Tag Archives: Ultra Beast

Usually when something stupid happens I ask a simple question "Is it me?" Most of the time I come back with, "It might be me..." This time it isn't me. Truthfully, there has been a meaningful period of time where I haven't been particularly active on the Spartan Facebook pages. There was a time when I/We were extremely active in the Spartan community, and in the OCR community in general. However, I can remember when it all changed and I remember my frustration when they started moderating content, any and all content. I feel like they have gone too far now, and it is at a point where it is just flat out dumb.

The leaves changing color, cooler temperatures, pool closings, back to school; all signs that Fall is approaching, right? Nope! It means it’s time for the Spartan Ultra in Killington!

I have been around the block this year. I have gone through a number of injuries that have inhibited or limited my participation in almost all of my events this year. When Killington started rolling around, I was nervous about running the Ultra Beast on this mountain again. Last year, the mountain almost took me out when my knee decided to make everything past mile 11 grueling. This year had its own set of challenges and again, conventional wisdom would suggest that I take the safe route and just run the beast.

So, you want to do an Ultra Beast?  If you are going to your social media accounts posting…”Should I do an Ultra Beast?”….then you are probably not ready.

We at OCRAddict have been successful by looking at things differently and by doing so, we have helped bring new Ultra Beasts to the racer. In 2017, Colorado, Texas, and the UB Championships have all been introduced due, in part, to our interaction with Joe DeSena and Team. On that note, and wanting to bring things to the next level, here is another take on Ultra Beast training. Our first training plan was designed to address two areas. First, ‘what is the true obstacle of completing an Ultra Beast?’ which is embracing the suck and learning to tell that voice in your head saying that you cannot do it to go to hell. The next is if you are already beast length ready, but only have a commercial/basic gym to work with and how you can prepare for an Ultra Beast. The idea for that plan was to get you to a buckle, glow in the dark medal, or one time only high-five for your efforts. The idea for this guide is if you’ve been DNF’ing due to a lack of physical preparation causing; this article will help in getting you to that finish line. If you have been finishing, hopefully, we can help move you up to the top 50% or 25% of finishers.

This year was supposed to be different, and it really is different. Having dealt with some serious injuries, I hadn't much considered participating in this year's Tri-State New Jersey Ultra Beast. As time drew nearer, I found myself feeling less like myself and more like a "never will". The decision came to run the race somewhere in the March time frame, and those that advised against it quickly realized that there would be little standing in my way. Last year's NJ UB was challenging, but I knew with all that I had been challenged with physically this year, my best bet of completion was here, not Killington.

Before I begin talking about the physical and mental romance story of my Spartan Ultra beast experience, I want to address a few things. First off, I am not someone who wakes up every weekend and runs a different OCR, marathon, or your favorite mud run. I am a full-time college student studying pharmaceuticals (which means that I devote a fair amount of time to my school work). I stay active through pick-up basketball and lifting a few days a week. Fitness is important to me and I make sure to fit it in between my school work and various other activities. I write, because like many of you who may be reading this, pondering the feasibility of completing a Spartan Ultra Beast, I too was immersing myself with as much knowledge about the Ultra Beast as I could. I found that most extensive articles were written by people who eat, sleep and breath OCR (ironically enough this is featured on OCRaddict). I wanted to give a fresh perspective from someone who wasn’t training year-round to run 10+ mile obstacles races. I was someone who enjoys a beer with dinner, French fries, and skips days at the gym (guess I’m busted now…). Don’t get me wrong I love OCR but it is far from what I spend most of my time doing. Now that all of this is out of the way, the real story begins…

I'm sure most of you are looking at the article title and wondering "What is this about? I don't see Spartan, Savage, Tough Mudder, or any other OCR series name." Although I started my running adventures in OCR, I've started to branch out into the world of ultrarunning more recently. I've participated in many of the more well-known OCR series so far, completed multiple Trifectas in a single year, and attempted/finished my first (and attempted a second, which ended in a DNF...I need revenge on Killington!) Spartan Ultra Beast last year in New Jersey. The year before that, I completed my first Beast as well as a double Trifecta. I had looked at the Ultra Beast before and thought there would be no way I would ever do one. Way too long (both distance and time on feet), way too hard (so many obstacles!), and more vertical gain than I could imagine. However, it really opened my eyes to the world of ultrarunning, even though the Ultra Beast is not technically an ultramarathon.

This is a deeply personal piece for everyone, but we have been getting a lot of requests for this as we approach our next Ultra Beast in the great Garden State (NJ). In this, I will cover my race day usages and recommendations as a baseline. It is up to you on how you would like to tinker with the specifics, or what you use.