My first DEKA event – the DEKA Mile

June 11, 2023

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DEKA Mile - my first DEKA event

My local CrossFit Box, CWOne has recently become a DEKA affiliate. They are putting on their first event in a few weeks time and to help prepare for it, they put on their own test event at the Box.

DEKA is Spartan Race’s version of Fitness Racing – essentially running a given distance, followed by some form of exercise station (DEKA call it a “Zone”). In DEKA, there are 10 exercise zones.

DEKA has three race types:

DEKA Fit – Each zone is preceded by 500m of running (a total of 5km)
DEKA Mile – Each zone is preceded by 160m of running (a total of 1 mile)
DEKA Strong – no running!

What's in a DEKA event?

Essentially 10 fitness stations preceded by 500m of running (as in DEKA Fit), 160m of running (DEKA Mile) or no running what so ever (DEKA Strong). All DEKA events have the same 10 stations

The 10 stations are:
– RAM Alternative Reverse Lunges (55lb men / 33lb women)
– 500m row
– 20 Box step-overs
– 25 Med Ball Sit-Up Throws (20lb men / 14lb women)
– 500m Ski Erg
– 100m Farmer’s Carry (60lb men / 40lb women in each hand)
– 25-Calorie Air Bike
– 20 Dead Ball Wall-Overs (60lb men / 40lb women)
– 100-Meter Tank Push/Pull (Level 3 men / Level 2 women)
– 20 RAM Burpees (44lb men / 22lb women)

DEKA Mile - YouTube Video

How did I get on?

Well, you should really watch the video to see how “well” I got on (or just look at the image!). But here is a quick blow by blow:

160m run and the reverse lunges were a nice warm up to get the heart pumping. Nothing bd here, although I was quite relieved as the weighted lunges as a different event I participated in pretty much killed me off!
500m row – all good here too. Tried to take it pretty steady at around 2:20 for the distance
Step overs- still ok, just got dizzy in the way I was spinning on and off the box
Medicine ball sit ups – doing ok, but the heart is starting to pump. Core was ok on this, but felt it towards the back end
Ski-Erg – tried to keep it nice and steady. Cardio was doing ok although I was now starting to red line, however as you may know from Ski-Erg, my whole body was starting to ache, especially my upper body and arms which wasnt good for…
Farmer’s Carry – this is where the alarm bells were starting to go off. I have no real upper body and the weights were huge – the grips were really large too so really tired out the forearms! I stopped a few times and got it done. But I was terribly red-lining at this stage from fore arms just fatiguing
Air Bike was when it all fell apart. My legs were doing all the work as I had nothing in the arms here. Ive never used an airbike and theyre defintely a different technique to an assault bike. I stopped quite a few times to try and take a breath. Judge was doing well to motivate me to keep moving whilst Grant and some of the spectators were doing their best to move me on. I somehow managed to finish this station, although there were times when I really thought it was all over
Dead Ball over the shoulder – this was hard! I have no upper body and 20 was a lot! Still, I somehow got over it. The balls were nearly 50% of my own body weight, so relatively a lot of weight to shift
Tank Push and Pull – probably the one I was most nervous of coming up to the event. However it wasn’t too bad – tried to take it nice and slow to recover a little. The pull was definitely harder (calf killer)
Ram Burpees – Burpees are “ok”, RAM Burpees are a killer! I have no upper body or arm strength, so moving 20kg in the air 20 times was a real struggle for me. Plus being acsolutely shattered from all the other exercises, I was pretty done by the end!

Definitely the farmers carry into air bike which did all the damage. But I managed to get through it all and celebrated with an ice-cream on my walk home!