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Woah…I’m doing a Tough Mudder in 4 days.
I can’t believe the time is finally here! And at the same time, I can’t wait for it all to be over! The most challenging event I’ve ever attempted to do is on Sunday, and my head is spinning!
Today I’m linking up at Wild Workout Wednesday with Annmarie at The Fit Foodie Mama, Angelena Marie at Angelena Marie: Happy, Healthy & Balanced, Michelle at Fruition Fitness, and Nicole at Fitful Focus! Check out their blogs for some great workouts!
I’m also linking up with Jill Conyers for Fitness Friday!
Tough Mudder Philly is THIS weekend! Sharing my goals for this insane event! #toughmudder Click To Tweet
This is my biggest fear. Not the dying, of course, but hurting myself and negatively impacting my running. I have heard SO many horror stories about people getting hurt, and I refuse to be one of them. I know that when the adrenaline is pumping, you can feel invincible….and that can lead to reckless decisions.
I’m very worried about my knees, especially since they haven’t been feeling great for the past month or so. I’m thinking of wearing capris to cover my knees or investing in some knee pads for extra cushioning. I’m also going to make sure I properly warm up, hydrate and fuel before and during the event.
This is definitely something that I can’t stop thinking about. They have already revealed the course map, and it’s not going to be a cake walk! I know that my upper body is still a major weakness, but I do want to try to do those obstacles with monkey bars, even if/when I fall and end up in the mud pit.
I’m a bit stubborn so I would feel like a failure if I didn’t even try. Do I really want to go through tear gas, get electrocuted and dive into ice-cold water? No…but if I can be tough on the road, I can get through this.
As I mentioned above, it’s so important to fuel and hydrate for a regular race, but I can tell that it’s going to be crucial for my success with the Tough Mudder. One of my friend’s biggest piece of advice was to hydrate in the days leading up to the race. Because you’re putting your body through so much – jumping, climbing, swimming…you’ve got to keep everything loose, and that’s where hydration comes in.
There will be support along the course (thank goodness), but I’m thinking of bringing some Clif Shotbloks to take during the course. It will probably take at least 4 hours to get through the Tough Mudder, so it just seems like a good idea.
The thing that I am most looking forward to with the Tough Mudder is the fact that people are willing to help each other out to get past each obstacle. Teamwork is a must and I plan to be a team player, not a lone wolf! It’s important to know you can’t do it all yourself.
This will be a great bonding experience with my teammates, and I really hope that I can encourage others, especially since I know so many of them are intimidated by running (at least I can say I have one strength!). And maybe I can get a boost over one of the obstacles?
If you’ve been reading my training recaps, you know I’ve been dreading the Tough Mudder ever since I signed up! I am still pretty scared about the whole thing, but we have a group of 13 that I really look forward to conquering this event with – and I can’t imagine not having fun with some of the personalities on the team!
I can take myself too seriously sometimes. This isn’t the time to do it. There’s a good chance that I will NEVER do a Tough Mudder again, so why not have fun in the process? No matter what happens, I know it will be a very memorable experience!
Tuesday 10/6: 6-mile run with Bret in the evening. I have to say, this was one of the worst feeling runs I’ve had in a LONG time. I wore my PROCompression socks and for some reason I think they negatively impacted my run – I just didn’t feel comfortable at all! My knees were miserable the entire time, then my left hip felt discomfort. Gotta get back to hip strengthening!
Wednesday 10/7: 4-mile easy run, solo. This run felt SO much better, thank goodness! I ran down the Schuylkill River Trail for a change of scenery, but I won’t do that again – the trail is extremely crowded and there are groups of guys on bikes that harass runners, especially women. Maybe I ran faster to get away from them…
Thursday 10/8: I had a half day at work and flew down to Orlando for my vacation in Disney World with my sister! We went out to Downtown Disney (aka Disney Spring), and before bed, I did do my pushups and sit ups!
Friday 10/9: All day Disney: The Animal Kingdom in the morning, then Epcot in the afternoon and evening for the International Food and Wine Festival. I walked nearly 25,000 steps that day! We really had a great time.
Saturday 10/10: More walking all over Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and the Magic Kingdom. We were everywhere! I only ended up with around 21,000 steps…geez!
Sunday 10/11: Went for a 4-mile morning run at the resort! It started out great as I ran around the 1.3-mile lake, but I got bored and pretty hot very quickly! Then we went to the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios all day and all night for our last night. We even had dinner at Be Our Guest restaurant and got a picture with the Beast!
Monday 10/12: Traveling back to Philly. No running, but I did do clam shells on each side to get back to hip strengthening.
Tuesday 10/13: At lunch I went to core class in the company gym after missing it the past 2 weeks. We worked on the Bosu ball which was really challenging! After work, I went for a 4 mile run with the Philly Runners. I’ll be sharing my experience in the Running Club Roundup – be sure to check it out on Thursday!
Hourglass Lake at the resort
I’m pretty happy with how this past week of training progressed. Am I ready for the Tough Mudder? I really don’t know. I do know that I am stronger now than I was when I started, so I hope that helps me get through it.
I’m also happy that I stayed pretty active while on vacation in DIsney. But then again, how could you not when you’re walking 10 miles a day?
I’m very proud that I broke out of my shell and joined the Philly Runners for the first time. I can’t wait to tell you about that experience – it was very interesting!
So with all that said, I’ll give my final week of training an A. I just have a couple more runs before the weekend, and then we’ll see what happens on Sunday! Fingers crossed!
Have you ever done a mud race? Any last-minute tips to help my sanity? Are you a Disney fan?
