Did the Tough Mudder at Mt. Snow, VT this weekend.
 

Kicked the shit out of me. My legs are still sore. Not as hard as I expected but still rough. Lots of running up hill and freezing cold water obstacles. I took pix for an article that is being written for Hustler and the Boston Phoenix so I can't post any of the pix til they come out in print.

http://toughmudder.com/events/new-england/

Anyone else ever do it?

Doing it dec 3rd when it is in Tampa. Super excited

There is a 24 hour one coming up, but I think I'm gonna pass on that.

I am doing something called the Tarzan cup in a couple weeks. Its only 5k but will give me a small idea

Was there a ton of running? Like 1 mile to each obstacle? How was it structured?

read the FAQ on the site - people are crazy! but if that's your thing it's cool - i know i couldn't do it even if i wanted to

what % of the people finish the event?

i did clean my place today and that was pretty grueling :1orglaugh

whats the electroshock section and is it as bad as it sounds? do a lot of people skip it?

Each course is different, you don't have to run, and sometimes it's impossible to run after you've had the shit kicked out of you. Some of the hills were REALLY steep and you have people using fire hoses on you and the snow makers where shooting out water. If you look the first couple of "obstacles" were just distance things, some are father apart than others but there was 28 total in a 10 mile course. The water ones were the worst. The water was 35-40 degrees, and if you didn't start moving when you got out, you'd catch hypothermia. I saw a couple of people sitting on the ground shaking and my buddy saw a few women crying.

I ran through it really fast. It wasn't that bad to me, but I defiantly felt shocks, but it's the very last obstacle and you see the finish line about 20 feet beyond and by that point I didn't care, I just wanted it over and done.

They say 73% finish. I saw some ppl being taken away in stretchers and a ton of ppl sitting down as I ran (or walked) past.

Happy mudder's day, gratz.

There were mile markers which was nice and spectators all over who usually had a map and the time so it wasn't like you were totally lost. You pretty much follow the arrows and the people in front of you and and stay in the ropes. there were multiple start times and each wave is like 400+ people. I started at 11.40am and got done around 4pm. There were 3 water stations and the first one had bananas but the other 2 ran out by the time I got there. If you are in decent shape (walk a lot, hit the gym, use the stairs as much as you can) you should be ok. I carb loaded the night before and only had protein drinks for breakfast and energy gu packets during the race. I didn't puke and I had some slight cramping in my thigh but that was it. I think the secret is to keep moving on the uphill portions and don't take a rest until you are are the top of each hill.

http://i.imgur.com/v5H7V.png

here's the facebook comments about the above picture... WTF

Aco Cohen looks like they never fully got this full of water. feeling bad for that guy that fell and broke his leg in three places
April 10 at 12:55pm · Like

Upama Rai Ouch. That sucks.
April 10 at 1:04pm · Like

Barbara Greenough Marshall This one's the reason my husband's in the ER right now getting TBD knee stitches.
April 10 at 1:14pm · Like

Cindy Korce Stansfield I can't believe they opened this back up today...hopefully it was a better outcome
April 10 at 1:17pm · Like

Joey Henderson Don't fall= better outcome.
April 10 at 1:46pm · Like · 3 people

Jamison C. Bazinet ‎@Joey is right, I made it across yesterday to 1. prove I could do it and 2. not end up like the guy being splinted on the ending platform in front of me.
April 10 at 1:54pm · Like

John Huie WOW, broken leg, yikes. i'll pray for him, broken legs are not fun!
April 10 at 4:34pm · Like

Ari Fuentes oh man... now my mom's freaking out. my first tough mudder is in may and my sister's graduation ceremonies for her undergrad and master's are the following wknd haha let's hope i dont end up with broken bones and or stitches for that.
April 10 at 4:57pm · Like · 3 people

Scott Kwong really disappointed that this was closed by the time I got there on saturday. was looking forward to this obstacle the most.
April 10 at 5:00pm · Like

Jonathan Rambo I bitched out when they closed it down, and were hammering extra pieces to the obstacle and there was zero water or hay...lol no need to break my knees.
April 10 at 5:05pm · Like

Jessamyn Hodge ACK. here's hoping there is either water or MORE freaking hay in NE/Mt Snow.
April 10 at 5:36pm · Like

Talis Lin Guy in my group broke his ankle on this right behind me. A guy 2 people in front of me broke his ankle too and had to be stretchered off. I can see why they shut it down. Injuring 2 out of 5 has nothing to do with toughness.
April 10 at 6:12pm · Like

Joey Henderson ‎@ Talis,While I am sorry to hear anyone got injured on the course, it has alot to do with toughness. It's called completeing the obstacle. If you make it across the bars, you don't get injured. If anyone complains about being injured, they should 1. read the waiver and 2. stay home. Anyone could get injured, just don't enter this and complain about it.
April 10 at 6:23pm · Like

Greg Cox i made it across, not many did though, one rung at a time.
April 10 at 6:50pm · Like · 1 person

