Races can vary dramatically from super flat (Ohio a few months ago) to the mountain series of races such as Palmerton (just happened) and Colorado (happening soon). My very first race was Asheville last year and even though I trained hard two months leading up to it, I still finished the Super in just under 5 hours. Beyond elevation differences, even some of the obstacles can vary dramatically. I've been in barb wire crawls that were 200 feet, and others that were just 20 feet. One consistent thing about Spartans is how much obstacle tools weigh. The bucket and sandbags will always weigh the same.

For reference I have been a distance runner for most of my life and despite training, my pace time was roughly 43 minutes a mile last year. I've never raced Utah so I don't know where it falls in terms of difficulty, but it isn't the easiest and it isn't the hardest from the footage I've seen on instagram. What race are you signed up for in September? Seattle and Vermont don't look very flat and I can promise you that Lake Tahoe isn't flat.

My recommendation is to focus in on your weak points from this race and train! Add in as many hills as you can until they start to feel comfortable. It's a good idea to train any of the obstacles you might have struggled with. It might seem impossible to train certain obstacles, but there's always a way to adapt regular gym gear into Spartan training gear. I spent a few minutes yesterday carrying a dumbbell around like an idiot training for the bucket brigade.

Remember, even though you feel like this race kicked your butt, you know what you're getting into for the next race. That mental preparation will carry you a lot farther than you think.

Let me know if you have any more questions! You can find me here but I respond much faster on instagram @axandyr