12 mile (20km) Adventure Race

[liamsoane]

Hello there,
I am currently preparing for a 12 mile tough mudder. The obvious conditioning protocol is green, however, I am unsure whether to follow the guidelines in the book or to follow the template given in the book. At the moment I am thinking:
Fighter (bangkok) with Green
M - MS
T - E/HIC on alternate weeks
W - MS
T - E
F - SE
S - E
S - Rest
OR Operator with Green
M - MS with SE
T - E
W - MS with SE
T - E
F - MS with SE
S - E
S - Rest

Please can you critique and advise on these schedule and offer any advice on preparing for this adventure race as it will be my first one.

[J-Madd]

Hello there,
I am currently preparing for a 12 mile tough mudder. The obvious conditioning protocol is green, however, I am unsure whether to follow the guidelines in the book or to follow the template given in the book. At the moment I am thinking:
Fighter (bangkok) with Green
M - MS
T - E/HIC on alternate weeks
W - MS
T - E
F - SE
S - E
S - Rest
OR Operator with Green
M - MS with SE
T - E
W - MS with SE
T - E
F - MS with SE
S - E
S - Rest

Please can you critique and advise on these schedule and offer any advice on preparing for this adventure race as it will be my first one.

Either set-up is fine. I would, however, make one of those E sessions a long fun run each week.

[liamsoane]

Hello there,
I am currently preparing for a 12 mile tough mudder. The obvious conditioning protocol is green, however, I am unsure whether to follow the guidelines in the book or to follow the template given in the book. At the moment I am thinking:
Fighter (bangkok) with Green
M - MS
T - E/HIC on alternate weeks
W - MS
T - E
F - SE
S - E
S - Rest
OR Operator with Green
M - MS with SE
T - E
W - MS with SE
T - E
F - MS with SE
S - E
S - Rest

Please can you critique and advise on these schedule and offer any advice on preparing for this adventure race as it will be my first one.

Either set-up is fine. I would, however, make one of those E sessions a long fun run each week.

Thank you for your help, I definitely will.

[grouchyjarhead]

Long fun runs are pretty much golden for OCRs in my opinion. Rope climbs or towel pull-ups as a finisher on your strength days would even things out nicely and get you ready for the ropes.

[Green2Blue]

I've now done two Spartan's, 16 mile and 5 mile. I still hold this info to be true. Only caveat is my wife can only do 10 pull-ups (not 20 like I suggest), and can keep up on 90% of obstacles just fine.

I know a Tough Mudder isn't a Spartan, but I can't imagine they're too different.

Ahhhh the Spartan. I did my first Spartan last year, a Beast ,in a mountainous state with my wife. We'll be doing the Trifecta this year.

While the Beast is the hardest one, it doesn't require elite fitness to simply complete. You'll be shocked by the wide variety of people out there. My wife and I finished in the top 10%, even though we went at a casual pace and I'm by no means an endurance athlete. You'll see more walking than actual running. Everyone ran out the gate and then a short while later started walking, and all I thought was, "Oh, thank god."

If I had to break down your ability to be successful in the Spartan I'd split it into three categories: stamina, pulling and grip strength to body weight ratio, and long distance loaded carries.

1. Stamina
I differentiate this from endurance. I'm defining stamina here by your ability to perform in a wide variety of exercise domains for a long duration, as well as take an actual physical beating. The exhaustion I felt at the end of a Spartan was a lot less like running a half marathon, and a lot more like going on a long hike or ruck in rough terrain. It's just.... different. If I had to prioritize your E work it would be: trail runs in rough/steep terrain, rucks wherever you can get them in, fun runs, then LSS.

2. Pulling and Grip Strength/Bodyweight Ratio
Rope climbs, monkey bars, and wall climbs of varying types make up a huge number of the obstacles. There are also horizontal pulls like sled drags. If I had to throw a number of it, you should be able to do at least 20 pull-ups to be successful. I can do 30 and I was still pretty challenged. Since you can only do 1, work on your pull-ups and try to drop some bodyweight. Since your going to the park practice monkey bars. Maybe work rope stuff like rope climbs and sled pulls if you have access to that. People that are pretty good at pull-ups would benefit from specialty grips when doing pull-ups and monkey bars.

In this category I also include jumping over walls, since losing weight would help. While these are prominent, they aren't that big of a deal because you can usually cheat and get a boost. If you have a wall you can practice, but box jumps and muscle ups would also help.

These pulling obstacles are generally where people fail and do burpees, since on most loaded carries you can rest.

3. Long Distance Loaded Carries
The good news is it's hard to fail these since you can usually set the load down and rest. The bad news is these are pretty damn hard. The two that stick out the sand bag and bucket. For the sand bag we just carried a sandbag however you want up a massive steep incline and back down. For the bucket, we filled a bucket full of sand and gravel and bear hugged it for like a quarter mile. These were the hardest and second hardest obstacles for me respectively, and I'm not weak. The distance more than the load is what made it a challenge. Fortunately the second one is pretty easy to train. Just go buy a 5 gallon bucket, fill it with a 50 lb bag of play sand, and just carry the damn thing. Both items are like $7 total at Lowes or Home Depot. You can try to replicate the sand bag, but it takes a little more of a specialized location. Go read the Strongman Sandbag thread for ideas on sandbags.

