3 Keys to Obstacle Race Training

How you train is going to depend on the distance you are running as well as the number and type of obstacles in the race you are running. I have run obstacle race distances of 5k (1st place), 10k (1st place), 12 mile Tough Mudder (1st place), 12 mile Spartan Beast (top 3%), and 30+ mile World's Toughest Mudder (top 20%). The training I've outlined here is not to help you finish one of these races, but to excel. With the specific every day training programs below, you will want to slowly work up to the distances and number of intervals over 2 or 3 months while following the general outline, and then work on increasing speed and reps up until the week before the event. Here is everything I know that has gotten me this far. 

1. Interval running with upper body exercise in between.
One thing is universal for all obstacle racing, you need to train your body to run, complete upper body activities, and then keep running. The best way I've found to do this is by doing interval running with pull-ups, push-ups, or burpees before, between, and after intervals. If you're training in a gym, you can run intervals on a treadmill with weight lifting in between. The key with this training is to not take breaks between the running and the upper body exercises. It is miserable at first, but your body will get used to it. 

2. Hills.
Running hills is also going to be extremely important. If you don't have hills to train on, then do a set of lunges or squats every half mile during your run. This will be extremely helpful whether there are hills on the course you are running or not.

3. The Long Run/ Practice Race.
Once a week, plan out and run a mock course with obstacles that will work similar muscle groups to the obstacles in the actual race. Some obstacles require you to carry something heavy, so practice that with a big rock or something for five minutes for one of your obstacles. It is also good to train wet, as you will be wet for most of the actual race. Swim across a pond, jump in a lake, or cross a river for one or more of your obstacles. Often I will plan a route that goes from park to park and I will do pull ups, cross the monkey bars, etc on the playground.

5k Obstacle Race Training (Spartan Sprint, Dirty Dash 5k, Warrior Dash, etc.):
A 5k is 3.1 miles, but when you add obstacles, you are going to want to be comfortable running 4 or 5 miles.
Monday: 6-8 x 400m intervals with upper body between each
Tuesday: 35 min run with hills
Wednesday: 2-3 x 1600m intervals with upper body between each
Thursday: 25 min run with hills
Friday: 3-5 x 800m intervals with upper body between each
Saturday: 45 min mock course with hills, obstacles
Sunday: rest

10k Obstacle Race Training (Super Spartan, Dirty Dash 10k, etc.):
A 10k is 6.2 miles, but when you add obstacles, you are going to want to be comfortable running 8 or 9 miles.
Monday: 8-10 x 400m intervals with upper body between each
Tuesday: 45 min run with hills
Wednesday: 3-5 x 1600m intervals with upper body between each
Thursday: 35 min run with hills
Friday: 4-6 x 800m intervals with upper body between each
Saturday: 60 min mock course with hills, obstacles
Sunday: rest

12 mile Obstacle Race Training (Tough Mudder, Spartan Beast):
You're going to want to be comfortable running somewhere around 15 miles.
Monday: 10-12 x 400m intervals with upper body between each
Tuesday: 60 min run with hills
Wednesday: 5-7 mile intervals with upper body between each
Thursday: 45 min run with hills
Friday: 6-8 x 800m intervals with upper body between each
Saturday: 120 min mock course with hills, obstacles
Sunday: rest

Marathon/Ultra Marathon Distance Obstacle Race Training (Spartan Ultra Beast, Spartan Death Race, World's Toughest Mudder):
Monday: 10-15 x 400m intervals with upper body between each
Tuesday: 90-120 min run with hills
Wednesday: 7-10 x mile intervals with upper body between each
Thursday: rest
Friday:10-12 x 800m intervals with upper body between each
Saturday: 30 to 50 miles mock course depending on your goal for the race
Sunday: rest
Every once in a while add in some extensive swimming, or biking. Also, try a few 300+ pull up days from when you wake up to when you go to sleep. 

My Secret Key to Obstacle Race Training: Rock Climbing. Nothing will increase your grip strength and train your body to carry its own weight around like rock climbing. I climb 3-4 times a week and it helps with the obstacles more than almost anything else I do to train. Honestly the more cross training the better. If you can incorporate swimming, sprinting, biking, crossfit, or anything else active every once in a while, you will be better off. 

When training for any Spartan Race, you are going to want to incorporate a lot of burpees into your training program, since they are mandatory if you cannot complete an obstacle. 

One thing I've found to be important in training for the Tough Mudder is plyometrics. There are a lot of obstacles where jumping is involved, and these will be much easier if you incorporate box jumps into your training. 

