5 Years Strong: My 5 Trifecta Journey

Written by: Nikki Fritz

The butterflies in the pit of my stomach are in overdrive as I stood at the start line in Glen Rose, Texas as I waited anxiously for the announcer to begin the race. This was it, this was the last Spartan race of my 2014 season. 13+miles to survive and finish and my goal would accomplished. To celebrate Spartan Race 5 years I decided to try and complete 5 trifectas in 2014. Reflecting back what an amazing year. Filled with ups and downs, injuries, tears, frustration, but worth every minute of it.

Rewind back to April in Vegas. My very first Spartan Super and my first race with an amazing group of ladies - the Canadian Mudd Queens. I was so nervous about doing this race; first of the season and training was not quite up to par but I had such amazing support from these ladies, which gave me the confidence that I could achieve anything I put my mind to. We started and finished together and I learned very quickly that you spend a few hours in a desert pushing your body to the limit brings you closer to those with whom you race. I couldn't have done it with these ladies. I ended up banging my head then panicking in a water obstacle as I don't know how to swim. I looked up and had a fellow CMQ distracting me to calm myself down. I focused on her, was able to get myself back and was able to finish the race. I was so happy I couldn't stop crying. I actually did it. Despite heat stroke, sun burn, dehydration and head injury (left quite a bruise and goose egg on the forehead) I pushed through. Now the fire was fueled. I returned back to Canada with even more drive and determination to reach my goal.

I headed to Colorado for the Spartan Sprint Special Ops which in itself was a obstacle to get onto the military base. Because I am a Canadian I needed to have a person with a Department of Defense card to escort me on the base. Again a Canadian Mudd Queen to the rescue and thankfully with the help of Facebook and my fellow Mudd Queens they were able to find someone to help me through the gate. It was one of the muddiest, toughest Sprints I have ever done!

In May the Canadian Spartan series started and off to Mt Tremblant I go for a Super one weekend then back for a Sprint the next weekend! It was a beautiful venue and I was so excited to race a Canadian Super that is until I hit the first hill.

"What the hell did I get myself into?!" I mumbled under my breath...what I had left of it.

Now I have always taken pride in my natural ability to run and handle hills but not mountains. So many times I wanted to cry, quit, scream. I think at one point I could have easily just thrown myself on the ground and went into full temper tantrum mode. I felt like my mind was going crazy but somehow my body kept plugging away, hurling over every wall, burpee after burpee but my head could not wrap around what I was doing. So it is true what they say that it is 10% physical and 90% mental. Marathons I could drown out those inner demons with music but out here on the mountain I couldn't escape from it. I couldn't have been more happy to see that slip wall knowing that on the other side was the finish line. I did it.

I was able to feel more confident in my racing and boost up my training. Then it happened. Every athlete's worst nightmare. Injury.

I had volunteered for a race and went to grab someone's flag and broke my finger. I quickly looked down at my throbbing completely deformed middle finger, snapped it back in place and went into denial mode. As I sat in the hospital ER while the Dr splinted my finger and referred me to a surgeon I sat there uncontrollably crying. Not because of pain but I felt my whole racing dream for the year had just ended. The thousands of dollars spent, the countless hours of training, the sacrifices I made. All gone just like that. Luckily, I didn't need surgery but was to remain off for 6 weeks. Well in 3 weeks I had my first Super/Beast weekend and my first trifecta.

So I rested for 3 weeks and decided to try racing with the splint in hopes I could just finish. I knew there was going to be a lot of burpees those 2 days. The Super on Saturday went well. I took my time and was extra careful...phew. The Beast the next day. Same as the day before I tried so carefully to protect my finger. That is until it happened. Less than a mile left with the slip wall almost in sight and the sounds of the festival area buzzing, I fall and landed on my hand which then broke the other side of the bone to complete the break. I screamed in pain and I am sure a few cuss words came out and thought I was done. How was I going to make it up the slip wall? It is amazing what determination and plain old stubbornness will make you do. I crossed the finish line tears streaming down my face. I actually did it. I conquered the Beast and got my first trifecta medal! I was so proud and so emotionally and physically exhausted. 1 down, 4 to go.

