sufferfest

Etymology

From suffer + -fest.

Why this word is great

SUFFERFEST — [Noun] A workout or race in endurance sports characterized by prolonged physical suffering for all participants. From suffer ("to endure pain or hardship") + -fest (a suffix denoting an event or gathering, from German Fest meaning "festival"). Unlike "challenge" (which implies a test of ability without the inherent connotation of suffering) or "endurance event" (a neutral term for long-duration activities), a sufferfest is a collective embrace of agony. It is the lactic acid burning in quads during a hill repeat session, the taste of salt and desperation on cracked lips in a desert ultra, or the hollow-eyed camaraderie of cyclists grinding through a headwind at dawn—a masochistic celebration of the body’s limits, where pain is both the price and the prize.

noun

  1. A workout or race in the arena of endurance sports that involves prolonged suffering on the part of all who participate.
  2. An activity in which all participants ache, agonize, ail, endure.“And if that happened, they were in for a year-long sufferfest.”