4 Things I Learned After My First Spartan Race

Hey everyone, this week, I brought to you an article I wrote earlier this year to a much smaller audience - however, I also wanted to share it here with a slight revision.

Firstly, sharing this revised piece gives me much to reflect on as I am now training for another Spartan Race. That race will be even more challenging than the previous one I am writing about below, and revising this article helped me to get back to the mindset I needed to focus on. 

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And now, let's go to today's topic on what I learned through training for a Spartan Race. 

This April, I did my first Spartan Sprint race, which was a big deal for me. 

In Summer 2021, I couldn’t have imagined myself doing such a tough race. 

I was just struggling with the extra weight gained through quarantine and my mental breakdown. I was also struggling with an unhealthy relationship, a lost & foggy vision for my future, and a long-lasting Body Dysmorphic Disorder. 

However, many things changed last year, resulting in me doing this Spartan race on April 24, 2022.

What is a Spartan Race?

The Spartan Race is one of the most popular obstacle races. It’s been around since 2007, founded by Joe De Sena. It consists of several race events, including:

• Spartan Sprint (5K+, 20+ Obstacles) - this is the one I did in April

• Spartan Super (10K+, 25-30 Obstacles) - this is the one I will be doing in October

• Spartan Beast (21K+, 30-35 Obstacles), etc. - well, I am planning to do it in 2023

These race series are held in the US but franchised to more than 30 countries - including my homeland, Hungary. In Central Europe, it’s usually happening 1x or 2x per season in every country.

I signed up for the Spartan Sprint event. But more of it a bit later. Let me share some context to understand why this event was a big deal for me.

What’s My Story With Sports?

In short, I have been an overweight person since I was eight years old. I have never felt that massive confidence in my body and have been struggling with the yo-yo effect for years.

Also, I have never truly been an active person; doing sports and workouts was always a fearful and hated activity for me.

Until last year…

The Time When I Started To Take Workout Seriously

This was not an exact moment in my life but something which started to build up.

After recovering from an injury last year, I started taking workouts more seriously.

This could not happen without the support of two of my friends who had been training together for a while.

As I saw how my best friend’s shape and thus his self-confidence developed, I decided to join them during their workout sessions in the summer of 2021. This habit was growing slowly but steadily.

First, we had a few workout sessions a week.

Then, from the end of September, it became more regular and has not stopped since then.

I knew progress would come slowly, and I was okay with that for the first time in my life.

I did not have any crazy, unachievable goals regarding my physical improvement; I just showed up at the training sessions, which I agreed with my friend.

And after a few months of having 2-3 sessions a week, I started to feel and see how my muscles were growing, and I was getting stronger.

The first time we briefly talked about potentially going to the Spartan Race was in December 2021. I didn’t fully commit to the race back then, but it was something in front of my eyes as a goal for 2022.

Then, after the new year began and we had more & more training, we talked more about Spartan, and eventually, I committed to it. So we signed up for it.

And 6 weeks before the race, I was even more committed; I started to do a sustainable diet - nothing crazy, just watching the calories and macros. I also started to do some running sessions couple of times a week.

And then, the Spartan Race weekend came, and there we were.

But instead of going in more deeply in that, here are finally the four things I learned thanks to the Spartan Race. Not only after it but also during the whole progress of training for it.

1. Painful Growth & “Growthful” Pain Are Great

Doing a Spartan Race is painful.

As you tackle all the obstacles, you get more tired, and as you fail more obstacles, the more burpees you do, the more pain you feel in your body.

However, you kind of like the pain you feel. You learn this throughout the workout sessions you are preparing for such a race.

Since I’ve taken workouts more seriously, I feel the pain more often. During those workouts, you have to do one more rep of an exercise, and that one more rep is painful. However, you know that those reps are taking you forward.

The most painful moment is the beginning. Everything that comes after is just a relative pain.

When I restarted my running sessions six weeks before the Spartan Race, that first 3K run was also painful.

In the past, whenever I restarted to run, I felt shit after. I blamed myself for not doing it earlier. That blame created more anxiety in me. And thus, I almost always gave up.

But not this time. I was already having good progress with my strength training, and I had the goal of completing the Spartan Race. And I knew that the first 3K run was just the beginning of the progress.

I stopped caring about the time and the pace of the run. I stopped watching my Apple Watch during those runs. All because I knew that consistency was key, and that was the only thing I was trying to focus on.

This is part of both the painful growth and the growthful pain - as I like to call it.

After completing the Spartan Race, I had a few minor leg injuries. I was not only proud of those injuries, but I also loved the pain I felt in my legs.

As we drove back to our hometown from the race location, I felt that pain even more. I didn’t try to pamper myself for that pain - childishly, as I used to do that. I acknowledged the pain and knew I had the pain for something worthy.

For my own physical, mental and spiritual growth.

My advice here: whenever you are in the progress of growth, acknowledge and enjoy the pain.

2. Training Helps Defeating Unhealthy Pleasures

In the past years, I have been enjoying various unhealthy pleasures - including excess consumption of alcohol and cigarettes and some more.

I could always associate those pleasures with some great moments - such as chilling at a vineyard, drinking some glasses of wine, and smoking some cigarettes.

