10 men had the courage the take on the Iron Pax Challenge this morning. One man had the courage to face it a second time this week- tclaps to Cherry bomb for coming back out after doing it Monday.
Tuffy and Cherry Bomb noted it was their first time posting on The Green. Big fan of seeing Pax get outside of their typical AOs and visit others. I believe Heely has run in Davidson a number of times, but this may have been his first bootcamp post. Great seeing you guys in the Davidson gloom today.
So week 1 of the IPC. Not having participated last year, YHC didn't really know what to expect. Started with a mosey to the Davidson stadium and a brief warm up before the fun.
The Fun:
IPC Challenge week 1. Form was emphasized, all the way down on the exercises and all the way up, even clapping/touching hands above head on the burpees.
Everyone agreed it was awful. As most of my focus was on the two feet in front of me and there was absolutely no mumblchatter, I can really only speak to my experience. Here's how it went down for YHC, but would welcome hearing others' experience in the comments.
Check out what some of the faster times reported have been. Figure out that doing each set of exercises (10 yd broad jump, 10 burpees, 10 jump lunges, and 10 situps) in a minute, would take 15 minutes as they are repeated 15 times total. Then doing each 30 yd bear crawl in 30 seconds ("easy breezy with time to spare" I thought), would add another 2:30, and put me at 17:30 for the whole thing.
Round 1: Finished this one in 3:17 including the bear crawl. Looking good, feeling good.
Round 2: Was right around 7 minutes total at this point, still looking good, but not feeling so good.
Round 3: Right around here is where the wheels feel off. Gasping for air in between some of the exercises, was ready to throw in the towel by the end. Lost track of time and all concern for anything but oxygen. Decided I needed to back off the pace and just survive.
Round 4: Slower pace, but still hurting. Likely my slowest round.
Round 5: Slower pace, but starting to recover a bit. Kicking myself for going out so hard. Really pushed the bear crawl at the end and dove over the finish line at 22:22. Proceeded to lay on ground for a minute or so and then check on others. Everyone alive. Ok, rest a bit more before Moses came over and gently reminded us to pick up the 6. One more round it is…
Not sure if anyone was happy with their time or performance, but we definitely grew closer in the shared pain of the experience. Mosey back to the Green for COT and Oatmeal Creme Pies. Totally worth it!
Overall: Going into this, I was thinking burpees and bear crawl were two of my stronger exercise groups, so I figured this challenge would suit me pretty well. The sheer volume of burpees in a short amount of time was tough, but what really did me in were the big boi situps. All the way up and down on those just sucked the life out of me about halfway through, leaving me with little left for anything else. The broad jumps (bunny hops?) and jump squats weren't too bad throughout. Talking with some of the other guys, the situps were the easiest and where they felt they rested the most. What's great about F3 is exemplified in these challenges, what's easy for one is tough for another and vice versa. So you get a nice mix and are able to get stronger in weaker areas together. Pretty good metaphor for community and life in general.
Afterthoughts:
– Lots of prayers going out today as well as a thanksgiving for Bagboy being ok
– Little Debbies are so good. Not sure if it is the taste itself or the psychological effect / reminder of being a kid, but either way I'll take it.
– If you choose to do hand clap burpees on an artificial grass field with rubber pellets, watch out and rememeber to undress in the garage before you go inside. I already had to apologize to the M. Every burpee clap unleashed a downpour of black rubber on the head. So many pellets stuck everywhere.
– Tclaps to all who complete the challenge. Maybe the next one will be easier? (not likely)