Outside's Tough Mudder training plan

I stumbled upon this training plan from Outside magazine - and was heartened to see it's not too dissimilar from what I've created for myself...

Looks good, and nicely achievable with the current lead-time for Tough Mudder Melbourne... Perhaps I'm on the right track after all!

Tough Mudder Workout - Official pain.

So this morning I got up early (but not early enough) to do a run-through of the official Tough Mudder Workout, which I'm planning to do 3 days a week....

First, the excuses: (to be read with a suitably whiney voice) - Well, I'm still sore from commencing jogging on Monday, and due to the sprained ligament I haven't done my usual group training in about a month.....

Ok - that's out of the way. So, now may I say, 'Ouch!'

When you look through that list you think "Oh yeah, I've done those, only a minute each. No biggie...'

By station 6 I was completely knackered!! The combination of exercises combined with the intensity and short break periods makes it a completely different beast. Even in group circuit training my muscles may be screaming but my heart and lungs are fine. But this morning I was panting like an overheated, overexcited labrador, with my heart pounding in my ears....  I actually only made it half way through before time was running short, and I'll do the rest tomorrow.

Hoping this is only a 'getting back into it' kind of suffering and I can pick up the pace soon enough.

My calves hate me...

Must have been all that hill work yesterday, but venturing out onto the oval behind work for the first of my lunchtime jogs was an exercise in agony, literally...

Now the incessant words of my wife of "Stretch, damn you. Stretch!" are coming back to haunt me...

Training commences - Run for the hills!!

So after putting my birthday 'long weekend' behind me (where I knew any thought of commencing training would be a laughable impossibility) I decided to return to work with some pre-work training...

Conveniently, there were some geocaches I wanted to polish off in the Dandenong ranges, having not completed them on the weekend, so decided this would be a perfect excuse to multi-task with some trail running. So, up at 5.30am (the hardest part by far!) and I was out in the hills by 6 for a series of shortish jogs across the forests that scatter the hills. 

Not surprisingly, I wasn't the only one out at that hour - With the hills busy with the early morning risers, many targeting the 1000 steps (which I'm keeping in mind for future group training possibilities - although its busy-ness with joggers and walkers makes it far from ideal), it was actually a great way to start the training regime. Out in the quiet morning hours, alone in the woods, nothing but the breeze in the trees and the thud of footsteps on dirt. And managed to even make it without a single leech issue! 

It was also a bit of a wake-up call regarding my jogging prowess. While I've been an ok jogger in the past it's clearly been a while - and the hills made it even more unpleasant. Definitely some work to do here....

I have a cunning plan, m'Lord.

Planning is always easier than the doing, but one has to at least start with a plan - And this is mine at least for the initial stages of preparation for the Tough Mudder Melbourne.

Of course, December is a terrible time to start what with Christmas, New Years, (as well as my birthday), and the fact that it can be 30-40 degrees celsius here during Summer - But then there's always excuses if you want them  :)

So, this be it:

Monday - Morning session at home following the TM workout (as closely as possible with the equipment/space we have). Evening circuit training.

Tuesday - Lunchtime jog/sprints

Wednesday - Morning TM workout session. Evening group boxing.

Thursday - Lunchtime jog/sprints

Friday - Morning TM workout session.

Weekend - At least one long jog (an hour preferably).

Combined with the regular cycling to work that I do some/most days....

There's no swimming in there yet, but I'll perhaps get into that when I get the chance and space. I don't know of too many local pools that ice them up though!

The starting blocks

So, where am I currently in terms of fitness and preparation for this?

6ft3...

38 years old... 

83kg...

Blood pressure good. No major health problems apart from mild asthma and a recently strained knee ligament (recovering well). 

Overall - reasonably fit... I'm definitely not 'unfit'! But having said that it's a very practical, every day kind of fitness. Let's break down what makes this up:

Cycling - This is the big one for me. I ride to work at least half the time, which is about 40km return. Not bad - Enough for everyone at work to treat me like 'the fit one'. But to be honest I don't think it makes me all that fit. Plenty of cyclists pass me on the way home - as I treat it as transport rather than some VO2 max experience. And 120kms a week isn't that much really. Besides, I don't think 'cycling fitness' is going to help me all that much in the Mudder. But it's a useful baseline.

Group training - Due to the generosity of our workplace we get subsidised group training. Bonus. So one evening a night is an hour of circuit training, and another is an hour of boxing. Been doing that for the last year, so all up that's pretty good and pushed me to improve my weaknesses. 

Weights training - This has been on and off over many years. I know my upper body is pathetic, so I've always tried to find time to focus on it. During some periods I have been able to really get into that and it definitely made some improvements, but as with everything finding the time has been the challenge. I'm not a good early riser, let that be known :)

Running - This is more something I 'used to do', but probably still can a bit. When I had some periods off work I took up the Gateway to 8km podrunner series and was happily up to 8k, which I was thrilled about. Wasn't even that hard... But that was a while ago now! And let it be said, I hate jogging.

So they're the core things. What else is in my arsenal? (no jokes please)

Bushwalking - I've been a fond bushwalker in the past, and hoping to find more time to do more soon (A young family put the brakes on that for a while). Not really a 'fitness' thing but definitely helpful in terms of forcing yourself to continue on the hard slog when you really don't wanna.

Combat - A few years of Krav Maga a little while back. I think that's also a good bit of mental preparation. It too pushed me out of my comfort zone like the Mudder will. I know mental strength is not my strongest point so anything that can help me 'harden up' in that regard will be very useful. 

So that's the starting point.... I'm not sure how much improvement I can make over the next 3 months, but I know that my plan is to go as hard as possible over the next few months to be as fit as I possibly can. I don't think someone can 'overtrain' for the Mudder, can they??