Over the 9/11 weekend in 2015 I flew to from Phoenix, Arizona to Newark, New Jersey to race the Tri-State Super weekend. I needed to race both Saturday and Sunday since I got the email from Spartan Race that they were changing the format of the South Carolina Spartan weekend from a Beast distance race and a Super distance race to a Beast distance and Sprint distance weekend. That change, plus Vicki getting backed in a corner at dinner in Flagstaff, and relented to let me up my trifecta count from 7 to 8 with the addition of the Spartan World Championships in Tahoe, forced me to find two more Supers to run this year. Therefore, the Tri-State Super weekend, with a Super on Saturday and another Super of Sunday was the only option left this year.
On 9/12 The alarm went off at 4:30 AM (East coast) and I was up out of bed. Having just flown in the night before, it was literally a 1:30 AM wake up for my Arizona time zone body. I was quite tired as I got prepped and jump in the car for a 45 minute drive then a 20 school bus ride from the offsite parking lot to the race venue. The fourty five minute commute was easy, as there was not a lot of traffic at that time of the day. I did manage to drive past the Spartan parking sign (a large black sign with white letters) in the pre-dawn hours, but a quick turn around got me parked with about a dozen other early risers. Jumping on the second bus of the morning I headed to the venue to start my Saturday race day.
The Spartan site for the Tri-State weekend mentioned that that the racers should expect a 20 min bus ride, which is why I left so early. Six minutes later after parking my car at the off site lot I was at the race venue. Oh well… 6:06 AM arrival for my 8:15 AM start. Much better to be early that late- especially when you factor in all the “Jay time” needed in the porta potties with these crazy time change / diet /sleep schedule adjustments.
Not having printed out the Spartan “You might die waiver” back in AZ before I left, (Don’t believe me? Read it) I stood solitude at the waiver tent, filling them out via the portable spotlights powered by some multi kilowatt generator humming off in the distance. A cluster of Volunteers were getting their briefing at the registration tents (yeah, that is how early I was there) as I made my way to the registration table. A volunteer broke away from the briefing and jogged over to my line. I passed him my ID, he got my packet, checked my name on the packet and my ID- handing them both back to me. Soon after I was heading across the street to the venue.
I told you it was early! 🙂
There were a few other souls wandering around in the dark, mostly red and blue shirts (Spartan volunteers and Spartan staff) as the race day was starting to take off. While the sun was hidden behind the fog of the day for a while, one thing was immediately apparent, it was down right CHILLY! The temps were in the low 60s and I was feeling it, wishing I had brought my trifecta sweatshirt. Yeah, this is a sign that I am now way more comfortable in 105 degrees than 60. I paced around a great deal between some “Jay time” to get warm as the usual assortment of elite racers started showing up, warming up, and getting their head in the game. Amelia Boone, Matt “the Bear”, Cody Moat, Isaiah Vidal, April Dee, and Rose Wetzel, as well as hundreds of other uber-fit elite animals running all around getting prepped for the race. I soon realized that this was one of the last NBC televised races before the Lake Tahoe World Championships when I spied the new Spartan rig in the venue area, as they usually bring this for the bigger races that are televised. Uh oh. We just stepped up the difficult by a huge factor knowing that this race will be on TV later this year. Time to dig deep as this is going to be tough one.
The Spartan Rig, heading to a nearby baackyard soon? 😉
Last year the race started on the left side of the third ski slope and headed up from there. This year, that was the start of the kids race. Yep- this year was going to be a bit tougher. Our start had up ascending a good slope on the right side of the venue, I dare say close to 50 degrees right out of the gate. The end was a downhill barb wire crawl (about 30 degrees) followed by the Cliff Multibar obstacle and then the fire jump. So, for Jay, another race ending with 30 burpees. Oh well, it is what it is.
Being there super early I was able to witness the elite racers warm up. Damn, these folks are animals. Up hill jogs and sprints all day long, 8-12 % body fat and compression gear everywhere. A very impressive sight of all of the hard work and training that these specimens have put into training their bodies. A lot of hard work for several years has been put in to get them where they are today.. and you could see it. Speaking of the elites, the male elite heat was packed full of racers! Usually there is 170-225 is racers in the heat. Today, well over 300, I dare say 400. I guess a lot of folks are working on their standings as we head to Tahoe, either that or they want to be captured on the Spartan Race TV show on NBC Sports.
A common theme I noticed with the male and female elites as well as the 8 AM open heat was the start of the race. The incline at the start is quite wide, where you can run 6-8 abreast, however, 300 yards higher up the incline in funnels down to single track trail. So, with each heat- you would find the fastest 20-40 sprinting up the hill, and then a mass of racers hiking up the hill fighting for position on this narrowing trail as they ascend. Knowing that I was running both days, my plan was to hang in the middle of the pack. No need to be in the front and risk breaking one of the 3 rules.
