How Hard Is It: A First-Timer's Guide to the Spartan Trifecta Weekend
“Maybe I should have brought a hydration pack,” I thought, as I looked at the competitors around me. I was in downtown Zandvoort—a beautiful Dutch beach town. Incredible old-world buildings lined brick streets. The air was chilly, and the sky was overcast, promising rain. I had a racing belt with six gels but no hydration. There were more than a few athletes sporting hydration packs. The athlete guide had suggested bringing one. “Oh well,” I thought. “It's too late now.”
Like everyone around me, I stood bouncing and stretching as bass-filled dance music pounded from nearby speakers. We were minutes away from the start of our Spartan Beast—a 21 km obstacle course race loaded with 30 obstacles.
And of course, that was just the first of three races. I was after a Spartan Trifecta Weekend Medal. Later that afternoon, I’d face a Spartan Sprint—5 km with 20 obstacles. Then, on the following morning, there’d be a Spartan Super—10 km with 25 obstacles.
“How sore will I be tomorrow?” I wondered. I’d tackled a Spartan Ultra a few years before and remembered being a wreck the next day. “It can’t be as bad as that,” I reassured myself.
In any case, I was about to find out.
I’m a fitness and nutrition coach with a background in strength training, MovNat, and obstacle course racing. I’ve tackled two full Ironmans and a Spartan Ultra but only recently completed my first Spartan Trifecta weekend. With the many apprehensions, missteps, triumphs, and uncertainties still vivid in my mind, I’ve decided to write a comprehensive guide tailored to first-time Spartan Trifecta athletes.
In this article, I’ll walk you through each of the following topics:
Choosing the Right Race: Finding Your Perfect Spartan Trifecta Challenge
Location: If you’re like me, geography will decide your race. Zandvoort is only an eight-hour drive from my home in Denmark, making it the closest Trifecta. I spent Friday driving down with a buddy. Our hotel was a five-minute walk from the start of the races and athlete check-in. I even managed a shower between the Beast and Sprint.
Opting for a more distant race will entail airfare, additional hotel stays, and possibly adjusting to a different time zone due to jet lag. But you can think of these logistics as part of the adventure. Exploring a new city or country, both on and off the course, can be an exciting facet of the experience.
Timing: You want to find a race that leaves you time to train. How much time you need will depend on your current fitness level. If a Trifecta is a big leap in fitness, I’d allow 18-20 weeks to get trained up. You’ll want to get your long runs up close to half-marathon distance with terrain that mirrors your race. And the closer you can get to intermediate levels of pulling and grip strength, the better. If, on the other hand, you’re already a solid hybrid athlete, you can likely jump right in.
Course Difficulty: If you have experience trail running uphill, you already know that courses vary enormously in difficulty. Hilly courses with tons of elevation change are many times harder than flat courses. But that might not be the only factor. Zandvoort is a beach town. The course was basically flat, but it had long stretches on the beach. Running in deep, soft sand poses challenges too.
Climate: Will your race be cold and rainy? Will it be baking hot? Climate can make a huge difference, and Spartan races don’t get called on account of the weather. Wet and slippery obstacles can be a serious challenge. Try to think ahead of possible race-day weather and train accordingly.
The Morning of the First Races: Pre-Race Rituals and Tips
Sleep: Don’t be surprised if you don’t sleep well the night before the race. You’re in good company. A blend of race-related anxiety and an unfamiliar hotel room can make sleep difficult. It is what it is. To compensate, try to get some good sleep in the days leading up to the race.
Breakfast: As the adage goes, don’t try anything new on race day. It’s wise to experiment with breakfasts before race day. Your long runs are great for this. Consume a carb-heavy breakfast (100-200 grams) with a modest amount of protein. A bowl of high-protein yogurt with granola and a chopped-up banana has served me well. I like to leave at least an hour to digest before the start of the race. I also enjoy a cup or two of coffee. I’m a coffee addict; plus, it can expedite your trip to the restroom. Porta Potties are somewhat rare on a Spartan course.
