Ok, so my friend had to unexpectedly drop out of the camp pendleton 10k mud run on june 19th and I agreed to take his place on the team. I have been running 2 mile runs max and intervals, this run is 10k of dirt roads, hills, mud pits and 6' walls.
So, my question is, what would be the best idea to train for this in this relatively short time period? I dont know shit about running or training for races...Thanks in advance...
You got 5 weeks. Basically, this means you have 4 weeks to train, and one week of taper. What you gotta do is build up your aerobic capacity for 40-50 minute duration, and you gotta get your legs used to that amount of running.
Before I suggest anything, what have your last 2-3 weeks been in terms of exercise?
off duty-Last 2-3 weeks I have been running 2 mile distance runs twice a week, with interval sprints. Grappling and muay thai 2-3 times a week. (fairly heavy mma workout)
@ work-Light cardio 3 times a week, skipping, easy jog 6.5 mph on a treadmill for a mile to warm up prior to lifting and kettlebells(not a heavy workout)
I can easily run a 7:30 mile without much effort...I work out every day, except some weeks im involved with my kids or family stuff and am not able to do anything for 1-2 days, no more than that...thanks again for the help...
Before I discuss the plan, let's talk about the course. The course map and elevation profile is here:
http://www.camppendletonraces.com/images/map_mud.jpg)
You have around a mile or so of barely noticeable downhill until you hit a shitload of obstacles for a mile, culminating in a 3/4 mile steep ass uphill. Then you descend and have another mile and half or so of obstacles. So basically, you gotta be able to do 400-800m fast, do some upper body work or crawling, and then do it again, and not blow up climbing a steep hill. Hopefully your interval training will have prepped you enough for this. I suggest in your case using the hill workouts as your interval workouts- not only do they help with speed and top end endurance, but running hills also improves your technique. You may want to reduce your other workouts so you can recover properly. If you miss a workout, don't sweat it. If you are too tired or sore, skip a workout, but try to do the easy runs.
If you find yourself breathing to hard on an easy run or your legs hurt, slow down or .... walk for a minute or so until you feel better. Recovery and injury prevention during training are your #1 goal, always, and easy runs are supposed to be easy, so you have energy for the hard workouts. After every run you want take 5-15 minutes and do some stretching and drills (to improve running mechanics). If you feel good in week 3 and week 4, consider adding in another easy run, but doing 2-3 hours of running is quite a bit already.
Week of 16-27 (~1.5-1.75 hours)
2 x E run, 25-35 minutes (should be 2-4.5 miles)
1 x hill workout:
-Warm up 10 minutes run E
-3 x { 60 seconds uphill at fast pace, maybe 80-85%, then jog down/rest 90s }
-Cooldown 10 minutes run E
The goal is to start building up your endurance with the long easy runs (don't be tempted to go too hard) and start getting used to maintaining speed up hills and help maintain your fitness from your interval workouts.
Week of 23-29 (1.5-2 hours)
2-3 x E run, 30-40 minutes (should be 3-5 miles)
1 x hill workout:
-Warm up 10 minutes run E
-4 x { 60 seconds uphill at fast pace, maybe 80-85%, then jog down/rest 90s }
-Cooldown 10 minutes run E
This week will build on the previous week with slightly longer easy runs, and upping it to 3x a week if you feel alright.
Week of 30-5 (2-3 hours)
2 x E run, 30-45 minutes (should be 3-5 miles)
1 x tempo run, 30-40 minutes (warmup and cooldown 10 minutes before and after, main portion is 10-20 minutes at maybe 70% effort)
1 x hill workout:
-Warm up 15 minutes run E
-4 x { 60 seconds uphill at fast pace, maybe 80-85%, then jog down/rest 90s }
-Cooldown 10 minutes run E
This week and the next are your 2 main training weeks. We add in a tempo run to get you to push a pace close to (but not quite) race pace. You can do this on any sort of terrain as long as you maintain the intensity.
Week of 6-12 (2-3 hours)
2 x E run, 30-45 minutes (should be 3-5 miles)
1 x tempo run, 30-40 minutes (warmup and cooldown 10 minutes before and after, main portion is 10-20 minutes at maybe 70% effort)
1 x hill workout:
-Warm up 15 minutes run E
-4 x { 60 seconds uphill at fast pace, maybe 80-85%, then jog down/rest 90s }
-Cooldown 10 minutes run E
Same as previous week.
Week of 13-19
3 x E run, 25-45 minutes
Race week, cut out all hard workouts and just do really easy runs and keep up the drills and stretching.
Stretches:
Do the regular hamstring, calf, quad and hip stretches (butterfly and pidgeon are good). You probably know all these.
Drills:
High knees, 50m
Buttkicks, 50m
Skipping, alternate legs, 50m
Strides (go from 50 and increase steadily to 90% pace) 50-100m, and focus on maintain a high turnover (ie shorter strides, feet move faster)
In general, you can do sets of drills, maybe 3-x strides, 3x buttkicks, etc.
Cramps:
For leg cramps, this happens if you are tight or dehydrated and shit like that. So, stretch religiously, do drills and drink enough water during the day.
Nutrition:
Consider eating more carbs- pasta/noodles/bread/pizza, that's what gives you enough energy to do lots of cardio- relative to what you normally eat. For this distance, don't even worry about eating during the race- you only need that once you start doing stuff around the 2 hour mark.
I may have forgotten something, but I think that is relatively decent list.
Having done the Mud Run a couple years ago, I can tell you unless you're trying to really race it and are with a team of people that are hard core, it's really not that big of a deal.
For starters, everyone will be walking the beginning of the race -- there's a TON of people on every day of the Mud Run and the trail is not very wide, so you won't even physically be able to run at the beginning.
If you are a decent runner you will spend most of the race dodging walkers and slow people. There is also back up on a bunch of the obstacles and you won't go terribly fast through the lake, either.
To be frank, the obstacles are mostly lame. It's a fun event, but it's not really that intense unless you're on a competitive level. The worst part is probably the smell of the mud, especially if you're there the second weekend.
If you end up enjoying the Mud Run and want to do a cool mud/obstacle race, check out the Volkslauf -- it's WAY tougher and you actually need to know how to swim, too.
Thank you everyone for all the help, you guys are friggin awesome. Im not woried about the obstacles at all, just the fact that I dont run any real signifigant distance in my daily training. Gatotwopointoh, awesome post, thanks for taking the time to answer me in great detail. Definently looking forward to this run, and actually liking the fact that I am running more. Thanks again!
ffjc805 - Thank you everyone for all the help, you guys are friggin awesome. Im not woried about the obstacles at all, just the fact that I dont run any real signifigant distance in my daily training. Gatotwopointoh, awesome post, thanks for taking the time to answer me in great detail. Definently looking forward to this run, and actually liking the fact that I am running more. Thanks again!
make sure you have decent shoes though (should be replaced every 400 miles or so, depending on how heavy you are), and if you need new shoes, go to a running shop and get them, and rotate them in with your old shoes to get your feet used to them, so it'd be like do an easy run with the new shoes, and use the old shoes for everything else, and walk around the house in the new shoes a bit for the first week you have them.
When I did the mud run I threw out everything I was wearing afterward, so I wouldn't wear your best outfit or your best shoes.
I plan on wearing old stuff, but may have to take a hit on the running shoes cuz i want to run in semi decent ones, shame to throw em out early but worth it i think...thanks again to you both...
you can toss running shoes in the washing machine for what it's worth (after brushing the big stuff off and rinsing them in a bucket in the sink)