Here we go, ladies and gentlemen! The Spartan Race UK season finale race review is here and what a weekend it was!
Though it’s only been four races long, it feels like it has been a long one when you consider how it’s spanned over the year, and it was coming to a climax in the UK’s most fitting venue, London South East hosted at Pippingford Park.
A course that’s renowned for being challenging. Plenty of elevation gain, plenty of very challenging terrain that has taken plenty of casualties and in October in the UK, plenty of weather considerations to take into account.
Before we get into things, if you want to catch up on how the rest of the season has been and want to see what lessons I’ve picked up along the way, you can check out:
This weekend was slightly different to the last three. Up to now, I have been competing in the UK Age Group Regional Series which comprised of races of varying distances across the season, with the three best results counting and this last race weekend being compulsory. That changed at the end of September and I decided to sacrifice by chance at winning the series for my first attempt at the Ultra whilst stepping up to Elite too.
Prior to my decision, I had done the maths and realised that I’d at least secured second place in the series and that I would have to rely on an upset of sorts to secure first place. It was split of about 50/50 between what I should do when I consulted friends and family: either I follow my heart and take on the ultra or go for gold.
Of course, standing on the top step is something that was tempting me, especially with this being my first full season in the sport. However, I had to follow my heart and open the door for a chance to take on the Ultra World Championships next year.
As to how that all ended up, I’ll tell you later.
Anyhow, let’s give you insight into how these races went, what the step up was like and the lessons from the weekend.
How Did The Races Go?
So a busier weekend this time with me taking on three races compared to the last couple weekends, where I only had one race to talk about. Two competitive races and one open wave to tackle, with a step up to Elite and the Ultra, and only 65km or so between me and an Ultrafecta.
Let’s go!
Elite Ultra
My sleep the night before wasn’t the best, I must admit. I don’t know if this was excitement or underlying nerves but overall, I was ready for the task at hand and ready to test myself mentally and physically, seeing what I could achieve.
I will concede at this point that my preparation wasn’t what it needed to be. For the last several weeks, I had been preparing to take on 21km in a Beast and now, here I am toeing the line to a 50km with only 10 days to change over.
The mind was ready but was the body? There was only one way to find out!
An earlier start than usual but all the same routine to prepare, with the added requirement to ensure that I have all of the mandatory kit, along with my nutrition and hydration all planned out and set out for me during the day. I really don’t want to get caught short on that front after having issues in past races.
My standard pre-race meal was eaten, bioenergetics were completed for my warm up and the London Nootropics Mojo was drank. I was psyched up and ready to go.
With the nature of this race, there was a bit of an extended race brief which seemed to suggest that two complete Ultra loops were conducted for the race and then there was the discussion around mandatory kit, which delayed the start by around half an hour.
Overall, not ideal but something to block out to allow the mind to stay focused on the task.
Finally, we were toeing the line and it was time to put my mental and physical capabilities to the test.
As expected, the start wasn’t as fast as you would expect with this race distance and I decided to allow my pace to settle into a comfortable breathing pattern whilst sticking with the front runners of this race.
This plan was working for me until I had my first penalty failure of the day and one that reminded me of my need to improve balance: slack line. From this moment on, I was on my own and in my own world. It wasn’t long after this that my old nemesis came back in the numb feet from a tight tib posterior.
I tried to relax and release things without stopping and eventually it subsided but there was a touch of panic entering my psyche.
Looking back, I think this is where I lost my chance at performing as well as I had been dreaming. If I had been able to stick with the front pack for longer, I think it would have given me a better chance by allowing me to concentrate on their pace and not on how I felt. I much prefer chasing someone than being on my own or being chased.
It was this want to catch up that made me rush the balance beams, not set my grip and take a little stumble, adding another minute or two between me and the front pack.
From then on, they were always just in view but pulling away at each time that I saw them and it was down to me and my own discipline with pace and moving forwards. Thankfully the tightness had released making running easier again.
The rest of the lap was me trying to catch up as much as I could, whilst managing pace so that I didn’t burn out and trying to keep the race as clean as I possibly could. This finished with me missing a spear by such a small margin and fail the multi-rig at the end of the lap, whilst I could feel an issue manifesting in my toe/foot, making downhills difficult as the toe was hitting the end of my shoe.