For those that are new to this blog, the Baackpaack has three rules when racing. (We actually have more, but these are the main ones)
No hospital visits
Nobody dies
Everyone who starts, finishes
Number one and two are all about racing smart. Don’t take really crazy risks, don’t try something new during the race that you have not practiced or at least seen, and be prepared enough, have trained enough to know your physical limits. Number three is all about your mental state. If you jump the hot gate at the start of the race, you are committing to yourself and your team that you are going to get to the finish. No excuses.
Managing these 3 rules during a race can be tough has I always want to push for a new PR at each race I run. However, with the goal of 8 trifectas this year, I have to really think about the long term goals, and not tearing up every single race I am running – as an injury now would throw away my 2015 goal(s) that I have worked very hard to plan, arrange, pay for and perform in.
At 8:05 AM, they started calling for the 8:15 heat. I among a few hundred others walked up, flashed our starting time wrist band and jumped over the hot gate. My feet landed feeling strong, a quick internal diagnostic showed green lights across the board.
Feet? Go!
Knees? Go!
Hip? Go!
Shoulders? Go!
Biceps? Go!
Mental state? Go!
Stomach / Colon? I don’t have to go..
My feet hit the ground and I was ready race. Rain wasn’t predicted until 10:30. I was ready. Let’s get it on!
Sucking wind and Slippery obstacles
The MC in the starting corral yelled into the microphone:
AROO !
AROO !
AROO !
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
I and 300 other racers left the starting gate hearing a flurry of (beep, beep, beep beep beep) due to hundreds of timing chips all registering at the stating mat.
Game on- You now are on the clock. I was about mid pack as we started climbing the incline, smart enough to know to not be the in front, or the back of the pack. Many sprinted up the hill beside me, only to be sucking wind 200 yards ahead as I passed them on a steady 2.7 mph hike up this incline. The back of the pack gets stuck in this massive bottleneck and at best can manage about 1.5 MPH as your are dodging racers. Having raced NJ last year, I knew a lot of hills were in store for all of us. There was no need to kill ourselves in the first 10 minutes. The mass of racers hit the first of many false peaks and continued to climb up and up, dwindling down from a wide trail to a single track trail. Soon I could see the first obstacle, the inverted wall. Surprisingly not a lot of folks were needing help here. Most were flying right up the backside and transferring over to the far side of the obstacle. When I did the Boston Super, I tried a new technique on getting over the slip wall, while it is a little slower, it utilizes big muscles vs. shoulder and triceps. I applied it here and was soon sliding down the backside of the obstacle continuing on the hike up the ski slope.
For those that are not familiar with the race venue, the Tri-State Super is held at the largest ski resort in Vernon, NJ. There are three peaks at this mountain, and for the first mile to mile and a half you are going up, up, up.
The 2015 Tri-State Spartan Super course map
Upon reaching the top you had a water station as well as the OUT walls. At this point for the next three miles you had a lot of down and flat woods trail running as you zigged and zagged through the softwood and moss covered granite rocks. Yet another reason I wanted to finish before the rain fell, slick granite is very unforgiving on the body.
After about another mile of trail running you came to the “swim” obstacle, which was really nothing more than a knee deep wade along the shore of a pond. I pushed though the mildly cold water and ran up the trail where I was greeted with the sounds of yelling, clanging cow bells, and the first “classified” obstacle:
The Tyrolean Traverse.
In the Boston Super this obstacle had it out for me. It tried everything it could to force burpees out of me both days of the race, but my grit got me to the cowbell. Here, having this obstacle after only a few miles of trail running, made for a quick and easy traverse. Throwing the rope behind my knees for each left arm, right leg / right arm, left leg movement makes for a quicker traverse that having the rope at my ankles, but bruises the hell out the back of my knees – which takes several days to recover, and limits my calf muscle model photo shoot schedule to pre-race dates. Ringing the bell, I continued my climb up hill, hitting several steep sections that had ropes draped down the hill side to assist racers so they can pull on the ropes as they climb up the hill, similar to the slippery wall obstacle, but over steep, natural terrain.
TRIFECTA TIP #1:
When using these ropes, look to the top to see if you are going to be going to be leaving the rope from the left or the right of the rope at the top of the hill then start the climb on that side of the rope. Why?
A lot of racers get 1/2 way to the top then realize that they are on the wrong side of the rope and then straddle it to get to the other side. This can result in a painful experience when someone below grabs the rope and leans back. I have seen it almost lift a light female racer right off the ground.. via a 1″ rope between her legs.
