Spartan Training Plan

I mentioned in my May running recap that I registered for a Spartan Sprint obstacle course race. The Sprint distance is their 5k equivalent lasting 3-5 miles with 20ish obstacles along the course. I'm not at all worried about the running part as I'm planning on staying 10k ready over the summer. But the obstacles and off road running are a different story.

Today I wanted to talk about my Spartan training plan for this summer. I'm not using a coach or even one of the free plans from Spartan. I needed something a bit more flexible that I could make work with my schedule and also something that would take into account that, as a woman with very little upper body strength, I can't just knock out pull ups and push up (which are part of burpees!) right of the bat in my training plan. I'm just sort of making this up as I go and we'll see how it turns out.

Running:

This section is easy. I'm still doing my twice weekly maintenance runs for 30 mins. My long run alternates a shorter 4 mile week with a longer 6, 7 or 8 mile week. I also have switched to a 45/45 interval for my long run to compensate for the heat.

Strength Training:

Since I'm not focused on adding distance to my long runs, I am doing more weighted lower body exercises like squats and lunges. I'm also working on some upper body things like pull ups, knees to chest and hanging (hopefully upgrading to monkey bars at some point). I am less concerned about saving my legs for running and I am trying to push myself to build muscle mass.

Adventure:

I've added in a new section to my workout plan called adventure. I want to mix things up and try different sorts of workouts for variety and also to challenge my body in new ways. Sometimes I do more running related things like hills or sprints. Sometimes, it's a challenging strength workout like a CrossFit class. And some weeks, it's something more chill like hiking.

Recovery:

It's a common theme among runners that we don't do a good enough job of recovery! I've added weekly foam rolling to my workout schedule to encourage me to be better at getting my roll on. I'm also trying to incorporate more stretching into my weekly routine.

Shoes:

I love my Brooks for running but there is one problem with them. I can't do burpees in them! The sole is so stiff that I can't bend my foot to land on the balls of my feet, but instead have to land on the ends of my toes which is painful and probably not the best for my toenail integrity. I have decided that I want to run my Spartan race in my Vibram FiveFingers but transitioning from a normal running shoe to a barefoot running shoe is a whole process unto itself!

So far I've worked up to wearing them all day for normal activities as well as for strength training and I've started running very short distances in them. It's taken me several months to get to this point but I'm still on track to be able to run 3ish miles in them by race day. I am taking it nice and slow and am adding a bit of treadmill running in them to each of my strength training days.

My next shoe goal is to be able to run my 30 min midweek runs in them. I'm definitely making sure to listen to my body and go as slow as my feet need me to go during this transition. It will probably still be a while before I run a regular road race in them.