Miw-Sher's Tough Mudder Survival Journey

[Miw_Sher]

05/02

Morning Workout:

Mobility Exercises
Not much else since I woke up feeling like I spent the entire last night drinking, even though I haven't.

 

Evening Workout:

Foam Rolling

Mobility Warmup

Balance Drill: Starmaster Workout (1 min per leg)

Upper Body Challenge - Day 7
Foundation - Day 7 (Level 2 - 0.5 kg weights on the arm raises, I don't have arms anymore)
Knee Rehab: Iron Bar Workout (Sequence 2, 10 reps, still hurt)

Stretch

[Miw_Sher]

Two things :

 

First:

I'm moving on to running next week since I am basically jogging during my walks and my knee does not hurt anymore. I'm toying between a 5K programme and this:  http://darebee.com/running/the-long-run.html

 

I think though, that given the mileage I was doing while walking, I'll go for The Long Run, it's simultaneously light enough while also building up time rather quickly. Also, it has sprints in it which is a big plus. Also, if the longer runs turn out to be too much I'll switch over to teh 5K programme.

Second - and I'm going to be need some proper advice on this:

Medecins sans Frontières is organising a charity run at the occasion of the Brussels half-marathon at the end of May. More info here: http://msf-azg.be/fr/20km

Interestingly, the date fits perfectly with a 12-week half-marathon running programme. (the 20k itself has a 14-week one on their website).

A half-marathon being a potential milestone in my tough mudder training, I'm now trying to figure out whether it would be a good idea to sign up (as a milestone), or a terrible one (due to an increased risk of injury).

 

Things to consider:

 

Pros:
It being a charity race, I would not be running for time, I just need to make a 4h cutoff time (which is essentially a brisk walk).
The date is the day before my birthday, and it's be a huge win for me if I actually managed to run it.

It would leave me a good five weeks to concentrate only on TM training, knowing I can at least run the distance.

Cons:
I couldn't find any shorter races in the region to practice beforehand. (though they might still pop up)

Risk of overdoing it and injury.

 

Neutral:

I do know someone that I could train with and help me not overdo things/keep form in check.

Opinions on this one?

 

[Sloth the Enduring]

I like signing up for races to keep me motivated and as a check on fitness. If you can do it at a brisk walk, you should do it as long as training for it doesn't get in the way of your other training.

[Charlie_Quinn]

I say go for it. Being able to run a half marathon distance will be a big advantage for TM. Plus, what I great way to celebrate your birthday! Just make sure you don't push yourself too hard to fast in training as the last thing you want is an injury. Tips for injury avoidance: Stick to your training plan, make sure you do your long runs at a nice easy pace (unless your training plan specifically says to run at "race pace") and do a dynamic warm up before and a cool down after each session. I've learnt the hard way that the warm up and cool down are the most important part of race training!

 

Good luck!

[DarK_RaideR]

A half marathon is way longer than a TM, even though no mud or obstacles are involved. I'd say as long as you have someone to train with (accountability+knowledge) you should do it. Hell of a way to celebrate your birthday, a good fitness test before the Mudder and since you're not racing for time, you can take it easy. Any race longer than 10km, my goal is to simply make it to the finish line so I'd say do the same and have fun!

[Miw_Sher]

Alright, based on the overwhelming majority (read, united opinion) I've decided to go for it. I'm signing up first thing in the morning. I'm just going to make sure I keep it slow and stick to the training plan and...

 

What is that?

 

My tabata timer this morning messed up and I ended up running 10 minutes instead of the four planned? Also you forgot to stretch after?

 

Shhhht... details....

 

That really happened though.

 

Morning Workout:

Mobility Exercises

Foam Rolling
Warm-Up

The Long Run - Day 1 (except I did 4 min run, 1 min walk and then 10 min run at least before I realised my timer was not counting down anymore....)

