Tough Mudder Recap

What an adventure I've had this weekend! If you remember, in addition to doing the Tough Mudder this weekend, I also did a night run Friday night. I will talk about this tomorrow, but it turned into quite the adventure!

I have been very nervous for the Tough Mudder race. I had numerous hesitations before and after registering, but I've never been one to back down from a physical challenge, so I knew I was going to always go through with it. My main concern was injury. Since the race was little more than a month before the NYC Marathon, I was worried. Especially after hearing numerous stories of sprained ankles or worse. Signing up on a team with a bunch of Crossfit trainers and devoted Crossfit fanatics had me even more apprehensive. Luckily the other two girls, my running buddies Beth and Jess, agreed that none of us needed to be heroes and if we were ever in a situation we didn't think we could get through, we would go around. I knew the running portion wasn't going to be hard, especially with all the trail running I've been doing, but those obstacles had my stomach in knots all week!

Enough about the apprehension!

I woke up bright and early Sunday morning to eat a little something and, most importantly, consume some coffee!! We all carpooled out to Black Diamond, WA. The race was on an old coal mine, which was an interesting experience.

After much inner debate about what to wear, I finally decided to wear as little clothing as possible.  Since I was just going to be getting wet and muddy, I figured the less I had to cart around on my body, the better. I'm still not sure this was the best decision, but I'll explain in a bit.

We arrived at Black Diamond right on time. It was cold. Very, very cold. I was excited when I woke up because it was about 50 degrees outside. By the time we got out to the site, though, it was about 43 degrees. We (well, the girls) were whining and shivering until we started! One of the guys on our team, Paul, got shirts made for us, so we had a bit of team unity to go on. They all said "Level IV Nooners" on the back, because our Crossfit gym is called Level IV and most of the team goes to the noon class. Haha, it works!

Taken after the race, so I was a shivering mess!

We all got our race bibs, and the volunteers tried to mark our heads with our bib #'s with sharpies! Um, no thank you! I told them to put it on my arm and that they could disqualify me if they wanted to! 

Interjection: Obviously, I couldn't bring a camera into the mire with me, so this post is going to be heavy on the wording!

Beth, Me, Paul, Scott, Jess, Matt and Torrin. Somehow we lost Jeff in this picture.

To even get inside our "corral" we had to get over a wooden wall. Our first bout of teamwork began before the race even started! Luckily we all got over fine, they played the national anthem and we took off. We kept our pace nice and slow and soon we were at our first obstacle. 

Basically we just had to "military crawl" through mud and under barbed wire. It was rough getting down on the ground in the first place, but with so many people crowding in behind you, there really wasn't an option to hesitate! This was the first good banging that my elbows and knees got. Crawling across rocks, with only your elbows and knees to push yourself was painful! Little did I know what was next.

The second obstacle was what they call the "Arctic Enema". Most of us were really worried about our muscles seizing up so soon in the race. I would like to say it wasn't that bad, but that would be a lie. 

You first crawl in on one side and then have to dunk under to get to the other side and crawl out. Getting in wasn't so bad. Going completely under the water was SHOCKING! It literally took my breath away. Trying to remember how awful I felt after that is slightly comical, because now I am downplaying how miserable this obstacle was in my head. This guy on the right feels the same way I did:

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After the Arctic Enema, things were a bit of a blur for awhile. There was a little running, although I don't think the 12 miles they tout the race as is accurate. I felt like we did closer to 6 miles. They can't be off by that much, though, right?!

Anyway, we came across lots of other obstacles. Most of them were challenging, but forgettable. I was VERY lucky to have a great team with some super strong dudes who helped me over walls and up huge mud banks. I was pretty much soaking wet after the first obstacle until we finished, and when the obstacles were in the woods or in shaded areas, I was freezing! Luckily, we got out in some sunshine, too!

Some of the obstacles I remember:

Monkey bars/Rings: Both of these obstacles you had to do over a big pit of water. Most of us fell in and had to swim to the other side. Luckily, the water was not nearly as cold as the Arctic Enema, which I was so thankful for. On another note, how the heck did I do the monkey bars for hours when I was little?! Those are hard! 

Piggyback: This one was fun because we got to give eachother piggy back rides. My partner had me jump on his back first and took off. At the midpoint when we switched and I had to carry him, everyone passed us as I struggled to keep up! By the end, I was laughing so hard I could barely breath!

