The Road to Sparta Part 1
This past weekend was the Midwest Super Spartan Race, and team Forteza was out in force. The Super Spartan is an 8+ mile race (this year ended up being 9 miles) through grueling terrain, including plenty of hills, and of course an insane amount of mud. There were also close to 30 obstacles, ranging from rope climbing, to army crawling under barbwire, and swimming across an ice cold pool of grimy water. It’s no wonder that the Super Spartan only has a 69% completion rate!
Forteza had twelve brave Spartans who signed up for the challenge. Team leaders Keith and Jesse had two Spartan runs under their belts, but for most of the team, this would be their first mud run. Some were seasoned athletes; others had never run more than a mile or two in their lives! However, no matter their original fitness level, everyone really stepped up their training in the month leading up to the Spartan.
Alison, Erin, and Vader fighting hard to make it up the hill!
Three weeks before the race, Jesse and Keith decided to put together a mini Spartan Race of their own. Lacking the required mud, they opted instead to challenge all of the Spartans by making everyone complete the course with kettlebells strapped to their backs! The guys had to take 35lbs bells; the ladies were allowed 25lbs or lighter. The run was a three mile course, with monkey bars, parallel bars, pull-ups, and more. All of which was done with the kettlebells strapped on their backs!
After the last round of weighted hill sprints.
In the spirit of crying in training so that we laugh in battle, the course ended with eight rounds of hill sprints. Having the extra weight made this a real challenge, but everyone dug deep and made it through all eight rounds.
With only a couple weeks left before the race, it was time to put the finishing touches on the training regimen…..
The Spartan team after a fun day of running, climbing, crawling, and hill sprints.
Forteza Fitness and Personal Training 