In a race, where you may die, you need to have perseverance and a sense of humor
by Alix Shutello
In most endurance challenges and adventure races, the one thing you know is how long the race is. You may not know how you will do or how long it will take, but generally, you have certain facts available to you terms of the race logistics.
Not so in the Spartan Death Race.
As Ken Lubin will tell you, the Spartan Death Race “may” be about 72 hours long (or not), and there is no way to know what you will be doing because there is no set course. You will, however, need a plethora of odd items that are not required in other endurance events. In last year’s race, competitors were required to carry needle, thread, life jacket, black compression shirt, pen, paper, bag of human hair, pink swim cap, 5 gallon bucket and an axe.
A bag of human hair? What?
The Spartan Death Race, which started in 2005, has gained both a following and a reputation as being one of the most extreme competitions in the world. With a tagline like, “You may die,” and a web URL to match, athletes like Lubin and a few hundred others cannot pass up a chance to push their bodies to the brink; for the Death Race is the most extreme of the Spartan race series, and only a few hundred brave souls compete in it each year.
As part of the Spartan Death Race, competitors are to complete a series (15-20) grueling mental and physical challenges throughout a 40-mile course that runs through the Vermont woods. The race is no holds bar – you can be asked to anything from chop wood for several hours, memorize verse, or carry bags of rocks up hill and down dale over and over again. One thing is for sure, the probably of a DNF is higher than the probability of finishing.
“Look, 344 people competed last year and a little less that 15% finished the race, and while that should be comforting it’s not. This race is about perseverance and this year, I am ready to come back and finish this race,” Lubin said.
Lubin, who DNFed after 53 hours in 2012 dropped out due to mental fatigue after being told they were almost done with the race, when they in fact, were not. He and his team did everything from haul a large tractor tire 22 miles through the woods to sitting to take an exam while being deprived of food and water.
“You walk, swim, hike, run, all while carrying a myriad of odd objects from concrete to whatever else they feel like giving you. They also mess with your head, and that was what caused our final demise. When you’ve been food deprived and led all over the place up and down a mountain and someone tells you that you are near the finish and then says you need to go back up over a mountain, that will do some people in,” he said.
The 2013 Spartan Death Race will commence on June 20, 2013. Lubin started training about 8 months ago in late fall, 2012. He starts his training with long endurance runs and rides and will throw in combinations of push ups and other calisthenics. Through time he added overnight training where he would be active all night flipping tires, building things, and crawling through mud.
During the winter, Lubin wakes at 4:30 a.m. to hike 5 miles up and back on a 2500 vertical foot trail run/hike with a 30lb weight vest, and snowshoes, and then go skiing during the afternoon.
As Lubin reported in Triathlete Europe last year:
“As the winter continued I start pushing the limits a bit more and more. During the week each morning I will do a core exercise workout that includes 150 leg lifts, 150 sit ups with 35lb plate behind my head, side ups and either dead lifts, cleans or squats. Then at lunch I would typically run 7-9 miles with a 30lb weight vest, doing 20 pushups every 15 minutes. In order to get my wood chopping form perfected, I would run 2 miles with my weight vest and an axe to an area where I would chop wood and to get my body more accustomed for the cold, I would sit in ice laden water for 2 intervals of 5 minutes to train my legs and core on being numb,” he said.
Despite all the training however, race organizers will make sure to test your limits.
“During this race you will laugh, cry, and feel euphoria, dread and any other emotion that can come out of you. Also you will notice muscles you never felt, have blisters you never had, and feel beaten up like never before,” Lubin said.
And the Spartan Race series folks want it that way. Their mantra is to test your “strength, stamina and sense of humor,” like a couple of years ago when competitors shaved off all their body hair in order to compete.
According to two-time Spartan Death Race winner, Joe Decker, “There’s no way to prepare; the best thing you can do is carry a lot of really heavy things through the woods, and often.”
Learn more at http://www.youmaydie.com/ and www.spartanrace.com.
Articles on Ken Lubin:
http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2012/04/12/training-for-the-death-race
[] http://enduranceracingmagazine.com/ken-lubin-on-the-challenge-of-the-spartan-death-race/ []
[] http://enduranceracingmagazine.com/ken-lubin-on-the-challenge-of-the-spartan-death-race/ It will also be posted on the www.executiveathletes.com []