When the opportunity to travel to Tenerife and participate in the first DEKA in Europe arose, I jumped! But then I sat down and studied. Having trained for a while with one of the creators of DEKA, I had a pretty good idea of what it consisted of so I didn’t need to research that. I was also moderately confident in my abilities because I’d been training for a few months with Team Grit, and I knew the training was exactly what I should be doing and would pay off. However, I did need to study to fill in some gaps.
The gaps came from never having done anything like this before, and from not training in a gym. How would I be able to finish an event like this without having access to a SkiErg, a rowing machine, slam balls, box jump boxes… etc.? Does this sound like you too? Well, the good news I found was that the DEKA Zones all feature exercises born from basic movement patterns. If you have a moderate level of cardiovascular fitness and strength, have practised good form with movements such as squatting, lunging, carrying, pushing, pulling, stepping up, then you could safely and adequately complete a DEKA event. Excellent news! These were all skills I already had from my years of obstacle course racing. As obstacle racers, we carry, we grip, we move, we have flexible hips from all the wall climbing so we can step up, we do a bit of pulling and so on.
But I still wanted to be able to do my best, without paying an expensive gym membership for access to some of the fancy equipment to practise on. So what did I do? YouTube! I watched many videos of the events which had already taken place in America. It was exciting and inspiring to see some of the elite females (I didn’t bother watching the men, sorry!) pushing hard through the DEKA zones. As they progressed through the course, it was also reassuring because I was able to tick off on my list that YES, I could manage that zone too! And that one! And the next one. I studied techniques and observed what seemed to work best for the athletes on the rower, SkiErg, air bike, box jumps.
The Team Grit workouts featuring a bodyweight resistance exercise, followed by a running interval, followed by a resistance exercise and so on were the perfect style of training to follow for DEKA. (Find out more about the Team Grit group coaching here) To practise specifics, I made a SkiErg from a resistance band wrapped around my pull up bar, I stepped on and off the wall at the beach to have a go at box jumps, and I tried to make a rowing machine but it was rubbish! Furthermore, I continued with the farmers’ carries I do at the end of my own workouts, I added much more weight to my prescribed lunges, and I practised my pulls with bent over rows.
A few months of training like this followed, so let’s fast forward to the event! What was it like?! Number one… it was absolutely beautiful! In all of the YouTube videos, I’d watched the competitions were held in big warehouses and I had no reason not to think that’s what DEKA Tenerife would be like. On arrival, I was shocked to find the arena was outdoors, in a carpark. On one side there was the beautiful blue North Atlantic Ocean and on the other was a view of the volcano, Teide. It was spectacular! But it was also hot. Ever so hot.
As soon as I began running my first lap of DEKA FIT, in a group of 10 mixed-sex Age Group athletes, I knew that I would not be able to stick to my planned pace for the 500m running elements between the zones. It was just so hot! The first zone, 30 ram alt reverse lunge, went smoothly but slowly. I’m not a crossfitter and I do my reps with control and focus. I left the zone shocked at the speed my competitors lunged at and thinking that I must work on lunging faster! Following the lunging came the 500m row, on which I felt surprisingly comfortable seeing as I haven’t sat on a rowing machine in over six years. 20 box jumps next. Uhoh. This was the one I’d been worrying about. But my fears were somewhat alleviated prior to the event. I told my fellow Age Group competitors that I was scared of the box jumps and would just be stepping up and over. They all confided they would be doing the same! This is allowed in the rules, no need to jump. I got the box stepovers done without incident and could leave the zone. After three quadriceps heavy zones back to back, combined with the heat, the 500m runs were already becoming my recovery. This wasn’t my intention at the outset but I was so so hot! I was looking forward to the chance to lie down at the next zone for 25 medicine ball sit-up throws but my technique was rubbish and I made a mountain out of a molehill. Never mind, during the slow hot run I figured out exactly what I’d done wrong and put it behind me. Next! 500m ski erg went okay and the movement wasn’t too dissimilar from what I’d been practising with on my makeshift resistance band ski erg.
Halfway! The runs were getting slower but I knew I was doing okay. Just had to keep going. I made up a lot of ground over my competitors on the 100m farmers’ carry zone because my grip strength is good. One thing I wasn’t expecting, however, was the cumbersome dumbbell heads to smack off my thighs so much. I farmers’ carry at home with kettlebells and these are much more nicely shaped. The 25kcal air bike seemed to take forever but was uneventful and I got a bit of air in my face from the fan! Following this was the 20 dead ball wall over zone. I am strong, I am good at deadlifts, and the ball wasn’t particularly heavy. But I kept dropping it! The smooth, shiny, plasticky coating on the ball was not a good mix with my sweaty hands. I was flagging by now but only two more 500m runs to go! The 100m tank push-pull was so much fun but I wasn’t very good at the pushes. It’s not something we do often! Last run and soon time for a big drink of water and a lie down in the shade. Come on! 20 ram burpees weren’t something I expected to feel quite so uncomfortable. I’ve done endless burpees in my life and I’d practised this movement with a heavy sandbag. But the awkward placement of my hands on the ram, with my fingers pointing outwards as I put all my weight on my wrists and jumped back into the burpee was so disconcerting. I felt like my wrists were going to snap off. After 20 fairly slow, stepping back instead of jumping then gingerly lying myself down on my chest, burpees… I could finally stand up and cross the finish line in 00:58:38. What an experience!
Some things went to plan, other things surprised me, but I crossed the finish line content and knowing exactly what I could do to improve my technique on the zone which didn’t go quite as I expected. Good job, because I was participating in the DEKA Trifecta and still had to complete DEKA MILE and DEKA STRONG on the same day! But that’s another story for another day. Oh yeah. Nearly forgot. I came 2nd place in my Age Group in DEKA FIT! Yes. I’d do it all again. Tomorrow. And, with a little bit of training, so could you.
Check out Jude’s continued journey at @judefitcoach or drop a comment to share your thoughts.
