Recently I took part in the Spartan Race Munich. It was so much fun and I would definitely do it again! Most people moan about the cost, but the organisers have definitely made an effort to make it fun, unpredictable and a challenge for everyone.
Above is my favourite photo – we still managed to laugh 😀
So the race we did was 7km, had around 31 obstacles including swimming through the Munich Olympiapark lake at the beginning of April! I think that for me was the worst part. Luckily we had amazing sunshine so when we came out we dried and got warm pretty quickly.
How did I prepare?
So we created a group, 4 of us, 3 girls and one guy and tried to train together in preparation but it never really worked as one of us was always busy, so we trained mostly separately. I think you need to be able to run at least 5km to take part in the race as the first obstacle was a very steep hill, you need to build your stamina.
- Plenty of Burpees – build stamina, progress from simple Burpee to chest to floor Burpee.
- Interval Sprint Training – improves your running time and stamina
- Weight Training – Building muscle and getting stronger was definitely a good think to do pre-race as many obstacles needed you to pull yourself up, climb or push/pull weights.
- Carrying heavy things – Learning how to carry heavy weights correctly for a longer period of time, this was one of the obstacles that I found very difficult!
- Climbing – So it is difficult to practice climbing, unless you go to a park with bars specifically for workouts, but you could go to a rock climbing centre or just make sure you train your arms and shoulders and back during your preparation period.
Is it for everyone?
I say yes, as long as you are healthy and you can run at least 5km. It was more difficult than I expected, however you achieve each obstacle as a team, helping each other, pushing each other and if you don’t make an obstacle, well then its 30 burpees…..but a burpee never killed nobody. So in the words of one of my clients ‘harden the fuck up’ ….and strive towards a goal that scares you. The feeling of accomplishment will overtake your feeling of fear once you realise you’ve completed something you never thought you would. I was grateful for a guy in the group because he was able to boost us over a few of the hurdles and you can also share the punishment burpees as a team.
Top Tips:
- Make sure you have some long trousers or socks on so the rope climbing doesnt burn your legs – (I managed to rope burn mine the day before in practice ….OUCH!)
- If you can, then take some magnesium with you, people told me I would get cramps after the cold water and I didn’t believe them, which actually made me fall off an obstacle when I couldn’t move and got cramp in my leg haha.
- Take your fans 😀 ….get your friends and family to come and support you, its nice to have a sip of water from them in between, some magnesium, lots of photos and just for general support!
- Wear some gardening gloves, or something to protect your hands from climbing, carrying etc.
- Have a change of clothes for the end of the race, hopefully you can relax in the sun at the end like I did.
- Enjoy the process, enjoy the team spirit, enjoy training together, enjoy it all……i promise you its worth it 😀
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