tough mudder question

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  • Luke_I_am_your_spotter
    Luke_I_am_your_spotter Posts: 4,179 Member
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    Honestly, I'd focus more on muscle endurance than running. When I trained for TM, my cardio was basically walking hills on the treadmill for 1 hour at a time. STEEP inclines on an off. I focused more on strength exercises that simulated obstacles. There are so many obstacles on that course, that the running itself is only about half a mile or so at a time and then you have to wait on line for a while at each obstacle... Your running routine should be more than enough to get you ready for TM.. just keep at it and good luck! You got this!
  • CrossfitOCRunner
    CrossfitOCRunner Posts: 61 Member
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    oh_happy_day wrote: »
    TM is a fun OCR, there's no penalty for missing an obstacle and people help each other out. You could literally just walk the course and skip obstacles as required. There's also waiting time for obstacles so you get some recovery time between runs. Upper body strength is very helpful, as is grip strength. I would add in exercises like push ups, pull ups (or dead hangs), farmers carries etc. If you take your kids to the playground, have a go at the monkey bars!

    this
  • caitlinrn83
    caitlinrn83 Posts: 178 Member
    edited May 2016
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    @amyrebeccah, no worries. I'm legitimately curious if I was missing something.
    At the end of the day, if I can cross the finish line with a smile and a beer, life is glorious :smiley:

    @spartan_d, thanks so much for your response. I'm doing a warrior dash late summer--sounds like I'm good to go!
  • Rachel0778
    Rachel0778 Posts: 1,701 Member
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    My biggest recommendations are to work yourself up to 8 miles comfortably before the race (bonus points if you can run on non-paved paths). I also recommend a lot of hill sprints. One thing I wish I would have done before was to practice doing monkey bars at the local play ground. There's a rhythm to it that I've lost since childhood.

    The more you plan now the more enjoyable the race will be. I had a great time at mine, but a girl I went with was miserable because she had only worked up to 5 miles total on the dreadmill (treadmill) so she wasn't prepared for the length of the course or the hills.
  • Soccermavrick
    Soccermavrick Posts: 405 Member
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    caitlinrn83 wrote: »
    caitlinrn83 wrote: »
    with plans to increase my mileage each week
    I realize that I have to increase my mileage-I started running the end of March, and have worked up to a 5k so far and am working toward being able to complete a half in January.

    Thanks for the feedback! I'm completely out of my comfort zone here, so I'm thankful for the responses!


    I prefer Spartans, but if I remember correctly Mudders average 12 Miles. So I compare that to training for a Spartan Super. For that I would aim on increasing your running to 8 to 10 MILES. And I normally try to stop at three to five miles and throw down 30 to 50 Burpees, then get back to running, maybe finishing with 30 to 50 more Burpees, and pull-ups at the end.

    What I will tell you is ANYONE can complete the race, some are just going to do it much more competitively than others do. Some though will quit, or get injured. Some will consider it a race, some will consider a personal challenge, and some will just walk to say they did it. But throughout the race you will probably learn that everybody struggles on some obsticles, and one of the themes is no one gets left behind, so it is acceptable to get help getting over some of the walls.
  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
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    caitlinrn83 wrote: »
    I am registered for the TM in NOLA in March. I started running about 8 weeks ago and am currently consistently running about 2.5-3 miles 3x/week, and I just (as in this week) started incorporating Les Mills BodyPump classes 2x/week (LOVED it). I am a complete novice to both--my upper body strength is pretty much zero at this point.
    For those of you who have done a TM or other OCR, is this going to be sufficient, with plans to increase my mileage each week and continue to the BP classes, to complete the race? Or do I need to focus my non-running days on something else?

    Not sure where this thread went - so I'll address the OP.

    You have way, way, way enough time to be prepared. I highly recommend following a solid couch to 10k running program. You have plenty of time to build up more strength through BodyPump, weight lifting, etc. Just keep your training progressive and don't skip steps or try to rush it. Your body is much more likely to get through one strenuous event it isn't 100% ready for then it is to get through weeks of high intensity training it isn't ready for.
  • call3na
    call3na Posts: 33 Member
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    I've been training this winter for an obstacle course that's held near to me in Cornwall, it's similar idea to TM but it's a 12k course with 30 obstacles (and no electric shocks lol).

    I've gradually increased my running up to 10k trail runs (I do all my running on the coastal path as I live by the sea), and add in 2 circuit training sessions a week.

    Make sure your nutrition is right at the start to make it easier on yourself. I started seeing strength progress before Xmas but then realised it was getting worse again with no improvement week on week, when I realised I'm not getting enough protein. This was about a month ago and I've whacked my protein up using this app and tracking my food intake. I'm now seeing improvements again. Bit depressing though to know that those months were almost wasted in the strength training. Cardio is fine as I also swim and surf.

    I've been adding in light weights at home as that's all I have and no gym nearby. Will just have to hope I've done enough as the race is next Saturday!

    Your plans sound great to me and similar to what I was doing myself. Just keep an eye on your nutrition

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