Tough Mudder

smtorti

Just set myself up for a 7 month train for the next Tough Mudder in my area - super excited! Has anyone done one before?

JTick

Good luck! That's my ultimate fitness goal at the moment...can't wait to be able to compete!

jparks341

Haven't done one yet, signed up & paid for the one in Buffalo, NY in 2013. Currently upping my overall training for it. Ran a couple 5k races and a duathlon. I talked to a couple of my friends that have done one and they mentioned upper body strengh training and cardio. Good luck.

jpfrimmer

I just finished my first one last weekend! I'm already signed up for another one in april

You will love it! Do weight training and running for sure, that's mostly what I did and didn't have a problem throughout the course. Make sure you get a team together, it's super fun with friends/family! Good luck!

zombiesama

Yup! super fun!

wendywr

I completed one yesterday.

Having a great team with you is absolutely VITAL!! I'm really short, and a couple of the walls simply wouldn't have been possible if I hadn't had friends willing to give me a boost.

Lots of strength training, particularly upper body work. I thought I'd done enough of that, but evidently not. I'd do a lot of pull ups, and I'd go play on the monkey bars at the park, a lot. Then, once you get good at both of those, smear crisco on your hands and try to do the same thing.

If you have a fear of heights, water, electrocution, or claustrophobia, get those issues worked out beforehand.

zekni

And just a suggestion for any of you who do these races. Wait until your cuts and bruises heal up before you go see your massage therapist. I am a massage therapist... I don't want to touch your cuts and I can't work over your bruises.
I get a ton of people in even the same day or day after these races. No bueno!

Fit_NYC_

I'm doing my second mudder this Saturday. Definitely work you upper body for pulling your self over obstacles, but I found the best way to train was lower body muscle endurance. Running is great for overall fitness, but be sure to incorporate terrain. You won't be running for the entire length; there are bottlenecks at every obstacle. And when you do move between obstacles you'll mostly be trudging slowly through mud. I recommend squats, lunges, mountain climbers, bear walks and crab walks to simulate descending the suspended cargo nets.

Do not buy fancy sneakers; try to get something comfortable that stays on your feet. You'll step into the mud, but only your foot will come out. I run in my Five-Fingers KSO; they stay on and work well in the water.

It's great to run with a team, but even without one there is great camaraderie and people will help you if need be. I always found it good "mudder etiquette" to accept help, then stay for a couple of minutes helping the next couple of people and then passing the role over.

Most importantly... have fun!

wendywr

Zekni, I know, I know!!! I have a friend who owes me a massage, and I'm waiting til the scrapes and bruises heal before I go in. By then, I'm sure I won't be sore anymore.

Good luck to you, gerlombian.

I'm really mad at myself because I forgot to buy a couple stickers to go on my car. I went to order them online today, and they wanted $8 (!!!!!) shipping to ship two stickers. Seriously?! I guess no stickers for me. I refuse to pay that for shipping.

smtorti

Thanks All! My trainer just did the most recent one here in STL and I said I want to do the next to so let's start training. We do a lot of everything but are weight training and upper body. I do the lower body and the "tough mudder training circuit" on my own. Like mountain climbers with my feet on towels on the hard wood floor. I'm enjoying the training and the anticipation of the race. I'm working on a team but I did see that mudders are very friendly and helpful so screw my friends if they won't do it

m_shuman

I haven't done a tough mudder but I have done "The Big Nasty Mud Run" in Savannah GA twice. I think is is similar. It is a 4.3 mile run with about 20 obstacles including walls (2 to be exact an incline and a tall one you climb over), several mud pits, carrying tires while you run, crawling through half submerged culverts, crawling on you belly through mud and lots of running through the mud. They are fun. Yes definately want to work on your upper body strength as well as your running endurance. Running through mud up to you ankles is much different than road running. Here are the helpful hints I can pass along to you. Duct tape your shoes on. Wear clothes that are not made of cotton. I wear spandex. The cotton absorbs water and mud and will get heavy. Definately wear long pants or at the very least capri length pants. Prepare to finish the race with bruises and skinned knees. I did one 3 weeks ago and my knees are finally healed from it. I skinned them through pants! Prepare to get dirty. We finished 8th out of over 70 coed teams with a time of 1 hour and 8 minutes! If we had run as an all girl team we would have taken 2nd. We had 1 guy with us. Have fun training!

LKD87

I'm running my first Tough Mudder this Saturday! I registered last minute, so haven't had much time to train specifically for it! I have been working with a trainer the past few months though, really focusing on HIIT and strength training, so I'm hoping it'll be enough to survive this beast!

Fit_NYC_

LKD, You'll be fine. HITT and strength training are perfect for these events.
One more word of advice... wear swimming goggles. I was surprised that I was pretty much the only one that thought of this last year. Well, at least I didn't see anybody else that did. They are obviously great for water, but most importantly, they are great for mud. I keep them around my neck and wear them for any water obstacles or things like the mud mile, boa constrictor and kiss of mud. I just didn't want to get mud in my eyes and try to wipe it away with muddy hands.