Stretch. (I'm still pretty baffled I actually forgot this)

 

Upper Body Challenge - Day 8 (throughout the day)

 

Evening Workout:

Foam Rolling
Foundation - Day 8

No Knee rehab it being a stretching day. Did a longer Stretch Session instead.

 

 

[Miw_Sher]

10 hours ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

I say go for it. Being able to run a half marathon distance will be a big advantage for TM. Plus, what I great way to celebrate your birthday! Just make sure you don't push yourself too hard to fast in training as the last thing you want is an injury. Tips for injury avoidance: Stick to your training plan, make sure you do your long runs at a nice easy pace (unless your training plan specifically says to run at "race pace") and do a dynamic warm up before and a cool down after each session. I've learnt the hard way that the warm up and cool down are the most important part of race training!

 

Good luck!

 

So, my current warm-up looks like this:

 

Forward + Side Leg Swings (10x)

Hip Rotations (10x)

Calf Raises (10x)

Walking Lunges (10x)

Side-To-Side Lunges (10x)

Then about two minutes of "Silly Walks" before setting off. (Solder Walks, Knees-to-Butt Walk, High Knees...)

My cool down is rather unspecific at the moment, it is just walking for five minutes followed by different stretches targeting quads, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors and calves. I mostly do these in "runner's lunge" position or similar rather than, you know, just stretching my quads by pulling my ankles up to my butt, because for some reason my brain thinks it makes more sense. (probably because it got the word "runner" in it)

 

If you have any recommended routines I'll gladly take one.

 

Anything I should include/get rid of?

 

8 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

A half marathon is way longer than a TM, even though no mud or obstacles are involved. I'd say as long as you have someone to train with (accountability+knowledge) you should do it. Hell of a way to celebrate your birthday, a good fitness test before the Mudder and since you're not racing for time, you can take it easy. Any race longer than 10km, my goal is to simply make it to the finish line so I'd say do the same and have fun!

 

It turns out I do have someone to train with, who apparently successfully ran a marathon last fall, but also that the way it went is that he and his friend went "Hey! Let's run a marathon!" and then went at it.

 

Then again, the person telling me that was my slightly arrogant "i-am-very-smart-and-responsible" classmate who clearly had no clue what he was talking about, so I'm not sure how accurate his judgement is. In any case I'll make sure to read up on training plans and tips from people who know a lot better than me.

And yes, "Simply make it to the finish line", shall be my mantra.

 

[Miw_Sher]

Here, it's inspirational now.

[Charlie_Quinn]

13 hours ago, Miw_Sher said:

So, my current warm-up looks like this:

 

Forward + Side Leg Swings (10x)

Hip Rotations (10x)

Calf Raises (10x)

Walking Lunges (10x)

Side-To-Side Lunges (10x)

Then about two minutes of "Silly Walks" before setting off. (Solder Walks, Knees-to-Butt Walk, High Knees...)

My cool down is rather unspecific at the moment, it is just walking for five minutes followed by different stretches targeting quads, hamstrings, glutes, hip flexors and calves. I mostly do these in "runner's lunge" position or similar rather than, you know, just stretching my quads by pulling my ankles up to my butt, because for some reason my brain thinks it makes more sense. (probably because it got the word "runner" in it)

 

If you have any recommended routines I'll gladly take one.

 

Anything I should include/get rid of?

 

Your warm up is pretty much identical to what I do. I do some calf raises as well, but that's because I get very tight calves. The only big no no is doing static stretches before running. 

 

For a warm down, foam roll! You'll hate it at first, then you'll learn to love it. I've also started to do the core routine from Strength Running. Core strength will help not only your running, but with Tough Mudder as well.

[Miw_Sher]

8 hours ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

 

Your warm up is pretty much identical to what I do. I do some calf raises as well, but that's because I get very tight calves. The only big no no is doing static stretches before running. 

 

For a warm down, foam roll! You'll hate it at first, then you'll learn to love it. I've also started to do the core routine from Strength Running. Core strength will help not only your running, but with Tough Mudder as well.

