Tips for the Mud Run

Last Sunday Mike D. "rocked" the Rock N' Roll Marathon, finishing in 4 hours and 20 minutes. This Sunday he is one of 22 members of CrossFit SoCal and Weekend Warriors who will attend the Mud Run at Camp Pendleton!

Here are some tips and hints for the Mud Run:
Wear waterproof sun block with a high SPF UVA/UVB rating.
Bring sun glasses.
Wear your grubbies.
Bring trash bags for your dirties and clean clothes and flip flops for the after festivities.
Bring a little cash if you want a beer or snack after.
Bring a small snack (Zone Bars are always in order).
If you already have your number, afix it to the back of your shirt.

Here are some tips for running the Mud Run provided by Ken Davis:

Tips For Running the Mud Run.

The Mud Run is 10km. It is mostly running, but the obstacles make it a very slow race. The winning time is usually around 40 minutes. The vast majority of the 3500 participants (3300) will take more than an hour to run it.

The race starts at 0900hrs. The base asks that you be at the gate by 0630 to get through security. This is gotten much faster in the past two years, and you can arrive closer to the start time without time stress. But parking is about 1.5 miles from the start. You can walk or take the suttle bus provide (free).

The Temp has been in the low 50s or mid 60s at the start, frequently with an ocean haze overcast. It can be chilly. However, if the haze isn't burned off by race start time, it will by by 0930 and it will very likely be HOT.

The starting gate is packed,so if you want to get a good start, you'll need to get to the gate by 0830

1st Obstacle: 100 meters after starting you'll be sprayed by a fire hose.

2nd Obstacle. about 100 meters further you'll run across the first of many streams. Depending on the amount of rain, these could be dry stream beds to knee deep, a few meters across or 20 meters.

3rd Obstacle (not always there) crab crawl under a cami net.

Next Obstacle: At the top of long hill will be either an obstacle of hay bales you'll need to walk/run/jump over and/or about 50 ft tires you'll need to get across.

1st Mud Pit. You can stand upright for this. It's about 100ft long and the mud varies from a few .1 to .5 meters. In the middle is a 2m wall you need to go over.

100 meters on is a 150meter lake. This was over my head one year, but other years I could walk across with the water at chest height.

2nd Mud Pit: like the 1st pit with a 2m wall to climb over.

2 Conduits. about 8m long each, you need to crawl through

Very Steep hill. Guy at the top of the hill has a fire hose trying to wash you back down the hill, and the road up the hill is muddy with flowing water.

Final Mud Pit: You have to get on your hands and knees in this pit to get under the ropes going across the pit about .5m above the mud. The water/mud is about .5m deep.

100 meter sprint to finish

The mud run is mostly running, up and down hills. You need to be able to run a hard 10k. My personal threshold is running 6:30miles (or better) on the street, in order to break an hour on the mud run

I strongly recommend you bring 3" duck tape to wrap around your shoes to keep out gravel. You will get gravel in your shoes, but the tape helps. Nevertheless, I use a quick-lace system which allows me to slip off my shoes, empty the gravel and put the shoes back on, quickly.

I wear bicycle gloves to protect my hands. I am the only person that does this, but it gives me confidence I can hit the ground, jump the walls, climb through the conduits without hand injury.

The water obstacles are not to worry. The first water hose is cold, but it gets hot so quickly, it's more welcome than not.

Mud Pits: The 1st two you can go across upright, but they are VERY exhausting. You cannot run through the mud. I think the best way to cross is to take long steps so you'll have fewer times you'll have to pull your feet up from the mud.
The mud is firmer and less deep along the edges of the pit. It makes sense to me to go along the edges of the pit rather than the middle where all the people are crossing and frequently falling over each other.

You can't walk in the final mud pit. You'll have to get on your hands and knees to get under the ropes .5m over the water surface. Here the DEEPEST water is best. I have pulled/floated over the mud where there was water over the mud. Last year there was almost no water on the mud, and I had to crawl the 20m. Look for where there's water over the mud.

The Conduit aren't hard except they're towards the end of the race (5 mile point) and you'll be tired. They are littered with rocks and gravel, making it tough to go through them on your hands knees. Squat training is great for this. My personal training bench mark is 100 squats, nonstop. This also helps with stepping, jumping over the hay bales and stepping through the tires. You can never do too many squats.

The lake is a real time sink. If you wade through the water that is 1.5m or deeper, it will take you a while to get across. The lake is about the length of a football field. There are two ropes with floats defining a "path" across the lake. People are directed to stay between these two ropes as they cross the lake. I use one of the ropes to pull myself hand-over-hand across the water. I'm floating and it is MUCH faster then wading. However, you'll need alot of upper arm strength to keep this up for the full length of the lake. If you have a climping rope, this would emulate pulling yourself across the water. Since I don't, I'm just using pullups as a training strategy.

Run, Run, Run. The obstacles make up only short distances of the full 10k race. Between each obstacle is 100m or up to a mile or more run. Running fast will help make up for the time the obstacles costs. After you get off the hardtop at the start, you'll run along sandy roads, ruts, and hard dirt. There is one uphill stretch that must be at least 3/4 mile followed by a steep 1/4 mile descent. This descent in my opinion is one of the toughest obstacles. The hard dirt road is covered with a fine dust that your feet can easily slip on which is easy to do because you're tired. It's about 1.5 miles from the finish. (There's another steep descent before the final mud pit) Training to lean forward on a descent without loosing control, especially when tired, is crucial to posting a good time.

Gatorade was provided in 2006. It was especially helpful right after the conduit for the last 1 mile. The final mile has the most obstacles: 2nd mud pit, conduits, steep muddy hill with the fire hose guy, and very steep descent to final mud pit. The sugar and water from the Gatorade helps.

If you live near Camp Pendelton, you can practice the last 1.5 miles of the race. Most of the course is off limits, but the final stretch is through a park that is open. The mud pits won't be filled until a day or two before the actual race,and the guy on hill with the fire hose obviously won't be there. But, you can practice climbing the hills and looking for best way to run the race.

If you can't get to Pendelton befor the race, then, by all means take advantage of walking the final 1 mile of the course. You will park your car very near to the 2nd mud pit and conduits. Rather than take the shuttle bus to the start, I always walk the final mile of the course checking it out. This also allows me to check out the final mud pit and see where the water is deepest.

If anyone has other training tips or insights, please share them with the rest of us.

Comments

[Bob Baran]

Hi Mike,
Enjoyed your tips for the MudRun. One comment I have to make is about pulling yourself through the river swim by the marker ropes. This is actually not suppose to be allowed and I think gives you an unfair advantage. I have seen people do it and usually the lifeguards will yell at them.
Bob (19 mudruns)

[Bob Baran]

Hi Mike,
I had a question about you mentioning you can walk the last mile. Do you park by the hospital?
When the race is over how do you walk back? Do the marines let you backtrack the course?
Thanks,
Bob

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[Michelle Kruse]

Hi Thanks for the great tips. I have never run a mud run before and am a little apprehensive about doing it. What types of training do you suggest for the obstacles and how do I know if I can do it, what should I be able to do just so I can finish?
Thanks,
Michelle

[Scot L]

I found that doing a combination of the breast stroke and pushing off the bottom of the lake works best. This only works if it is shallow enough to float but still touch the bottom with your feet.

Scot (6 mud runs)