That’s the first loop done, with just under 29km completed. After seeing 3rd place not too far ahead prior to the transition area, I didn’t want to use up too much time here in hope that I could catch up. I took a few swigs of each of my electrolyte drinks, one with carbs and one with carbs and protein, restocked everything, grabbed an apple and headed back out on the course.
For this second lap, it didn’t start too well. Firstly, I had drank maybe a little too much of the drinks, making me feel nauseous and secondly, when it came to the first lap turn point, I was a little confused.
As I mentioned before, I thought we did the Ultra loop twice not an Ultra then Beast, thinking there was a mistake in the marking. So I ran a little down the Ultra loop but saw no tape. I came back on course and went forward then had a fear that I was going wrong and could be cheating, so went back a little. This is where 4th and 5th caught up with me and reassured me I was right but they then started to pull away from me, removing completely any advantage that I had.
I wish I could have stuck with them too but the issue with my footwear and toe was manifesting and the pace wasn’t there on declines. So I was back on my own and back in my head, concentrating on pushing where I could and getting to the finish line as quick as I could.
One of the gripes that I had with the second lap was the fact that the volunteers didn’t create a separate lane for ultra competitors amongst the open wave runners, delaying some of the obstacles. I did ask to go ahead but at times, it did end up causing from some with people at times which wasn’t ideal!
The second lap, though the running didn’t go as smoothly due to legs cramping up from lack of mileage and the pain in my foot, it was a little better with obstacles though another unusual balance beam failure and the multi-rig failure added a few more minutes on my time and nearly made me miss the minimum of a sub-6 hour time.
Crossing that line at the end was a relief as I fell to my hands and knees, body and mind tired but satisfied to have finished.
So the result at the point of crossing the line? A 6th place in my first Elite race, finishing 4 minutes behind 5th place and 22 minutes off the podium. My finishing time was 5 hours, 59 minutes and 41 seconds.
There’s a part of me that does wish I did better overall and feels like I could have, if I didn’t have that early penalty loop. A slightly cleaner race could’ve meant that I finished in the top five. But I do have to take into consideration that this is my first time stepping up to the Elite level as well as not having the right preparation for this distance.
So to summarise I think I am content with how I performed and the result that I got, given the circumstances, and will take away many lessons for future ultras.
As for the results of the UK Regional Series, it was decided in my absence that I were to finish second. A fair result and one that I’m content with. There’s always going to be a slight “what if” about what would have happened had I raced but I’ll take it for a first full season in the sport. Congratulations go to Liam Mitchell for achieving the first place, especially in the face of all him difficulties with injury this season, it was a well deserved result, and to Albert Faltynowski for being a very close third place.
Age Group Super
Initially, this weekend was going to be a normal Trifecta weekend, competing in the Age Group Beast and Super, going for gold in both of them to add to the medal collection.
When I changed my approach to the weekend, though I was going to give it my all try and sneak a podium maybe, the way my body felt that morning was telling me something very different.
Being honest with you, when I checked my tickets the night before I was hoping that there weren’t any so I could spend the day resting.
Sadly, I was wrong!
Adrenaline and my London Nootropic Mojo got me pumped up for the race, shutting out the pain and allowing me to go for it for at least the first mile. I actually thought that maybe I could sneak on to the podium after all! That feeling soon ran out and with it, the speed went and was replaced by the pain coming back with a vengeance. It became what fellow Age Group competitor Megan Tranter coined “completing not competing”. There were moments that I only had fumes in the tank, both mentally and physically.
The overall result was 7th place, finishing 13 minutes off of 3rd place but that was all that was in the tank that morning and yet, I still had a Sprint to complete that afternoon.
Open Sprint
To give you insight into how non-competitive this run was going to be, even with chance of winning some MyProtein vouchers for getting the fastest time on the timed section, I’ll tell you what happened when I went for a sleep next to my car between races. Finally dropping off, after struggling due to the overall feeling I had in my body, when I awoke I had seized into the position that I’d dropped off in. This left me having to re-enact the scene from Wolf of Wall Street with the Lamborghini, using my door hand and steering wheel to drag myself up.
The only thing that I wanted to do was to get through and even that was a struggle. The soreness in the legs was setting in badly and walking was becoming a struggle, never mind running!
With it being the slowest 5km that I’ve done in a long time taking me 1 hour 9 minutes, the concentration was on practicing my obstacles when in a fatigued state and improving my mental resilience of getting through it whilst in so much discomfort.