Specific Training for Certain Obstacles:
Army Crawl under barbed wire: For one thing, you could practice army crawling. One thing that will make it easier is planks. Working your core from this position on your forearms and toes will make army crawling that much easier. 
Rope Climb: If you have a rope to climb then nothing is going to be better training than that. Otherwise, you can throw a couple of dish towels or hand towels over a pull up bar and do pull ups while gripping both ends of the towel. This will work your grip strength and pull up strength to help you train to climb a rope. 
Monkey Bars: Simply go to a playground and practice. Make sure you share and take turns with the kids. 

What to Wear: 
Clothing: Under Armor type clothing to keep from catching on things such as barbed wire, and so it doesn't weigh you down when you get wet. 
Socks: Thick running socks (I like Balega brand). If it's going to be freezing, you can try 1.5, or 2mm neoprene socks. 
Shoes: Cross country flats work best in my opinion because they are extremely lightweight and drain immediately when you come out of a water obstacle (I wear an old pair of New Balances). 
Gloves: I personally don't wear gloves because they get muddy, and you just don't have the same grip as your hands. A lot of people swear by them in obstacle racing. I've heard that football receiver gloves work pretty well, and also the rubber dotted gardening gloves since they drain well and are made to get muddy. 
(for World's Toughest Mudder clothing suggestions, see my post from November: World's Toughest Mudder 2012)

Race Prep:


The week before the race: take a step back on your training. Cut back on distance, speed, and reps of upper body exercises. Make sure to start hydrating and carb loading early, not just the day before.
The day before the race: take the day off. Hydrate well, and eat a lot of healthy carbs.
The night before: Get plenty of sleep.
The morning of: Eat a big breakfast of healthy foods. Avoid eating too much fiber, or acidic foods like oranges or orange juice. Avoid dairy. I usually have a few pieces of peanut butter toast, a banana, and a sports drink. 
The key to race preparation is implementing these same eating, sleeping, and hydration habits during all of your training. You don't want to eat things the morning of your race that you've never eaten before your training. Eat things your body is used to. 

Provo Canyon Escape Zombie 5K

If you've had a little too much candy and need a more active way to celebrate Halloween, try running the Provo Canyon Escape 5K, a race where zombies are chasing you.

 

The race started at Nunn's Park and ended at Timpanogos Park. It was a mild downhill the whole way except for the first quarter mile and one other small uphill. We parked at Timpanogos park and took buses up the canyon to the starting line.

Each participant was given a yellow flag to clip onto their clothing. The goal was to make it through the course without a zombie stealing the flag. Participants who still had their flags were given a survivor t-shirt at the finish line and participants without were given an infected t-shirt. There were running zombies and staggering zombies. Running zombies were allowed to steal flags while staggering zombies were not. All of the participants were given a five minute head-start before the running zombies were unleashed. A five minute head-start may seem like a lot, but many of the zombies were on the BYU cross country team and ran the length of the course in under 15 minutes (although anyone running a sub 20 likely did not see any running zombies). Staggering zombies were placed throughout the course for effect.

One downside was that more than half of the zombies didn't show up. It would've been more fun with more zombies along the course. It also would've been fun if the zombies positioned along the course were allowed to steal flags. If you're interested in signing up to be a zombie, go to provocanyonescape.com and send them a message under the "contact us" link.

The first place survivor won a trophy as well as some gift certificates and a few other things. There was some stiff competition however, with the winner coming in at 14:44.

Results:

Here's the link for the rest of the results:

 https://runsignup.com/race/results/?raceId=1893&eventId=3719

Looking forward to next year!

World's Toughest Mudder 2012

I saw grown men cry, and I saw Navy Seals quit. 

That is no joke and neither is this race.

The top 5% of finishers at every Tough Mudder race in the world are invited to compete in World's Toughest Mudder. This is a 24 hour competition on a Tough Mudder course with twice as many obstacles that have been amped up for just such an event. The winner is whoever finishes the most laps during the 24 hour period. 1300 showed up on November 17th 2012 for the most insane event of the year. 

Tents in the pit area.

I've always had a lot of endurance, but I really met my match with this race. It is always at the end of the year in New Jersey in order to add the element of sub-freezing temperatures. Tough Mudder says that the World's Toughest Mudder is a race to find the toughest man, woman, and 4-person team on the planet. After competing in this race, I am 100% confident that the winners are exactly that.

 All suited up before the race.

 The starting line.

The race was a whole different ball game than the regular Tough Mudder. It's one thing to run a 12 mile course with 20 obstacles as fast as you can and be done, and it's a completely different thing to run a similar course for 24 hours. Here's the 2012 course map:

For details on the obstacles, watch the first person video 

below of every obstacle filmed on a GoPro.

