Tough Mudder Kettering- Coming Home

Ah the cheese this post is going to include!!! Tough Mudder was my first introduction to obstacle course racing back in 2012. I had never done any sort of fitness challenge, event or run and I saw this video on YouTube:

For SOME reason I thought to myself 'mmmm this looks so much fun' followed quickly by 'I'm not fit enough'. About 100 views of that video later and I had signed up for the first British Tough Mudder ever! Long, long story short, the team I signed up with abandoned me on the course, I met a wonderful new team, discovered how monumentally unfit I was, sampled the delight of a space blanket and finished vowing that I was 'happy to have finished but was done with Tough Mudder for a few years'

It's 2015 and I have recently made my 4th annual visit to Boughton House. So that post-tough Mudder promise to myself in 2012 didn't last long!!! 

There are many negative points to Tough Mudder and I could ramble on about the pros and cons but I can't lie- Tough Mudder Kettering is a very special course to me and I will always be back, year after year. It was essentially my first ocr experience and (prepare for the cheese) my ocr home. 

Tough Mudder brings out the best in humanity- everyone helps everyone regardless of what team you're in and because of the huge and sometimes intimidating obstacles, you sometimes have to overcome some serious fears. 

Yep- cheese....lots of cheese....

This year the event village was in a different place than the previous 3 years and there was lots of new obstacles. Having done Tough Mudder at Henley already this year, I had a good idea about the range of obstacles (I will blog about Henley at some point).

Saturday

Parking and registration was pretty smooth as was the legionnaire tent (ready to collect my last yellow headband at the end). The bag drop was smooth and the volunteers made sure we knew where our bags were and put our bag numbers on our bodies ready for collection. 

This year, my team included the lovely Holly and her step dad Keith and we were joined by the lovely Deborah from the Facebook group 'UK Mudd Queens'.

After a warm up and the obligatory pledge, we were off. A good, gentle uphill jog to some hay bales and a fence to climb over. We headed downhill and off to a new obstacle 'Shawshanked'. An improvement on the sewer rats obstacle in Henley, we had to climb backwards, inside a pipe, using a rope to pull ourselves upwards until we were at then end. It wasn't easy to turn round at the end of the pipe, to jump into the water below (about 6ft), so the best thing to do was just shout 'f*ck it' and back flip into the water! Never elegant!

Off to the first water station (can't fault tough Mudder for water stations- though those 9 bars- yuck!) and then birth canal (a crawl through a very tight space under a sheet of water). Some forest running, some ditches and water crossings and a crawl under a net followed. Heading off into farm land, we were teased with the sight of 'king of the swingers' (some squealing happen when I saw it!), sadly we turned off and hit Arctic enema 2.0 and bloody hell it was cold!!! Worse than Henley. Got a bit of brain freeze and very cold fingers so we sprinted off to get warm. Mud mile followed (a proper mud mile this time but not as long as previous years), off into the woods for tyre carrying, walls, hero carries, killer gorilla and back to the mud mile for round two.

Then it was time for King of the Swingers. I'm definitely rubbish at it (getting nowhere near then bell) but I have so much fun doing it- such an adrenaline rush!

More running followed by Everest 2.0- sadly my first run at it was interrupted by someone else falling and after that the energy gets sapped- 7 runs later and it was time to move on! :(

And then we were at the end- the choice between electroshock therapy and ring toss was an easy one and I managed a couple of rings before falling.

And finish....Beer, burger, get changed and chill!!!

Sunday

Running solo today, first time ever at Kettering, which felt weird. Still, thank goodness for recovery spray as my muscles were pretty ok! Off we went again, in the first wave at 9am and I allowed the pack to move ahead, pacing is often the key. When I hit the first set of waves, I got over pretty quickly with a boost up and after that I moved ahead of the main pack. Often on sections of the course I was completely alone bar a few sheep.
Reached Shawkshanked again and made the error of telling the the marshals I ran yesterday and back flopped as they then dared me to better myself. One back flip later and an awkward landing I had the most amazing bruise on my thighs and back calf and one aching back! Oops! Serves me right!

