Monthly Archives: September 2016

Beast, Super, Sprint

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Continuing my Spartan Race series, today I would like to chat a little bit about the difference in preparation between a Sprint, Super, and Beast. I’m going to break this down by preparation step so you can really see how my process changes depending on the Spartan distance I’m bracing for. Please note that I am not a coach, this is just my experience (which hopefully will be helpful to future Spartans).

Training Plan

The real difference between a Sprint, Super, and Beast is length of course which translates to amount of time an athlete will spend on the course. This means that your training plan is going to have to support you differently as you prepare for these races. For a Sprint, you’re probably looking at a 2-3 hour course time (unless you’re REALLY FAST or it’s a very long/tough Sprint). For a Super, you can be out there more like 4-6 hours. You can plan for anywhere between 5 and 10 hours on a Beast depending on your level of fitness and the length of the course.

Western Mass Super: 2016; Photo courtesy of Spartan Race

Western Mass Super: 2016; Photo courtesy of Spartan Race

For all of the races, you’ll want to do a good combination of trail running and strength training in your training regime. There are some good training plans out there online you can dig up, or talk to a certified SGX coach who can help you craft one. Sprints, for me, don’t actually mean any difference in my regular training; Crossfit combined with a rigorous running schedule prepares me no problem. When I know I’m prepping for a Super, I make sure to mix in a couple 6-8 miles trail runs and some extra hill training. Beast prep involves long trail runs, lots of hill training, and lots of sled work (to get my quads and hams ready for the brutal ups/downs that a Spartan course entails). I also do fatigue or brick training when I prep for a Beast; back-to-back workouts with little rest between to get my body ready for the endurance aspect of the race.

Nutrition

No matter what race I’m on, I make sure to take in about 100 calories every hour, on the hour. I also take in a salt tab every hour (and one hour before I hit the course) particularly if it’s a very hot day. This means calculating approximately how long I’ll be on the course to prepare my nutrition packs. I am a slow, steady OCR racer and I can generally bank on my slowest miles being around 45 minutes on a Spartan course. As a result, I pack enough fuel for that time (since I want to make sure I have enough, and taking a little extra never hurt).

On a Sprint, I may or may not pack fuel. If I think I’ll be off the course in 2 hours or less, I’ll throw a Gu in my pocket but I won’t sweat it other than that. A Super requires a Camelbak so by then I’m in full nutrition prep mode. I pack everything in double-bagged ziplocks so my pack can be submerged without damage to the fuel and/or salt tablets. For a Beast, I basically pack a picnic. I will take “Frankenfuel” (Gu packs, Cliff Shot blocks, etc.), but I will also take real food like jerky, Rx bars, and trail mix. I don’t assume I will be off the mountain in less than 10 hours to make sure I have ample fuel, and I take anything I think might sound appetizing. IMPORTANTLY I don’t take any fuel that I haven’t previously trained with. The last thing I want on a Spartan course is a GI issue.

What’s in the Pack

As I mentioned, I don’t usually do a Sprint with a Camelbak, though I have made exceptions for exceptionally hot days, exceptionally long routes, or if I’m racing with a group who hasn’t done a Spartan before and might not be able to anticipate their own hydration/fuel needs. I do make sure I have a water-resistant watch and a pair of gloves (I use batting gloves; they really save my hands when I have to do burpees). For a Super, I pack all of my fuel, my sodium tablets, gloves, watch, full Camelbak (that I refill on course every chance I get because you NEVER KNOW), and travel sunscreen. Since I am generally on the course for a while, and since the course generally involves getting wet/sweaty/dirty, I want to make sure my skin doesn’t pay the price for being outside. This has been a marvelously effective way to avoid getting a dorky headband sunburn from the headband bib numbers you wear during a Spartan. On a Beast course, I pack all of this (more fuel, obviously), PLUS a few extra salt tabs (I have often been asked for extra by other racers, and I like to have one or two on hand beyond my own needs for this reason), and a spare long sleeved tech shirt if it’s likely to get breezy/cool down as the day wears on.

What I do After

Honestly, not much changes race to race. I eat more calories on a Beast day than on a img_3089Sprint day, but I couldn’t tell you how much more because I make it a rule not to track my nutrition on race day. I take the same victory pictures. I drink the same amounts of victory beers. I smile with the same amazing feeling of accomplishment. I take the same awesome victory showers (…though I may wash my hair one or two times more on Beast day than on Sprint day). I wear my medal all day long (race day tradition). A Spartan is a Spartan and it’s an incredible thing to achieve no matter what distance you’re racing, so I stay proud any way I slice it.

