At the end of 2017 I set out to make 2018 my ‘Year of Endurance’! Sounds pretty epic…but it’s been tough! My main goal was to get my hands on the Spartan Race Endurance TRIFECTA (check out this post to see what that entails) and I have one more section to go; the Spartan Race Ultra! 30 plus miles of wonderful (and pretty painful) hilly Scottish terrain and a whole lot of obstacles. The longest distance I would have gone to date (especially as no one knows exactly how far it will be) so in terms of that, this will be a major challenge for me. When challenge stares you in the face, you need to look it in the eye and get ready to smash it!
Here is what I’m doing to get ready for the Spartan Ultra!
Running…a lot of running
Seeing as the Ultra Beast will be equal to or more than the distance of a marathon, that is a lot of running. The furthest I have run to date is around 27 Miles and that was at Europe’s Toughest Mudder (including damn penalty loops) so in my head, that is my saving grace knowing I can go that far! Plus I did that on no sleep whatsoever…so here’s to hoping a good night of camping (has anyone ever said that) will prepare me for a massive physical challenge.
Have you been to Scotland? HILLS!
The last time I was in Scotland was for the Beast which was extremely hilly and too date one of my hardest races! So how do I do battle? By training how I will need to fight…aka doing a hell of a lot of hill training. Sprints, jogs, walks and all while carrying weight. There will be a lot of carries up and down hills so that will have a big effect on my performance on the day. Everyone hates them so you may aswell get prepared for them!
Why you hanging around?
Grip strength will be the difference between me needing to do a whole lot of burpees…and not. While my grip is relatively good to me, I’m not sure how it will act after 20 miles of obstacles tearing my hands to pieces (slight exaggeration) so I’ve litterally been testing my grip strength at every opportunity I can. Dead hangs always work a treat, especially when you are fatigued and have already done your workouts. Unfortunately I don’t have any Multi-rigs or Twister obstacles near me, so I can only rely on the fact I have done them before.
BURPEES!
Everyone’s favourite workout move (can you sense the tone of sarcasm?). Unfortunately you never really know when and where you may need to do these. Even on obstacles you are certain you will ace, one slip, or miss and that’s a 30 burpee penalty. Practice makes perfect! I have been doing burpees with almost every workout; to practice continuing even when I’m shattered and moreso not be as afraid when I need to do them. If you hate or aren’t good at something, make it your primary goal to make that thing one of your favourite. Believe me, it won’t hurt as much when your down doing them.
These have been my main focus during my training leading up to the Ultra Beast on September 15th and I hope to see you guys there as well!
Remember to use code ‘URBANSPARTAN’ for 25% off of all U.K. open heat Sprint, Super and Beast events. See you at the start line!
Are you competing in the Ultra Beast on September 15th? Have you completed one before? Do you have any advice for me coming into this event? Let me know your thoughts on the comments below and thanks for reading!
Hi, nice blog about the ultra, it’s also my first ultra but my second obstacle marathon race, the first one I did was last May 2018 in Amsterdam, there I competed in the strong viking ocr series marathon and after 43.5k, 100 obstacles and 4:35:19 I came in as first and won the race, the most crazy feeling I’ve had because it was also my marathon debut and my longest run of my whole live! Its pretty cool to find out what your body is capable of and what you can achieve with it. It will be also my first time in Scotland so pretty nerve-wracking to for the hills and the carries but also I can’t wait to race! I hope my preparation is good because they say it will be one hell of a ride out there on the course and over here in Holland I have almost no hills to train on. I hope you understand my English because it’s not my strongest language when it comes to grammatical writing if you now what I mean! I am from Holland. 😉 Good luck with your further training and maybe we will meet out there on the course! Keep posting what you’re doing, it’s nice to watch!
Hay bro. Thanks for reading! Your English is great (probably better then mine on most occasions lol). 4:35 is an amazing time with the obstacles as well! You must be fast! And congrats on the first place. The venue has changed from last year which was insanely hilly so maybe we will get a little lucky and not have so many! Hopefully we catch each other at the top of one of those hills eh? Thanks again