Pacing worked brilliantly and I overtook several groups and soon reached the initial groups and found my parents and the dog. Arctic enema was way colder than yesterday- some pg-13 language was used!

The key is just to keep moving forward and before I knew it I had hit the finish line at 2hours 50 minutes. I never thought I could manage a tough Mudder in less than 3 hours and I defintley suprised everyone else as no one was there at the finish line! Oops!!!


All in all Kettering will always be my Tough Mudder home. This year i'll experience Tough Mudder around the country but i'll always be back. With all the cheesiness in the world!!!

The Blacklight Run

When you do a lot of events, you naturally start comparing them in terms of race quality, pre race information, safety and experience.
I mainly run OCRs but I do also enjoy the shorter 'themed fun runs'. I do them with a group of friends and it is usually coupled with post-race drinking either as a weekend away or just cause. After a good weekend in Manchester last year doing the Color Run for the second time (which is great fun), I found an event much closer to home at Donington Race Course called 'the Blacklight Run'. I bought a ticket at a discounted race and sent a Whatsapp message out for the troops to assemble for another run (with the bribe of cocktail night at mine afterwards).
The Blacklight run billed itself as a similar event to the Color Run, with coloured UV powder run on you whilst you ran a 5km course in the dark. Sounded fun.


I should have guessed the standard of the race from the fact we received upwards of 3 pre-race emails changing the location and possibility to pick up your race-packet before the race (they originally wanted to charge you £5 to pick up your race packet on the day but after moaning on social media, they changed their minds).
We arrived on site about an hour before the race (usually plenty of time to pick up your packet, warm up and be ready) to be greeted with a very, very long queue of people wanting to pick up their packet. Then it started raining. Great.


The race was due to start at 6pm and when 6pm rocked up we were still about 300 people away from the registration desks (and a good 80 people behind us). There was an announcement on the loudspeakers that the race start would be delayed due to 'everyone having too much fun'. At 6:20 we were nearly at the front of the queue (we'd been queuing for over 1hr 20 minutes now). When we registered we were given a random packet with a t-shirt and hurried out the building as the "last wave was going" (there were sill people in the queue at this point).


I'm not a health and safety geek by any stretch of the imagination but with a race in the pitch black, I was surprised that there wasn't a safety briefing, just a countdown and we were off.


The course itself was pitch black as expected and very hard to see where to go, so we just followed the people in front. I was genuinely surprised at the lack of marshals out on the course (I saw 2 in total who clearly were from the race course).
When we arrived at the first 'colour station' there was 1 person throwing coloured paint and this made it difficult to actually get any colour on you (especially with a group of people crowding round him refusing to move). As it was chucking it down, we moved on. The second station had 2 people throwing paint and I came away with the sleeve of my hoody covered in paint nothing more.


Like I said at the beginning of this post, when you do multiple events, you start to compare them. At the Color Run there was at least 8-10 people throwing paint at you and you came away covered (which is what you want). Each area was almost a mini party zone and you got into the atmosphere of the event. At the Blacklight Run there was music at some stations but once you left them, the atmosphere changed and you ran into pitch black silence.   


The weather (driving rain), couldn't have been helped but I wonder if maybe doing it in February was the best idea.


My other main concern about the event was about safety. When you registered, you were given a random pack with t-shirt, pins and race number. That race number had no ties to your race information or disclaimer you signed. If per say, you were running solo and had an accident, no one would have a clue about who you were. The whole point of a race number is to tie you to your emergency details if anything were to happen to you. Yes everyone I saw (though I did have my head down, avoiding the rain for most of the race), was in a group, but that's not the point.


Would I do the Blacklight Run again? No. It was a massive let down and it left a bitter taste in my mouth after raising the H&S and organisational points on their Facebook group and having both my posts deleted. A good event listens to feedback, positive and developmental and learns from it. Not delete any criticism.


All I say is, bring on the Color Run again.