I can tell you that I definitely achieved the latter part!
What was annoying is that in this race, I managed to nail the hardest things like the spear and multi-rig but when it mattered in the ultra, I had a success rate of 1/2 and 0/2 respectively.
Anyhow, the relief when I crossed the line and knew the Ultrafecta was over was nearly overwhelming but I held myself together and started the mission back to my car.
I won’t tell you how long it actually took me. I’d like to keep some dignity.
Lessons Learnt
By taking on a new challenge like the Ultra and stepping up to the next level from Age Group to Elite, as you can imagine, I was able to learn a lot both as I was running around and upon reflection afterwards. There were lessons being picked up as I completed the Super and Sprint too but they mainly looped back to the fact I did the ultra.
Did I mention that I did an ultra this weekend?
Sometimes You Have To Follw Your Heart
It wasn’t an easy decision to decide to take on the ultra and sacrifice my potential first place finish in the regional series. It took a lot of time to consider as to what was the right option. Overall it was a risk to attempt to try and get glory in the ultra when I hadn’t had optimal preparation knowing that the regional series was decided in my absence and had one very likely outcome.
When I consulted friends and family I received mixed responses which didn’t help the situation. But what swayed it for me was the fact that my heart was telling me to go to the ultra. The prospect of an ultramarathon is what was getting me excited about the sport and with that opportunity to compete in the Ultra World Championships next year, I had to follow my heart.
Sometimes we can have the conflict internally between our mind and our heart, but I feel going with what the heart dictates, or what some would suggest is instinct, is the best way to go for our own satisfaction. If you are really unsure, the best way to decide what instinct/the heart is saying, is to flip a coin and you’ll have a sudden hope for one side to land over the other. That’s what you want to listen to.
Don't Settle; Set New Goals
One of the influences for me to make the decision that I did was knowing that I have goals both in the ultra discipline and stepping up to Elite next year. With the chance that came about, it gave me an opportunity to see where I am now in comparison to those goals and not just settle on the Age Group category.
I felt in myself that I was more than capable enough to compete at the Age Group level for the ultra if I were to look at the results from last year. So for me, it only seemed right for me to test myself against the best and start looking ahead to the challenges I want to set myself next year.
I don’t want to settle and I want to keep striving to be the best athlete that I can be and to do that, I have to keep testing myself against the best. Of course, there’s an element of not going too fast too soon and demoralising yourself by stepping up too fast so it has be done at a sensible time. Too late though and you could do the same, causing yourself to stagnate.
Mind Over Matter
This weekend showed me that mind over matter is something that is true. There were plenty of instances where I had to put mind over matter to get me through to the end.
In the ultra I saw myself having to deal with a toe/foot issue, having to run on my own and manage my pace with discipline, and battle through cramps in my legs making it hard to get to the finish line.
Then for the Sunday races, I had to battle it out with my own mind to get me through the Super and even more so the Sprint. However, I was able to win this battle and proved that mind over matter is what truly prevails.
With that lesson, I was able to prove to myself what I can do when in a tired and uncomfortable state, which I can then use in the future as my “cookie jar” (thanks to David Goggins) to draw upon and power me through the next challenge that I struggle with.
What's Next?
The Spartan Race UK season may be over but the racing isn’t over for me. I’ve still got my two biggest races of the year to come. I will firstly be returning to Sparta for the Trifecta World Championships to give a better showing than last year’s 10th in my Age Group and see what I can achieve. If you want to read about what that entails, you can check out my thoughts on the event from last year here.
The fun doesn’t stop there though! In December, it’s time to return to Abu Dhabi to see if I can achieve a better result at the World Championships this year. If you want to see how last year’s edition went, I have good news for you as there’s a review of that race weekend too, which you can see here.
The first thing on the agenda though is a rest/deload week before we build back up for those championships. It’s needed, trust me!
AROO!
Interested in reading more of my content? Whether it be about sporting endeavours, ways to improve your health and lifestyle, or some inspiration on where to travel next, then be sure to check out some of the other articles that I’ve written by clicking on the tabs at the top of the page or the links around this post.
More of a visual person? Don’t worry, I’ve got you. Head over to my Instagram where you can get more of an insight into my life and other things I’m interested, with the occasional spontaneous wisdom drop. An added bonus will be that you’ll have your finger on the pulse for when I post my future blogs. There’s also Facebook and Twitter if that’s more your cup of tea.
