Fenway Spartan Sprint 2015

Look how awesome it is in the LOCKER ROOM!!!

Dugout Slefie!!

So last weekend was the fenway spartan sprint (11/7 and 11/8) This year we got races on both saturday and sunday. Spartan came back to Fenway stadium, for one of the most fun races around. Keep in mind that the stadium races are different than the regular trail ones in that they are shorter, more expensive, but still a boat load of fun! Last year one of the annoying things was the ab wheel that you had to roll strapped to your feet, the scrapped it after the first or second open wave. This year instead of something to strap your feet into it was a little 6" x 6" square with wheels on it, but the same idea, put your feet on it and walk to the tape. They also had the typical obstacles of various walls, slam balls, weighted jump ropes (with bands around ankles), sand bags, hand release push ups in the dugout, box jumps, water jug carry, cargo net a frame on the warning track and money bars, hurc hoist, rope climb, and spear throw and the bridge they have at most races, and ending with the heavy bags again. Also plenty of access to areas you never get to see. So much fun all around, just keep an eye out for groupon and early bird pricing for it, but if you are looking to have fun, and snap a few selfies in the dugout, or locker room, it is a blast. The z wall was also slightly changed this time around. The new twist is that the mid section is now visable, and the blocks were pretty hard on some of those walls, even I, at 6"1' had a hard time reaching some of the block grips! but hey I like a challenge, bring it on. I almost forgot the bungee cord crawl up and down the concourse through the stadium.



One of the things I love that they did this time around was 20 reps for every thing, except burpee penalty, and the 5 burpee after atlas carry. It made it easier to remember when you are in a race things can be easily forgotten, and distracting, and sometimes you may not hear a volunteer or whatever.

Also the timing chips were replaced with bands, these bands were horrible, everybodies time was off, from elites to open waves. I initially had over 10 min faster, it was fixed quickly, but if you pinch the new timing bands, which is easy when you do the ab walk, then you will not have an accurate time! so be careful, and hope they fix the issue with the times!

One thing to keep in mind, when you run through the chairs, BE CAREFUL OF THE CUP HOLDERS! Every time somebody gets hit in the quad, I got it, it is always a big risk when running through the seats, especially when it is stadium as old as fenway, with not much leg room

so much fun

Wave times are usually behind to prevent backups on course, and it helps, it is a small course, (I clocked in at 2.15 miles) The waves are shortened to about 15 people every 60 seconds, and it is always great to be sent out by Dustin at the start line.

One thing t keep in mind, PARKING, on saturday it can be hard, get there early, you can feed meters on streets in the area, but at a 2 hour cap, it is not much time to plan a start and then back, you can do it but it is not worth it. Good news is that there are lots that circle the stadium that are only 10 bucks, be sure to check online beforehand, and a few sites or apps let you reserve it for just a few bucks. Which is great because some of the lots a little farther away were still about 30 bucks to park, pretty steep, but this is Boston after all! That being said,  if they come back for sunday you can park for free on the street, I parked right on landsdown street very easily, and for free, just an fyi. Also, this is fenway, It is right off the green line and the commuter rail, if you are not running elite, it could be worth it just for the ease and lack of searching for a spot later in the morning.

Buddy carries make things more fun!

Until next time
Stay active
Stephen

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

Spartan Race Boston Sprint

 So this race is back at Carter & Stevens farm in barre ma. Going into this race I had mixed feelings due to how they handled the super. The super left things to be desired, review here, and then battle frog came in and did a little better, but still have things to learn. So needless to say I was unsure how the day was going to go, but I can happily say I had all of the fun. Spartan stepped their game up for this race. I love hills in a race, they shake things up, push you and you have a sense of accomplishment when you make it to the top, and this venue does not really have any. But there is a small one and we went up it about 5 times, and three of them with weight, sandbags and bucket brigade. The course was wider in more places, the start line was closer to the festival area, Dustin was back at the start line doing great as he always does! The course did not feel as though it was rushed with the design, was done with careful planning. The obstacles were strategically placed, all enjoyable and challenging.

