32 Days to the Tough Mudder

That's only a little over 4 weeks remaining to what's being labeled as "The Toughest one-day endurance event on the planet."

From the PR Newswire in February:

NEW YORK, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Tough Mudder (www.ToughMudder.com) announced today the toughest one-day endurance event on the planet. Launching in various locations across the U.S., Tough Mudder is now accepting applicants for its first event -- Tough Mudder NY & PA -- on Sunday, May 2, 2010 at Bear Creek Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania, just a short drive from the Metropolitan New York and Philadelphia areas. This is not your average mud run or spirit-crushing road race. Tough Mudder is a 7-mile obstacle course designed by British Special Forces to test all-round toughness, strength, stamina, fitness, camaraderie and mental grit.

I truly believe the "toughest one-day endurance event on the planet" may be in the eyes of the beholders. Yes, to some, this will be hard as hell. Me and my Team, Mind of Mudder? Maybe, maybe not. For me personally, the closest I can compare this to is the Capital City Adventure Challenge that usually has several obstacles of some sort, and the Krista Greisacker 12-hour Adventure race that had 7 or 8 military-style obstacles. The interesting part (thus my belief of what's tough is in the eyes of the beholder) is that neither of these had a just a 7-mile run with the obstacles -- they also had 20+ mile mountain biking and 5+ mile canoes, WITH the run and the obstacles. Soo... my thinking is this may not be the toughest one-day endurance event on the planet for me. But I could be wrong. Those 17 obstacles may kick me AND my team's ass. I never jumped from a 15-foot high plank (I'm gonna hold my nose with my fingers!), nor ran through fire, nor bobbed up and down through a maize under water. I think our whole team will be working together in a variety of ways to get through this one. Finally, my training for the past two days. Monday was rest day with only a bit of stretching (I even slept in and skipped core work). Yesterday was am floor core (50 side-to-sides with 10 pound weighted ball AND 2 pounds strapped on my ankles; 50 hip lifts, 50 lean-back side-to-sides, 50 bicycles) and we stopped at the YMCA last evening since it was raining so hard. I did bike intervals for 45 minutes, then hit the machines for some tricep (5 plates - not sure of the weight), shoulder press (50 pounds), and lat-pull down work (90 pounds) - all 15 reps for 3 sets. I'm giving my running legs two days rest this week after the 7-miler on Sunday. Tonight will be a 5 mile tempo run on the fairground track in Gratz. I want to check my time for a 5K, thus, the flat track for a fast-paced run.

35 Days to the Tough Mudder - Trail Running 101

Today's long run was all off-road for 7.4 miles at a 12:15 minute mile pace. It took me 1:30:45 with an average HR of 152. I'm not sure of the elevation gain, but know I had to walk a little as the mountain climb got looonnnggg toward the end. The whole time I was running, I was thinking how running trail is similar to mountain biking and you better stay focused and watch every move. Thus, a couple tips on off road running.

Watch your step - literally. Keep your eyes on the trail at all times and look where you want to plant your foot. This is serious business. There are rocks, roots, divots, and leaf-covered holes that you could end up turning an ankle on. The key is to look directly where you want to put your foot and your foot will land there. Use the rocks when you hit a rock garden -- they are easier to maneuver through than attempting to plant your foot in between the rocks and risk a turned ankle. Go over the roots because they could be slippery. And beware of leaves -- they could be camouflaging a hole. Always, always keep your eyes on the trail. Use a nice big fat log as a step rather than stepping over it - your foot could get caught as you go over and down you go. I must say, after reading Born to Run and spending a little more time in the woods trail running these past few weeks, I've acquired a new respect for running and am enjoying the change. Trail running is SO relaxing and quiet - not to mention the soft trail being kind to your body. 7.4 miles was probably the furthest I've been in at least 5 years. I recall hitting the 1/2 marathon length several years ago, and thinking that's about as far as I wanna go. While Born to run is all about ultra-endurance and those folks think a marathon is too short, I'm not sure yet if I want to go for 13 miles as I do my 10% increase each week. I'll wait and see how I feel after the Tough Mudder. No mountain bike rides today -- the skies were threatening and I opted to head home after run. So it was a low-key day (if you can call a 1.5 hr trail run low-key!). The Rattling Creek trails had about a dozen riders on them today even with temps in the 30's. The season is here and they gotta get riding to be ready to race. I'll stick to running for now.

