Prepping for the 2015 Tri-State Spartan Sprint

Thousands of participants in yesterday and today's heats will have already completed the Tri-State Spartan Sprint by the time you read this. The Tri-State Spartan Sprint is the largest obstacle course racing event in the world! Here is some helpful information that I have learned over the last four years of racing that has made race day more enjoyable and less stressful for me.

This week you will be receiving email updates from Spartan Race to confirm your registration, start times and packet pick up procedures. Pay attention to them, print a copy out for reference and have it with you on race day. There is also options to hold this info on your smart phone but I wouldn't solely rely on that and you want to bring as little as possible with you once you leave your car and enter the event area. I will cover some tips on want to bring and what to expect on race day later but first I want to go over how you should approach this week.

1. Begin your hydration process now! Getting enough water in your body during this week will limit you exposure to dehydration and cramping on race day. There are only two (2) water stations on the course and they will feel like they are an eternity apart.

2. Stay on top of your nutrition. Just as you can feel the effects of one bad meal after you eat it your body will respond well to positive inputs rather quickly. Even if you haven't been on top of what you've been putting in your body the last few weeks, make that commitment to do so this week, you'll want to in order to perform optimally.

3. Get Familiar with you Apparel. If you have purchased new shoes, shorts or a shirt specifically for this event, train in it this week. You do not want to find out at mile 2 that your shoes are causing you a blister or your other apparel is uncomfortable or causing chaffing.

4. Deload! This is not the time to cram in a bunch of workouts and go 110% in training. If you have been using a training log, dial your effort down to around 50-60% of what you have been doing. This will give your nervous system time to recover and your body to rest. You'll be stronger and feel fresher on race day.

5. Be Boring. If you can try to make Saturday the most boring day of your life. Sit, relax, read a book. Do not decide to watch the entire Rocky series in an attempt to get "pumped up".  Your body has a limited reserve of adrenaline, save it for when you'll need it.

As far as race day is concerned here are some tips.

• Show up around 90 minutes before your start time. This will give you time to park, check in, get inside the event area. enjoy some of the activities going on at the event. There will also be some practice obstacles that may want to try. This should also be the last time you put any type of solid food into your stomach.
• Wear in only what you need to race in leave as much as possible in your car. If you must carry in items there is a bag check for a cost. There is a hose of station to freshen up after the race, leave your clean clothes in the car.
• Approximately 30 minutes before the start is  the time to start warming up. You should know where you have to be for the start of the race at this point, find a spot to go through your warm up and I would suggest running some moderate intervals to break a sweat and get the heart rate up, the first obstacle is a steep hill, if you hit that cold you will be hurting half way up.
• Some items you may want waiting for you in your car would be a towel, food, drinks, water to wash off with, a change of clothes and perhaps first aid supplies such as band aids, first aid spray and some aloe vera gel.

All you guys are ready to complete the course and do well following these suggestions will make your experience that much better! See you race day!

Easter Morning; Quick Training Session 4/5/2015

This morning is Easter Morning, The kids got up early for their baskets, we had an egg hunt around the house, breakfast was cooked and then there was a lull in the morning where we cleaned up and everyone started getting ready to go visit relatives. 

I took this time to squeeze in this quick workout since the rest of the day will probably be slow going.

50 Jumping Jacks

20 Kettle bell dead lifts (54lbs) 

20 Push ups

20 Single leg dead lifts (10 each side) 

20 Heisman's (a knees to elbow movement) 

20 Kettle bell Swings

20 Body weight Squats

20 Kettle bell Snatches (10 each side) 

20 Burpees

20 Single Arm Kettle bell swings (10 each side) 

20 Push up Jacks (a push up with the legs jumping in and out like a jumping jack) 

Doing a quick little something now will pay off later!

