Any Tough Mudders/Warrior Dashers out there?

jillianmarie20
jillianmarie20 Posts: 36 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello!

I'm starting to train for next year's Tough Mudder. If people are unfamiliar to it, Tough Mudder is an intense, 10-12 mile obstacle course filled with climbing walls, jumping into ice cold water, crawling through mud, jumping over fire and even going through electrical shocks. It was developed by the British Special Forces and it's a huge, intense adventure challenge.

I've never done it before, so if any Mudder/Dasher veterans are out there with any training tips or advice, let me know!!

Thanks :)

Replies

  • rolemodel69
    rolemodel69 Posts: 365
    Going to Tough Mudder here in Canada, Montreal this weekend. Will let you know about my experience after.

    Is that your first mud race?
  • jillianmarie20
    jillianmarie20 Posts: 36 Member
    rolemodel69: Yes it is haha. I am a little scared because I've never run a marathon or anything yet.
  • RobP1192
    RobP1192 Posts: 310 Member
    Those runs, despite being really tough, are still on the "casual" side of things. It's not like it's military or elite level stuff. If your cardio and core strength are solid, you'll be fine. The rest is mental and you'll get support from those around you. But in my experience, i've seen a bunch of people just walking the whole thing. Or really casually going through it. They can be fun though. Beer league level stuff basically. It's becoming "trendy".
  • micheleb15
    micheleb15 Posts: 1,418 Member
    Those runs, despite being really tough, are still on the "casual" side of things. It's not like it's military or elite level stuff. If your cardio and core strength are solid, you'll be fine. The rest is mental and you'll get support from those around you. But in my experience, i've seen a bunch of people just walking the whole thing. Or really casually going through it. They can be fun though. Beer league level stuff basically. It's becoming "trendy".

    This is basically true. You can walk the whole thing. You can make it as hard as you want or you can basically walk around all of the obstacles. The TM website has some great training ides. Otherwise, just run and work on your upper body. I am doing my second one in October. I love them! Such a great time with friends.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Haven't done a Tough Mudder yet, but I did a Warrior Dash earlier this year and I'm doing a Dirty Dash in August. They're a lot of fun. It seems the Tough Mudder is a bit longer than these others, but I think it would be pretty much the same training wise. Also, you can really make it as tough as you want it to be...they're really not time races. When I did my Warrior Dash, there were a lot of people just walking and then they'd go nuts on the obstacles and do flips and what not into the mud. They're only as serious as you want to make them. They're tons of fun and I try to push myself with them though.
  • jillianmarie20
    jillianmarie20 Posts: 36 Member
    Those runs, despite being really tough, are still on the "casual" side of things. It's not like it's military or elite level stuff. If your cardio and core strength are solid, you'll be fine. The rest is mental and you'll get support from those around you. But in my experience, i've seen a bunch of people just walking the whole thing. Or really casually going through it. They can be fun though. Beer league level stuff basically. It's becoming "trendy".

    Hmm okay. I'm very competitive though so I feel like I would really prefer to run the whole thing and get a better time. But the site does say that it tests your camaraderie as well haha
  • micheleb15
    micheleb15 Posts: 1,418 Member
    Those runs, despite being really tough, are still on the "casual" side of things. It's not like it's military or elite level stuff. If your cardio and core strength are solid, you'll be fine. The rest is mental and you'll get support from those around you. But in my experience, i've seen a bunch of people just walking the whole thing. Or really casually going through it. They can be fun though. Beer league level stuff basically. It's becoming "trendy".

    Hmm okay. I'm very competitive though so I feel like I would really prefer to run the whole thing and get a better time. But the site does say that it tests your camaraderie as well haha

    If you're competitive, I'd recommend doing it on a Sunday or first start time on Saturday. I did a Saturday event and even though you run the whole thing, you still have to wait at obstacles when there is a line. I hear Sunday there are less people. Everest had a 25 min wait.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Those runs, despite being really tough, are still on the "casual" side of things. It's not like it's military or elite level stuff. If your cardio and core strength are solid, you'll be fine. The rest is mental and you'll get support from those around you. But in my experience, i've seen a bunch of people just walking the whole thing. Or really casually going through it. They can be fun though. Beer league level stuff basically. It's becoming "trendy".

