Spartathlon 2023: προπαρασκευή (preparation, part 2 of 4)

One year has passed since my good intentions to recount my Spartathlon journey. The 2024 race starts in 2 weeks, here is my chance to still do a same-year race report, at least! I can’t believe I have been so passionate about running and talking about it for 20 years, and it has become so hard to even think about running after I snapped my knee 7 months ago as I haven’t been able to run much and well since. Talk about a life changing event, but was it that Spartathlon apogee, or that last training run on my birthday? Time will tell, if it gives me a chance to get back to running. Anyway, I already digress…

In my first part/post, which was already difficult to release by the end of 2023, right on New Year’s Eve, I announced my intent of splitting that Spartathlon story into 4 parts. I knew then that the second part would be the most challenging. While the first covered more than 2,500 years, the 9-month gestation or preparation before the race was filled with many more personal details and stories. I wish I had been disciplined to take diligent notes all that time but I’m going to have to go from memory. Maybe a chance to only keep the essential message and save you time! As we are going to see, there is a lot which has already been written about that race.

(Credit: Alobees.com)

A posteriori, I’m thinking of this 9-month period around three main themes: physical, mental and logistics. While these three aspects are always important in ultra running, they are essential to a successful Spartathlon. There have been reports of finishers who, due to pre-race injury, managed to finish despite putting in all the recommended training mileage. There have been reports of DNFs (Did Not Finish) because of logistical issues, either before or during the race. Just to state that these three areas may not have the same weight on success but they are certainly very dependent and intertwined. A too high mileage can get you injured and kill your mental confidence, if not your ability to get to the starting line. Too much self-confidence can also get you to overlook some logistical details. Bottom line, better execute well on these three stool legs. And let me add a key element: all the parameters highly depend on you, your ability, your age, your context, your goals… As we say in ultra running, you are basically a scientific experiment with a sampling size of n=1… Every tip is to be taken with a grain of salt… another ultra endurance adage with the challenge of managing your sodium level, most especially in the heat of Greece!

An informed and resolute plan

As I mentioned before, the three aspects are so intertwined, you are unlikely to succeed if you only focus on one. And as always in ultra running, and most especially for running 6 marathons in one go and under 36 hours, some serious planning and preparation are essential.

With hundreds of thousands of people having run a marathon, there is a big market for specialized books or online marathon training plans. There is even a magical number of 16 weeks to prepare for a marathon. With a limited field of 360 athletes for Spartathlon, you won’t find such cookie-cutter plans. Yet, there are quite a few great stories to read and learn from, online. You are actually in luck because both the race website as well as national teams do have race reports published, including from the early days and post blogosphere and social media era. Because you are an experiment of one, I’d say that everything is worth reading and then processed through your own individual lens to form the relevant insight. Again, it’s not because something worked for someone much younger or stronger, that it will work for you.

Spartathlon isn’t an official international competition, like the Olympics, no team ranking. But there are country-specific quotas (Greece: 50, Japan: 40, Germany: 30, any other nation: up to 25) and, short of formal obligations or rules, high expectations that you run as a national team. From there, countries self-organize. Here are a couple of national websites, then a few Facebook groups, some being public:

1. Team USA (race reports)
2. British Team (race reports, resources including FAQ)
3. A few Facebook groups: Belgium, France, US, Netherlands, Taiwan (1,400 members!!), Sweden, Italia.

Additionally, you should also check on other bloggers you may know. Bob Hearn's reports are always very well documented, introspective and insightful, for instance his 2022 DNF, his 2028 perfect storm, his second run in 2016, and first in 2015. I also interviewed Mandie Holmes and contacted other finishers like Karl Schnaitter (report on Facebook), Mark Williams (the famous original finisher at Barkley, and a neighbor), Jon Olsen, Roy Pirrung, ...

Point being made, you are much better off than Pheidippides, you aren't alone in this journey and others have done it before you!

Flags at the finish line in Sparta:

On the US side, we have had the same team captain for several years. Purely on a volunteer basis, and self-proclaimed for the sake of helping out others and sharing about his unique experience: 10 consecutive finishes – and still going/counting— and an infinite passion for that race, border religion. Better learn from the gurus!

And here was his recommended plan, rather demanding and intimidating!