Check-in: Spartan races start relatively late (at least compared to Ironman), so you can typically check in the morning of the race. Be sure to double-check all your gear. When running with a hydration pack, get it ready the night before. The same goes for your shoes and clothes.
Warm-Up: The most important part of a warm-up is literally getting and keeping the body warm. Everything else is mostly a matter of individual taste or needs. I like to do a bit of jogging with a few strides mixed in. It warms me up and gives me a bit of spring in my step. The first few obstacles are typically pretty easy, giving you a chance to ease into the race.
Running the Spartan Beast: What to Expect and How to Prepare
Can I complete the Spartan Beast in time for the Sprint? That was the biggest question on my mind leading up to the Trifecta. Maybe it’s on your mind too. I knew if I got to the Sprint, I could always walk it. But I had to get there first, and that meant finishing the Beast with time to spare.
I opted to sign up for the age group competitive heat. Age groupers start before the open heat competitors, giving you a little more time to finish. When purchasing competitive heat tickets, you have to estimate your finishing time. They want to have the fastest competitors in the first group and the slowest competitors in the final group. To help you pick your heat, they give you the following guidelines.
Beast Pace Groups
Pace Group 1. Fastest Beast: 2 hrs 30 min | Avg. Half Marathon: 1 hr 25 min | Expected Overall Finish: Top 10
Pace Group 2. Fastest Bast: 3 hrs | Avg. Half Marathon: 1 hr 40 min | Expected Overall Finish: Top 20
Pace Group 3. Fastest Beast: 3 hrs 30 min | Avg. Half Marathon: 1 hr 55 min | Expected Overall Finish: Top 30
Pace Group 4. Fastest Beast: 4 hrs | Avg. Half Marathon: 2 hrs 10 min | Expected Overall Finish: Top 50
Pace Group 5. Fastest Beast: 4 hrs 30+ min | Avg. Half Marathon: 2 hrs 30+ min | Expected Overall Finish: Top 100+
I’m fairly certain these are averages across Spartan courses, so if you pick an unusually easy or unusually difficult course, adjust your expectations. I opted for pace group 4, which gave me a 9:30 am start. My Sprint was at 3:00 pm, giving me 5 hours and 30 minutes between races. Online, it says that the average finish for a Beast is 4 hours and 45 minutes. They had a midnight Sprint available too. I considered it, if only for all the extra time. But I decided to go out to dinner, experience the unfamiliar city, and enjoy a proper sleep instead.
I’m a slow but experienced runner. I tackled my first marathon in 2019, and I’ve since completed a bunch of races, including a couple of full-distance Ironmans and a Spartan Ultra 50 km. So, I know how to keep going when things get ugly. If you have little or no experience running longer distances, I recommend following a half marathon training plan. You can find decent ones for free online. If you need to bring up your strength and obstacle skills at the same time, opt for a lower volume running plan—something that has you running 3-4 times per week.
My own endurance training for the Trifecta was a mix of cycling and running. I tried to complete a long run, a short fast run (tempo or sprint intervals), and a bike ride every week. My longest runs before the race were 10 miles at a touch under 9 min/mile.
The race started in the city (below sea level). You had a short climb up and then back down to the beach. When I hit the sand, I knew I’d have trouble. Running on deep, soft sand sucks, and I hadn’t practiced.
On the positive side, I’d estimate less than half the race was on sand. We ran through rolling hills, and I managed a good pace for much of the race. On the negative side, the sand eventually gave me massive calf cramps. On a jump to climb over an 8-foot wall, both calves cramped up. I was about 5 km from the finish with plenty of time to walk it if needed. But nearly the entire final 5 km was on the beach.
Cramps are insanely frustrating and can hit without warning. I’ve completed full Ironmans with no cramping only to savagely cramp at a half Ironman and now a Beast. Researchers still don’t understand exactly the cause or best solution for cramps. The common remedies don’t perform better than placebo in research studies. Salt tablets seem to help me, if only as a placebo, but unfortunately, I didn’t have any.
I walked when I had to and ran when I could. A fellow competitor was nice enough to give me a magnesium drink. It may have helped, again if only as a placebo.