So, Spartans, anything I’m missing here?

20 mile hustle

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As I near the end of my marathon training cycle for the 2016 Mount Desert Island Marathon (I’m two weeks from taper y’all! WOAH!), I am also dealing with some serious distance during my Saturday morning long runs. Since I’m an avid Crossfitter, my coach designed a marathon training program for me that’s a little different from what a strict runner might use. As I’ve previously mentioned, I only run once a week; my long; and the rest of the week I spend doing work to strengthen the muscles that my legs need for dealing with the marathon distance. The theory behind this is that my body is making the most of rest periods in order to recover from the damage that a long run can do. It’s a great program for me because it keeps me from getting bored. While I love to run, doing it four or five days a week for LONG periods of time can get a little repetitive. My training program keeps me on my toes and, while there is a pattern to it, it also makes sure that I’m mentally engaged in the training rather than piling on a constant barrage of “junk miles” that do nothing but needlessly tire my overworked muscles.

This weekend, I tackled my last 20-miler of the training cycle. It was my second time at the distance, and while I can’t call running 20 miles “easy,” it definitely went down a bit smoother than my last 20-miler. I tend to hit the wall right around mile 8, get a second wind, and push through. What I hadn’t counted on was re-hitting the wall (mile 18 for those who were curious). I hit it hard on my last 20, but this time it was less of a slam and more of a tap. I was able to push through much better thanks to some adjustments my coach and I made in my hydration routine, also thanks to the weather being a little less brutal.

Post 20; first you feel like this....

Post 20; first you feel like this….

All that said, it was really hard to get myself going at 5:30 AM this week. Since it’s been so oppressively hot, I’ve had to roll back my wakeup time to get some mileage in before the sun beats down. This has been surprisingly uncomplicated; it means going to bed at around 7:30 the night before so I give my brain plenty of time to shut down and then get the requisite 8+ hours. Unfortunately, it also means I don’t get the best sleep in the “early” phases of the night (before midnight or so). This week, I was asleep by 8, but inexplicably awake from 9:30 – 11:00 and suffering from some mild GI distress which wouldn’t go away no matter what I tried.

When the alarm went off, I was under slept. I was also cranky, and still thinking about the scarier bits of the “Supernatural” episode my honey and I had watched the night before. Since I’m a wicked chicken, this was pretty disturbing to me in the pre-dawn hours when it was still pitch black outside and I was all alone in a shadowy house trying not to make noise while I got ready for my run. Much to my dismay, that whole “it’s autumn and thereby daylight happens later” thing is also kicking in. I’m used to pre-dawn light starting right around 5:30, when I leave, so I don’t actually run in darkness. This weekend, it was bumped back by about 15 minutes (due to cloud cover and also the natural rhythm of dawn being later in the fall). As a result, my run started in the dark.

So I was scared, it was dark, and when I stepped out the door it was both hot and humid. This did not make for ideal long run conditions. I tried to bargain with myself; just run the first half outside and then you can come back and finish the last 10 on the treadmill in the air conditioning if it’s really that terrible. Just keep going until you feel like you should stop and then you can come in, get cool in the air conditioning, and maybe finish up on the treadmill. Thankfully, and counter to all intuition, it actually got cooler after the sun came up and turned into a nicely temperate overcast day. By mile 8 it was obvious that while I was going to suffer a little bit, I would be fine to finish the run outdoors.

Recently there’s been an article circulating my Facebook feed about how telling yourself you can do something (out loud, and in the definitive positive voice) gets you pumped up better than anything else. I tried to riff off of that and tell myself that not only can I do this, but I would feel SO AWESOME when I was done. Long runs do that; there’s something about running an unreasonable number of miles before most people are even awake on a Saturday that makes you feel like you can do pretty much anything.

Sure enough, while I was completely pooped afterwards, I felt awesome. My wonderful honey even treated us to lunch from Noodles & Company because I was craving pasta (gee, I wonder why?). This was our first time trying their food and we both gave it a rousing thumbs up. One great thing about that place is they have detailed nutrition information about all their dishes available on the website. Since I’m constantly managing my nutrition, this is key for me. I really wish all places would do this; calorie counts are useful, but not as useful as macronutrient breakdowns.

