As before I'll talk about the race in several stages. I'll start with location, race and then obstacles at the end. This was my first Spartan Super and I went in assuming that it was going to be easier then the Montana Beast that I had run only a month earlier. I will admit that I was very wrong in this thinking. I now know that every race will be different and will pose different challenges that I would never had even considered a challenge.
Location: I'm going to start by talking about parking. In Montana I used the media pass that Spartan was so kind to give me that I was able to park at the venue itself so I didn't have to be bused in from the general parking. I felt that I should at least try this shuttle once so that I can talk about it. The parking for this race was at an off sight actual race car track. It meant that parking was already signed, organized and really easy to navigate. There were staff in place to guide you into your spot and the area was well driven and had signed like 11W so that you could locate your car after the race.
Toro park was a great place to hold a race. It was as you can see from the map above located in an area that is ramp with large hills and gullies that were quite challenging to run up and down. I will admit that most of the running seemed to be along trails that are generally hiking or biking trails that were already pretty well traveled. It meant that there was very little overgrowth and little to no bushes that were whacking your ankles like in Montana. There were some nice views from the top of the mountains that made for some nice pictures.
Race: Well as I said in my intro I went into this race thinking that it couldn't be any harder or worse then the Montana Beast I had run only a month earlier. I will now say that I couldn't have been more wrong in this train of thought.
The data from my GPS watch showed that the distance was 4+ miles shorter and 738 feet less ascent then Montana. What my watch didn't show was that the Montana race was well shaded and had a high of 59 degrees. I didn't think that would make that much of a difference, but what a difference did it make. This Monterey race was rarely shaded and the high temp of 68 degrees. Now that ten degrees made this race a lot harder then I ever imagined. The heat sapped the strength from you and if I didn't drink copious amounts of the PowerAde infused water that I was holding in my water pack I don't know if I would have been able to finish.
The hills seemed that they weren't nearly as steep as the Montana hills, but the seemed to go on forever. The length of the climbs must have been much more gradual with only a few large inclines. That is the only explanation for the seeming endless hills. The trails themselves seemed very well traveled as there was very little over growth onto the trail. There were even several descents that had stairs that made for much easier descents.
Being in California I was not surprised that there was very little mud and water at this race. I half expected this as I ran a race in Sacramento last year and it was very similar. A few little mud patches here and there and only one area that had large water pits. I will say that there were other challenges with the dirt and sand that I ran through at this location. The dirt and sand were very very fine and almost powder like which caused unforeseen problems with the obstacles.
The race started off with a walls before heading into the over a wall, under a wall and through a wall. Please excuse the look on my face.
The race was mainly walls in the beginning and had another wall before stairway to Sparta that is a wall that you jump up and then have to climb a sort of ladder of 2x4 up and over before climbing back down again.
Then came the real challenge and my first failed obstacle. Mount Olympus is an obstacle I had completed before in Montana, but this time it was different. I believe it was the very fine baby powder like dirt that covered the wall and caused it to be a lot more slick then the mud covered wall in Montana. In the video below you can hear my shoes squeaking trying to hold on, but I lunged for the bell and missed.
Next came the Bucket Brigade and it was much longer then Montana at nearly a half mile, but I expected it as this was a NBC televised race.
Then came the spear throw and rope climb. I am happy to say I hit the spear throw again and for the first time ever I was able to complete the rope climb. It seemed easy as could be this time, but there wasn't a large gauntlet of grip strength obstacles right before like in Montana.
After rope climb I started to forget to document the obstacles as I was sweating my brain cells out. I believe that the next obstacle was the 8' wall. Now this wall felt taller as I have an 8' wall in my back yard. I will say my old strategy still works as I can jump up and grab the top of the wall. Then I walk my feet up to the side and get a leg over. Once that leg is over I am able to haul the rest of my body up over the wall.
Next was the A-Frame cargo net and the hurdles. The A-Frame is easy enough and the hurdles are difficult as they are like saw horses and have no wall or anything below them. I helped several people over them as there were three that you had to jump over and they were place while going up a hill so that the final one was a much larger jump then the first.
