One of my big goals for the year is to complete a Spartan Race Trifecta. For those who are unfamiliar with this, here’s a short rundown:

The Trifecta is earned when an athlete completes the three levels of Spartan Race within a calendar year (or from January 1 to December 31). Those three levels are: the Spartan Sprint, which includes 20-23 obstacles over three to five miles; the Spartan Super, which kicks up to 24-29 obstacles over eight to ten miles; and finally, the Spartan Beast, the toughest of the three at ten to twelve miles and packing over 30 obstacles.

Many elite Spartan athletes have completed multiple Trifectas in their careers, and even a few complete more than one within a single year. Because of the progression of difficulty that each level goes through, this is most likely going to be one of my biggest OCR challenges to date.

Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is

While I decided back in December of last year to shoot for a Trifecta in 2017, it wasn’t until recently that I finally made the biggest step toward this goal: paying for it.

Obstacle course racing, while it is an awesome and fun hobby, is a pricey one. Since I knew that I wanted to shoot for the Trifecta, I was excited to see that Spartan Race accommodated those athletes which this goal in mind by offering a Trifecta Pass. For just $299, I am able to take on three races in my pursuit of the Trifecta. For those thinking of the same goal and that is a huge amount to spend, let’s look at this way:

Taking the races I’ve planned to do, let’s say I wanted to just register for each race on its own right now. The Spring in Miami is $129 at the time of this writing; the Virginia Super is $149; and the Central Florida Beast is also $149 (if I registered for it RIGHT NOW). Not including additional fees for convenience or insurance, that’s already $427. Not to mention the fact I plan to travel quite a distance for each of these races, especially Virginia. By purchasing the Trifecta Pass, I already save at least a whole extra race’s worth on registration, which puts more in my pocket for traveling to these locations.

Those considering a Trifecta themselves should absolutely purchase this pass. My advice is to decide that early on and then make the purchase. Trust me; you’ll be much happier with this move.

Stepping Up the Training

Since I have always felt that Spartan Race is just a little different from most other OCR’s, it makes sense that my training should be a little different too. So when a free Spartan Training event popped up at NinjaFit Gym (one of my favorite places), I had to sign up.

This past Sunday, Coach Sid from the Spartan SGX team kicked…my…butt. After running three races in February, I took it easy in March. And this training was a big wake-up call to get back on that horse. And fast. At the time of this writing, I’m still pretty sore, having done I don’t know how many push-ups, burpees, sit-ups, plus a crap-ton of feet traveled via bear crawls (which I’ve been doing all wrong, by the way), and crawling under about 20 people I have never met, I got the workout I needed to get myself back into training again. And with the progressive nature of each race I’m doing, I’m going to need every bit of a training I can squeeze in during my busy days.

Countdown to Miami

My first race registered under my Trifecta Pass is the Spartan Sprint taking place in Miami on April 29. Starting today, that’s T-minus 25 days until I take that course on. In the mean time, make sure you keep up with me on Facebook and Twitter and pass on some of your Spartan training tips!