Spartan Race - 5k Obstacle Course Race

**braveheart** · 01-23-2012, 12:06 AM

i cant believe people are paying for this kind of self-torture/abuse.

im tired just thinking about running 5 k

**inferno** · 01-23-2012, 01:53 AM

sweet thanks for the input. Will definitely have to get a new pair of shoes soon. Was just looking at the Vibram 5 finger and cant figure out if they are gimmick or not. If not itd be awesome cause i used to love sprinting on bare feet when i was a kid. It didnt matter grass or asphalt.

Already got my eyes on crossfit. Love the workouts and the amount of knowledge available there, but the comments are BRUTAL. Makes my attempts look like child play.
Cant wait to run on sand once summer comes.

If anybody wants to split a voucher with me im all ears. All my friends are lazyy

**Jenerator** · 01-23-2012, 08:33 AM

The FiveFingers are fantastic - go to MEC and get a pair now so you can get used to them and train in them. There's nothing like being able to use all of your toes freely to stabilize yourself. They make tougher versions of them that might work very well with events like this, such as the komodos and treksports. KSO means "keep stuff out" so maybe those would work well on a dirty course with mud, etc. Never tried it myself.

Maybe next year I'll be strong enough to complete an event like this - it looks like fun!

**invictus43** · 01-23-2012, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by Jenerator

The FiveFingers are fantastic -

If you do want to go the Five Finger route, please read this first:
http://www.runbare.com/446/how-to-tr...-five-fingers/

**inferno** · 01-23-2012, 09:40 AM

heh heh thanks that was a good read.

now I have a good enough reason to look ridiculous

**mma01** · 01-23-2012, 11:02 AM

Its a fun event and I would highly recommend it. I did the warrior dash last year and am hoping to do all three of the major obstacle course races this year (tough mudder, spartan, warrior).

One word of advice is make sure your laces are on TIGHT and around your ankles. Tons of people (myself included) lost their shoes during the first muddy section.

If the spartan is similar to the warrior (I suspect it is), half of the run is going to be spent going up a hill and the other half is going down. Definitely practice running up grades. My go-to place to practice in the toronto area is running up and down riverdale park that is visible off of the dvp.

You may get a bit dirty (pics from my gopro I wore during the race)

Got some decent air doing a crowd-pleasing dive into the mud pit. I dont recommend this. Tons of sharp rocks below - sliced myself up pretty good.

I almost tripped and fell into the second set of fire logs.

**Jenerator** · 01-23-2012, 11:52 AM

That looks like awesome fun...I just don't think I'd be able to do it for 3 hours. I'm wayyyy out of shape!

**Amazon** · 01-23-2012, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by mma01

One word of advice is make sure your laces are on TIGHT and around your ankles. Tons of people (myself included) lost their shoes during the first muddy section.

Was just about to say this. I had my shoes stupidly tight and they still fell of twice. took a couple steps before I could actually stop and turn around to dig them out.

I heard the mud we had to crawl in wasn't was sharp and rocky in the beginning, when I went through it was watery thin.