Embracing New Things: The Winter Turf Games 2022
My first Winter Turf Games in January 2022 was an epic event hosted at the renowned Print Works, in London. It’s an annual event during the winter and summer where athletes compete in teams of five over two days to compete for prizes to compete in beginner, intermediate, elite level. I was not long off the plane from Singapore, and ready to completely immerse myself in the UK fitness scene.
The atmosphere at the event itself is electric and on entering my adrenaline was sky high. Although feeling slightly out of my depth, I was up for the challenge and to put myself out there. It was my first ever competition of this kind - Singapore never had anything to offer on this scale - and it was so refreshing to be around so many like-minded people passionate about fitness.
There are three sections: one for elite, one for intermediate, and another for everyday athletes. Whichever category you’re in, it’s about showing up, having fun, and meeting new people. I jad joined the Optimum Nutrition team a week prior, so we had never met before or had time to practice together. It’s safe to say that we got on super well, managed our communication well, and all brought different energy to the table.
The intermediate events were testing and I hadn’t done any form of conditioning for the 8 weeks previous, so I was pretty happy I managed to keep up. The events consisted of five short bursts of four minute to 14 minute workouts combining raw strength, power, and metcon-style circuits.
One of the events went like this:
Blade Runner
2km Bike Erg + 1.5km Ski Erg
22 Shuttle Runs (each one 20m)
1.5km Bike Erg + 1km Ski Erg
22 Shuttle Runs (each one 20m)
1km Bike Erg + 500m Ski Erg
22 Shuttle Runs (each one 20m)
(Time cap of 14mins)
My teammate Hannah and I took on the bike and the three guys took on the ski erg, leaving us all to take part in the shuttle runs. As I write this, I’m smiling to myself remembering what it was like to get off that bike erg with jelly legs and nearly falling over. I definitely didn’t run straight in that first 20m. I needed the biggest influx of sugar to go straight to my quadies.
My favourite event was the worm workout where we won our heat. During the first part I forgot to count reps and was all over the place with dumbbells - the crowd was standing so close to us and that I could hear in my head was ‘don’t f*** this up, count woman’! I got myself together just in time to come off my dumbbell complex and straight into 15 burpees over the worm. I was so impressed with the guys - they had to do the worm and burpees. There were moments where my vision was blurred from the motion, but my adrenaline was in full swing and it was intense but I loved it.
For me this is what these kinds of events are there for - bringing people together, having fun, and sharing your love of health, fitness, and some good old competition. It was challenging and took me truly out of my comfort zone, with nowhere to hide. As daunting as it sounds, it was liberating at the same time.
Bring on the summer Turf Games!
Remember: What comes easy won’t last, what lasts won’t come easy - keep going after it people and keep getting out of your comfort zone.
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