The Adventurist: The Home Disadvantage

This month, the stakes were a little different. Not only did we task an ardent muscle enthusiast with an ultra-duathlon, but by the government’s orders, all 107km had to be completed under lockdown rules. It’s anti-social distance training.

- Andrew Tracey

Normally, these pages are filled with globetrotting tales of mental and physical heroics. One plucky Team MH contender is sent to train with an elite athlete and tasked with mastering their hot, new pursuit out in the field. However, these are not normal times. The rapid spread of coronavirus has caused the world to ground to a halt – as I write, offices remain closed and transport is limited. Since the government enforced a population lockdown, regular life has become anything but.

In this new world, home workouts, garden WODs and kitchen mobility sessions have become the norm. And with races, events and gyms closing – some indefinitely – this way of life posed a unique question: how could I, a fitness editor focused on functional bodybuilding and shunning endless cardio, run the Adventurist gauntlet while adhering to these strict, new rules? Particularly with just two weeks’ notice and access only to a stationary bike and an enclosed garden.

It was a head-scratcher that would culminate in a formidable challenge: to complete a gruelling ultra-duathlon – a 20km run, a 77km cycle and another 10km run – from the confines of my own home.