Race Report: Spartan Race Tahoe Beast

Overview

So I figured some people here might be interested in a race report. Some of you won't care but here is some info for those interested.

So I've always been into fitness and working out. High School ran track and cross country. Afterwards always messed around with lifting and cardio. At the end of last year and beginning of this year, I was ready to try something new. I flirted with the idea of doing crossfit but spending $200/month seem ridiculous. So i decided to go back to something I'd done a few times and go for a Spartan Race Trifecta.

I had run 1 other Spartan Race a few years earlier and an Urbanathlon so I wasn't completely foreign to the idea but decided to venture out and shoot for the Spartan Trifecta. A trifecta is completing a Spartan Sprint, Super, and Beast all within a calendar year. So in March I did the Spartan Sprint in San Jose, June a Spartan Super in Monterrey and this past weekend I signed up for the Spartan World Championships in Tahoe.

Background

My training consisted of 4 days of lifting and 4-5 days of running a week. Lifting I did 5/3/1 BBB for a while until vacation and then 3x5 afterwards with 2 days upper / 2 days lower. I would lift for 1 hour Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

Lift Maxes Are Estimated:
Squat: 275
Bench: 225
Deadlift: 300

Running I did 4-5 days. Usually Monday 30 mins treadmill, Wednesday 45-50 mins treadmill, Thursday 20-30 mins treadmill, and Saturday Long Trail Run on hills. My long trail runs varied from 5 miles with 1k elevation gain to 10 miles with 2k elevation gain. I felt that these runs were critical for preparing for the elevation gains at Tahoe.

In addition to training for the runs, I tried doing some grip training at the gym by doing dead hangs and mixing in reps of 10 second dead hangs with 1 pull-up going as long as possible. I did very little obstacle specific training outside of the grip work and hill runs.

Race Details



So the race was 13.5 miles with 4100 feet for elevation gain and 30 obstacles including a swim in 45 degree waters.

I arrived later Friday evening. Wanted to get there earlier but traffic getting out of the Bay Area was terrible. With Tahoe being 6000 feet up, I was definitely concerned about the altitude. I tried to prep by taking beet root powder before the race to help my lungs absorb for oxygen.

The next morning I woke up early and scouted out the race. Looking at the map there were a number of concerns but first step was to conquer the 3 mile climb to the top of the first mountain.

Miles 1 - 3

The first 3 miles began with a 2000 ft. climb to the top of the mountains. This run quickly began to turn into a hike as the terrain became single track and very rocky. Temperatures were very nice. The first two obstacles were walls which were easy to conquer fresh. Then came the Herc Hoist which was basically a pulley of 150 lbs. I'd been hitting Lat Pulldowns hard the weeks leading up to the race. I'm always nervous of this one since I failed this obstacle a few years ago in my first race. However now it was easy and smooth.

Afterwards we kept climbing up and up. Went over another wall where I smashed my balls going over then we kept heading up until we were near the top and met with the swim.

Miles 3 - 6

Now at the top of the mountain, we were met with a barrage of obstacles but first was the swim. It was a cold 45 degrees. The swim was short. Maybe only 50 meters in length but multiple people were being pulled out during the swim. I chose to remove all my clothes except for shorts and underwear and attacked it. My hands and feet were cold but everything else was fine. After finishing the swim, the wind was strong but my body was numb and I couldn't feel anything. Overall not nearly as bad as expected.

Following the swim was the bucket carry. A nice 200 yard carry down the mountain and back up with 70 lbs of rocks. Going down the mountain was fine but on the way back up I needed a break. I likely could have finished but with 10 miles to go I wanted to conserve energy.

After the bucket climb things go easier, plate drag, atlas carry were both minor stength tasks that if you lift weights are easy to manage. The barb wire crawl was much longer than I've ever done and the wind was kicking dust up everywhere at the top of the mountain. I rolled under the barbwire and after recovering from being dizzy eventually came to the dunk wall. Apparently, the dunk wall had been closed due to too many calls of hypothermia which led to the slip wall. The slip wall was manageable after a quick sprint up even though my neighbor kicked my rope while i was running up.

Next was the Spear Throw, one of my most disliked obstacles because I always fail and once again, I failed. 30 burpee penalty. Next was Twister which I have low success rate. Only this time I was able to make progress. Still failed, but got farther than I ever had. Finally at the top of the mountain was the sandbag carry. 50 lb sandbag carry up 100 yards and down another 100 yards. These carries are taxing on the leg but I was able to grind it out without stopping.

Now time to go down the mountain.

Miles 6 -10

The next section down the mountain was nice and uneventful. I could feel some leg cramping so I took salt tablets. There were a few walls but it was nice to just cruise down the mountain. Once down we hit another barrage of obstacles which I did not do well. My arms were shot at this point and fatigue was definitely setting in. I struggled on Olympus and the Rope climb. My success on the rope climb always seems to depend on fatigue. The tyrolean traverse was a fun new one. I was able to pass this obstacle without issue. The Ape Hanger was basically a no start. After killing my grip and rope climbing skills on the Rope Climb, this obstacle was almost a non-starter. Following the Ape Hanger was the tire flip. After hitting all these upper body obstacles, there was no way, I was going to get this one. Like the Rope climb, this one depends on my freshness, I tag teamed it with someone and moved on. Finally there was one more monkey bar/twister combo. While the monkey bars were easy, twister got me, and I had another 30 burpees.

Miles 10 - 14

Now that the majority of the obstacles were done, it was time to climb one more mountain, This time, we kept going up and up and up. It was a brutal climb and every time we thought we were done, there was another piece going up. During this climb we did the Z-Wall which was a fairly easy task. Once at the top, we climbed multiple walls on the Stairway to Sparta then began the long descent down.

While cramps were building up and fatigue replaced my thoughts, I slowly jogged down the mountain towards the finish. As I climbed over the inverted wall, I felt cramps hit my legs, so at the top of the wall, I stopped and stretched my leg out for comfort. Then I went through the multi-rig to only fail at the 2nd to last ring. 30 more burpees then

5 hours and 57 minutes later I finished and earned my trifecta.