The obstacles in order were: Hay bales, Over Under Through walls, Inverted wall, Monkey bars, Atlas Carry, Rope Climb (1/2 knotted, half no knots, THANK YOU SPARTAN RACE!!! I love a no knotted rope climb) rolling mud pits with dunk wall, Barbwire Crawl, Log Hop, Plate Drag, Sandbag Carry, Stairway to Sparta, Bucket Brigade, 3 Walls (from taller to shorter probably close to 10 ft, 8ft, and 7ft) Hurc Hoist, Spear Throw, Bridge (with cargo net top instead of slatted boards). The Cliff Multi Rig (traverse pipe to 3 short ropes, to 4? rings and bell), A Frame Cargo Net, Farmers Carry ( 2 logs with chain handles), Slip Wall, Verticle Cargo Net, and finally Cargo Net.

The trail running sections were so well done, still plenty technical, and plenty of downed trees and all sorts of things to get in your way and make it hard to run, which was awesome. No walking tight away because of a single track right after the start. Basically any complaint I could have thought of that I encountered at the super they fixed for the sprint. And the course was about 5.2 miles according to my gps, and oh so much fun packed into those miles.
        

And it was not just me, many of the people that complained about the venue were pleasantly surprised by the race. The race was well received by everybody there. I would still like to see a venue with more hills, but if they keep course design with this caliber then I will be happy to come back and race. 

The only problems that I can think of where that the volunteers cutting timing chips off your wrist were in front of the line to get your post race pic taken so if you went back to the venue nobody stopped you. And I forgot because I was in a rush to get to the start line. I went out on a second lap in support of my friend, it was her first race and just wanted somebody to help out if she needed it. It was a blast, after doing these races for 2 years (this sprint in august was my first race in 2013) and I think everybody should do that, it really makes the race more fun! 

Photo Credit Vince Rhee

So my results were unavailable due to the chip reading it twice, Luckily a staff member got it squared away for me, and pretty quickly too, so thanks for that

Also the buses are still have problems, they get to the venue just fine, but take the long way back to the parking lot, and often get lost, it has been the case for each race there it seems, and after speaking with other racers and hearing the drivers on the radio it about getting lost and asking for directions wile driving the bus to the parking lot. I have heard others have had no problem, just to be fair, I may be in the minority, but I had to put my 2 cents in.

Almost forgot, This year Spartan has put a string around the spear so the no longer have to collect them. I have mixed feelings about that. It is nice to not have to wait for all the spears to be picked up. One thing to keep in mind with this is that you need to make sure you put the string in front of the fence otherwise you will probably step on it. I have seen this happen countless times. My beef with this move is that the string is often too short! Luckily when I stepped up to the fence a staff member moved the string to give it more room, and I was about the 1/2 way mark for the elite male wave, I wonder how many may have missed due to short ropes.Keep that in mind folks, WATCH THAT ROPE!!!

Until next time

Stay active

Stephen

Busy, crazy, sleepless week with all the fun!

So June 19/20 was an interesting weekend for me, I had a goal of a hurricane heat (recap here), 2 laps around the super (recap here) on Saturday, and then 2 more laps around the super on Sunday. Now you might say, why would a sane person think to do so much stuff in one weekend? Well (have we met, sanity is questionable, but that is what makes life fun, right?) I want to do the Killington ultra beast, so I need to start pushing myself, more so than i have, I would rather approach this head on, with a good chance, luckily, I have a good friend that is going to do it with me, and we plan to push each other along. So I strongly feel that it would have been doable, but alas, I failed my attempt. Now I did not do this smart, but I also did not have much choice in the matter. Due to insomnia (and packing for a long weekend), I had 4 hours of sleep or less from Tuesday night through Saturday night. So that is 4 nights in a row, of no real sleep. I also spent Thursday, and Friday building the super course, and the hurricane heat let me leave my shift early, just enough time to change (at my trunk, I love that race weekends it is normal to chat with people in your boxers, or even meeting new people) and get my gear ready for the hh. Also, in the beginning when we did the ridiculous number of push ups, because of the speed, and not being in shape enough, by 20ish I felt my triceps tighten instantly, so I knew I was so not in the right shape, I have been slacking too much. So I am writing this because I like to note my experiences, and also learn from my mistakes, and maybe somebody else can learn from my mistakes. I had also been fighting something since Monday. Also, my sleep post record length hurricane heat, was about 3, in my car, my bed plans fell through (stuff happens, at least my car was warm). But ya know what was cool? Wile running the fire wood to it's home by the finish line, a nice little pick me up, a surprise, one of the people watching us, around 1030pm, is a good friend. His few words "I am proud of you buddy" was a nice addition to my night, and put a smile on my face. My main bummer though, my shoes prevented me from doing my second lap wile I had the energy to do it on Saturday, after my first lap, (they were giving me blisters on my arches). Skipping the lap was annoying because I figured it would help me guarantee that I could do the 2 laps on Sunday. Saturday night I got  sleep in my bed and a nap in my car before heading home, a nap at the team tent, and most of the day on my couch half asleep. Then Sunday, after feeling mostly rested, at 5am my body ached so much telling me that I had no business getting up and doing anything. I was looking forward to running with team Ilene that day, for the first time, but I will have to wait for another day. Some days you need to forget about everything else, and just rest, do nothing, or eventually your body will do it for you. Sunday was one of those days that my body one, and was completely exhausted. So If I can blog about my successes, why not blog about my failures as well? Also this is a warning to make sure that you take time for recovery, as well as rest, Rest is when your body makes your gains, as it builds itself up stronger than before, no rest = no gain.

