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| Battle of the chains | ||||
The Hell Week Story
When Shaun first mentioned the idea of Hellweek, I was enthusiastic, but also very scared at the same time. The prospect of doing 500 plus metres of chain pulling for a straight week seemed quite an enormous task when taking into account that we were all only used to pulling a max of 500m, twice a week. But it was still weeks away, or so I thought…
But before I delve into just how grueling and exciting Hellweek was, let me explain to you how heavy these chains actually are. We pull 10mm diameter steel chain that weighs 2.2kg per meter, so you’re looking at around 66kg for the 30 meter lengths and about 88kg for the 40 meter, keep in mind that the downward pull of gravity as well as the resistance provided by the ground still needs to be taken into account.
Day 1:
Wednesday the 16th of September, a cold and windy day with light rain during the first couple of hours after sunrise. Thinking that we could never pull chains in the rain my phone beeped to signal the following text message: “Rain or shine, HELLWEEK starts tonight!”
And so it began…
Everyone arrived at the field ready to go but not knowing what to expect. The rain had left us but the icy wind had stayed behind to keep us company. The chains were set and Shaun, with an evil grin on his face, informed us that we were all going to pull 20 lengths of 30 meters. So there we were, ready to start a weeklong of pain with more pulling than we’d ever attempted before, but it was done. Everyone pushed hard and we all got through the 600 meters in about an hour.
Day 2:
After day 1’s heavy task, we all returned on the Thursday to endure more of the pain and suffering that we’ve all come to love over the last couple of months. We started with 5 lengths of 30 meters, followed by 3 brutal 40, 30, 20, 10s. Now for those of you who are unfamiliar with chain pulling, this simply means that you pull a 40 meter length in, run it out, run back to the 30 meter mark, pull that in, run it out…and you pretty much get the picture, not for the faint hearted! We ended the session with 9 lengths of 30 meters and called it a day at 720 meters. A record amount on the second day, an ominous yet challenging feeling started stirring in my stomach.
Day 3:
Day 3 saw us all arriving at the field at the crisp hour of 6:30 AM, a special request from one of our more seasoned pullers as he was not able to make an evening session. Never the less, we started by pulling 4 lengths of 30 meters in dew drenched grass, a factor that increased the difficulty and resulted in some serious complaining about sore hands. The clouds then opened up and the chain got even more slippery. As if this wasn’t bad enough, our good friend, The Blob (a gym ball filled to 75% capacity with water, weighing more or less 32kg, carried overhead) joined us on the next set of 4 lengths, and a 32kg kettle bell was thrown into the mix for the final 4 lengths. So, a quick, wet and very painful 360 meters, what a way to start a Friday!
Day 4:
When I arrived at the field on Saturday morning, I saw that the weather had decided to give us a break. Unfortunately, Shaun wasn’t going to be that kind. 800 meters was the target for this particular day. We began with 10 lengths of 30 meters, followed by 5 lengths of 40 meters (after which all of us were broken) and then, just to end things off, another 10 lengths of 30 meters. 800 meters, the most that any of us have ever pulled, and boy did we feel it.
Day 5:
Sunday morning saw the numbers start dwindling due to sore bodies and numerous other commitments. We arrived at 7:30 AM and began, what now felt like, a simple 500 meters. 4 quick lengths of 30 meters, followed by 2 brutal 40, 30, 20, 10s and finished off with another 6 lengths of 30 meters. At this point, we were all very grateful that the morning sessions were done and that we had more than 24 hours to rest our bodies for a very painful session the next day.
Day 6:
And yes, we were right; Monday was probably the most hardcore of all the days. Shaun set a target for 850 meters in total and started us off with 5 lengths of 30 meters, easy stuff! He then threw a spanner into the works with his next idea. Each member of the 2 teams would pull a 40 meter length, and when the team was done, another 30 meter length. Not bad I thought, Shaun then mentioned that each team do 10 of these sets, I quickly changed my mind. Now, pulling a 40 isn’t that bad, pulling 10 40’s isn’t even that bad, but doing a 40, then a 30 and carrying on like that 10 times in a row is seriously painful. My entire body was in agony after about 8 of these sets and it was due to pure peer pressure and some fierce internal dialogue that I got through the last 2. Shaun, being the beast that he is, decided that he wasn’t finished yet and pushed through with another 5 lengths of 30 meters to hit 1000 meters in total! So far, the most any man has pulled in a single session. Well done Shaun! Another record for you!
Day 7:
Day 7 provided us with some great weather and some broken blisters, all carefully wrapped up with sports tape and elastoplast to ensure that the pain didn’t get too much. We warmed up with 3 quick lengths of 30 meters, hit 3 painful 40, 30, 20, 10s, pushed through the 3 lengths of 40 meters and ended with another 3 lengths of 30 meters. A nice, balanced 600 meters on a warm, sunny day. We all then came to the realization that in Hell, there are 8 days in a week. Nevertheless, we’d made it this far and another day was not going to hurt us, or so we thought.
Day 8:
And so it came to be, the day we were all waiting for, the last day of Hellweek. Again, not knowing what to expect, we arrived at the field, hands wrapped up and ready to pull at 17:30.
At this point, only 3 of us had made it through all 8 days and so, were put in one team while the others split into 2 teams. A rework of Day 1’s 20x30m 600 meter target was the task, only this time we were aiming to complete it in less than 30 minutes. The timer was set and we started pulling. The ground had dried up quite a bit since the last spot of rain, resulting in a fierce dust cloud that hung over the pulling area and forced itself into our eyes, noses and mouths. The pulling was quick and efficient with everybody pulling as hard as they could and cheering each other on to do their best. My team ended up completing the 20 lengths in 32:30, not the sub 30 that we were aiming for, but still a massive improvement from Day 1, cutting our original pulling time in half. We congratulated each other and went back to cheer the rest of they guys on.
Shaun was kind enough to supply us with a case of the most amazing Belgian beer (which went down very quickly and very well) and we all drank to the completion of Hellweek and our improved fitness.
To summarise:
Thanks again to Shaun and Marelise for supplying the chains, the motivation and the Belgian beer for Hellweek! Also, to everyone who came out to pull or support us, thanks very much. Here’s to the next Hellweek! November? Watch this space.
-Danny Greeff
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