"Race" Recap: Highlander Assault 12 Days of Christmas Virtual Challenge

Highlander Assault 12 Days of Christmas Virtual Challenge, 11/10-17/20, Cedar Falls, IA

In my ongoing effort to find fun virtual challenges to do, I jumped on the chance to sign up for Highlander Assault's latest virtual challenge. I hugely enjoyed their 5K weighted carry challenge that I did last spring. This would be very different: instead of a one-time event, there would be 12 challenges that you can complete in whatever timing and order you want. You just need to keep track of your progress and send it to them when you're done, and they'll mail you the swag. Definitely doable. 

Started on the Tuesday after my Spartan virtual trifecta weekend, on legs that were still sore. That day I did the following five challenges and timed each of them (I was hoping for a total of around 3 hours for all the challenges). It was raining and cold outside so I stuck with indoor stuff.

1. 20 flights of stairs in 5 minutes flat. I did these by just jogging up and down the stairs in my house. Figured it would be a good warmup.

2. 100 situps, two 30-second leg lifts; done in 4:39. The kind of challenge that starts out easy and takes a turn for the "ooof" at around rep 60.

3. 125 pushups; done in 5:40. This one scared me the most out of every challenge because that pushing motion caused a lot of chronic collarbone issues for me a couple of years ago (the issues lasted until quarantine, basically). Decided to do as many as I could on the floor, from the knees (ended up being 50), then switched to wall pushups for the last 75. It was shocking how tough the wall pushups felt, too. Arms were rubber afterward.

4. 100 crunches; 2:29. This wasn't bad at all, although after those situps is a lot of abs. Reps 90-100 were a struggle.

5. 100 lunges; 4:11. Not as bad as I thought it would be.

Two days later (Thursday the 12th) I decided to sneak out of the house for the:

6. 5K run; 32:21. It was a bit chilly but no wind, which is a rare blessing. My shins were not thrilled (still a bit splinty from the trifecta) but I iced afterward and they'll be fine eventually. A decent pace, but not quite what I was hoping for.

On Saturday the 14th, it was cold, windy, and there was a mist in the air, but I wanted to get a couple more things done. I took out Venti the Sandbag and decided to bang out both heavy carries back to back.

7. 2-mile 20-lb sandbag carry; completed in 28:10. My triceps were still trashed from the pushups (3) so it was harder than expected to keep the bag on my shoulder. Had to switch sides a lot. My goal of under 30 minutes was easily met, though. Immediately followed by:

8. 1-mile 20-lb sandbag carry, with 25 weighted squats at finish; done in 14:59. I was hoping for under 15 minutes so just under the wire there!

Shins were feeling much better by Monday the 16th, so I decided to complete the longest of the 12 challenges...

9. One-hour run. My goal was to complete 5.5 miles in the allotted time, thankfully I managed to eke out 5.6 miles! The power of positive thinking and extremely frequent but short walk breaks!

On Tuesday the 17th, I decided to finish this thing off. My triceps were feeling Okay, and my shins only bugged me a little bit from the day before. 

10. 100 burpees, in 14:51. This was pretty miserable, as I hadn't done burpees in a loooong time and frankly, my triceps quickly went from Okay to Jello Jigglers (remember those? Classic). Did 'em in sets of 10.

Afterward I headed off for the school football field which had lines painted on it to complete the final two tasks!

11. Fifteen 20-yard sprints, done in 2:12. This was unpleasant for my shins, and I am not much of a sprinter, but I included my recovery time between the sprints. Fortunately my antics seemed to be unnoticed by the first graders on the playground at recess. And finally...

12. 100-yard crab walk, in 5:55. This SUCKED. It was the culmination of a week of intense tricep soreness. The first 40 yards went fairly normally. Then my wrists and elbows started constantly collapsing and I had to switch to a desperate "throwing myself backwards with a violent scoot" technique. I did make it all the way across the football field, which was freezing cold and vaguely damp, and then did the walk of shame back to my house for a hot shower.

Submitted my total time (3:00:27 for all challenges! Right at my goal!) online, as well as my chart of each event's day and time. Now to wait for the swag to come in. I'll update this when it arrives.

Pros:

-Put me out of my comfort zone, which is good.

-Good variety of challenges, and they were hard enough to make a person feel accomplished.

Cons:

-I. Hate. Pushups.

-I. Hate. Burpees.

-I. Declare. BANKRUPTCY!

"Race" Grade: A-. A great way to end a really weird year.