Boston Spartan Super

Oh the fun of a barb wire crawl

So the "boston" (barre) super finally came around, and it was an interesting course. Plenty of people cramping up, hot day, very technical course, but also very flat, made for a fun day. The course is on a farm, and it seems that the Carter and Stevens farm may be the new IT place for ocrs in mass, now that Amesbury is no longer in the ocr worked after last year. They got into trouble that the venue got into from the last spartan race, but there was too much here say for me to go into detail. But this farm is pretty cool, and will host battle frog when they come around, and the spartan sprint is also booked here as well. As for the course, they have plenty of ticks, uneven terrain, way to much single track on the course for my taste (but could easily be changed with a machete), You know it is bad when almost the whole elite field is walking in the first 1/4 mile of the course. There was also a whole bunch of cow poop, random holes, pricker bushes that could easily take people down, rather than the bush being ripped out of the ground. And the mud on course was minimal on Saturday (however from what I heard, and saw via Facebook, it was a monsoon on Sunday)

 Parking was about 2 miles from course, pretty easy to get to, it looked like the far end of the farm. The course was barley a super, it was about 7.5 miles, from what  understand, they were struggling for more room on the venue from what I heard. Spartan has also brought back the snacks on course again this year, from their sponsors, the cliff shot blocks on course are nice if you messed up your fueling, not feeling it that day, or for what ever reason are not in shape enough to do the distance, regardless of the race (so far I have seen them at the beast and super that I have done this year).

New wall, this thing is awesome

So the course, as I said, was very flat, hardly any inclines on the day, the obstacles were typical, walls, carries, bucket brigade, inverted walls, sled pulls, rope climbs, monkey bars, Traverse ropes (I LOVE the Traverse rope!!!) Multi bar rig (still need to get that one), Hurc hoist, spear throw, cargo nets, even a memory challenge (unless you ran elite, they did not have enough volunteers, so the rd told us to skip it, and I did not even notice it until I ran past the board, it was facing the opposite way from where you were running). But this was still a spartan, so the last half mile, it was rope climb, short run to the traverse rope, shorter run to the multi bar (pipe traverse to hanging knotted ropes about 2 ft long, then another pipe and a bell) then a few tenths of a mile later (and the only real bit of mud, which was shin deep and unavoidable) and then the hurc hoist, a a frame cargo wall, then short slippery run through woods, with plenty of holes, and slippery rocks, and fire jump.  One thing I forgot to add, it was the first i had seen, and i like it a bunch, because it is a little different. It was like an a frame wall, about 14 ft high and 6/7 ft tall solid, then the rest was slatted, it was pretty cool, and my dimensions are probably off (see Pic). So the cool wall pictured above, was in a cow pie field (fancy word for cow poop!) As usual, they had obstacles stacked to burn out body parts, the bucket brigade was about 50 yards from the cool fancy wall. At the end it was a rope climb, then 50 yards, then the Tyrolean traverse ropes, finally the cliff multi bar about another 30 yards away.

Cliff Multi Bar Rig

All that just before the end, but before the end, you hit the trails for a few. Those trails had about a 1/10 mile of ankle/shin deep mud that lead to the Hurc hoist, cargo a frame, shorter trail run (with a whole bunch of slippery rocks, slippery trails, and mud pools) then the fire jump and you are finished.

