And away we go!

Well - here we are.

About 100 days or so since I started this blog at the beginning of this journey and we are now at the end of it - Well, at least the end of this part of it....

Those 100 days went bloody quickly. Feels like we've hardly started training and it was time to taper - But, in hindsight, I think we've given it a pretty good shot. We've all made improvements, and despite occasional wailings and misgivings we're all pretty much in the best shape we could be with the time that we had.

I'm personally amazed by what the other team mates around me have done - Going from a wheezing 10km run and struggling with pushups, to 20kms without any real stress and performing all sorts of physical feats we would never have considered before.

This week will be the test of how all that preparation has gone, and to see how much we're capable of - physically and mentally. I'm looking forward to seeing how that goes.

This will be the last entry therefore - We're heading off in a few hours to get down there tonight before volunteering tomorrow and running on Sunday. It's been fun keeping a record of the progress to date, and I look forward to reporting back in a few days time (if I survive/return!!!)

Good luck to all you udder Mudders out there. Believe in yourself, look after your team (or at least your neighbour) and we'll come out smiling...

'Carbo-loading' - The one and a half most beautiful words in the world.

So with the glorious beauty of 'taper week' (ie. easing off on the training until stopping completely a few days out) comes the equally rapturous experience of 'carbo-loading')

It's just such an odd, bewilding experience to be basically given licence to eat - and in many instances eat things we would never have touched before. We've been roughly following this kind of approach, but still - being TOLD to drink soft drinks, sports drinks and cordial, all the while snacking on relatively refined carbohydrates is just an eery form of bliss :)

I'm sure the pain to come will be greater of course, but for now we're enjoying it immensely. Another hot-cross bun anyone???

Our first peek at the Phillip Island course....

Just up on the Tough Mudder Australia facebook page....

Eeks!!!  Suddenly makes it feel so much more 'real'

Why I'm doing Tough Mudder...

..as opposed to Tough Bloke, Warrior Dash, Spartan Race or something else with a dicky name here.

Do any google search for these 'mud runs' (as I've quite reasonably been doing a lot of in the last few months!) and you'll soon come across the usual pissing contests about which event is better, which is tougher, which is 'real', blah, blah... and so on.

It has made me look around and consider the other options, but in the end I keep coming back to Tough Mudder. Why? Well, I'm not for a second going to pretend that it's because it's 'probably the toughest event on the planet' - I think all of us who are doing it know that's a bit of creative licence with marketing as there are bundles of harder things out there (think ironman, multi-day marathons, etc). So what else is there in it for me....

1. First and foremost - I love the approach it takes in not being a race. I'm a deeply uncompetitive person myself - I can't be bothered fighting other people or pushing to get ahead of someone, especially in something as (relatively) pointless as a running race. It just doesn't matter that much to me. But what does appeal to me about TM is that focus on camaraderie and helping other people out. I think it's fantastic.  Now, I'm sure there'll be a few narcissistic, self-centred, ego-heads who will cause a bit of grief on the day, but that commitment to helping your neighbour which is basic philosophy of Tough Mudder is something I respect and feel a deep affinity for.
2. It doesn't take itself too seriously - A lot of the other events do seem to take themselves so very very seriously. In the end, it should be enjoyable, fun, a bit of a laugh. Tough Mudders slightly laid back, self-mocking and tongue-in-cheek approach is something which I respect. It's a very 'Australian' thing too so I think it'll sit well in this country. Yes, it should be about training hard and doing your best, but if you don't come out of it with a smile on your face then something's wrong...
3. The length and the challenge - I reckon, for me, it's just about the right size of an event. Not too small to do it without thinking, but not so long as to feel like I could never complete it. It's a great balance of distance and obstacles/challenges. Everyone knows that despite the having the tag line of 'probably the toughest event on the planet' that it isn't. I'm sure even the organisers know that (hence the 'probably' line!) but they're just having a bit of fun. Again, a good attitude to have... 
4. And of course - because I stumbled upon it before I saw the other ones - And everyone always has a soft spot for their first :)

Of course, I'm saying all of this before the event has even happened, so we'll see how I feel in a week's time! 

Final week - inventory check.

