Countdown to Tough Mudder - 7 Days

7 days.  One week.  

Today I ran Flirt with Dirt, a 10K trail run (I'll have a full report tomorrow), which was great practice for running on uneven terrain, such as I'll be seeing next week.  Otherwise I have no new Tough Mudder training reports.  We were supposed to meet on Thursday for more monkey bars, fences, and bleacher-jumping but everyone dropped out.  We are exhausted.  At least I am.  I had a packed week of cross-training.  Sunday I ran the DX-A2 1/2 marathon.  Monday I did an hour cycle class followed by the Tough Mudder Boot Camp.  Tuesday I ran 4 miles.  Wednesday was regular Boot Camp.  Thursday I did another hour cycle.  Friday I ran another 4 miles.  Plus it's the end of the school year and all the responsibilities associated with that - not to mention the wacky behavior of 1st graders - is both mentally and physically draining.

I need a break.  On the one hand, I'm not nearly as ready as I should be for next week's event.  I still can't do a pull-up or properly jump a fence like I ought to.  I feel like I should spend more time on those things this week.  On the other hand, I don't want to exhaust myself so much that I when I get to the event I'm too tired from training to do them there.  

What to do, what to do?  I guess I'll do a short run tomorrow, with a stop at the park for some monkey bar work.  I'll do my usual cross-training Monday-Wednesday but take it a little bit easy.  Thursday I'll do a very easy run (unless I'm too tired) and then Friday I'll go to yoga.  Definitely yoga.  I also need to try and get extra sleep this week because that was definitely lacking last week (5 hours a night does not do a body good).  

7 days.  One week.  Holy sh*t.  

Read previous "Countdown to Tough Mudder" posts - 34 Days, 30 Days, 22 Days, 19 Days, 14 Days, 11 Days

Countdown to Tough Mudder - 11 Days

 

Last night's training session was not our usual craziness of flipping tires or scaling tall fences.  I don't have any new bruises and for once we were setting a good example for children at the playground.  How could this possibly be Tough Mudder training, you ask?  Doesn't sound tough enough for you? 

We did the Tough Mudder Boot Camp Training workout and it was definitely challenging.  (Although not unlike what we do in our boot camp class 1-2x a week so most moves weren't new to us.)  The workout is 50 minutes long, consisting of 5 circuits (9 minutes each plus 1 minute of rest in between).  Each activity lasts for either 1 or 2 minutes, which may not sound like a long time but 2 minutes of burpees is a really long time.  Trust me.  

The workout is pretty heavy on lower body exercises and man, is my butt sore today!  Especially from something called "Spider Web Climbers."  This was a new move for me.  They're sort of like vertical mountain climbers so you're driving your knees up out and your arms are reaching up like your trying to climb a web.  Go as quickly as you can, alternating arms and legs, for 2 minutes. I dare you.

The workout requires some equipment:

• Timer - This is essential to keep yourself on track!  I used the timer on my iPhone.
• Weights or a weighted ball, which some of us took.  Those of us who didn't modified with what was around - some made better choices than others.  A bike works great for squat presses; a twig isn't going to help you build much strength.
• A bench - You'll need this for tricep dips and squat jumps; a picnic table works great.
• Monkey bars
• Towel - This is for towel pull-ups but we just did more regular pull-ups.
• A track or sidewalk

When we were done we did some extra work on the monkey bars and that was it.  We were all pretty tired.  11 days, baby.  11 days . . .

Download the Tough Mudder Boot Camp Training PDF for yourself and give those "Spider Web Climbers" a try.  I dare you.

Read previous "Countdown to Tough Mudder" posts - 34 Days, 30 Days, 22 Days, 19 Days, 14 Days

Countdown to Tough Mudder - 14 Days

OMG - 14 Days!  In other words, TWO WEEKS!  Two weeks from the moment I type this I'll be crawling through a muddy tube, jumping over muddy logs, sloshing through a muddy swamp, or falling into a muddy pit.  TWO WEEKS.  Yikes.