A couple of grips about this race I have to share. Whoever the announcer was I was almost late or the elite heat because they did not announce it, I know it is m own job to know the time, but I forgot my gps watch, my bag was checked and it had my cell, and it is not like they put up clocks at these events. Add that t the fact that the start line was WWAAYYYYY out of the festival area, It was annoying to not hear anything about the start times in festival area, that is the first time I have had that happen at any event, and I have been doing a whole mess of them lately. Also, Again, Last year I got the impression that elite meant harder races, not just the first to go out. Hell it was earlier, the memory challenge was not manned until later in the day, so we were told to run right by it. Apparently they did not have enough volunteer, understandable, but come on, they could have easily moved 2 people, I do not know, I was not working this event. Another issue I had was that the hurc hoist (I missed this one) was yet again, not the correct weight. This may not be a big deal, but when they are trying to standardize the whole race, and the hurc hoist is never the same weight, it gets annoying, yet another mixed message they are sending out! It may not have been nearly as annoying if the bags were not marked 25lbs each, the men had to lift 75lbs, trust me I would not have struggled if that were the case, but i struggled to get that bag up 3/4 of the way before I gave up.

Another issue that I noticed was the referees, now I know it was not an nbc event, so they probably did not care as much. But still, if you are going to have refs for the elites, they should be there for more than just the top few, it is better than not having them, and they did disqualify some people, which is nice. But they only had a few refs, that moved through the course, they did have cameras, but only a few, and the ref took them when they moved. But honestly Panasonic is a sponsor, get more cameras, to keep there for the whole elite wave, for all the obstacles that you know people will fail. It was nice to see, but when I was doing my burpees at the multi bar, I saw a bunch of people that failed walk right past me as I did my burpees, shortly after the ref left. I must say that they had wonderful volunteers at that obstacle though. There was a woman yelling you got this, right at people giving so much encouragement as you went. Even as people failed (like me) she looked me in the eyes and said"you are going to rock those burpees!". Than was awesome! I love to see volunteers that care like that, and actually do their job, I know you can not screen for people like that, but I feel the need to praise those people doing it well. I was not in peak form, so my 2 hour finish (wile not horrible) was no where near where I would normally be, especially for a super (pun intended) flat course. So that means she was giving all that encouragement for a wile, which you do not often see, even less so when it is an elite wave. So bravo, random woman, and thank you!


So Until Next Time
Keep training
Stephen

Hurricane Heat #071 (Boston/Barre)

Rule #1, Always look cool (in Fit challenge shades, and zombie charge buff #racelocal)

 So I did a hurricane heat last year, and frankly, I was disappointed, so I wanted to give it another shot, and always wanting to push the envelope, I wanted to do the race afterwards, after all I did that last year.

Anthony Looking cool,

It started (6/19/15) off with a warm up jog, maybe a 1/4 mile, as a group, we did it twice, because part of the group was separated at the start, with bathrooms and late comers, and we wound up starting at 530 instead of 6. (we also ended our HH, which is normally 4 hrs, at about 1130, he was going for a time record, and we got it, I think). Followed up by 118 push ups in 3 minutes, which was randomly shouted out. We made it to about 35ish, then had to restart, and got another 40ish, then they had us stop, so we could get on with the day. This was an interesting night, as Anthony would repeat several times through the night, "lets go into the woods, and do some fucking weird shit" He reminds me a little bit of the crazy guy from that fantasy football tv show, Rafi, (still not sure if that is a good thing or not) I was hoping for more Playing on the obstacles. The group I was with (we broke into 2 groups, then back to 1 big one, then 3 group, back to one, then into 2 teams twice more) The first split we hung out in the pool of water under the rope climb, for a wile, wile passing out ammo cans above our head, and holding for a wile. Next my team played around on the Tyrolean traverse rope for a bit, but we went on them a different way first, through, instead of across. The point was to make us work as a team, so we lifted teammates, and then they touched the ropes, and then we divided up into smaller teams and raced the regular way across the traverse ropes. Next we did squat holds, wile holding a penny, another required gear list item. The lead guy was told that they did not run enough at his last event, so we did indian runs, but it was a slow jog, most like walking, but shuffling our feet, until it was your turn to go to the front. Then we explored for a bit, found some trees, and were told we were going to carry one. But wile Anthony was climbing on top to pick one out, you just hear, "man I am listening to some fucking angry music right now" and he was visibly getting more amped up.

