Lazeegirl Challenge #2 Tough Mudder

12467

Comments

  • Yeah, I'm going to do the Scotland one as I live not oo far away from it. Here's hoping for good weather (as if).

     Have you watched the guy on the website training for the event... that's what has scared me cos I am nowhere near that level of fitness. To be fair though, it has kinda spurred me on to getting stronger and fitter. Although since then I have only googled to find your posts, had lunch and am about to go into a 4 hour meeting where I will sit on my backside. However, I'm playing squash tonight and I will try to go for a run tomorrow morning just to keep it up. I (like you) am more worried about my knees though cos road running kills them!

    Have you done one of these before? What day are you doing to event? I was thinking Saturday may be better to get the "best" of the mud.  lol

    My mate is also doing it... it was his idea and I didn't want to back down. Jeez! I should have pretended I didn't hear him. Although he doesn't do as much sport, I was really surprised with his level of fitness when we have been out running. I guess we kept each other going as I was about ready to stop after 1/2 mile, never mind 3!

    I'm gonna keep an eye on your forum  if that's ok as I reckon it will keep me going with my training. That and I'm not really a "start a blog" kinda person. image

  • Well Steve, the video of that moustache man (who looks like the dad of the 118 guys) is funny but it does make you think, "There's no way I could do that!" but if you look on Youtube at some of the videos of Tough Mudder, especially in the US, then everyone looks like they're smiling and having a great time, which is a lot different from the faces of people I see out running!  And I've seen a lot of slender girls on the videos complete it too (with a lot of help from some guys who seem to spend all of their time just helping everyone else), so it's not all going to be big, muscly guys who work out all the time (but a few to pull me up would be a bonus!).

    The obtacles look good fun, if a bit crazy!  I'm not looking forward to electric shocks or crawling through stinging nettles, but my worst fear is crawling along claustraphobic tubes!  But you can go around any obstacle you like.  Personally, I'm going to give everything a go.  I think any running that involves hills will be really hard-going, but if your aim is just to finish it, then it should be do-able.

     I'm just hoping that their,'Toughest event on the planet'  line is just a lot of hype!image  I'm just looking forward to having a bit of a fun day out with a rather long-ish obstacle course.  Em, perhaps I'm not taking this seriously enough? image

    I'm just in from the park.  I'm sure I'm getting slower!  I'll need to start timing myself.  I didn't manage to have a go on the monkey bars today because there was kids in the swingpark.

    Well, I've got my military fitness class later.  i wonder what it will be tonight?  Lots of press-ups and sit-ups, no doubt!

  • And Steve, I've never done anything before, except the Edinburgh marathon last year (my other thread on here).  That's the only fitness type thing I've done as an adult.  I was thinking of doing a Spartan race, a 10k and a half marathon this year though, but it depends how fit I get...

    I think that you're probably right that Saturday will be the best - and more recovery time before the week start again on Monday!

  • Hello Steve, well done on signing up, good luck with training.

    Hi LG good to see (read?) you're back and the knee is feeling better. It sounds like you've been busy training. I'm slacking today, missed the morning run due to being hungover imageimage.

    Not been back by the river, certainly not since it snowed. Although to be honest I've been avoiding the route that takes me near there as I always seem to run so much slower on it.

    Good luck at tonight's class.

  • Thanks, Tom.  Nice to be back.  I'm impressed you were hungover on a Tuesday morning!  Hope that wasn't from the weekend though...

    Ah, I'm forgetting that England seems is covered in snow (I don't watch the news, but have heard snippets from friends) whereas here in West Central Scotland, we have none.   How crazy is that?  It has been so mild here that the pansies I had in my garden from last year are STILL flowering and my tulip/daffodil bulbs are all appearing...but I'm just teasing because it has been quite frosty the past few days.  My hands were freezing tonight (I forgot my gloves!) doing press-ups on the grass.

    I'm tired out now.  I'm sitting here in my training gear, feeling too lazy to go and get showered.  But I didn't find it too strenuous tonight.  A lot of other people were really struggling because we did a bit of running (only about a mile!) up a hill to do some exercises.  Maybe I'm not as unfit as I thought.

    On Saturday, the military guys are going to give us a fitness assessment, making us run a mile as fast as we can, then do as many press-ups, sit-ups etc as we can.  It will be interesting to see how I do, or may not!image  I'll have to try and drag myself out of bed for it.    I was teamed up with a huge guy tonight so I was really glad we weren't carrying our partners on our backs tonight like we did last Saturday!

    Ah that's after 9, so I'll have to watch 'The Biggest Loser' on my laptop on ITV player later.  I've got my 6 pack of crisps ready!image  If only I could stop eating rubbish.  I had a family-sized pizza for breakfast...have you managed to cut down on the takeaways? 

  • Yeah I've got the biggest loser on.