Dreyfus McGillicutty ‎@ Greg--same. Hands were sore as hell afterward though. Great job today Mudders.
April 10 at 7:17pm · Like

Talis Lin ‎@Joey Your attitude is nonsense. Everyone entering the TM knows you can get injured. However, you better complete the obstacle or there's a good chance that we will break your legs? Really? It's about people pushing themselves as hard as they can. Not injuring them if they don't meet some standard. TM agrees, that's why they shut down the obstacle and tried to fix it.
April 10 at 7:27pm · Like · 15 people

Esau Valencia Jr. Yes!!!..I can't wait....November Baby
April 10 at 8:50pm · Like

John Wesley Young Big big difference between tough and stupid
April 10 at 10:16pm · Like · 1 person

Robin Drake Fitch Pain for Progression!
April 10 at 10:44pm · Like

Joey Henderson Sorry if you take it that way. Truth is you could just as easily break a leg on the stairs in your home. I think I heard them announce for you to not do an obstacle if you felt that uncomfortable about it. Not trying to offend you, just point out that it's a given you could get injured in one of these. The hills and wood trails would have been an easy place to get injured also.
April 11 at 4:00am · Like

Ryan Chu The stairs in my house aren't greased.
April 11 at 5:00am · Like · 1 person

Pundy James Punderson As a spectator I watched a girl explode her ankle on this right in front of me and 3 people with questionable ankles pulled out about 10 minutes later. I would only try this one if you were 100% sure you could make it past the first 7 ft. All the injuries happened there on the slope and the low water. There should have been more hay.
April 11 at 6:38am · Like

Ned Houghton saw the same lady bust her ankle , and heard of many more injurys, think they closed this one half way through the day
April 11 at 7:15am · Like

Dan Renn They screwed up the design of this obstacle, period. The guy who broke his leg was right in front of me. There was about a foot of water below you and various sized rocks below that. When you fell off the obstacle, you assumed you were falling into a safe area, which was not the case.
April 11 at 7:34am · Like

Andrew Rumford I didn't break anything because I flew across those monkey bars like a beast in 10 seconds!! HOORAH!!
April 11 at 1:32pm · Like · 1 person

Michael J. Overend I had the guy in front of me stall out I tried to hang while he figured out he needed to drop - I dropped from the top hit in a semi crouch and still slammed into the bottom - the water was way too shallow . period, not safe I was there as the girl was being pulled for the tib/fib break they need to get the water deeper or add padding like they did late on sun
April 11 at 7:52pm · Like

Ryan MacDonald OHH YEAH!!! That was a bi#$%^. BUT I OWNED IT!!!
April 12 at 8:41pm · Like

Gary Villines lol this obstacle was taken from the US Army Ranger School
April 13 at 5:05pm · Like

Can't wait to do them in Melbourne and Sydney 2012

that was one of the last obstacles we did. However, ours was filled with freezing cold water. I didn't have any gloves and made it to the 2nd bar and fell in. If this was much earlier in the challenge I think I would of done better but at this point I was beat and sore and had just got out of a another water challenge were you had to go into a huge tank of water that had ice floating in it and go under a bar half way through.

Wow well done T! I think my role would have been one of the crying ladies... it looks extremely heavy.

thanks!!! it wasn't easy. Here is a pic I have of me about to jump from a 15 foot tower into ice cold water.

http://www.tonytesta.com/tm/DSCF0108.JPG

I looked over the whole site and the Video.... Looks like a Blast!!

I LOVE that kind of stuff... I can't believe I didn't know about this... I need to find one in Florida!!






.:thumbsup:thumbsup

what do you recommend clothes wise to take? looks like some people have nice shoes (they will get destroyed) some have gloves, some have water type jackets.

Tampa dec 3rd and 4th

Getting ready to do the one in Phoenix this January. Glad I have time to prep. I can run the distances now, but I'm thinking I really need to hit the Cross Fit and Kettle bells to get it done.

I would wear an under armor long sleeve and a 3/4 under armor pant/short thing if they make it or a full length legging. I wore a speedo under a swim trunk to keep my junk tight and warm. Main thing is not to have anything that will hold water. no cotton shirts. no need for a jacket, just keep moving and you'll warm up. I didn't bother with gloves and I saw lots of them discarded, but if you did want some, I would do a thin pair with a rubber non skid palm. For shoes I wore kswiss tubes (fucking AWESOME shoes) and short ankle socks. my socks were cotton and as soon as I was done I tossed them..I only slipped once going uphill in the snow. don't bring a jacket, you'll end up tossing it. I would also recommend a head band if you sweat a lot.

I did no kettle bell training at all and tons of ppl smoke who run this too. Main thing is stamina. Each course is different, so good luck!

Time to start putting a team together!!:thumbsup:thumbsup





.:pimp

this is uber cool man

when i saw the pics on fb i thought you just jumped off some bridge into water..lol

Here are some pix and the Boston Phoenix article

http://thephoenix.com/Boston/life/12...of-muddy-hell/