Anthony climbing the tree pile

For those that were not carrying the tree, you carried the ammo cans, at least 2 (oh yeah, some people still had water in them from when we all played in the water under the ropes) we carried logs from another pile a little farther away. Then wile we moved along the trail, and got way ahead of the people carrying a tree (trust me that ain't easy, especially through trails!) we got to the spear throw. The field be hind, we went from sprinting, to lunges, to crawling, all to different points, and then repeated until we got back to the point we started, when the trees joined us again. Then we got to throw the spear if we wanted, but if we missed, we had to do 40 burpees, luckily, I stuck the spear in! At some earlier point Anthony got annoyed that people were talking, so when we stopped we had to squat, or do some exercise wile waiting for whatever we were waiting for. so wile we waited to throw a spear, squats, when we finished and waited for others to finish, squats, you get the point, it went on all night. Then more indian runs, split into the 3 groups, I did lunges and whatever else came to mind from the guy leading us, Lucky for me, when we did burpees, I found the one spot with poop on course, but because it was pitch black out, i did not realize until after my knee was in it, good thing for tights! Then more indian runs, and what seems to be a standard when their is a HH, we stacked the fire wood for the start line.

The field where we lunged next to spear throw

I really do not understand why that seems to be a standard, but hey, it is what it is, they usually find a way to make us do work for the race/venue some how. That is not all that different from the Other stuff, like death race that spartan like to compare a HH to (which i do not understand, they are 2 very different animals, trust me) where people constantly do "yard work" or "construction" or adding stirs to joe's mountain as just a part of their fun. After fire wood, we moved lines of rocks into piles of rocks (again to help venue, and this is where my ammo can magically was the only one to disappear, horrible luck on my end) and the last task we did, was move bushels of hay into a barn, 100 yards (ish) away.

Log again, But later in the night

Then just afterwards, we had a chat about how this was meant  to show us what we can do, literally anything, as long as we believe in it, and just do it (which is true, and a nice touch) Jumped up with all our might several times, also did burpess, and maybe squats, wile smoke grenades were thrown around us, which was kind of a cool way to end it all, it paired well with his speech, then we got our dog tags, and shirts. I am a little disappointed with the finishers shirt, it is 100% cotton, unlike the regular finishers that are softer, and 50% polyester, and personally I like the design from last years shirt better than this year. Then we got food and drinks from the venue, which was pretty cool, since it was close to midnight, and nothing would be open anywhere near there.

Finish Photo, Post Food

TIPS FOR A HURRICANE HEAT:

• Do not be late, trust me, you penalise the whole group
• Do not ask questions before or during the event (except when and what time, these things may be monitored fyi)
• You get a gear list just a few days before the event, be careful asking, I know about 3 people that did not get sent a list, That I think is an exception
• Do not ask questions as to why you need an item, you could get penalized
• Stay with the team, it is a team building exercise
• Know that they will be trying to break you in one way or the other, just to build you back up, and show you what you can do

Basically If you have done a goruck, you have done the same thing, but harder, and not just because rucks require weight, I prefer the goruck light compared to a hurricane heat. If you played on the obstacles more, then maybe spartan would win, but the whole "psycho" aspect seems to take away from the team mentality they try to push. The whole system is even more confusing now that they "killed" the death race, but for all intents and purposes, they just re branded it, and put it under the spartan brand completely, rather than the peak company. As well as adding various different options, and pulling in the hurricane heat events into it. You have to be approved for, the whole thing seems very weird to me. And again, even on the spartan post, that first released the new one Named "AGOGE" are saying it is ripping off goruck, I wouldn't go that far, but i see the point they are making, I would strongly encourage everybody do a goruck light, or at least shadow one, it is an awesome experience.

So The main reason for so much of my dislike for this event is based on the decryption that they post on their page for the hurricane heat.

