Tag Archives: Spartan Trifecta

November 25, 2014 · 6:45 am

Happy Birthday to candies & crunches!!!

Guys! I can’t believe it, time flies and my blog turns 1 year old today!!!

Even though, I haven’t been particularly active in the blog world over the past few months, don’t worry, I am here to stay!

This blog provided me with so much more than I have ever expected. The community and people I’ve met here and the support I’ve recieved are incredible. I thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for being there for me and simply for being you. I’ve learnt so much about myself along the way: Spartan Trifecta was simply the icing on an already delicious cake!!! *Haha! You get what I mean! Don’t you?!?!? XO*

The year to come will be the most amazing year yet! *PINKY SWEAR!*

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

xoxo
Olena

10 Comments

Filed under Holidays, Running

Tagged as Anniversary, Birthday, Blogaversary, fitness, health, running, Spartan Race, Spartan Trifecta, Yoga

August 5, 2014 · 6:45 am

Spartan Beast & Trifecta That Almost Didn’t Happen (Part 2)

I KNOWWWWW! How could I leave you hanging like that?! Well, I just did! *It was done with love lol!*

If you missed the first part, here it is: Spartan Beast & Trifecta That Almost Didn’t Happen (Part 1)

That’s me at the start line. Worried, ecstatic and everything in between. Understandably so! The furthest distance I’d ever run before was 16.8 km and there were NO mountains! This being said, I had my water and gels, AND a friend to run with. Joe ran with me the previous two races too *read more on Spartan Sprint – here, and on Spartan Super – here*; however, we ran at our own pace. This time around, we decided to stick together: Running such a long race is more of a mental game than anything, and we knew that we would need to be there for each other emotionally.

I didn’t have much time to stretch, even though the start was pushed to 10.40 am, but at least I was able to calm down after a whirlwind of an adventure of us getting to the race. I was calm and composed. The plan was to go at a steady pace up hill and speed up on trails as well as while going downhill. I had 6 Gu’s with me, but I was shooting to take one every 5-6 kilometers or so.

The race started out with a gentle hill, but that didn’t last for too long. I considerably slowed my pace, and I was glad I did. The hill was getting really steep. At times, I even had to grab on to trees and their roots to climb huge rocks. It was FUN! Unfortunately, I started getting cramps in my glutes, so I would stop every now and then to massage them a bit.

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I am really grateful that my friend was really understanding. I knew, however, that once I got to the flat or downhill path I’d be able to fly, and that thought definitely kept me going. In addition, the weather was overcast, so I didn’t have to worry about the heat.

This race was definitely the most challenging at 24 kilometers long. This time around there was much more mud on slopes, more heavy weight lifting, lots of crawling under the barbed wire be it on a flat surface, incline or in water.There was a fair share of people who were feeling sick, throwing up and unable to walk anymore, which was a good reminder that it’s good to have ambitious goals, but it’s important that they are manageable too. That being said, there was a lot of inspiration all over the place! People constantly making sure that everyone is okay, offering their help to those in need, a lot of cheering and smiles. However, I never imagined I would see anything like this.

I actually saw these guys while running down a very slippery and muddy hill. I was barely able to keep balance on my own when I noticed one of the guys bringing down the wheelchair and another carrying his friend on his back. I even teared up a bit for how great witnessing something like this was!

I forgot about any pain I was experiencing right that moment!

Some of the obstacles I enjoy the most are the rope climb…

Monkey barrel roll *I really have no clue how to call those! It was the first time I ever did it, and I LOVED the challenge!!!*…

*That’s me sweating there on the far right with a red Camelbak! Haha!*

Oh, and monkey bars, of course!

*As you can see it on my face, it’s a piece of cake haha!*

I would be lying if I said I was able to avoid all burpees!