    Hmm okay. I'm very competitive though so I feel like I would really prefer to run the whole thing and get a better time. But the site does say that it tests your camaraderie as well haha

    You will help others, as it will be necessary for you to help them. You'll also have to stop and wait at certain obstacles as well while other people are traversing them...wait your turn. You don't run these things just all out start to finish. you can definitely push yourself...and have a lot of fun doing so.

    I do a lot of trail/cross country type running...sprint hills, etc. I also go play on the obstacle course at the community center about once per week...do a little climbing at the rock climbing gym..stuff like that. I also like to do Tabata with military style PT. Lifting helps with obstacles that require upper body strength.
  • greypilgrimess
    greypilgrimess Posts: 353 Member
    I did the Scotland TM last year, it was one of the most awesome experiences of my life to date. My tips would be to make sure you can run at least 7 miles (including hills, depending which you're running though), and work on your upper body strength. I didn't work on mine enough, but fortunately there were plenty of guys in my team and others that were willing to help out. The whole event is very much team based and the camaraderie is remarkable. If you are competitive, definitely try and go for an early wave, and a Sunday, as has been mentioned. Be prepared to hurt. Gear appropriately (I found cheap weight lifting gloves to be very helpful for my girly hands). And go in with the attitude that you'll dive into any obstacle, there's no room for debate when you get there!

    Good luck, you'll have a blast!
  • jillianmarie20
    jillianmarie20 Posts: 36 Member
    I did the Scotland TM last year, it was one of the most awesome experiences of my life to date. My tips would be to make sure you can run at least 7 miles (including hills, depending which you're running though), and work on your upper body strength. I didn't work on mine enough, but fortunately there were plenty of guys in my team and others that were willing to help out. The whole event is very much team based and the camaraderie is remarkable. If you are competitive, definitely try and go for an early wave, and a Sunday, as has been mentioned. Be prepared to hurt. Gear appropriately (I found cheap weight lifting gloves to be very helpful for my girly hands). And go in with the attitude that you'll dive into any obstacle, there's no room for debate when you get there!

    Good luck, you'll have a blast!

    Thank you!! Good to know :) I'm trying to organize a group but the minute people see the video on the Tough Mudder home page, they bolt! I'll have to rally the troops to try and get people to join my team, good thing I have just under a year until the next TM in Vancouver BC :)
    And yes haha I'll definitely hurt considering they have electrical shocks in the obstacle course!
  • Stephdornan84
    Stephdornan84 Posts: 6 Member
    I'm doing the Scotland Tough Mudder this year (less than 7 weeks eeek!!) I'm the only girl in a team full of about 10 boys who can all run a LOT faster than me, I'm hoping that I'll be able to keep up with them!

    I've mainly been doing upper body weight training, loads of squats anr runnin, I just hope it's enough :-)
  • short_nerdy_lady
    short_nerdy_lady Posts: 152
    Doing my first warrior dash on the 20th will let you know
  • JusticeGirl25
    JusticeGirl25 Posts: 703 Member
    I did my first Tough Mudder last summer and it was the toughest thing I've ever done. It didn't help that it was hot and humid that day which made it even more tougher. Depending where you live, if it's humid, makes it that more tough to finish.

    My most important advice would be not to run this alone. You'll need encouragement along the way to finish this. Ask a good friend or a relative to run with you. A couple people did the Tough Mudder by themselves last year and didn't even finish the race because they didn't get the encouragement. I have no doubt in my mind that if those people brought a friend or a family member to run with them, they would've finished the race.

    I thought the toughest obstacle would be dealing with the cold water. This may sound a little strange, but I thought it helped tremendously by submerging my entire body into a very cold hot tub wearing the clothes that I'd be wearing for the race. When I ran the race, it didn't hit me as hard when I got into the cold water and had to go underwater to reach the other side.

    Hope that helps!

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