Training and Getting Ready for Tough Mudder
Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 09:42PM 
I completed the Florida Tough Mudder event on December 3rd. Going into the event I was more than a little nervous. My biggest concern was not being fit enough to complete the obstacles. Second to that was worry over what to wear. Picking the wrong gear would mean three hours of pain and suffering on top of three hours of pain and suffering. I hope my experience can help others getting ready for Tough Mudder and hopefully answer some of the questions I had before the starting gun went off.
On Fitness
The promoters bill Tough Mudder as "probably the most difficult event on the planet." Maybe. It really depends on how hard you push yourself. TM definitely isn't a walk in the park or a scenic jog with a few obstacles thrown in. But I also don't think it's the toughest event on the planet. Most people who start will finish. But how you complete TM is another issue.
I didn't train for the obstacles. I spent no time in the gym, made no trips around the block with an old truck tire tied to my waste, and never threw up from one too many burpies. And the obstacles weren't that big of a deal. They were tough, but I never had any issues as far as lacking the necessary body strength to complete them. The only thing that gave me problems was Everest, but more on that later.
What's tough is the running. You miss this in all the youtube videos because they fast forward to get to the obstacles. But get this. It's a twelve. mile. run. That's a long way for most people. The running is also what makes the TM experience so variable. You can run it, you can jog it, you can walk it. And a lot of people walk it after 4 or 5 miles. My goal was to jog between every obstacle, and I almost succeeded. With a mile and a half left I bonked hard, and it took a good 100 yards or so to talk myself into starting again.
So it's not the obstacles you need to worry about. The most difficult obstacles REQUIRE teamwork to complete. Physics and the human anatomy of everyone executive Tebow mean you will need someone to help you out. But the obstacles are exactly what makes the running so difficult, and that's where you need to focus your training.
On Training
I started running seriously about four months before the event. Three months before the event I got a stress fracture in my right foot and switched to swimming. A month before the event I started running again. Two weeks before TM my longest run was five miles. One week before TM my longest run was about seven and a half miles.
But I don't think long runs are the best training tool, nor do I think you do yourself much good completing ten sets of ten reps with that truck tire. You need both. What happens in TM is you run about half a mile to a mile and then you hit an obstacle. Many of the obstacles will make you go anaerobic. Then you have to settle back into your running pace. The obstacles are all fun. It's like an adult playground. But if you aren't practiced in going anaerobic, aerobic, anaerobic, aerobic you will be walking by mile 4.
A lot of my friends want to do TM with me next year and the training runs we will be doing will involve easy jogging interspersed with lots of anaerobic activity. With some creativity you can design training runs that are just as fun as the event, equally as effective at helping you prep and a lot less maniacal than the stuff you'll find on YouTube. And I would suggest you get wet in your training, like fully clothed wet, lie, running in soaked jogging shoes wet, and even butt freezing cold wet if you can manage it.
On Gear
I wore the oldest pair of running shoes I had, the ones that should have been thrown away years ago. This was a big mistake. Running shoes are big and bulky and they act like giant mud magnets all the way through the race. Mine had no tread left which proved disastrous on Everest. I couldn't make it half way up the wall because my shoes were so slick. A lot of people wear Vibrams , but I didn't wear mine because I had read reports about how the mud gets in between your toes. Let me tell you something. I don't care what you wear. Mud will get between your toes. I had more sand inside my socks than outside. The Vibrams minimal profile means it doesn't hold as much mud and that weight savings over twelve miles is HUGE! Everyone I talked to on the course wearing them swore by them. The other alternative is a racing flat. Several of the "serious" competitors wore these and it makes sense. Our whole course was on grass or dirt and you'd much rather have a light racing flat that's better at lateral movement than a heavy jogging shoe that goes forward and backward with max cushioning. You also want to invest in a good pair of dry fit socks.
I wore a speedo jammers style swimsuit under a pair of Nike dry fit tennis shorts with no liner. Up top I had a Nike compression shirt underneath a Nike Pro Combat fitted dry fit top. A lot of guys go shirtless, and I think it is a huge advantage (until you get to the last obstacle). You'll never dry out on the course so that means anything you wear will be wet and wet things weigh more. Compression shirts don't do that much to protect your elbows and forearms and they really don't need to. It's mud, not shards of glass. If my gut were smaller I'd ditch the shirt.
Same for the shorts. In the perfect world of my imagination I look good in a speedo but reality hasn't quite caught up with that image. They guys in speedos get a lot of looks and laughs at the start line but this is the way to go if you can pull it off.
For the rest of us less is best. Temps at start were about 65 and it got up in the high 70's by finish. It could have been ten degrees colder and nothing would change. Twenty degrees cold and your gear probably has to change considerably. Assuming I don't have my six pack perfectly toned by next year I will wear a pair of compression shorts and a short sleeve compression shirt with Vibrams or racing flats.
TM is unlike anything I have ever done. The atmosphere is awesome, the adrenaline at the start line is electric, the camaraderie during the race is really cool. And it's the hardest thing I have ever done. I ran cross country in high school, have cycled, road raced and done triathlons, and I ran a marathon so I could check it off my bucket list. But TM is in a league of its own. If you are looking for something that will test you, something that you can pour yourself into and not have a drop left at the finish line TM is the event of choice. Enjoy the experience.
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