So back in 2019, we did a review of our year. We didn’t do one last year because quite frankly there was not a lot to report, but this year has been pretty full in terms of racing and training so we thought we’d take a look back over some of our highlights and challenges in 2021!

Races Completed - Jessie
Lee Valley 5km
Superhuman Games OCR 5km
Spartan Marston Lodge Sprint & Super
Spartan Scotland Ultra & Sprint
Spartan Wales Super
Rocket Race Apollo
Relish Running - Omnium
Nuclear Rush & Nuclear Team Event & Nuclear Blast

Races Completed - Sean
Lee Valley 5km
Superhuman Games - Individual Male.
Superhuman Games OCR 5km
Spartan Scotland Sprint
Spartan Wales Super
Spartan Pippingford Super
Rocket Race Apollo
Relish Running - Omnium
Nuclear Rush 12km

Favourite Race Of The Year?
Sean - It’s got to be the Superhuman Games event. I liked it because it had a more of a strength focus which is ideal for me and I had to really push myself to get through the day.
Jessie - I actually think the Nuclear Rush event was my favourite. It was my first time taking on a Nuclear event and I had no idea how I would deal with the wet obstacles or the sheer amount of them. It was really cool to test out a range of totally new obstacles and I finished all 100 of them which I was super stoked with when I crossed that finish line!

Least Favourite Race?
Sean - Spartan Super Wales - too much hill!
Jessie - The Marston Lodge Super. I had a kidney infection and thought I could push through as it was the first race in so long. I probably shouldn't have even started the race and it was the hardest 10km (which was actually 12km ofc) that I’ve ever had to do.

Biggest Challenge Overcome This Year?
Jessie - Trying to overcome the feelings of imposter syndrome and not feeling good enough when moving from Asia to racing in a country that is so much more competitive and trying to dedicate enough time to my training while relocating across the world in a global pandemic, that came with a ton of not feeling good enough and guilt too!
Sean - Completing several Spartan Races with tendon damage in my hand and rehabbing the injury to a pretty decent state.

Favourite Obstacle Of The Year?
Sean - Spear Throw
Jessie - The big rig at Nuclear. It felt great getting across it each time!

Least Favourite Obstacle Of The Year?
Sean - The ‘Room Of Doom’ from the Superhuman OCR. This featured a room about 80ms in length and we were sent up and down it a ton of times. We had to complete 160ms of burpee broad jumps, 160ms of bear crawls and 160ms of walking lunges. It was brutal.
Jessie - Spear Throw. You better believe I threw my toys out of the pram when I saw the SNEAKY extra spear throw they’d put into the Ultra loop at Scotland. That meant 4 spear throws in the race and I of course missed them ALL. 120 burpees on spear alone in that race is the stuff of nightmares.

Race On Your Bucket List For Next Year?
Sean - Hyrox London.
Jessie - I am really hoping we will be able to get to some races in Europe. I have got my eyes on the Mallorca Spartan and I would REALLY like to go visit one of our lovely clients in Norway and team that with a chance of taking on a Toughest Race!

Best Workout Of The Year?
Jessie - We did a Team Grit group workout with Coach Kudders and took on the Hyrox PFT (1 km run, 50 burpee broad jumps, 100 reverse lunges, 1km row, 30 HRPU and 100 wall balls). I had hugely underestimated the wall balls but I pushed HARD through the whole workout and it felt good to be in the pain cave and to have the rest of the gang cheering when things got tough.
Sean - 10 Rounds/60min time cap.
1km bike
3 pull-ups
6 hang cleans
9 DB deadlift
500m row
9 STOH
6 Weighted Lunges
3 Burpees Over Bar

Most Valuable Read/Podcast?
Jessie - The Comeback Quotient - Matt Fitzgerald. I actually ordered this the week before I got COVID so it was a pretty timely arrival. I love anything by Matt Fitzgerald and this book is no exception.
Sean - Sam Briggs - Start Your Engines.

Most Played Workout Song?
Sean - Silent Screams - Till There’s Nothing Left
Jessie - TrashBoat - He’s So Good

Most Looking Forward To In 2022?
Sean - The first Hyrox in Manchester in January with a lot of the Team Grit guys and girls!
Jessie - A year of continuing to meet amazing people in OCR and growing the gang :)