37 Days to the Tough Mudder -- Putting the off road to the test

The temps were nice and the rain stayed away so I talked hubby into skipping the YMCA and head home. I really like hill training around my house and the thought of the YMCA treadmill cranked up to a 15% incline just wasn't appealing. You know how sometimes the unplanned workouts turn out to be the absolute best? Last night was one of those nights. What started as another routine run warm-up leading into hill repeats in the horse field, turned into an adventure complete with blood, mud, and today, the tired feeling of a good workout the day before. I fell, crawled, struggled, and got bloody. I was completely drawn to this huge, steep, wooded hill that edges my dad's property. The only way there is straight through the ankle deep creek and swamp - perfect mudder training. The hill itself is fairly open of underbrush which is what attracted me to it -- a nice clear climb to the top. The hill repeats were 2 minutes long, and the HR went into the 170's within 30 seconds. I think the length of the hill might be about 75-100 yards. I did 6 of them. The entire workout was 56 minutes and I can feel today that the higher heart rate took its toll on my body. I had SOOO much fun. I'd get to the top and act like Rocky climbing steps. I was giggling at what my dad would be saying if he saw me... "there's something ain't right with that girl. She musta fell off the high chair when she was little." Now THAT's what exercise is all about -- the fun factor. Today is a day off (except of course for my routine 3:30ish core work). Tomorrow will be a 2-3 hour paddle down the Red Mo Creek but I think I 'll do some trainer work before we go 'cause I can't get a good workout sitting in a boat going downstream. And Sunday is a 10:00 am session in Weiser State Forest. Ride, run -- whatever the weather allows (run if rainy, run and ride if dry and warmish). The run will be about 7 miles. I'll update you Monday morning.

38 Days to the Tough Mudder

My world is crashing in around me... Well, not really; but sometimes it sure feels that way. I mentioned how earlier this week I was tired, tired, tired and I'd let you know how I felt for the workout on Tuesday evening at the YMCA. The workout was excellent... when I wasn't distracted by the mirror monkeys. "Hua... THUMP, Hua.... THUMP, Hua... Thump... "COME ON NOW... YOU CAN DO IT. COME on. COME ON. One more. Who's the man." Actually, they are a determined bunch and you can't help but admire them. But dang boys, tone it down a bit! I got these new headphones that were worthless; thus, I couldn't block them out on Tuesday. But that didn't stop me from a really good, fast-paced run on the treadmill. My quads are still hurting a bit down the front from it. I got in 4.25 miles at an average pace overall of about 9:53 minute mile. During my 42 minutes, I was all over the place with that pace. I would go at an 8:36 pace for two minutes, then back off to a 10:00 minute for two, then repeat for about 5 times. Then I went steady for a 9:42 for about 10 minutes, then backed off to about 12:00 toward the end. The intervals were to build up a little speed and it really felt good to get the old legs turning at a nice clip. I then moved onto a couple weights -- 30 reps each of shoulder press, tricep press, and chest press. These were all on the machines and the weight is sorta light -- about 45 for the shoulders and chest, and 20ish for the triceps (can't recall exactly). Rick was ready to go by that time. Last night was a bust which is why I mentioned my world is crashing in (and the fact I'm paddling all day Saturday so no bike nor run on Saturday and its supposed to rain on Sunday; and the gardens are screaming at me again, and I need to cook some food up - BLAH! Whine, Whine). I had to go to a conference from 6:00 to 9:00 in Kutztown so I got zilch in yesterday except the 4:00 am core work which was a switch up to the fitness ball routine (100 crunches on it with the 10 pounder on my chest, side twists with the 10 pounder, laying with my back on the fitness ball ). Even though we got home super late, I was still up at 3:45 am this morning like clockwork, and got the floor core work in (all with the 10 pounder: 40 lean-backs and go side-to-side, 50 hip-ups, 50 side-to-sides, and then 25 push-ups, 75 pole twists and 25 bends). Later today, it's another trip to the YMCA after work for another treadmill run since it sounds like its going to rain after work. Although... I may get on the bike at the Y and save the hill work for at home in the rain. Not sure yet on that - will let you know. The bike workouts are suffering right now, but I'm getting the running and weights in which is the focus at this point. I have the perfect run training grounds here at work on Harrisburg River Front, but my job is so crazy-busy right now I seldom get out for lunch. So I'm nixing the idea of running at lunch. Til next time -- keep working out! See you tomorrow or Saturday am.