I slipped on the traverse wall…

And I didn’t even attempt completing this challenge and went straight for burpees. *The finish line was about 100 meters away and I had sever lower back pain.*

*Can you see through those rings how excited I was? NOT! Haha!*

As I mentioned before, there were a lot of obstacles that included lifting heavy objects. I was really surprised that most of the times girls had to lift the same weight as guys. Even though I completed all of them, I was really struggling, especially when the weight was distributed unevenly. Definitely something I have to work on!

The second half of the race was mostly run on trails which felt AH-mazing!!! There was also a lot of walking, crawling, swimming in water which was very refreshing and welcome.

And guess what? I actually have a decent jumping over the fire picture this time around!!! The fire was so high that I totally thought that it was gonna be one of those pictures again.

*Aren’t you proud of me?! I, personally, can’t believe I was even able to jump so high after the longest race of my life so far, forget about the face and shape! LOL!*

Want to know another fun fact? I almost broke down crying when the girl was putting the medal around my neck. I was happy, I was overwhelmed, I was tired! To make things even better, my hubby decided to take his coat and turn away as I was running the final stretch, so it took me probably 15-20 minutes to find him. *Mind you, I could barely walk, and and my brain was fried and I couldn’t recall what he was wearing.* And he, poor thing, was still waiting for me at the slippery wall! *I actually was able to see him when I zoomed in on the picture above, looking away, waiting for me to arrive. Haha!*

Anyhow, once I found him, I was a happy trooper again!

Do I have any regrets? Of course! I am definitely saddened *and ecstatic at the same time* that the Spartan Trifecta is complete. Now I need to find another worthy and exciting challenge to complete and train for. Also… Ummm… I regret not taking a granola bar with me, my stomach was definitely unhappy from not eating anything but gels from 7 am till about 5 pm!!! Haha!

Have you ever been upset about completing your goal? What are your favorite obstacles? Any near missed big races?

xoxo
Olena

16 Comments

Filed under Cardio, Fitness, Health, Motivation, Race Reviews, Running

Tagged as fitness, health, motivation, Mud Race, Obstacle Race, running, Spartan Beast, Spartan Beast Ottawa 2014, Spartan Race, Spartan Trifecta, weight loss

August 4, 2014 · 6:45 am

Spartan Beast & Trifecta That Almost Didn’t Happen (Part 1)

Hi loves!

I’ve missed you! I am sure many of you would like to have an explanation as to why I haven’t posted in a while. I won’t go too much in detail, but let’s put it this way: It’s summer and sometimes I feel like I start seeing my blog as a job *which is not*, so I pull back a bit. I like to be excited about my posts and chose not to write instead of posting just to post. That being said, I love you all and you mean more to me than you’ll ever know!

Those who follow me on Instagram know that I’ve been keeping myself very busy lately. I have A LOT to talk about! However, today, I’d like to tell you all about my Spartan Beast *and Trifecta* that almost didn’t happen a week ago… I am sure you’re dying to hear all about it! And, yes, you read it right… IT ALMOST DIDN’T HAPPEN! And no, I am NOT being a drama queen here. *Pinky swear!*

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So let’s all go back to Saturday, July 26. My husband and I went over to my brother-in-law for a BBQ. All I was talking about was how nervous I was and if my hubby thinks I should have another piece of bread to load up on carbs. Needless to say, nobody wanted to hear anything about it. *That’s the bitter truth, people! Haha!*

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My heat was scheduled to start at 10 am on Sunday. It took us about 2.5 hours to get to the venue the previous time, so we decided to leave at 6 am. I woke up around 5.15 am to get dressed and walk Bella for as long as possible. *She had to stay in her crate all day long, and I felt horrible about it.*

It was around 6.15 am when Justin decided to double check the address of the location. *Please, don’t ask! I guess I was too nervous to even think about it!* That’s when I had a mini heart attack… It WAS at a different location and, according to a GPS, it was about a 3-hour drive!!! What also was weird is that it gave us a different name of the town: Gracefield, QC instead of Lac-Sainte-Marie, Qc.

