Tough Mudder - Tips!

As my Tough Mudder week concludes, I wanted to share some tips:

1. TEAM.  For me, this was the MOST important part of the whole thing. Have a great team that you trust. These people need to prepare you and motivate you though some difficult obstacles, both physically and mentally.

2. TRAIN. If you don't workout and you want to do a Tough Mudder, you need to train! If you're a runner, you need to work on your upper body strength and lower body muscles. If you are a power lifter, you might want to work on increasing your cardiovascular workouts too. Pushups, pull ups, squats, lunges, flys, sprints...you will use every muscle in your body!

3. NOURISH. Your food choices the day before and the day of the Tough Mudder are important. Try to eat clean, and be sure your meals consist of protein and carbs (here's what I made for dinner the night before.) Don't forget that hydration is important! Drink lots of water. Here's what I ate for dinner the night before and breakfast the day of the Tough Mudder.

4. WEAR. For those who follow my blog, you know that I blog about outfits along with fitness, food, and travel. So it makes perfect sense that I wrote a post this week about what to wear for the event. Honestly though, your outfit can make a big difference! Forget cotton, pick synthetic and form fitting items, and layer up. Lastly, we did tape our shoes/ankles for 2 reason: (1) to keep our shoes on (2) to support your ankles from rolling.

5. PLAN. Be sure you know what your travel plans are, as well as your plan for the day. Set out your clothes the night before, schedule your meals, pack your extra clothes and snacks. Also, ZIPLOCK bags are your FRIEND! I wore my tank top for the first two obstacles, and put my long sleeve top, a warm hat, and gloves in a ziplock back to keep it all from getting wet. I tucked it in my pants at the small of my back for safe keeping. Not the cutest look, but definitely efficient! And I was SO thankful to have my dry long sleeve shirt after the icy Arctic Enema. Also, the duck tape on your shoes is helpful if you know there will be A LOT of mud (like my event had!). It can also help stabilize your ankles if you wrap the tape around both your shoes and ankles. I should have brought a protein bar or two also. They (thankfully!) had water stations with sections of banana, and we also made some friends that were prepared and were nice enough to share a protein bar with us.

6. SOUVENIRS. At the end of the race the volunteers award you with a UnderArmor headband and shirt. I was so exhausted that I didn't look at the shirt and I also didn't check out the souvenir tent. I am disappointed now that I didn't buy myself something a little nicer than what they provided us. If you're one of those people that is only going to do this once, or likes to have souvenirs of the things that you accomplish, don't forget to check out the tents before you leave!

7. AFTERMATH. Personally, SORE doesn't even begin to describe how my body felt when I got home. My knees were killing me, and I found bruises just about everywhere on my body (except my right leg, which is TOTALLY weird!) Make sure you have dinner at home already prepared, so someone to make it for you (thanks for the chili, sister!) I iced my knees that night, and used plenty of icy hot on my sore muscles. Since our event was Sunday, I really wish I would have taken Monday off to recover, but alas, I did not. Walking through the office to meetings, then through the airport was a super fun challenge! But I survived. My teammate said she wasn't too sore and didn't have any bruising, but then again, I'm convinced she's Superwoman!

Thanks for reading! Here are the links to my other Tough Mudder posts:

• Initial thoughts
• Tough Mudder Enlisted
• Course Map breakdown
• Event Recap
• What to Wear
• Pre-Mudder Dinner
• Pre-mudder Breakfast