Oooh, Strength Running! <3 My training schedule is pretty packed right now, BUT I was in fact telling myself that as I move forward I'm going to have to push things around to start including more core work at some point. I'll keep the core routine in mind.

I do (or try to do) foam rolling before training actually, as it was given me as a tip to help with knee pain. And speaking of tight calves - foam rolling my calves was excruciating the first couple of times. It's gotten so much better so quickly I'm impressed.

Speaking of routines - after all that Knee Rehab and walking I actually feel the difference in how much I use my glutes now vs before. My step is much lighter and I feel my bum when walking and running.
 

[Miw_Sher]

07/02

 

Morning Workout:

Mobility Exercises

Foam Rolling
Warm-Up

The Long Run - Day 2 (no timer incidents this time)

Stretch

 

Evening Workout:

Foam Rolling

Quick Warm Up

Balance Drill: Starmaster Workout (2 min per leg)

Upper Body Challenge - Day 9 (failed the last rep)

Foundation Level II - Day 9

Knee Workout (yeah I wasn't very inspired there)

Stretch

[Severine]

Yay for signing up for the race! I think the fact that it's a charity race and you basically have a completion goal rather than a performance goal makes it a smart thing. It hopefully will be motivating without overworking you.

[Miw_Sher]

So I signed up, or that race, I have a fundraising page with my name and everything on it!

 

Now I just need to proceed to annoy my family and friends with it for the next 132 days.

So, today was one of those days where I just could not get out of bed on time. Since I was doing sprints and they felt like a daytime activity anyhow (can't see anything in the dark) I pushed them to noon as a work break and did some yoga in the morning. It did feel kind of weird to not kick off the day exercising.

 

07/02

 

Morning:
Mobility Exercises

Yoga

 

Noon:

Foam Rolling
Warm-Up

The Long Run - Day 3

Stretch

 

Evening Workout:

Foam Rolling

Quick Warm Up

Balance Drill: Starmaster Workout (2 min per leg)

Upper Body Challenge - Day 10

Foundation Level II - Day 10

Iron Bar Workout (sequence 1, 10 reps)

Stretch

 

 

Also, I actually had my first annoying jogging encounter. Random guy actually stopped his car, rolled down the window and then shouted something at me. I at first thought he was telling me I could not run where I was, then I realised he was smiling at me.

Just.. people..

[Miw_Sher]

22 hours ago, Severine said:

Yay for signing up for the race! I think the fact that it's a charity race and you basically have a completion goal rather than a performance goal makes it a smart thing. It hopefully will be motivating without overworking you.

 

"Just make it to the finish line!" ^^

 

I'm actually fully committed to go no faster than a walk if needed.

[Mr.Six]

Great progress so far!!

[Miw_Sher]

07/02

 

Morning Workout:

Mobility Exercises

Foam Rolling
Warm-Up

The Long Run - Day 4

Stretch

 

Evening Workout:

Foam Rolling

Warm Up

Balance Drill: Starmaster Workout (2 min per leg)

Upper Body Challenge - Day 11

Foundation Level II - Day 11

Six o'Clock Workout (12reps first line and10 reps second line)

Stretch

 

So, I don't know if it's because I have been mindlessly stuffing myself with food all day or if I overexerted mysefl yesterday, but I was unable to do more than 3 reps of 8 incline (decline? the easy version) push-ups. I might have been able to do a fourth set but my shoulder started to hurt suspiciously so I decided to not push it; That was odd though, because I did not really feel any discomfort throughout the day and I warmed up thoroughly. :/

I managed to do the jacks without many issues though, so I'm hoping it's nothing bad.