It's officially less than a week away. Eeks!  And our team is in the middle of final preparations - Our hard training is essentially behind us as we now taper off and our mind turns to the logistics or what we need and how we'll go about the day.

And by the look of the stats on this site, lots of other people are doing the same as there's been a completely explosion in people visiting this site searching for 'tough mudder gloves melbourne'... So, welcome!

My personal inventory is pretty simple:

• Clothes - all quick-dry and tight-ish fitting, with a double short-layer consisting of compression shorts and outer shorts with zip-pockets.
• Gloves - The previously mentioned Mad-Grip gloves.
• Head - Possibly wearing a Halo bandana to keep my hair out of my face, but then I'm aware I could most likely lose this in many of the water obstacles so am inclined to forget about it.
• Shoes - I know they say any shoes you wear will be ruined, but I bought my new Asics Gel Trabuco's for a reason, so I'll be wearing them and to hell with the consequences.
• Water - The Tough Mudder participant pack did suggest bringing a hydration pack, but we probably won't be bothering. The weather for sunday is looking mild (25c) so we can probably do without it. 
• Food - Went out and bought a pack of GU gels yesterday, so that's sorted. Strangely, the chocolate was $6 cheaper. Hmm... Maybe a bit harder to swallow?
• Medical - New ventolin purchased and ready to go (probably plan to carry 2 if I can manage it just in case I lose one).

The only thing I still want to sort out is whether there are any socks more appropriate for water and mud than the basic cotton ones I'm wearing, so I'll do that research this week.... Otherwise we're pretty much ready to go.

Tough Mudder Melbourne 2013 - The date is set!

On getting some info for the upcoming event next week I stumbled upon the fact that Tough Mudder has released the dates for Melbourne for 2013 - February 16 and 17!

Woohoo - We were preparing ourselves to have to travel to Adelaide for it next year, but it seems that they have scheduled another Melbourne one. Awesome :)  That's a perfect training distance away, so perfect if you haven't felt ready for 2012...

Meanwhile, I'll wait until I finish this one next week before I commit myself to 2013!


Update: As of June, these dates have been changed to the 19th and 20th of January.

The time has arrived!

9:20am to be precise.

That's the start time we received from Tough Mudder HQ yesterday - And as soon as that time was in front of us the nerves started to kick into overdrive. It's all very real now!!

It's a slightly earlier than desired time but we're pleased with it. We also noticed that there are fewer waves on Sunday than Saturday so we're pleased to be there on the 'quieter' day.

We've all read the details and were surprised to see them encouraging hydration packs - Hmm.... I'm wondering if that's a real issue or whether they are just covering their backsides. I'll have to do some research on Saturday and see if it's really necessary - as I'd rather not have it getting in the way.

The other funny thing which stood out was reading the Death Waiver and seeing the line "alcohol consumption following the event is discouraged by Tough Mudder LLC...."  ??????????!! How did they get away with that one given that they give everyone a free beer?! And heavily promote that fact!

Nevertheless it's all happening, and we're looking forward to it. Training is getting harder to be motivated around ironically (given it's so close to our 'rest' week and hard to believe that much you do now will make a difference!) but soon enough we'll see whether we've done enough.

18km Lysterfield run route

As mentioned in my previous post, I've put up a .gpx file of the 18km route through Lysterfield in the links on the right.

This file, unlike the previous, was downloaded straight off the GPS rather than constructed on Google Earth - So it's a lot more detailed (and includes all our stops, breaks, and swims!) and might be a bit off track now and then with GPS fluctuations - But it's all there and it should guide you through the necessary turns easily enough. 

It's a great run - and one we're likely to continue on a semi-regular basis even when the training is behind us :)

Two weeks up... Two weeks down!

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post - And it's been a turbulent ride...

For some reason I entered last week in completely the wrong frame of mind. To be honest, I'd simply had enough... Any thought of training couldn't have been further from my mind and if you'd asked me then to sign up to Tough Mudder I probably would've said no...