Next was a barb wire crawl before a long double sandbag carry. I will say training with a large pancake sandbag makes the large ruck bags that Spartan use seem much easier even though they are both 60lbs.
Next was a series of hanging upside down to climb over walls. The Bender and Inverted walls take strength and skill in order to get in a good position to get over. Just as will the tallest wall as long as I can get a leg over the top I can easily maneuver my body over.
Next was a Plate drag. The ground was much smoother then the first time I did the obstacle and was easily able to pull the rope to the weighted plate toward me and then drag the plate back out. Now I don't fully remember nor did I document the next couple of obstacles. I'll blame the heat as I was still had sweat dripping off me in bucket loads.
The next obstacles that I do remember and documented was the Monkey bars and Atlas carry. The monkey bars were covered in this black dust that covered my hands and caused the bars to be very slick. In Montana I was able to skip bars and move across quickly. The black stuff caused me to have to place both hands on every bar as I made my way across. The Atlas carry was again a large stone ball instead of the large block of tree that they had in Montana. The stone was much easier to lift then the first time I ever did the obstacle.
Next was the Z wall and Rolling mud. The Z wall I had finished in Montana, but once again failed. I was past the harder outer corner as well as the inner turn and well on my way towards the bell. I was looking towards my next hand hold when suddenly my front foot slipped off the small block of 2x4 that I was standing on and with only 2 points of contact I fell (60 burpees so far). The Rolling mud was just simply two water pits that felt like breath of fresh air compared to the sun burning heat that we had been running in. Even the dunk wall felt Amazing (as you can see from my face).
Directly after the water was the slip wall and I think they placed it so that it might be slick, but with the weather the way it was things were mostly dry before getting to it. The Herc Hoist seems to be getting easier and easier with every race. I must be getting stronger and stronger as I no longer have to use my body to lift the weight anymore.
The Tire Flip was next and I had read others talk about it, but I had no idea just how awkward and heavy these tires were. There was no place to put your hands under the tire to get a good grip. I had tried several different locations around a tire and different tires, but with no avail. Thankfully I am in the open heat and was able to receive and give aid as these 400lbs tires were a pain to flip.
With the final obstacles in sight it was a great feeling to have a nice easy climb up and over a large wall called the Bridge. It is just all 2x6 beams that you climb up step across and then climb back down. You can see it above the Spartan Race insignia below.
It also gave a nice photo-op at the top.
The final two obstacles were two of the hardest. I had complete both in the past, but this was a televised race and I knew they would be harder. First was the Twister with its small handles that you have to rotate down and slowly rotate it as you cross. In Montana there was only two lengths to cross, but here in TV land there were three lengths to cross and I made it three quarters down the third one. If I had been able to kick the bell still I would have completed the obstacle, but unfortunately I slipped off and had to do burpees again.
The Multi-rig's difficulty really depends on the order of the items in the obstacle. The obstacle is made up of several rings, lengths of rope with a knot at the end and a long pipe to shimmy across. Now I have failed this obstacle in the past because the order was rings, pipe and rope. The pipe would stop all momentum and increase the difficulty greatly. Thankfully the order was ring, rope, ring, rope and then ending with the pipe. This allowed me to keep my momentum up through most of the obstacle and I was able to even skip nearly half the bar with my momentum and moderate reach. It made the obstacle very easy to end the race on a high note.
I mean who really can pose during an obstacle like the Multi-rig... or even smile. Plus I had just done 30 burpees.
Last Impression: I must admit that this race was harder then the Montana Beast. The sun and heat made a huge difference in the race even though it was shorter and not as many hills. I struggled with this race much more then I had expected, but was still able to finish. I can still see area's that I can improve and area's I just need to get stronger in. I mean if it was easy then everyone could and would do it and it being hard is why I like it so much.
This nice thing about this being a televised even I got to see many of the Spartan Pro's. Now I don't go up and ask for pictures or anything like that. I also have media credentials and could get to them if I wanted to, but I really would rather give them their space. That doesn't mean that I don't snap pictures from a distance.
Ryan Atkins.
Robert Killian.
Hunter McIntyre
Lindsay Webster
and Me with my new Blue Medal.
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