Once I hit this peak past the ropes, it was more downhill and flat running until you came to the next obstacle, some rolling mud and the dunk wall. One thing very quickly apparent about this dunk wall is that there was not a lot of room between the bottom of the wall and the ground at the bottom of the pit. Now, I am not saying it was a “tight” fit, but it was not the space that I was used to, with 3+ feet of distance between the bottom of the wall and the bottom of the pit. I slid into the pit, found the edge of the wall with my right hand and pulled myself under the wall and emerged on the other side. Having swum in colder water and played with docks and boats most of my life, this obstacle never bothered me, but for a lot of racers, the thought of having to hold your breath, go under murky, muddy water that you can’t see through, and then go under a wall – throws them into a panic situation. You can see it in their eyes as they stand in waist deep water looking at this solid wall thinking how are they going to go under it. thankfully i am not in this category.
Emerging from the other side (Side note: This water tasted waaaay better than the water at Austin or Boston) I pulled myself out of the pit, soaking wet and clothes clinging, to start jogging to the next obstacle, the monkey bars.
Tasty water in New Jersey!
Jogging down the 100 yard hill I paused to kick up some gravel and loose dirt and rub my soaking wet hands in it, as an attempt to get my hands dry or at least get some “grit” on them to help with the monkey bars. I made it up to the bars, and grabbed the first one. It might as well have been coated in Crisco. I grabbed the bar in three different places with the same result. I even skipped the first bar and went right to the second bar to find the same result, everything was slick. Even the sides of the frame were slick, so that ruled out using the supports to scale across the obstacle. I skipped the first bar, grabbed the second with my left hand, proceeded to the third and slipped off the obstacle.
Burpees for me.
TOTAL BURPEE COUNT: 30
Completing the burpees I continued on downhill and down the ski slope on fairly wide trail to the next series of obstacles, the first barb wire crawl and slip wall.
Jersey threw a curve ball at us with this obstacle, as I had the slip wall right after the barb wire crawl- as in 20′ after the barb wire crawl. I had yet to see this configuration in a race, and if it had rained the right before, it would have added a new twist to the slip wall, as you would be coming right out of the mud and then on to the slip wall, which is notorious for causing many racers to crash and slam into the wall, then slide down to the bottom when their feet are caked with mud. I have heard through the grapevine that the Spartan Worlds in Tahoe will have several of these barb wire to slip wall to vertical wall combinations.
Sweet.
The barb wire crawl was low, as in take-off-your-pack-and-throw-it-to-the-side-of-the-course low. I don’t like back tracking on a course, so while I took off the pack, I didn’t throw it to the side, (which would have forced me to come back and get it) rather, I carried it with me as I rolled and scooted on my back under the barbwire. This placement of the crawl wasn’t in a particularly muddy area, more rock and mountain topsoil type of tundra, which means it wasn’t all that muddy, rather, it was more rocky, that you tried to avoid as you rolled and scooted under the lower wires. Being a fairly short crawl (60ish yards) we emerged to hit the slip wall. Since I was part of the 8:15 heat, there had not been that many racers to this point on the course. I would say less than 700, which meant that there was plenty of dry space on the wall to scale. There was a great looking “lane” up the wall that was bone dry. It also had one of the shortest support ropes on it, which is why it was dry! Most racers could not reach the rope to help pull themselves up the wall. Not a problem for me, I grabbed the wall and walked up with ease, stepping on another rope at the top with my left leg for extra traction before committing to grabbing the top of the wall and transferring to the other side. To new racers, this wall is often a major obstacle as there is a level of commitment that you HAVE to engage in to get from one side of the wall to the other.
You can’t “kinda commit” with the slip wall. You have to grab the top and then GO FOR IT to start to transfer your body from one side of the wall to the other side of the wall. It requires a lot of trust in what yo can do, and a little bit of faith to complete. For new racers, this can be hard to come by, especially at the end of the race when you are tired and sore. Which is why I have one of these in my backyard. Practice overcomes fears and a reduction in fears allows for greater accomplishments.
I hit the mile 4 sign soon after and the sun started peaking out between the clouds and burning off the morning fog. I looked at my watch. Heck, Vicki and the crew aren’t even up yet, I am am 4 miles into this mother! Then I realized it was starting to getting hot & humid, and I could feel it. Mile 4 was still down hill (ish) so i was feeling pretty good, however, this course was deceiving. The first 4 miles had a great deal of running and not a lot of obstacles, where the second half of the course was very obstacle heavy.
Missed it by “that much”
Running down this ski slope wasn’t really running. It was more, a slow cautious jog, watching your feet the whole time making sure you didn’t step on a loose rock, or slip on some slick dirt. Many people went flying by me here, and that bothered me a bit, so I had to keep focusing on “the big picture” the quest for 8 trifectas, and keep a keen eye on what I was doing to not break any of the three rules.
As I headed down one of the hills that were adjacent to the Spartan Kids course, I spied further down the hill the spear throw station. Here the burpee box was full of racers. There had to be 40 people in burpee penalty box doing some sort of burpee variation. A lot of spear misses were happening as well as I was spying the varoius hay bales for the station that I wanted to throw from.