September came the ultimate test of what I was made of: Killington, Vermont; Where Spartan Race was born and where I thought I was going to die. Not going to lie - that race completely broke me. I wanted to quit after the first hill. I thought the Canadian ski hills were killer enough, this was just insane. Up and down, and up and down. 9 hours of sheer hell. I was so over it. I never wanted to hear the word Spartan, AROO, or anything obstacle related again. I was racing alone in the dark for the last hour of my race. I was certain if the race didn't kill me then a bear was going to. As the hours went by my enthusiasm diminished. Even with proper gear I was so cold. At the top of the mountain I was shivering so much, my lips were blue, I couldn't feel my fingers and toes. I knew what was going on. I thought it beat me, I was done. I was only half way and already hypothermia was setting in. I ran into a lovely volunteer who saw me and instantly grabbed me and held me in her coat to warm me up. I started to sob. When I thought I was done and ready to throw in the towel this person unknown to me would not let me quit. She got me warmed up, smiled and told me to keep going and that she was proud of me. That was all I wanted to hear being out there alone. It is easy to get into negative self talk. I kept her words with me the rest of the way. I was never so happy to see a finish line in my life.

I honestly didn't know if I had it in me to jump on a plane and head to BC to compete in Sun Peaks Spartan Beast for trifecta #3. Standing at the start line at Sun Peaks I was drained. I didn't think I had it in me to complete another beast. My body was tired from Vermont, all the travel, time change. I mentally was just exhausted. It was almost like I was just trying to go through the motions to get it done. The first 5k was up and down for me as I just couldn't find a rhythm for the life of me. Eventually I ran into a couple Canadian Mudd Queens and it was like I was reborn! They were so positive and upbeat. I was feeling rejuvenated and was having FUN! It was so wonderful to race with these ladies! Kept my spirits up and the time just flew by. I was back to loving obstacle races again!! I cried getting my Third Trifecta medal placed around my neck I was so happy.

I couldn't wait to head to South Carolina for Trifecta #4. I drove 15 hours in my lil Cobalt car. The poor girl has gotten more miles on her this year for races then the past 5 years of ownership. Not only was I beating my body down but my poor car too. I have to say other than the Toronto Sprint/Super weekend this was by far my favourite race. It was a nice, fun, fast, fairly flat and absolutely the muddiest course to which I have EVER been!! I was less than a mile to go in a mud pit when I slipped and instantly felt a pull in my left outer knee. I fought back the tears and limped on to the finish. I had no idea what I had done but the pain was absolutely unbearable. I couldn't walk full weight bearing. I was in the US and had to drive 15 hours back home, which ended up taking me close to 18hrs with all the stops to keep icing my knee.

All I kept thinking is how am I going to get on a plane in 3 days and head to Dallas and run my last and final beast. I rested that week and hoped for the best. I tripled my compression braces for my knee and went in with the hopes I could just hang on enough to even walk it and finish. I have come so far to not complete what I set out to do.

I was very fortunate to race with a couple of Canadian Mudd Queens that I had the pleasure of racing with in Vegas at my first Spartan of the year. Those ladies never left me. They encouraged and assisted, and we worked as a team to get it done. By far it was the most fun I had during a race. I think I heard "We wear tight pants" in my head for weeks after the race and still giggled every time. I was so honoured to be able to race with these remarkable ladies and I am so thankful I got to race my last Spartan of 2014 with them.

As I received my 5th Trifecta medal I wore it with such pride. It felt so amazing that despite everything that happened I kept going and accomplished my goal. It may have not been the prettiest of times but it made me stronger and shaped me to be a better athlete and set my goals for 2015. As for the knee I returned to Canada and was told I did quite a nasty tear to my MCL and they couldn't believe I got another Beast out of it without doing more damage. I have been rehabbing with physio nicely and no surgery was needed. I am really looking forward to 2015 adventures. I will continue to run OCRs but my focus is going back to marathons to reach my goal of running a full marathon in every province and every state and every continent.

BattleFrog Central Florida Review

BattleFrog Central Florida Review

by Patrice Chen
(If you do decide to try Battlefrog use code BFCHEN to give your 15% off.)

            I ran this race completely for fun. While on vacation I managed to get a throat infection and I was on pain killers and antibiotics while racing. So this was going to be a take it easy race. I was suppose to race at 930 am but asked if I could race at 830am as I wanted to watch my girls run at 12. They said I could just go whenever I want which I did. I think in the future BattleFrog might want to keep an eye on how many are in which wave as the first heat after the elite was really big and had quite the bottleneck at the start of the race.

