Pre-Tough Mudder

I don't usually post before an event, but something about this weekend's Mid-Atlantic Fall Tough Mudder event got me to thinking.  I'm going to be running this one with my wife, who not only hates to run, but has never done an event of this length.  She's done a fantastic job with other events (Savage Race, The Big Hooyah), but this one is going to be a little bit more than she's done before.  What she's got going for her to face these challenges is enthusiasm and fitness.  We're also running it with our nephew, an Army vet.  So this is going to be a great time...while my wife has attended a number of the events I've run (which, I think, is what got her excited enough to want to run one...), she hasn't seen all of the obstacles.  There's a big difference between seeing a video of people going over an obstacle, and having to move 6 or 8 miles through the woods, and then be standing at the base of an obstacle.

So, I thought that for new folks, or those who haven't run one of these events, I'd offer up what I've found to be some of the keys to completing these events and obstacles.  If you're someone who wants to run one of these events, and you're not sure about how to train, or to just prepare, my recommendation would be to focus on running and upper-body strength, particularly pulling, with some good core work.  What I like about getting ready for these events is that there's nothing boring at all about the training...you can mix it up anyway you like.  Go for a long slow run with a buddy. Do some speed work...run sprints or fartleks.  Find some distance on your route (like up a hill) and run it faster than you've been running, and when you get to the end, stop and do some squat-jumps and other exercises (box jumps, lunges, etc.).  For upper body work, there are any number of variations of pullups, pushups, dips, etc., that you can do.  During one work out, you can do as many sets as you can of a certain number of reps, or you can just keep going until you can only get three or four reps.  I have 40 lb weight vest that I like to use, alternating pullups and dips or pushups for a couple of sets, doing some ab/core work, and then going back to the upper body work again.  Variations are endless.

Now, I've been to events where I've heard some folks talk about how the obstacle that we're standing in front of isn't the same as the one they trained on.  Yes, apparently there are folks out there who look at the obstacles and create their own versions.  I kind of get that for the really competitive folks, but for folks who are new or just getting started with this sort of event, I think (based on my experience) that it would be much better to focus on general fitness, and not so much on specific obstacles.

One of the obstacles I've been seeing more and more is the traverse wall, like what you see in the image to the right.  I've seen variations of this sort of obstacle for a while now...the Spartan Race has it, and they had one at the Savage Race. As I sit in my home office, I think I've come across a great way to train for this sort of obstacle.  Across the street from me is an athletic field with a couple of baseball/softball diamonds, and a couple of soccer fields.  The soccer goals are perfect for training for this sort of event.  Just jump up, put your fingers over the top of the beam, and traverse down the length of the beam.  As you improve, go back without a break.

As one would expect, OCR events are becoming more popular, to the point where in recent weeks, I've seen several articles referring to OCR-training-specific facilities opening up in different locations.  That's awesome, but the fact is, you don't need that.

Strategy
Like I said, I'm running this event (in 4 days) with my wife and nephew, and that may include a college classmate (if we're able to find each other at the venue).  The weather looks like that day is going to be a high of 62 degrees (low of 40), and sunny.  So, we're going to get there and warm up...but what about the rest of it?

Clothing
I always go with the same thing...shoes I trained in, a dryfit shirt, compression shorts (to keep the mud out) and nylon running shorts.  I wear trail running shoes, because that's what I trained in, and I prefer the flat bottoms to what you get from Vibram five-toed shoes; many times at a venue, they'll bushhog part of the route, which means you'll find short stumps in addition to the muddy ground.  Double-knot the shoes...you'll need to be able to get them off quickly; it's a great idea after the Mud Mile (there were two of them at the spring event) for your team to take a seat and get the rocks out of their shoes.  Being able to quickly untie the shoes is important, as you don't want folks sitting around getting sore and stiff while you wait for someone to get their shoes off (that happened at the 2012 Spartan Race).

Hydration
I've always opted to partake in water at every stop, from when I ran my first marathon in 1988.  With these events, and based on what I learned at the Super Spartan (Nelly's Ford, VA, in Aug, 2013), it's likely that we're going to be on the course for about four hours.  At the second water stop, but no later than the third, we're going to start taking the gels and/or bananas.  At the Spartan event (and I was out on the course for a total of 4 hrs for that one), I started hearing people complain about how hungry they were, and we want to make sure that we have the energy reserves that we need, not only because of the Arctic Enema, but also because my wife hasn't gone this distance before (my nephew did 12-mile ruck marches for time when he was in the Army).  So, the hydration strategy is going to include aspirin before, during, and after the event, as well as intake of food on the course.