So Jay, what do you look for in a spear throw obstacle?
Great question! so glad you asked!
Trifecta training tip #2: Spear throw.
The spear throw station consists of four things:
1. The spear
2. The tether tied from the back of the spear to the fence
3. The fence that the tether is tied to
4. Hay bales
That is all that it is, and that is all you have to pay attention to.
My first scan of the obstacle is to see which hay bales I ‘like’. I look for a pair of bales that tends to be a bit wider on the bottom than the top. now if they are all full sized virgin hay bales, (also known as brand new), awesome have at it, those work great. However, most bales have some wear on them, or are a bit smaller, shorter, etc. So I look for one that is a bit wider on the bottom.
WHY?
Gravity people. Most folks do not think about it when throwing. They get up there and aim at the bottom bail and let it fly.. and miss under the bales. On the other hand, I aim towards the middle/top of the top bail and throw, where gravity will pull the spear down into the bottom bale. Having a wide bottom bail (Why does at sound dirty to me?) allows for a little wiggle room to the left or the right if your throw is not dead center – and it will still count for score. However, the selection of the bales it is only one of several things to think about.
The second thing I look for is the tether. Just like any relationship, having a short tether (or a short leash) will screw you. Especially on the spear throw station. This happened to me twice in Hawaii. If you throw the spear with an arc, or do not throw completely horizontal, a short tether will pull the spear back out of the bail. So finding a station with a long or longish tether is critical. This is probably one of the most important things to look for. As I ran down the hill I spied the perfect station, wide bales and a long tether, it just so happened it just to the right of the volunteer, so not a lot of folks were not throwing at this station, I think because of the extra peer pressure for if they missed and getting called out and penalized with burpees. I kept and eye on this station as I headed down the hill, between glances at my feet for loose rocks and debris. Yep, that was the one I was going to throw on.
Upon arriving at the first spear station of the obstacle a fellow racer stuck his spear on the same station I was going to throw on, and proved the tether had plenty of slack. Perfect, even some good luck on “my” station was present! Getting to my turn I pulled on the tether to pull the spear out of the bale and back to the fence, gently laying out the tether on the far side of the fence away from me as to not snag or stand on the tether when I threw it.
This brings us to point number three, the fence. While as a racer, you cannot control the distance that the fence is set from the bales, you can however give yourself an advantage by taking a moment and thinking out how you lay out the tether. I can’t tell you how many spear throws I have seen that have resulted in a miss because the racer STOOD ON THE TETHER LINE WHEN THEY THEW IT (Becca)… if you are standing on the line you are going to miss 99.99999% of the time, as you will cut short your throw from the tether line going taunt before your spear reaches the bale.
So, take a moment to pay attention to how the tether is tied to the fence.
Is the knot of the tether line on your side or the other side of the fence?
Is the tether draping through the fence or under it?
Are there knots or twists in the tether line?
Are your feet away from it now and will they be away from it when you release?
All of these things are important to think about, and don’t take longer than about 5 seconds to check, unless you are in a hurry to do burpees. Then by all mean have at it, throw that thing and enjoy the burpees.
The last thing I think about is the actual spear. Is it heavy or is it lighter that what I practice with at home? (Yes, I have six home made spears at my baackyard practice area). This will effect how high I have to aim and release the spear. At the same time, check the tip. it is pointing down at a 45 degree angle? If so, you better think about straightening that tip or you are not going to get a good stick in the hay bale. At the same time I think about where to grip and balance of the spear. (If you want to know that tip.. come to a training!)
Once all of that is done, it is all about getting my hips square, my head focused on where I want the spear to stick, and the release.
When I got to my station the racer on the left missed her throw due to stepping on her tether. The racer on my right missed hers wide, glancing off the left side and almost hitting my bales before the tether went taught and pulled the spear back. People were missing everywhere.
I took my usually few seconds, setup my stance and let it fly.
The volunteer standing to my left looked over his right shoulder at my bale and yelled.
“Winner winner chicken dinner!“
A solid stick square in the middle of the bottom bale. I was moving on, the spear stick streak now reset at 1 after three races in Hawaii and three failed spear throws. I smiled, passed the packed burpee station continued to head down the hill to the next obstacle, the bucket carry.
The designers of this course put a huge burpee choke point in the race right at the base of the ski mountain (at the venue area) with the following obstacles all in a row, one right after each other.
Spear throw
Then a VERY steep 100 yard bucket carry
Rope climb
Z wall
For some it could be a 90 burpee suck fest with a steep and heavy bucket carry thrown in for good measure. Fried forearms and fingers, then to the rope climb, then to the Z wall. All major grip strength obstacles, all slammed right together, one right after another, all in full view of the crowd.
Good for you Spartan, this was going to be a good set.