    Impressed wasn't the word I'd use to describe my emotions this morning. Think it was the culmination of  a long weekend of drinking centred around the rugby. Somehow rolled over to Monday evening. Up until then I'd been good and had no takeaways for weeks, but this weekend had multiple lapses. image Managed to block a whole list of takeaway websites on my laptop this morning, so hopefully no repeats.

    We haven't had too much snow here, just Saturday, which made Sundays run pretty tough going. It just the bits that have turned to ice now which are a bit grim, still wearing shorts though so it's not too bad!

    Wouldn't fancy that on a Saturday morning, or any other morning. You got a target in mind?

    Been giving myself lots of "sort your life out" lectures in my head today, so I plan to start with a run and try and make some progress at work for once, but my over seems to have broke so I may have to spend tomorrow inside waiting for someone to come and repair it.

  • Yes, Tom - you'll certainly need that "over" (oven?) if you want to avoid those takeaways!  What you really should do though is get yourself a horde of children, like I have, then you won't be able to afford takeaways and won't have the time to go drinking all weekend! image  I knew having children was useful for something!  To think I'd be in an even worse state if I didn't have any (what was that book, 'the incredible lightness of being?').   I'm nt sure if I even read all of it.

    Before I get too deep and meaningful, I'm away to watch The Biggest Loser.  I thought for a minute you were on to tell me who had been eliminated this week! image

    I'm great at nagging if you ever want someone else to tell you to sort your life out...pity it doesn't work on me.

     As for Saturday, my only target will be to finish the mile!   I still run so slowly, as though I have 25 miles to go.image  That's something I need to work on.

  • Ha, yeah that should be "oven" think my ability to type sense disappears after 9pm, there's only so much help the spellchecker can give me.

    Nothing wrong with slow running, all about getting the distance done without getting injured. Exactly what I failed to do this time last year.

    You enjoy the biggest loser?I have to say I shuddered when I saw the apple pie with cheese, I'm a big fan of both, but surely not together?!image

  • That's exactly what I thought! 

    I'm sure if I gave up the crisps (and pizza) I'd be back to a size 6 again in no time!  But I have just started watching The Chawners too...I'm not sure these programmes are helping...more making me feel it's okay to eat rubbish!

    Gerard was going on about how good he felt about being able to fit into the rides in a theme park and thinking it was because he'd lost a bit of weight, but I was thinking, "You're in Florida!  They've had to design rides for obese Americans."

    What happened to you last year?

  • Yeah I was thinking that about Gerard, it's no achievement in Florida!

    About this time last year tried to run through knee pain in both legs, after a month or so of trying was unable to run for three, meant going into races in April and May with no proper training, not to mention not being able to walk up stairs properly for months, or do things like run for the bus. Lesson learnt, seems I'm only able to do one quick session a week without aggravating things, so for me, its all about slow runs.

    Well it seems that no one's coming out about the oven till tomorrow, so I guess I should get some breakfast and think about running to work, freezing as it is!

    How are you feeling today, aching a little after the class?

  • Hiya Tom,

     Did you run to work after all?  I'm not aching today at all.  I only managed a half hour run/walk today.  But I did do a few press-ups and tricep dips too. 

    Ah, if only I could motivate myself to do a whole fitness routine every day!  And give up all junk, then I'm sure I'd look great...so that must be the "secret" to an amazing body (at my age - when I was younger, I did nothing, ate rubbish and I was still tiny).

     Do you run every day?  When is your next race?

  • Morning!

    Yeah, 8.5 miles with a bag on, my shoulders hurt like hell at the end of it. Going for a repeat today without a bag see if I'm any quicker.

    I'm impressed you don't ache, I think I'm slowly conditioning my body (or maybe just my mind) to deal with running without pain the next day, but any form of upper body workout seems to leave me in pieces the next day. I hurt my abs doing sit ups a couple of weeks ago, and had a cold. Every time I sneezed it was like I was ripping my stomach open.

    Not everyday, I'm on about four days a week at the moment, looking to add a 5th day in at some point over the next month or so. I've a local 10k coming up at the end of March, but the main target is the Snowdonia Marathon in October. Also got my place in the Great North Run yesterday which I was image about, as I missed out in the ballot last year. What about you?You going to run any "normal" races on your way to tough mudder?

    I think quite a lot of how your body responds to food and exercise is down to genetics. I lived like a slob as an undergrad, and each of my housemates put on a couple of stone over the years apart from me and one other guy, who were just naturally skinny. You don't exactly look huge from your pic though?

    I think I need a running bag, or maybe a belt for my run to work, might have to hit amazon later....

  • Hi LazeeGirl,

    I've done something really stupid.....................

    My work are entering a team for the North West Tough mudder in November, and have roped me in.

