Training for the Three Peaks Challenge with Fitbit and Slack

When Alphr’s publisher, Paul Hood, asked me into his office last week, I was a little pensive. Not just because being asked into someone’s office is almost never a good thing, but because I was loosely aware he wanted to talk to me about the legendary Three Peaks Challenge. I was slightly scared he had the wrong end of the stick and mistook my history of writing about fitness trackers and running, as a burning desire to join the climbing team and do my bit.

The Three Peaks Challenge – for those not in the know – involves climbing the three highest peaks in England, Wales and Scotland within 24 hours. You scale a cumulative height of 3,408 metres in a day, and then collapse in a heap of triumph and exhaustion. Ideally you raise a bit of cash for charity in the process – in Dennis Publishing’s case, the CASPA autism charity – something you can

.

So it was with some relief that I discovered I was neither in trouble, nor expected to bring the average pace of the group down considerably by participating. Instead, I will merely be reporting on their progress, as the group plans, trains and moans their way to (hopefully) scaling all three peaks before sunrise.

To this end, not only have I been given access to their private Slack channel (it’s mostly complaints about feeling sore and tired-looking selfies), but also to their team Fitbit account. Fitbit has rather generously provided varying fitness trackers for the team including the Blaze, the Alta and the Surge. I’m wearing the latter on my wrist right now to get into the mindset – tagged, even though I have no intention of stepping anywhere near a mountain.

So imagine my surprise when it turned out that despite all the training my fellow Dennis-ers had been boasting of in Slack that I wasn’t the worst prepared for the challenge in July.

That’s Dennis CEO James Tye at the top putting everyone else to shame. Behind him, Emma Turner from Marketing Communications and Paul Hood, Alphr’s publisher. There I am, sitting pretty in 6th place – in a league of eight, that’s just steering clear of relegation which is right in my sweet spot.

Digging deeper, I’m doing even better:

I wish I hadn’t looked into the full details: Fitbit has successfully tapped into my long dormant competitive streak, and now I’m keen to climb the table in a league I’m not even in. That’s the power of fitness trackers, isn’t it? Suddenly I want to knacker myself out to break the top three for fake internet points.

I still don’t want to climb Snowdon though.

This is the first in a series of the Dennis team’s preparations for the Three Peaks Challenge. If you wish to sponsor us, you can do so here or learn more about CASPA on their official site.

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