I jogged down to the bucket carry and filled my bucket right to the top with rocks. I didn’t want any question with the rocks settling of any chance that the volunteer was going to be able to see daylight through the holes in the side of my bucket, which would mean a failed obstacle and have to do it all again. I filled the bucket to the top, pulled my Nike wrist sweat bands down over my finger tips, and hefted the bucket – leaving the sharp rim of the bucket to not cut into my hands, but into the nice, soft, thick wrist band. One less stressor to force me to have to stop or slow down on the carry.
I went with my traditional “Arms out straight, chest out carry technique” with my whole focus on two things.
1. No biceps, as I was going to need every ounce of strength out of them at the next obstacle on the rope climb.
2. Power breathing
My power breathing consists of exhaling on the left foot step, inhale on the right foot step. Over and over again until I get to the top of the hill / end of the obstacle. It will gauge my pace as well as ensure I am sucking a ton of air to offset the increase in my heart rate and increase in the lactic acid build up in my muscles. I have found that this method is a great way to keep my heart rate manageable and not have to stop to rest the bucket. Staring at my feet the whole time, I power breathed all the way to the top of the obstacle to the crunching sound of buckets of gravel being dropped all around me. Rounding the top of the obstacle, my focus shifted from staring right at my feet to about 5 yards in front of them, as most of the racers dump their buckets coming down the course, not going up due to mental lapses as they think they are done with the obstacle once they get to the top. So I scanned the terrain for possible loose or slippery material and kept moving down. A few minutes later I was at the bottom of the hill, hoisted my bucket over the wall and dumped out my rocks into the gravel pile. I handed off my bucket to another racer who was just starting and I was done. Obstacle complete.
Twenty yards past the bucket carry was the rope climb. Twelve to fourteen ropes split into two sets on seven ropes, with one set having knots, the other set (which happened to be on the far side of the obstacle) no knots. My thinking was that the elite males had to use the non knotted ropes, which was typical with for the televised races I have attended. When I got to the obstacle everyone was on the knotted ropes. Not one racer on the non knotted ropes. Back before the race started, while I was trying to keep warm in the pre dawn hours, I spent a few minutes looking at all of the ropes at this station. They were just filling the pit with water so I could see which of the ropes were longer and shorter relative to the water as well as which rope had higher knots at the top. The rope I selected was fairly long under the water, and while it didn’t have the highest knot on the rope out of all of them, it was within inches. There was quite a queue at the obstacle as only one side of the pit was being used. Racers would slide into the pit, grab their rope and start climbing, hit the bell or fail the obstacle, and then come back down, only need help coming out of the pit. it was pretty steep and the pit was lined with that black industrial grade tarp / lining. Very slick material when wet. There were two or three guys in line in front of me in the general area of the rope that I wanted and looking back at this now, I was the only guy there over 200 pounds forget 250, who was even considering doing this obstacle.
A lot of folks were skipping it and heading right to the burpees. However, I was feeling strong, the biceps felt great and I had the right attitude; I was going up this mother.
The rope I wanted became free and I slid into the pit. it was deeper than I expected, but I grabbed the rope I wanted, went right into my “Captain Morgan” pose and didn’t think about anything other than, “Get a good leg hook and climb”.
My first leg hook was solid, I stood up moved my hands up and went for lock number two. Getting another solid leg hook I stood up again and the rope started to spin. From time to time this will happen, the rope will turn you around in a 360 or 180 degree turn as you climb. So, you might have started facing one way, and halfway up the rope you are now facing the other direction. Not a big deal, just something to realize that it happens.
My brain fired off: “Hey! The rope is spinning..”
“Shut up! Keep climbing!”
Third grab, solid foot lock, but my arms were getting a bit tired on the pull up to the standing position, I was using more arms and less gluteus muscles. Fourth grab, good leg lock but I really could feel this now in my biceps and hands.
After the fifth grab, everything started to slow down.. almost like one of those dream sequences in a movie when the main character does something awesome or has some revelation as to what was going to happen next. At grab five, I was at the top knot. I locked my feet, stole a look up and saw that I needed one more pull. As the pain in my shoulders and hands increased, my perception of the world was slowing down. I swear I could see the individual flaps of humming bird wings, dust dancing in the sunlight, and dew dripping off trees. Everything had frozen. Spectators in mid clap, racers in mid stride, kids in mid lick of their ice cream cones.. Everything was at a standstill. At the same time, the world went silent. I was no longer hearing the “clang clang” of cowbells, or the splash of racers hitting the water, or the “oooohhhsss!!!” of the crowds watching us all on the ropes, or even my own heart beat. It was as if some had held up the long thin, white “quiet” sign at the Masters golf tournament, as one of the competitors was going to start his drive or putt. It was me, a rope and a cowbell.
It felt like all eyes were on me, the “big guy”, way up on the rope, who was going to ring the bell…
Then it happened.
A fleeting through went racing through my head, almost like an arrow zipping past my face. Slow enough for me to recognize it, but fast enough for me not to catch it.