Race Recap:
My plan was to go out easy and run the whole 24 hours. I started the first lap at a nice controlled pace. After the first lap I went to my tent, drank a couple Gatorades, ate a couple Power Bars and set off to knock out my second lap before the sun went down. I made it through the first two laps in just under six hours. After the second lap I drank more Gatorade, ate some more food, changed my socks, and put on a swim cap under my neoprene hood. I also put on a half wetsuit over my full wetsuit (which turned out to be a bad idea), then set out. By this point my IT band tendinitis was flaring up pretty bad so I decided to take a nice slow jog on my third lap and just push through the pain. The sun went down at 5 pm and the temperature plummeted. I stopped at the two mile marker aid station and warmed up for a little bit. As soon as I hit the first water obstacle, things got real. I lost my headlamp in the water and spent about 10 minutes swimming around in 32 degree water trying to find it. After that, the cold really started to set it. I started shivering and I could feel myself losing my awareness. That's when I knew I was in trouble. I pushed through to the next aid station and tried to heat up, but I just couldn't stop shivering. I decided that instead of staying in the heated tent until I got warm, I just needed to push on (this is where my decision making skills went out the window completely). There were three more water obstacles right away, and I was starting to get seriously cold. I've always had a very high tolerance for the cold. I was always the guy getting dared to jump into frozen lakes and rivers completely naked in the middle of the night in mid winter. This was a kind of cold I'd never before experienced in all the crazy things I've done. Somehow I was able to push on through some kind of subconscious determination. Honestly I don't remember much until the medical tent right after the finish line where I was treated for hypothermia and eventually disqualified.

 Climbing over the Ladder to Hell.

Smoke Chute.
A 10 foot enclosed drop to a slide out into water.

 Climbing up a rope ladder on Skidmarked.

Everest. A 12 foot slippery quarter pipe.

I gave it everything I had so I've got no regrets. I could have stopped after it started getting cold and stayed in my tent until the morning, but that's not what I went out there to do. I went to push myself harder than ever before in my life for as long as possible so I could leave feeling confident in my performance.

 Just finishing Ladder to Hell Part 2.

 Going through the Mud Mile.

 Coming across Twinkle Toes.

 Swinging from ring to ring on Hangin' Tough.

 Coming through Electroshock Therapy.

 Pulling tires on Drag King.

Sprinting up Everest.

One thing that I felt good about was not failing on a single obstacle. I never had to do one of the penalties. I was well conditioned for the obstacles, but not as well conditioned for running the ultra marathon distance. If I were to do it again, I would train a lot harder for the distance. If I'd been able to keep a faster pace through the night, I could have kept my core temperature up.

 I ate and drank a lot at each aid station, but apparently not enough.

 One lap down, getting fueled up for lap 2.

Coming across the finish line after my second lap.

The winners did 9 laps. JY Pak who won last year took first again this year. The real surprise was the second place overall finisher Amelia Boone, who finished 9 laps as well just 9 minutes behind Pak. What a beast. Third place overall was also a woman. These two women simply dominated. The top team completed six laps.  

On-course clothing/gear:

Under armor leggings

Under armor shorts

Under armor short sleeve

Under armor long sleeve

Under armor hood

Under armor storm gloves

Full wetsuit 3mm

Half wetsuit 2mm

Neoprene socks 1.5mm

Neoprene gloves 3mm

Neoprene hood 6mm

Balega running socks

Runnings shoes

Running flats

Swim cap

Waterproof headlamps x3

Strobe flashers x3

Latex gloves

Waterproof running beanie

Pit Area clothing/gear:

Tent

Sleeping bag

Handwarmers x20

First aid kit

Space blankets

Space sleeping bag

Vaseline

Sports tape

Ibuprofen

Ace bandages

AAA batteries

Blankets

Towels

Contractor garbage bags

Ziploc bags

Multi-tool knife

Glow sticks

TP

Duct tape

Waterproof watch

Warm mittens

Warm hat

Sweats

Pit Area Food:

Energy chews

Power bars

Energy gels

Canned fruit

Gatorade (one after each lap)

Protein bars (for after)

Peanut Butter and Bread

Things I wish I’d known:

1. The cold is the hardest obstacle. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE IT. 

2. Get high neoprene socks. The ankle neoprene socks kept my feet plenty warm, but they let in a lot of dirt and rocks.
3. Get 5mm neoprene gloves that are a size larger than you need. They will protect your hands from the cold and the larger size will allow for increased circulation. Take them off for the obstacles where you need a good grip like Funky Monkey and Hangin' Tough.

