Tough Mudder Part 2

The appeal of tough Mudder is two fold: teamwork and primal desires. Much like a person's desire to have sex, I think we also yearn to run. Additionally, we all yearn, deep down, to run and commit ourselves to challenges. Tough Mudder forces people to push themselves to do crazy, scary and often painful things. This experience changes people. I feel stronger and more confident. I feel like I can accomplish any of my goals, both fitness and otherwise. I am already looking forward to my next Mudder.

I am going to use this post to talk about some of the more intense experiences from the Mudder. The first and foremost would have to be the electric eel. This little obstacle involves live wires and a very muddy plastic sheet to slide and crawl across. Personally, I didn't get shocked. I was able to get low and slide 2/3 of the way across, and I never touched any of the wires. Some of my friends were not so lucky. One got a wire to the head, which forced him to hit his head on the ground. Watching this obstacle was priceless. People were screaming and losing body control left and right. There was a good crowd watching this one too.

There were also two obstacles involving small tunnels. One was a bit more dry than the other, involving a crawl through more mud than anything else. The problem was that the tunnel was lined with 2x4 supports that often met with my knee. I still have some bruises from it, but it was pretty freaky to be underground in the dark. I loved it. The other tunnel was much more difficult and intimidating. I had to slide down a steep plastic tunnel into a freezing cold pool of water. Then I had to go under water to climb into another tube and make my way up again. Getting back into the tunnel was tough enough that hit my forehead right at my hairline. I still have pretty good gash from this. Still, this was my only blood drawn, so I have to talk it up.



Obviously I will be talking about this for awhile, but I want to talk about my workout for a bit. I got back to the gym, even with a sore knee. I think the workout actually helped quite a bit. I think I just needed to stretch it out a bit. I hit the elliptical hard, doing 6 minute 50 second miles while interval training. I also did 17 burpees every 10 minutes. I had a consistent heart rate above 150, which is great for my cardio.

Following successful cardio was a quality lift. I had already warmed up with the burpees, so I worked my back next. Then I did abs in between each individual exercise. I benched a little, did some body weight work, and hit my back hard (I really need to focus on this more as I work towards triathlons). For a Monday after a day off, I was happy with the experience.

Tomorrow I am going to get up early, knee permitting, to go on a run. The weather is going to be surprisingly warm all week, so I want to take full advantage. I also want to get in as much work as possible on a day where I have to work two jobs. I just have to get creative with it. Additionally, I think I will bust out the old resistance bands and work my arms a bit. We will see ow the day goes. Should take some pressure off during my brief afternoon workout, and I won't feel like such a bum.

I leave you with another Mudder picture.



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