tough mudder

Awesome-O

Has anybody entered the tough mudder anywhere before? A few of us are thinking if entering this year for Punchestown, it looks and sounds like so much fun but I want to be sure I'll actually be able for it if I pay the expensive entry fee.

tojers1

Ye im in the same boat. Me and a few of the lads want to do it but it looks tough and wondering would it be worth it. theres good tutorial work outs on toughmudder.co.uk if you want to check them out. thats what we are going by.

mloc123

Is it a Tri? No
Is it a Duathlon? No
Adventure Race? No

Oryx

mloc123 wrote: »

Is it a Tri? No
Is it a Duathlon? No
Adventure Race? No

Ah, be nice. Its not really A/R either. Its a homeless discipline. A mud mutt race. We might as well let it stay a while.

OP, what is your level of fitness like, what have you done prior to this?

colin32

I've entered it this year along with 2 brothers & one of the gf's. 10-12 miles of pure hell but looking forward to it

Awesome-O

Oryx wrote: »

OP, what is your level of fitness like, what have you done prior to this?

I've not done anything like this before or races. But have started getting into fitness the end of last year and trying to build up a bit of strength (I'm a girl) think if I sign up it will push me to keep motivated...I hope

colin32

Not done anything like this myself. I'm just looking to concentrate on fitness levels for most of year, then work on strengthening for last 6-8 weeks

lachin

colin32 wrote: »

I've entered it this year along with 2 brothers & one of the gf's. 10-12 miles of pure hell but looking forward to it

How many girlfriends do you have?

colin32

Haha

RayCun

Not a running event either!

Outdoor Pursuits?
Fitness?
Kick it back to the messing forum?

Oryx

Awesome-O wrote: »

I've not done anything like this before or races. But have started getting into fitness the end of last year and trying to build up a bit of strength (I'm a girl) think if I sign up it will push me to keep motivated...I hope

Can you run?

ThisRegard

RayCun wrote: »

Not a running event either!

Outdoor Pursuits?
Fitness?
Kick it back to the messing forum?

An excuse to get a tattoo in the vein of Ironman, promise to get a Tough Mudder Tattoo and you get free entry.



It probably is a bit of fun, but hideously expensive.

johnnyvegas22

:eek::eek::eek:just signed up to this with the lads

Phonehead

I did one last year in Buffalo NY, so what's it like?? well it's as tough as you want it to be. There is no timining so you can stroll around the 11 miles and you can even opt to skip any obstacles that you don't want to do. I fortunately did it with a group of marathoners and Ironmen so we went out to get around this thing as fast as the group could. In a situation like this it is a very tough event, the obstacles and running do challenge if you are giving it serious effort. As a runner you may think you are fit but honestly if you don't work your upper body you will struggle and could find you need your team to help you once your arms turn to rubber after a few obstacles. That's the best advice anyone gave me beforehand and I made sure to do chin ups and push ups for a few months leading up to it. Genuinely if I hadn't! I'd have needed assistance getting up and over some of the walls.

Awesome-O

Great advice and description Phone head.

I'm trying to begin running and am going to work in this over the summer. Upper body is pretty good running over distance is my struggle. A friend told me you can walk it to but I do want to push myself as much as I can without it leading me to breaking point half way through.

buck65

You need to get running, working on upper body is something that can be done along with the running but to build fitness running is the key.
Also not much point going out on the road, you need to be running on rough trails or preferably cross country. Don't worry about mileage, just work on time spent on your feet. Do some hills as well. Try to build up to 90 minutes continuous (apart from climbing walls and ditches) of cross country running.
The muck and long wet grass is a better character builder than any gym!

tojers1

Thanks man. Going to give it a go. tough work but it will be worth it :P cheers

johnnyvegas22

me and the lads are going to start doing the marley 5 k every sat to get the fitness up, they also have random pull up bars in the park

PLL

My best friend has just signed up to do this with her brother. As women we would be of average size and fitness, although she is 'in training' atm. She asked me would I do it with her, she explained it briefly to me and I said yeah why not. Then I watched the advertising video.

Lads, I would die trying to do that. I quickly rang her explaining this. Fair play to all that enter and enjoy!

comewatmay

How much is the entry fee?

Extrasupervery

That was awesome.

Extrasupervery

Extrasupervery wrote: »

That was awesome.

yup had a great time bit tired towards the end but great craic

dukeraoul

Who won?

fletch

dukeraoul wrote: »

Who won?

It wasn't timed so I don't think there was a winner. Really enjoyed it myself, great atmosphere and some interesting obstacles. Not sure I'd do it again next year as the price is a bit steep (think I paid around €80) and then it was €10 to park the car (or €20 for a premium spot which definitely wouldn't have been worth it), €5 for bag drop, €10/€20 for spectators etc...
In saying that, there seemed to be a water station every few miles with protein bars and the t-shirt is excellent quality.