40 Days to the Tough Mudder

A wise old coach once told me, "listen to your body." And it took a couple years to understand exactly what he was saying as my pursuits to get faster-stronger-better at mountain biking failed. And then one day, I took the day off from training. Then a couple days later, another day off. Then I started building in more and more days off and low and behold, I discovered less aches and pains and guess what, I didn't lose a whole lot of fitness! Of course I wasn't racing as much so it didn't mean as much. But the point here is you MUST take days off and rest - especially when your body is screaming at you. You'll know it when it happens - you can barely get out of bed, you are SO tired you feel like your eyelids can't stay open unless you somehow prop them, and that sluggish feeling just won't let up. I'm there. Yesterday was almost a sick day and today is just about the same. It appears the weekend was a bit much and the body is letting me know. So no 4:00 am crunches yesterday, and yesterday's day off included only a little stretching last evening. It was beddy time at 8:00 pm and today again, no 4:00 am weighted-ball workouts. Tonight we stop at the YMCA on the way home and I'll see how I feel then to determine the workout. If all is well, I'll run a 4-mile tempo run (10 minute mile pace) on the treadmill followed by a weight workout (30 each of tricep dips, pull-ups, tricep presses, leg presses, bicep curls, shoulder press and chest press). The wise old coach was right... listen to your body -- always.

Countdown 42 (Days to the Tough Mudder) A Training Update

I thought it would be fun to log my Tough Mudder training on this here ole' Blog, just in case Team Mind of Mudder wants to see what their other team mates are doing to prepare (Preston?). I got the idea from Julie & Julia. So the countdown is on -- 42 days to go. Now you might get bored with my routine -- some of it is pretty regimented every day; but that's how I operate. And I won't get on here every day, but will catch you up on days I missed. Soo.... here's countdown day 42 - Sunday:

4:30 am - Core: 10 lb weighted ball hip lifts (50 ea), weighted ball twists (on back, laying legs side to side with ball between knees - 50 ea), weighted ball leans - 40 ea (sit on floor, lean back, twist ball side to side and touch it lightly on floor to your side), 20 push ups, standing twists with pole (75), standing side bends (20). 30 ea 8 lb dumbbell above-head lifts, 30 ea bicep curls with the same 8 lb dumb bells, and 40 ea of those thingys for the backs of your arms where you put the weight ball in your hand and bend your arms behind your head (can't think of what they are called).

9:30 - Trail run in Weiser State Forest. 1:19, 6.3 miles, 12:35 mph pace (here's the calculator -- very cool stuff). Yup... I'm slow as molasses but that's OK. I'm getting the job done. Felt great. Then.... hopped on the mountain bike for a mix of fire road and trail for 1:40 for about 10 miles. Once again, slow as molasses but I got the job done. (Remember you roadies, I was in the woods which means HILLS, rocks, logs to jump, roots, and bumpy trails! Yeah baby... love the hills and dales).

2:00. EAT. Then, check stats from today's workout: Burned 2035 calories, Average HR was 140 for 2 hrs and 58 minutes, the run average HR was 150 and the bike average HR was 130. My early am resting HR was 45.

I can't help but add today's workout was preceded by two days of hard gardening (for those that don't know, I'm an organic gardener which means compost turning, hauling straw bales, turning the soil by hand for my 2100 square feet of garden rather than using the rototiller just cause its not enviornmentally friendly). For the fun of it, I threw on the heart rate monitor to see how hard I really work at gardening and it showed I work at 58% of my max. I go for about 3 hours at a time (that's all my back can handle), and I burn about 303 calories an hour. That means I burned nearly 1000 calories each day on on Friday AND Saturday, and then went on my little endurance trip on Sunday. I'd say maybe my endurance is doing quite well. Did I mention I'm slow as molasses? But I really DO get the job done. Til' next time... train hard!

