Tough Mudder Exposed

Hey--watch your editing of quotations. I'm not proposing the blue balls challenge. I just posted the link to the stupid color faeries' racing!

Gepa wrote:

Er... wrote:

I'm going to start a "race" where you run a 5k and people random come out and punch you in the dick. I'll call it the blue ball challenge.

This presents an interesting challenge in tactics. Do you stay in a pack the whole way hoping they serve as protection and turn it into a kickers race hoping no one jumps out at the finish? Or do you take a risk and take it hard from the gun?

Either way after one punch in the dick it turns into a pure hatred race.

Old Man Runner wrote:

Tough Mudder (nor Color Me Rad) doesn't even try to consider themselves races, guys...

Direct from Tough Mudder website:

"Tough Mudder is not a race. It is an event to be completed. We built this event for people to push themselves and see what they are capable of. We sincerely believe that worrying too much about your time takes away from some of the most important parts of Tough Mudder. Namely, camaraderie and teamwork. Your timing is your responsibility to record and enter."

From Color Me Rad:

"Just try to finish before the sun goes down. We don’t even own a watch. At the finish line you’ll be rewarded with a sense of accomplishment and an endorphin induced high."

If Color Me Rad does not consider itself a race, why then do they refer to such things as "Race Locations" and "Race Dates". Seems like a PR trick to suck in some who would not even consider this event if they really know what is going on.

So what do people think about races like Ragnar http://www.ragnarrelay.com/ waste of time and money or worth it?

I'd call it sophisticated marketing. And for any of these sorts of pseudo races, it would seem that the best advice is if they bother you, don't run them or read about them. Why do you care what someone else is doing?

Thorny Toad wrote:

So what do people think about races like Ragnar

http://www.ragnarrelay.com/

waste of time and money or worth it?

Tough mudder is to masturbation as racing is to self-improvement. For the most part, these people want to tell themselves and others they accomplished something. They have no interest in legitimate self-improvement Shorter style. They don't care to explore the mental aspects of athletics, which is really the only reason to get involved in something other than all-purpose fitness training. Not that most participants at normal road races/running events are any different. Tough Mudder by definition precludes the possibility of legitimate sport.

ScottDye wrote:

Does anyone else know anything about this group and do charities get a sizeable donation?

Yes, all proceeds go to The Human Fund.

Upside down world wrote:

Tough mudder is to masturbation as racing is to self-improvement.

Not quite sure I get the analogy. . .

It will be interesting to see if Tough Mudder eventually becomes a victim of its own success. I know several people at work who are recreational runners who also have done Tough Mudder for a couple of years now. Last year they were really fired up about it, this year not as much. They say the crowds are too big now and lines form at obstacles too quickly. They don't seem to have it as a priority for next year right now.

Upside down world wrote:

Tough mudder is to masturbation as racing is to self-improvement.

I'm pretty sure that's not what you meant..

unless you meant to make me shoot milk out my nose

Old Man Runner wrote:

At the finish line you’ll be rewarded with a sense of accomplishment and an endorphin induced high."

gay

Er... wrote:

I'd call it sophisticated marketing. And for any of these sorts of pseudo races, it would seem that the best advice is if they bother you, don't run them or read about them. Why do you care what someone else is doing?

Thorny Toad wrote:

So what do people think about races like Ragnar

http://www.ragnarrelay.com/

waste of time and money or worth it?

Just another money maker, and pricey, but sounds like it could be more fun than some of the others. And it is a team event.

Would a fast runner win any tough mudder race just by getting out fast and not having to wait at any obstacles

Looks like 21st century gay male bonding if you ask me, seriously stupid little boys are tougher and a whole lot smarter than these demasculinated american males.

Children knows how to play and make their own obstacles courses, they climb and hop over the baseball chain links and backyard fences,do the monkey bars all day long, when it rain they crawl through ditches and sewer pipes.

AxC wrote:

Would a fast runner win any tough mudder race just by getting out fast and not having to wait at any obstacles

Yes. In my last Tough Mudder I started in wave two, half an hour after wave one and finished in the top 20 (2012 Tough Mudder Tri-State, took I think 1:35 something, rough estimate of place based on asking event staff how many people were ahead of me, and my self-submitted time after the race on the website). I am not an "elite" runner, and possess marginally better strength than most of my running compatriots. The Tough Mudder "obstacles" are not challenging. They are time consuming. Any middle distance runner worth his spikes can sprint up a steep, albeit slippery, hill and climbing a rope isn't exactly difficult.

