We took on London South. It was a beast. Well some obstacles were hard some of them were easy. Thankfully we made it through to the end. Here are my top tips to succeed your first Tough Mudder.You’ll run, you’ll walk, you’ll slip and slide, you’ll laugh and cry. But it’ll be worth it to earn your official Tough Mudder finishers headband.
Turn up
Sign up. Turn up. To be honest that’s the hardest bit mentally rallying yourself and your team to sign up. Once you’re in. High five! My first piece of advice. Train, train and do more training. This goes without saying. Tough Mudder has a great training plan that you can download from here. I must admit I went a little of piste with my training, I focused on weight training at the gym instead of body weight and hiit exercises. But it wasn’t all bad.
A lot of the course is running between obstacles, it’s 10 miles of mud, so make sure you change your workouts up: do strength, body weight, cardio and obviously a lot of running.
Team work is key
Unlike running a half, where it’s a metal battle that you have to face alone, tough mudder is all about teamwork.
We started with a 90s warm up, followed by us on our knees reciting the pledge to look out for each other and remember to have fun. People come in big teams, work squads, charity supporter and brave ones tackle the course alone. I ran it in a team of three. But really the whole course is one massive team. We helped people over walls, carry logs, under tunnels, whether it’s a physical hand or supportive cheer, you’re fellow runners become your fellow team mates.
Try it all
You can run, you can walk, you can crawl as long as you make it to the finish line with a big smile on your face. There’s no obligation to try the obstacles, as there’s a bypass lane. But you should at least give everything a go. Being zapped at the end of the electoshock therapy wasn’t fun.
But my biggest obstacles where the monkey bars and Everest. It had been raining so the monkey bars were very slippery so I literally swung my arm and fell into the water . Oops. And then there was Everest… Oh Everest. You know the wall they run up in ninja warrior picture that but much bigger. Like huge. I gave it my best shot sprinting and trying to pull myself up it. Every attempt I fell. Every time I fell, it hurt a little but more. But I was determined to succeed. It probably took me 10 times then finally a group of people literally pulled me up limb by limb. For which I was very grateful for. Like I said it’s all about teamwork.
Take your time
Yes it’s a sort of race, and you want to succeed. But unless you’re a pro who’s aiming for your fastest time, don’t take it too seriously. The more you relax and enjoy it. The more you laugh and smile. And the relief when you have your finally sprint to the finish line. Celebrate the moment. Yes you’re wet and covered in mud. But you bossed it. You should be proud!
Have you done tough mudder before how did you find it? Or London based and feeling inspired and wanna try it. Let’s team up and tackle the challenge together. Let me know in the comments below.
Nadine x