Spiderweb: Just what it sounds like. It was a giant spiderweb of ropes that we had to climb up, over and down. We had to work as a team to hold down the web or else you couldn't climb it. The only really scary part of this one was when you got to the top and looked down. It was so high!

Wood Carry: This was so bizarre. It wasn't really an obstacle, more of a challenge. We just had to pick up a big piece of wood each, and carry it down the course for awhile. It was hard, but nothing we Crossfitters couldn't handle!

Halfpipe: Near the end, we were faced with a huge wall that had a running start on the bottom. Luckily, one of our guys got up there and we all made it up with his help afterwards. One of the "helpers" at the top told me we were one of 4 other girls who had managed to get over! Beth, Jess and I were worried about this one, but it really wasn't hard at all with the boys' help.

Military Crawls: There was so much crawling on rocks and gravel during the race. My knees and elbows took a severe beating, and this was the only time I wished that I had worn pants and long sleeves.

Electroshock Therapy: This obstacle was utterly ridiculous and, in my opinion, completely unnecessary. The first time we encountered the shocks, which were basically dangling wires, we had to military crawl on our elbows and knees under barbed wire through them. I can't begin to explain how it felt getting shocked. It's awful. It kind of hits you and reverberates throughout your whole body. Getting through it once was enough. The final obstacle, however, was another bout with the shocks. As a team, we had to run through muddy water with the shocks dangling down from above. 

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Again, so painful. After I got through it (thank goodness), I turned around and Beth was on the ground! She had apparently passed out from a shock and was so disoriented. We got her up and we all finished, but it was scary and definitely made my heart skip a beat! Thankfully she was fine, if not a little shaken up. This is why I think the shocks were either unnecessary or the voltage needed to be turned down. There were other people who had fallen and had trouble getting through. Of course, while they were laying there unconscious, they keep getting shocked because they are laying in muddy water that other people are charging through. Not safe.

We all finished in good spirits, minus Beth's scary spill on the last obstacle. Yay Level IV Nooners!

Beth and I. Total bad-ass's.

This was definitely a fun bonding event and I am so glad I did it! I got to hang out with a great bunch of people in a fun, supportive atmosphere. Expect for the ice water plunge and the electroshock therapy, I enjoyed a lot of the obstacles and they were a nice break from just running.

I'm not sure I ever need to do it again, however!

Jess, Beth and I afterwards. My favorite running buddies!

They call this race "The Toughest Event on the Planet". I'm not so sure about that as my marathon last year was much tougher, but this was certainly the most stressful event! We were talking in the car ride back about how tired we were and figured it was because of the stress of the morning; not knowing which obstacle was going to be next!

I'm sporting all sorts of cuts and bruises, especially around my knees and elbows. You're welcome for the picture! Thank goodness I didn't come away with any injuries! I consider that a win! And now, I am an official Tough Mudder! Grrrr!!!

Workout Recaps and Exciting Things on the Horizon

I am so good at post titles. I know that one really caught your attention!

Let's start with some workouts! I decided to take a rest day Monday. My body desperately needed it, plus I was working a double shift at work. Excuse enough for me! 

Tuesday afternoon we had a very effectual shoulder workout. By "effectual" I mean I could barely wash my hair that evening!

The workout was called: Death By...Push-ups and Pull-ups. You can really do this with any strength exercise, but our coach apparently just wanted to toast our arms for the week! 

Every minute on the minute you work, then rest until the next minute. First minute, you do 1 push-up, 1 pull-up. Second minute, 2 push-ups, 2 pull-ups. And you keep increasing the reps until you get to 20. No one in the class made it all the way to 20. When you "fail" and don't finish before the minute is up, you rest for the round and then cut your reps in half and start again from that point. Does that make sense? Am I speaking English???

Loved this workout. It wasn't challenging on my lungs, but boy my shoulders were spent!

Last night we did a very familiar workout for me: Tabata! I've mentioned it before, but I teach a Tabata class once a week at my gym. I love Tabata's for the intensity of the workout and the short time it takes. Our four Tabata's last night:

Box jumps

Sit ups

Push press

Rowing

In case you don't know what Tabata is, it is a very specific high-intensity workout where you do 8 rounds of 20 seconds of work, all out, followed by 10 seconds of rest. It may not sound like much, but it's a great workout! Teaching my class, sometimes I forget how difficult it is to do Tabata! When I teach, I do some of the exercises with my class, but not all of them. Doing my own Tabata workout every once in a while definitely makes me more empathetic!

