This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Training for Warrior Dash
Sep
1
2011
There are still a few Warrior Dashes left to be run this year, so maybe this post on how to train for Warrior Dash will be helpful to some people.
Before my race, I was wondering things like “What are the obstacles going to be like?” and “What should I be doing to get ready for Warrior Dash?”
The official WD website said basically not to worry about the obstacles and just be able to run a 5k. It used to say something like “run as far as you can” for training. It looks like they have updated it since then, and now it has an official plan. It has a running part and a strength training part, but no obstacle part. That’s where I come in.
Run Intervals
But WD is not a continuous run. It’s run-obstacle-run-obstacle-obstacle-run-etc.
You need good speed, not just endurance.
Here’s my suggestion to include in your running schedule:
Run for a mile, then walk for 30 seconds, then run for a half mile, walk for 30 seconds, another half, walk, quarter mile, walk, quarter, walk, quarter, walk, and quarter.
That gets you the 3 miles you need but also gets your body used to starting and stopping. And the shorter the distances get, the faster you should be running them.
If you’re really serious about this, then go to the WD site, look up the course you will be running, find the distances between obstacles, and run those intervals.
And if you’re really, really serious, you’ll setup obstacles along your route and practice those too.
But I’m trying to keep this generic. Everyone knows you should be running, of course. Here are the other things that you should be practicing:
Practice Climbing
For best results, setup two 18-foot ladders so that they form the shape of the letter A. Climb up one ladder and down the other. Repeat a few times.
I suppose one ladder would also work, but have it lead to something that can support you so that you can get off the ladder and get back on. You need to train for the transition at the top of the obstacles too, not just the climbing.
Practice Pulling
This one is simple: plan your run so you go by some monkey bars. When you reach said bars, stop and do several chin-ups (or pull-ups or whatever you want to call them).
Back in my day, in school fitness assessments, this is where the boys had to do chin-ups and the girls just had to hang for a certain time. I don’t know if they still do that, but girls are not exempt for WD. If you get to an obstacle and just hang there, you’re never going to finish.
You don’t need to do a lot of chin-ups, since you’re not climbing a great distance. It’s a race, remember, so try to do faster chin-ups rather than more chin-ups.
Practice Crawling
You might want to do this at night so you don’t attract a lot of attention.
Practice Over-and-Under Stuff
Ideally, you’d setup ten sawhorses, one after the other about 5 feet apart. The sawhorses should be tall enough so that you can’t simply step over them; navel-high would be good. Your training is to climb over a sawhorse, go under the next, over, under, over, etc.
If you don’t have ten sawhorses, setup two sawhorses and run through the drill five times.
Practice Water Running
That’s all!
Now you’re ready for Warrior Dash.
No, I didn’t do all that in my training. I just did running and chin-ups.
But that was before I experienced a Warrior Dash.
but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:27
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 6:11 am and has been carefully placed in the Sports category.
September 2nd, 2011 at 3:02 pm
That’s not how I trained for your WD, either. I basically ate pizza. Seemed to get you through it just fine.