4. Don’t wear a shorty wetsuit over a full wetsuit. Water gets trapped between the two and keeps you cold. Bring a 5, 6, or 7mm wetsuit to wear at night.

5. Make sure your headlamp is on tight (Quite a few people lost theirs on Walk the Plank). Put it around your neck on water obstacles and cargo net crawl.

6. Eat and drink as much as you can and then more at every aid station. Eat a full meal after each lap. You can expect to burn at least 2000 calories per lap, so you need to be eating that many as well.

7. Travel a day early so that you can sleep and rest as much as possible the day and night before the race.

8. Bring a lot of warm dry clothes and a dry towel for after each lap. Get some hand warmers started before a lap so they’re hot when you make it back to your tent. Take your wetsuit off (it’s a pain, but it’ll be worth it not to get disqualified for hypothermia) and put it in a bag with some hand warmers so it is warm when you put it back on.

9. If you’re shivering, stay in one of the heated aid tents every two miles AS LONG AS IT TAKES to get your core temperature back up.

10. It is better to run at night than during the day, just to keep your core temperature up.

11. Don't expect to go farther than you trained for. If you want to do 50 miles, train to run 50 miles.
12. Where to stay: the Crowne Plaza Monroe and the Marriott Courtyard Cranbury in South Brunswick are the closest, and will give you cheap rates as well as free breakfast if you tell them you're with the race.
13. If you're flying in, rent a car.

I found myself wondering somewhere through the third lap "What in the world am I doing? I am paying a ridiculous amount of money to kill myself." I told myself after spending almost 10 hours in various hypothermic states that I would never run this race again. Now the further I get from the event, the more I want to train harder and go out and kill it next year. Maybe I never got my decision making skills back...

Every obstacle on the course filmed on a GoPro Hero.
Subscribe to the YouTube channel calebsl1.

High Spur Canyoneering

High Spur slot canyon contains the most beautiful sections of slot I've ever seen. The canyon slots up nicely right off the bat, alternates between open and slot, and finishes with a breathtaking finale.  It is a perfect canyon for beginners with relatively easy obstacles to overcome.

It is located deep within Robbers' Roost (60 miles on dirt roads and about 2 hours off the highway deep). We left Provo at 7:30 Saturday morning and got back at 11:30 at night. Total hiking time from when we left the car to when we got back to the car was six hours. We explored a few side canyons and took a few breaks including an hour break at the last rappel. If you were to hurry and just go straight through, it could possibly be done in as little as four hours.

 As far as obstacles go, there was a 15 foot drop halfway through with water at the bottom where you could rappel or just use a hand line to let yourself down. There were anchors already set up, but the webbing was in pretty bad condition. There were a few five foot downclimbs throughout, and one dry pothole in the "Corkscrew" section that was possible to escape on your own and would be a piece of cake with someone helping. Immediately preceding the final rappel was a 20 foot dryfall that we downclimbed. There were anchors in good condition that could be used to set up a quick rappel. The last rappel was over an 80 foot waterfall with two hundred foot cliffs rising around on almost all sides like an enormous silo (first picture).

High Spur is rated 3A III using the canyon rating system which means it is mostly dry in normal conditions. It hadn't rained recently, but we had to wade in ice cold water up to our chests.

Directions: (For GPS waypoints, join the circle of friends at climb-utah.com)

Take I-70 west from Green River 11 miles. Take Hwy 24 toward Goblin Valley/Lake Powell/Capitol Reef. Half a mile past the turnoff to Goblin Valley, turn left on the road signed Rooster Flats and Hans Flat Ranger Station. Go 24.3 miles to an information kiosk and turn right (south) toward Hans Flat Ranger Station. After 6.9 miles, stay left at the fork. Continue 14.2 miles to the Hans Flat Ranger Station. This last section may be passable in a passenger car but would not be easy. Once at the Ranger Station, turn left (north) toward Horseshoe Canyon. Go 12.8 miles to the signed Deadman's Trail on the left side of the road. Park here just off the road and follow the small unmarked footpath south for half a mile to the entrance to the canyon.

The exit is quite a hike. Half a mile after the last rappel, take the 4th class exit on the right side of the canyon. Once you've reached the top, work your way east cross country. You'll eventually need to climb the hills to the northeast and keep working your way northeast until you reach a 4x4 road (Deadman's Trail). Follow this road two and a half miles east back to your car.

Video courtesy of YouTube user calebsl1. 
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