    Now I am going to have to do some general strength training on top of running.  Will use the spartan 5k sprint as a gentle warm up for this I think.

  • That's great, Skippy!  November is ages away, but it will be FREEZING by then (I wouldn't fancy the water obstacles then).   It's a pity I don't live near you - I want to be in a team!   Just do some press-ups and pull-ups for upper strength.  The army guys love that kind of thing. 

     I spotted the Demon Race last night - a 5 or 10 mile obstacle course in May - and there's one taking place near me, so I might enter that as my warm up.

    Last night, it was all leg exercises and running drills at my military fitness class.  The leg exercises were a killer and my knee is hurting a bit today, but the running felt good.

    Tomorrow, there is a fitness assessment first thing.  I'm in the least fittest team, so we only have to run a timed mile (the others do a mile and a half) then do as many sit-ups and push-ups as we can.  I just hope I manage to get out of bed in time! 

    Tom - you might be right about the genetics - my brothers are slim - but I think age has a lot to do with it.  I was fine until I was about 37.  Did you order a bag?  What's your plans this weekend?

  • Well, I managed to drag myself out of bed this morning for my military fitness assessment.  I did 69 press-ups (halfs, with knees bent.  I can only do about 5 full ones at a time), 30-odd sit-ups and a mile in 9 minutes.  

     I was amazed I could still run a mile easily without stopping.  Once I'd done that mile, I felt I could have kept on going, so once I got my time, I ran back and teamed up with one of my team who was struggling to make it to the finish.

    And I feel ready for my bed now! image

  • My plans as ever have been scuppered (feel that's the appropriate word) by a hangover. Only just got up in time for the rugby. Watched it from underneath a blanket, don't think my mate who came over to watch it was too impressed! No bag yet, spent some time looking round reviews and reading threads on here looking for advice. Need one soon however, my shoulders are still sore from Wednesday.

    Well done on the fitness assessment some brilliant numbers in there. I love the days when you run your first mile and you feel like you can do ten more. Good work on going back for the team mate. I've never actually timed myself over a single mile, its rather tempting now. Except for the fact its cold and dark, I'm not dressed the rugby doesn't finish till ten. 

    Did you sign up for the Demon Race as well?10 mile obstacle course as a warm up, sounds a little mad!

    Did you manage to stay awake for the rest of today?Resting tomorrow?

  • Tom,  I went to sleep.  For ages!  I've been so lazy/tired lately.  I'm well overdue getting a thyroid function test, so my levels might be low again.  'hope that's all it is.  Going to take some iron as well, try and perk myself up a bit.

     But tonight, I'm gong out to work on my own hangover! image  I hope you're starting to feel a bit better by now?  Jeez, you must drink a LOT to still be hungover by the next evening!  Either that or you're just not used to drinking?  Try drinking a pint of water before you go to sleep in future (nag, nag!).

    I don't think i'll be making my JogScotland group in the morning!image

    I'm not sure whether to chicken out and just sign up for the 5 mile Demon race instead...going to have a think over the next couple of days...

  • Well the rugby is called off, but I'm still not going out there.

    I've actually cut down my drinking since new years. It seems to have lowered my tolerance incredibly quickly, and now I spend most of my Saturdays feeling like this. My brain however doesn't seem so interested in listening to my body, so it's a bit of a repeating process at the moment. This particular day is the result of a lethal combination of tequila and Guinness however.

    What's JogScotland?

    Hope you have a good night! Remember to drink water before bed image.

  • Not a great night.  Drank water before bed (thanks!) but still hungover...missed my jogging group -again!  Going to drag myself up now and try to exercise later...image

     You running today?

  • Sorry to hear that, what was up with it?

    I'm going to try and fit some sort of run in today at some point, just not sure what and when.Got to go shopping, clean house etc.What you got planned?

    Sorry to hear you're hungover, makes a change from being me though!

    Edit: Grammar. Need caffeine.

  • Well, in the pub last night, I made the mistake of inviting a man over to join us (because we had met his friend the last time and the friend was over chatting, leaving him on his own).  I thought the man would be my mum's type and was around her age, but unfortunately, he spent the night chatting to me.  Ach, that misunderstanding was obviously my fault.  He was nice enough company, but he kept staring at my chest all nightimage  As I think I mentioned earlier the extra weight I have put on lately has given me curves for the first time and I'm popping out of most of my clothes.  I'll have to start dressing differently and buy a bigger size.  It's embarrassing even writing this.  I was going to PM you this answer, but I thought that might seem even more inappropriate...

    Moving swiftly on!  I've been in the garden for most of the day, except for a quick trip to B&Q to get some twine and rubbish bags.  I have cleared a huge section of the garden, lifting heavy fence posts, and lots of old fencing (that I've tied together for an uplift).  It's been a filthy job.  I'm just taking a break now to have some tea because I've been working for a few hours.  Luckily, I'm not scared of insects (or getting dirty):  the old wood was teaming with wood louse, slugs and a strange looking spider...

