Your Head of Squad Training Just Finished 24 Hero WODS in 24 Hours for Charity

For each of the last three years, when the autumn leaves are finally giving in to the frosty morning, Andrew Tracey has taped up his hands, donned his bandana and undergone a challenge that would break the majority of us. In support of Pilgrim Bandits, a charity that provides assistance to injured veterans of the armed forces, AT has completed a CrossFit Hero WOD every hour for 24 hours. We wrote about his 2020 outing in the magazine last year, which you can read here.

This year, however, the ante was upped somewhat. Inspired by the motto of Pilgrim Bandits "always a little further", for the goal of the 2021 edition was to complete each workout in a different location from rural Essex to the Olympic Park in East London, running between each spot to rack up an ultra-marathon for good measure.

The challenge received international attention from the premier functional fitness media outlets in the run-up to the event, including Morning Chalk Up and, of course, Men's Health.

With each Hero workout being named after a member of the armed forces or emergency services who died in the line of duty, the route started with 'James Prosser', 100 muscle-ups for time, and ended with the best-known CrossFit Hero WOD of them all, 'Murph' – a mile run, then 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups and 300 air squats followed by a final mile run. All in a 10kg weighted vest.

Armed with Thrudark equipment to keep him and the team reliably insulated during the darkest hours of the night, AT accrued over 45.5 thousand kilograms for weight lifted, ran 65km and ground out 3300+ reps of weighted and bodyweight movements over the duration of the 24-hour period.

Now, that the dust of such a gritty endeavour has (sort of) settled, and before the DOMS really beds in, AT is giving MH SQUAD an exclusive first look at his initial feelings about the challenge and how he survived each of the 24 workouts. Before you read on, please check out the donation page for Pilgrim Bandits to pledge your support.

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"The idea of running between each workout actually began as a bit of a joke in a WhatsApp group between my brothers. Inevitably, that quickly turned into investigating the logistics of such a feat, and then eventually planning for it.

"I’d arbitrarily mentioned finishing in the Olympic Park, as it’s somewhere I’ve trained a lot over the years. As it happens, I cut my teeth working 24 hour shifts there during the build for to the 2012 olympics. As soon as I realised the route would take us up and beyond a marathon distance, the deal was sealed for me. We were no longer looking at ‘simply’ running between WODs, but running an ultra marathon distance, two pretty monumental undertakings rolled into one. A 'little further’ it certainly was.

"Going into it, I’d tried not to overthink the actual sensations or emotions I’d be feeling on the night. Even against the backdrop of being told multiple times how crazy an idea it was, I endeavoured to break down the event into its parts, rationalising that each was quite manageable. With a bit of doggedness [and over a decade of training], my body would have the robustness to string them all together.

"Without one centralised location, the pressure was really on to ensure we hit each checkpoint. I knew adding the mileage between each workout would have a significant physical impact, and that it may even be too much. What I hadn’t anticipated was the psychological impact, that during the wavering moments in the night where doubts and thoughts of quitting began to creep in, I was confronted with the fact that I couldn’t just turn the key in the door and go to bed.

"It was just the two of us, miles from home. Even if I wanted to quit, we had to at least cover the distance between where we were and the next checkpoint to make that a reality. There were times in the night, especially on the long, dark drag through Epping forest that it all began to feel very claustrophobic."

10am: James Prosser100 muscle-ups

11am: Nate20-minute AMRAP:2 muscle-ups4 handstand press-ups8 kettlebell swings

12pm: Hidalgo2-mile run20 cleans20 box jumps20 walking lunges20 box jumps20 cleans2-mile run

1pm: Jerry1-mile run2000-metre row1 mile run

2pm: DT5 rounds:12 deadlifts9 hang cleans6 push jerks

3pm: Ricky20-minute AMRAP:10 pull-ups5 dumbbell deadlifts8 push-presses

4pm: Mead20-minute AMRAP:30-foot rope climb100-metre partner carry

5pm: Bert50 burpees400-metre run100 push-ups400-metre run150 walking lunges400-metre run200 air squats400-metre run150 walking lunges400-metre run100 push-ups400-metre run50 burpees

6pm: Joseva15-12-9 @ bodyweight:Bench pressDeadliftPower clean

7pm: Oz100 squat cleans

8pm: Burgess30-20-10:Pull-upsBurpees

9pm: McLaren20-minute AMRAP:3 thrusters5 box jumps7 press-ups

10pm: Bolger5 rounds:400-metre run25 air squatsCarry sandbag

11pm: Smudge3 rounds:5 muscle-ups10 squat cleans20 sit-ups

12am: Jordan100 kettlebell swings100 sit-ups100 air squats100 push-ups

1am: The Chief5 x 3-minute AMRAP:3 power cleans6 push-ups9 air squats

2am: Heidi23-minute AMRAP:23 air squats23 push-ups23 kettlebell swings23 lunges23 sit-ups23 box jumps

3am: Jones30-minute AMRAP:400-metre run30 air squats400-metre run15 push-ups400-metre run30 burpee broad jumps

4am: Jay20-minute AMRAP:22 air squats12 toes-to-bar9 burpees

5am: Sham7 rounds:11 deadlifts100-metre sprint

6am: Jenny20-minute AMRAP:20 overhead squats20 back squats400-metre run*run with barbell

7am: Randy75 power snatches

8am: Joseph Grzelak100 kettlebell swingsEMOM perform 2 burpees

9am: Murph1-mile run100 pull-ups200 push-ups300 squats1-mile run* wear weighted vest

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