 

[Miw_Sher]

Shoulder seems ok, it's still hurting but not much more than a sore muscle would. I think I figured out what happened, though. I often get very stiff and painful shoulders in that area after spending long times without break on my laptop, which is what happened yesterday because I was on a roll. Anyhow, I'll se how it goes tomorrow and either take a break for the weekend, just stretching and rolling my shoulders a lot, or toning down the push-ups. I realise I need some kind of foam-rolling/stretching routine for my shoulder, though. Ugh. What life in front of a laptop does to you....

 

I also messed up timers again and went for a 15 minute instead of a 10 minute run. at this point, I am continuing directly from the 15 minute run onwards because I did it wil little problem and my knees are also fine.

I also did Foundation on Level I today because I went to donate my blood and did not want to push it too much.

 

10/02

 

Morning Workout:

Mobility Exercises

Foam Rolling
Warm-Up

The Long Run - Day 9

Stretch

 

Evening Workout:

Foam Rolling

Warm Up

Upper Body Challenge - Day 12

Foundation Level I - Day 12

Knee Saver Workout

Stretch

[Jarric]

Congrats on signing up for the half marathon, that's really cool!

 

For what it's worth, whenever I do a press-up challenge I end up hurting my shoulder and having to take a break. It might be different for different people, but I'm just not convinced that daily push-ups are actually a safe idea unless you're staying well below maximum exertion.

[Miw_Sher]

First things first...

 

Saturday 11/12:

 

I overslept which ended in a "auto-mode on", day, which is also why I did not post here.

 

Morning Workout:

Mobility Exercises

Foam Rolling
Warm-Up

The Long Run - Day 10

Stretch

Throughout Day:

Foundation Level II - Day 13

Upper Body Challenge On hold, did this instead: Rotator Cuff Workout

 

Evening Workout:

I don't remember if I did anything during the evening. Probably not or just some stretching.
 

Sunday 12/12:

 

I had what was supposed to be an easy hike scheduled, 14km, little hills, then back. How it actually went is in the spoiler tab....

 

Morning:
 

Warm Up

Foundation Level I - Day 12

Stretch

Hike:

 

Spoiler

If there is one thing I've learnt is that the human body is absolutely amazing.

I've been wanting to go hiking for a while, since we have quite a lot of green in the region and I miss doing it as a kid. Since I don't want it to interfere with my training, I see this 24km hike scheduled going through a village. I figure - perfect! I can stop at the village and go home. I talk with the hike guide and he says no problem. You can do it this way.

Anyhow, we go off, and arrive at the village, I'm feeling very fine, barely tired (all that walking, running and getting lost on walks is paying off). I ask how much is left of the hike and he says it's more or less another 10km, mostly flat and downhill. At that point i say - oh well, I'm not even feeling tired and my legs are fine, if it's flat I'll just come along.

It really, really was not flat.

To add to it, at some point the group split in two and I somehow found myself going to in the faster group, that also decided to take a "shortcut" that ended up going through the muddiest course I have ever seen. 

Regardless, I was very fine until km 20. Then, however, we got to the village where we were supposed to take our train, which ended up being on top of another hill, and to finish it up, after managing without fail to follow the track for there previous 5hrs, we got lost in the town and made the trip 4km longer than it should have been.

The other hikers seemed to have been pretty much in the same shape as me because nobody was talking anymore for that last hour.

Still, I was surprised, because although I was starting to feel tired during the last km, my legs did not properly start giving until we reached the village. In fact, though I could tell my legs were getting tired, I personally did not feel any tiredness, or hunger, for that matter. I did calculations on what I ate, who much energy I expended, and so on on the way home, and it really, really is awe-inducing how much the body can sustain with little fuel. Also, muscles and how they compensate for each other.

 

The hike itself was absolutely beautiful, (pictures in a moment) and I'm ready to go again in a couple of weeks, but I did not have legs anymore and was ready to hit the hay. Still, I made an effort to properly stretch and foam roll for a good 40 minutes, which was probably smart because even though I still feel the tiredness, I am not sore by any means. However, I am starting to see a pattern with me and walk going twice as long as expected.