Obstacle Course Training Workout 4/4/2015

Warm-up

3 minutes Jumping Jacks

50' Butt Kick

50' Power Skip

50' Lateral Skip (each direction) 

Set A: 1 Minute Each

Push ups

Tuck Jump 

Plank

Walking Lunge

Burpees

Body weight Squats

Set B:

10 Kettlebell Swings

50 yard run

10 Push ups

50 yard run

10 Kettle bell Snatches (5 ea. side)

50 yard run

10 Burpees

50 yard run 

10 Kettle Bell Swings

50 yard run 

10 Push ups 

50 yard run 

10 Kettle bell Snatches (5 ea. side)

50 yard run

10 Burpees

50 yard run

Cool Down:

Shoveled and filled up 5 gallon buckets with gravel and sand off road from winter plowing. Used to buckets to fill in potholes along the road,

Obstacle Course Training WOD 3/31/15

No Gym, No Equipment, No Problem

Warm-up

3 minutes Jumping Jacks
50' Butt Kick
50' Power Skip

Main Set

30 Burpees
30 Box Jumps (aka picnic table)
100 Reverse Crunches
30 Squats
30 Lateral Squats (each side)
100 High Knees (50 each side)
30 Jump Squats
30 Jump Lunges

Strength 

3 sets pull ups to failure

Obstacle Course Training WOD 3/23/15

Obstacle Course Training WOD  3/22/15

Thank You Metro North Railroad for the use of the parking facilities and the awkward glares from you riders

3 minutes Jumping Jacks
15 double heels to butt kick
15 Star Jumps
3 minutes foward, reverse and lateral skipping
2 sets max incline pushup +10 rear foot elevated squat each side+10 renegade rows
300' bear crawl
300' Walking Lunge

Obstacle Course Training Workout 3/24/15

Obstacle Course Training WOD:

50' Walking Leg Hug
50' Lunge with floor tap
100' Power Skip
100' Lateral Skip

3 Minutes Jumping Jack
15 Kettle bell Swings
15 Incline Close Grip Push Ups
3 Minutes Walking Lunge
15 Kettle bell Swings
15 Incline Close Grip Push Ups
3 Minutes Bear Crawl
15 Kettle bell Swings
15 Incline Close Grip Push Ups

5 - 40 yard sprints (trot back)

Obstacle Course Training: Unilateral Workout

It's March and I am starting to prepare for the upcoming Obstacle Course Racing season. What I have done the last few years is over the colder winter months stick to a mostly pure strength training approach to my workouts, mixing in a little bit of high intensity conditioning work.

As I get closer to the events I plan to participate in I try to start mix in work that will enable me to transition from running to doing intense work to simulate moving from obstacle to obstacle. I wanted to perform unilateral work with this workout in regard to power, strength, single leg work, pulls and presses.

Set One: 4 Rounds

Single Leg Hop to Pull Up (5 each side)

From an 18” plyo box. set box under a pull up bar and sit on the box. Use one leg to perform a single leg jump up to the bar and do one pull up, sit back down and repeat.

Pull Up - Knee Raise - Pull Up

Did 5 strict pull ups then 10 controlled knee raises then as many strict pulls as i could manage after that.

Single Arm Rope Pull (cable machine) from High Plank Position (5 each side)

Used the rope attachment for the cable machine and set myself up in a high plank (top of push up) position. Fully extended one arm out to reach the rope and pulled into the body.

Rear Foot Suspended Single Leg Lunge (10 each side)

Using a TRX, I put 1 foot in the strap and performed a body weight lunge.

Set Two: 3 Rounds

Dumbbell Alternating Bench Press (10 Each Side)

Tried this two ways. First set was done with the weights done close to my chest and pressed out individually from there then I tried it holding the weight in the up position and lowering one at a time then back up . For me it was more difficult when I held the weights down rather than up while the other arm was working.

Dumbbell Alternating Overhead Press (10 each side)

Again I tried this holding the dumbbells in a different resting position while the other side was working. Unlike the bench press this felt more difficult while I held the weight overhead while the opposite arm was working.

I finished both sets of the presses with 10 reps with both sides working together. At this point the overhead press turned into a push press.

On the course you will find yourself in positions where you will have to rely on just one side of your body to perform work. Pulling up over a wall, hoisting objects, dragging objects (or yourself) and of course humping up hills on step at a time. Doing some unilateral work will help ensure the body can optimally handle these activities.