“Holly S@!T ! you are high up here!
At that moment my self preservation brain engaged. Just as I was reaching up and pulling for my last pull. This thought began fighting for dominance in my brain as I reached high, and started to pull, feeling the rope slipping through my hands back down towards the knot 14″ below them. I quickly unlocked and re-locked my feet on the rope, extended my legs, and reached with my left hand towards the bell. This was going to be close. i was sliding back down the rope to the knot with my right hand, grip strength totally failing, my arms were sapped, stretching, reaching, my mouth open, straining my shoulder to get as much elevation as I could, really wishing that I had the Baackpaack screaming at me to keep going…
Reaching, stretching.. I could see the bell, I could see my left hand coming into my field of view. This was going to happen, I am going to hit this thing.
Woosh….
My left hand fanned on free air.
I missed it by inches, and now completely toast in my shoulders and hands, slid down the rest of the rope, splashing into the pond as the world regained full speed and full volume once again, almost like a record player starting back up from a dead stop with the needle on the record.
The world was once again vivid with color, and alive with sounds of splashing water, cheering crowds, thumping music from the venue, and various cowbells ringing… just not the one above my rope.
Burpees for me.
TOTAL BURPEE COUNT: 60
Soaking wet, I pulled myself out of the pit of water after another racer offered his hand, whom I almost pulled into the pit with me. I headed towards the burpee penalty box to grind out 30 more. Many in this situation would try to convince themselves that they got 95% of the way there, and that would be good enough to not have to do burpees. Others would think that getting so close would warrant a reduction in the number of burpees that they have to do. While I was overjoyed with how close I had come to hitting the bell, (honestly, I was real happy with my footwork and how well I got up the rope) it was going to be the full 30 burpees for me. I have too much integrity in the principles of what this race is supposed to be, and in myself, to cheat it. Yes, burpees suck, but you have to pay the penalty for failing, and integrity is doing the RIGHT thing even when no one is watching. Three to four minutes later I finished my last set of ten burpees and took 5 steps to get to the traverse wall obstacle. I was winded, my forearms and fingers were lacking strength, and now I had to stand on small 2″x4″ blocks spaced about 3 feet apart and different angles and hold on to the same sized blocks (also in different directions) mounted on the wall about shoulder height. I managed to get about 4 steps in when my left hand slipped off the block and my momentum carried me off the obstacle.
Thirty burpees for me.
TOTAL BURPEE COUNT: 90
Finishing three sets of 10 burpees here, I started back up the middle ski slope heading to the obstacle entitled Stairway to Sparta. A wooden A frame obstacle with a solid 6 to 7′ slanted wall at the base. Climbing this obstacle, and down the other side, I started back on the course. It was more hiking up hill, followed by another set of rolling mud obstacles, then the wall series.
Six, Seven & Nine?
Spartan race as of late has been putting the higher walls on the course all together as one big obstacle, the six foot wall followed by the 7′, followed by the 8 foot wall. Remembering the walls from last year, the walls here at Jersey are made of some sort of particle boards that are very slick even when just wet, forget adding any mud to them. I ran up to the six foot wall and got over pretty easy. at the seven i found a fellow racer who was struggling with a bad ankle, and gave him a boost. He came back around gave me a quick push and I was over it. Dropping on the other side i was now facing the “8” foot wall.
I call total Bull S$!t. I have an 8′ wall in my back yard.
There is no way, this was 8′.
This was a lot closer to 9′, and a lot of folks were struggling with it. Luckily I had my “give one get one” buddy, and we managed to get each other over. Note to self, I need wear treadless shoes and practice on my wall to simulate this. No way was that 8′.. no way. But I was over it, and moving on up the slope. Next up was the Atlas stone, a 75-100# cement ball that you have to pick up and carry 50′ the set it down, do 5 burpees and bring it back to the start.
TOTAL BURPEE COUNT: 95
Dropping the stone back at the starting line, I continued to head up the mountain.
From here I continued up hill passing under the sand bag carry station, reminiscent of the bucket carry in PA last year, a brutal up, 50 – 60 yards over and down some serious incline.
I would be lying if I said I was looking forward to that one. It looked tough and a lot of guys were taking breaks on the uphill. Running past the carry I was back in woods again for some single track elevation hiking, back into fields, then back into the woods. Reaching the top of the slope, I hit a water station, and then started heading back down, passing mile marker 7.
“One point fiveish to go” I thought. “Almost off this mountain, and it hasn’t started raining yet!”
Coming down past the water station I hit the sand bag carry. I was starting to get real tired, so on the way down to the station I ate half a sleeve of black cherry shot bloks, or more to the point, swallowed 1/2 a sleeve, as chewing would have taken up time away from breathing. Hitting the sand bag, I threw it on my shoulders between my shoulder blades, gripped it with both hands and stared at my feet as I started hiking up this hill.
