Viper Challenge 2014

A couple of months ago, I completed my second Viper Challenge. This post is long delayed and I considered not writing it at all. But for some insane reason, I had impulsively brought my phone along for the ride and since I went through the trouble of getting some shots, it would be a waste not to use it.

This round, it was definitely more difficult than 2013's event - the obstacles were higher, longer and more challenging. And while this made most of the obstacles a heck of a lot more fun than the previous year, there were areas which made it less enjoyable for me as well.

The 20km run was a real pain this round because a large part of the route was covered in slick, sticky mud which was unavoidable and made the distance all the more tedious. Even worse, one of my team members triggered an old knee injury which wasn't really helped by the running conditions.

The mud hills (I'm not sure if that's the name of this obstacle) were really overkill this time - with the rain, slippery mud and higher hills, the obstacle just made you feel like you were swimming in mud pointlessly and there must have been around 10 hills to get through.

On the whole, it was a well-planned and executed event and I had a blast other than the minor issues above. I didn't manage to capture a lot on my phone because I had to wait for moments when we could clean our hands enough to take it out of the plastic bag, but here are a few pictures and videos to give a bit of a feel of what we experienced.

This obstacle was pretty pointless but I heard that they changed it because someone cracked their ankle the day before - previously, it had people jumping over the fire into a pit filled with water and mud.

Behind us is the wall rope climb. We saw a TON of people fall on this obstacle because the ropes were very slippery and the knots were quite far from each other, meaning the moment you missed a knot, you'd probably slip down. One of my team members fell as well and we heard that another person had a spinal fracture the day before...

The quarter pipe obstacle was the only one I didn't complete because my shoes were still dripping wet and I slipped before I had the chance to get any traction.

We didn't get to take a picture as a team because we were rushing to wash up so that I wouldn't miss my daughter's first school concert later that day...

Now for some videos.

This was one of the first obstacles and it's harder than it looks because you have to shuffle across for a reasonable distance using only your finger tips. People who do rock climbing would find it easy but my fingers felt like they were going to tear off...

I have a confession to make: I failed my first two tries on this wall. But I finally got a firm kick off on the small ridge on the wall - I'm glad this was an obstacle I could try again without causing any sort of bottleneck...

I had fun on these rings because I managed to figure out the momentum and didn't have to use brute strength like a lot of other people did. It was also one of the last obstacles so you wouldn't be as fresh as the first half of the event.

I must have tried this one four times and I feel it's impossible. I did hear that only one guy in the entire two days made it and he had people helping to steady the coasters along the way. But by the far, the funnest obstacle!

I think this was the second last obstacle! They really kept the most challenging ones for the end when you are at your most fatigued. When I caught my legs on the cargo net, both quads cramped badly and I had to rely fully on my hands instead which was really tough. Out of all the obstacles, this is the one I'm most glad I hung on to complete because I was cramping, knackered and just wanted to drop down and crawl across.

Some friends asked me to join them at the upcoming March event but I declined. It's not that I regret going for it at all - I truly had fun and was ready for the physical demands of the event. It just felt too close to the one which just passed.

If they launch another event at the end of this year, I'll sign up with no hesitation.

Anyone want to join me?

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Viper Challenge complete

After over five months of looking forward to it, the Viper Challenge finally came. And I have to say that it was one of the funnest things I did in 2013. It was far more exciting than the standard running event and I found myself looking forward to each obstacle with long periods of the more ‘boring’ running in between. But since I’m rather all right with running nowadays (especially with my target to run my first full marathon in December), even the running wasn’t too bad – other than flat roads, there were off trail runs, as well as uphills and downhills, which kept things interesting.

The obstacles themselves weren’t too difficult but because I went with a group of friends, the fun of the teamwork experience more than made up for the relative ease of most of them. My team also tended to try to look for the most challenging way to handle each obstacle – going through the muddiest and most slippery parts, not using a boost up, and climbing over the middle part of walls so we couldn’t brace against the side supports. I understand why the organisers made it a bit easier this time round because it was the first time it was being held and it meant that most, if not all, participants could finish the course.

I think that a lot of people underestimated how far 20km really is. A lot of them focused on training for the obstacles, building up more strength, especially in their upper body, so I observed a lot of people really struggling with the distance and the steep uphill climbs. The distance and trail weren’t easy at all and the ones who did better were those where running is their main sport of choice – with obstacles, they could still use boost ups and people at the top helping to pull them up. There was a group of men who decided to do the event topless with pretty flawless physiques (well-defined 8-pack, bulging pectorals and biceps), who finished far, far behind my group, so this went to show that the course wasn’t exactly catered to bodybuilders and ‘non-running crossfitters’.

All in all, it was a blast. Would I do it again if it came around next year? Most definitely. I know that there were a ton of complaints on the Viper Facebook page but I didn’t share any of their negative experiences. It probably helped that I did it on Sunday morning so a lot of the issues were improved on by them. The weather was awesome and very cool until the sun started coming out around 10:45am or so. The thunderstorm which went on for hours and then stopped right when we started made the course and obstacles excitingly muddy and fun. I didn’t get any diarrhoea from drinking from the Syabas water tanks. None of my team got injured. I’m not that fussed that some of the obstacles changed from the original list in the marketing material.