What is the Hurricane Heat?
The Hurricane Heat gives runners the chance to meet and run with the staff and sometimes even the Founders of Spartan Race in a unique and memorable way. This special heat is held early in the mornings of the race and occasionally on the eve. There is always a mandatory gear list and all Hurricane Heats will venture on and off the Spartan Race Course at the Race Director’s desire. The goal of the Hurricane Heat is to finish as teams. There are no chips, no clock, just a fun run Spartan-style that represents what our company and our athletes are about…getting up when you’re knocked down and finishing what you start.
The Hurricane Heat is designed to break you down over and over again crafting you into a unified team, capable of overcoming the most difficult of objectives. It will reveal your weaknesses and exploit them until they are strengthened.
Every Hurricane Heat is unique, they are designed to utilize a combination of what is on the course and the areas that surround the course. Often times, there will be a series of missions or challenges that will need to be completed in order to succeed. Burpees are the currency in Hurricane Heats, if something can’t be accomplished for whatever reason there is often times a burpee cost that can get you out of it. Do note that not all challenges have this option so don’t bank on being able to just bust out burpees to finish the Hurricane Heat. We will cover a solid distance in the 3-4 hour time span that Hurricane Heats typically last. Come prepared with food, water, and anything else, like salt tabs, that you may need.
Successful finishers earn a finisher dog tag medal*,entry into a closed networking group, a finisher t-shirt, and the chance of a lifetime discovering the camaraderie derived from becoming a Hurricane Heater.

The decryption used to say that you run with the founders, and that is the idea I got in my head, at least it has been updated since my first hurricane heat. The stories I have heard from the first event were the entire reason I signed up for these events. I have several friends that remissness about their first event, but it has morphed into something different. So I may be unfairly judging it, but I would prefer the stories from the first events, where you are playing a lot more on obstacles, and less of a crazy element to it. Not to say that I regretted it, I still had fun, and was reminded even more of what I need to work on. The people running it were pretty cool, take away anything you want from this (very long) post, but their goal is to break you down and show you what you are made of, and what you can do, just remember, never give up.

Also Special Note, Thank you to Henry, he took all the photos, and as you can see did a great job!

Until next time
Never stop, Never give up
Stephen

New Jersey Spartan Beast Overview

So This past weekend marks the begining of the road to my double trifecta with spartan race. So this race had some ups and downs (I will get into them, but i must say overall it was still fun) First off, Yes this race had some snow, and that was pretty cool, but the week leading up to the race nj was above 60, so all the snow that was in the promo photos was mostly gone, but still plenty on course. But all the hype about Norm being there, and it being the hardest beast ever, yup you guessed it, pure hype. It may be unfair because  have only done the killington beast last year, and it is not fair to compare the two. This one was no cake walk, but I was expecting much worse. I ran elite, and it was cool to get the course with out any back ups. But nothing was made harder, no extra weight for us, or anything like that, I like a challenge, bring it on. The venue is hard but doable, my knees are still hurting from the mountain. Guess they don't like running down steep mountains for as long as it was. The snow added an interesting element, before each hunk of snow had a bunch of ice before it. The morning on my way to the venue it was 50's so the snow that was there was hard, and made for a slippery run, it was great, and made me chuckle on the way up the mountain. There were no water obstacles, so the traverse rope was over the ground, which was weird to me but since they were concerned about the water temps makes sense. they had a traverse pipe, with tarzan ropes in between, and that was cool, even if I dropped right after the first pipe. Luckily that was the only obstacle I failed, it felt great when I got the hurc hoist, I think that the way they put the hurc hoist on the wire, and the spear I am getting decent at! The course weirded me out because the mile markers were pretty accurate, my gps got 12.53 and the poster said 12.5. I almost forgot, one of the coolest things was this

Yes that is an uphill barbwire crawl through snow!