1. These are my general recommendations for the following 4 months:
1. Average Week: 100 miles
2. Train to run 50 miles in approximately 8 hours (as a goal) no matter if good day/bad day/injured/full health.
3. In July do a weekend of 48 hours training where you run/walk 2 hours - sleep (on the floor) 2 hours
4. In August do 2 weeks of minimum 160 miles/week, preferably 200/week with a week of 50 miles total in between the two.
5. Run if possible every day during the hottest journey of the day at a minimum 1 hour, if not do the weekend training mid day.
6. Run some nights.
7. Run on empty stomach, half full stomach, and full stomach.
8. If possible, forget all other races. If not possible, aim at finishing last.
9. If you need something more specific we can talk, however if you implement the suggestions above, very likely you will succeed. Personally I went with 30 miles/day (very slow pace - to prevent injuries) and did it all at once in the mornings (so I do not have to dread another run)... I do not believe it is very important tho to have a certain structure... What is important is for the body and mind to feel the agony of being tired and having to push through it and of course to learn that you can do that... It comes in handy especially in the last 50 miles of the Spartathlon.
2. Then regarding mental training:
1. At the bottom of our US Spartsthlon website page there are 2 youtube documentaries from 2013 and 2014 (1 hour each). Watch them every week to the point where you can visualize every run/training session as being part of the course. You should memorize everything you see in the videos (landmarks) to the point of when on the actual course it will feel "at home" - that will relieve a lot of anxiety during the race and it will help you keep a lower HR and blood pressure.
2. Eliminate from your mind all excuses for failure. There is no "live to fight another day", "it was not my day", "I am saving myself for the next race" etc... All those are bs excuses and unfortunately way too popular lately, but they are symptom of victimhood. In your mind should be only one outcome and that is "crossing the finish line"
3. Have 3 plans:
1. Best day plan - whenever thing goes as planned.
2. Finish plan - do what it takes to finish
3. Complete the course on your own plan - if not making a cut off, finish the 153 miles nevertheless alone!

Physical preparation

As you’ve seen above, the guidance was to run… a lot! For the 8 years before the pandemic, I’ve averaged 62 miles (100km) a week and felt that was already a lot to squeeze in a busy family and IT executive agenda. Besides, the goal was to run these miles slow in order to avoid injury, meaning that it would take much more time. Then there was our family trip to France, Luxembourg and Belgium in July, bringing more constraints to work around. And, yet, I started peaking over 100 miles/week on the 3rd week of May and kept up until the first week of May, including a week at 180 miles and one at 205 miles in August, phew! By the end of Spartathlon, that is for the first 9 months of 2023, I had run 3,257 miles, more than I had ever run in 12 months.

Now, reflecting after a year and another major injury (meniscus tear) I’m not convinced that was the best approach. If you have already qualified for Spartathlon, you have already run many miles and rather fast. Luckily, I didn’t get injured during this high mileage period and the fact to be able to complete that part of our team captain’s recommended plan did give me a mental boost. Again, you have to decide for yourself: on one hand there is definitely value and critical importance in being ready to run 6 marathons in a row. On the other, you want to get to the start line healthy. And it’s hard to figure out what could be too much for the body without going one step too far.

A few other tips coming back to mind:

1. It does help to train along busy roads, well, without being hit by a vehicle of course! You'll see many cars and trucks in the first and last third of the race, better get used to traffic!
2. I had to make an effort to slow down to learn how to train at 9 min/mile. Unless you are an elite, running anything faster than this at Spartathlon is likely to lead you into trouble, at least in the first 80 miles.
3. Being so focused on maximizing the number of miles and minimizing the time, I probably ran too many flat miles on roads, sidewalks or tracks. I missed the variety of trail running and I believe it is essential to injury prevention (softer surface and engaging a wider variety of muscles).
4. Because I was told that ice wasn’t consistently available along the course at Spartathlon, I did learn to run in blazing heat without the help of ice. You can argue for that one that it was both physical and mental readiness.
5. Logging 205 miles (330 km) in a single week while you are working another job is really challenging and exhausting. For me it included running 6 50Ks in the 3rd week of August, starting with the hilly Tamalpa Headlands 50K race. That didn't leave much time to sleep... Not sure I recommend to everyone...

As I mentioned, I still believe that mileage was on the risky side, especially so close to turning 60. I managed to get to Athens healthy, and confident, but then my knee/meniscus snapped a few months later. I can hear many that this could be correlated... Adjust the plan as you see fit to your situation then!

Mental preparation

There have been quite a few books written about mental conditioning, this is an area I still feel so novice about despite hearing about great successful stories and knowing that, after 18 years in ultra running, this is a sport which is 100% physical plus 100% mental. I know, the math is off on that equation but that’s why it’s call ultra, right?

For me the keyword for that section is visualization. Ability to visualize the course and decompose it into sections. Ability to visualize the ultimate goal of finishing and build inspiration from it. Ability to visualize what could happen and form a mental plan to react positively.

