Spartan Races and other Obstacle Course Races (OCR) are a blast! It’s the perfect way to enjoy your fitness and push yourself to do more. I just finished my 2014 Trifecta for the Spartan Race series (Sprint – Super – Beast) at the start of November in Dallas. It was a really cool trip and I talked about it in the last weekend update if you want to know more.

As you go into any of these OCRs, it’s good to know a little about some gear options that could help. Now there are always people that run these races in just gym shorts, a cotton tee, and grubby shoes. You can totally do that. But in our group, we had a lot of race gear that really helped.

Spartan Race Clothing

Ideally you want something for the climate you are running in. With anything though, look for nylons and polyesters. These will hold a lot less water! Keep your shorts shorter (like traditional running shorts – not bball shorts) to avoid any unnecessary hang ups). On our colder race, I ended up getting some leggings and long sleeve performance under shirt to cut the wind. It helped a lot. The big benefit to leggings or compression socks is protecting your legs. You will get beat up going over these walls and crawling on hard ground.

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Google+

Some good Spartan Race Clothing items (all just on Amazon) :

Vitalsox Graduated Compression Performance Sock

Sub Sports DUAL Men’s Compression Base layer

Under Armour (Heat or Cold Gear depending on your race) – You really can’t go wrong with UA.

Some other items to consider:

• Hats
• Running socks – non compression
• Calve Sleeves – like compression pants – but just sleeves.

Spartan Race Shoes

Shoes are a big one! You can definitely make it through the race in your old lawn mowing shoes, but something with some more traction will really help in the longer races. If you are doing a Super or Beast, you should consider getting some trail shoes.

4 guys in our race picked up the new Reebok All Terrain Super Spartan shoes. These are shoes that Reebok specifically designed for Spartan Races and OCRs. I must say, they are pretty impressive. Super light weight, BIG trend pattern, water drainage holes, and tough. I was amazed at how light they were and yet super sturdy. All the guys that ran in them loved them! The mud was not an issue for these shoes. I had tried to get a pair but they were a little narrow for my food. SO if you have WIIIIIIDDDDE size 15 feet, you might want to look elsewhere ;-)

Me and my buddy David ran in New Balance MT810 Trail Shoes. They more of a classic shoe, with more padding and support, but still built for the trail. They definitely carried a bit more water than the Reeboks, but they handled everything just fine. These are actually my go to tennis shoe for normal day to day stuff. They can get really WIDE and fit my foot great. David actually bought his on the flight down for around $50 off of Amazon! You can often find great deals on them.

Both Salomon and Inov-8 make great training shoes built for these races. Do your research, but I doubt you would be disappointed with either of those!

Spartan Race Bonus Gear

Some of the bonus gear we found helpful was a hydration system for the long races, waterproof/shock proof camera, gloves, and some running supplements.

For hydration, we all packed in a Camelbak for the Beast (13+ miles). I actually used an off brand Teton (super cheap!) that worked great and held up/cleaned up fine. This allowed us to keep some hydration on us and have a mix of electrolytes in our water. Most of us used a combo of Hammer HEED (complex carbs, lactic acid buffer, etc), R&R (simple carbs), and some bulk electrolytes.

For a camera, we had 1 Kodak Playsport hand held camera. It gave us some good footage but was definitely a bit of work to get out of the pack whenever we wanted it. A GoPro would definitely be a cool add on for future races. Being able to wear the camera would really help capture it all. You also just want to have someone that knows that they are capturing all they can. It takes time to film. If you are running a race for time, forget the camera or use a GoPro.

For gloves, there are too many options to pick. A lot of our team did not use them at all. They will get messy and hard to use if there is a lot of mud. I took mine off from time to time as well. If you can throw a pair in your Camelbak, go for it! You might just really need them. A really popular brand is the Mad Grip gloves. A lot of people use those and really like them. They are also pretty cheap!

Gearing up for a Spartan Race!

So that is what we used for our race! Again, you don’t need it all, but this was the gear my team felt helped. I will doing some more articles on the race and what to physically expect. Those will be coming soon!

AROO!

Coach Wayne

Need a coach?

This is what I do. I help people get results and use my experience and the experience of thousands of teamRIPPED members to do it. I have been there and done it! My help costs you $0... NOTHING! So try me. Send me and email or message me on Facebook. I am here to help! All you have to do is sign up below and you will be part of teamRIPPED!

Join teamRIPPED

My email: coachwayne@teamripped.com

Facebook.com/teamRIPPEDcom

IG: @wayne_wyatt