MET-Rx World's Strongest Man 2006 Sanya, China 14th Sept - 23rd Sep 2006
Sept 14th
Ball carry and sledge drag (World's Strongest Man™, IMG Media Ltd.)
I am in group 2. Today we competed in the carry and drag and the keg toss. I turn 27 years old today. Warming up for the first event was brutal. The heat here is unbearable. I was getting dizzy and kept feeling like I was going to black out just from performing light warm-up movements with a barbell. We had to carry a 100kg (220 lb) atlas stone 25m, deposit the stone into a sled and then drag the sled back the full 25m. Standing at the starting line is the best feeling in the world. The adrenaline surged through my body in powerful waves and gave me goose bumps even though the temperature was over 110 degrees. It is hard to control myself at that moment. I have to force myself to relax so that I don't waste valuable energy screaming and stomping about. When the whistle blew I exploded into action. I could vaguely hear Terry Hollands breathing in the next lane. Through the entire race my mind was screaming to my body, ''FASTER FASTER!'' As if the impossibly long drag back to the finish line wasn't difficult enough., the heat made this event even harder. My lungs and throat were dry half way through the event. I had to force myself not to vomit after crossing the finish line.
Keg toss (World's Strongest Man™, IMG Media Ltd.)
I rushed to the shade of the competitors tent where Callie rubbed me down with blocks of ice for 30 minutes. Even with ice on my body I still couldn't cool off. Carry and drag events are always brutal and leave you feeling totally exhausted but I feel great now. I'm glad to have the contest started and the strain on my body actually feels good. In fact, I feel better now then I did before the contest started.
In the keg toss we were made to throw 10 kegs weighing 20kg (44 lbs) over a 4.5m wall in the fastest time possible. I was confident going into this event but had no idea it was going to be as difficult as it was. After 5 kegs I began to tire dramatically. By kegs 7 and 8 I was really breathing hard. When it was over I felt dizzy and disoriented. After eating dinner and cooling off in the room my hamstring started to hurt. Now as I'm writing this I have a throbbing ache all through the back of my leg. All and all I would say that today was one of the best birthdays I've ever had.
