Mama's Baby was a Mudder!

...and soon to be a two time, TWO TIME Mudder!

That's right, I'm going in again. I will finish that race running, I promise it.


A group of WYKKO people are getting together to tackle the 2013 GA Tough Mudder. Very glad and proud to be a part of the team. I was thinking about this daunting task and I wondered: "So, how on Earth does one train for something like this?"

I mean, sure, I've done it before --I should have some clue, right? But I learned a few things the first time around that I certainly want to keep in the forefront for this time. Let's review those lessons, shall we?

1). Training for the TM is not unlike training for fighting...but at the same time, it's totally different.
Huh? How's that? Well, both rely heavily on endurance, both aerobic and anaerobic (I don't care what anyone says, that's a truth!). During the first TM, there were areas that required some sprinting (more on that later) followed by miles of running. Oh, and the course is not symmetrical; you might run 2 miles between one obstacle and then 1/2 mile to the next.

2). Don't forget: endurance means more than just running.
Yes, there is a lot of running and you will need endurance for that, but, you will also need to maneuver weight throughout the course. I don't recall many easy obstacles... 

3). Hills are your friend.
Learn to love them. The 2011 GA Tough Mudder was the hardest course ever put together and it featured miles of hills. Steep hills, short hills, long hills, rocky hills, "I'm out to break your ankles" hills. You name it, it was on this course...everything except paved hills, if I'm not mistaken. Besides, they're good for your cardio and leg strength.

4). Ying and Yang your body(weight); by "ying", I mean "push" and by "yang", I mean pull...add fung shui.

Have trouble doing pushups and pull ups? I'd get started on that, Sunshine. There's a lot of pulling and pushing up really high obstacles. Beyond that, you can't slack on the Mudder pledge --you really do need to help other folks out, which means pushing and pulling someone else's body weight. Have yours well in hand? Awesome --add weight.


5). Tired yet? Run some more.
For real; that's what running this thing is like.

6). Be prepared to do somethings twice.
That was a nice little surprise on the 2011 course. Not that I'm complaining, but I wasn't expecting that. Just be prepared.

and lastly,

7). Be a wuss and carry a Camelback

I thought the number of water stops was a little...light...but I also openly acknowledge that I was probably being a bit of a wuss due to the bum leg(s) and all. Nope. I talked to a few folks at my gym that did the TM as well, and they agreed. That said, the TM crew did lose a water station the night before (supposedly...just sayin'), which may have been the culprit. Be prepared...I was (and will be again!).

OK, I lied there was one other thing (and if by some odd occurrence the person I'm referring to sees this, I love ya and I'm really just giving you a hard time) --no road trips directly after the Mudder; your legs will hate you for it.

All in all, train hard. This thing is far more mental than physical. Get your body in shape and keep your head in the game and you'll be fine (see, I told you it was like fight training :) ).

OSU!
C

Still breathing...

OSU!

I know this space has been a little...bare. And I know it appears as if I haven't been doing anything, but let me assure you, this is not the case! :-)

I managed to finish the 40+ cards worth of workouts (and then some).
I reached my goal of getting back to a 700LB+ leg press
I set a new 1RM bench press is 250LBS
I set a new 1RM weighted pullup of 115LBS (and came within inches of a good 135LB pull!)

If that's not proof that I haven't been sitting on my can, I don't know what is! :-P

All of that said, I will be retooling the card system in order to prep for the upcoming Superfights tournament in July. I won't be doing anything huge, but what I'm thinking right now:

Adding in more bag work cards
Adding in more max strength cards (though, this could be a double edged sword...)
More running

On the subject of running, I'm thinking of using this more as a warm up; 2-3 miles max. That said, I am also contemplating revamping the cards to include an appropriate warm up and either a finisher or abs work. The less I have to think at that time of morning the better.

With all of the above said, Superfights for myself is not my primary focus. I also have a few students that I need to prepare for the day time semi-knockdown portion of the tournament. The class has already been hard at work and I'm proud of the effort up to this point. There will be some delicate balancing going forward --mixing kumite specifics and focus in on testing...what's life without a challenge, right?


I have more interesting news, but that's for another post. Stay tuned!
OSU!