SGPT Interviews Spartan Race competitor Josh Willins

SGPT: Tell us about yourself?

JW: 29. Born and raised in New Jersey. Sales exec by day. Been involved in some aspect of indoor/outdoor sports/fitness for the past 6-8yrs including but not limited to martial arts, ocr, traditional run/bike/swim competition, mountaineering, etc.

SGPT: Did you have an athletic background growing up?

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JW: Not at all, through middle school/high school I had no interest in sports or fitness.
SGPT: How did you train for the Spartan Race event?

JW: Ive been encorporated CrossFit/ SealFit programming for the past 6 years, which has pretty much set me up to be somewhat competitive in any aspect of fitness/sport. I experiment with other types of programming for 2-3 months at a time as well, but Crossfit/ Sealfit would have to be the foundation for me as far as training for “life” goes.

SGPT: Tell us a little about the event?

JW: Ive participated in 4 Spartan Races in the past year, all of the lengths they offer and the most recent was their Spartan Sprint at Citi Field. This event was interesting to me, because it was a shorter/quicker even that was held within the stadium. Certainly a different venue that most OCRs. The tasks themselves duplicated a typical Spartan even, lots of ascents/descents, weighted carries, rope climbs, up and overs, and of course wall scaling and spear tosses, etc. New to the race was their rowing obstacle and jump rope with a large 4” rope, the timed row specifically clever addition.

SGPT: What was hardest part of the event?

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JW: I wouldn’t classify any of the obstacles as “hard” necessarily, but the row portion was interesting. You had a 2 minutes time cap to row 500m. However you were only made aware of your distance during, NOT the remaining time. This made you push extra hard to beat the clock, and if you did not – burpees waited for you before exiting stage left. I thought this little “gaser” was a great addition.

SGPT: What is one thing you wish you would have done to get ready for the Spartan Race?

JW: Stadium runs certainly would have helped, lots of ups and down on the stairs here.

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SGPT: Any tips for up and coming athletes that want to do the Spartan Race?

JW: Train less for flat sprints and more for ups and downs, get used to maneuvering up and over obstacles as well as becoming comfortable with throwing awkward weight around.

SGPT: Many thanks for the interview.

JW: Always a pleasure.

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