2014 Trifecta Tribe Status Earned

When I ran my first Tough Mudder last year, as soon as I crossed the finish line I thought, “I need a bigger challenge.” Coming from only having done a couple of Warrior Dashes before Tough Mudder, I had initially been nervous about the 10+ mile distance and being able to run much of it on a mountain. When it went well, I decided there was no sense in holding myself back anymore. I was going to go big in 2015. I was going to earn my Spartan Trifecta finishing with the badass Vermont Beast.

The day in January that I registered for Vermont, I willed my fingers to do all the typing without letting my mind talk me out of the commitment I was about to make. I hit the submit button and let it sink in. There was no going back, and I was going to prepare.

I ran three sprints from spring to summer: Citifield with my amazing Under Armour sisters, Blue Mountain in Palmerton, PA with another one of my Under Armour sisters and her husband, and then Boston where I ran alone and had an incredibly strong race. In the midst of all of this, I also ran two Tough Mudders because they are insanely fun and I figured the hill training couldn’t hurt. I had come a long way from the summer of 2013 where I feared the unknown rather than embracing it.

I had initially planned to run the new Boston Spartan Super, but when I received word that it would be moved to 2015 vs. the fall of 2014, it almost ruined my trifecta plans. Thankfully, the New Jersey Super fit into my schedule and was a reasonable 4.5 hour drive away. This was going to be my first real test of the summer and it was going to set the tone for how I would feel taking on my first Beast two weeks later.

New Jersey was hilly from the start. I remember making it to the mile 2 sign and thinking, “It’s only been 2 miles?” As I stopped at the first water station, I took in a salt tablet and a Gu energy gel. That’s all it took, and I was off like a shot for the mile 3 trail run. I’m not a true runner by nature. I have rarely experienced anything like a runner’s high, but on this day, I was running happily through the woods of New Jersey. There were times I was alone on the trail and all I could hear was my breathing and the soft pounding of my feet on the ground. I knew I was making good time and I had plenty of energy left for what was the come.

Other highlights of my first Super were the 4 obstacles in a row that burned me out temporarily. There was the bucket brigade with the steepest hill I’d ever encountered before during that obstacle. My grip was going after the uphill, and I wanted to get it over with, so I actually jogged down the hill with my bucket to finish. Immediately after that was the traverse wall which I’ve never once failed and am becoming faster at. Then right after that was the rope climb. I had to push myself, but I completed it successfully and moved right on to the spear throw/burpee maker. I missed like usual, and paid my only burpee penalty of the day. I needed to recover after that, and I let myself start walking the next uphill. As soon as it leveled out, I jogged again. The rest of the race was fantastic and I finished 6th in my age group and a whopping 39 minutes faster than I had planned on. I knew I was ready for Vermont.

One of the obstacles that stuck in my mind from attending the Sprint at the Spartan Race World Championships last year was the epic sandbag carry I witnessed. I bought myself a sandbag trainer with the capacity to hold anywhere from 15-75lbs depending on how you load it up with smaller bags inside. I loaded it with 45lbs and I took walks with it around town. I climbed hills, ran up and down stairs, climbed bleachers with it, and practiced throwing it up and over my shoulders multiple times. It was also a great tool for weighted squats and lunges to get my legs ready for all the climbing I was going to be doing.

September 20th arrived. It was 46 degrees out at the bottom of Killington and the sun wasn’t making an appearance. I was dressed in thin compression capris and a long sleeve top with the smallest Camelbak I could find that held 70oz of water. I managed to cram 7 Gu Gels, 10 salt tablets, a sharpie, some TP, some salted peanuts, and 3 Cliff Bars into it with a full water bladder. If I had it to do over, I would have left the peanuts and added one more Cliff Bar because the peanuts didn’t survive the water crossing in their ziploc bag.

I couldn’t tell you the order of obstacles at Killington without looking at a map. I just know that I was happy to see that the swim was early, about mile 4 because I was most nervous about that one no being sure how my body would handle the water temperature during and after. After listening to a speech from a volunteer about how you could take a 60 burpee penalty to skip the swim, and that if you were going to attempt it, they were advising even the best swimmers to use PFDs because the water was so cold, I knew I was there to try everything, so I was going to play it safe and wait for a PFD. When it was clear it would be awhile to get one, I decided to go without and I entered the water with a few more racers. The initial immersion took my breath away for a second, but as soon as I started moving, I was comfortable. I made it to the ladder, climbed up, rang the first bell, and then started the tarzan swing portion of the obstacle. I touched the third rope before falling off, but I was glad I tried. After warming up with 30 burpees on shore, it was time to get back in the water and walk along the shore line. If my feet left the water, it was 30 burpees. The line of people was barely moving, my feet were starting to feel like blocks of ice, so I decided to swim it with a few more people. I was already wet, the swimming made me warmer, and it was over in a minute.

