I had a chance to try a Deka.Mile this morning. Deka is part of the Spartan family and they have 3 different events. Deka.Strong, Deka.Mile and Deka.Fit have the same 10 zones with varying run distances either no running, 0.1 miles or 0.5km respectively between stations.
Matt was my judge and he had excellent communication, counts and encouragement. I would consider training at Manic Training for that reason alone. The gym was clean, comfortable and well equipped.
Although I registered for 10:00, I was able to start with the 9:30 group. We started with the runs which felt fine (despite my left calf tweak on Friday). It was a steady recovery jog until the 9th run when I started to walk the last two "runs."
- Zone 1 - 30 Ram Alt Reverse Lunge (55#) - These felt surprisingly good. I went roughly 12/10/8 and finished in 3 sets.
- Zone 2 - 500m Row - Easy, averaged 2:15 pace.
- Zone 3 - 20 Box Jump/Step Over (24") - This was tough. I was pretty steady, but taking longer pauses on the last 10***
- Zone 4 - 25 med ball sit-up (20#) - Surprisingly this felt good also. I went 15/5/5 to finish in 3 sets
- Zone 5 - 500m ski erg - Felt good, averaged 2:35ish pace
- Zone 6 - 100m Farmer's Carry (2x60#) - Weight was fin, but I was moving slow. Finished 70 meters did a quick shake out and then finished the last 30 meters.
- Zone 7 - 25 cal air bike - This kind of sucked. I did not really set up the bike well for efficiency. I should have had the seat a little higher and further back.
- Zone 8 - 20 dead ball shoulder over (60#) - This lit me up. I was going steady for 9 reps and then was doing sets of 3. I was completely gassed.***
- Zone 9 - 100m Tank Push/Pull - This was a decent steady state effort. Kind of like the assualt bike, the harder you push/pull, the more resistance the tank delivers. Despite still being gassed, I moved well. I would like to practice with this more. This was the toughest on my calf.
- Zone 10 - 20 Ram Burpees (44#) - Felt fine, but still completely gassed. I did a couple of good ones and then the turned into grief burpees. I do like this movement and would consider buying a ram just to work on this and the lunges.***
My time of 33:42 was at the faster end of what I expected. I was targeting 30-40 minutes expecting 2:30-3:00 per zone, 11 minute run time and transitions.
The highlighted *** zones represent the biggest opportunity for improvement.
Overall a really fun and well run event. They had about 6 stations set up, but were only running 3-4 athletes at the same start time. My calf being 100% would have helped some. Being prepared to work for 35 minutes would have been much better.
To truly prep for the event, I would need to get a 44# ram, 55# ram, 60 pound dead ball, air bike, and tank which would cost nearly $2,000. I would be better off training at Manic Training Highlands Ranch a couple of times per week. As a stop gap, I would like to purchase a ram for around $100 and possibly a dead ball ($90 from Titan Fitness).
Personal Equipment - I wore joggers, calf sleeves, knee sleeves and AIRWAAV. I could have managed without knee sleeves. I also brought gloves, chalk, towel and water. I should have set water bottle on the run course.
UPDATE 11/7/2023 -
Purchased 50# dead ball which should be a great training piece and a tremendous value. ***When it rains, it pours, found a 55# dead ball for $20 and picked it up; will either sell the 50# or keep for a while (would have to wait until Troy Simpson's post is finished)***
Priced out 44# ram ($120+$40 shipping+$10 tax = $170). Found one on secondary market for $40, but after reaching out to seller was pending. Reached out a second time and Chris Anthony confirmed it was no longer available. He probably decided to keep it. Anyway, I will keep my eyes out and if I target another event, I will pick one up after registering.
