How are You Preparing?

Since this is the first day of a new year I thought I'd answer a question that I often get related to participating in Tough Mudder events.  

How are you training for the events?

Okay I'll be honest...Nobody's actually asked me anything about training ever but I thought I'd be prepared just in case someone ever does ask!  The Miami Mudder will be my fourth event and I've used a different method of training for each.  I'll run them down quickly with some advantages and disadvantages listed. 

Tough Mudder	Training	Advantages	Disadvantages
Wintergreen	Tailgating and Putting on 30 Pounds	Enjoyable Training Regimen of Overindulging	Unprepared and Almost Died on the Mountain
Pennsylvania	P90X2 and Trail Running	Heavy Emphasis on Strength Work	This routine prepared me for 1 solid lap but would not be enough for multiple laps.  More cardio would be needed which led me to Insanity.
South Carolina	Insanity and Trail Running	Heavy Emphasis on Cardiovascular Strength	Minimal upper body work as compared to P90x2 which hampered me on several obstacles

In preparation for “Our Year in theMud” and the WTM I am embarking on a different training regimen.  I’m taking everything I have learned in preparing for the three previous races and developing a hybrid program that uses the best of each.  Unfortunately, tailgating will not make it this time.  It is equal parts P90X2, Insanity, and Half Marathon training.  DC gave me the idea of putting it on a calendar which you can see below.

We are running on back to back days in Miami so you can see that I will be running on Saturdays and Sundays in preparation for the event.  I tend to get bored running so I will try to mix it up.  On Saturdays I run a predetermined distance as fast as I possibly can.  I began recording my times about two weeks ago and have noticed that I am getting progressively better.  The plan is to record progress or lack thereof so that I can fine tune the process as we go.  On Sundays I have set a minimum distance that I will run at a comfortable pace.  I’ll also mix in hill running, trails, etc. just to keep it interesting.    

I am now prepared in the event that anybody ever asks me about my training.  What do you think?  January looks brutal when you put it on the calendar but I have some big goals for this year in the mud.  They won’t happen unless I am willing to do things I've never done.  I’m taking Patrick’s advice and saying Yes to a new way of training.  I’ll keep you posted on my progress.