For the former aspect, our team captain recommended we do spend time watching videos available on the race website. While I did go as far as remembering all the names of the villages, I did spend hours imagining myself running along the competitors shown in these videos. And that definitely helped the newbie I was. That also helped seeing the joy of the finishers as well as the pain of those having to drop. Throughout the summer, I built the confidence I could that I was going to start, prepared, but I mostly showed up in a humble state of mind. As opposed to most of my past 180 ultra races, I wasn’t coming to compete against others but just myself, with the clear and unique goal to finish. As part of my mental preparation, and after such a straining physical training, it was very clear in my mind that this was a one-time opportunity and that I certainly didn’t want to have to come back again to complete the whole course. My only goal was to prove that I could run farther than ever before, and complete that mythical distance which Pheidippides which covered in less than 2 days, and without all the support and comfort we are getting nowadays.

As for the readiness to handle issues, best is to read all the race reports. While they remain personal stories, you can derive numerous nuggets of wisdom from them. Chaffing, hydration, nutrition, course navigation, over-heating, need for extra layers, headlamps, try to catch all these details and turn them in practical tips to address in your logistics preparation as well as mental readiness if you might have to go through some hurdles. Like our team captain put it, you have to prepare to go through an agony in the last 50 miles, how cool is that? So, rather than focusing on that agony, the main image to visualize is a kiss of the foot of the monumental statue at the finish in Sparta!

That mental image...

Logistics preparation

This is the section for which I’d kept a central checklist to help others with. More than a year later, there is no way I’m building an exhaustive list from memory. I may have to revisit and add to it later.

As a procrastinator myself, this is a sensitive area as some items must be covered months in advance while others will be executed at the last minute, if not after the race. So we are talking about a 9-month period, not counting the months or years of planning to secure the proper qualification requirements.

From a timing perspective, and you have to carefully check key dates for the edition you are entering, that’s what I recall:

1. Registration: late January-early February

2. Lottery result: mid March

3. Payment

4. Medical certificate: from beginning of July (3 months max before the race)

5. If need to drop out, 50% refund by June 20, 30% by end of July

Short of a super structured and, again, exhaustive checklist, here are a few items coming back to mind as I retrace my preparation,