One, two, three, four.. I needed to focus on something else besides this obstacle, 24..25..26, keep stepping, keep the pace. Seventy five, 76, 77.. OK, passed my first racers, stopped right in front of me, dude, don’t do that! Pull off to the side or something..134, 135, 136, look out for the ruts, don’t step there… 175, 176,177.. passed my second, no wait.. third racer, she had bright colored shoes, what was that pink and purple with neon green laces? Damn, I need to talk with her.. 225, 226, 227.. I have to be getting close this is starting to get to be like work.. 284, 285, 286… what the HELL! I this thing ever going to end?
At step, 294, I rounded the corner took a big cleansing breath and headed back down. Adjusting the sand bag a bit mire to my right shoulder and just holding with my right arm so I could keep my left arm free to catch myself on the downhill decline. Several minutes later I was at the bottom and dumping the bag. Good riddance, glad that is over, and I started climbing back up the hill up past the peak of the sand bag carry and en again off into the woods, Up, up, up..I just kept going up.
Tree Stumps and Tired Legs
I was trying to remember what obstacles I had left when we came out of the woods and looked down to see a log carry obstacle. the obstacle was long, about 70% of the distance of the sand bag carry, about the same incline, but with double the weight (or at least it felt like it) as you carried an actual length of log. There were two piles for the obstacle, One pile for the ladies were Home Depot style 6″ by 6′ logs for fence posts, while men carried actual tree stumps, anywhere from 3 to 4 feet in length and 40 to 80 pounds. The one I grabbed I think was right around 60#. I quickly threw it on my right shoulder and started hiking, locking my arm into position around the log to stabilize it on the shoulder. I knew I was getting close to the end of the race and I wanted this over. No time for stopping and readjusting from one shoulder to the next, and I was sure as hell not going to let this thing down on the ground and have to pick it back up again. Going to my bucket carry power breathing technique, I pushed to the top, rounded the corner and headed back down. Being real cautious of my foot placement so that I would not have this log coming loose off my shoulder and rolling down the hill to which I saw this exact situation happen to several folks in front of me, which increased the urgency even more as I didn’t want to get hit from behind with an errant log that someone above me on the hill had dropped. Getting back to the bottom I dumped my log on the ground and saw the “Mile 8” sign. I was almost there.
Ripped Knees, Fast Music & Fast Burpees
Passing over the ridge past the mile eight sign I could start to hear the music again in the distance. I could also now see the venue and the parking lot, well below me at the bottom of the ski slope. It must be a killer sight in the winter while on skis. The snow in the trees, the wide trails covered in virgin white snow, the sight of your body heat producing steam.. someday I might have to come back here in the winter.. Someday. However, for now, I was shuffling down the ridge as I came to the next obstacle, the herc hoist. I was so excited to see it! I didn’t even sit to pull on the rope leading up to the pulley. I just stood there and pulled the rope to my waist, readjusted and pulled again, over and over until the weight connected to the rope hit the pulley, then I played out the line slowly so that the bag didn’t CRASH to the bottom in a massive THUD!
Which all racers know is the universal audible signal for penalty burpees on this obstacle.
I was in and out of that station in record time, and back on the trail heading down, fighting the urge to free wheel to get off this hillside quickly, rather paying close attention to every step on the loose dirt, rocky soil and slick grass.
Three obstacles from the end was the second barb wire crawl. This one was down hill, which was different from any other race I have seen. Down hill as in, if no one was in front of you, you could get rolling ‘out-of-control’ down hill. It was real steep, but the barbwire was fairly high, so I kept the Geigerrig vest on during the obstacle. The ground as not muddy as much as it was soft and wet. Kind of like rolling around on a New England lawn after a rainstorm, minus the rain, and the grass, and substitute in a lot of rocks… ok, so it was nothing like rolling on a lawn, but it certainly wasn’t like the glass and shell casing crawl that we had in Vegas, or the cow patty roll that we had in Boston. Fairly long, this one took a lot out of you in that you were not rolling fast enough to get dizzy due to all the racers on the course, but you had to pay attention so that you would not slide down the hill under the barb wire and crash into a racer in front of you. A lot more mental energy than I expected. Rolling was a constant core workout as your legs wanted to point downwards on the slope with every roll, which would spin your body perpendicular to everyone else rolling on the course. Lifting you legs up to adjust would catch your knees into the barb wire and tear flesh from them, after doing that several times, my right knee really started smarting. The decline lessened up on the last 20 yards to almost flat which made the exit from the barb wire a lot easier. I jogged up to the next obstacle, the Cliff Multibar station, which consisted of olympic gymnastic rings, a pipe and ropes all of which you had to swing from to the next without your feet touching the ground. This is an awesome obstacle, but when you can stand on the ground with bent knees and touch all the element of the obstacle, it isn’t a 6′ plus friendly obstacle. I jogged up, touched the first ring and hit the burpee zone.
