Green Beret Fitness Operation ENDURE ’23

2023.12.12 1000 @ CrossFit Thumbs Up

Overview

Green Beret Fitness Operation ENDURE is a unique event for GBF. It takes place in a gym setting. One workout is released every hour on the hour for 24 hours, with the majority performed as a pair. Workouts vary in length, difficulty, and skill sets. There are many Hero WODs throughout the event. Every workout is scalable to your capabilities. An example of an event is here, but you should expect everything and anything. You are responsible for your food, rest, and care between workouts.

Training and Preparation

This one was easy to get ready for! I consistently trained in the gym and kept my endurance (hiking, running, etc.). I’ve been lazy with mobility.

Travel

Gear

The following is what I rotated between throughout the event:

• Shorts
• T-shirts (link to awesome GBF shirts)
• Woxer Boxers
• Multiple sports bras
• Bomba, Lasso, and Stance socks
• RAD One Trainers & Altra Torin 6 Running Shoes
• Whoop
• Goodr Sunglasses

Additional gear:

• Combat Ready Tape
• Rogue Speed Rope
• Hoodie & Sweatpants
• Reusable Nalgene
• Assorted food and beverages (see nutrition)
• Towel (borrowed from Moogie)
• Hairbrush
• Deodorant
• Toothbrush, toothpaste, and mouthwash

Reflection: I needed more clothes to change into. This might not be the case at every Operation ENDURE, but Tampa is hot and humid. I hung my T-shirt outside – it got wetter than when I hung it. I would also recommend bringing a towel. I highly recommend multiple types of shoes that you would regularly use – trainers, runners, lifters, etc.

Nutrition

Pre-Event

Fajitas and marg on a Friday night never hurt anyone, so that’s what I ate. On Saturday morning, we picked up bagels and coffees. Terrible coffee. I ate about half my bagel and saved some for later. I likely drank an LMNT.

Event

We brought an assortment of food from the grocery store:

• LMNT Electrolyte Packets
• Uncrustables – original and the best flavor now in existence, chocolate hazelnut
• Pretzels – half went stale from the humidity after opening
• Body Armor Drinks
• Welch’s Fruit Snacks

I ordered food from DoorDash a few times throughout the event:

• Jersey Mikes subs & chips
• Wawa (x2) – smoothies, fruit, coffee, and drinks

Other food/drinks:

• Water fountain
• Bananas provided by GBF
• Cookies sitting around

Admin & Briefing

Goals & Strategy

My goal for this event was to finish and perform the workouts well. I would scale as necessary, but I wanted to put in a strong effort for every workout. I knew there would be workouts that I wanted to excel at and others that I would have to scale based on movement or weight.

For strategy, a key was to assess the workout as it was released and not burn out on a single workout just because I liked it. I wanted to feel good about my performance and not just survive the 24 hours.

The Event

For time’s sake, I won’t outline every workout, but will summarize into blocks and call out a few specific ones.

The First Two and a Bonus (1000-1100)

We started at 1000 with RALPH, a very important hero WOD. I’ll reflect more on this later. I opted to scale the weight on the deadlifts and scaled to ~2/3 of the height for rope climbs – I still don’t consistently descend a rope climb well but was determined to put out my best effort on them. RALPH was performed solo.

Next was another solo WOD, a one-minute MAX effort calories on the Echo. If you have never done this, give this a try and go full send. If you think a microwave minute is long, you have never experienced this workout. I had the opportunity a week earlier to do my “birthday calories” at my home gym – the goal was 32 calories in a minute – it took me a bit longer than that.

Squats, Cals, and Miles, Oh My! (1200-1600)

We executed over 1000 shared squats and ~5 miles each over the 5 hours. We also did one of my top 4 favorite workouts of the event. The 1400 WOD was 1-mile run w/30# cat food, 100 cal echo, 1-mile run w/cat food, 100 cal row with a 40-minute time cap. The Echo/Row calories were split, but both partners had to run. I told Moogie that I was determined to finish this workout. And we did. I am a stronger runner, so I carried the cat food throughout. On the machines, we went with short, sharp efforts of 20-25 seconds – rip it and then rest. We were one of the few teams to finish. The other WODs were tough and really wearing on the body. Overall, I didn’t really hate any of the workouts at this point.

