Friday, March 29, 2013

Leah Dansie and Spartan Race


I thought I'd do a post about, Leah Dansie, who is using the Sydney Strength training program and someone who I’m proud of for various sporting achievements, all whilst keeping busy with study, work and a range of other commitments. For those of you that don't know, Leah competed in, and came 3rd in, the Spartan Race Australia’s Sprint distance held in Sydney on the 16th of March.

Leah was one of over 3,000 competitors across multiple waves over the course of the day.  All were going over a course designed to test the participants mental and physical toughness:  7 km's of hills, rivers, obstacles and even a spear throw to test the participants in every mode of physical fitness.  For each of the obstacles however, the participant could also choose to complete 30 burpees if they didn't want, or couldn't complete the obstacle. A lot of people chose to enter the Spartan Race as a test of their true character, just completing the race was a great achievement.  

For Leah, she went to her first Spartan Race to compete amongst the elites. In the lead up to the event, Leah's training included various strength and conditioning sessions, including CrossFit and with a lot of days being multiple days of added weight training. She also competes in all length of triathlons, from sprint to half ironman distance. Although you may not think it, Leah only did minimal running during the lead up to the race.  Averaging a few km's per week in the form of sprints or during conditioning workouts.

Leah finished 3rd of 1178 female finishers in Spartan Sydney and although happy with the result has identified various areas to improve on for future races.

Leah did find some of the obstacles challenging, such as the rope climb out of a muddy pit which proved a completely different challenge to rope climbs in the gym. She has given herself the task to work on these weaker areas of her training in preparation for other obstacle races, including the 3.5 hour, maximum distance race in Wagga Wagga coming up on the 6th of April.  

Leah also has aspirations of competing in the Spartan Ultra Beast 42km obstacle race on Nov 2 and 3 in Sydney this year.


Top 3 females: Deanna, Melissa and Leah   

                                     Podium Finishers

We’re seeing a lot more obstacle course races, like Spartan Race across Australia and the Obstacle Course Racing community is continuing to grow. Good luck with your training and if you are after information on competing in OCR give us a shout.

                                       

To find out more about Leah, you can check out her facebook page, Absolute Health and Fitness http://www.facebook.com/AbsoluteFitnessTraining

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