Training Tips for the Tough Mudder

So you are one of the 5,000 people entered in the sold out Tough Mudder at Bear Creek Ski Resort, PA on May 2, huh? Well your How to Train for the Tough Mudder google search got you to the blog of not a sports physiologist, not a personal trainer, nor a coach; but the blog of an experienced adventure racer than can give you a couple pointers on what to expect going off road for the first time and having to jump over things, carry things, lift/pull things, and just plain have fun. And believe me, they ARE fun, no doubt hard. There are four key ingredients to obstacles/off-road running:

Endurance
Strength
Running experience off-road
Perseverance

And there are three key things you should not expect:

To be fast
To be able to do all the obstacles
To run every hill

There's about 5 weeks to go until race day and if you don't pretty much have the key ingredients in your pocket already, there's very little time to get there, but you can if you are careful. Start by getting off road. Run hills in a field, run the perimeter of a park or playground. I'd reserve the flat pavement for your speed work once a week. For everything else, find some off-road trail or grassy area and run -- even your long run. If you've never ran anything but pavement, you really should get a feel for the constant uneven surfaces so you can strengthen your ankles a bit and be ready for less-than-flat-and-even surfaces, not to mention going slow. Off-road racing is always a slower pace because there's more challenges than a flat surface. More hills, more off-camber surfaces, and more varied hardness/softness of the surface to make your body work a little harder. Be prepared for it. Endurance is also a key factor. Sure, you can run a 10K with ease, but can you stop 17 times and do 30 push-ups, chin-ups, and swim a lap in-between? Those obstacles are going to require energy -- the same energy you expend in a run, so be ready for it. After you do a run for 45 minutes, hop on your bike or some other form of cross training and go another 45 minutes. The key is keeping your heart pumping at a slow-steady pace (60% of your maximum heart rate) for at least 2 or more hours. 3 hours is ideal. Figure about 1.5 to 2 hrs for this baby at a higher than normal heart rate -- the Tough Mudder website was right on time to finish. Yes, you ran a marathon on pavement -- but can you carry a 10 pound pack for a mile or two? Will your knees hold-up to the extra weight going up a hill? Strength is pretty darn important to do many obstacles. And not just pumping iron. Grab a weighted ball or fill a backpack with cans and start hiking a hill. Guaranteed if you've never done this, you'll feel it in your legs the next day. Do push-ups (mens, not girls), work your core (you'll back will pay if you don't), and take every opportunity to use stairs and put the water bottle on the cooler at work. And the perseverance? Here's where team mates really, really help. You don't want to let them down, nor yourself. You'll help each other immensely just by being by their side. I've been blessed with the best of team mates for many years to help me through some amazing feats. You'll need to be mentally focused on completing the entire thing -- to endure all obstacles and overcome the challenge, and having a friend to help stay focused is truly helpful. You will be tired, hurting, and wanting to serve up a whole lot whine with that cheese. Don't. Your friend doesn't want to hear it. Persevere to proud of yourself for finishing. I'm 50, and I have to play mental games every time I do something. I fight the age thing all the time, but between my own self-satisfaction to finish a hard race or event and hearing it from my friends, I persevere and keep going. You will too -- to be a tough mudder! Congrats!

p.s. disclaimer: I'm not an expert at anything; I'm not a doc, a coach, a personal trainer, nor trained in anything having to do with physical ability. Like I said earlier, just a gal sharing some tips on off-road racing from experience for those that never raced off road. It'll be some of the most fun you ever had.

Trying to be a Tough Mudder on a Rainy Weekend

Every morning starts with this 10 pounder between my legs, under my butt, on each side of me, and over my head. What better way to start your day? Ha! This weekend was rainy, rainy, and rainy - perfect weather for a tough mudder, eh? It poured all day Saturday and the wind was so intense it made Rick go out and cuss at the corner of the house. "Mother fucker." If you could have heard Rick standing at the corner of the house cussing it. You see, the wind pulled up a corner of the siding and started pulling it off. It has been a problem for a while now and maybe Rick was cussing at himself for not fixing it when it first happened. He likes to tape it down and the tape came loose and the wind caught it. Well... it's taped again until next time I get to be entertained with Rick cussing the corner of the house. I was also entertained on Saturday by a Quentin Tarantino movie -- Inglourious Basterds. OMG. Talk about a typical Quentin movie -- right down to the HUGO STIGLITZ, cartoonish wording splashing across the screen. The story line and how it was played out is also typical Quentin. Scalping Nazis? "The Bear Jew?" Burning Hitler and his men in a movie theatre? And one of my favorite lines, "Now take your wiener -schnitzel finger and point out on this map where they are." It was the perfect movie to watch on a rainy day sitting on the trainer for a couple hours. It rained a little more on Sunday, but I already planned on a trail run for two reasons: to check out the bike trails to see how things fared over the winter and to get a nice 6 mile run in. I covered myself in rain gear and hit the trails. Mission accomplished, although trail runs after a wind storm aren't exactly a solid, good run since you have to continually stop and move crap and watch your step. But I got 'er in with a couple snap shots in between. Check out http://www.rcst1.blogspot.com/ to see the update on the trails. So yes, the rainy weekend was a good one to prep for the Tough Mudder. Now that the time changed, it can only get better.