Race's distances

The schedule for the year looks something like this:


February:
Blacklight Run: 3 miles


March:
The Nuts Challenge: 8 miles


April:
Dash of the Titan: 5 miles
Dirty Dozen Dash: 3 miles


May:
Tough Mudder South West Saturday: 12 miles
Tough Mudder South West Sunday: 12 miles
Tough Mudder Midlands Saturday: 12 miles
Tough Mudder Midlands Sunday: 12 miles


June:
Airfield Anarchy: 6 miles
Reaper: 3 miles


July:
Spartan Super: 8 miles
Tough Mudder Scotland Saturday: 12 miles
Tough Mudder Scotland Saturday: 12 miles


August:
Mudnificent 7: 4 miles
Tough Mudder Yorkshire: 12 miles


September:
Major Series: 6 miles
Spartan Sprint: 3 miles
The Summer Nuts Challenge: 8 miles
Tough Mudder Wales: 12 miles


October:
Tough Mudder London Saturday: 12 miles
Tough Mudder London Sunday: 12 miles
Survival of the Fittest Nottingham: 6 miles
Zombie Evacuation: 3 miles
Survival of the Fittest Manchester: 6 miles
Spartan Beast: 12 miles


= 204 miles


Blue: Done!

Marshalling a race

Races (OCRs, trail runs, traditional running races), wouldn't happen if it wasn't for marshals. Paid or volunteers- they are essential to ensure the day runs smoothly and more importantly, safely. When you do an OCR you always sign a death waiver and I bet you 99% of the time you never really read it, I know I don't. You sign to say if you get injured, you won't sue and that you are running the race at your own risk. There is bigger risk with running an OCR than there is a normal running race and there is always one thing competitors unconsciously assume will happen: that the obstacles will be safe and secure and that the only injuries that will happen are down to human error on the competitors part.
Accidents do happen and there are the occasional serious one but very, very rarely do serious incidents happen. The courses are well built and as I have seen first hand, the race team are well prepared and briefed about what to do in the event of an accident or emergency.


I volunteered in March at the Major Series in Tamworth (near Birmingham). I had seen an advert on Facebook asking for volunteers for their Midlands race with the payment of a free entry into their September event. Can't turn down a freebie and it'll add to my mileage so I emailed the race HQ and was accepted onto the team.


When I arrived onsite, we signed in and were given a snack and drink pack (a nice touch) and vouchers getting us a free burger and coffee after the race was done. We were assigned into teams and I ended up heading out onto the course. There was a mix of volunteers and paid staff from the British Military Fitness (who were running the event) and some paid serving soldiers. The paid guys were in charge of each section but everyone was given a race information pack containing contact number for everyone, a risk assessment, course map and information about what to do in the event of an emergency or accident. I ended up being positioned at a road crossing for all those doing the 5km run but as they weren't running until later, I offered to help at the water slide.


The race itself went very smoothly and we cheered the runners on and gave them a 'helping hand' to go down the slide (aka a hose and buckets of water). Once the first 5km runner came through, I hoped over my fence and helped people over the fence and watched for traffic on the road. I also had the fun job of directing the racers over a very steep hill moment after they had just climbed a steep hill.


Once the backmarkers had come through (2 designated marshals whose job it was to tell the marshals as they passed that the last person was through), it became our job to pack up the area. Not before some of us had a couple of goes on the water slide!




After we'd packed away it was the long walk back to the event village and on the way we picked up the last couple of racers. One lady was struggling so I grabbed her hand and jogged with her to the finishing line. That's what I enjoyed most about marshalling was cheering everyone round, I know from racing how much you need that encouragement.




I would say everyone should marshal a race at some point. Just to see the 'other side' and to give back that support and encouragement that we often rely on when times get tough out on the course. Plus you usually get a free race out of it!

Race Review: The Nuts Challenge

Oops. I guess life has got in the way recently and I haven't actually written any blog posts for a while. Got a few race reports to write up which happened weeks ago.


Anyways....


The Winter Nuts Challenge


I always get pre-race nerves. That tight feeling in your stomach, the feeling that you're gonna be a complete and utter failure, the 'why am I doing this to myself again?' thought. Well none of these compared to my pre-race nerves before the Winter Nuts Challenge. I made the error of reading people's race reviews on the Saturday and upon reading that several people (abit fitter and stronger than me) DMF after one and a bit laps, I seriously questioned my own sanity. I'd naively signed up for 2 laps of the infamous Surrey course (voted 'the toughest course in the UK' in the 2014 Mudstacle awards). I wondered why I hadn't have stuck with just 1 lap!