4. Burpees
I know I said 3 categories, but if you aren't good at the other 3 (especially #2), get good at these. 30 burpees for each failed obstacle. I'd throw them in your fun runs.

[grouchyjarhead]

Great advice G2B!!

[liamsoane]

I've now done two Spartan's, 16 mile and 5 mile. I still hold this info to be true. Only caveat is my wife can only do 10 pull-ups (not 20 like I suggest), and can keep up on 90% of obstacles just fine.

I know a Tough Mudder isn't a Spartan, but I can't imagine they're too different.

Ahhhh the Spartan. I did my first Spartan last year, a Beast ,in a mountainous state with my wife. We'll be doing the Trifecta this year.

While the Beast is the hardest one, it doesn't require elite fitness to simply complete. You'll be shocked by the wide variety of people out there. My wife and I finished in the top 10%, even though we went at a casual pace and I'm by no means an endurance athlete. You'll see more walking than actual running. Everyone ran out the gate and then a short while later started walking, and all I thought was, "Oh, thank god."

If I had to break down your ability to be successful in the Spartan I'd split it into three categories: stamina, pulling and grip strength to body weight ratio, and long distance loaded carries.

1. Stamina
I differentiate this from endurance. I'm defining stamina here by your ability to perform in a wide variety of exercise domains for a long duration, as well as take an actual physical beating. The exhaustion I felt at the end of a Spartan was a lot less like running a half marathon, and a lot more like going on a long hike or ruck in rough terrain. It's just.... different. If I had to prioritize your E work it would be: trail runs in rough/steep terrain, rucks wherever you can get them in, fun runs, then LSS.

2. Pulling and Grip Strength/Bodyweight Ratio
Rope climbs, monkey bars, and wall climbs of varying types make up a huge number of the obstacles. There are also horizontal pulls like sled drags. If I had to throw a number of it, you should be able to do at least 20 pull-ups to be successful. I can do 30 and I was still pretty challenged. Since you can only do 1, work on your pull-ups and try to drop some bodyweight. Since your going to the park practice monkey bars. Maybe work rope stuff like rope climbs and sled pulls if you have access to that. People that are pretty good at pull-ups would benefit from specialty grips when doing pull-ups and monkey bars.

In this category I also include jumping over walls, since losing weight would help. While these are prominent, they aren't that big of a deal because you can usually cheat and get a boost. If you have a wall you can practice, but box jumps and muscle ups would also help.

These pulling obstacles are generally where people fail and do burpees, since on most loaded carries you can rest.

3. Long Distance Loaded Carries
The good news is it's hard to fail these since you can usually set the load down and rest. The bad news is these are pretty damn hard. The two that stick out the sand bag and bucket. For the sand bag we just carried a sandbag however you want up a massive steep incline and back down. For the bucket, we filled a bucket full of sand and gravel and bear hugged it for like a quarter mile. These were the hardest and second hardest obstacles for me respectively, and I'm not weak. The distance more than the load is what made it a challenge. Fortunately the second one is pretty easy to train. Just go buy a 5 gallon bucket, fill it with a 50 lb bag of play sand, and just carry the damn thing. Both items are like $7 total at Lowes or Home Depot. You can try to replicate the sand bag, but it takes a little more of a specialized location. Go read the Strongman Sandbag thread for ideas on sandbags.

4. Burpees
I know I said 3 categories, but if you aren't good at the other 3 (especially #2), get good at these. 30 burpees for each failed obstacle. I'd throw them in your fun runs.

That is brilliant advice, will definitely be incorporating a lot of that into my training. Thank you for the help, hopefully, these will get me used to the actual conditions of the run itself.

[liamsoane]

Long fun runs are pretty much golden for OCRs in my opinion. Rope climbs or towel pull-ups as a finisher on your strength days would even things out nicely and get you ready for the ropes.

Yes i'm still torn between have 3 MS days with SE finishers or having 2 MS days a specific day for SE and grip strength. Im thinking about trying a month of each then using my preferred method for the final month. Any experience on this?

[TangoZero]

Long fun runs are pretty much golden for OCRs in my opinion. Rope climbs or towel pull-ups as a finisher on your strength days would even things out nicely and get you ready for the ropes.

Yes i'm still torn between have 3 MS days with SE finishers or having 2 MS days a specific day for SE and grip strength. Im thinking about trying a month of each then using my preferred method for the final month. Any experience on this?

If you're interested in being somewhat competitive I would without a doubt stick to the Bangkok set-up. 12 miles is a long enough distance to prioritize your E work until the race is over imo. If it was just 5 or 6 miles then I'd say it wouldn't matter, either 2 or 3 days MS would work.

If you go with Bangkok, not only will you have an entire session to dedicate to SE, but you can implement a mini SE circuit after your Fighter/MS sessions. By mini I mean just a 2 or 3 exercise cluster used as a finisher. Following the weekly SE progression. It can be as simple as push-ups and sit-ups, or even burpees and swings. So you'de get SE 3 x week like this:

Fighter #1: BP/SQ. Finisher: push-ups/chins 3 x 10
Fighter # 2:BP/SQ. Finisher: push-ups/chins 3 x 10
SE Day: push-ups/chins/air squats/swings......etc

[K.B.]

In addition to all the great advice here: Fun-Runs, Fun-Runs, Fun-Runs.
Get creative, use KB or weight-vest FRs, mix it up with bodyweight/burpees and practice going the distance. Good luck and keep us posted!