Finally, we are back! The UK Spartan Race season is back up and running, coming back with a bang with the first race of the season at the London West event, hosted at Henley-on-Thames. This marked the start of my first full season as an Age Group competitor after my successes last year and sudden thrust into a few championships. If you want to catch up on what exactly I’m talking about, you can read how 2022 went for me right here.
For those of you that are still here and haven’t gone to read up on last year’s antics (and for those of you have just come back), let’s get into the swing of things.
Expectations For The Season
Let me set the scene for you as to the sort of season that I want so that both you and I can judge how I’m doing in comparison. After setting a good baseline last year, it was time for me to build upon that. With one podium and a few top tens at championship level, I had a few goals for the season:
- To achieve at least one race win
- Finish on the podium of the UK Regional Series for Age Group 25-29
- Top 5 placing at the European Championships for Age Group 25-29
- Top 5 placing at the Trifecta World Championships for Age Group 25-29
- Top 5 placing at the World Championships for Age Group 25-29
- Finish the year in a condition that will give me the opportunity to move up to Elite level
So, nothing too major really in the grand scheme of things, right? I feel though that these are both realistic if I put in the effort whilst being of a high enough standard to test my capabilities as the year goes on. Don’t worry, I won’t make you try and remember these, I’ll likely put a reminder in every blog and update the list if I manage to achieve any of them.
How Did The Races Go
So the format this year will be me talking about how each of the races went, giving a bit of an insight of what was going down in the heat of the battle out on course and what the end result was for me. Based on the nature of some of the Open Wave races, with no disrespect to them, I will only be talking about the competitive races.
Beast - Age Group
Though I was entering the Age Group race, my intent was to go into it with a “take it easy” mindset. All I wanted to do was use it as a practice run for the Saturday when it comes to technique, dust off the cobwebs from not competing and get used to being in that flow of run, obstacle, run through the race.
Well, that plan survived the grand total of about of about 60 seconds…
The go ahead was given to us by the main man Spartan Phil and we were off, settling into a nice pace and making sure that my adrenaline didn’t get the best of me. Though it did with me trying to go over a wall with the completely wrong leg and looking like a fool… Race rust obviously.
After the first few obstacles, the field spread out and it seemed that there was one fellow runner who was going to give me a good test and boy, did he! Little did I know that this was his first ever Spartan race and that usually he was a road runner but it was showing at least in the running sections, with him sticking on my shoulder the whole time, occasionally pulling out some distance. This became more pronounced when my number feet and tendinitis started rearing its ugly head.
However, the training on the obstacles and experience meant that I was able to catch up that time on obstacles, sometimes overtaking again during them.
This tussle went on for pretty much the whole race until we were in the home stretch back to the finish line, with some of the firm favourites lined up: bucket carry, spear throw, rope climb and monkey bars. This is where (thankfully!) things moved in my favour and I was able to stretch out what ended up being a 6 minute or so gap to second place. There were some failures in that final stretch such as the spear (shock…) and the multi-rig, leaving with some lessons to learn but that feeling to come across the line in 1st place and getting that maiden win… Oh it was lovely! And already, I was looking at the next time that I could feel it again.
One thing that really did surprise me was that my time would have translated to a top 10 finish in the Elite race! Though, I note that the field was probably a bit lighter than usual with the Regional Series being all about the Super that weekend.
First race of the year and managed to tick off one of my goals, whilst it looked like I was in a good way for another way. Clearly the off season was good to me and the work that I’d put in was working.
Super - Age Group UK Regional Series
I must admit, when I first woke up, I didn’t think that this race was going to be happening. I could look past the DOMS, that’s standard for a Trifecta weekend. I could look past the tiredness that I was feeling from a bad night’s sleep due to a friction burn on my back. However, what I couldn’t look past is the swollen ankle that I was struggling to put weight on. That was a really worry for me and was leaving me thinking if running was a good idea.
I’ll cut a long story short and let you know that, once I was up and moving, morning routine done and at the race site, it was feeling a little better and knew that I could grind my way through a 10km.
Toeing the start line, the field was a little more stacked than the day before meaning they were fresher and I would have a better gauge on how my season was looking with the competition on offer.