            I’m not going to go through every obstacle as there is a pic of the course so everyone can see all the obstacles there was. I will say they had some unique obstacles and I enjoyed all of them. My favorite was amphibious assault. You had to shoot targets with a paintball gun from 3 positions. Lying down, kneeling and standing, it was just random targets to hit no bulls-eyes or figures to shoot but still lots of fun.

            I failed 3 obstacles on this run which is unusual for me but I am fine with it. The first one I missed was called the caving ladders I think. It was a small metal ladder above water that you had to climb upside down. The ladder rungs were only about a foot wide. (see second video for the obstacle) So you could only support yourself with one leg at a time. I think I could have done on it if I had taken my hydro pack off as the extra weight didn’t help me at all. The next one I failed was wedge Donovan, this one is basically the sternum checker in other course. I made the jump but not high enough onto my hips and when I came down managed to bonk my head so opted to not give it another try. The last obstacle I failed was the monkey bars. Normally I can do these no problem. However they had them at the very end of the course and my arms were spent. Also they were not meant for short people the starting rungs I could not reach unless I jumped for them.

            I enjoyed how the course was set up as there were lots of water obstacles in the first half of the course.  Every time I was getting really hot there seemed to be a water obstacle. I was getting a kick out of all the Florida people complaining about how cold the water was. I really enjoyed it and found it quite refreshing.

            I have a few complaints about the race, the course was on a ATV compound but it also used farm land I guess. There was a lot of cow patties. I mean I think that was the biggest obstacle for me was trying to avoid all the cow patties. The other part was there was quite a few places that people could easily cheat as there was not enough volunteers to cover everything. Not a big complaint as I know this happens in most races. I think the big thing was that the volunteers would let people go by with out doing all of their penalties.  In this case the penalty was a 10 - 8 count body builders. I know, I know I should not complain because I was in the open heat but it still really bothers me.

            I loved the ending of the race with the tsunami obstacle. The warp wall was slippery wet to run up and they had ropes you could grab to help you up. Even with the rope it was still really difficult. The slip slid they had on the other side was amazing. I’m not afraid of heights or anything but this was intimidating. I had to take a few minutes to psyche myself up to go down it. Fast and fun though once I went down.  They had the famous normandy jacks at the end to go through which got you nice and dirty just before you finished. Then there was the coveted medal at the end. Always great to see. However because the 5km and 15km course ended at the same place you had to be asked which medal you get. Not a big deal but it would have been nice not to have to be asked what course you did.

The festival area was well done as well. They had a food truck section with about 5 trucks and a tent to sit under. For the kids there was an inflatable obstacle course and cameo face painting. There was a couple of fitness competition you could sign up for and they had awards ceremony. The music was blaring all day and it was a great atmosphere. Of course the great weather we had that day really helped. There was smiles everywhere in the festival area. Also there was a place to take pics with props but I missed out on that as I didn’t see it.

My kids did the Bullfrog mile kids race. I think Battlefrog did an amazing job with the kids races. They had some small 1foot walls for the little kids to job over and some 3 foot walls for the older kids to get over. There was a ton of obstacle for the kids races. My kids loved every minute of it. The kids also got tshirts and medals. The medals were exactly like the adults only smaller so they were pretty proud of them. If you want to see some pics of the kids race go to my fb page there are some pics there.

Just a last note, this race cam be very expensive for the whole family to attend or if you are bringing family to watch. My kids raced and I still needed to buy a spectators pass for my husband to get in as well. The spectators pass was $10 for adults, $5 for kids. Other costs were $10 for parking and bag check was another $5. Add in the cost of food if you buy any on site and it ends up being an expensive day but well worth it.

            Overall I had lots of fun and would recommend this race for everyone to try! The obstacles were challenging and they had lots of ones that I had not tried before. It was flat terrain so if you are a runner this is a great race for you. If you have not done an OCR before I would not recommend starting with this one. Some of the obstacles can be quite intimidating. If you do decide to try Battlefrog use code BFCHEN to give your 15% off.

Link to video of Battlefrog central florida By Arnel Banawa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf_8v5oWGLs

Unedited one with the obstacle I failed https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNUlWl4WqfE&feature=youtu.be