Azaleas wrote:

I've always wondered why Tough Mudder etc. don't put any emphasis on competition. If it's such a "REAL MAN" sport, how come the emphasis is just on finishing and having a good time? It might actually be a good event if there were a big prize for winning.

Tough Mudder copied this. Which I actually think is kind of cool.

8-10k cross country race followed by an obstacle course.

AxC wrote:

Would a fast runner win any tough mudder race just by getting out fast and not having to wait at any obstacles

The other guy answered your question somewhat, but I will also chime in:

Most definitely yes for the following reasons:

1) Most are something like 10-12 miles. So.....a guy who can seriously run, even if slowed down at some obstacles will destroy someone fast over obstacles but who is not a very good runner. Run time: at least an hour. Time over obstacles (let's assume there were no lines)? Well, something like 10 x 1 minute. In other words, the run part is way more important than the other parts.

2) my first point ASSUMES they even care if you complete the obstacles, which they don't. So.... the obstacles can be simply attempted and failed at, and.... along you go. With this set-up, the best runner wins hands down.

3) but, let's assume they set up the race with the rule that one had to complete the obstacles. As currently constructed, any very good runner who was also even a 1/2-way decent all-around athlete, and who maybe practiced a few of the obstacles in preparation, could complete all of them. The swinging rings is a bit challenging, but only because if one has never faced that, it's hard to get the "hang" of it at first (get it? get it??) But seriously, this is something that if you practiced a few times, and you had 1/2-way decent upper body strength, you'd complete it. The only other obstacle that might be a little rough is the half pipe wall you have to scramble up, and the balance thing over water. But again, if you practiced, you'd get them down.

However, I suppose they could make the obstacles so hard, that only someone with truly outstanding upper body strength and/or explosive power/gymnastic ability could complete all the obstacles. If this were the case, no matter how good a runner you are, you'd be SOL if you couldn't get past some obstacles, and the rule was ALL obstacles had to be completed. So they could go in that direction if they wanted (I guess that would be the CrossFit Tough Mudder, though if they really made the obstacles hard, 99% of their people would not complete the course either, because 99% of their members are not in very good shape. They only showcase their "good" athletes), but that is not how the race is currently constructed.

the connection between junk like cross fit and tough mudder is an important link to be made. I work part-time at a coffee shop and there is one girl who is constantly complaining about how wrecked she is from her crossfit spartan something something class (bear in mind this lady is big) but claims that this means its working. I don't want to be that smarmy ahole runner so I begrudgingly humour her and allow her to tell me how this particular explosive exercise or another really made her dig. Even though she is too achy and sore to regularly attend these punishment sessions she has been effectively sold the idea that if it is something obviously painful it must be more effective than something that is a slower burn. Even though she is likely not able to actually do half the movements she is being shouted at to do she believes that by finding the most extreme forms of working out she is getting more efficacy out of her time.

These obstacle races are tapping the same sort of backwardass beliefs. They want people to think that by doing something ridiculous you are supposedly challenging your self more. The irony, of course, is that all of those obstacles have been designed to be surmounted by the most average of people. They wouldn't be able to sell these races to folks if no one finished except the elite and eventually that singular truth will be the death-knell of the modern road racing boom... when people realize that finishing a 5k stops having meaning after the 10th time unless you are actually committing to being faster and trying harder.

For the mean time, these obstacle races make an event out of a weekend for people who want all of the beer and stupidity of a burning-man style festival but go to Chili's every Friday. It's a chance for self-indulgence and debauchery without ever having to risk anything. But than again I am pretty tired right now so maybe I am just bitter.

This is the World's Toughest Mudder, the season ending championship race. This looks like serious event for the top competitors. Over 24 hours. And both the men's and women's winner look like...well...runners.

As you can tell, I'm a defender of this event.

Even if the whole this was a scam, it was worth this image.

http://toughmudder.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/20110724-ToughMudderWI-Gudkov-1240.jpg