I am always looking for new and challenging ways to test my health and fitness. If you’ve read my blog for long at all, then you know that one way I’ve tested my “skinny strength” in the past is the Tactical Strength Challenge. Definitely a test of strength, it also measures your conditioning, or at least your ability to tough out a RKC style 5 minute kettlebell snatch test.

I think it was late last year when I first heard about the Tough Mudder. And it certainly sounded intriguing. Not a race so much as an event, it would definitely test my mettle. So I signed up. I also was able to convince a small posse to join me and we formed a team of 12 aptly dubbed the “Purposeful Primitives.” Now the real purpose of the experience was to raise money for the “Wounded Warrior Project” and I feel like we did well for them as well. I raised almost $500 myself, plus one of my teammates and I had a fundraiser that netted another $400 or so. If you would like to help these folks out more, then please feel free. The WWP offers all kinds of support to those who have served and suffered so it’s a wonderful cause.

The reason I enter these events is to give me a real purpose to my training. I’m not all that interested in training for the sake of training and I like to have specific goals in mind. These aspirations keep me motivated and on course.

Back to the Tough Mudder. When I first heard about it I was very interested. It wasn’t all that long at 7.25 miles and I certainly don’t much enjoy running but there were hills to run (read cliffs…seriously). Walls to scale. Water to swim through (45 degree agua). Barbed wire to crawl under, mud to trudge through and even fire to sprint across. As my 5 year old son Alex said to me wide eyed, “Daddy, your gonna run through fire?!” He was quite impressed.

I read through the whole Tough Mudder training recommendations and it was basically what I do already: Lift heavy, intervals, kettlebells, some more running etc. I didn’t alter my training at all but my secret to success was that I ran a total of ONE TIME. Yes that’s right. What I mean is that I ran for 20 minutes once. I did do sprints 6 times or so but as far as actual running, I did it once. I figured that my swings and snatches would be perfect to get me ready and I was right. I’m really not even sore at all. I will call it the WTF effect instead of the “what the heck” effect. I even trained yesterday and that was less than 24 hours after I finished.

I won’t lie to you and try to recreate the whole happening here. I was in a “zone” and didn’t have time to stop and take notes.:) A couple things though. First, my 30th high school reunion was this past Friday. Copious amounts of alcohol were drunk. Let’s see….I had my first beer at 4 PM and I went to bed at 12 AM. So I woke up Saturday morning and I was thinking why? Why in the world am I going to dead lift at Marty’s hungover and with this stupid race Sunday? I set a personal best in the dead lift. Bleary eyed and with one egg in me and some coffee I managed to pull 330 for two. Best double before was 315. Then Marty fed me grass fed prime rib and some local fresh asparagus and I was off to Allentown. Hangovers can be treated quite well by lifting heavy and eating primal FYI.

I drove directly to Bear Creek and registered for the race. Got my bib, my t-shirt and a course preview. Went to my hotel, showered and went to meet some teammates for dinner. I managed to get to bed early enough but I hadn’t planned on waking up at 5 AM for a 1230 PM start. I did manage to read a bit of “Protein Power Life plan” and rested a bit more but got up at 7 and had some eggs and sausage. Also some coffee and orange juice cut with water.

I left the hotel and arrived at the Tough Mudder about 915 AM or so. I just went into relaxation mode and waited for the rest of the team to show up. I had met the women of “Team Fancy Pants” the day before. Some were from Maryland and some Pennsylvania and at least one of them was a regular reader of this blog so that was cool. I saw them again on Sunday and they were a great group to meet. They were also assigned to get going at 1230 PM.

At 11 AM the first group went off. Prior to the fireworks that announced the start(literally) there was a The Star Spangled Banner, followed by bagpipes. We would be in the 8th group and I was meeting the whole team at 1130 AM because we had to be ready at 1145 to walk up the mountain to the start area.

I taped my ankles, applied sunscreen and did some joint mobility work to get ready and the hike to the start helped warm me up. When our fireworks went off to signal our start we had to first run back down the hill we just walked up. This was the first obstacle and was called “The Braveheart Challenge.” There were 500 folks or so in our group and once we hit the bottom we did the “Death March” right back up a gravel path to the top of the mountain. That was easy compared to what would follow. Next we crawl across what was left of a snow field but after that things get a bit nebulous. So let me just give you the highlights.

We had to run/walk/crawl up a very, very steep incline. It was so precipitous at the top that bear crawling was the only option.
There was a mud bog that you had to sprint through. If you didn’t “high step” fast then the mud would suck your shoes off. Speaking of shoes….you know the little bubbles that blue crabs blow out of their mouths? Well my shoes were making the same gurgling noises for the rest of the day.

After this swamp we ran about 2 ½ miles through a very rocky forested trail. I saw more than a few people end up with severe or perhaps even broken ankles as you really had to pay attention to where you stepped. Fatigue didn’t help the level of concentration.
We also did tactical crawls across and mud and gravelly field underneath some kind of rope net. Also same thing with wire.
45 degree water does shrink your balls also. We had to inch our way across a rope bridge and that was our first feel for the chilly wet. Of course, right after that we dove 15 feet into an icy pond, swam out past one buoy and then back to land. Folks were literally cramping up as they hit the drink and were being pulled out by SCUBA divers.

The “Berlin Wall” was the next obstacle and there were two 9 foot walls to scale. Here’s where my Tactical Pull ups came in handy. That was actually the easiest obstacle for me. Pretty much home free at this point the last mystery obstacle was a right turn back around another lake and up another short but steep hill in order to get to the fire at the finish. I got a right calf cramp right after the walls and at another hill, got them worked out and kept going. Literally 800 yards from the finish BOTH calves went into spasm. I found a light pole and stretched them enough to actually sprint through the flames. And you had to run fast. If you didn’t there was a great chance of losing at least your eyebrows and eye lashes. Seriously.

If you have a chance to do the Tough Mudder please do. You will feel like you can do anything. Completing it made me feel as strong and tough as my 5 year old thinks I am and I can’t begin to tell you proud that feels at 48.

Train with purpose,

Sandy Sommer RKC