The Nuts Challenge is based at a permanent obstacle course in Surrey and the race runs twice a year in September and March. You can do 1, 2, 3 or 4 laps definitely on your level of 'nuttiness' (though 4 laps are reserved for those who have already completed a Nuts Challenge and know what they are letting themselves in for).
I'd wanted to do the Nuts Challenge for a couple of years as it is the most obstacle-dense course (100 obstacles per 7km lap) and I love obstacles, hate running. For some unknown reason I thought 2 laps would be fine.


Before the race I was in a mild state of panic as the Dryrobe I'd ordered never arrived. For those who don't know (or haven't heard me ramble on about the bliss which is my Dryrobe), the Dryrobe is a sort of outdoor dressing gown/outdoor changing robe/giant hug loved by OCR enthusiasts/swimmers/surfers etc. After dealing with mild hyperthermia after the Suffering race in November, I saved up for one (they aren't cheap!) and ordered a next day delivery mid-week before Nuts. I won't name and shame the company as I received a decent enough apology, but it never got sent. I faced the fear of the Winter Nuts challenge and the prospect of hyperthermia without the post-race warmth.


Nevertheless, I found the biggest hoodie I owned and packed my OCR bag and drove the 3 hour drive down to Surrey, giving myself the biggest pep talk I could muster as I pulled up onto the site.


The site was well signposted and it was a slick process to park and then pay for parking without stopping and queuing onto the site. The registration tent was easy to find and lots of registration desks made the process easy to do. You were given several numbers and QR codes to attach to various parts of your torso and a volunteer sponged a numbered sticker onto my forehead.
The changing/bag drop tent wasn't as well signposted but the lady on the information desk was very friendly and it was easy to drop off bags and keys.


Whilst awaiting the start, we had the pleasure of watching the race leader coming in for lap 2 (the very awesome and lovely Conor Hancock). For anyone 'nuts' enough to do more than 1 lap, there was a transition area were you could leave a change of clothes, food and drinks. I dropped off an energy drink, a bag of jelly babies and an energy bar.


After a slightly disappointing Zumba inspired warm up and a rousing pep talk and safety briefing we started.


The first 1km felt like an entire race in itself: tunnels, haybales, fences, mud hills, more mud hills, even more mud. I think it must have taken 20 minutes or so to clear the first 1km- welcome to te Nuts challenge!
The second km consisted of water and more water! In and out of streams, under logs/over logs, up cargo nets, into the streams again. It was here you felt the effects of the cold on your calf muscles. The water made them tighten up and it was important to keep moving. Luckily, unlike other events, there was never any bottlenecking at Nuts so it was possible to keep going. It was around here I really felt my training was paying off, I felt stronger and more able to handle the bigger physical challenges and my technique at 'getting over things quickly' was getting better (still a long way to go though!)


Back end of the 2km and into the 3km took you through a paintball zone (luckily no paintballs) but in and out of the houses, into a wooded section (my poor frozen calfs) and ono several cargo nets, more water and tunnels. Pacing is always the key to any event and I soon learnt that you cannot get any measure of distance at Nuts because it is so obstacle dense.


4km took on some longer races and a particularly long stream walk (luckily not too deep).


5km and 6km brought you back round towards the event village and to a tyre run up and down a very steep hill (luckily steep enough to slide down) and then back up and down steep hills and to the water slide (hilariously fun). The lap finished with a double, tall cargo net, logs to jump over, 2 tunnels, a lake swim and 2 water based obstacles to scramble over and then a run round the lake to the finish line.


Brilliant fun if you are doing 1 lap. You've finished. Get your medal and hot Ribena and go celebrate. But oh no, this idiot signed up for 2 laps and this idiot doesn't not quit anything.
There is no worse feeling than feeling so exhausted and achy and knowing that everything you've just done, you have to do again. Could have not done it but where's the fun in that?


