Calling All Vets

First and foremost, I want to welcome Jeremy to the blog.  Thanks for your post and introduction.  I want to highlight something that Jeremy is doing, which is tracking his workouts and progress.  A huge part of preparing for an event of this nature is to plan plan plan.  By developing a solid training regimen, and then tracking actual performance against that plan, we can each hold ourselves accountable.  Welcome to the blog fellow TM brother, Jeremy.

I want to remind everyone of the TM email subscription link on the right side of the page.  We all tend to get busy and lose touch with the blog on occasion, which is unfortunate but happens nonetheless.  The email subscription will send you a daily email of any new posts and will send you instant emails if someone comments on any post.  I use it, it works well (so far) and I'm wondering if others out there are doing the same.

Lastly, and the reason for this post, I want to call out all of our veteran tough mudders.  When you have a few minutes, I think it would benefit the team to hear a bit about your TM experience last year.  I will definitely share more later (I'm wrapping up this NYC project this week and need to get back to work!) but I will admit that a few obstacles got the better of me, each in their own unique way.  Also, since we have been through the event once, we can perhaps opine on what strategies might work best as a team to overcome specific obstacles.

The one I will highlight in this post is the Arctic Enema.  Although a quick obstacle that requires little time to conquer, it was a bitch.  As I was perched at the edge of the massive ice water beneath me, I simply jumped in with little expectation.  Having no expectation may have been my biggest mistake.  As soon as I hit the water, every muscle in my body instantly contracted at once.  My breathing pattern changed significantly and I started to be short of breath.  Swimming to the other side, it was clear that I would be fine exiting the dumpster of ice, but it was definitely a taxing obstacle.  It was even more clear that not everyone would be able to do so.  Others behind me (no one here, but other mudders entirely) had difficulty getting themselves out.  I had to jump back into that icy hell to help one girl out whose muscles literally were frozen and could not lift herself out.  The flaw there: her team mate was already completely outside of the dumpster which was a big mistake in leaving her in there.

As a team, I think it's important to have the first person stop at the top once he or she reaches the end, waiting for the mudder behind them.  As one person exits, he or she helps the mudder who is next out.  In this way, no (wo)man is left behind.

Here's a quick vid.

Although that's an example of an obstacle that was difficult for me, I think everyone's opinion will differ.  Feel free to share your experience with others that you felt were easy, fun, challenging, painful, whatever.  I just think it would be unfortunate if we let our experience last year go to waste.  We should definitely share in an effort to help everyone better prepare for December.

Stay United Mudders.