Yes, you read that correctly. A marathon. On ice. Why? Because I'd never done a marathon before and would probably never do one again, so I might as well make it memorable: by doing it on frozen lake in Norway, as part of the World Ice Running Championships. Thus, the Oarsman! We drove from O...
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For those who don't know, a Spartan Sprint, Super and Beast race all within a single year. Or, if you are a Guildsman: a single weekend. After all, how hard can it be? Preparation Being a man of The Guild, I believe the best preparation is no preparation. That way I am always equally prepa...
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22KILL started the #22pushupchallenge to raise awareness of the 22 American ex-military personnel who commit suicide every day (as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder, brain trauma and the complications of returning to civilian life). Here in the UK, some of us are raising money for Comba...
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I am not a Spartan Race World Champion. Let's just clear that up right now. Anybody could pay to enter the race in Lake Tahoe and not run in the elite wave. Indeed, about 10,000 people did exactly that - myself included, side by side with Scott and Amber Keneally. I say "side by side". I mean...
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"A Guildsman does not train for events. He wanders the Earth being mighty. He performs feats as fleeting extensions of his power. Like flexing." So sayeth the Guildsman's handbook, the code by which I live. Today, however, I am feeling a tad apprehensive about my blasé approach to physical challe...
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This weekend, the Guild gathered in Perton near Wolverhampton for the madness of Tough Guy Nettle Warrior 2014. We arrived on Saturday and spent the day marshaling: taking charge of an obstacle and ensuring that everybody made it over safely and knew where they were going afterwards. I found myse...
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Those of you who are strong of mind and keen of eye will have noticed I did not review Tough Guy on my blog this year. Perhaps you are thinking this is because I chickened out at the last minute. Maybe you think all my bravado was bluff and, when the time came to leap once again into the frozen wate...
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For some reason (possibly because I am a huge fan of theirs) I agreed to take part in the Genesis MMA Gym's December Fitness Challenge. What ensued was three hours of total madness. We started with a run through High Wycombe. Don't ask me how far we ran because I honestly have no idea. It t...
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On Sunday morning, with hangovers that would kill lesser men, the Guild of Adventures donned our running gear (I made mine by taking a knife to my trousers), wrapped socks around our shoes to keep them on...and strode out onto the Killing Fields of Tough Guy Nettle Warrior 2013... [caption id="at...
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“If you don't know how to kayak, you may as well give up now.” So says this professional, in his pre-Adventurethon interview. Clearly he has never met an adventurer of The Guild before. We never give up. Ever. And we don't know how to do anything! Due to the weather (there has just be...
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In training for Adventurethon 2013, I decided I needed some help. Some advice. Some (dare I say it) training. You see, no matter what I do to train for my Enduro Adventurethon (14km of open sea kayaking, 21km of mountain biking and 12km of off-road running) I will be totally and utterly unprepare...
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After all my ranting and raving about the disorganisation of Spartan Race, it turns out their photos had been uploaded all along. They simply didn't tell us. They also labelled them somewhat confusingly. Anyway, here are some of them: [gallery columns="4" type="square" ids="4905,4906,4908,4909,49...
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As I write is, I am standing just outside the Olympic Stadium for the London 2012 Games...waiting to walk inside and run the 100m. How exactly I have ended up here is unclear. I do, however, know it involved dozens of generous people, all of whom I can't thank enough for everything they have donate...
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Tough Guy 2012 was 9 days ago. Since then, all the exercise I've managed is a couple of hours of submission wrestling on Thursday, a deadlifting and back session at the gym on Monday and a bench press and chest session this evening. Hopefully, these pictures will explain why... [gallery order...
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I did it. I am now, officially, a Tough Guy. This year was the Year of the Lion Heart...which is just about the only thing that got me to the end. It wasn't fitness and it certainly wasn't preparation - it was nothing but grim, visceral determination and a lifetime's worth of being-an-idiot rolled ...
Continue reading ...The half marathon is is over. Over. Thank the Gods! Having never really attempted anything like it, I decided to try to run 10-minute miles for the whole race. Being a 13.1 mile race, I should therefore finish in 2 hours and 11 minutes. If I managed to pull something out of my hat (we all wear ru...
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