Am I A Spartan

Am I A Spartan?

For those who have been following me over the past almost year, you know that I am on a mission to become a healthier version of myself and also to challenge the way that I am showing up as a husband and father. I will link a few of my past articles here so that you can catch up!

https://medium.com/@adam_57113/big-guy-walking-e1cc247f5422?source=post_page-----39673a052f8c--------------------------------

https://medium.com/@adam_57113/why-do-we-want-to-improve-9a6aa11c4d74?source=post_page-----39673a052f8c--------------------------------

https://medium.com/@adam_57113/the-ongoing-battle-against-laziness-afc266db94e6?source=post_page-----39673a052f8c--------------------------------

https://medium.com/@adam_57113/fake-it-til-you-make-it-c79ba5f03d99?source=post_page-----39673a052f8c--------------------------------

I am writing this overview of my experience at my first Spartan event so that I can express how it went for me and what I now know that I need to improve on, but I am also writing this for guys like me who are and have been out of shape but are working on it and maybe are thinking about trying a spartan event.

So a few months back, I registered for a Spartan 10K Super at Blue Mountains, ON and it was held this past weekend. Blue Mountains is a ski resort near Collingwood, ON, and is about a 7 hour drive from where I live.

On Saturday morning at 4AM, my wife and I loaded the kids in the truck and headed for a Spartan race. After a couple of light stops (gas, lunch, and trampoline park) we were at the Village by 2:00PM. We stayed at the Blue Mountain Inn Resort which I recommend if you plan to do one of the Blue Mountains Spartan events next year - it is close proximity to everything, is clean and reasonably priced. Also, it has a nice pool and a bunch of outdoor hot tubs.

On Sunday morning at 6AM, I went to registration to grab my packet for the race and also grabbed my 5 year old sons packet (he ran the kids race). I will say that is is impressive to see the well oiled machine that is Spartan. Lots of volunteers and staff and just a huge presence in general. After I got my stuff, I headed back to the hotel to get ready. My race was at 7:45AM, so I was sure to be back to the start line for 7:30AM. I will admit that for someone who doesn’t do alot of this stuff and who has never done a Spartan event, it was intimidating. Just a lot of people, and music, and anticipation.

I waited at the Start Line for a few minutes and chatted it up with some of the others (everyone was really friendly). My wife and kids cheered me on from the start line which was cool to see.

And we were off! Once we were underway, it started to dawn on me that I was getting into something that was way over my head. 10 months and 90+lbs ago, I would have never envisioned myself participating in any spartan event - especially not a 10K Super.

So for starters, I was only able to overcome 17/25 obstacles. I knew that I would struggle with alot of the upper body obstacles like the rope climb and the bars but I thought I would stand a chance against at least one of them - I was wrong. All of the upper body obstacles crushed me. I think it was the bender where I tore a chunk of skin off my hand trying to complete it. Besides, my 250+lb body was too heavy and my arms weren’t properly trained to get me past those obstacles - I know what to train for next time though. I am going to break down each of the obstacles, and how I found them to be and how I will be better prepared for next year. I am going to do that in separate articles though, so watch for that.

Aside from the obstacles, the hiking was hard. We went up and down the mountain a handful of times and it made my legs burn - in fact they are still burning, but to be honest, the hiking wasn’t the challenging part. I am thankful that I walk a ton as part of my day to day and sometimes even walk with a 60LB weighted vest, all of which ultimately prepared me for the hills. They still sucked - but I got through it because I was somewhat prepared.

I plan to do another event in 2025 and plan to take what I learned from this one and train accordingly so I can improve the amount of obstacles I can complete. Some of this will include, shoring up my nutrition to drop a minimum of 30 pounds in the next year, daily pushups, incorporate pullups into my fitness routine, incorporate more rowing into my fitness routine. I am sure that as I dive into each obstacle more, I will be able to attack each one specifically - I know there are a ton of videos and programs out there relating to these obstacles.

All in all, my first Spartan experience was a 10/10. I was nervous but I went into it knowing that there would be some obstacles I wouldn’t succeed at so my mind was in a good place. I watched some of the obstacles on youtube on Saturday before the event and I can say that a lot of them are way harder than they look on youtube and so is the hike. But it's worth it. If I could do it again, I would have looked at the obstacles more and tried to study technique and how to prepare for them better, but that is about it as far as regrets.

I am a dad. I am not in awesome physical condition, I am still overweight, pushing 40 and my diet still needs a chin check now and again. I work full time, have young kids and my wife works shift work. Last year at this time, I was drinking too much and weighed over 340lbs. Fast forward to now, I am around 250Lbs and haven’t drank since December. I’m saying that to say this - if you know you need to make some changes, now’s the time - get after it. There will always be an excuse why we can’t do something and there will always be a better time to start something, don’t listen to any of that - start now. If my average ass can do it, you can too. Don’t wait until January 1 because that won’t last! Start now and get ahead of all that new years resolution hype.

So, back to my question — Am I A Spartan? I feel like one. Do I have a lot to learn and ton of training to do before my next? Absolutely.