And most of all, I really enjoyed the company of my teammates. There were two guys and two girls, and somehow, all our preferred paces matched each other. The guys didn’t have to slow down for the girls, and vice versa. No one felt like they had to wait for anyone, and no one felt like they were slowing down the group. But I have to say that the girls in our group were super fit. My sister didn’t train at all but effortlessly got through and didn’t even ache after or have DOMS, whereas I was sore for a good two days after. And my sister’s friend has been doing crossfit with her boyfriend for years so she’s a lot stronger than me. Her boyfriend…could probably have carried the three of us on his shoulders and gone through the course.

I’m actually tempted to do the upcoming Reebok One Challenge in September but it’s a week before my Standard Chartered half marathon and so it will be hard to train for both consecutively, and I don’t want to risk injury right before a run. After much deliberation and my finger hovering over the button to register, I’ve decided not to go ahead with it. It also helped me decide (very quickly) when my wife narrowed her eyes at me and said I shouldn’t be gone two Sunday mornings in a row because that’s when she’s at work (in church), and the two babies would have to be left with my in-laws.

So this concludes my first ever obstacle race experience. I can’t wait for the next one. It may not be Reebok Challenge but my sister has just sent me one called the Commando Challenge happening in Singapore this December. So maybe…

Who’s going to join me for the next one?

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Viper Challenge training update

After one month of staying at the in-law's house for my wife's 'confinement month', I came back to my home to find that the apartment had just installed facilities for futsal and basketball. I don't think I've ever been happier with the management at my condo than when I found out. I just love that I can practically walk outside my doorstep and immediately shoot some hoops.

On another note, I've been feeling absolutely exhausted. This 'handling two babies at the same time' thing is starting to really get to me, and in the past one week, I had two quick work trips to Singapore and a lot happening at my side business too.

Nevertheless, I managed to get in a 40 minute training session with Viper in mind, starting with 20 minutes of basketball to get warmed up, and then a basic circuit comprising three sets of the following exercises.

• 10 deadlifts (112 pounds)
• 10 bench presses (two 40 pound dumbbells)
• 10 squat shoulder presses (two 20 pound dumbbells)
• 25 sit-ups

I haven't stepped into the gym for over three months because I've been training for the half marathon which was eventually postponed by the haze, and have mainly been running. It's not going to be easy to get back in the routine of weights again but I'm looking forward to building up strength and power, which is going to be important for Viper.

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Viper Challenge training update

It’s been awhile since I wrote about anything remotely related to fitness but I’ve been trying to maintain regular exercise even though my energy levels have been somewhat drained after the birth of my second daughter one month ago.

The Standard Chartered Marathon has been postponed to 29 September because of the haze and so the next event to train for is Viper Challenge which takes place 17 and 18 August. Instead of purely focusing on running, I have to change my routine to incorporate more strength training since the most challenging aspects of the event will be in the obstacles and not the distance.

Yesterday, a group of us met in the park to begin our Viper Challenge preparation. We decided to make it more cross-fit style and got one of our friends who goes to ‘Bootcamp’ to take us through some of the basic routines.

This is what I got through in a 45-minute session:

• 2 x 2km run: Warm up and cool down runs sandwiching the workouts listed below
• 16 sets of stairs with 80m runs between each one
• 3 sets of basic circuit (with no rest in between)comprising: 10 burpees, 8 cross jacks, 6 jumping jacks, 4 plank jacks, 2 push up burpees, 50m run (repeat)

There was a stronger focus on cardio and lower body training, and I’ll be looking to incorporate more upper body strength training in the future workouts to have a balanced approach. At the same time, I tend to have already done training on my lower body from my running and basketball sessions, and so my upper body has a ton of catching up to do!

1.5 months to go...I’m looking forward to future sessions!

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The Viper Challenge 2013

It's been a rather impulsive year for me so far in terms of going for physical events. I've just signed up for the Viper Challenge which is a grueling 20km course filled with man-made obstacles. It takes place on 17-18 August and will be held at the Sepang International Circuit, organised by Original Bootcamp Sdn Bhd. You can get the registration form from their official page, and get details and updates from their Facebook page. Or you can check out their promotional video.

Last year, I saw some Tough Mudder event videos on Youtube and was immediately inspired to want to try it out, wondering when it would come to Malaysia. So when this event came up, I signed up without any hesitation and even though it's not as extreme as Tough Mudder, I know that I will need to do some serious training and preparation to get into shape to even survive and finish the event. Check out the video below if you're not convinced.

There are no medals and no trophies. No one technically 'wins' the event and it is not even considered a race. No one even checks whether you went go the obstacles or just walk around the ones you are not keen to do. It's about surviving it, helping those around you, and receiving help. It's about teamwork and camaraderie, whether you signed up as part of a team or even as an individual working with strangers around you. It's about crawling past the finish line knowing that you went through a tough, tough course...and made it.

There are 20 obstacles during the course to overcome:

• Jump Platform
• Dusty Trench Crawl
• Barb Wire Crawl
• Through Tube
• M Wall
• Container Climb
• Ice Jump
• Hill Slide
• Over Under Walls
• Tyre Run
• Bars Over Water
• Log Jumps
• Trench Crawl
• On The Wire
• Trench Pool
• Balance Beam
• Pyramid Tree
• Corrugated Tunnel
• Incline Wall
• Cargo Net

Over the next week or two, I'm going to be thinking through a training program that hopefully gets me more ready for the event based on the different obstacles. I'm definitely going to need to work on my balance which is terrible, continue doing some strength conditioning on the upper and lower body in the gym, and continue building endurance through my runs. At the same time, I'm going to need to build in more plyometric and calisthenics in areas with outdoor exercise equipment, usually situated next to parks, because they seem to be the type of exercises used in the obstacles.

Wish me luck! Anyone wish to join me?

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