30 burpees for me.
TOTAL BURPEE COUNT: 125
Stealing a quick look at my watch I was minutes away from finishing in under 4 hours. This was going to be of my longest super times, and I really wanted under 4 hours. I slammed out my fastest pair of 15 rep burpee sets this year, pushing myself off the ground on the final one and raced to fire jump, throwing the number 7 at the camera man.
Flashing 7! One more Super to go!
I was finished. 3 hours 59 minutes. Not a personal record for sure, and I wasn’t even in the same time zone with the elite men, as the fastest elite male finished this course in 1 hour and 8 minutes, (freaking amazing) but I was happy where I ended up. The three rules were intact, one more super down, and I was that much closer to hitting my goal of 8 trifectas this year.
Seven Supers done, one more to go!
In the finishing corral I grabbed a banana, a Vanilla Almond Cliff Body Builder’s bar (maybe two.. OK, it was two..) and headed to the results tent, not to check my time, but to collect my Triple Trifecta medal as they did not have them on site in Hawaii where I completed my third and latest trifecta. Arriving at the tent, I queued up and waited my turn, the guy in front me of had lost his timing chip or something and was talking with one of the blue shirts about what could be done for him to claim his finish or time.. I wasn’t paying that much attention as I was devouring my first guilt free Vanilla Almond Cliff Body Builder’s bar, don’t judge, heck, I run races just to eat these things.. man are those are so tasty!
When I got to the front of the line, the blue shirt looked at me and asked me, “What’s up?”
“I am here to get my trifecta medal.. ahh.. I mean triple trifecta medal!” I quickly corrected, as the blue shirt was about to launch into the speech that each pie piece from each medal makes your “first trifecta” medal.. yada yada yada.. I have heard it thousands of times before, and didn’t need for him to start in on it.
He stopped and said.. “oh, ok” and started typing.
“Name?”
I provided it, spelling out the last name with great care.
“Ok.. got ya” he replied.. his eyes grew wide as he tapped on the keyboard.
“You have like 7 trifectas here?”
“No, no.. I have done Seven Supers, only three trifectas” I replied.
“oh ok…” he said looking back at the computer.
“So.. four trifectas?” he asked..
“What?” I quickly began counting the Beasts for this year in my head. So Cal… Breckenridge.. Hawaii… was there another I was forgetting??
“No, only three” I replied, three beasts to date. “Number four is in two weeks, then five will be a week later” I added.
He just shook his head, leaned his right hand under the table, dug around in a box, and handed me the medal.
All I could do is smile.
Triple Trifecta COMPLETE!
The Saturday race was in the books. No injuries, picked up my triple trifecta medal, and no rain. In fact the rain held off until I got back to the hotel. However, the news the next morning said it was a massive downpour in the race area over night, which meant Sunday was going to be extra special with slippery terrain and sore muscles.
Across the street from the hotel I popped into the Stop and Shop to eat another “1 fork” post race meal, but, we will cover that in Sundays recap.
One more super down, one to go in 2015.
See you tomorrow!
AROO!
20 Responses to “Race recap: 2015 Tri-State Super (Saturday)”
20 Responses to “Race recap: 2015 Tri-State Super (Saturday)”
Vicki Baack
Always gotta remember the 3 rules! Awesome!!
Vicki Baack
Always gotta remember the 3 rules! Awesome!!
Vicki Baack
Always gotta remember the 3 rules! Awesome!!
Vicki Baack
Always gotta remember the 3 rules! Awesome!!
Vicki Baack
Always gotta remember the 3 rules! Awesome!!
Tad Hetler
4th rule (Breckenridge only): Don’t eat yellow snow.
Jay Baack
Site specific rule.. Well, Breckenridge and Jersey beast in March..
Tad Hetler
4th rule (Breckenridge only): Don’t eat yellow snow.
Jay Baack
Site specific rule.. Well, Breckenridge and Jersey beast in March..
Tad Hetler
4th rule (Breckenridge only): Don’t eat yellow snow.
Jay Baack
Site specific rule.. Well, Breckenridge and Jersey beast in March..
Tad Hetler
4th rule (Breckenridge only): Don’t eat yellow snow.
Jay Baack
Site specific rule.. Well, Breckenridge and Jersey beast in March..
Tad Hetler
4th rule (Breckenridge only): Don’t eat yellow snow.
Jay Baack
Site specific rule.. Well, Breckenridge and Jersey beast in March..
Wendy Kahl
Loved reading this. Thank you Jay!
Wendy Kahl
Loved reading this. Thank you Jay!
Wendy Kahl
Loved reading this. Thank you Jay!
Wendy Kahl
Loved reading this. Thank you Jay!
Wendy Kahl
Loved reading this. Thank you Jay!