ThisRegard

That's a lot of charges for different things, they even charge for parking, with premiums spots as well as the bag drop ! Madness.

pconn062

fletch wrote: »

It wasn't timed so I don't think there was a winner. Really enjoyed it myself, great atmosphere and some interesting obstacles. Not sure I'd do it again next year as the price is a bit steep (think I paid around €80) and then it was €10 to park the car (or €20 for a premium spot which definitely wouldn't have been worth it), €5 for bag drop, €10/€20 for spectators etc...
In saying that, there seemed to be a water station every few miles with protein bars and the t-shirt is excellent quality.

That. is. mental.

eyeball kid

My wife and a few of her friends were doing it on Saturday. They enjoyed it and did it for charity but it was ridiculously overpriced. They were looking for €20 for spectators. :eek: I just parked along the main road and walked in through a gap in the fence. No way was I paying into it.

That said, it does look like it was well organised and well run. (for that money, it would need to be)

Enduro

So now we know who the winners were... the organisers' bank accounts!

Peterx

but if the organisers don't make money there will be no event next year.

menoscemo

fletch wrote: »

It wasn't timed so I don't think there was a winner. Really enjoyed it myself, great atmosphere and some interesting obstacles. Not sure I'd do it again next year as the price is a bit steep (think I paid around €80) and then it was €10 to park the car (or €20 for a premium spot which definitely wouldn't have been worth it), €5 for bag drop, €10/€20 for spectators etc...
In saying that, there seemed to be a water station every few miles with protein bars and the t-shirt is excellent quality.

The cost is absolutely ridiculous but the added extra costs even more so. €10 to park a car and €5 to drop your bag :rolleyes:

Despite all of the costs, the most surprising thing about your post is the bit about Protein Bars at the water stations. WTF?

Cabaal

Peterx wrote: »

but if the organisers don't make money there will be no event next year.

There's a different between covering costs and ensuring you have money to start another event and price gouging people

fletch

menoscemo wrote: »

Despite all of the costs, the most surprising thing about your post is the bit about Protein Bars at the water stations. WTF?

I don't really know was I trying to justify the cost in some way? I enjoyed the event and was trying not to let the costs ruin it for me.
My friend and I were laughing at the amount of water stations as we went around though, totally unnecessary, but then again there were a lot of fun runners there who may have found the event tough (which it wasn't).

colin32

Did this yesterday & really enjoyed it. felt like I'd been hit by a train when I got out of bed this morning. Luckily I'd booked the day off

Few bumps & bruises but not as bad as some of the people I saw on the course

T shirt is great quality, under armour

starWave

Did this on Sunday morning as part of a team of 500 doing it for charity. There was a great atmosphere at this because nobody was worried about a chip time.

We stopped at all of the water stations and had banter all the way around. It was quite difficult as it wasn't just straight running. Getting wet throughout the course and doing the obstacles was a challenge. There is a bit of a cult feeling to it though, the way they psyche you up at the start with a pledge, and try to get you back to do more races to earn colored headbands.

Tough Mudder are a slick organization financially. The CEO came up with the idea in Harvard business school and copied some of the idea from Tough Guy. It is expensive and the extra costs of parking make you feel a bit ripped off.

The spectator fee was definitely a rip-off, but I think you could easily walk in as a spectator without paying. Parking was €20 for pre-pay premium parking or €10 on the day. We paid on the day and ended up right beside the premium parking 100m from the gate. Its well set up to extract the extra bit of money from your pocket if you're willing to pay. The fee for entering was probably fair though considering the organization involved, atmosphere, and the Under Armour t-shirt.

They give out loads of protein bars because they have sponsors promoting their goods (protein bars, water, beer, sports cameras).

They are worth $70 million, so its all about making money at the end of the day, but they are not as bad as the "Run or Dye" crowd. That was rip-off central. €5 to park in a rocky field, and run or dye t-shirts on sale for €35. I heard that they didn't even have water after the race at one of their events. You had to buy water, and there was a huge queue for it.

ThisRegard

How was the charity element organised ? Did Tough Mudder organise it, or did you organise it yourselves separately ?

groovyg

fletch wrote: »

It wasn't timed so I don't think there was a winner. Really enjoyed it myself, great atmosphere and some interesting obstacles. Not sure I'd do it again next year as the price is a bit steep (think I paid around €80) and then it was €10 to park the car (or €20 for a premium spot which definitely wouldn't have been worth it), €5 for bag drop, €10/€20 for spectators etc...
In saying that, there seemed to be a water station every few miles with protein bars and the t-shirt is excellent quality.

Thats bleedin nutz expensive for an obstacle course run :eek: Is this type of event not similar to Runamuck or those Hell and Back style events?? I can't believe you paid that much for it, charging spectators tho that is taking the P$$$
Even tho it wasn't timed were there any winners like for first three males and females or first team?

fletch

For anyone that did the event as part of a team, don't forget to apply for a rebate!
https://toughmudder.co.uk/team-rebate

• 6 to 10 members, you each get a $5 refund.
• 11 to 20 members, you each get a $10 refund.
• 21+ members, you each get a $15 refund.

starWave

ThisRegard wrote: »

How was the charity element organised ? Did Tough Mudder organise it, or did you organise it yourselves separately ?

It was organised by ourselves. Tough Mudder sponsor the wounded warrior project, but not sure how much they donate to that.

colin32

The irish charity for the event was crumlin childrens hospital. Not sure how much was donated though