It was happy running, climbing, a bucket brigade, and some other stuff for awhile. I remember at mile 7 still feeling really good and being almost sad that it was about half over because I had worked so hard, and the anticipation of something is often the majority of the fun. I promised myself I would be in the moment and really enjoy what I was out there to do. Thus all of the photos of me smiling while carrying awkward heavy things.

I kept hydrating. I took in 2-3 cups of water at every water station (roughly every 2 miles). I only sipped from my pack during some of the intense climbs when I thought it would be smart. I ate a Gel and had a salt tablet every hour. I saved my 3 Cliff Bars for mile 7 to the end. It felt good to have protein and I could eat while I was climbing and not waste time.

Then came the sandbag carry. The bags were roughly 45-50 lbs (less than last year I hear!). I threw one over my shoulders, got it settled and balanced on my upper back, and started the long steep climb. That hill was complete carnage. The grass was ripped up, people were sitting down next to their bags, people were dragging their bags or doing a combination of dragging and then carrying. I didn’t want to waste any energy. I put one foot in front of the other and only stopped to rest for a few seconds at a time when the burning in my quads became too intense. I thought the downhill would be easier, but it was just as hard because of the grade of the hill and the slick mud on the trail. I took care not to roll an ankle and I finished safely. From what I hear, that obstacle was the breaking point for a lot of racers this year. I was proud of myself for never putting my sandbag down and for never complaining.

The end of the Beast was obstacle packed. I hadn’t used my upper body too much in the first 3/4 of the race, but that changed drastically near the end. The burnout was quick, and I found myself doing burpees upon burpees. The funny thing is, usually burpees are what wear me out more than the obstacles. I was so set at that point in the race on moving forward, that the burpees were just something in my way preventing me from doing that. Tired as I was, I was banging them out, every single one chest to ground because I was motivated to reach the finish line.

There was this new custom obstacle made for Spartan by a company called Platinum Rig that looked like it was something from American Ninja Warrior. On a nice day without the threat of 30 burpees, I would love to play on it. I amazed myself that I managed to make it through the rings, the very thick rectangular monkey bars, and then swinging monkey bars before my feet slid off the rope near the end.

There was a tall wall, probably the tallest one in my Spartan history. In my fatigued state, I couldn’t even reach the top while jumping off of one of the kickers that the women are allowed to use. Thankfully, a couple of awesome Spartan ladies saw me struggling and told me, “We’re going to get you over this wall.” And they did. They gave me enough of a lift that I could get my hands on the top edge and pull myself up and over.

The rest is a blur. Barbed wire, mud, dunk wall, easy Hurculean Hoist, uneven monkey bars too slippery to grip with my mud-covered hands, and then the last uphill and downhill before that glorious fire jump and finish line. I was tearing up as one of the volunteers handed me my medals and she asked if I needed a hug. My big goal was complete. My trifeca was earned, and I finished my first Beast in 7.5 hours placing in the top 8% and 9% for gender and age. The official mileage from Spartan was 14.5 miles, but enough GPS data from various people on the course averages out to ~16.2 miles on a very steep and unforgiving mountain.

Having had time to really reflect in the weeks since, I am proud of how I handled myself during all of my races this year. There has a been a progression in my attitude and my ability to surpass mental barriers. I used to allow myself to walk more when I was winded, or I’d let the fear psych me out of focusing well on a new obstacle. Now I think of the end result and how sometimes just pushing myself to jog a little vs. walk is enough to save a few seconds here and there. I find myself strategizing to save time where I can like filling my bucket up faster, or sizing up the people in front of me at the traverse wall to be sure I end behind someone else who is quick and won’t slow me down. It all adds up. I find my second wind faster when I force myself to snap out of recovery mode. There’s a voice telling me I can do it even in situations where I really don’t know because it’s something I have never tried before. There’s a no quit there that wasn’t there before. It has been a fantastic year and it’s not over yet.