Since Saturday was long run day, Sunday has been mobility, stretch, and rest day. The

...then you feel like this

…then you feel like this

arches of my feet have been tweaking lately and I’m hyper paranoid about plantar fasciitis. There are some really tender spots right now, so I’m subbing in a nice long walk for my recovery run in order to reduce impact and give my muscles a chance to recover from whatever inflammation is going on down there. I also made sure to do a nice long stretch and foam roll session, and I’ll get one more in before bed.

What are your favorite recovery regimes?

Things the Marathon Training has Changed

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Marathon training is a huge commitment and, as I’ve found out during this (my first) marathon cycle, can change a lot in your life. Some of these changes I thoroughly anticipated and expected; while others were a little more sneaky. Here’s a run-down of how my life has changed since I started marathon training.

I’m a…. morning person?

Because I’m training during the summer months, I have to wake up early (….and I mean EARLY) to get those long runs in before the heat bakes me out. I’ve always thought of myself as someone who hated mornings, but apparently that’s not true. Apparently I only strongly dislike mornings when I haven’t regulated my sleep schedule enough to get in the requisite eight hours. Turns out if you go to bed at 7:30 PM on Friday night, a 4:30 AM wakeup call on Saturday isn’t the worst thing in the world. Who

And Sunday morning recovery runs are a thing. Forget sleeping in on weekends!

And Sunday morning recovery runs are a thing. Forget sleeping in on weekends!

knew?

I can eat a lot

 I guess I always kind of knew this, but usually there was so much guilt affiliated with the massive consumption of food that I just sort of swept it under the carpet and tried to forget about it. When you’re fueling your body for marathon training, food guilt is pretty much out the window. On long run day, I sometimes eat five full means (two of which are mostly carbs) just to get in the requisite calories with the proper nutrition balance to fuel my training. NOM!

Massages are no longer a luxury… and actually hurt more than they relax

 With the things I am putting my body through, I need to take very good care of it. One important way to do so is to make sure I keep up with my mobility: my lacrosse ball has become my best friend. I keep one under my desk at home so I can roll out my feet on a regular basis. Sometimes, the self-care regime just isn’t enough and I have to seek professional intervention. Before you go all “poor you, have to get massaged all the time,” think about this: I’m getting rubbed down because there is some muscle group (probably in my lower body) that won’t stop hurting. Fixing this problem is very painful. Massages are no longer a relaxing device, they are a feel better device… that is, after they are a torture device.

Weekends are no longer your own 

The first half of the weekend (Friday night and Saturday morning) are now sacrificed at the altar of the Marathon. I can’t tell you how many plans I’ve had to sorrowfully turn down with people I would really like to see because bedtime on Friday is so egregiously early and wakeup on Saturday means 3-5 hours of running. Saturday day might also be gone too depending on how long the Saturday morning run is. 16 miles or less andIMG_3761 I’m generally good to go after an hour or two and some serious feeding. More than that and I start to push into areas where my body just doesn’t want to do ANYTHING for several hours. I can’t blame it; it’s not like running 20 miles is easy or anything.

Post-run brain is a thing

After a long run, my IQ drops by at least 50 points. I stop being observant, I can no longer make higher-level brain connections, and forget intense conversations. My vocabulary is basically reduced to that of a five year old. This really just means that I have to plan to be out of commission. I set up my snack at the front of the refrigerator to avoid unnecessary fridge diving. I make the grocery list Friday afternoon so that I don’t have to think about it. I spend my run planning what mind-numbing television show will best help me recuperate after the ordeal of running, so that’s planned out too. Post-run brain is all about the proper planning so that you have your luxuries in place before you really need to think about them.

Alright, your turn. What are some that I have missed?

 

 

My Spartan Go Bag

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Alright; so you’ve signed up for your Spartan race. You’ve trained, you’ve thought about what you want to wear, you’re ready to go. But what should you pack? While some things in my Spartan kit are mainstays, there are definitely race-specific items that I need as well. Today I want to break it down a bit and go through what’s in my race bag and what I definitely don’t bring to the start village.

The Spartan Go-Bag

My first few Spartans, I was still developing the habit of what to load up in my go-bag. This is the duffel that I will take from the car into the starting village, check at bag check, then have immediately after the race. As such, it has to have all of my indispensible items in it. A couple years of racing have made this a science; here’s what I generally bring:

*A Towel
Self-explanatory; Arthur Dent style.

*Flip Flops/Shower Shoes
The Spartan shower is just a bunch of hoses on planks to keep you from getting your newly-clean feet overly muddy. You need a pair of shoes that can go through the water unharmed. I use flip-flops, but I know others that use Crocs.

