Killington Ultra Beast 2015

So it is that time of year again, time for the Killington beast. Last year it was the spartan world championships, and I did the beast, and it was brutal. This year, I was talked into doing the ultra beast (2 laps around the beast course) and this year had already basically been working up to it with all my races and training, and it isn't hard to get me to sign up for a race, really, it is kind of a problem. Anyway, so as with everything Killington, word championships or not, the rumor mill was flying. From all the different facebook groups, to all the word of mouth rumors going around about course, obstacles, time hacks and what not, some of which I am sure Norm himself spread (Norm is the race director for Killington if you did not know) it was easy to get nervous. Let me tell you hearing all the crap I did, wile tapering, deloading, and general prep for the race and going crazy not being able to do what I want, rumors of the race were the last thing I needed to mess with my head. Luckily, it didn't last, and my mind went from energy and excitement, to oh crap what did I get myself into, but in the few days before, I realized that it was doable for me, and happy and excited again I was!

Pre race photo Credit Sara

Pre race photo credit Sara

So I signed up elite, because, frankly, I wanted to ensure as much time on course as I could, In the super long distance stuff my goal is completion of the race. The morning was great seeing my friends that were racing, and my friends that were there wishing well and giving out hugs it was a great way to start the day! And in the morning announcement, as is custom in the elite waves, the rd says a few words, and Norm said that he did not want people to finish, which made me chuckle, and say that I was going to pad the positive comps when I finish this race. So the first thing we do after the start line is start the ascent up the mountain, and hit log hurdles, then inverted wall, and then about 1.5 miles up. This race was a founders race (still not 100% on what that means though). But basically the race was filled with many heavy carries (pancake, demo sandbag, 2 log carries, bucket brigade, a log farmers carry, atlas carry) and sooooo many walls. there were 2 rope climbs, a hurc hoist, the rig set up they had was 3 ropes to rings. Tarzan was not under the bridge this year, it was between 2 walls with hay in case you fell. The only water was were the traverse rope was last year and it was a wade through chest deep water depending on how far in the water you went. There were also 2 cargo net climbs, and hay bale jumps, and of course spear throw(s), 3 barb wire crawls, memory test just for the ultra people, and only on the first lap, and the always present fire jump.

Photo credit Aaron Farb, still happy on lap 1

A few gripes that need to be shared about the race. First of Saturday was pretty darn hot, about 80 and Spartan ran out of water, it was a s*** show, and people disagree about that, but the point here is this, Joe De Sena apologized on facebook, and flew up after hearing about it, and saw to it that those problems were solved for Sunday. Saturday they did not let people refill their water packs, but said you could at the next stop and never let them fill it, I heard about very long times waiting in line, enough time for two people to trade places at a heavy carry, and still not be close to getting water. As you can imagine it got kinda ugly, and racers and staff and volunteers were both acting poorly because of this, not everybody, but enough that many people had several stories of their own. Also some other complaints about this race were that several of the obstacles were falling apart on sat, and not properly fixed for sun. The wall at the halfway mark was being held together by volunteers on sat, as it was not secure for people to go over, and on sun, everybody I saw went to the only part that was properly secured on the left. even with the board that was put there it was not stable. The bucket brigade was falling apart, the back wall that holds the rocks in had a big break and a bunch of rocks were spilling out of it, and we were told to dump on the side that was not broken ( also they ran out of buckets on Sunday and rocks as well I was told). As somebody that ran ub I was annoyed that the loop was made longer on my second lap just for us running the ub, it seemed weird and annoying nut whatever. The bucket brigade, and the demo bag sandbag carry loops were shortened on Saturday due to not enough to go around. I was watching runners on Saturday at 10am, and there was a line of about 40 or 50 people waiting for a sandbag, way to early to back up like that.The rope climbs were oddly short for a spartan race, but they was nothing wrong with them. One of the sections of the z wall had a decent sized hole in the board just below the foot blocks. the over under through section of about a dozen walls that was on pavement after the tarzan swing had a board that was not secured to the end, and the through walls were not even so some of them were too tiny to get through unless you were a child size. Basically I saw a lot of stuff I would never expect to see at a spartan race, a lot of the finishing touches, polishing up of obstacles, and quality were not there. I expect more from them, and especially for killington, as it is supposed to be their baby, it is where the first beast started years back.

