In the Fall of 2017, my dad and I completed our first obstacle course fun run together - the Warrior Dash - afterwards, we were hooked and wanted to level up. Enter the Spartan Race - for those of you not familiar, Spartan Races are next level - there are rope climbs, monkey bars, heavy bag hoists, sled drags and pulls, tire flips, heavy carries with elevation, BARBED WIRE crawls, inverted wall climbs and other ways to test yourself. There is also a TON of running...and unlike other races, if you fail an obstacle you have to complete 30 burpees. The added challenge is why we fell in love with this sport, completing our first Spartan Sprint in March of 2017.
By 2018 we had completed our first Spartan Trifecta - a Spartan Sprint (3-5 “miles” and 20-25 obstacles), Super (8-10 “miles” and 25-30 obstacles) and Beast (12-14 “miles” and 30-35 obstacles); to-date, I have completed over 12 Spartan Races worldwide and my dad has completed 8. These races are designed for maximum fatigue, requiring both physical and mental resilience. Completing the Trifecta qualified us to participate in the Spartan Trifecta World Championship 2019 in Sparta, Greece!
t’s one thing to complete a Trifecta throughout the year, but in the World Championship you complete all three of them in one weekend. You start with the Super, rest for an hour, and hit the Sprint in the afternoon; then you wake up the next morning and tackle the Beast. For those of you doing the math, that's up to 29 miles of running AND 90 obstacles over two days. Not to mention elevation changes running through the hills of Sparta, jet lag, or the fact that a good third of the course was running in water. Preparation was key.
It goes without saying, we never would have been able to survive this grueling experience if we hadn’t trained for it. Training with Wade and Sunnee at Lions Den really made a difference in our overall performance. Core stability, range of motion, balance, and grip strength are critical in obstacle course races! My dad trained with Wade and I trained with both Sunnee and Wade. Our time was limited, but the few weeks with working with them prior were spot on. Sunnee incorporate a lot of exercises that easily translated into the obstacles on the course - farmer carries, medicine ball slams, sled pushes and pulls, pull-ups, deadlifts, balance exercises, squats, and burpees - all helped me build up the strength I needed to be able to be successful. With some obstacles, having flexibility and range of motion was critical. For instance, the 8ft wall - as a female I’m not likely to muscle up over that. So I have to be able to run and jump, grip the top of the wall, press my feet into the wall, walk them up to my chest, and then swing my leg over the wall. That requires a lot of grip strength but also hip mobility. This is something that Sunnee and Wade were both great at working on with us.
I love that we were able to tell them what our goals were and they tailored our training sessions to align with it. They do their research and invest a real interest in their clients. If my 60 year old dad and I can run these OCRs with their help, you can do it too! So if you are looking to take up OCR as a hobby, or taking on a new fitness challenge, I highly recommend linking up with a trainer at Lions Den! AROO!