As I jumped the fire for the Spartan Beast, my confidence swelled. I knew I’d end up with a Trifecta Weekend Medal. The Sprint and Super would be much shorter with fewer obstacles. And many of the hardest obstacles would be absent. I could walk the next two races if I had to. And since my two calves were completely wrecked from all the beach running, I thought I might have to.
In the end, I finished in two hours and 51 minutes. For a 44-year-old, that was good enough to place 35th for my age group. Plus, it gave me two and a half hours to prepare for the Sprint.
Building Strength: How Much Do You Really Need?
Obstacle course racing is a hybrid sport. There’s a running component and a strength component. So although I get passed by the more competent runners, the heavy lifts, carries, and obstacles are my payback.
Generally speaking, if you’re an experienced lifter with an intermediate level of strength, you are more than strong enough for a Spartan race. But let’s go over some of the more strength-intensive obstacles and establish some benchmarks.
Pulling & Climbing Strength
At a Spartan Race, you need to do a ton of climbing and pulling. Whether it’s the numerous 8-foot walls, inverted walls, rope climb, and other climbing obstacles, or the sled pull and Hercules Hoist, your pulling strength is going to get a workout.
To optimally prepare for the race, we have to answer two questions: How much pulling strength do you need? How should you train your pulling strength?
How Much Pulling Strength Do You Want?
Ideally, you’d have roughly an intermediate level of pulling strength. That’s going to be around 12 pull-ups for men and 6 pull-ups for women. I’m a big believer in aiming for full range of motion pull-ups. They start from a complete dead hang and go up until your chest touches the bar. If you achieve that level of strength, I doubt any of the pulling exercises will be a problem. For reference, I can do around 16 chest-to-bar pull-ups, and I breeze through the pulling and climbing obstacles. No fails.
What if you have far less pull-up strength? I bet there are people who have finished a Trifecta and are unable to do a pull-up. But if that’s you, you’ll want to be a really good runner and bring other strengths to the race. And you can expect to do some penalty laps.
At a minimum, I’d recommend pursuing novice pulling strength. Try to work up to 6 pull-ups for men and one pull-up for women.
How Should You Train Your Pulling Strength?
If you want to improve your pulling strength, there’s no need for anything complicated. I’d train twice per week. On one day, train pull-ups. If you can’t yet do a pull-up, do lat pull-downs or assisted pull-ups. On the other day, do some sort of row. Bent-over barbell rows and inverted body rows are two of my favorites. You should aim for at least three sets of each exercise, and if you’re recovering well, you can try four or five sets per exercise. You’ll know you’re recovering well if your strength is improving.
Final note: There’s a significant strength-to-weight component to climbing strength. The obstacles tend to favor the strong but lean. In other words, if you want to move like a gymnast, it helps to look like a gymnast.
If you’d like to take a deeper dive into pulling strength, check out my article, Forging a Strong, Athletic Back at Home: A Practical Guide
Grip Strength
Next up, we have grip strength. You're going to face an assortment of hanging obstacles, including the grip-destroying Olympus Wall. Add that to all the other climbing, lifting, and carrying, and you have a serious challenge.
How Much Grip Strength Do You Want?
You can measure your grip strength by simply hanging from a bar. This is as simple as it sounds. Simply hang from a bar as long as you can and time yourself. It's a fantastic proxy for the type of grip strength and endurance you need to tackle a Spartan Trifecta.
Here too, I recommend roughly an intermediate level of strength—a 2-minute hang for men and a 1-minute hang for women. For reference, my dead hang is around 2 minutes and 15 seconds. I failed one hanging obstacle during the Sprint. It was dumping rain, and I slipped. So I’d bet you can get by on less.
At a minimum, I’d aim for a 90-second hang for men and a 45-second hang for women.
How Should You Train Your Grip Strength?
Grip strength is notoriously hard to improve. There’s a huge genetic component. If you’re new to lifting, you’ll get a bunch of newbie gains from simply lifting and training your pulling strength.