One particular marshall, never knew her name, who was in the transition area, was my lifesaver. She came over and asked if I needed help changing. I said I wasn't swapping clothes just eating. She helped me undo the bottle lid and packet of jellybabies (as my fingers just weren't working). She also gave me a pep talk about being able to finish and to get the job done. And with that, off I went...


The course had changed so much since Lap 1- the muddy hills were virtually quicksand now and within the first km, my remaining energy was gone. The race became more of a mental game than physical. My brain had to consciously tell my limbs to move and pull and push, whilst my limbs screamed in pain. Seriously, if my limbs could speak, they would have formed their own union, voted for a strike and left. My body hated me. Still I kept moving forward, focusing on one foot in front of the other, consciously breathing and pushing through the pain. I love each and every spectator for their cheers and claps and the marshalls for words of encouragement and haribo (especially the ones with haribo!). One random spectator I especially remember, who ran alongside me as I clambered over the logs in the last km shouting 'go on muddy race girl' (I was representating muddyrace.co.uk with their trademark green t-shirt).


When I crossed the finish line, the same marshall who had given me the pep talk in the transition area was there and she gave me the biggest hug. The warm Ribena was the best tonic to the cold and I clutched my medal like my life depended on it!


It is important, post-race, to get out of cold and water gear as quickly as possible, which I did. I then got myself a post-race burger (best.food.ever) and got in the car to warm myself up. Then it was the 3 hour drive back to Nottingham when the shivering started and the heating was on full blast. Still, totally worth it!


I can see why the Nuts Challenge has it's reputation. It was a true test of physical and mental strength. Will I be back? Hell yes. It was my favourite course to date and a great experience. I want to do another couple of 2 laps and then aim for a 3 laps at summer nuts next year. 


14km in the bag!


 

Favourite picture

Love this picture.

Park Run

Following on from my previous post about my disliking of running, I can be a bit more positive about it.

Just before Christmas I discovered Park Run (http://www.parkrun.org.uk/) and I can't quite believe I've never properly heard of it before (I vaguely have recalled the name, but never fully considered it as something I was truly interested in).

What is it?
Park Run is a free, 5k run at 9am on Saturday mornings at various locations across the country (and now indeed the world). You register on their website and print off your unique barcode, which you bring with you to each race (no barcode, no time). It is as simple as that. Each event is run by a team of volunteers and at some events there is a Junior Park Run on Sunday mornings.


Anyways, as I have begun to think about running more seriously and increasing my training, I signed myself up and decided to start after the busy period of Christmas and New Year.

I was really nervous before I went to my first Park Run at Colwick Country Park (http://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/colwickCP), I was worried everyone would be really quick and I'd be left trailing in the dust whilst everyone waited for me to finish, looking at their watches, wanting to go home. I'm not really very good at running, I suffer with shoulder pains when running (a result of previous issues) and sustaining a pace is not my forte. But I'm determined to get better.

So the first Saturday after New Years I turned up at the start line at 8:50am on a Saturday morning (an already painful endeavour). Any first-timers get a health and safety briefing and a brief run-through of the course and how the event works. Then before the run starts, the race director gives the first timers a shout out (via a megaphone) and the runners applaud. The crowd also applauds tourists (i.e. those who don't frequent Colwick park as their main park run) and special mentions are given to those who are completing their 10th, 50th or 100th park run (you get a free t-shirt when you complete these milestones). There is a real, friendly atmosphere about the whole event and I assume it is like that at every Park run.

The run consists of those at the front of the pack, who race off ahead, people running with dogs (oh the shame about being overtaken by a sausage dog), families, people looking to improve each week and people new to running. Times range on average from 17 minutes to 50 minutes.

I love a good view and Colwick park is beautiful, stunning lakes and a good mix of pathways and trails.

At the end of the course you end through a funnel where 2 volunteers clock your time with a stopwatch and you have your barcode and finish token (numbered according to the order of finish) scanned. A couple of hours later you receive a text and email (depending on your sign up preferences) with your time and position.

I have definitely fallen for Park Run, it's such a brilliantly simple concept and there is such a good atmosphere every Saturday morning. All my worries about being left behind or it being a horridly, competitive environment were unfounded, everyone is so friendly and there is no pushing or shoving to get in front of each other, even at the start line.

