Audiences are wondering. The OCR community is in hot debate. Can anybody beat Hunter McIntyre’s 6:01 Skullbuster? I’m here to tell you a secret. This is how you might be able to beat him. Actually, it’s not my secret. McIntyre himself let it out a few months ago on Facebook. He showed the world how he trains for this event. The secret to winning happens all within the first two minutes. You watch any re-run and you will see that if a contestant is not tight within the time it took McIntyre to finish that log run, they cannot possibly catch up afterward.
So how does he do it? He told the secret in that little video. He re-tweeted it again last night. Train hard. In McIntyre’s world, that means every week you run up and down a hill for a third of a mile carrying a log weighing north of a hundred pounds. You don’t run with a Wreck Bag, not with a cushy sandbell, or some soft and cuddly weight vest. You grab a gnarly, nasty, heavy log and you run your ass off. Not for 100 yards, not at a brisk pace, or a power hike. You grind it out.
Because on the show, you will carry a 75-pound log and run downhill for a quarter mile. So what Hunter does is overtrain. He carries more weight and runs farther and he does it uphill too. That way, when he got to the Skullbuster, he sailed through that first obstacle. He near red-lined his aerobic and anaerobic thresholds for that heavy carry run. Afterwards, he pushed it to the limit on the obstacles while using the runs in between to rest.
Tonight was an all-military edition. The men represented the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. I hoped they would represent as well as last week’s Marine. They did not disappoint.
Drag Race was the first challenge. Eric (Air Force) and Jonathan (Navy) took off first. After a stalemate, Jonathan pulled in Eric. But arm strength could not beat body mass. Eric took the bell.
Joel and Lou went next. They blasted off hard and took the low center of gravity. They changed strategy and stood up for a second clash. Lou (Marines) then got up and put the leverage of his full weight into it and hit the bell.
Dustin and Daniel (both Army) went next. They exploded and dug in deep and low. They dragged each other to zero rope between them, pushed off and ended up right in the middle again. Daniel broke free and on all fours got all the way under the bell before Dustin tackled him. But Daniel stood up and hit the bell.
Alex and Dan went last to round out the final four. Dan (Army) was unrelenting, yanked the rope and took Alex for a ride straight to the bell.
There was a lot of fire in these warriors. Sweat and dirt covered every one of them. They relished the fight and did what it took to win. Round 2 was the Wake. Two big walls, a water canal, and a huge yoke carry awaited.
Dan and Lou went first. Although Dan finished his first round in less than a minute, Lou did not appear to care. They were dead even the entire canal. Lou exited the canal first but Dan took the walls like a rabbit. Lou walked down the road.
Eric and Daniel flew off the line next and Daniel practically hurdled the walls. That was enough to give him the lead the entire race.
The last round saw the Army (Daniel) versus the Army (Dan) in the Pit. Pile Drive was a nasty sled drag with three 45-pound barrels added along the way. Both of these guys showed tremendous drive, energy, and heart. The heart showed in the charities they chose to represent should they win (USO and Operation Home Front). It’s a good thing they had a day of rest between this leg-burner and tomorrow’s Heartbreak Hill. The Pit would be all upper body after this destruction of the quads and glutes.
Dan entered the Pit with thirty seconds to go. Dan almost threw Daniel out with a body slam. Somehow he stayed in. Daniel reversed and levered Dan out. It was fast and furious. Daniel said at the beginning of the show that he would go to the Skullbuster. He was right.
Clad in red, white, and blue, McIntyre jogged over and challenged Dan the Army warrior. “This is a different kind of fight.” Dan’s log run looked good and he finished in 1:27, probably the best of the season for the men so far. Definitely in the vicinity of being able to beat the Sheriff. He had no problem with the rope swing and cargo net. The Frame came down and in 2:35 he was off to Turnstile. He had a great save on the pads and he was in the water at 3:40. More water and tire climbs at Burnout started to take the toll on the Army veteran.
Heartbreak Hill gave McIntyre concern as he knew Dan was peeling off time very well. He turned the post and skidded down. He paused at Rib Cage then flipped them off quickly and easily. Rope Burn was last. He latched on and did it.
Steve applauded the monumental effort. Dan thought he finished within a minute of McIntyre but it was 7:39. McIntyre now has $155,000 in his pocket. Steve Austin has a posse coming after him in the next episode.
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