Spartan Race 6-28-2014

Chevaughn and I did the Spartan Sprint Race at the Mohegan Sun.  We signed up for it late last year when I had yet to devote myself to swimming.  Chevaughn has been going to the gym everyday.  I have only been going to the pool.  I kept hoping she would back out of the race, but no.  So I ended up going along.

I do not like doing a race untrained.  Last year I was obstacle course fit.  This year I am swim fast fit.  I told her I would do it, but would walk most of the course.  I have a big swim meet tomorrow and need to save some strength for that.

The course was between 4.5 and 5 miles according to various reports.  There was not alot of mud.  This I think was due to the Mohegan Sun wanting people to gamble afterwards and not track a lot of mud into the building.  Parking was free.  It was easy to get to.  The base was in a parking lot at Mohegan Sun.

I can't remember all the obstacles, so let me go right to the three I failed at.

The rope climb.  No surprise here.  I can't climb a rope and did nottry to hard for fear of injurying myself for tomorrow.

The one where you pull on a rope to hoist a 80 pound sandbag high into the air.  I thought I would be able to do this one, but it was the next to last one and I only got it up half way.  I am sure there is more tecnhique to it, but I was too tired to keep at it, so I let it down and took the panalty.

The transverse cross.  I have done this successfully at other races, but this one was not very tall, there was not much space between the leg holds and the arm holds, so I would not hug the board, but was left to try to do it with my arms and legs extended out.  I fell right away.

The penalty for failing an obstacle is thirty burpees.  I did them, and I was pleased they let me do them the slow old man way I do them, walking my legs out and back instead of kicking.

So what did I succeed at -- all the others.  I climb very well, and the swimming has also helped my grap and lift myself up over the high wall.  I also nailed the javelin throw.  Well, not exactly nailed.  i almost missed the target but the spear stuck.  Good for me.

Some of the other obstacles involved carrying a 90 pound ball, flipping a heavy tire, carrying a heavy sandbag up and down a hill, crawling under barbed wire.  The barbed wire cross was on grass which made it way to easy.  I buzzed right along just using my upper body to pull my legs along.  No hard rocks to cut my legs.

The run parts were a lot of up and down with some beautiful views, much of the run was on wooded trails.

I guess overall, the race was a disappointment.  I would have enjoyed it more if I was trained.  It did somewhat whet my appetitie to do more.  I do like the feeling of climbing up over the high walls.

At the finish, we got protein shakes, a protein bar, a banana and a teeshirt.  We didn't stay for the beer