Showing posts with label Spartan Sprint. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spartan Sprint. Show all posts

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Think of me fondly


Yea.  This is today.  At 3:30 p.m.  Our race is 5 miles. 
 The course is around 5.0 miles of hills. This is our hardest sprint race because of how steep and treacherous the terrain is. It’s harder and longer than last year.
Yea, it was nice knowing you.  Thanks for being such great blog followers.  If I somehow manage to survive, I will post all about our adventures.  Until we meet again...

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Ummm...help....



This coming Saturday is the PA Spartan Sprint.  I'm scared.  Seriously.  I'm not in the worst shape I've ever been in, but honestly I could have done more to prepare.  I've heard the race is 5 miles, 2.5 miles uphill, then 2.5 miles back downhill.  We're racing at 3:30 p.m.  Eep!

Then, I just saw this on Facebook

You're going to need the encouragement! The Race Director has been referring to the course as, the "mini-Killington" or "mini-Beast". This race is going to be intense! Hope you've been training!

Ummmm...help?  I believe Killington is the site of the Death Race, which is no-holds-bar race that lasts about 2 days, there are  and only maybe 10% of the people who start the race actually finish.  And a Beast?  That's a

12+ MILES / 25+ OBSTACLES - An obstacle Race from Hell. If you have done any race anywhere in the world: whether a mud run, fun run, olympic run, bike race, death march or any kind of event claiming to be the "toughest race on the planet" you will be happy to know that this is where it ends..THIS IS THE SPARTAN BEAST... Step up and get out of your comfort zone on our +16k beast of an obstacle course race; many will arrive, but few will leave!

What the heck have I done?  Will I be alive come Sunday?  Or even Saturday evening?   A little encouragement would be appreciated...please...
 

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Hitting the playground





Over the weekend I purchased my trail shoes for the Spartan Sprint in July.  That is just one small part of preparation.  The other would be going out and training.

Today was the first time I went out to do something obstacle like to prepare.  Hubby and I headed over to the local playground to "play."  It's a new-fangled playground with all sorts of things we didn't have as kids.  I had a feeling it would be a good place to go to get a little training in.

The playground.  This is the second of two play grounds at the park.  There's also a mile running path here, a basketball court, and two really nice picnic areas, one with a fire place.

After getting out of the car, hubby said we should run to the play ground, so we ran.  As we got to the playground, he kept going and hit the rock wall.  We both had no problem getting up it.  Hubby even got over it.  I got up it and failed at going over.  Ugh.  Something to work on.
Hubby scaling the rock wall.  He did awesome!

I got to the top, but couldn't get over.  Too scared.  :-( 

We hit up the other stuff as well.  There was a yellow wall that reminded me of a rope ladder that we climbed (and I got over!).  There were rounders you walked across that spun and/or dropped as you stepped on it.  

  What made this a little challenging is it's concave, so easy on one side, difficult on the other.

Walking over the rounders.  I got over them easily each time.  Hubby fell off the first time.  Heehee!

Then we headed over to the monkey bars.  I have never gotten across the monkey bars in my life.  I have no upper body strength and I always fall off after hanging on the first bar.  I let hubby go first.  He's much better at these things than I.

  Look at that movement!  He is very good at this.

After hubby went, I took my spot at the bars.  I was not anticipating good things.  One of the main reasons I wanted hubby to go with me to the park was in case I fell off the monkey bars and got hurt.  I honestly could see this happening.  But, I tried.  I grabbed the first bar and swung my body forward and grabbed the second bar and stayed on the monkey bars!  I didn't fall off!  I made it to one more bar before dropping to the ground.  Woohoo!
This is from my second attempt at them.  I got about a third of the way through the monkey bars before falling off.  Yea me!

Not a bad start to training.  I'll need to get my butt out there many more times before the Spartan race, but it's ok.  I stand a chance of getting across that monkey bar before July 14th!  I also want to get over the rock wall before the race too.  I may not need that skill, but I'd rather have it.  
Did I mention I'm a bit sore?  The muscles along the side of my chest under my arms are a tad bit angry at me.  I'm assuming it's from that move you see directly above.  Those muscles better get used to it.  I'm going to need them over the next few weeks!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Preparing for Sparta


Spartan Sprint is (quickly) coming up and I feel woefully unprepared.  Just feeling as if I am so unfit to run this race.  It is scary.

This weekend I took the first step in changing that.  We stopped at Charm City Run (I'll explain why later) and I picked out a pair of trail running shoes.  The salesperson asked me what normal running shoes I use (Brooks Adrenaline GTS 12) and told me that Brooks does a trail shoe.  So, he headed back and grabbed a pair in my size - the Brooks Adrenaline ASR 9.  I tried them on and since my normal running shoes are stability shoes, I figured I might as well go with them.

Here they are.  My shoes for Spartan Sprint.  Hoping they help me make it up those trails and on the obstacles!

Look at that color!

Apparently I can wear these in all types of weather.  I don't see mud though...

 Look at that tread!  Hopefully it keeps me upright on the trail!

 Huh.  Can you tell they are the same line of shoe?  LOL!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

What have I done?

Oh my good Lord, what have I done?  I have gone and signed up for this.  To say I'm scared would be an understatement.  I think I can handle the running part (trail and uphill) and the mud, but the obstacles have me terrified. 

I signed up to run the Spartan Sprint in Palmerton, PA on July 14th.  It's a 3ish mile obstacle course with approximately 15 challenges.  I'm not worried about the rope wall or belly crawling under barbed wire.  But, anything that has to do with upper body/arm strength?  Screwed.  What's fun about this one, unlike many other mud/obstacle runs, is for every obstacle you miss, you have to do 30 burpees.  What are burpees?

1. Get into a crouch
2. Kick your legs back as if doing a push-up/plank
3. Bring your legs back into the crouch position
4. Stand up
5. Repeat 30 times

So, if you miss all 15 obstacles and do 30 burpees each you would be doing 450 burpees.  I honestly can see myself doing a good number of that total.  I suppose I should practice these things...

Cause finishing means I get one of these...and they are kinda cool...