Not only that but I began to doubt my ability at the event - My mind was telling me "Ah, you've got less than a month to go - You can't improve any from now until then so why try.", and I also began to question whether I'd really improved much at all over the last 4 months - Which of course is silly because there have been improvements (and you can't really do all that exercise and NOT get better... can you??!??) - but my head and heart just weren't in it. Doesn't help that I'm my own worse judge in terms of fitness improvements...

So I took the week off. Regrouped. Managed a bit of a jog on Friday and entered this, the second last week before the Mudder, in quite a better mind set. I'm not sure what happened. I think I just hit the wall in terms of training and the intensity of it had just got the better of me...

....

But, it's not what you experience that defines you, it's how you respond to it that matters - So on the weekend, exactly 2 weeks out from the big day, the team hit Lysterfield once again for our final group run - This time knocking off 18km - Our longest run ever, and roughly equivalent to the Tough Mudder Phillip Island course. And we all made it pretty well I must admit - Apart from a slight scare when one team member (and our works' CEO!) took a tumble on a downhill shale track and twisted his knee. For a moment we though it all might be over, but probably out of sheer stubborness he got up and kept going and seems to be ok.

The rest of this week is our last big hurrah - full on training for as many days as possible. It sure is easier to do an exercise routine when you can say to yourself "This is the LAST TIME I have to do this one!" :)  

And after this week we'll taper down - probably just a few simple sessions and lightweight jogs before a full rest a couple of days out.  Speaking of rest, we also discovered that the Sunday of the TM is the same day that daylight savings ends here, so we'll have an extra hour's sleep that night!!! Given I have to get up and be down there with my wife (who's volunteering) at 6am, that'll be much appreciated!

You're making a monkey out of me...

Our team's training has been pretty comprehensive. Lots of running, and lots of training relevant to particular obstacles.

The monkey bars in particular have been one that has stood out in this prep, as (a) it requires muscles and training which we don't do a lot of normally (ie. pull ups, swinging, gripping) and (b) it's the sort of activity that none of us have done since primary school!!

Our trainer's been pretty good, with lots of chin ups, pull ups and hangs included in the training programs. Which has been great... But, for me at least, there's one huge glaring problem with my monkey bar preparation - I haven't actually practiced monkey bars!!

Now, I'm not to blame here!!! I've desperately tried but there's one thing standing in my way - My 6ft3 height. Monkey bars around here simply aren't that high - probably because they're in playgrounds and safety restrictions mean they can't be that high. I've tried tucking my legs up but that makes it much harder, and you still can't swing properly - which has resulted in nothing but searing shoulder pain and little success.

I'd even considered using our extension ladder at home and propping it up at an angle somewhere (which would also help me experience what the incline will feel like) but even at home there's nowhere to do that properly and safely. 

Sigh.

So I'm half resigned to having the Mudder be my first experience of 'true' monkey bars.... and quite likely a rapid drop into the mud and ice soon after that!

One month out - and the knee's back in.

After a week nursing an ITB injury and fretting severely over what my running ability would be for the Tough Mudder, I broke my jogging 'fast' with another group run at Lysterfield.  Each time we've done this run we've bumped the mileage up ever so slightly, with us now hitting 15kms over the two hours we were out there, including a lake dunk (and a short episode of losing a team member (not in the lake thankfully!))

I spent the whole run overfocussed on my knee. Every twinge or tightness being examined, analysed and panicked about. But I'm pleased to say that by the end of the run it was clear that this damn ITB has been sorted - or at least I'm working out how to manage it so it doesn't cause problems. No real pain was evident, so much so that the worse thing experienced was some calf tightening.... Brilliant! :)  I'm mighty pleased and will continue with the arse-busting agony of the foam roller to make sure the knee pain stays away...

Meanwhile, one of our team's supporters (we have quite a few people at work who aren't running with us, but are being very supportive and will even come down to watch and cheer) took part in the Tough Bloke Challenge on Sunday, knocking off the 6km course in just over 1 hour. It was great to hear her feedback - with the strangest being that the mud made her skin feel incredible the day after!  So I guess that's something a bit unexpected to look forward to.

With just under a month to go it really has all come down to the pointy end now and it's all becoming very 'real'. Fingers crossed this last month is injury free and gives us what we need to get through the course as best as we can.