9 Things I Wish I’d Known Before the LA Spartan Race
I’ve always been a little impulsive, especially when it comes to feats of strength and athleticism.
“Oh, you don’t think I can scale this 10 ft wall? Watch me.”
“You don’t think I can do a dancer’s pose balanced on a slippery, icy rock overlooking a 400 ft. canyon? Watch me.”
In preschool — “You don’t think I can flip over the monkey bars like the kindergarteners?” Watch me (I ended up busting open my chin and needing ten stitches).
And of course, in college — “You don’t think I can beat Big Mike in a keg stand competition? Watch me (but that’s a story for another day).
I like a challenge, especially when faced with skepticism and a little friendly competition. Sometimes it’s to my detriment, like in the monkey bar situation, but other times, my daredevil nature drives me to push myself to my limit and conquer activities I didn’t think possible.
The Spartan Sprint in Los Angeles recently was one of those instances.
A few months ago, when TomTom asked me to join their team for the upcoming Los Angeles Spartan Race, my husband looked at me bewildered and said, “You know how hard those things are right?”
Can you guess what I said?
“Oh yeah, watch me —
— and uh, you’re coming with me!”
We were both very excited about it.
If you aren’t familiar with the Spartan Race, they have three different competition levels, starting with the Spartan Sprint, a 3-5 mile race containing 15-20 challenging obstacles that include scaling walls, swimming through mud, crawling under barbed wire, and jumping over fire.
Yeah, it’s crazy.
Mid-race, I actually heard one woman say, “What kind of insane people actually pay to be put through this kind of torture?!” And then we laughed, because obviously, we’re those kind people.
The hubby and I trained for weeks leading up to the race day with the assistance of our trainer TomTom Ambassador and Spartan Coach Jesse Blackwell. Jesse has done tons of these races, most recently scoring 16th place in the Vermont “Beast” — a 12-14 mile Spartan race with 30-35 obstacles. Cue my mouth gaping open.
Our favorite workout that Jesse created was the “Spartan 300” circuit. I have no idea why it was called the 300, because there are way more than 300 reps.
It should actually be called the 975 + a 1/2 mile sprint workout — but maybe that’s too intimidating.
We did this workout several times over our six month training period, in addition to weight lifting, running, and our usual studio workouts.
All the while, we tracked our progress on our TomTom Multi-Sport Cardio Watches. They have GPS and heart-rate monitor technology, so after each workout we could see exactly how far we’d run, where we ran, our calories burned, and our average heart-rate, improving on each with every training session.
Still, when race day came, I was terrified. I’d heard from friends that this race was “the hardest thing they’ve ever done.” No pressure, ya know.
As we gathered with our team the morning of the race for breakfast though (gotta get those carbs in pre-workout), the sheer excitement and adrenaline set in.
Our group of about ten “Spartans” ranged from “Trifecta Champions” to first-timers. One incredibly inspiring woman was actually a breast cancer survivor who’d transformed her diet and fitness routine while fighting the disease, and was now doing the race as a celebration with her son.
I’d heard speculation about the race distance and obstacles we might face, but I didn’t really know what to expect. Here’s how it went down.
The race was held at Castaic Lake, about 45 minutes north of LA. While the scenery was absolutely beautiful, it was a little chilly and very windy that day.
We started off on an uphill run and pretty quickly came to our first obstacle — a muddy water pit, ending with a wall that we had to dunk our head under to pass. Immediately, we were soaking wet and covered in dirt. As we continued to trudge uphill for about a mile though, I was thankful for the cooling effect of my wet clothes.
The course continued through miles of winding, incline and approximately 18 or so obstacles. I can’t remember exactly how many, it was a bit of a blur!
According to my GPS, the race ended up being over five miles long with a total elevation change of 1093 ft. I burned around 1000 calories and finished 228 in the women’s category out of 1824. Not too bad.
I was pretty proud of my results and the fact that I completed all but three of the obstacles. If I could go back and do it again though, there are some things I would have done differently to prepare for the race.
Things to know before you go:
- Don’t drink too much liquid before the race. This should have been obvious to someone who exercises frequently, but on this day, I still managed to drink too much water and coffee beforehand. I had a belly full of sloshing liquid for the first few miles – cue the side cramp.
- Wear gloves. This isn’t totally essential, and most people weren’t wearing them, but lightweight lifting or biking gloves would have come in very handy for obstacles like the rope climb, the rock wall, and the rope swing.
- Speaking of the rope climb – Learn to climb a rope! There is a very specific way to climb a rope that makes it actually doable. Find a gym that has one and learn or you’ll be in the burpee pit with me and the majority of the spartans who couldn’t make it up an inch.
- Practice climbing on a rock wall. Similar to the rope climb, there are specific techniques for sideways rock wall climbing and tricks to avoid falling off.