    The good thing is, my hangover is cured!image

    I wish you could come and clean my house for me.  And it would be great to have someone put the dinner on at times like this, when you're toiling away, feeling like you've earned it...

    I've been thinking about the kind of 'Biggest Loser' tasks the military guy (is it Rob Edmonds?) gets the contestants to do while I've been shifting the wood and telling myself that it's good exercise.  I won't be running today, but will tomorrow.  I'm still thinking about putting ion for that 10 mile Demon series race.  Then I'd have to take up running properly again now.

    Let me know how your run goes.

  • Classic pub misunderstanding. Nothing you can do once they've occurred either. Still hope the night wasn't a complete disaster.

    Sounds like you have a good work out in the garden. I used to work on a farm when I was younger. No gym session came close to the level of workout you'd get from  a day of manual labor. 

    Got out and did a run earlier, was down for a "run as fast as you can" session which I went out and did. Then got back, showered, hung washing out to dry and did the shopping. Got back and found I had a spare half an hour before the rugby, so went out and did a slower recovery pace 3 miles to make up for yesterdays missed run.

    Good to hear the hangover is gone. If I can manage it, I try and do something proactive towards sorting my life out like cleaning or running, and it usually gets rid of it. Of course, there's always days like yesterday where duvet is the only option. Another plus, I've managed to get through the entire weekend without ordering takeway, despite the temptation being huge yesterday.

    I'm a long way off making dinner, kitchen needs cleaning first, not looking forward to that one bit. image

    Sounds like you a little more than tempted to do the 10 miles, you should go for it!You in yet?image

  • I'm in, covered in mud and tired out.  I'm going to have a shower and make dinner. 

    Yes, I think you're right about the 10 miles, but it would mean taking this seriously now and having to train properly.  RUNNING it would mean.  A few times a week! image  Yes, I should go for it!

    I was thinking about you and your takeaways today when I threw another couple of menus in the bin that had come through the door (this street seems to get at least a couple every week).   I admit, I did take a glance at the curries.  It's just as well you don't live near Glasgow though, Tom - the takeaway food is SO unhealthy, e.g. a 'pizza crunch' - pizza, dipped in batter and deep friend (they even serve it on a roll). image  I've never tried it...and a lot of the fast food places do "munchy boxes" where you get everything in it - donner, pizza, chips, battered sausages...no wonder the average age of death in men in parts of Glasgow is only 54! 

    Well done for not succumbing(?) to the temptation to eat a takeaway over the weekend too - that's really good going!image 

  • Hi lazeegirl, just seen this thread and have to say credit to ya for setting your sights high, I don't know of many 40 y.o. mums with small kids who would even consider this kind of event! Having said that I don't know that many 40 y.o. mums full stop image

    The military style fitness regime your doing is absoloutley spot on for this sort of event, having done a couple of similar ones myself (none as long as the tough mudder tho) and quite a bit of military training I can definatley say you're on the right track!

    Just remember that as well as aerobic fitness for the running parts you're gonna want to do plenty of core strengthening exercises, sit-ups dorsal raises etc. (abs of steel!), for the obstacles as this is what's really going to take it out of you. Ask your military trainers if they'll give you a little "battle PT"closer to the event as it's probably about the closest thing you can get to doing an obstacle course without actually doing an obstacle course image

    Best of luck image

  • Thanks for the tips, Roger!  And hey, I'm not 40 till August! image

    I've been doing plenty of abs exercises at the training sessions, and they have also started us on pull-ups too (but I'm trying to practice on monkey bars in my own time).

    But tell me the truth - how hard are these obstacle courses? 

  • Each event is different, the ground the course is set on, the obstacles and number of them and of course the distance. I had my eye on the Cheshire version of this race and it seems to have the right ratio of distance to obstacles to make it a pretty tough one.
    For example the Tough Guy event near Birmingham is hard work over the seemingly endless obstacles but the running sections are quite short so time for recovery, not too bad, where as Total Warrior in the lake district has fewer obstacles but due to the difficulty of the ground under foot and longer running sections it is in my opinion a tougher race. I don't know what the ground will be like at your event but given that is longer than most of the events of it's type around it will be quite a challenge.
    I'm not trying to put you off but this is definitely an event to be respected. It's not as far as a marathon but for the time it lasts it will be far more intense. Train hard and you'll do ok image
  • You'll be fine, train hard and you'll get there. image

    But sounds like you just might have to do the 10 mile race as preperation. image

    Whole day of marking for me I think, image.

    Have a good one.

  • A little, I'm studying for a PhD so do a bit of teaching on the side. Marking still not done, other things came up.

    Good day?

Sign In or Register to comment.