an up hill barbwire crawl through snow! it made it very interesting, with numb hands and knees, and then right into rocky, muddy. Also this year on course snacks are back, this time it was cliff shot blocks, and they did the trick, it was the only thing I ate, and if they were not out at all the water stops, I may not have eaten anything, strictly because I would have forgotten, I had so many in my bag. Just in case you forget that you are in the middle of nowhere, at the atlas carry, just after completing the carry, I saw a deer run across the course, and I heard it spent a good chunk of the day in the area, pretty cool! (in case you are wondering I wore my new shoes, take a look at what and how I feel here

top is a drawstring bag I brought, bottom is what was used for bag check

Now for the other hand, the new BAG CHECK  (insert photo here) I understand that spartan is trying to fix a problem they have with too many big bags, but this seems like a step too far in the other direction. They are also still figuring it out. I got a bag (just bigger than a draw string bag) when I parked, and it is SMALL, pretty tight fit to put a towel, change of clothes, wallet, cell, keys, recovery drink, ect. Doable, but what about wanting sun screen, and other extra things. So needless to say I prefer to have the ability to check my GR1, instead, it reall is just a medium sized backpack. Also I heard that the venue employees did not know how to handle it, and were told one bag per car, and when you carpool, and only get one bag, that is disappointing. and then some of the volunteers were told that you could not get more bags, even though they had them, a bunch of miscommunication on that end. Later on in the day it seemed to be worked out that you could buy another one for an extra 5 per bag. But bag check is 5 bucks, and if you have a season pass it is free,or when you get biggest team all members get free: Bag check, tent, patches, and shout outs on social media and the like on race day. Another issue I had was that they moved team tent outside of the venue, past the spartan race tape, But hey it was closer than biggest loser (which I don't understand). Although they did leave us a several cases of; water, gatoraide, cliff builders bars, cliff shot blocks. So not the worst thing, just a little odd to me, and i hope that these things get straitened out in the near future.


Also, I can now say I saw the awesomeness that is Amelia Boone! at about mile 4 after the monkey bars, and mostly up a mountain, and a 15 min lead, she passes me, and so many other of the men's heat. We were walking up the mountain, and she just shuffles up the mountain, like she wasn't even winded, and I was in awe!

So until next time, keep training, race season is here
Stephen

Under Armour Cold Gear Infrafed Review

I bought these under armour tights and mock neck shirt for the Spartan Race Vermont Beast. I have had several chances to run in them and i am so happy that i did. They make running in the cold so much easier. I have discovered that the do great until you hit low 20's. They did wonderful for me in VT, and the weather in Vermont in September is not warm, the week before it was 18 degrees on top of a mountain 30 min away from killington. Killington was 55 degrees, i had to rool up my sleeves, it was just barley out of the max range for these guys, when i was under the trees they were great in direct sunlight a ittle warm. But my body does run a little high temp wise. On This past Saturday i ran the Fenway Spartan Sprint, and it was in the low 30's nothing like starting in the 7:15 wave and it is below freezing! this outfit works wonders! wile waiting i needed more layers, but when moving i was in a comfortable temperature, i did not notice the cold! I spent the whole day running around the stadium, my first wave was about around 7:25 am, through 5 laps, the final starting at about 2:30, and the only time i was cold was when i stopped moving. I also put a hat on for the later waves, and gloves. I joined The November Project for a run in Harvard Stadium, it was 22 degrees, and i had on a running Jacket, hast and gloves, my legs were slightly under temp, but if i had shorts on i would have been fine, i also had on wool socks (darn tough brand) boot cut so it covered the bottom of my legs. but for 30's and up these are perfect as is. anything lower and then they need another layer, but they are so close to the skin, they are not compression so they are looser, but still close enough that you can easily layer with these with ease. Bottom line if you want to run in the cold, real cold, these are highly useful, and you should buy them!




Click Here for tights

 Click here for Top

Fenway Spartan Sprint 2014

This past weekend was the Fenway Spartan Sprint, this was my second race i did last year. I say this because, it lets me realize the growth i have made in a year, with the right friends, team, training buddies, and support group. Last year i think the race was longer, and my time was 1:0052.4. I was 3201 overall, 2372 in gender 484 in age group (bib #10544) i do not know the overall number of people, but i bet it was well over 10k when i finished around 1pm it was 9535 people. This year i stepped up to elite! it was a blast, placed 74 in elite, 66 in gender, and 21 in age group (bib# 7766) My only gripe about the race was that there were way more people walking in elite than should have been for a 2 mile race. I was also able to get in 5 laps, just a blast all around! i can feel the soreness from what i did, but I am happy that I was able accomplish my goal of 5 laps, and as always making new friends. i hope to keep making strides in my training, and this gives me such high hopes for the future, I wonder what next season will bring to me. All the cool new training devices, techniques, races, who knows, but that is what makes life so fun.

Until next time
Keep Training
Stephen