This must be how Graham Holmberg felt

Today was my third annual How Fit Are U Challenge at the gym, and by far the toughest. I won my age group - men 40+ - which, admittedly, was a pretty narrow group! That being said, I was much happier with my performance today than in previous years. I know this is only a fun challenge, but last year I let nerves get the better of me and, consequently, I didn't do nearly as well as I should have. This year I was much more relaxed and gave it everything. When I crossed the finish line, my glutes were toast and my chest was burning. I had to lie down on the grass for a few minutes; I've never had to do that before! (I had a phlegmy wheeze for the next 3 hours.)

The course was:

Sprint
15 burpees
Sprint
15 box jumps onto a tire
Tire flip
Sprint
Lateral skips x 2 widths
Sprint
15 push presses @ 45 (empty bar)
Sprint
Lateral skips x 2 widths
Sprint
Tire flip
Sprint to finish line

The tire flip was physically the most demanding movement, but it was the box jumps that cost me time. It would have been piss easy on a flat surface - I'm guessing this was only about 18" high - but my landings on the slightly curved tire weren't very clean. On one rep I almost fell into the hole (hence the loud "Fuck!")

I think I paused a couple of times during the push press, but only very briefly.

This is how it should be done!

I can't remember my time (3:16?) but I know it was far off the overall winning time. However, I'm pleased with my result because I know I couldn't have done any more.

Likewise, the bench press contest. I knew beforehand I wouldn't come close to winning my category - Lightweight (under 170lb) - but I wanted to see how well I would do with a one-rep max. My PR - during a personal training session - is 135lb. My 3 attempts were 135lb, 140lb and 150lb, a PR increase of 15lb.

Today I probably did a total of 4 minutes' exercise, but I feel as exhausted as I did following Thursday's retribution training session!