Spartan Race Super 10km

Welcome to my post, Spartan Race Super 10km! This post will cover everything you need to know as well as my personal experiences on the course. If you aren’t sure what exactly a Spartan Race is, or just want some extra background information, please check out my introduction to Spartan Races post using this link! (You can also read a brief summary of my experiences running the 5km Sprint race as well!)

Goal Setting and Shiny Medals

Every year I try to set a number of category based goals. Physical challenges, travel adventures, studying for qualifications or improving my skills at a hobby for example. It is always good to be able to look back at the end of the year at all the goals you have worked hard on. As time spent working hard on things you are passionate about, is time well spent. At least in my book it is.

For my fitness goal for 2024, I had decided to complete the Spartan Race not only once, but three times in order to achieve what they call the Spartan Trifecta Medal. This involves running the 5km Sprint, 10km Super and the 21km Beast spartan race to completion all within the same year. You can find a race near you using the race finder on the Spartan Race Website!

Who put this on easy mode?

Now, I know what many of you may be thinking, these distances hardly sound tough! And for the most part you would be right. However, the myriad of obstacles you face along the way are designed to continually test your physical and mental strength making even shorter distances far more challenging. In addition, while obstacles are usually located on flat ground, the remainder of the running sections are mostly up or down-hill, further increasing the difficulty level. Then finally, for those who enjoy competition, the need for speed also comes into play.

That covers a bit of the background information. Now it’s time to dive right in to the experience that is, my very first spartan race.

Races are not held very often here in Japan. So I ended up taking the Spartan Race Super 10km first, then completed the sprint (5km) the following month. This is technically out of sequence but I was feeling strong and confident enough to jump straight into the 10km race.

I did no specific spartan race related training, nor did I look up what kind of obstacles there might be, or even what the course might be like. I told a few people “I’m just old school like that” but the reality of it was I was just winging it. In hindsight, the thought of being surprised by every obstacle as and when I discovered it was something I found appealing. Which, I think made the race more enjoyable.

Signing Up and Choosing a Start time

When booking your spartan race, you must register online. Groups of spartans are sent off in waves to tackle the course, you can choose your start time from a number of options usually within 15- or 30-minute increments. In order to give myself plenty of time to travel to the venue etc., I opted for a 12:15 start time.

The 10km race was held in the prefecture next door to Tokyo called Chiba. Down towards the south of this prefecture, was an attraction park called German Village, a vast hilly area with lush green fields, park areas, attractions and other assorted random objects that you might expect to find in a German village in Japan, such as giant dinosaur models. Or maybe I have just been here too long and my common sense has been vastly warped.

After a 30-minute bus ride from the closest station, I arrived at Ye Olde German Village (Japan). Obviously not the official name, I am just trying to paint a picture of the chaos. I followed the line of mostly fit and healthy people (a few porkers were mixed in) as they made their way to the registration area. It was pleasantly surprising to see a number of energy drink and protein booths handing out free samples and drinks to everyone in the vicinity. Helping myself to a chilled bottle of Pokari Sweat (oddly named, but tasty non the less), I strode over to the registration area.

Reporting to Reception

I signed up at registration and received a small envelope with a few bits and bobs in. In the envelope was a headband with a number on which I had to wear during the race. There was also a small timer shaped like a wrist watch to time my progress through the race. Oh, and a paper wristband with my start time written on, like you used to get at theme parks before technology was invented.

My start time read 12:15, and I was feeling relatively cool and composed. That is, apart from the existence of a decent number of guys who had decided to participate topless and forcefully invite everyone around them to what I am sure they would refer to as “the gun show”. Though last time I checked, big guns never really translated well to hill running, so I didn’t feel particularly disadvataged.

I had little else to do and nobody to converse with, so I focused on getting my body warmed up. With my muscles awake and fully stretched to minimize chance of injury and maximize performance, it was go time. I made my way over to the starting area.  Initially, I hung back a few meters to observe the scene and figure out the flow. The start area or “holding pen”, which I will refer to it, due to how it reminded me of seeing a pig race on a farm with all the little pigs in a pen looking clueless about what awaits them.

Anyway, standing at the front of this pen of pigs was a very loud and energetic personality with a microphone. He was most likely there to fire up the crowd and keep them engaged until the official start time. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a bad thing. However, for a quiet introvert who likes the sound of silence such as myself, it was another loud and awkward moment I wished to avoid. Not because of poor socializing skills, but because it leaves me feeling like a Magicarp after getting hit with a gigadrain from a buff Venasaur. This awful mismatch probably made my 10 minutes spent in the holding pen some of the tougher minutes I spent throughout the day.

I was participating for just one reason. To push my self to my limits while getting covered in sweat, mud and scrapes. In the hope of becoming just a little bit stronger than I was yesterday. With this in my mind, I was able to refocus my energy in the right direction before the final countdown began.

A siren goes off and the race finally begins. With such a big group and a fairly narrow starting passage, the line very quickly backed up. The first 3 minutes or so I spent inevitably walking up the first small hill on the trail. With all this pent up race energy and my muscle fibers excited to feel the burn of hill running, I began to overtake anyone moving slower than my natural pace and tried to clear a bit of distance between myself and the person in front. This allowed me to take in the scenery and breathe in the fresh German air. 

I could have predicted this from the start considering I had chosen the open race bracket and not the competitive slot, but there were many people who just wanted to cruise and enjoy their time on the trail. Many were participating in groups, smiling and enjoying being out in the open and getting a bit of exercise. I thought to myself that the spartan race could be enjoyed by almost anyone if their mindset was to enjoy the outdoors with some friends, and understood why there were so many people interested in such a race. Of course, I was thinking this as I was overtaking all the snails and enjoying a sense of superiority. Absolutely meaningless, but still rather satisfying.

This brings an end to part one of my 10km Super Spartan Race blog post, stay tuned for part two which will be uploaded soon! For any of you who have participated in a Spartan Super before, let me know your expereinces by leaving a comment!