We headed out the doors and went to Tim Horton’s to pick up a bagel cream cheese as a pre-race snack. The trouble started when we got onto the highway: It started raining cats and dogs! At some point, Justin wasn’t able to control the car for how much water was on the road; nevertheless, I tried to keep my composure. It wasn’t long lived… All I can say is CONSTRUCTION all over Montreal. It seemed to appear out of nowhere. We drove there just a day ago. Nothing made sense. We were driving in circles for at least 30 minutes!!! By that time I was freaking out all the way.

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Since it was early Sunday morning and the highways were empty, Justin was able to catch up a bit. We were going to be there just-just…

You think this was the worst?! Imagine my horror the moment we saw our friends driving in the opposite direction as we were about 5 minutes away from the location!!! There was a ‘slight’ error on the Spartan Race website. They put ‘rue’ (street) instead of ‘chemin’ (way) in the address. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!!! There are pretty much 2 identical addresses in 2 different towns within 20 minutes from each other with the same first three letters/digits of the postal code!!! And the GPS didn’t give us options!!!!

At that point, we realized that there was no way we’d make it for the 10 o’clock heat, but we’d be okay for the last one departing at 10.30 am. I tried to keep my nerves under control… It’s definitely heart breaking to even consider that something you’ve been working hard for so long may not happen after all!

When we got to the correct address, there was no signs or a mountain. Thankfully, we saw some random people passing by who were able to guide us as to how to get to our destination. We got to the venue at 10.27 am. I was literally shaking. It was so bad that I had to ask a friend of mine to attach a chip to my shoe, I couldn’t pass a tie wrap through a hole. At least, I was there!!!! 24 kilometers later, I’d be a Trifecta Finisher! It was now all up to me to make it happen…

TO BE CONTINUED…

xoxo
Olena

17 Comments

Filed under Fitness, Health, Race Reviews, Running

Tagged as fitness, health, Race review, running, Spartan Beast, Spartan Beast Ottawa 2014, Spartan Race, Spartan Trifecta, Travel, weight loss

June 30, 2014 · 6:45 am

An Exciting Weekend Adventure: Ottawa Spartan Sprint Recap

Hi guys!

How was your weekend? Did you live it up to the fullest?

If you’ve been following my blog, you most likely know that I ran the Spartan Sprint in Ottawa yesterday. Well, small correction… The race itself was actually held at Edelweiss Valley, a ski mountain and resort located in Wakefield, Quebec, only about 20 minutes north of Ottawa.

Since Montreal is about 250 km away, Justin and I left home around 7.15 am. We decided to pass by my favorite coffee shop, Tim Horton’s, *you certainly know the story of how it saved my life and therefore became my favorite location, lol!* to grab a plain bagel and a coffee to fuel for the race.

The bagel definitely hit the spot; however, I never finished my coffee. I was too excited to drink it because:

my hubby was running the race with me,
after completing the Sprint, I have only a Spartan Beast to finish in order to get the Trifecta medal *= 2/3 done*,
oh, and my toenail came off the day before, so I didn’t have to worry about it getting inflamed again!!!

When we got to the parking lot, we were surprised to find out there was a shuttle bus that would take us to the venue. It was unexpected, but I enjoyed a short 5-minute drive since everyone inside was so hyper and ready to embark on the adventure. It was contagious!

Initially, we were registered for 12 pm. However, our friends and us decided to run at 11 am to avoid the heat as much as possible. *It was an extremely hot and humid day!* We quickly checked-in, dropped off our bags and located the rest of the group. 30 minutes later we were ready to run.

I love the hype at the start line. All participants are asked the question ‘Who am I?’ They joyfully shout back ‘I am a Spartan!’ and then scream off the top of their lungs ‘Aroo! Aroo! Aroo!’

Right off the back, this creates a tight bond among everyone and readiness to overcome whatever is thrown our way. However, this can also be tricky. I learned it the hard way at the Montreal Super Spartan Race. I started sprinting up the hill from the get go; not even 5 minutes into it, my lungs were on fire. It probably took me a good half an hour to recover afterwards.