Woes of a Fat Bike Rider

Spring fever hit hard and I took the day off yesterday to garden, run, and bike. I'm practicing the balancing act and decided it made sense to dedicate ½ day to each so yesterday morning was in the garden and yesterday after noon was pedaling and running. The run was first and went ok. It was a steady 5.20 mile tempo run at maybe a 10:15-10:30 mph pace (not sure on that). I took a real short 20 minute break to chat with my neighbor, then hopped on the bike. "Damn!" I thought. Why is it so hard to pedal? Why are my legs like lead? Why am I going so slow? Why do I feel like I have to get off and push on a hill I've ridden a thousand times? "It's because you have a very fat ass Jill… you gained enough of weight that it now affected your bike riding and you've turned into a true-blue slug. Yes, you were sluggish before, but now it's worse and you're really, really going to embarrass all your friends. What are you going to do now you pig? Go eat some bread maybe?? Don't forget to slather on the butter nice and thick. "

I'm devastated. This was my first road ride of the year. All I could take of the torture was an hour and yes, the hills really were that bad. No amount of trainer riding at an average heart rate for hours on end is going to get my ass up a hill at a semi-decent pace come spring time. It's now or never… either drop the cheese and flab or park my butt in a kayak seat and forget about it. I hate being 50. The trade-off for no-more-periods is a couple extra pounds that DO make a difference on the bike. It sucks.

Run Training - Painful!

I sit on the trainer for 3 hours and sweat my ass off and walk away feeling great with no aches and pains. I run one hill a couple times and can't walk for two days - what's up with that?! I'm finding there's a distinct difference between running on flat, smooth surface vs. running off-road, up-hill, off-camber, and over rocks/roots/obstacles. It's obvious I really need to be doing this training to prep for the Tough Mudder in May. Ricky Brown wants to go to the Tohickon Creek on March 20 (Ralph Stover State park) to watch the kayakers on the dam release weekend (it's too cold or he'd probably do it) and I'm anxious to go along 'cause the Ralph Stover Park will be an excellent place to train. The woods are nice and open and we can easily go off-trail and down to the river and the banks are s.t.e.e.p -- just what the doctor is ordering for the Tough Mudder. Depending how things progress, I may sign up for a 10K in Danville on April 17. It's flat (rail trail), but it'll be a good high heart rate workout for a longer distance run. (yes, I know, 10K really isn't long -- but it is for me!). This is a nice change and I'm enjoying the switch up to a run focus for a spell.

Switching Up the Focus of Spring Training and Racing

Just three short weeks ago, I was all-systems-go for training for long endurance off-road biking competitions starting as early as April. I even already signed up for the Rattling 50 mountain bike race in Weiser State forest to assure I start training in plenty of time (and take advantage of discounted registration fees). I had three, maybe four biking-related endurance races on the schedule: the Tour MonTour (75 mile road), the Rattling 50 Mountain bike, and the Ironcross cyclocross. The Adventure tris are another story - they start in September and continue throughout October.


Last week, I signed up for the Tough Mudder, a 7-mile run with 17 obstacles. Yesterday, I ran my little heart out up hills, down hills, around hills, and then did it again - over and over and over. In other words, I did hill repeats after a 5 or so hilly mile run and oh it was painful. All the while I was thinking, how can I train hard and allow for recovery for a good hilly running competition with obstacles, AND do long bike rides. It may be too taxing for my 50-year old bones - they need a little longer to recover. So I think I'm going to change my focus for the next 7 weeks and do mostly running and when the Tough Mudder is over, I'll switch it up to the long rides to prepare for the endurance events starting in August. It makes perfect sense -- run now to lose some weight, ride later when the trails are sure to be dried out. So the early spring long stuff is off the schedule. In fact, the only thing on the schedule this spring is the Tough Mudder and a long hiatus after that to prep for the Rattling 50.

