I felt rather calm going into this event. I knew I had trained harder than I did the year before for my first Tough Mudder. Now it was just a matter of finishing. I ran the race in the first heat on Sunday at 10:00 AM. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day with a good breeze going. After getting checked in, it was off to the starting gate to wait for the start.
I ran the race with Mike Durkin and his Uncle Bill. Mike is by far the better runner between us so he set the pace from the beginning. Bill peeled off after the first obstacle and ran his own game. Mike and I stayed up front and tried to keep the top two runners in our sights. This was okay till lap 5 but I just didn't have the stamina to make a push to catch up. Where I did excellent at were the obstacles themselves. I could often close the gap the Mike would build up between obstacles during the running portions. My grip training paid off during Hanging Tough and at Funky Monkey. I never once felt like I couldn't hang on long enough. I was able to take my time and focus on the obstacle. The toughest component of the course was just the mud itself. It wasn't as slick as other events but it had a lot of clay which made it sticky. One long section, I was forced to walk. The energy expended would have been detrimental in the end.
The venue did a fantastic job setting up the course. The water obstacles were well spaced and came around just in time to help cool you off. The course was as flat as I had mapped from my previous posting. The only severe elevation changes were going in and out of the water or dips for ditches. With that being said, I was able to complete the course in/around 1 hr and 33 minutes. I was shooting for the 2 hour mark and simply blew it away. The man who finished first in our heat, completed the course in 1 hr 24 minutes and some change. Props to the man who so thoroughly trounced the competition. Mike ran across 3rd and I came across shortly after him in a wonderful 4th place finish for the heat. We stood around enjoying our much deserved beer. What happened next was pretty damn cool in my book. It wasn't until several minutes passed that we realized that no one else had finished yet. We started walking back to Everest to lend a hand to whoever was coming. Around 20 minutes passed before the next competitor made his way up to Everest. Mike and I spent a good 30 minutes up there helping people up the wall. It was a lot of fun and it felt even better having the headband on. Eventually, Mike spotted Bill (I have no idea how) coming up to Funky Monkey. Bill ran a hard race and had to have finished in the top 40. With him being 50 years old, it makes it even more impressive. However, he lost all of his glory when he exited stage right, 3/4 of the way through Electroshock Therapy. It was one of the funnier sights I have seen in a long time. The announcer had a blast with it as well.
Overall, I'd give the course a 7 out of 10. There are two reasons I give it a short stick: one for terrain, two for facilities. The terrain was not adding to the challenge at all and thus made it a fast race. Had there been more hills or gnarly terrain, it would have been a perfect run. The obstacles shouldn't just be what is man-made. The Indiana 2012 TM was proof of that. The hardest obstacle there was the terrain itself. Remove all of the obstacles and it still would have been a tougher race than this event. The second beef I got is with the shower post race and the location. The water was recycled so I actually felt dirtier leaving the showers than when I went in. Also, there was no dry route out of the shower area to get back to the main event corridor. A drainage creek had built up and you were force to go through it. So despite your best efforts to get semi-clean before returning home, they were dashed aside by the muck and mire and in my opinion, the only bad bit of planning in the whole event.
BUILD-UP PLAN
My first and foremost let-down for myself in this event is not being able to push on at mile 5 to try and catch the leaders. I didn't hit my stride till mile 8 or 9 and to seriously compete, I need to be able to run at a faster pace for a longer time, right from the start. I can run continuously at an 8 minute per mile pace. Anything below that and my endurance just can't keep up. This leaves me with two options to improve:
- Lose weight - Losing weight will help me out by about 2 seconds per mile. Technically, I am obese for the weight and height that I am. However, my body fat percentage is below 12%. That means I have roughly 20 lbs of just fat on my body. Losing half of that, which will take a serious diet change, will gain me 40 seconds per mile off my time. This would have made my TM run on Sunday a lot more comfortable and I might have had the stamina to push on harder at mile 5 and beyond.
- Do more Tempo Runs - Tempo runs help to build the lactic threshold. This allows for longer runs at higher speeds before you start to tire out. Since my training is slowly shifting to focus for the WTM in November, these will become a key portion of my training.
I want to gain 30 seconds per mile for my pace time. Cutting weight will be the biggest obstacle for me since it requires a major diet change. But the benefits will be worth it. I refuse to hold back a team mate on another run.
FOCUS TRAINING FOR WTM 2013
- Grip Strength - Continue bouldering and training on my climbing wall
- Running - Keep increasing mileage and frequency of long runs
- Rucking - Build up to 50 lb pack and hike for 10 miles. Will use in place of sprint days.
- Weight Training - Maintain leg and upper body strength
- Complete 2 (Maybe 3) laps at TM Michigan in a little over a month.
Remember, nothing is impossible. It just takes longer.
