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What a weekend! After 2 years of absence, Spartan Race is back in Canada and our team was present in full force. It's amazing that our team has grown to nearly +40 athletes across North America considering there were only 2 of us when we first started in late 2017...wow!
Although not all of our athletes could be present this weekend, we had a solid group of around 12 athletes present for last weekend's events. The majority of our athletes were competing at the Spartan Blue Mountain Trifecta Weekend (Ontario, Canada), but we also had one athlete racing the Spartan Dallas Ultra.
With the Saturday race in Blue being the final race in the Spartan Canadian National Series, it was a big day for many of us who had made the trek across the country to race in Red Deer Alberta’s Spartan Super just 6 weeks prior (myself, Susan, Lee). Here is a quick recap of our weekend followed by our team results:
I raced the Elite Beast on Saturday in what was a deep field of athletes which included Spartan North American Champion (and arguably one of the best obstacle racers in the world) Ryan Atkins, seasoned pro runner Aaron Newell, as well as other Spartan Pros like Jesse Bruce, Samuel Hebert, Austin Azar, and others. The race also featured other top 10 competitors who made the flight over from Western Canada. With most of the top 10 from Red Deer being present at Blue Mountain, it wasn't going to be an easy day on the mountain for anyone.
The race itself was reminiscent of oldschool Spartan Canada races: lots of vertical gain! For some (me) this was a welcome sight to see ~6200ft/~1900-2000m of elevation gain on the course map. For others, it was a panic inducing moment. There was lots of mud and clay which made the later downhills nearly un-runnable for those without aggressive shoes. There were also some really nice trail run sections that broke up the climbing/descending (some quite technical sections, but mostly insanely muddy sections). The course featured around 9 major ascents/descents, so it was certainly no easy day for anyone. In fact, most of the athletes in the top 10 Elite that I talked to post-race admitted they started to feel the leg cramps coming on around 16-16.5km.
The race featured all of the same USA obstacles seen at the major events over in the States (Spartan U.S National Series, World Championships, etc), so to be able to race and use those same obstacles that we see all the top pros race with on the YouTube replays was an amazing experience. The obstacle layout was also quite interesting and different when compared to Red Deer (which had many strength obstacles back to back). At Blue, the strength obstacles were a bit more spread out so their cumulative effect was alot less damaging. The race did wreak a bit of havoc on the Elite field: One of the early obstacles was the Hercules Hoist. After days of rain, these bags were insanely heavy. When I arrived at this obstacle many of the top 5 were already doing burpees. Having seen this situation play out in the U.S National Series, I told myself I'd give an honest 2 pulls and if the bag didn't move I would strategically burpee to save time (and my arms). Pull number 1 moved better than I expected and I thought to myself that I might actually have a chance to complete it and pass some athletes. Pull number 2 did not move at all, and I found myself completely off the ground with both feet on the barricade (funnily enough, one Spartan pro who weighs about 40lbs heavier than me had the same experience)...burpees it is! After a quick downhill run we arrived at the spear throw, which was obstacle number 5. This was an interesting obstacle placement because if you landed, you could perhaps make a serious move on the field. If you missed, you still had time to make up lost ground. I arrived at this obstacle and again saw many of the top 5-10 doing burpees. I told myself this could be a major moment if I landed it. I did feel quite confident but honestly should have switched lanes before throwing. I absolutely wanted to outermost lane (as it was close to the exit), but realized before throwing that I was standing in mud. With the spear throw being on an uphill, I was concerned I wouldn't get enough power on the throw, but decided last second not to switch lanes. I had a good throw (straight, right at the target), but not enough power...lesson learned, burpees it is!
After a quick sandbag (~300m total), an uphill barbed wire crawl, and a second ascent, we hit another obstacle gauntlet at the top. Things were going smoothly until the multi rig, which was quite basic: 3 rings, 1 straight bar, 2 individual thick ropes. Arriving at the rig I saw some elites ahead of me fall off at the straight bar. I thought this would also be an easy place to make up ground (simple enough rig). Arriving at the final 2 thick ropes I realize they are coated in what looked to be plastic. One grab and I slipped right off. It turns out everyone in the top 10 fell off except 2 who grabbed above the rope (like a ring), which was told to us prior to the start to be completely legal (why I didn't also grab it like this, I do not know...probably ego, thinking to myself I could easily grab a rope..."I do it all the time at home"). We had a quite gnarly penalty loop through the trails which was around 2:00-3:00 long and features some decent technicality and elevation!
*I was told that apparently the plastic on these ropes was a manufacturers defect and they were supposed to be removed in production but were not. The rig was changed to rings-only on Sunday (whether because of the major failure rates or not, I have no idea).
Those were the 3 major issues for me in this race, but I was happy to learn (post-race) that most in the top 10 had the same experience, so I didn't feel so bad. Regardless, I was happy with how I remained positive throughout the event despite those issues. It's really easy to get down on yourself and start to shut down due to negative thinking, but you always have to remind yourself that anything can happen. "It's not over till it's over."