*A change of clothes
A FULL change of clothes; socks, underwear, the works. Include fresh shoes if you don’t intend to wear your shower shoes off the course. I generally just wear my flip flops the rest of the day.

*Several plastic bags/garbage bags
You’re going to need something to store your muddy, sweaty, disgusting clothes in so you

I'm telling you. You will be muddy.

I’m telling you. You will be muddy.

can get them home and washed. I usually shove two garbage bags in my go-bag and leave a few in the car in case I need to cover the seat on the way home.

*Hairbrush/kerchief/hat
I have curly hair and it tends to get nuts when left to its own devices. As a result, between the finish line and my shower at home my hair becomes kind of scary. I pack something to stick on top of my head so that I can at least put the hair away until I have the opportunity to wash it.

*Shower wipes
I discovered these for my Beast this year and I’m not looking back. While Spartan does provide a place to hose yourself off, it’s basically in a field amongst mixed-gender company. You get the top layer of grime off, but there’s still definite grunge underneath those clothes you feel too bashful to remove in mixed company. I find that I generally want a second pass at being clean when I peel those muddy clothes off. Enter the shower wipe: you can get them pre-packaged with one wipe that will do your entire body. You could also just pack a bunch of baby wipes; but my household doesn’t tend to go through those fast enough so they dry out in the interim between races. You can find these sweet puppies on Amazon.

*Sunscreen
I have a big bottle of sunscreen that I keep in the go-bag, and I take a travel size bottle in my Camelbak on the course. Because I am serious about skin health.

*A pouch for necessities
There are definitely things that I don’t want rolling around in my duffel because I just won’t find them when I need them. Cash, credit cards, ID, etc. All of these go in a little pouch like this one that goes in the duffel. That way, I have the important stuff together in a place that I know I can grab it if I need to.

Things I have in the Car just in Case

Since the car will be parked a fair distance from the starting village (sometimes a whole shuttle ride away), you won’t have access to these items immediately after the race. That said, they will be there when you need them.

*An extra set of clean clothes
We learned this the hard way last year when I accidentally dropped my fiancé’s clean pair of after-race undies in a puddle of dirty water while he was hosing off. Bring a spare set of clean everything, you seriously never know when you might need it. Leave it in the car so that nothing can happen to it. You may not use it every race, but it only takes one underwear-drop to feel grateful that you have it.

*My wallet and phone
Since Spartan bag check is not generally a secure affair, I only bring the bare minimum of what I need in my go-bag (generally an ID and a debit card with a tiny bit of cash). The rest stays in the car. Locked and secure.

make sure you take lots of "before" pictures; they're great for compare and contrast later!

make sure you take lots of “before” pictures; they’re great for compare and contrast later!

*Water. Water water water.
Yes, there will be water at the finish line; but generally you’re going to have a long drive home from these races. I keep at least a bottle of water, if not a case of water, in the car for after the race. It has definitely improved my next-day comfort (and my ride home comfort).

*Snacks
There will also be snacks at the finish line; but calorie deprivation turns me into a cranky hunger beast. In order to protect my driving buddies from the wrath of the beast, I throw a protein bar, trail mix, or (if it’s a big race) a sandwich in the car so that I have immediate food should I need it. Trust me. It’s a necessity.

Things I leave at Home

There are things that I just don’t take on the Mountain. Period. Here is a short list of them.

*Anything that might get broken, drowned, wrecked, or stolen.
Spartans are why we can’t have nice things. Don’t be dumb; you’re about to encounter extreme situations involving water, mud, dirt, physical activity, and other people. Leave your valuables at home.

*My fitness tracker
As much as I would LOVE the HR data from a Spartan, I really don’t have the confidence that my Fitbit won’t get broken or fall off during the race. I actually tend to leave it in the car just so I can wear it before and after, but it definitely goes nowhere near the starting village.

*Basic first aid supplies
Spartans come equipped with a first responder tent. Things like ice, ibuprofen, ace bandages, Band-Aids, antiseptics, etc. can all be found at the starting village. You don’t need to bring them. Extra points for being a boyscout, but it’s not a necessity.

*My camera
There will be professional photographers on the race and race pics are free. Your device will just get damaged and ruined. Leave it at home. The exception to this rule is a GoPro when it’s got an appropriate case; GoPro footage of Spartan races is awesome and there should totally be more of it in the world.

There ya have it! The basic necessities of starting village comfort. Next time on Spartans with the Dani Beast I’ll chat about the differences in what I bring on the course for a Sprint, Super, and Beast. Until then; stay strong!