4-0-300 Blog 032
2016 was a year full of lofty goals but I think I did alright in achieving most of them. As I look back at the goals and season I set out on last year I’m very happy with the year I had.
I reviewed last year’s goals and was quite surprised, here’s how I did.
Last year my goals were:
Amount of Races
Ideal: 5 races building up to a Spartan Trifecta, the 2 non trifecta races would be with my wife and friends
Realistic: The Trifecta races
I did 4 races last year plus a second lap made it 5 races at the Calgary Sprint so I nailed this one.
Ideal: Burpee free and finish under 50 minutes
Realistic: 50 to 55-minute race time
This one I failed, I grossly underestimated how much Spartan could beef up a Sprint course, I finished in 1:20 or something like that, and definitely had to some burpees. The goals this year will reflect this race.
Ideal: Sub 2-hour mark and Burpee free
Realistic: 2 hours to 2.5 hours with 30-90 Burpees
I wasn’t quite able hit the ideal goal I ran just over the 2-hour goal by 7 minutes, if I had just been able to run a little bit more I should’ve got that one. As for burpees, I failed one more obstacle then the realistic goal and had to do 120.
Ideal: 5.5 to 6 hours’ finish time
Realistic: Finish, plain and simple
When running this race, I thought I had set my ideal goal much faster than this, I finished at 6:11 which is not far off the goal but I thought I stated wanting to finish in the 5-5.5 hour range so I will take this as a big win, especially as the realistic goal was just to finish and I know I did that.
My other goal for the year was to get at least 10 friends going in OCR
This goal I feel was my biggest fail, I only was able to get 6 people out to the races last year, but it just means I have to try harder this year.
Takeaways from 2016 will be starting with weak links and working to the good
Running Technique
In 2016 I listed by endurance as a weak spot and while it improved this year it’s still not where I want. However last year I thought it was just a matter of lack of running time but now I realized it’s actually my technique that’s hurting my times and speed. I had a hard time pacing myself, would use up needless energy with inefficient body position and this led not only slow times but also my shin splints I suffered from later in the year.
Plan: I’m working on videoing myself and comparing that to the running guides I’ve got. The goal is to get to 10k at a good pace unbroken.
Problem Obstacles
Looking back at what I wrote last year I wasn’t able to make a lot of improvement in this area. Rope Climbs and multi rigs are still my Achilles heel in the obstacle department. I was able to finish the monkey bars at 2 out of 3 races but failed the rope climb and multi rig all 3 races.
Plan: Changing way up from last year as that clearly didn’t work. I got a weighted vest for Christmas so it’s going to work overtime improving my grip strength. Weighted pull-ups, monkey bars are on the menu as well as heavy kettlebell work.
Successes
Spear Throw – Started off missing this one on my first two laps of the year but then nail my last two in a row. Finally found where to hold the spear and when I stopped trying to throw the spear through the target my success also went up.
Walls – Was finally able to find the technique to get over the taller walls unassisted so this as a shorter racer was a big success.
Heavy load obstacles – Just like the year prior last year again this was a strength, the only time I struggled with one was the sandbag carry in Montana but almost everyone including the elites did as well, the terrain and distance was tough.
Plan: To continue working on the strengths of my races not just the weak points. I bought a bucket and am building a small army of sandbags to help with that.
Overall thoughts on the 2016 season
My big take away for this year is how much I still love this sport, and how awesome the community in it is. The year was a lot of fun for me. Finishing the Trifecta was something I never truly thought I would do, I knew I could but always thought at some point I would make up an excuse and not finish, so this was a very proud personal growth milestone for me. I was able to take a setback at the Calgary Sprint and turn it into a huge positive and finish the Red Deer Super with my best race yet. After those races I still found time to get another little race into to cap off the season. Overall my season was a success in that I able to achieve most of my goals, but more importantly I want to keep working on having a better 2017.
Moving forward my goals for 2017 are the following.
Amount of Races
Ideal: 6 races
Realistic: 5 should be easy as I’ve already run 1 race, I’ve signed up for 2 more and have 2-3 more on the radar.
Finishing time
For me I’m focusing on improving my sprint time in the 2017, in fact I’ve dubbed this year the “Year of the Sprint” for me, I’m even using it as hashtag on social media.
Ideal: 45 minutes’ finish time
Realistic: 50-55 minutes, all but maybe one of my races this year are going to be the short distance so hopefully with the improvements in my running I’ll hit it earlier in the season than later.
Sign-Ups
My goal is the same as last year, to get at least 10 friends running a race in 2017.
Blog Goals
My 2 goals for the 4-0-300 Project are to get one other contributor on the blog (maybe one of the 10 people I try to get to run a race). The other goal is to get to the 90-post mark by the end of the year. Means more posts in race season plus maybe some more diverse content.
Outro
2016 was a great year for me both personally and racing wise so I’m hoping for great things in 2017. Remember if you’re new to the sport to have fun, and if you’re returning try to have more fun than last time. Also for newbies if you’re intimidate by the course there is always someone out there willing to help you out, and for the vets be that person to help. I hope you guys get out there too, maybe I’ll run into at a race or out training.
The 4-0-300 Project 
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