My goal for this race was not so much position based (finishing in the top 10 would be a positive as it would keep me in the mix for the National Series top 10 leaderboard), but my goal was just to be competitive. I wasn't really happy with how my race went in Red Deer which was a bit of a weird/new experience for me: the Tuesday of that week I felt the fastest I had ever felt, yet by Saturday I felt slow and struggled for any pace. No excuses, it was a bad day. I felt my poor performance there did not really showcase what fitness I had and what I could do. My goal in Blue was to throw myself in the mix and see if I could keep up with certain athletes and perhaps beat others. I knew there would be some athletes present who were on a level of ability/racing/skill just a notch higher than me, so to be able to challenge and/or beat them would effectively bring me to that next level (after all, you only get better by racing those better than you).
In the end I crossed the line 11th and was bumped up to 10th place after another athlete was given a time penalty for their burpees. Having been able to finish ahead of certain athletes who had bested me in Red Deer, this moved me up the final overall ranking in the National Series to be tied in 7th with Ryan Atkins who raced only once, but won (we certainly are not tied because I am as talented as he is, but simply because he raced once in this series!).
Here are some results from the rest of our team on Saturday: Blue Mountain, Canada (Saturday)
Lee, 1st place 50-54 age group. Lee secures the win of the overall National Series (Raced Red Deer = 1st Age Group)
Susan, 2nd place, 30-34 age group. Susan secures the win of the overall National Series (Raced Red Deer= 3rd Age Group)
Catharine, 1st place, 50-54 age group. Although only racing once, she ties for first place for the overall National Series.
Brenda, 1st place ULTRA, 45-49 age group + and finishes 4th OVERALL female (wow!). Brenda actually finished this race dancing across the finish line (which blew all of our minds after 12+ hours of racing). What a machine!
Stephanie, 7th place, 35-39 age group. This was Stephanie's 2nd (?) OCR ever and her first Spartan Race. Impressive! Leanne, 15th place, Elite
Jamie 10th place, 35-39 age group
Evan 22nd place, 35-39 age group
Sarah, lap 1 of Ultra completed
Jay, 1 lap ultra completed This Beast/Ultra course was absolutely brutal for everyone. Whether you reached your goal or not in the Beast/Ultra, be proud of yourselves for getting out there and trying!
As mentioned, we also had an athlete taking on the Spartan Dallas Ultra on Saturday: Dallas, Texas (Ultra):
G.R, 4th place, 35-39 Age Group. This was G.R's first Spartan Ultra. Great performance, right off the podium!
Saturday was a great day for many on our team! Unfortunately not everyone had the performance they had hoped for, but that's the way racing is. Sometimes you can feel 100% prepared and it still won't be a good day. Sometimes others just have a better day than you. It happens. It's important not to let these bad days trick you into thinking you are a bad athlete because bad days happen to everyone (including the pros)! I encourage all athletes to try and pick out the positives as well as negatives from every race. Whether it was a good or "bad" performance, there are always lessons to learn.
After a big day Saturday, many of our athletes were back at it on Sunday for the Super and Sprint in Blue Mountain. Here is how our team did:
Leanne, 3rd place ELITE (Super) and 3rd place ELITE (Sprint). After having an off day on Saturday (her words...again, it happens!), Leanne came back with a vengeance on Sunday. She actually led some of her race(s) in 1st until some minor slip ups on some obstacles (all part of the game!).
Kim, 4th place, 35-39 age group (Super). Kim just missed the podium by <20 seconds....what a close race! No doubt this will light a fire in her to carry her through her winter training and into the coming season!
Lee, 6th place, ELITE (Super).
Tracy, 7th place, 40-45 age group (Super). This was Tracy's 2nd OCR in 2 years and was a big weekend for her as she made her return back from some major obstacles in her life. Truly inspiring that she is able to return and continue to race at such a level!
Jamie, 6th place, 35-39 age group (Super) and 5th place, 35-39 age group (Sprint). This was Jamie's first real race weekend after a year of working with Outlaw OCR. Coming this close to the podium in such a tough age group is no small feat!
Stephanie, 10th place, 35-39 age group (Super) and 6th place, 35-39 age group (Sprint)
FINAL EVENT TALLY
WHAT'S NEXT?
Now that our Canadian and USA season is done, our athletes are heading into their Offseason. For the next 4 weeks they will reduce total training volume and intensity in order to recover from 12 months worth of work. Unfortunately, it's simply not possible to make gains 365 days a year, so this downtime is absolutely necessary in order to recharge. After these 4 weeks our athletes will start building towards 2022. As I always tell them: the real work starts NOW, not 6-10 weeks out from a race. Yes, we can make some gains at that point, but ideally we want to make the bulk of our fitness gains during the winter months so that when we are 6-10 weeks out from a race we are simply putting the finishing touches on our race specific/venue specific preparations. The next 5-6 months are crucial! If you want to take your training and racing to the next level like all of the athletes above, please check out our 1 on 1 personalized running and OCR training plans (which are used by all of these athletes) by clicking here:
