Is extreme exercise the new exercise addiction for over 50s?
On Saturday 2nd September, I took part in the ‘Nuts Challenge’ climbing and crawling my way over 200 muddy obstacles. Even though I competed as a kid in everything, and have done mountain bike races and dressage competitions I even found them stressful as they bring out my competitive nature.
I swore not to put myself or others through my hideous competitive behavior again! Until my mid-life hormones kicked in and I took part in a Marine Commando Challenge a few years back and thoroughly enjoyed it, so when I heard that a group from my local boxing gym were taking part in the Nuts Challenge, I signed up in a flash.
Extreme workouts
We started by increasing the intensity of our workouts over the weeks, doing explosive bursts of running, incorporating high numbers of weight bearing exercises in preparation. I normally run with my dog and found myself increasing this to 3 times a week on top of my three workouts! I felt myself getting fixated on pushing my body to new limits. And wanted to show doing the Nuts challenge was not just for men with big…
Super Nuts Day
The adrenalin-filled day arrived, after a protein shake the night before (although I slipped in a couple of gins!!) We all meet up in the morning with our ‘bin bags’ for our dirty clothes, a change of clothes and a towel!
Exercise Addict
I felt the excitement rise around me as we all got our numbers and vests, put the timer chips on our laces and made our way to the start line. The atmosphere was great with the local radio station blaring out and the DJ hyping us up! Then we were off, thankfully the first wave to go out!
The Adventure
Lap one was 7km and 100 obstacles, we were running on uneven ground for a long way before we approached our first section of mud, these were a sucsession of 8 troughs in a row and the mud was amazing when you slipped it sucked you down! It was going to be hard work but fun! Throughout the course my body was pushed to the limits with tunnels, cargo nets, rope swings, sandbag carrying, hill runs with tyres, huge walls of mud, platforms where you launched into a pool of muddy water, finishing up with a mud slide, jumping across pontoons in the lake, I could see the finsih line! I was hungry!! Our team leader said let’s go again! At that point I could have just gone and got a cup of tea, but I don’t like to miss out!! So off I went again! This lap was far busier, as more people had started, so we queued more! Time for a rest! Although the cramp started to take hold! This lap took me longer, though it felt quicker and I was soon back in the lake! The end was in sight! 14km and 200 obstacles!!
Reaping the benefits
Time for a team photo and our medals! I was shattered but smiling! I was battered and bruised, my leggings shredded, my body was screaming but the sun was shining and it was a great feeling. We made plans to meet back up at the pub later to go over the day’s events! When we all met back up we were all sore, bruised and euphoric! The gins slipped down a treat!
The aftermath.
I have checked the Nuts Challenge website out of curiosity to find out how I did, only to find that I was the 2nd oldest out of 344 female competitors! And came 7th out of all the women, all were aged under 49! And out of men and women, I came 52nd!! Not bad for a 50-year-old! #Ageamazing
By Tracey Leslie
More and more midsters are taking on new challenges, are you? Share your story with us in the comments below.