Thursday night we had another training session.  We met at the local high school so we could take advantage of some tractor tires.  We did a lot with those tires - rolled them, flipped them over and over across the soccer field, leaped up on them, jumped in and out of them, and used them for tricep dips.  My chest and shoulders are so sore from flipping those tires!  It's quite an intense workout!  Then, just for fun, we turned the biggest tire on it's side and took turns rolling it while someone ran on top - just like in the circus!  Granted, that was not helpful for training purposes but it was a hell of a lot of fun!  

We also found a blocking sled out on the field - you know that metal thing that football players push in practice?  The six of us (totally non-football types, mind you) pushed that thing down a hill, spun it around, then pushed it back up the hill.  It was super intense!  Then we crawled under it, jumped on it, used it for pull-ups, and ran across the top - until I tripped, dinged my shin, and did a face-plant in the grass.  I tell ya, I was the picture of grace.

Each of us was supposed to bring something to use for the workout.  Not everyone did but we ended up with a weighted ball, towels, a sledge hammer, and a cinder block.  Oh, and a Frisbee.  Here's what we did with each:

• weighted ball - ran in a line down the field and back, tossing it to each other
• towels - draped them over the soccer goal and hung from them/did pull-ups
• sledge hammer - threw it
• cinder block - laid down, extended arms back overhead with block in hands, brought it forward to our chest as we did a sit up, then stood up and raised it overhead in a shoulder press
• Frisbee - warm up activity (Hey, you gotta have some fun!)

Our next workout is going to be the official Tough Mudder Boot Camp Training.  We're going to meet at a park we haven't tried yet - one with some good monkey bars and a track - to go through the 50 minute workout. 

Two more weeks to Tough Mudder, my friends.  TWO. MORE. WEEKS.  Yikes.

Read previous "Countdown to Tough Mudder" posts - 34 Days, 30 Days, 22 Days, 19 Days

Countdown to Tough Mudder - 19 Days

The team hit the trails at Maybury State Park for an early morning Memorial Day run.  Believe it or not, this was my first experience running on trails.  It was amazing!!  I loved the hills, the bumpy terrain, the unexpected twists and turns, and the general beauty of running through a forest.  It wasn't too hot and humid and with the exception of one evil fly, the bugs weren't too bad.  We ran 4.25 miles of trails - mostly hiking, some horse.  We figured the horse trails gave us better training experience for some of the muddier parts of the Tough Mudder (although there wasn't really much mud today but the trails required a little more stabilization, as well as avoidance of certain, um, obstacles in our path).

So the trails were a lot of fun and better training than paved roads.  And no Tough Mudder training session would be complete without a playground workout!  We found a small playground at the end of our run and did some climbing practice and pullups.  Nothing really new or exciting.  I definitely got some new bruises.  Because of course, no Tough Mudder training session would be complete without new bruises, either!

Then we headed back to Dearborn to (finally) make our travel arrangements, narrow down our uniforms, and plan our next training session.  Not a bad day, Mudders.  Not a bad day.  

Shoot!  Except that I forgot to take pictures again!  Next time - when we're throwing tires - I will take pictures.  (Ooooh, how's that for a teaser?)

Read previous "Countdown to Tough Mudder" posts - 34 Days, 30 Days, 22 Days

Do you run on trails? 

Countdown to Tough Mudder - 22 Days

 

No, we haven't been slacking this week!  We DID meet again Monday for another Tough Mudder training session at the park.  I just haven't gotten around to posting about it until today.  It's been one of those weeks... 

Strength-wise, we did much of the same stuff as last week - monkey bars, slides, railings, push-ups, etc.  However, the theme of this week's training session was "Free Your Mind."  We were trying to tackle things that were outside of our comfort zones.  

Such as jumping the fence around the baseball field.  I was perfectly content to climb it.  That I can do just fine.  But to prep for those Berlin Walls, what we really have to work on is taking a running leap and jumping so your feet are halfway up the fence and your hands are on top of the fence.  BOTH hands.  The higher the initial jump, the better off you'll be.  My running leap finally got me so that my right hand was on top of the fence but no matter how many times I tried, my left hand always just seemed to hang limply at head-height.  Andy was NOT pleased.  Again and again I tried but every time it was the same.  Finally he let me give it a rest.  Maybe next time I'll tie my right hand behind my back.

