so I’m back from Spartan! I competed in the Super open waves on Saturday morning. First race I’ve done without my friend coming with me, but I enjoyed it all the same.
About 6 weeks ago, I sprained my right ankle getting off the bus. It’s been a bitch about healing so I avoided training any cardio like running because it would set it off again. This proved to make the entire distance of Spartan fucking painful. 8 miles, and a lot of it was rough, steep terrain. The course constantly zigzagged up and down the hills through trees too making you have literally no way of running through.
First few obstacles were a couple of 4ft walls, then a couple more at the top of the hill. A few walls you had to go over, under then through as well. Then we came down the other side of the hill to find 3 inverted walls followed by a long ish jog through the woods.
During this point a guy yelled from behind me “I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next! AROO!” and you could hear people from various parts in the woods call back with the Aroos. That was pretty neat.
First major obstacle I knew I’d be coming up with was also paired with the first of 4 water stations on route.
Totally not me in the picture, just got this from google rather than describe it. You have to get from one end to the other without touching the ground, ring the bell and you’re done. A volunteer was guying me through this as I went along but I pretty much nailed it first time. Had some much needed water and a banana and then off I went jogging to the next bit.
Jogging uphill through the woods was painful, at some parts you had to climb to get farther up, but then at the top was a nice grassy pathway to run along. Except, I rolled my damn ankle again. Nobody was around so I sat down for a few minutes cursing to myself. The pain was pretty bad, like last time it made me not want to put weight on it. So I had a choice, hobble to the nearest section with volunteers to call in a ride back to the event village, or continue on and finish the course.
I chose to finish. I was only 2km in and had a long way to go, I wouldn’t be able to jog but I could at least walk. Unfortunately, this meant the course took me 4 hours to do and I could’ve been done in way less time had my ankle been ok.
From here there was a long distance to go to the next stuff, I can’t remember what exactly came next but I recall the second water station being next to the bucket carry.
Buckets for the men were 37kg (81lbs?) and it was to be carried uphill then back down over about 200/400 meters. This was HARD. I can deadlift 125kg but carrying this bucket really took it out of me. It probably took 5-10 minutes to get it from start to finish as i kept stopping for a rest every so often, many others did the same. One thing motivating me to finish was to get some much needed water.
I spent a lot of the time from this to the next obstacle massaging my fingers because I knew if my hands got fucked up, i’d be doing burpees on the fun obstacles.
Not sure which came next but after a long walk i ended up in sight of the first monkey bars I’d be doing. The twister. This rig has three sections to get across, all of them a long scaffolding bar with handles welded in a spiral, so that as you grab one the bar rolls. I got across the whole thing without failing! I was so happy!
Other notable obstacles were “stairway to sparta” as the course lead us back towards the event village for the first time. Basically a giant A frame you had to climb up and over. After that was a cargo net to climb too. Further on at the top of the hill was the rope climb. That thing had to be about 20-25ft high easily. Made it first time. I hadn’t ever practised getting down from a rope so that part was interesting.
After that was a monkey bar rig with rings. Made it no problem and went back down the hill towards what I hoped would be a water station. Nope. three more obstacles to hit before that. One being a Z-shaped wall with blocks to get around without touching the floor, the second was a balance wall and the final one being the hercules hoist. Pretty much a heavy bag on a pulley, pull it up to the top then slowly let it down. A lovely volunteer helped me with this. The bags are 70kg for the men and I couldn’t pull it alone.
Finally the water station was after this. They were handing out shots of amino supplements alongside water and more bananas. Much needed and I think the distance from the 2nd one to this was way too far. Especially in the heat we had.
After the refreshment, the next obstacle was the spear throw. I gave this thing like 12 attempts before I gave up and did burpees. I felt like i’d be there all day. Definitely one I figured I wouldn’t have a problem with but there it is. I could throw it hard enough, but as it got closer to the hay bail it just went off to the side.
Back up the hill and away from the event village for the second time. First was the sled pull. simple enough, pull it to you with the rope then drag it back to where it came from. It was heavy though.
Through the woods to a sandbag carry. 50lbs up a steep hill through the trees. It wasn’t a clear pathway whatsoever and many people stopped to rest along the way. Final water station was just after this so it sort of motivated me to get going so i could have some water.
More long distance, eventually leading down through more woods to a stream. Stream actually turned into three pools separated by mud walls. We had to wade through the pools, climb over the walls and then attempt what they call the Slip Wall. This was essentially another A-frame wall but with ropes to pull yourself up with. The catch was, you’ve just got soaking wet and full of mud so it’s slippery.
The ropes were wet, making them hard for people to grip. A volunteer was advising people to grab dry dirt in their hands to help them. I managed to get up and over on my first try and then from there, it was the last stretch to the finish line.
The course leads you back up the hill past the rope climb and just as you’re coming over the crest you can see the last few obstacles you’re going to hit before finally finishing. By this point, I was absolutely exhausted. My legs were toast. My foot was in agony (blisters as well as sprained) and I was just all out so fatigued I didn’t know if i was going to throw up or cry with happiness when I saw that final stretch. (i did neither lol)
They’d saved 4 obstacles for the last little bit. Barbed wire crawl (which was more of a roll) two 6ft walls, atlas stones and then two 8ft walls before finally jumping over that fire pit for the finish.
My parents found me at the atlas stones so they watched me finish that and then the two 8ft walls.
That stone was a lot heavier than i expected it to be, but i really enjoyed doing it. Definitely want to play with them at some point in the future.
Leading up to the event i was really nervous about the 8ft walls. I’m only a short guy but i figured out a technique to get over them by myself. Putting theory into practise and finding it worked was such a relief.
After I got my medal and shirt I went to get changed and thats when all the adrenaline just rushed out of me. Suddenly EVERYTHING hurt. my back was stiff, my legs were already dead but now they were worse and my foot was killing me.
10/10 would do again. But I definitely need to train for weighted carries and uphill jogging.