[Miw_Sher]

5 hours ago, Jarric said:

Congrats on signing up for the half marathon, that's really cool!

 

For what it's worth, whenever I do a press-up challenge I end up hurting my shoulder and having to take a break. It might be different for different people, but I'm just not convinced that daily push-ups are actually a safe idea unless you're staying well below maximum exertion.

 

Yeah, I actually though the same and consciously chose an incline where I could to push-ups fairly easily, it seems. The challenge itself allows a rest day between push-up reps, and for the first 10 days the foundation program is VERY light on the arms, so I did not really have any issues at the beginning.

But then I think it's on day 10 where all of a sudden... BOOM tricep dips! That was a day after I went to failure, and on top of that, I realised that, unlike last year, I could do tricep dips without bent knees! Wooooohhh.... Not smart.

That would have still been fine and the next day I was VERY weary of doing push-ups, but I thought I'd try it and as soon as I feel any discomfort I'd stop. Then however came that crappy day overall, where I overate, stayed way too long in front of my laptop without stretching, and looking back I think my form slipped on the fourth set because it went from: no pain to PAIN, in one push.

Anyhow, no real damage done it seems. I did a 1x8 test before today's workout, and it went well without any pain. I'm just going to push around the challenge days from now on to avoid this happening again.

[Miw_Sher]

Monday 13/12:

 

Morning Workout:

Mobility Exercises
Warm-Up

The Long Run - Day 11

Stretch

Due to the extenuating hike yesterday, running is temporarily suspended. I did do a bit of walking and stretching though because I find that active recovery works best for me rather than just doing nothing.

 

Evening Workout:

Foam Rolling

Warm Up

Balance Drill: Starmaster Workout (2 min per leg)

1 Set of 8 Push-Ups

Foundation Level I - Day 15 MODIFIED!

Iron Bar Workout

Stretch

Similarly, I modified the Foundation Day 15 to be an upper-body only workout, doing only step-ups to move my legs a bit after sitting all day. I DID do the whole Iron Bar workout instead, at 10 reps, and some longer stretching. I also did it on Level I, even though my shoulder doesn't seem to be hurting anymore, to be safe. 

[Miw_Sher]

Hiking pictures.

Note that my boots were amongst the cleanest.

 

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Inviato dal mio SM-G930F utilizzando Tapatalk

 

 

[Severine]

Wow, beautiful. Especially the first picture. That hike actually sounds like a lot of fun even if the guide lied   And it must have felt good to exceed your own expectations like that. 

 

You're super smart for stretching/foam rolling.

 

Also: a high five for red boots! Red is my favourite colour

 

[DarK_RaideR]

Your photos look amazing and I'm impressed at the distance hiked. Kudos for taking that muddy shortcut, the experience will come in handy in a few months...

[Miw_Sher]

23 hours ago, Severine said:

Wow, beautiful. Especially the first picture. That hike actually sounds like a lot of fun even if the guide lied   And it must have felt good to exceed your own expectations like that. 

 

You're super smart for stretching/foam rolling.

 

Also: a high five for red boots! Red is my favourite colour

 

 

Haha! Red is actually a theme in my 10k, part of my fundraising campaign apparently got centred around the fact that I will be running in a red hat.

For now, it's a woolen, hat, but I have a horrid feeling it will come back to bite me when I move to a baseball cap...

Also, the guide didn't lie, the map we had did show that it was straight forward and then downhill. It's just that it went downhill with a lot of uphills in between.

 

1 hour ago, DarK_RaideR said:

Your photos look amazing and I'm impressed at the distance hiked. Kudos for taking that muddy shortcut, the experience will come in handy in a few months...

 

Thank you! I genuinely think that the only thing that saved me is that I spent my childhood summers hiking up mountains, so I do know how to hike. It might not seem like it, but knowing how to pace yourself and how to walk makes a huge difference.