Then we found a pull-up bar on one of the playgrounds that became quite a fascination for us all. We were each determined to get our whole bodies up on top of it one way or another.  Scott kept hopping up there like it was nobody's business, while the rest of us kept falling off.  (And while this IS a child's playground we were not using it the way it was intended so no judgement, please.)

Finally, I tried something different and with a little butt-push from Erica I was up.  Wahoo - teamwork!  Then she climbed the pole it was attached to and got up all by herself.  Super impressive!  Haikel managed it also the same way.  Score!  So it was just Andy left to conquer the pull-up bar.  Well, and me, technically, since I did it with a butt-push.  I still need to go it alone.  (Thanks, Andy, for bursting my bubble.)  I tried climbing the pole and that was really super hard.  So now I have both the fence AND the pull-up bar.  Argh.  We'll get 'em next week, Andy.

Oh, there was a pretty funny moment when Andy insisted on a team-building exercise that resulted in me being hoisted - and consequently lodged in - a tree.  When he realized that I was potentially stuck in said tree he went running away for his own safety until I could be safely removed.  Which I was.  No hard feelings. 

Next up will be trail-running at Maybury State Park on Monday.  Uh oh!  Lots of trees at Maybury.  I think it's Andy's turn to go in the tree . . .

Read previous "Countdown to Tough Mudder" posts - 34 Days, 30 Days

Countdown to Tough Mudder - 30 Days

On Monday we met for our first official Tough Mudder team training.  (Read more about Tough Mudder in my previous post.)  Yes, we needed to start training but the idea was mostly to get us all together because we hadn't yet done so since becoming a team.  We'd been trading emails about travel arrangements and what to wear (Andy and my "Hunger Games" theme ideas didn't go over so well with the rest of the team) but that was about it.

So we met at a local park that has several playgrounds, a track, and lots of space to run around.  It also had lots of children to set a terrible example for how NOT to use playground equipment.  (Sorry, parents.) 

I had initiated the training session so I think everyone was expecting me to have some sort of plan in place.  My plan was to show up and figure it out when I got there, maybe work out for 30 minutes, chat about some details, and be done.  Not much of a plan, right?  (Please don't ask to see my lesson plans at work, either.)  It would have been all fine but Andy was ready and sprang into action, leading us through the park from one playground to the next.  We scaled plastic walls, crawled under picnic tables, pulled each other up slides, leaped onto the backs of bleachers, hoisted each other into trees, ran on the balance beam, and swung across the monkey bars.  Between obstacles we did push-ups, jumping jacks, burpees, and mountain climbers.  Then we went through it all again.  Oh, Andy and Malakeh are really hardcore and even belly-crawled across the entire sand volleyball court!  The rest of us wimped out on that (sorry Andy - next time).

I totally forgot to take pictures of us in action but I did go back and take photos of some of the equipment we used.*  We tried to focus mostly on upper-body exercises.  Ugh, it's 3 days later and my chest and lats are STILL sore from this workout!  I guess that means I was doing something right!

So here are some of the things that we used:

Railings - We used just our arms to move across railings.  This was a majorly difficult workout for my triceps!

  

Walls - So these aren't quite the "Berlin Walls" we'll see in Tough Mudder but it was good agility training.

Balance Beam - We need to practice our balancing acts for "Twinkle Toes".

Slides -  These were harder than they look to climb up so it was just some good old-fashioned grit needed to get yourself up.  With the tube slide, we had to help pull each other up from the top.  Yay, teamwork!

Picnic Tables - Good for running over and crawling under.

Monkey Bars -  Very important for Funky Monkey, but they're a great way to build upper-body strength in general.

* While sprinting around the park taking photos with my phone, I made sure to tell parents I was not taking pictures of their children.  I think that made it way less creepy.  Right???

Do you have any playground workout suggestions?