Knowing Yourself through the Spartan Death Race

In a few months time, Adam Connors will be in the race of his life.

That’s because he’s going to participate in an intense endurance challenge, known as the “Spartan Death Race.”

“I feel like you don’t truly experience life unless you spend some time out of your comfort zone,” Connors said. “And, this is definitely the race to accomplish that with.”

The Spartan Death Race was started in Vermont nearly a deacade ago, and has since grown in popularity to include a winter and summer U.S. race, as well as an International version. The U.S. Spartan Death Race is slated for June 21 in Vermont, while the international race’s location will not be revealed until three months prior to the start of that race, sometime February 2014.

Connors, a 29-year-old Pottsville resident, has registered for both.

“As for why, the best answer I could possibly give is simply because it exists,” he said.

According to www.youmaydie.com, the official website of the Spartan Death Race, the event provides ultra-endurance athletes the opportunity to, “test their mental and physical prowess like no other event on earth.”

Competitors in the U.S. Spartan Death Race compete in a series of challenges along a 40-mile course through the Vermont woods.

The challenges described on the site may task competitors to:

• Chop wood for two hours

• Carry a 20-pound stump for several hours

• Lift 10 – 30-pounds of rocks for five hours

• Build a fire

• Crawl through mud under barbed wire

• Memorize the names of the first 10 U.S. presidents or a Bible verse, hike to the top of a mountain, recite them in order, prior to running a 20-hour race.

 “I think it’s primal,” Connors said of the grueling challenges. “It takes odd things like that to bring out the best in people.”

The race has no set time limit, with some years lasting 24 hours, and others 72 hours.

“It ends when race directors want it to end,” Connors said, adding that race directors will do whatever they can to get into competitors’ heads and quit – including lie to competitors.

“They could tell you the race will be ending just around the corner,” Conners said. “And, it really won’t be ending for another day.”

He said that approximately 300 endurance racers participate each year, however only 10 – 15-percent of racers actually finish.

“ I think anyone could personally make themselves do this. I believe anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it,” Connors said. “But, I think it takes a special person to finish it.”

A Personal Journey

Connors started his passion for athletic competition as a student-athlete at Pottsville Area High School, playing football and baseball. In the last few years, he began participating endurance challenges, including the GORUK Challenge, which is a team event modeled after special forces training; as well as in several local Mud Runs, which are outdoor obstacle races.

It would be at these mud runs where Connors first heard about the Spartan Death Race.

After researching news reports and watching a Youtube video about the race, Connors found that potential Spartan Death Race competitors could first test their endurance skills in the Spartan Races, which are run by the same organizers as the Spartan Death Race.

Last summer, Connors participated in all three levels of Spartan Races, which consist of the Spartan Sprint (a 5k); Super Spartan (8-miles); and the Spartan Beast (10 or more miles).

“The Death Race is the ultimate tier,” Connors said.

Conors noted that the Spartan races, as well as the upcoming Spartan Death Races have given him rare opportunities to travel. He added competitors raise funds only for their transportation, but not for lodging, as there would be no time for extended periods of rest.

“In my mind, you’ll never forget spending three days in the Vermont mountains doing the most insane things,” Connors said. “And, when I tried my first Spartan Race, I wanted to keep going.”

Training

Connors said he trains with weights five days a week, up to three hours at a time. The other two days he goes for long-distance hikes with a weighted pack. Every other week, Connors commits to a 12-hour workout, which he completes overnight, as he expects to experience sleep exhaustion during the Spartan Death Race.

Included with his training regiment are several “burpies,” which are a full-bodied exercise that combines and intensifies similar movements to pushups and jumping jacks.

It is also a familiar exercise to Spartan and Spartan Death Race competitors, Connors said, as 30 or more burpies are regular penalties for failing a challenge.

However, Connors points out that no particular training could prepare a competitor for the unexpected challenges throughout the race.

Ultimately, Connors said, the Spartan Death Race is about the perseverance of the individual competitor.

“You have to do it just for you,” Connors said.

For more information, visit the Spartan Death Race website or Facebook page.