It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere (1700-0200)

We finally hit a workout that I did not enjoy. It was an EMOM with Thrusters and Burpees. Generally, I wouldn’t like this workout, but now add in that we were on the Ski Erg for at least 7 minutes throughout (some teams were not cycling on the Ski properly) – I really disliked this one. Hard pass, would not recommend.

For the pure Echo WOD at 2000, we decided to switch partners around 3 minutes in based on height. Rather than destroying the legs of the taller partners, Katie and I joined forces. It allowed everyone to give a better effort and not worry about changing the height on the bike or leaving one partner uncomfortable.

During this block, we also did some max lifts, used the pet food throughout more workouts (retired after midnight), worked through a few more Hero WODs, and made it all the way to closing time. Longest happy hour ever?

Climb Your Mountain (0300)

This workout was probably the closest to recreating that experience in a gym. It’s monotonous. You probably just woke up from a nap and are tired, you’re likely hungry, it’s dark, and most people don’t love running.

Sometimes our mountain isn’t the one we would expect. The “mountain” for me was that we had to stick with our partner. Moogie is a great athlete – she runs and trains often at an ultra-running pace and runs 100-mile races. This pace is generally slower than I had planned to run this 10k. I knew this was a tougher workout for her, so my attitude could be a factor. Moogie worked her ass off and crushed it. It was still tough for me to watch Katie and others running freely. It turned into a totally different mind game than what I had expected. I went from “10k, fuck yeah!” to “I just want to be free.”

Another difficult part of this was seeing other athletes sandbagging the 10k. For some, a fast walk was definitely their best, but for others, I have a hard time believing they were trying to make it in the 75 minutes. Yes, there is a balance – we still had six more hours of work, but I felt like there could have been better efforts. I heard a comment along the lines of “We only have five more minutes before the cap so no need to push it”. I think my response was “Oh, there’s no time cap”. Maybe I’m a jerk, but if you’re given a challenge, at least work to get there.

Hyped Up (0400-0800)

I don’t have to think about this answer – we get to be doing this and are capable. Additionally, the movements were all new to the day and enjoyable. How could you not be having a good time? There was also a hard, fast individual sprint WOD. Chrissy, Katie, and I were absolutely racing each other – I think we all admitted it after. Super freaking fun.

The second last WOD of ENDURE was a 1-mile timed run. There were incentives to run fast – our times would determine how many burdens we would have during the final WOD. I finished the mile sub 8 minutes and felt really good. Once we finished, we turned around and encouraged and paced-in runners to get them within the time hacks.

Last Hurrah (0900)

We performed a team MURPH. We carried additional weight on the miles (based on the outcome of the 1-mile time trial) and thousands of squats, pushups, and pull-ups. It was a great way to end the event and finish as a team.

Overall Thoughts

Overall ENDURE was extremely well run and organized. The movements and WODs were well structured and built well throughout the event. It pushed us to the edge at just the right moments and was accessible to all scaling levels.

I showered twice between WODs and could not recommend this more. I napped on and off, but suggest bringing some mat to be slightly more comfortable.

The community aspect is a huge piece of ENDURE. The people made the event enjoyable. I would definitely recommend it to everyone.

Personal Reflection

You are capable of far more than you think

ENDURE is a very safe place to push yourself and test your limits. It’s a mindset and is something hard to develop overnight. When we’re given opportunities to push our limits, especially in a controlled environment, I feel like that is the best time to take them. We can surprise ourselves. I saw multiple athletes PR throughout the event, even after already completing 12 hours of workouts!

Lessons

1. Focus on your goals. There’s no use in worrying about others and what they’re doing. Focus on yourself.
2. Everyone’s mountain is different. Even if you’re climbing the same mountain, everyone will experience it differently.
3. Push yourself. If you have the opportunity to push yourself, take it. This is how we grow.

Final Thoughts

This is why. These WODs are not just workouts. There are real people behind each one and people who miss them every day. Some days we aren’t motivated and don’t feel like working out or going for that run, but we still get to do it.

If you get a chance to participate in ENDURE, take it! It’s a great experience and an opportunity to push yourself.

Until the next. 🏃‍♀️🏋️🛀

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