Well things have been a bit quiet on here since the Sydney Spartan Race in April. A sprained wrist, jet lag, and the other affects from an overseas holiday, meant the best I could hope for at True Grit was a DNF. Man flu kept me down for a few weeks and out of things such as Running Scared, but fortunately I managed shake the cold just in time for the Under Armour Team Australia Tough Mudder try outs. For me the try outs kicked off 2 weeks ago, at the team trials in Sydney. This consisted of a 2 hour AMRAP of 50 x 20” Box step ups with 20kg bag (each leg), 25 x push press, 25 rope rows, 400m Obstacle Run, 25x pistol box squat with bag (each leg), 25 hanging knee raises, 25 x 8 point push ups, a 400m bag run and then an 800m clean skin run. I just missed out on finishing my last round by 100m, but still managed the most reps, and earnt an invitation to “O-School” the following week. After bussing down to Berry Saturday morning, we received our initial briefing from Chief and Gunny Brabon, handed in all electronics including phones, ipods and watches, and began our 25 hour trial with a 5 hour trail run, including a wall jump and water crossing, on a 4-5 km loop. There were to be occasional time updates, but we wouldn’t know the 5 hours were up until we heard the blast of a horn. With 25 hours in front of us, I was hoping for a nice easy pace to start, but Tony Curtis was having no part in those plans, and set us a cracking pace. For the first hour and a half it was Tony, Mick Crossley, Mathias Carlsson, and myself up in front. After Tony and Mathias dropped back, I shared the lead with Mick until about the 3 hour mark, where I started to pull away a little. Around 4 hours in, thinking I had a nice gap on Mick, and knowing there were more than 20 hours of O-School to go, I thought it best to conserve some energy and ease up a bit, when out of nowhere appeared Darren Clarke less than 100m behind. Well that spoiled those plans, and so I picked up the pace again running to the horn, pushed over the last couple of kms by Scuba (Steve Vaughn), who was a lap or 2 behind. Not sure exactly, but somewhere around 60kms done. Our second challenge involved approx 2 hours of a partner sandbag and rope carry, along a short stretch of road. Partnered up based on height, I was initially partnered with a guy named Heath, who unfortunately was having some issues with his itb/hips. He pushed hard, but rather than run the risk of further injury, wisely decided to ease up a little and take a short time out before rejoining. I switched to running with another bloke from Melbourne, Ted Shoemark, whose initial partner was also taking a time out, where we struck upon a good combination of running and walking. Our next challenge/evolution was 2 hours of shuttle running with 8 point push ups (staged burpee). Once again we were partnered up and this time my partner was a young bloke named Ollie. This guy was a unit, built like a brick s#*thouse, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he clean and presses small cars for a warm up. However, a 5 hour trail run was probably not his thing, had obviously taken its toll on his knees and he was in some serious pain. Amazingly though, he pushed through the whole 2 hours, and even managed to kick it up a notch when we got into the last 10 mins. A massive effort. Following on from this challenge was a couple of hours of fun climbing on an indoor ropes course, before a team circuit challenge involving overhand/underhand pull ups, dips, sand bag presses and rows, and push ups. I teamed up again with Ollie, as well Darren Clarke, and Pam Sievers. Our first time through it was 250 reps of each exercise, as fast as you can with no set number of reps per person. We stormed through this. Next up was 2 rounds of 25 reps by each person on each exercise. You had to finish your 25 before the next person could start. Pam seemed a little nervous about knocking out her 25 pull ups, but she smashed it, and actually showed all us blokes how it was to be done. Next up, in the wee hours of the morning, was a little journey to the special place. A declining pyramid of push ups, starting with 50, bear crawl across the basketball court, 49 push ups, crawl back, 48, etc. To add to the fun and games we were only allowed to say certain things such as “I love this”. I started with sets of 10 push ups, which quickly became sets of 5, which soon became 1 or 2 push ups at a time. Fortunately Ollie the unit saved us all, as when one person got to a certain number we would all be done. If I had to get to zero, I may still be going. For the final challenge we were put in teams of 4 to do another 5 hour trail run. The first 2.5 hours staying together as a team and then the final 2.5 hours running as an individual. I was with Mick Crossley, Darren Clarke, and Nick Lewton who had stormed home in the first trail run. Unfortunately in the first lap Nick pulled his calf, but once again he showed plenty of determination and fighting spirit to keep going for the full 2.5 hours of the team component with a mix of running and walking. When we moved to the individual component Mick took off like a man possessed. I ran with him for the first lap but just couldn’t quite find that comfortable rhythm. I’d let myself get a bit too cold in the team component, (despite my awesome garbage bag attire), and had also decided to trial some different shoes, which weren’t really working for me. Rather than battling to stay with Mick, I stopped to make a shoe change back to the trusty trail rocs, warm up with some cup noodles, and then ease back into the run. Darren had passed whilst I was at the aid station, and not long after starting to run again, I almost got whiplash turning my head so quickly as Mel Robertson flew past. I think someone told her that they had released the hounds. Towards the end of that lap, I received a tap on the shoulder from Deanna, and so I figured I had better pull the finger out on the next lap and get moving again. Starting to feel better, I eventually caught back up to Darren and then to Mel with half a lap to go, but Mick Crossley was putting on an absolute show. Despite having an open paddock where you could see competitiors for a km or so in front, I never saw Mick again and I think he finished the 25 hours stronger than he started. What a weapon. I will be watching out for him at the next endurance obstacle race. Special thanks to Alex and all the team at Under Armour for putting on an absolute cracker of an event. An amazing job by Chief and Gunny from start to finish, well planned, well organised, perfectly executed. Thanks to Doc Stu and the minions (volunteers) who were absolutely brilliant at making sure we had everything we could possibly need. Let me see those hips swing Christian! And thanks to all the other athletes with whom I am humbled to have shared the experience. There were many different strengths, pain as well joy, but everyone put in 110%, the camaraderie was amazing, and even when injuries and illness may have taken some off the track, they were all still there to end cheering on their fellow competitors. All legends. #UATeamAustralia
Posted on: Mon, 09 Jun 2014 03:02:32 +0000
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