Spartan Phil said those famous words and we were off! First thing that was better for me was my ability to get over a wall without looking like an idiot (small wins here)…
The field settled down and though I tried to keep up with first place, I wasn’t able to put the full speed on due to the fatigue and ankle (I know, excuses, excuses…), so tried keeping him in my sights for as long as I could before eventually he was out of sight. This left me in a bit of no man’s land for most of the race, with no target to active target to chase nor anyone to keep me true.
Into the final third, I did get a bit of a scare when what ended up being the 1st place guy from the Age Group below (though I didn’t know if he was in my Age Group) started closing in and though I attempted to up the gears, there was nothing in the tank to shift up a level. I mentally settled with 2nd place, noted some lessons for next time and made sure to make the most of my time on course.
Crossing the line in 2nd place when in the condition that I was, though hoping for the top step of the podium, boosted my confidence that this year I was going to be able to hit that goal concerning being on the podium for the UK Regional Series. I did however, note that the person I duelled with the day before wasn’t competing, which may change the complexion of things in the future.
Overall, a successful weekend to start things off but I best make sure that I sort myself out for the future so that the package is better in quality and condition so that it doesn’t crumble so much after one race.
Lessons Learnt From The Weekend
As always from a Race weekend, there are lessons to be learnt to ensure that I am better in the future and can be useful for you too so that you can learn from the mistakes, just without having to make the same mistake yourself. It allows me to reflect and put into words the various lessons so I process them more and if relevant, track any changes, improvements or places where I’m lacking as I look back across previous race weekends.
Actually Training For The Sport
It turns out that when you train specifically for the sport you are competing in, it can result in actual improvements in your results and times! Who would have thought? This year, I have been focusing on actually getting a better at my cardiovascular fitness by throwing in a variety of training sessions, even though it was strong before. Alongside this, and more importantly, I have been making sure that my obstacle technique has been improved through going to OCR gyms. This has improved my efficiency and speed of certain obstacles that I’ve had issues with, which may seem like little time gains but when you’re adding them up over 20-30 obstacles, you can start shaving a minute or two off your overall time.
A positive lesson learnt!
Prioritising Races
This one is going to be a hard one to manage and resist. I love racing, completing courses and collecting those medals and t-shirts. However, I’m going to have to resist. If I want to give my all to the UK Regional Series, I’m going to have to go into any race as fresh as possible to have the best chance of finishing on the top spot of the podium. With the level of competition, I really can’t afford to take fatigue or anything picked up from the day before into those races. Trying to race with tendinitis in my ankle and very sore legs meant that the performance shown was subpar.
So based on that, if there are any races before the UK Regional Race, I’m going to have to resist the urge to take part.
Dealing With Injuries & Imbalances
This is something that I’m pretty sure I put at the end of every race weekend review from last year, and by its inclusion this time, it’s clearly not something that I paid attention to during the off season. Yet, I was let paying the price for not doing the work as much as I could have. I have incorporated chiropractor work and sports massage therapy to bring my body into better state overall, which has been a start. However, the key is going to be the work that I do in my own time to ensure that firstly, that’s not a waste of money, and secondly, makes me more resilient to injuries.
Sometimes that fact I’m able to work through the pain isn’t for my own good and leave me in a situation where things are much worse and then I get into a bit of a slump from being injured and losing momentum. This ends up affecting all areas of my life but that’s going to be a topic of another blog about injuries, how to approach them and some tips on getting through them whilst balancing training and recovery.
For this one, that wraps things up for now. Short and sweet, in comparison to some of my other pieces that I’ve written! If you took something away from this, great to hear, but if you just enjoyed the read, amazing too!
If you’re new around here and enjoyed this Spartan Race based content, I would recommend you checking out my other Spartan related blogs, in particular those that tell you everything you need to know about the international championships that are on offer. I had the pleasure of being able to compete the European, Trifecta World and World Championships last year so these posts would be perfect for you to get an insight into these events if you have never been to one. What’s on offer doesn’t stop there though with an array of other topics covered under the other headings at the top of the page or in the suggested posts around this one.
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