This time around, I decided to control my excitement, and I am very glad I did so. The first hill was extremely steep, but I was able to keep up a fast walking pace without stopping.

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There was much more mud compared to my previous race. A lot of people tried to avoid it, but I embraced it. It definitely helps to avoid crowds on either side of it. This also meant a pretty dirty barb wire crawl, but I couldn’t help but laugh at it! The truth is, I’ll take rolling in cool mud over being under the merciless sun. But… lots of mud made for a hard rope climb. Gosh… how slippery it was! At some point I wasn’t even sure if I’ll be able to reach the darn bell because I kept slipping down. After weighing my options, I chose kicking the bell over doing burpees! *It didn’t take long to figure this out either. Hehe!*

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*The image above is NOT from my race, but you get the idea!*

Needless to mention my upper body was shot and I wasn’t able to complete the traverse wall. ‘A mistake was worth 30 burpees. I was very much like that guy in the picture below: MISERABLE! Lol!’

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There were other obstacles too, such as a Hercules hoist, sandbag carry, heavy object carry, etc., but the one obstacle I can’t seem to tame is the spear throw. Hopefully, it’ll stick in the hay stack the next time!

What I found extremely challenging during this race is the heat. At some point, there was no shade for a long stretch and I felt pretty light-headed. Thankfully, I had a Camelbak and Gu with me. Also, there were these giant fans *in 2 different locations* that blew an enormous amount of water mist as we were trying to walk through a pretty deep mud patch. The mist was very dense and I could barely see. But it was definitely a blessing in disguise, it was so refreshing!!! *On a side note, I was wearing contact lenses and this mist caused me to see mini rainbows, which made me think I was hallucinating. Later on I found out I wasn’t alone. Fewh!*

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After the second mile, the race was really really enjoyable! It was mostly downhill too *duh!*, and there was pleasant breeze blowing. A variety of wall jumps, hay bale jumps, net climb, fire jump, slippery wall, and a rope descent flew by, and the next thing I knew I was done!

The only thing I really regret is that Justin got a little behind and we couldn’t do a fire jump holding each others hands. *There is usually a photographer who takes pictures of participants.* But I made it up by having this picture taken.

*Aren’t we an adorable Spartan couple?*

We walked around a little bit to see different vendors on site and got some free Oikos yogurt. Finally, after having everyone of our group finish the race, we went to take a ‘shower’ that was more of a hose down *But, hey! I’m not complaining!*. While standing in line, I OBVIOUSLY took a picture with this beautiful backdrop. *I’m NOT referring to the garbage bins. LOL!*

It was a wonderful adventure and I am already looking forward to the Spartan Beast, which will take place at the same location in 4 weeks. Woop Woop! Beast mode is ON!!!

Did you have any races this weekend? What are your biggest fears during a race?

xoxo
Olena

36 Comments

Filed under Fitness, Health, Race Reviews, Running

Tagged as endurance, fitness, health, Mud Race, Obstacle race training, Ottawa Spartan Sprint, Race review, running, Spartan Race, Spartan Race obstacles, Spartan Sprint, Spartan Trifecta, weight loss

May 21, 2014 · 6:45 am

My First ‘Big Girl’ Race: Montreal Super Spartan Race

It finally happened!!! I completed my first ever Spartan Race! And it wasn’t just any Spartan Race, it was a Spartan Super Race: 13+ km (8+ miles) and 20+ obstacles.

Without a doubt, it was the best and most intense fitness challenge of my life. The Spartan slogan ‘You will know at the finish line’ strongly resonates with how I feel at the moment.

The thing is, I don’t think I’ve ever thought I could push my limits this far. The notion of a ‘limit’ has shattered. An emotional limbo I was in is finally gone. I know that I am capable of so much more and I am motivated more than ever!

But first things first!

