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The Canadian Spartan season is right around the corner! First up is one of my favorite venues in the Canadian circuit...Brimacombe! I've been racing at this venue since 2015 and it has been one of my favorites since the very first time I raced there. While I love a brutal, steep, grinding mountain race (like Mont Tremblant or Owl's Head, for example), Brimacombe is a unique venue that can be as tough (in it's own way) should athletes truly push themselves hard enough. While not a huge hill, this venue historically has a decent amount of elevation due to repeated, back to back up/downhills, and also historically has a bit of everything you would want in an obstacle course race: up/downhill running, trail running, flat running, and some seriously muddy sections! If you're training for the Spartan Sprint/Super weekend at Brimacombe this coming May, read on to see our top tips to prepare for this venue:
UPHILLS AND DOWNHILLS As mentioned, Brimacombe isn't a massive mountain. With a peak at 300m and the base at 230m, this makes for a vertical drop of only 70m. This means that to get ~400m of elevation in a 10k Super (as we did in 2022) , we're likely going up and down a few times, as you can see on the Blue elevation chart on last year's course map (below). All uphills and downhills on the mountain are mostly grassy, safe, and non technical. For the most part footing is clean enough so you can not only push the pace on the runnable uphills, but you can safely bomb the downhills without being overly concerned about rolling an ankle on technical terrain.
Furthermore, the hills at Brimacombe aren't overly steep and will range (on average) between 8-15% incline, so expect a fast race (top Elite times will be <60:00 for the Super). That being said, there are some sections that are short but much steeper (up to 27.9% incline), as seen below, but these are not the kind of uphills you will be chipping away at for 30:00.
HOW TO TRAIN UPHILLS FOR BRIMACOMBE:
a) Incorporate short to moderate duration (2:00-10:00) uphills at a Threshold effort (Zone 4 heart rate).
b) Incorprorate back to back uphill and downhill intervals (run up hard, immediately run back down, repeat).
c) Incorporate short to moderate uphills at varying inclines of 10-25%
TRAIL SECTIONS Brimacombe generally has some small sections of trail running, although certainly less than other venues. The trail sections on this hill are all runnable and are not overly technical (again, nothing like the extremely rugged and technical trails you will encounter at Tremblant). That being said, you can expect some sections on this course to be quite muddy (which has been true since 2015). As you will see below, in 2022 athletes even had to complete the bucket carry in ankle to shin-deep mud.
HOW TO TRAIN TRAIL RUNNING FOR BRIMACOMBE:
a) Spend some time on winding and rolling trails. No need to seek out overly technical trails with huge rocks and boulders to properly prepare for this venue. b) Consider transferring speed/interval sessions onto some rolling trails to get race specific practice c) Bonus: practice running hard on very muddy trails for an even more race specific training session.
FLAT RUNNING SECTIONS:
Brimacombe is a well rounded course that generally features quite a bit of flat, runnable sections. One section you will likely encounter is the nearly 1km loop in the open fields near the top of the mountain (beside the highway). Historically, Brimacombe has also always featured nearly 2km of flat running around the water. This section ranges from 0-1% incline and footing is clean enough that athletes can really push the pace on this section. The caveat: this section has generally been near the end of the race after athletes have already completed 6-8km of uphills, downhills, trails, and obstacles. If you're pushing yourself on this section, expect it to hurt at this point!
HOW TO TRAIN FLAT RUNNING FOR BRIMACOMBE:
a) Continue to incorporate interval/threshold/tempo running sessions on road/track in your training to maintain a strong turnover and work on target race pacing.
b) Consider moving interval/threshold/tempo running sessions to runnable, clean trails with slight rolling terrain.
c) Incorporate interval/threshold/tempo running immediately following uphill/downhill running.
If you can incorporate these suggestions into your training plan, you can expect to arrive at Brimacombe well rounded, able to run fast uphills/downhills and run the flat sections feeling strong despite anything thrown at you earlier in the race!
There's only a few weeks left before Spartan Brimacombe, but it's not too late to re-evaluate your current training plan and incorporate the above mentioned changes into your preparation. If you're unsure and are looking for a bit more structure in your training, consider downloading our 10 week Template Short or Mid Distance Training plan!
This is a non-personalized running plan that includes speed sessions, hill training, and long run sessions. Athletes can then input their own grip, strength, and obstacles into our template running plan to round out their training. This plan will also give you some methods to calculate estimated heart rate zones and running paces.
Don't have 10 weeks before your race? Not a problem! Simply follow the final 4-6 weeks to get a final bump in your fitness! Get your plan immediately via download below!
Questions about training for Brimacombe? Send us an email: outlawocr@gmail.com