If your grip is recovering well, you can add some hanging practice. I’d recommend starting with 2-3 sets performed two times per week. Try to add a few seconds to the first set of each session. Ideally, you’ll do these on a separate day from your pulling strength day. If you need to do both on the same day, I’d do the hanging work after the pulling work.
If you’d like to learn more about building grip strength and demolishing the hanging obstacles, check out my article, 7 Tips to Master Hanging Obstacles at Your Next Spartan Race.
Lifting & Carrying Strength
The Atlas Stone Carry is by far the hardest of the carries and lifts. I’ve seen a lot of athletes really struggle. For men, it’s a 100-pound smooth, round stone. The women face a 75-pound stone. You need to lift and carry it 10 meters out and 10 meters back. At our race, you had to do it in deep, soft sand. If you can manage the Atlas Carry, the rest of the carries are annoying but comparably easy. It’s a perfect benchmark.
Technique Is Everything
First things first, there is a right way to do the Atlas Stone Carry. If the weight is difficult, as it is for me, then I highly recommend lapping the stone to set a solid grip. You can do this by setting up for a traditional deadlift and then lifting the stone up past your knees. As the stone passes your knees, you sit back into a half squat and rest the stone in your lap. Don’t worry, it’s easier than it sounds. With the stone resting in your lap, you adjust your grip. You want to lock wrists or hands.
Don’t have a grip like the one in the picture to the right, or you’ll be grimacing just like me. When I’m smart about it and set my grip, the carry isn’t all that bad. Once your grip is set, hoist the stone up into a front carry.
How Much Strength Do You Need?
Obviously, you’ll need to deadlift approximately 100 pounds (75 for women). It’s an awkward 100 pounds, so you should be able to deadlift a good deal more than that. At a minimum, you should be able to comfortably rep your bodyweight. I prefer Romanian Deadlifts to traditional deadlifts.
How Should You Train Your Lift and Carry Strength?
I’m not a big fan of programming lots of carries. I think you get way more bang for your buck with traditional strength training. Strong, muscular people generally have zero issues with the carries at a Spartan race, whether they practice their carries or not. So I’d primarily rely on a traditional hypertrophy program and mostly leave it at that. The one exception is the lapping technique of the Atlas Carry. I’d practice it a bit before the race. There are tons of videos online if you want to see it done.
Overcoming Obstacles: Do You Have the Skills?
Most of the obstacles are pretty straightforward, but there are a few where good technique goes a long way. We’ve discussed the Atlas Carry. I linked above to an article with some technique advice for hanging obstacles. Here are a few others to practice:
Rope Climb: I recommend learning the J-Hook technique for the rope climb. It makes the rope climb a cinch, even in pouring rain.
Spear Throw: I’d recommend practicing the Spear Throw. I spent some time the week before my event practicing with a broomstick in the backyard. There are some great technique videos online. I hit the spear throw two out of three times. Definitely worth it.
Balance Training: The only obstacle I failed on the Beast was the slack line. I have really decent balance, but they seemed to put the “slack” in slack-line.
General Movement: I think it’s worth spending a bit of time working on general movement. Things like crawling, jumping, explosive pull-ups, etc.
If you’d like to dive deeper into technique and general movement, check out these articles:
Fueling Up: Nutrition and Hydration Strategies During the Beast
Spartan races have spartan water stations. It’s nothing like your traditional marathon or Ironman. They didn’t even have cups at the first water station, so come prepared to self-support.
Hydration: The athlete guide stated the Beast would have five water stations—one station every 2.6 miles. It was going to be a chilly, overcast day on a relatively flat course. I planned to be on the course for less than four hours, so five water stations sounded like plenty of hydration to me.
If you expect to be on the course for four hours or more, or if it’s going to be a very hot day, I’d consider using a hydration pack. A hydration pack gives you the added benefit of access to an isotonic drink. So they’re definitely worth considering, especially for a first-timer. If you have any doubts, I’d probably listen to the athlete guide and bring one.
