how tough is tough

A couple of years ago, I took a Strengths Finder test at work.  We all did it to see how we can work together better.  It was fun to see posted on a wall everyone's top 5 strengths! One of my top five was Consistency; along with Empathy, Harmony, Adaptability, and Developer.

I'm telling you this because when it comes to my running/workout routine, I am very consistent.  Not always in the day/time but especially in regards to running routes and not really adding much else into my training (like strength training or cross training or hills!).  I like the routes I run and I don't much venture away from them.  I know how long they'll take, I know what to expect...consistency!

This spring/summer, I'm doing something a little outside my box of consistency.  I signed up for a Tough Mudder.  A Tough Mudder is a 10-12mi long "experience" with 20-25 military-style obstacles thrown in...you know, for fun.  :)  I have always been somewhat opposed to these sorts of gimmicky races (Color Run, Spartan Race, Warrior Dash, Foam Fest) because I am a purist.  I like to run.  I don't like to have things thrown at me, to jump over walls, to deal with fire during my runs.  So when two friends (big, strong dudes) asked me to be a part of their team, I immediately said, "No, I'd rather run a marathon every week than do this Tough Mudder business."  (Exact quote.)  :)

However on my run that afternoon I started thinking...  Who else would I ever do this with if I did ever get the notion to do it?  I could think of no one.  So that evening, I committed to be a part of their TM team.  And I got down to business recruiting other people too.  We currently have a team of 8 (3 women, 5 men) and hopefully another 2 will be signing up soon.

I also got down to business training.  If there is one thing I lack more than anything else, it's upper body strength.  I just don't have it.  I could run for days, but ask me to do a pull up?  No way.  To help build a bit of endurance and strength, I downloaded the TM Boot Camp Training Plan.  It's 5 circuits of 6 x 2min of cardio/1min of obstacle training with one minute of rest in between each circuit.  It's good stuff and totally kicks my butt.  This boot camp is on my training schedule 3days a week.  I have to remember that I'm also training for the NYC Marathon (Finally!) so still doing runs 3-4 days a week, as well.

It's a lot of training and hard work but I know that it will pay off big time on Aug 10th (TM) and Nov 3rd (NYC).