On The Way Home From 2013 Mudder

I've blogged about our awesome team before. 

But this is me, driving home from last years Tough Mudder in the back of the van. 

Completely untouched image here, no editing at all. Can you see the exhaustion? I can :).

And I cant wait to do it all over again!!

Tomorrow AM, we're driving down and kicking some butt :). 

Here we come 2014 Mudder!!! 

Last Years Tough Team

I was doing pretty good not missing workouts for training for this years Mudder, and I have to stay in good shape because, well, look at that team! We're all pretty fit. I'm the one in the center of the back row. And my sis (second from the right standing) and her running partner (kneeling on right) are already doing 7 miles plus quite often!

Then my back last week Wednesday got bad. I did my workout that morning but haven't since. Moving hurts :(. Not moving hurts :(. Hoping that this will pass quickly so I can get back on track. And I'm hoping the winter will be short lived. I really need to get outside and start running! Those two are going to kick my butt otherwise!

Last year I had an excuse to not train, being pregnant and all. Did that Mudder 7 weeks after having my lil guy. He laughs when he watches me lifting weights. I get all dramatic about it :). I have my own home gym so I can make all sorts of weird noises to entertain Baby Muddy.

My sis has an extra running stroller and Baby Muddy is sitting fairly well and can sit good in a stroller. I really should just get over to her place and pick it up and get it ready to roll. One day I will wake up and the streets will not be covered in brown icky snow. Yes, snow is brown here... see this post...

I cant wait to run it again this year! And be in better shape than I was last year :).

Vibram Five Fingers, My Mudder Footwear

If you're going to do a mud run, footwear is an important thing to consider. You might see some people tapeing their shoes with duct tape to help prevent mud getting in through the laces and at the ankles. 

I wore Saucony for my first mud run. And I think Van's for my second mud run. Then I decided I would wear my Vibrams. I love these shoes and this is a pic of them cleaned and worn at work. I'm going to wear these FOREVER for every mud run I ever do again. 

The regular tie up shoes, despite taping, get muddy. And the tape comes off. I felt like I was wearing sandpaper because all the mud in my shoes was really rubbing my feet raw. With these shoes I did no taping. I had very little mud problems with the footwear and they didn't bog me down like the other shoes did.

And I didn't have to go to a professional this time to get the mud from under my toenails. Yes, I really had to do that... My first mud run took me four times of soaking at home and doing self pedi's before I finally went in. I felt SOOOO bad presenting my still muddy toenails to the girl. I did give twice the tip I usually do, but still, I felt bad. 

I never attempted to clean my other shoes, but these come clean easily enough. I brought them in the shower with me. Well, I brought my whole run day wardrobe into the shower with me. I toss all my clothes on the floor and basically pretend I'm wine making as I get clean. I usually wash my hair 2 or 3 times despite the tight bun or braids I do for these events. I usually have to wash myself at least twice as well. Then I get the most of the mud off my clothes that I plan to keep. I use the same bra and undies for each mud run. Yes, I really do. And the compression clothes come clean fairly well after my shower and a run through the washer. Sometimes twice in the washer...

You do need to wear them to get the muscles, ligaments, and tendons in your legs aquainted with them. Go slowly. I walked with them first, then jogged short distances, then finally running and jogging longer distances. Even most tennis shoes and running shoes have a slight lift in the heel. Don't think that if you're running 10 miles you can just put on a flat shoe and run. I used to run in sandals so it wasn't too hard of a transition for me. 

Anyway, if you're doing a mud run, consider Vibrams. They will be joining me this next Tough Mudder too. No, I'm not on their payroll ;). I just really love these shoes! Even if my coworkers think they're creepy...

Getting Tough :)

And for the whole reason I'm blogging, getting tough ;).

Tough Mudder training starts in just a couple weeks.

 And I've been doing those pull ups, okay more so I've been doing the descending part of the pull ups. And OMG! My ARMS!!! And my SHOULDERS!!! The agony!!!! 

I'm feeling much less sore today than day 2-4. Today I missed doing the pullups so I did inverted rows under the counter at work. And I switched it up to 5 sets of 4 since the inverted rows are much easier than the eccentric part of the pull ups.

Also to prepare for Raw in January and no soda, I've moved up to two glasses of water this week for each soda. So far so good. I'm getting pretty excited for January! Anticipation :). Yay!!!

T minus 4 weeks

Till training time!

Then the countdown to the Tough Mudder begins.

Well, as I've said in a prior post, my January is a raw vegan 8/1/1 style diet.

But did I mention my training? I do have a plan. 3 days a week of weight training consisting of only two joint exercises. Which means I'm not wasting time on bicep curls (sorry to you guys who worship the bicep curl). I find that I get much better muscle building and functional strength from doing pull ups instead of bicep curls. and pull ups DO work your biceps. And shoulders, and forearms, and even grip strength.

Pull ups actually wont be in my weight lifting routine though since technically I don't lift weights with that. But I will be doing press/pull exercises for the upper and lower body. The pull ups are more of a random incorporation. I have a pull up bar that pops into a doorway. I don't have a door going from my bedroom to a small hallway to the attached bathroom.

Don't worry, my bathroom has a door. Otherwise it would make living with a man sharing my bathroom just about impossible...

Anyway, I digress, the pull up bar is to be used every time I pass by it. How many times a day do I use my bathroom? A LOT. Before work multiple times... bathroom, brushing my teeth, to shower, to go back and brush my hair, to go back because I'm so sleep deprived I forgot deodorant :). Yes, I have to go back lots for that. And to check to make sure I didn't put lipstick on for eyeshadow and vice versa.

I can already to one full pull up and most of the time two full pull ups. Just as of right now it's not very consistent that I do this. I'm starting now to get more into the habit so that by January it wont seem like I'm adding everything at once.

Also for cardio I plan three days of that as well. This month will be 10-20 minute sessions of bike riding (indoors), pole dancing, and kickboxing with my awesome heavy bag. Yes, I have a heavy bag. And it's all mine. Though my boyfriend does sometimes put on my super sexy pink boxing gloves and hit the bag a bit too. He does look awesome in pink ;).

And yeah, I said pole dancing and no I'm not an exotic dancer. It's for fitness people!! Seriously, the way some of you think just surprises me. Okay, no it doesn't :).

I hope you all love the smileys today. I maybe used a few of them here n there.