Running-wise, I've had a good, but boring week. I've had several shorter 4 mile runs, which went fine, if not a little slow. Wednesday I had an appointment in Edmonds, so I decided to head up there early and run along the water. I incorrectly assumed the boardwalk along the water stretched on for a few miles. Wrong. It was only about a mile long and I had 8 miles to get in. Doh! At least the view was nice. It was a foggy morning, but it looked a bit like this:

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The rest of that 8 miler, I was blindly running around Edmonds trying to keep myself entertained. I ended up listening to some music and tuning out as best I could. And I made it. All was right with the world again!

A few exciting things on the agenda that I'm looking forward to! 

Friday night after CrossFit, my running buddies and I are headed trail running at night! Although I am most definitely #teammorning when it comes to running, I am excited to run in the mountains in the dark with my friends. It will be a big adventure! I am also going to laugh because we are all going to be sporting some awesome head lamps and reflective gear. One of the trainers at CrossFit said he was going to hide in the bushes in a bear costume and scare us. I laughed, but that would definitely scare the bageesus out of me!

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Also this weekend is the Tough Mudder! I have been so anxious about this race for the past few months and I can't believe it is finally here. Eeek! I don't have any goals for this race other than to come out alive and not injured. I am not worried at all about the running part. It's only 10 miles or so and I know some of the guys on our team are going to struggle getting through that many miles. My worry is the obstacles. The other girls and I have decided that none of us need to be heroes and have given ourselves free passes to skip obstacles if we need to.

Have a great Thursday!

So Many Exciting Things

Let's get right to the workouts! Several new developments have happened at CrossFit the past few days.

Monday evening I realized that handstands are really scary for some people. I know, novel realization. I'm such a smart cookie. Growing up dancing and doing gymnastics in high school, I can't remember a time when I couldn't do a handstand. I remember constantly playing on my hands with my feet straight up throughout my childhood. When I started doing yoga, I learned to actually control my handstands, although they are done much differently in a yoga class than I was ever used to.

My friend mentioned on Monday that she wanted to start working on handstands.

I was surprised, "what do you mean, 'work on them?'"

Haha. Apparently handstands are hard for people and that it is an actual CrossFit skill! Of course, all I could think was: At last! A Crossfit skill I already have! Finally.

Our WOD Monday wasn't too crazy. We went through the circuit below 5 times and I felt like I was flying through it easily.

The hardest part for me was the row, as I am still trying to work on my technique, which is making me a little slower. I'm trying to take that in stride because I know eventually, I will be a better rower!

The other exciting thing happened this afternoon. After our workout, I was working on my pull-ups, per usual. One of my coaches came up to me and asked if I could do one un-assisted dead hang pull-up. I answered "no" and she asked if she could see.

By some miracle, I did it! One dead hang pull up! Totally unexpected! And, right after that I whipped out 2 kipping pullups in a row! I'm such a proud little Crossfitter! (And that is a lot of exclamation points. Sorry for the insane excitement.)

Our workout featured a little barbell complex our coach made up. It started with a dead lift, then a clean, and a thruster. That's a lot of squating! It was a fun little complex, though, and I appreciated our coach linking so many of the lifts together.

The actual WOD wasn't too difficult, except for the fact that I was feeling pretty tired.

Admittedly, I probably don't take enough rest days. After my awesome race and long run on Sunday, I rested the remainder of the day so that I could run again the next morning. Not the smartest decision, but it works for me.

My Monday and Tuesday runs were nice and mellow. I was trying to do some tempo miles on Tuesday, but was still feeling tired, so I just slowed down when I really felt I needed to.

In other news, I've got some exciting things coming up! First, the Tough Mudder! I have a little over 2 weeks to continue to freak out about this race. I am going trail running again this Sunday to help prepare myself more. I am mostly worried about the obstacles and my main goal is just to come away without getting injured. Although I want to be a bada**, I am going to make it a point to skip an obstacle if I think I may actually get hurt from it. We'll see if I can follow through with that one!

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My last exciting piece of news is that I think I've picked my next marathon: Eugene 2013! A lot of bloggers are thinking about doing this race at the end of April as well, which would make it even more fun. The course is supposedly pretty fast, and after running NYC 2 years in a row, I will be excited to run a flatter course. I also have my CrossFit friend, Beth, convinced to run this with me as her first marathon!