1. Wiring euros. In our digital age, should be a no brainer, right? Yet I’ve heard about some wires not making it to the organizers. For me, I thought I was all set, only to get surprised to have a balance to pay upon check-in in Athens, probably because of obscure exchange rates or commissions on the Greek side. One area you don’t want to wait for the very last day. Think of the time difference with Europe. And while bits travel really fast on the Internet, money wires may still take a few working days…
2. Uniform. For the sake of team playing, I bought a few shirts: short sleeves, tank, long sleeves. All in Small size but the long sleeves one came in a Large format. I ended up running mostly with the short sleeves, for better protection against the sun, changed for my own long sleeves way too late at night (more on this in part 3), and finished the race back in the team shirt, for the pictures, phew! The trick from a logistics standpoint is that, the day before leaving home –yes, darn procrastination—I spent time flocking a few Vespa Power logos on my tops, only to get a reminder in the evening in our team Facebook Messenger thread that displaying any logo and brand was strictly forbidden per the rulebook. I ended up flying with some white duct tape which I applied on my top and hat before the race…
3. GPS course map. As I mentioned above, I read and learned a lot from race reports. One thing which traumatized me was to hear that even Bob Hearn got lost on the course, despite his amazing experience. I am not great at navigating so I was determined to get the course uploaded onto my GPS and just have to follow it. For that I had to have a GPS which could hold on for 40 hours though so, after 20 years with Garmin, I bought a Coros watch. Having the course loaded and running in tracking mode did bring some peace of mind. I should cover that in part 3 though, it triggered something interesting at times during the race. Hint: it had to see with which side of the road I was running on!
4. Lodging. This is a huge topic. At close to 1,000€, the inclusion of a handful of hotel nights makes the package look like a great value/deal. Now, and especially if you come on your own without a crew, beware that you will get to a room with one or two other participants, possibly from other teams. For me, that even included having to share a bed with a runner who happened to be sick, which I learned only after the race. Then there is the location of your assigned hotel which might be rather far from the start in Athens, or the finish in Sparta. I had heard about some of these concerns and I’m so very grateful that I ended up renting an Airbnb close to the start in Athens, the best decision in my logistics preparation.
5. Splits and pace sheet. Oh my, where to I start on this topic. Well, in Athens of course, and mostly between 9 and 9:30 min/mile for the first part in terms of pace. This is a tough race with strict cut-offs and tougher ones in the first half. For a newbie, it’s important that you can refer to these cut-offs if and when needed, so to carry a pace sheet. Although it happened to be useless for me as there were clear signs at each station. But, in case not, better have them with you. As for pacing, it’s more about following the flow. It’s a rolling course for most part so the pace varies. What’s key is to get to Corinth (58 miles) not too fast and not too slow. If you are from Team USA, you should leverage Bob Hearn’s amazing worksheet (I added a bit to it). Then tailor it to your own racing style. Then select the most important rows so it fits on a small sheet of paper, which you can read while on the move and at night!
6. Drop bags. Unless you run an ultra on a short loop – think 1-mile loops or even shorter on a track—you might take advantage of leaving stuff at aid stations. The problem being to anticipate what you’ll need based on the distance, your mood, your form, the temperature, the time of day, quite a few parameters. Since my main goal was to finish, I kind of over did the drop bag planning. And since I’m on procrastination side, it took me part of Thursday night to fill the bags. I also ended up using less than half what I bought in my luggage. My main concern was not to rely on what the aid stations might offer and I’m glad I did because that was quite random. I even cooked hard eggs, only to find some randomly available, for instance after the mountain. I would have enjoyed more soup but didn’t much like the instant ones they had through the night.
7. Reflective straps. One of the requirements which I had seen in my first read of the rulebook and deferred to later. Only to stress out a couple of days before my flight and having to rush an order on Amazon. This is serious, not only because it might disqualify you but also because we do run on open roads at night so it’s a very legitimate safety measure.
8. Mashed potato. I brought eight easy to prepare bowls and ended up using quite a few of them, another great idea I recommend, this just require hot water from the aid station (before the race, I opened each bowl, put the powder in a separate ziploc and put the bowl and bag with a spoon in the drop bags).
9. Crew plan. I ran screwed, that is without a crew, but if you get help from family or friends, there is quite some logistic to figure out. Lodging, transportation, timing to cover the allotted 36 hours, plans A, B and C depending on your pace throughout the race, etc. You can actually find specific guides and tips from previous crews. If crewing is hard on ultras, this race is on the top end, with such a point-to-point course and a mountain in the middle that you have to go around.
10. Flights. Even if just for you, there is some thinking going into booking the right flights. Do you want to take the opportunity to visit before or after? What are the actual dates of the race and pre and post-race activities? I had visited Greece before so that trip was really only about the race. Some years, the race doesn’t happen over the weekend, that might be confusing, double check! Then there are a few days to include before and after. A few weeks before the race, I discovered that I had taken a return the day of the closing ceremony. Oops, I had to rebook to the next day and that did cost me a few hundred dollars. Actually, more on this return in part 4…
11. Tie and suit. What? One thing that impressed me in some reports was the recognition of finishers, on stage, by local officials. I imagined quite a formal celebration and felt that a tie and suit was appropriate. Well, this ended up being a beach party and I was over dressed. Not that the tie took too much room in my luggage, but I could have skipped the jacket…
12. Country flag(s). In my case, I left an American and French flag in my last drop bag, for the finish.
13. All the usual ultra stuff. Running apparel, Brooks shoes, sunglasses, arm and calf sleeves, Ultimate Direction bottles, running vest and caps, GU Energy gels, brew, chews, wafles, Vespa pouches, S!Caps, vaseline, headlamps, enough stuff to fill a second luggage and something I’m not used to, check it in…

Quite some stuff...

There is much more to say on this topic, I’ll likely add more tips to the list as they pop back from my memory...

Wrapping-up

Again, this preparation period covers the 9 months prior to the race and I’m not exaggerating on the importance of every aspect of these three pillars: physical, mental and logistics. When I came back from Greece I had decided to at least not attempt to get in the following year. It’s such a unique and mythical event though, I may want to return at some point, if ever I get back in shape at least; as the saying goes, never say never. With that, when I unpacked, I wondered what I should set aside to ease the preparation for a potential next time. For instance, I kept empty Ziplocs with the aid station labels… And those cool reflective strips. The uniform tops of course. And pacing charts. And all the visual souvenirs for the mental preparation. These are only few tokens of preparation, the bulk will have to be rebuilt, eventually.

Back to the recommended plan, I followed 1.1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9. I didn’t do the 48-hour 2x2 hour thing (1.3). Used to eat very little thanks to Vespa Power, I didn’t need to train on full stomach (1.7). As for forgetting all other races (1.8), I completely failed that one: I raced 10 times before Spartathlon to win my 15th Pacific Association Grand Prix, oops! One the mental side, I definitely focused on 2.1, 2.2 and 3.2. Overall, I was well prepared, I had done that part meticulously at least!

9 months. Not quite like the wonders of bringing a baby to life but still a very demanding personal endeavor nevertheless. Let’s see how the race unfolded from there in part 3…