Also something I need to add, with Joe's video apologizing for the problems, he gave out his email and asked for feedback! so I sent an email, and his response was nice. I sent him pretty much the entire paragraph above and this was his answer.

For whatever reason this build crew thought when I said- back to basics and raw- that meant sloppy!

I agree on your assessment and we are working around the clock to get it right.

I appreciate your comments.

TY.

Joseph Desena
to me

All the negative being said, the terrain was awesome as it usually is, it was still hard, and fun. I must say, when I realized that the sprint course was the same for the first 4 or 5 miles, I was concerned about bottle necks and time hacks. However when I started my first lap all those fears disappeared immediately, the volunteers knew what the green arm bands meant, and as soon as they saw them they made room at the obstacles for us. I saw one guy stand in front of the inverted wall and wave several of us over to avoid a line, and the log hurdle as well, the volunteer politely asked a runner to wait one second and she happily let me go, it was truly wonderful. But it did not stop there on course, during one of the downs every time I came close to a group of people, and they looked behind, they yelled "ultras coming through" and let me pass, to say I was surprised was an understatement! and the ones that didn't part, when I got near let me pass when I asked to, everybody was nice, it was a great day.

Also, I have heard a bunch that this race was easy, and all that. Now I know what last year was, I did it, it sucked, and I came back for 2 laps. But the whining about it being so easy really needs to stop! there were still many people that DNF'D the race, it is still Kilington and the terrain is still horrible. But also equally important is that you are diminishing those that are happy that they finished, the ego really needs to come out of a lot of the minds of some of the runners. I can understand disappointment, but you need to handle your verbiage better, because people worked hard to make the race, and people worked hard training for the race, so get off your high horse people. Also, the amount of trash I saw on course was ridiculous, I do not know why so many people can not carry a wrapper, hell it is light than when you opened it up!

Photo Credit Josh Chase. Next night, with Kevin who did beast/ub

One of the best feelings was the finish, it was great. I knew I was coming up on the spear throw and did not push too hard in case I missed again (first lap it went in then bounced out, so depressing!) I wanted to save energy for burpees. But I nailed it and SCREAMED "F*** YEAH" sprinted for what I swear was a 5 minuet mile pace for the like 20 yards to over the fire and to the finish passing a few people all due to the extreme happiness that I got the spear and finished the Killington ultra beast! (in 12:12 and before sunset)


Some things to keep in mind for an event like this would be, never stop moving, just keep going forward, even if it just walking, do not stop it makes a world of difference (this applies to the Killington beast as well)! Long uphill and you are slowing down? perfect time for a snack. You should be eating and drinking around the hour mark for things like this, you can do 40 min if you like it is all about preference and your body. Training for the distance and proper hydrating and nutrients help keep energy up ad cramps at bay. Also look for the humor in the day, keep smiling, it seriously helps make the miles go by faster and better. joke with people around you boost morale, introduce yourself to runners that are near your pace and make new friends during the race I did, and it was nice chatting with people, cheering each other on and having fun, after all that is why you paid to do stuff like this right? Worried about having to poop on course? take Imodium AD and no worries, it made a difference for me. In your drop bin spend as little time as you can to ensure you make the time hacks, if you sit too long you may bring on cramps and the desire to not get back up. Have a second bladder there, it is easier than refilling. change of shoes is a good idea as well as socks. when I stopped I changed socks and shoes, also my foot care was gold bond to dry them off and trail toes to help with blister prevention. also refilled the trail snacks and was good to start running again. All said it was about10/15 min switching out. And listen to your friends that have done it endurance events before, absolutely everything in this paragraph came from friends helping me out along the way, and with their advice race day went pretty smooth! I also carried pickle juice in a separate container in case I cramped up, and took some swigs when I felt them coming on, luckily they were minor and it helps me

And the medal GLOWS IN THE DARK!!!

Delta 730 2007

Until next time

Stay active

Stephen