For those of you unfamiliar with the Tough Mudder Competition, it is a grueling event with distances ranging from 10 to 13 miles. Not only does a participant have to run the distance but there is about 22 challenging obstacles that are spaced throughout the miles to add to the fun. This year Xcellerated Speed Training had a phenomenal team named the Xcellerated Speed Freaks. The participants trained for the last year performing endurance exercises combined with distance running to prepare for the event. This event requires a commitment to eat, hydrate, and train properly in order to excel at this challenge. If you are missing any one of the components you will not survive the event.
The Tough Mudder Philadelphia event took place in Allentown, PA this year. The date was June 1, 2013 and it also happened to be one of the hottest days of the year with a cool temperature of 95 degrees. The humidity in the middle of the wheat field where it was held made it about 105 degrees on Saturday with over 17, 000 participants in the weekend. The race started at 8am with a new group starting off every 20 minutes or so. The team was able to finish the grueling day with no injuries and took them 4 hours to complete. Nutrition was such an crucial part of the day due to the extreme heat and the demanding nature of the course. It took several days of proper hydration and a balance of nutrients to have the competitors make it through the day with no real issues. Some of the challenges consisted of a 25 foot half pipe in which the competitors had to take a running start and jump up on top of the wall to make it over. There was also things like the arctic enema in which the participants had to jump into a moat of icy water and swim across to the other side. Then there was the two different size Berlin walls in which they had to climb up with no ropes or grips of any kind. The fun continued when they had to crawl through tubes submerged in water with live electrical wires dangling from above the pipe.
This event is not for the weak at heart and requires a good game plan in order to make it through without any complications. I am proud of the hard work and dedication our competitors put into their training protocol and it speaks volumes about their character and dedication. This is an amazing experience to be a part of and I am glad that we can help people train for such an experience. I have posted some additional pictures of the event below, please enjoy.
