Saturday Super - U.S. Nationals Series Race
We had visited the race venue the day before the race weekend, to see some of the new obstacles, and were pleasantly surprised to find the grass and sand were firm and fairly dry. During our time in Florida, the weather had been abnormally wet, windy and cool. We were grateful to be missing cold winter and heavy snowfall back in Utah.But hiding around the edges of this course would be plenty of mud and water. Miles of it, in fact. As I stood waiting for my wave to start, the fog deepened and became a light mist. The monkey bars, visible on the only (man-made) hill on the whole flat course, immediately became a burpee maker for the racers ahead of me. I shivered in the sudden cool, and listened to another set of "I am a Spartan!" chants from the starting wave. Please, please let the sky clear up!
Familiar faces were around me in my women's only Age Group wave. We exchanged hellos and the inevitable clothing choice discussions. I tried not to notice the holes in the womans' shorts ahead of me...one more rip from the barbed wire and they might not be decent anymore!
Still thick fog at our start, and a fast mile over some hay bales and manmade motorcross jumps spread out the crowd. I fell in to my usual 10th place or so, waiting for the racers ahead of me to make a mistake. At the monkey bars, everyone was slipping off left and right, and I had little hope of being different. I grabbed the first rung, then the second. Somehow my grip held. I still have no idea how, but slowly I got across and rung the bell. The burpee pit was full of all the leaders. I could see no one ahead of me! It felt absolutely amazing. They would catch me up later, but the feeling of accomplishment remained.The water in the mud pits was bathwater warm. Then came the heavy sandbag and bucket carries. Suddenly the trail darted into the woods and through the swamp. It would be the first section of miles of swamp walking. Some sections were waist deep stagnant rivers. Often it was ankle deep mud so thick that I'm sure a few people got their shoes stolen, never to be found. I wondered why Spartan had bothered to dig a mud hump obstacle...there were plenty of other mud humps!
The mist remained and I did burpees for missing the spear, and then more right away for slipping off the wet rings. Doh. After a few more miles of trudging through flooded swamp trails, I slipped off a wet Olympus. More burpees. Near the end was a short section through a lake. It never got more than chest deep and I desperately wanted to swim and wash off the mud and cool off. But I knew the Beater was coming and kept my hands high and dry above the water. My favorite new obstacle instantly became the Beater, where I got to swing like a trapeze artist on something that looked like a monkey bar, only it swung. I loved it. Luckily the air had dried out enough to make this possible. Cha-ching...passed a couple of women that has passed me in the mud. With the end in sight I didn't let them see me again, and finished a decent 6th in my Age Group at the first of five National Series races this season. 8.4 miles in 2:04, 90 burpees and lots of mud, which in the end I really enjoyed. I was just glad that the first heats had scared away the alligators and snakes from the course!Sunday Sprint
The sprint course kept the best of the dry flat running and eliminated a lot of muddy sections from the day before. I was sad to see the Beater go, but it was happy to not do the Olympus again. I really hate that thing! This time the weather was clear and dry and the temperature was perfect. I'm really trying to be more efficient on every obstacle this year, to save seconds where I can. After watching the Elite women, I decided today was my day to jump far into the water at the mud humps rather than creeping slowly across. I saved a few seconds there, but saved more whole minutes by having a burpee-free race. At the finish I had passed everyone in sight, and ended up 3rd in my Age Group.
Jim was doing his first Spartan Super this weekend, and his first Super/Sprint combo. We had been doing plenty of running to train for it, and for his upcoming 50k, but our obstacle training hadn't been as good as usual, being away from home and out on the road. We would both be a little sore afterwards from the obstacles and burpees. Jim felt really good on the Super, and said that was more mud than he had ever seen or walked through in his whole life. Our biggest accomplishment was keeping our shoes on our feet, really! Psychologically it was easier to do the shorter race on the second day, but of course we were a little more sore and tired, too.
The most crowded part of the venue was the wash station after the finish. With everyone splatting burpees in the mud and splashing black goo everywhere, even getting in the car to go home and shower was impossible. If you valued your vehicle, anyway! Every hose was being used all day long, and hopefully everyone remembered to bring a towel to dry off with!
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