- Build your upper body strength. Many of the obstacles require major upper body strength to scale walls and lift heavy things like boulders and buckets full of rocks. Women’s lifts are lighter and they are allowed a boost over the walls, but it still helps to train with pull-ups and other arm exercises.
- Train for the cardio with long, steep hikes. While some extreme athletes ran the whole course, the majority of people hiked the rough, steep terrain. It’s different for different locations, but the LA race was a very hilly course. We jogged a lot but hiked an equal amount, and practicing trail runs would have been helpful (Note: Jessy actually did encourage this but unfortunately, we slacked off).
- Wear long pants and long sleeves. To each their own (I saw a group of guys in short shorts), but covering your skin is a good idea to avoid scrapes during obstacles like the barbed wire crawl. I wore a long sleeve shirt over my tank top so I could take it off when I got hot.
- Bring a bandana. You may not need it at all locations, but in Castaic State Park, I would have been so thankful to have something to cover my face during the engulfing sand storms we faced for five miles on those dusty trails.
- Wear a watch like the TomTom GPS/Heart Rate Tracker. It was helpful to know how far we’d traveled during the race and to motivate ourselves when we’d hit the half way point. Meanwhile, the heart rate tracker helped me stay in an effective zone, slowing down when I was pushing it too hard and speeding up when I knew I could do more.
Ok, so are you nervous now or psyched? I hope all the warnings didn’t scare you off.
Despite not knowing any of these things before I went, I had an incredible time.
It was such a fun bonding experience for me and the hubs (coincidentally, the day before our six month wedding anniversary) and such a cool experience. Literally overcoming obstacles in life not only builds confidence, but also makes you stronger for future challenges.
Even despite the elements (and you can ask my friends — I am super sensitive to all of them: wind, water, cold, dust, etc.), I really had the best time. In fact, we’re planning on doing another one!
Good luck to any first-timers out there who are reading this, I hope this recap was helpful!
Weigh In: Have you done a Spartan Race or something similar? Would you?
*This post is sponsored by Spartan Race partner, TomTom, but all opinions are my own.
Sarah @ BucketListTummy says:
Wow, you did great. Congratulations on finishing and rocking out, lady! I usually stick to road races, but this looks like a fun and challenging environment! Happy 6 month anniversary!
Whitney English says:
Thanks so much Sarah! You should definitely try one!
Rachel @ Betty LIVIN says:
I once did as Spartan without training and it was the hardest thing I had ever done (and I had done a couple tri’s without training)!! It’s a fun way to train yourself for a different kind of fitness though and when do you get to play in mud as an adult? Great post!
Whitney English says:
Haha true!! Not very often – and it was a blast!
Kayley says:
I did the same race! Honestly, it was brutal. I was sick most of November, so I couldn’t train much. Plus I’ve been on Nutrisystem (9lb lost in the past month!), so I wasn’t as fueled as I should’ve been. I had a really supportive team, though, and I’m stubborn like you, so I eventually finished! I’ll probably stick to vanilla runs in the future, though.
Whitney English says:
That’s awesome that you still did it despite being sick for so long! Way to go girl!
Lindsay @ Fit & Awesome says:
Congratulations on getting such a great time on your first Spartan Race! I’ve always wanted to do a Spartan Race but they sound pretty intense. The jumping over fire part scares me! I’m going to have to try that spartan workout you posted. It looks like a good one!
Whitney English says:
Thank you so much! You could totally do it :) And the workout! xoxo
Jamie says:
My husband and I were just talking with some friends about doing this! This post couldn’t have come at a better time! Awesome tips and info! Thank you for sharing and congrats on finishing!
Whitney English says:
Yay! So glad you found it helpful. I hope you guys end up doing it!!
Shirley says:
How wonderful that you did it together! I enjoyed reading about your adventure :-)
Whitney English says:
Yes, it was a really great bonding experience!
Deborah @ Confessions of a Mother Runner says:
I’d love to do a Spartan race sometime. Looking fierce!
Whitney English says:
You should! You’d do great!!
Heather Dingley says:
Wonderful wrap up of Spartan!!! :)
Whitney English says:
Thanks Heather!
Giselle says:
Way to go! I’ve always thought about doing one but now that I’m pregnant will definitely be waiting a few years :-) It looks like you had fun though and did an awesome job!
Whitney English says:
Thanks girl! I definitely encourage you to try it when you can! xo
Paula Porter says:
Great finish. Love the Spartan name.
Whitney English says:
Yeah it’s cool, right?! Makes you feel tough :)
Liz says:
Good for you! Those races scare me lol but you have some great tips! Congrats on doing such a good job in your first Spartan race!
Whitney English says:
Thank you!! It was definitely scary but so fun!
jen says:
how long did it take you? doing my first this month…
Whitney E. RD says:
Hi Jen! I’m sorry I don’t recall. It looks like from my Tom Tom stats though that it took about 2 hours. Good luck on your race!!