Obstacle Courses

Chili is signed up for a 7-mile run/17-obstacle competition on May 2 called the Tough Mudder. The team is Kera, me, and two young guys names Preston and Ryan. I may be the old gal on the team, but damn it I'm proud to say I'm experienced at much of what we'll encounter in this race and hopefully can give the team some tips. The Krista Griesacker 12-hour adventure race is one of the races that brings to mind a true-blue obstacle course. Full pictures are here of the whole race. The obstacle course was actually a training course for outdoor survival skills for search and rescue folks. There were mud pits, ropes, walls, and of course water. We climbed walls, crawled through tunnels, jumped over a water pit, walked a tight-rope, pulled ourselves across a ladder, and swung like monkeys. The race itself was much of the same. We had to run, jump, skip, crawl, and pick our way through all kinds of terrain - briers, rocks, trees, underbrush, etc. It was hard. The Capital City Challenge is the other race with many obstacles. While it wasn't as natural and mountainous as the Krista, the obstacles are equally hard - maybe harder. Comparing past race obstacles with what's in the Tough Mudder, the similarities appear to be the crawling under webbing, tunnels, the rope ladder, the muck/water stuff, the wall, and the tight-rope. Obstacles are where some strength coupled with endurance comes in handy. The strength obviously is needed to pull yourself through tunnels, under ropes, up walls, over things and under things. And the endurance is needed to continue on that 7 mile run we also need to do. Climbing up over a 12 foot wall and carrying a log up a hill will zap more energy from you than you realize. Training for obstacles? Rock climbing (Climbnasium) comes to mind, along with just plain climbing around in the woods and the backyard. Find a good wooded area that is super, super steep and start climbing up and coming back down. Don't just go for a run on a trail -- hop, skip, jump, go off-trail, climb, wiggle, and duck under and through things. I'm really looking forward to changing things up a bit this. Now if only the snow would melt in the woods...

Spring Training and Some Humbling

It's March 2, and as far as I'm concerned, it's Spring! Forget the fact there's probably still a foot of snow on the ground, not to mention the mountain bike trails will likely be snow-covered into April. It's now or never and time to kick it into high-gear for beefing up the fitness for summer's events. All winter, I slugged it out on the trainer, did some weight-work at the Y, stuck in a wimpy run or walk every now and then, and basically kept it low-HR to keep and build the endurance. Today, I'm switching things up. I'm going to be running at work two times a week during lunch since my time is pretty much taken in the evenings with gardening, biking, kayaking, and cooking. But one night a week I'm going to squeeze in my hill intervals in the backyard or next to my house on the road while the snow melts in the field. the road hill takes 4 minutes to run up and the field hill is a little steeper and takes 2 minutes. Both are perfect quad-building for steep hill climbs. My 4:00 am routine (when I can role my ass out of bed) was expanded a bit to add push-ups and an extra exercise with the 10-lb medicine ball. It's only an extra 10 minutes or so, but will really add on some fitness with that little bit of added strength work. The bike will build into more tempo and higher-HR stuff. Probably an hour or two in the week of high-HR, and one long tempo ride on the weekends. Oh, the weekends -- one day is a long run and the other day is a long ride. Maybe I'll combine the two if I feel up to it. Long is runs going from the current 50 minutes to eventually 1.5 hours (?) and the bike from the current 3.5 hrs to 5+ hrs so I can do the Rattling 50 in August and the Ironcross in October. Yup, I'm a dreamer, but we gotta have dreams, don't we now?! I sure hope I can stick with it. I gotta drop 10 pounds and running really boosts the effort of weightloss. But then again, all the above is nothing compared to this video. My dear hubby spied this while he was purusing kayak videos. This video makes everything we do very, very humbling. It's a video of a kayaker who broke his neck 30 years ago, and every day he goes to the spot where he broke his neck, and paddles. It's the effort it takes him to get there... he's in a wheel chair.