Virginia Bootcamp takes on Tough Mudder

Many of us Virginia Bootcampers trained and prepared for months and months for the Tough Mudder Competition held at Wintergreen Mountain Resort!

Tough Mudder
Saturday Oct 22, 8:40am but we actually started 9am
The Following italic text is taken from the Tough Mudder Website www.ToughMudder.com :

“Probably the Toughest Event on the Planet”

“Tough Mudder is not your average lame-ass mud run or spirit-crushing ‘endurance’ road race. Our 10-12 mile obstacle courses are designed by British Special Forces to test all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. Forget finish times. Simply completing a Tough Mudder is a badge of honor. With the best obstacles and the most innovative courses, it’s no surprise that Tough Mudder has ten times more participants than any other mud run and half a million participants globally. Tough Mudder has raised over two million dollars for the Wounded Warrior Project.”

“WARNING: Tough Mudder is 3-4 times longer and MUCH TOUGHER than a typical mud run such as Warrior Dash. On average, only 78% of participants finish the event. Only those in reasonably strong physical condition should enter.”

-“we encourage all Mudders to increase their physical training in anticipation of the event. That said, the event is as much about mental toughness, grit, and camaraderie (and having a great time) as anything physical.”

-“How fit do you need to be? First, complete slackers need not apply. Basically, you should be in good physical condition. At a minimum, we recommend that you are running regularly (3-4 times a week), work up to at least runs of 5-7 miles, be able to do 15-25 push-ups in a row, be able to bang out 6 pull-ups in a row (especially the guys), and be able to swim 50 yards without stopping (although you can skip the water obstacles).”

-“It certainly helps to be a strong runner, and like we said you should be running regularly as part of your TM training, but a large share of our participants have never run 10 miles straight before. It’s not necessary to be a marathoner or half-marathoner. We all know that running in a straight line is boring. Thankfully, at TM we mix up the drudgery with belly-crawling, wall-climbing, mud-slogging, ice-water dunking, monkey-bar traversing, huge slip n’ slides, etc.”

-“As we like to say, Tough Mudder is about completing a fearsome challenge”

 

My (Dave Gluhareff’s) Overview

Lots of cool, well thought-out Tough team obstacles some of which were quick and painful but others were a bit longer obstacles which took more focus, determination, and drive to push through and overcome. Even if your team could not help on one side of an obstacle to begin or end it, your Tough Mudder brothers and sisters all stepped-up to fully support and motivate you.  I've never been through something so intense physically ever in my life. Our Team (Team Virginia Bootcamp) were so strong and supportive of each other that we never left anyone behind and we sure as heck were not gonna let anyone give-up!

Highlight for me:

I loved the Tough Mudder Event but one super tough obstacle posed a problem for us all and it was "Everest", this humongous, tall, wooden, slick half-pipe a lot like skateboarders use which we all had to run up and jump to reach the top! I volunteered to go first with agreement from our Team so I could get up there and help catch and pull the rest of us up. I was super nervous there in front of everyone, tons and tons of screaming supportive competitors and spectators all around, okay and it felt like all eyes were on us maybe 6-8 runners up this steep incline. Well I took off as fast as I could and jumped with all I had and made it over the top and with other Mudders there catching me and grabbing me just in case! Well immediately I returned the favor, just as they had to others and me, and I laid down atop "Everest" and locked my body-in to help bring our Team Virginia Bootcamp and other Tough Mudder Brothers and Sisters over! What was such a Highlight for me was the fact that here we Mudders are...all mostly strangers...positively cheering, supporting, motivating, yelling, screaming, pulling-up each of us simply because " it's just the right thing to do"! The Energy there was so uplifting and encouraging and contagious that we were all ONE...we were Tough Mudders!

I really want all my Train With Dave Clients, Virginia Bootcampers, & South Boston Fitness Clients to know how much I really & truly appreciate you guys and gals!  I Love what I do so much and Thank You for Trusting me with your fitness and health needs! I've never been busier in my life but never dread a minute of my work with you all...because it simply doesnt feel like work to me!

 

Thank you all again for choosing me as your Trainer and I appreciate your friendships more than you will ever know!

 

Love you guys!