2019 Spartan Greek Peak Sprint

 Race: 2019 Greek Peak Sprint - Cortland, NY

March 9th, 2019

Time: 52:04

Place: 6th in AG


Pre-Race Conditions:

Didn’t write one this time! But hockey has taken some toll on my legs the last couple weeks from some fluke injuries. 

 

Race Recap:

Going into the race about 70% with some sore calves was going to make this interesting. The race was 3.7 miles with 1026 feet of gain and 1046 feet of descent that averages to +9.8% grade with the max climb of 34% and a section of descent in the 54% range

In true Spartan fashion we started the race right uphill with a 400’ climb in the first ⅓ of a mile then a nice technical downhill on single track with ankle to shin deep snow. I started hard off the line fighting to position myself in a good place when the power hiking started and keep a good spot for the upcoming fun downhill so I could open up. Sitting in about 30th up the climb and making a few passes. With about 20’ left I started back running and got up to speed on the short section of road. Just in time to dip into the downhill and it was spectacular. The soft snow allowed us to open up and use it to brake. Some more passes flying down and into the last small section of single track. 

The next section of the course was relatively flat mixed with hard pack and loose snow. Here we hit hurdles, 5’ wall then an all ring MultiRig before the barbed wire crawl, plate drag, atlas carry and rope climb. All a breeze. It was just a fun obstacle sequence and good to see Marshalls enforcing the rules that everything must go through an obstacle with you. A short fast run up to  the sandbag / bucket carries that were pretty much back to back. Power hiked with that 50lb sandbag up some undulating terrain and a short run over to the bucket. Not a brutal carry and I was able to make up some ground on the guys ahead of me. Which is amazing with my normal struggles with carries. I lost one position on the sandbag but got it back on the run only to lose it again on the bucket then regain it right back on the run. Those guys were beat up from that bucket. 

Now we started a longer run with a slight uphill. I settled back in and made some passes.  

I figured at this point I had the be in podium contention. It was hard to tell with us catching the Women’s Elite and both age groups in our heat. The other guys were struggling with the run and I was pushing but still pretty comfortable knowing we had the monkey bars, zwall, Herc and spearman before the last hard climb and descent. Just don’t mess up was going through my mind. Zwall has given me issues before but this time was no problem and I’ve never failed Herc. If only the same could have been said about the spear. I got there pretty well controlled. Lined up, a deep breath and threw. Too back heavy and I grazed off the top of the target. A couple quick expletives and to the pit. 30 burpees and 90 seconds later I was redlined about a ¼ mile earlier than I planned. I took off hiking and jogging trying to recover. And did pretty well until the climb where I was toast. This is where I had planned to give it everything. I pushed up as hard as I could and then another amazing ankle deep snow technical downhill. A couple more passes here trying to catch the guy I’ve been chasing all race. He hit the slip wall about 15 feet before me I had closed a 200 foot gap from when we started the climb. Mostly in that downhill of 50%. I had a bobble at the top of the slip wall making the transition and lost a few second. Over and down for the sprint over the fire jump and to the finish right behind him. 

Good enough for 6th place. I needed to shave 3:11 off my time to hit the podium. 90+ seconds was in those burpees. 

 

The Bad:

That F@$king spear. It needs some practice. I went after the race and practiced on a second cool down lap of the course. Missed that time too. After 30 burpees for that lap I started throwing for practice and after a rocky start my average was getting pretty good. Confidence building but It's definitely going to be on my mind going into the NJ Ultra in 7 weeks. 

Still need to get better at uphills. 

 

The Good:

First race of the year and I was hanging in AG podium contention with a couple of nagging calfs. It could have been a whole lot worse for a first race. The trail running and strength workouts seems to be helping for these climbs and carries. 


Moral of the Story:

This race was exactly what I needed a B training race to prepare for the big one. I got what I needed. I have some work to do to prepare for NJ on the carries and get some spear practice and confidence. Successful weekend. 





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