A couple of weeks ago I signed up to volunteer as I'm a great believer in paying back. I signed up to be one of two timekeepers (just in case something goes wrong- and in my case, it did when the timer didn't start properly!), a role which I was told, is not one a first-time volunteer wants to do, but as this blog says, I never make life easy for myself! I had a brilliant time volunteering, despite the freezing cold and the rain. It is such a well-organised sleek operation and I loved cheering all the runners over the finish line whilst operating the stopwatch. I've decided to do 3 runs and 1 volunteer shift on rotation as I enjoy doing both.


I would wholeheartedly recommend doing a Park Run, whether you are a first timer or experienced runner.
But remember, don't forget your barcode!

So i hate running...

It's true. I hate running. Never been any good at running, not one of these people who can just go out and jog for 2 hours every other day. I will have to drag myself out of the house, put on the old 'workout' playlist on my ipod and struggle, huffing and puffing around the course. I don't particularly like running on the streets mainly because everyone can see you and I usually look terrible (imagine sweat, red face and general horribleness!). I always imagine that picture of Katherine Jenkins crossing the finish line at the London Marathon a couple of years ago looking absolutely perfect, and think I look like that. Then I look in a mirror and reality is quite the opposite. Oh dear.


Anyways, running is an integral part of every OCR, whether 5k or 25k. So I need to get better, even if I don't want to actually go and do it. The competitive side of me wants to get better at something I've attempted to do in the past.

So mindlessly running isn't going to help, mindlessly training doesn't help you achieve your goals. You need a plan or tools to help.






Some tools:

A tracker app is great to help you see how far or how long your run has been. It also means you can compare your runs and see how you are improving.
I've used Mapmyfitness (free) to track my runs on my iphone for ages. It did require taking my phone out on runs and I prefer to take my ipod out for music.
Recently it's not been recording my GPS signal properly so when I get to the end of a run, it records 0.2km or something like that so I haven't been using it as much anymore.


At the moment I use Nike + (free) which came as part of my new Ipod. It's good at setting a denominated time or distance and talks at you over your music when the time passes (in 5 minute intervals) or when you pass distance markers (1km).




My favourite running app is Zombies! Run (£3.99)

I discovered this app a couple of years ago. It's great for someone who has a short attention span and who gets bored easily (me). It plays a story of fictional zombie apocalypse. It is a first person adventure and the characters talk to your character. You are a 'runner' sent on missions to help the base. Whilst on the missions the music from a designated playlist on your iphone plays (allowing a good mix between story and music). The best part is being 'chased' by zombies and, as it tracks you via GPS, the faster you run, the quicker you 'escape' the zombies. If you slow down the Zombies 'catch' you and you lose a life. The app isn't recommended for running by busy roads (you may accidently forget yourself and run into traffic I suppose- if you are silly). I like it because it just adds a different dimension to your run.


What helps you on your run?

What am i doing?

So I like obstacle course racing. I have doing races for the past 3 years and have just fallen in love with the sport. The personal challenge, the feeling of accomplishment, the motivation to train 6 days a week, seeing the best in humanity are just a number of reasons why I love it.

I've always had a thing for playgrounds and obstacles since I was little. I used to love going to playgrounds and the bigger the better. I also loved indoor adventure centres and soft play places. We used to have one in Stevenage, where I grew up, and I had the best of times running round there playing (RIP Carters). I guess this fascination has translated into obstacle course racing (not gonna lie, still will drive past a good playground and usually say 'oh that's a good playground'- though sadly less socially acceptable these days to go and play on it!).

So this year I have decided to complete quite a few OCR's to raise money for 2 great charities (more on that later), hence why my blog's URL is '200 miles of mud'.

This year the calendar will roughly include:
10 Tough Mudders
Dirty Dozen
Nuts Challenge
Spartan Super
Zombie Evacuation
Mudnificent 7
The Major Challenge
Survival of the Fittest

And probably a few more i'll sign up for later in the year...

I wanted to blog to keep me motivated, report back on each race and generally have an outlet to ramble on about OCR without anyone telling me to shut up!

-Katy x