Tough Mudder - Stupidity for charity

Didn't want to put this up on the main forum yet but wanted to keep a bit of a log of it for myself and anyone else that is interested down the line.

I've decided to enter this Tough Mudder - Probably the Toughest Event on the Planet in Autumn this year (2013)



I'm going to do it for a few reasons, firstly because I'd had a drink so my judgement was impaired when a friend asked me to; but secondly because it's IMHO a good thing to do for charity.

Third and final reason is that my Great Granddad passed away in 2012, he was a top bloke and the one thing that always stood out to me was that he never once in all the time I can remember whined or complained about anything... Even towards the end.

That's kind of the aim of the game in the tough mudder and I think he would have liked that.

It's not a fun run, it's going to be difficult considering I'm pretty unfit at present and I'm going to have to stick with it so I don't show myself up


I'm getting in early with the training in the hope that I can build it up over the next 9 months and do it well

A log of my first run.

Best way to learn is through mistakes; it's glaringly obvious looking back at this that I set off at a pace I couldn't maintain and it ruined me about a mile in!

I think the breathing had a big part to play too; I was struggling to get it right at first and that made it harder than it had to be.

A log of my next Sunday run

Same distance as the weekend before but with a much better pace, I felt okay afterwards too and not gasping & spluttering like I was the week before

I've discovered that unless it's clear, the GPS on the app on my phone is shit, so it jumps about all over the place.


I've also done a bit with the free weights and push ups during the week; as well as a 2.5km run last Tuesday.


I'm going to try and find the time tomorrow night to get to the gym and get on the rowing machine to build up a bit of core strength.

I did get to the gym, I did 6,000 metres in 29 minutes.

My hands were bleeding afterwards. I need gloves.

Originally Posted by Vereor

I did get to the gym, I did 6,000 metres in 29 minutes.

My hands were bleeding afterwards. I need gloves.

Good effort V!

I have a pair of fingerless weight lifting gloves. I don't use them all the time but have worn them recently as I didn't do any rowing for 4 - 5 weeks over Christmas and New Year and I raised a couple of blisters on the inside of the knuckles. They've turned back into callouses now and I did an hour yesterday without the gloves and the hands were fine. I'll usually wear the gloves if I'm doing some heavy interval work as there's more movement of the hands when I work hard; long steady rowing isn't usually a problem.

I did a 30 minute time trial for the C2 Cross Team Challenge a couple of days ago. I was a bit disappointed in my distance but I can do as many as I want during the month so I'll aim to improve; I was well down on my 30 minute PB. You've a bit further to go.

I'm not so sure about you using rowing to build up core strength mind, rowing is good cardio-vascular exercise and you might be better off looking up some more specific core strength exercises on line.