall to climb over..
'What is your profession?!'
'Aroo Aroo Aroo!'
And we were off..
I couldn't run, I had to walk - I was not risking my marathon training and more months of rehab for being stupid. So I walked, I walked the entire course. This was a great plan, it allowed my girls to take their time, for the adrenaline to not overtake our focus and concentration - we took one obstacle at a time.
Worse moments:
The Bucket Carry - it's such an uncomfortable shape and has a sharp rim around the base which means any which way you hold it (on shoulder, hip, arms) it hurts. The best way we found was the grip the rim with your fingers but this caused pain in the upper back. The terrain we had to get it across was horrendous. There was a girl with a sprained ankle seeking medical attention half way up, and on the way down the most efficient way was to side on your bum and drag the bucket full of debris with you. Horrendous.
Best moments:
Barbed Wire - hitting the point in the terrain where you can roll and singing Rollin Rollin Rollin.
Hercules Hoist - by far my personal favorite obstacle. After months of training and without being able to train legs for weeks I was concerned about my strength decreasing. Lifting that 30kg sandbag, all the way to the top was hands down one of my own proudest moments.
A Frame Rope Climb - this was the one obstacle I had syked myself out of. During my first ever obstacle race earlier this year I tried this rope climb three times, and every time I failed. One of the worse feelings I've had in sport. This spartan one was different, we had just swam so were soaked through, it was a metal wet frame, with a shortened rope you had to run up to. The worse bit is actually once you've done the rope climb, managing to get to the top and over but I finally did it, first try!
Inverted wall - one of our girls has a fear of falling and absolutely froze at the top of the inverted wall. That resorted in the other four of us surrounding her, supporting her, calming her down and getting her up and over safely. We were a team and we were doing every single bit of that course together.
Wall Dunk and Swim - I was worried and didn't need to be. This was a cool down, clean up and casual breast stroke to the other side!
We finished - even with two fractured shins and a sprained ankle! We smashed it together and didn't leave anyone behind!
I could not be prouder of my girls - and we've already signed up to our next one in March.
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