I still believe that such moments can and should be enjoyable.

But I don’t believe that massive alcohol consumption and smoking are enjoyable in the long run, especially if you do it on several evenings a week during some parties.

I’m not saying that I won’t ever do it again; it still can be fun - I even did that during the summer, and it was fine.

But I’ve been trying to learn to enjoy it with moderation.

Training for the Spartan Race taught me that.

A month before the race, I decided to take a break from alcohol. I have done that previously and I knew that it was something I needed to do again.

Going out in the evenings and having no alcohol felt kinda great - despite the undeniable fact that I really wanted to have just one glass of beer or wine.

However, I knew that I needed this break to train my discipline and support my diet during the Spartan Race training.

As I was doing more strength training and runs, the desire for unhealthy pleasures decreased massively. As I had my constant focus on the goal of completing the Spartan Race, I didn’t have my attention on most of the unhealthy pleasures.

And still, even now, I feel that something clicked in me, and I can cut some of the unhealthy pleasures.

Viktor E. Frankl said:

I can fully agree with and relate to this.

I believe one can and shall have various aspects of a deep sense of meaning. I also think that human beings are in a constant exploration of their deep sense of meaning.

However, I also believe that once we find a piece of that deep sense of meaning, life gets better, and we tend to seek fewer distractions. By focusing on this Spartan Race training, I found one piece of my deep sense of meaning in being active, enjoying the struggle, and embracing the pain from growth.

And thus, I have less distraction from unhealthy pleasure.

On another note: pleasure is essential for us. Do not try to cut pleasure for the sake of growth. Embrace the healthy pleasure and combine it with painful growth & growthful pain.

3. Being An Active Person Is Indeed Important

As I mentioned earlier, I have never been genuinely active, especially when I was a kid and a teenager.

Being an active person is an identity.

If you are not an active person, you will never become one unless you change your identity. You can start running or hitting the gym, but you will always give up on those until you identify yourself as a person who seeks to be active.

This is something I learned from James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits. In his book, Clear says that:

It’s essential to hit the gym and start running, and it’s also important to make these activities into life habits. However, it is equally important to identify yourself as an active person. Therefore, you know that as an active person, you need to have a habit and lifestyle that matches such an identity.

I know it sounds easy to read but hard to implement. I don’t expect anyone to change their identity just by reading my words.

Actually, read James Clear’s book, and hopefully, that will also give you a valuable tool in your hands.

But just to have some inspiration from me: I have always been an overweight guy with Body Dysmorphic Disorder. And now, I’m slowly but steadily getting in better shape and have done a 10K run and a Spartan Sprint race. And the rest is just ahead of me!

4. You Get To Know Yourself Better

This last point may also sound as big of a cliché as some of the previous ones.

But this is so freakin’ true!

During the Spartan Race, I had some moments when I felt that I should just stop.

I questioned my decision to sign up for that race and why the hell I was running in the deep mud at 9 Celsius degrees in an Eastern Hungarian forest to tackle obstacles after obstacles.

But during those low points, I realized that I’m actually not fully exhausted. Physically, I didn’t feel at the edge of my capacity. I realized that I was just whining to myself. I realized that I am capable of way more than that.

This realization came again when I was on the top of one obstacle called the Inverted Wall - I believe it’s around 2.5 meters high. I fought hard to climb to the top, and my left calf cramped as I tried to push myself to the other side of the wall. I could not move at all. I needed around 20-30 seconds to boost myself to overcome this.

Eventually, I could “shake” the cramp out of my calf just enough to get to the other side of the wall and complete that obstacle.

If you get to know your limits, you can overcome various difficulties - similar to the one I experienced on the top of that Inverted Wall.

However, some key realizations came during the whole training process before the race. The positive side effect of an active lifestyle is that you start thinking more clearly.

And also, in those past months of constant training & getting into better shape, I managed to enjoy my everyday life with more depth, meaning, and joy. As I don’t want to stretch your reading patience limits, I will explain this more in-depth in a separate post.

One takeaway: start experimenting with any physical activity - whether running, strength training, swimming, hiking, walking, playing some team sports, etc. - and don’t do it for the sake of pace/time/no of goals/no of km. Instead, do it as a meditation to clear your head and thus get to know yourself more.

Conclusion

I dare to confess that I did not spend too much time editing this post. I just wanted to write my thoughts & feelings out as soon as possible. 

Why didn’t I spend much time editing?

Because I wanted to avoid this:

So, my conclusion is actually a couple of takeaways:

1. Painful growth & growthful pain is beautiful and enjoyable. I could never grasp it before - despite the no. of articles I read about it - until I started to experience it myself

2. If you have some unhealthy pleasures you want to get rid of - start being more active to distract yourself from those unhealthy desires. (DISCLAIMER: If you have a severe addiction, please seek professional help & advice. I am not a professional and do not take this as professional advice. This is just my personal experience.)

3. Try to find similar occasions as my Spartan Race to set a tangible goal and achieve that. The feeling of training and accomplishment will lead you to a better and deeper version of yourself.

4. It’s never too late to start being active! Your age does not matter. Just start respecting your body more and begin with an activity that suits your physical condition. For example, walking is awesome! :)

Máté - TMBNC

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