September is well on its way and it means a lot of excitement and nerves as it sees me back out on the obstacle trail, racing my 1st race since the Jeep Warrior Race in April. The big race is the Spartan Ultra Beast; 26+miles, 50 some grueling obstacles, in the mountains of Killington, VT USA, this particular mountain measuring in as the 2nd tallest mountain in the State of Vermont. With elevation gains of 9000 feet upwards, this course has proven itself to be one of the toughest in the world. Last year’s stats recorded 1200 people signing up… 151 completed!

I’m not going to lie… I’m rather nervous for this race as I have never done a Spartan race before, so jumping into their most super charged event doesn’t seem right at all and that’s the way I like it, testing myself to the extreme alongside some of the toughest competitors in the obstacle racing world.

Just as long as I can keep putting one foot in front of the other, keep a steady pace to make it through the various cut off points… I will be golden. Break it down… I worked it out that I have 15 hours to complete the race. At 26 miles that works out to about 30 minutes per mile… but I don’t want to just finis, I want to see how hard I can go and get the best position possible, and going off the winner’s time from last year, that would put me in at a 16 minutes a mile pace.

My training has been pretty consistent… getting in a great mix of cardio and functional strength, feeling like I will be strong on the obstacles and having raced for 24 hours in the past, mentally I’m good to go. I don’t know if I have done enough on my distance running, during the longer runs I have done, I’ve felt good but probably could have put in more miles… and should have. Just remember, one foot in front of the other. Keep moving and don’t stop… I will cross that finish line and I will claim my spot as being ‘stronger than the mountain’!

Spartan races are also known for their burpees so I have added a lot more of those to my life.. not sure if you can truly ever enjoy them or if they ever get any easier.

I wonder if one can ever feel you have ‘prepared’ enough or are ‘ready’ for this type of racing, suppose the only way to answer that is once you cross the finish line and see how you performed.

As it stands now, my plane ticket is bought, car rented and waiting, accommodation sorted, I have most of kit I require, will just need to go over the list again and make sure, Herbalife24 order is in and on its way to fuel me through it and help my recovery after, race kit ready and new branded apparel is on its way to be with me on the 17th… looks like it’s a go!

Follow my journey to Vermont and progress at the Spartan Ultra Beast via Twitter: I_am_thatbeardguy or Facebook: That Beard Guy.