Tough Mudder Top Tips

Hello friends,

I am very proud to say that on the 31^st May I completed my first ever Tough Mudder event. This was 11.2 miles and 24 obstacles of fun (although during the event I did question why I was doing it a couple of times). We faced everything from freezing cold water, huge heights and tight confined spaces to crawl through and then the last hurdle, before getting that coveted headband and finisher’s beer, the electroshock! This is a sprint through dangling wires which give you electric shocks of varying levels – I got through with a few shocks, but a team mate took  ended up face planting into the mud! All good fun!!

Before the event I found a lot of useful information online about how to prepare, what to wear and what to do on the day, so I thought I would reflect on my experience and give my Tough Mudder Top Tips.

So you have decided to take on the challenge, what are the best ways to prepare?

1.      Firstly, it is worth saying that on the course were a huge variety of people from the super fit and bulky to people who probably just turned up on the day with no training at all. You can choose to bypass any obstacle, but what you can’t bypass is the distance. The two biggest areas which I will be working on for next time are my running and upper body strength – you need the upper body strength for most obstacles, and being strong at running means the distance won’t worry you too much. Train in these two areas and it will help you massively.

2.      Mentally prepare yourself – this is an endurance challenge, and it will be tough. More than the physical fitness I think your mind-set is very important – I was going to finish no matter what happened, and this was put to the test on the second mud mile – I came off the last slope and jarred my knee which was uber painful, but I kept going and half limped and hobbled around the rest of the course.

What should you wear for the event?

There is a lot of split opinion on this question, and these are just my thoughts:

1.      Wear clothes which dry quickly – you are going to get wet frequently, so wearing a lot of cotton isn’t advisable.

2.      Shoes – very important. Wear shoes which you are comfortable running a distance in, and make sure they have some grip. You will be running through mud, woodlands and over grass which may be slippery. Tie the laces as tight as you can, because the mud will try and steal those kicks!

3.      Gloves – yay or nay? Personally, I started the race with gloves, but didn’t wear them much – I didn’t feel like they helped me at all, but at the same time I came away with a lot of small painful cuts on my hands. The rest of my team wore gloves and they felt they helped for some of the taller obstacles. One downside of gloves is they absorb water and may add to you getting cold. So it depends whether you think you are going to hurt your hands if you don’t wear the gloves.

4.      Knee pads? I started with knee pads and they were awesome for the crawling obstacles, however they are hard to run in. I kept my knee pads for about 8 miles, but got rid of them after the mud mile because they got filthy and heavy. So it is a balancing act, they help and hinder at the same time. If you have delicate knees I would recommend definitely.

All that being said, people run this course in fancy dress, so whatever you wear you will be able to make it around, however watch out for the cold – you don’t want to be shivering as you jog around.

Tips for the day of the event:

1.      Leave plenty of time to get to the venue and park – a lot of people will be arriving with you so parking is a bit of a slow process.

2.      You will get give a race number, wristband and sticker when you register – there are also people with marker pens who can write your race number on your head. Make sure you do this as any photos taken by the official photographers will be identified using this number.

3.      When you are ready go to the warm up zone – waves get sent off every 20 minutes. We were late for our wave but that didn't matter – our start time wasn't checked anywhere.

4.      Before you get to the start line you will need to go over the first obstacle, a wall – then you take your Mudder pledge. Look around and make some friends at this point.

5.      Pace yourself, it is a long distance and there are no prizes for finishing quickly.

6.      Always look around and help out others – this is a huge part of TM, camaraderie. On the second obstacle we made a friend who was running on his own. He joined our team for the whole way round and he was a great help.

7.      Accept help if you need it – when I hurt my knee I couldn’t stand up, but a lovely man dressed as a Smurf hauled me out of the mud puddle I was sitting in. Thank you Smurf man, you were a great help!    

8.      There are water stations every couple of miles, and energy bars offered – eat and drink, you will notice the boost very quickly!

9.      Smile and have fun! This is a big challenge, but if you plaster that smile on it will make you feel better!

10.   Finally, push yourself – you can complete a Tough Mudder by skipping all the obstacles, but that really isn’t the point. Try and do as much as possible – I skipped a few in the latter half because I knew my body couldn’t make it, but I also pushed myself and discovered I have a fear of falling! There were a couple of obstacles that genuinely frightened me, one I completed and one I attempted and chickened out, but I am very proud of what I achieved over those 11.2 miles.

Tough Mudder is a fantastic challenge, and you will learn a lot about yourself – how fit you really are, your strengths and weaknesses, how you cope with the wind and cold. And that beer at the end is a good one – very well deserved!

Days later I am still wearing my finishers headband with pride – it was a big event to complete and I am very pleased that I managed it without breaking myself (although I have some very colourful bruises!)

Tough Mudder out!