How do you become ‘Spartan Fit’ ?

In my course of starting to run long distance, I came across a talk from Joe De Sena and found it immensely useful. I decided to dig deep and even bought his book, ‘Spartan Fit’ and read it in few sittings. The name, Spartan race harks back to the ancient legend of eponymous Greek city-state that was renowned for its athletic and military prowess. The book delves into the training system of Spartans, right from the age of seven that produced such fierce warriors. The ethos of discipline, training hard and mental fortitude among the Spartans led to their almost invincible status on the battle-ground.

Unlike long distance running which is a test of endurance, Joe notes that OCRs (Obstacle course races) are test of overall conditioning — endurance, strength, stamina, speed and athleticism. Together these attributes are much better indicator of a person’s overall physical fitness. There are reams of pages dedicated in the book on how to go about building these attributes including training plan. P.S. , I read the book for the core concepts rather than following the training plan to the ‘T’ and decided to register for the race :)

Needless to say, obstacles in the race course are metaphors for what we encounter as we navigate life. The OCRs help build more strength and stamina to achieve what we desire. As the saying goes, ‘journey is more important than the destination itself’, and I realize purposeful struggle during the journey is what gives life its deeper meaning. How truly valuable is anything that is easily achieved? We as humans ascribe importance to what is hard to get. And hard things build that elusive ‘grit’ muscle. So say ‘yay’ to unexpected challenges thrown at you as you run the course. The challenge is the reward in itself.

As the Spartans say, ‘ See you at the finish line’ .

(I completed my Spartan race today .. Aaroo ! )