Nutrition: You’ll want to practice eating on the run. Your long runs are perfect for this. Aim for around 60 grams of carbs per hour (roughly two gels). I brought six gels on a racing belt, and it was plenty. The water stations turned out to have water, orange slices, and sometimes bananas. A lot will depend on how long you’re on the course and what kind of support they offer. If in doubt, bring a hydration pack loaded with goodies. Next time, I’ll bring some salt tablets, possibly a magnesium drink, and maybe a collapsible cup.
Recover and Recharge: What to Do Between Saturday’s Races
I had a ton of time: 2.5 hours, in fact. I decided to limp back to the hotel—the 5-minute walk becoming a 10-minute walk. I took a very hot shower, ate lunch, and then sat on the bed and massaged my calves. They were tender to the touch.
I didn’t want to stiffen up, so I decided to explore the city on foot. I probably walked for most of an hour. Back at the hotel, I checked the weather one last time. It promised lots of rain for the Sprint. I put on some warmer clothes and headed out to the start of the Sprint.
I had an abundance of time, and I was able to fuel up, loosen up, take a shower, and leisurely switch out my clothes and gear. If your transition is tighter, I’d recommend prioritizing fuel and staying loose. The other stuff is just luxury and doesn’t really matter.
Conquering the Sprint: Pushing Through After Facing the Beast
At the starting line, I wasn’t alone in my agony. The last Sprint Heat is also called the Trifecta Sprint. Many of the guys I talked to had similarly crampy, tender calves. But of course, everyone was smiling and eager to get after it. I didn't bother with the nutrition belt. The guide said there would be two water stations.
I started off running and was surprised at how well my calves responded. They continued to loosen up throughout the run. I didn’t run much on the sand. When possible, I veered close to the hard sand near the ocean. I ran most of the roads and trails.
It dumped rain on and off. I slipped on one of the traverses and missed the spear throw. Ultimately, the Sprint is just plain easy compared to a Beast. Some of the hardest obstacles were gone, and 5 km is short and sweet.
One hour and four minutes after the start of the Sprint, I jumped the fire. I felt better than I had at the finish of the Beast. The body is incredibly resilient.
Mastering the Super: How Sore Will You Be?
You should, of course, eat a healthy, sensible meal and go to bed early. That’s not always easy or even worth it. I was an American in a new country with a good buddy. So naturally enough, we went out, explored the city some more, ate a huge meal, and had a few drinks. As far as I was concerned, the hard part was over, so it was a bit of a celebration.
I still got plenty of sleep and was up early, with loads of time. I went to athlete check-in and grabbed my racing pack for the Super. Naturally enough, I was pretty stiff, so I walked around a bit before breakfast.
As with all my other races, I ate some high-protein yogurt with granola and a chopped-up banana. I got dressed and headed out. The Super promised three water stations. I brought my nutrition belt, loaded with a couple gels.
There were a TON of people in my heat, many of whom were tackling their very first obstacle course race. I didn’t want to get bogged down waiting in line for the first few obstacles. So I took a spot near the front and ran hard for the first 2 km. I was sore, but it felt great pushing myself. There were tons of people on the course, and many of the obstacles had lines. It was fun offering advice and encouragement to the first-timers.
I had no cramps and sailed through the obstacles without a single fail. I walked some sections of deep sand but mostly ran.
I jumped the third and final fire one hour and forty-one minutes after the start.
Can You Complete a Spartan Trifecta?
I’d say it all comes down to the Beast. If you can get through that with a halfway decent time, you’re all set. You can use the benchmarks above to gauge your readiness. Your long runs should end up close to a half-marathon distance. If you’re training for one of the many hilly courses with tons of technical trail running, you’ll need to adjust for that. You should work diligently to build an intermediate level of pulling and grip strength. And you’ll want to practice some of the more technical obstacles.
If you barely manage to complete the Beast before jumping right into the Sprint, I still think you can finish. But be prepared to suffer.
So what do you think? Are you going to sign up? Have you already? If you’ve read this far, you absolutely should.
Thanks for reading!
If you enjoyed this article, I’m sure you’ll love my article, How hard is a Spartan Ultra?