MISTAKES NOT TO BE REPEATED *EVER AGAIN*

1. Not breaking in the new shoes ahead of time: I know, I know, I sound absolutely foolish, but I did it. I mean… I didn’t do it… I didn’t wear my new shoes until 2 days before the race. BIG MISTAKE! I put them on for the first time on Saturday morning to go for a light jog with my pup: 5.5 km later I had blisters on both of my ankles. I think the issue was with the ankle cup. Apart from this though, Reebok all terrain shoes are great and they definitely served their purpose and kept me from falling down in the mud.

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2. Taping & Mud Races: Some of you may be very surprised that I haven’t heard of it before, but for some of you it may be a new concept. When I got a pair of two bloody blisters just two days before my race, I was very very worried. There is nothing worse than a blister standing in the way of running. I was desperately looking for ways to diminish the pain and discomfort. When I came across this potential lifesaver, I happily prepared a band aid and duct tape for the morning of the race. My happiness lasted about 30 seconds into the race. Lesson learned: water and duct tape do not work together. Haha!

3. Uphill running: When your training calls for running on a mountain, find the biggest hill around. Don’t skip on it or try to substitute it for something else! It is the biggest challenge when it comes to the Spartan Race. Just to give you an idea, I had to run up the mountain about 5-6 times, which was about 8 km (if not more) of uphill running. I definitely didn’t expect that! *Silly me!*

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Here is a quick review of the race just to give you an idea of obstacles that were included in Montreal Super Spartan Race.

According to a runner who participated in the same race, the distance was about 14.3 km and the altitude – 1,126 m.

I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge; and even though I am super-duper sore and can barely move around, I can’t wait for the Sprint in the end of June (5+ km) and the Beast in July (20+ km)!

Here is a few pictures from the race itself.

Anxious and excited me before the race

Climbing

Rope Climb

Monkey bars

Wall climb

Slippery wall

FINISH LINE!!!

Can you tell I’m a happy trooper?

Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of all obstacles or breathtaking views from the top of the mountain since I didn’t have a camera on me and spectators weren’t allowed everywhere. Some of other cool obstacles were a spear throw, traversal wall and barbed wire crawl. But just believe me, I had the time of my life!!! Can’t wait to get my Trifecta medal in 2 months!

What was your first big race? What did you like the most about it? Have you had any life changing experiences during one of your races?

xoxo
Olena

28 Comments

Filed under Fitness, Health, Motivation, Race Reviews

Tagged as fitness, health, Mud Race, Obstacle race training, Reebok ALL TERRAIN SUPER, running, Spartan Race, Spartan Race obstacles, Spartan Trifecta, Super Spartan Race, weight loss

December 18, 2013 · 7:42 pm

Sexy Legs Pyramid

Okay, fine… Actually, it’s called Lean Legs Pyramid, but I figured LEAN = SEXY; thus, Sexy Legs Pyramid was born. Fair enough?

This week I decided to share with you yet another quick but EFFECTIVE workout *hey! something is better than nothing!*, which is perfect for the holiday season. Also, it’s a great add-on to your regular workout routine when your time is not limited.

I got a hold of this workout when I told a friend of mine that I was going to try for the Spartan Trifecta next year. And… OUFFFF… let me tell you, it definitely got my fat crying haha! In all seriousness though, my legs loved it and ‘rewarded’ me with some pleasant soreness next morning. In my mind, SORENESS = FIT and that’s exactly how I love to feel during holidays when there is an abundance of food and temptation.

* SQUATS help you run faster and make your booty BOOTILICIOUS *you get what I mean!*
* LUNGES improve core strength.
* TOE TOUCHES stretch and strengthen your hip flexor muscles and quadriceps.
* WALL SITS can help transform your body from ‘mehhh’ to ‘ou la la’ since multiple muscles are involved.
* JUMPING JACKS get your heart rate up and BURN fat! Gosh, it sounds great!

How to go about it?