What is more impressive: finishing the Tough Mudder or running a 3:30 marathon?

The fact that the event is just about finishing regardless of how long it takes just shows how much of a joke it is. It is all about getting a bunch of macho lard asses to fork over $100+ to participate.

Take some time to form your own thoughts and then maybe I'll take you seriously.

Jokers I work with who could never finish a marathon have tough mudder finishes to their names.

Neither are impressive at all

speaksmymind wrote:

Neither are impressive at all

Right?

Do any of you Mudder people actually believe that walking across a 2x4 suspended over a ditch or climbing a cargo net is difficult? I'm not trying to be a jerk, I legitimately want to know if there is someone out there who thinks that army crawling under barbed wire (while admittedly bad-ass) is actually challenging. The whole organization promotes teamwork and not leaving people behind. People are going to try to help you finish obstacles (like the hill made out of very slick mud, or the quarter pipe, or the wooden walls) even if you don't want them to.

I'm not trying to say that 3:30 is impressive, but more people finish Tough Mudder every year than run 3:30 in the marathon. By very definition, the 3:30 club is more exclusive. Hell, I ran sub 3:30 pace in my last Tough Mudder! Mind = Blown.

I am assuming the previous posters are kidding, as I've done the Tough Mudder. It is a joke. A couple obstacles are hard, but a marathon (assuming 3:30 is at the upper limits of your ability) is WAY harder. For Tough Mudder, it's just a bunch of gym rat "bros" who help each other over obstacles and whatever else is "too hard" to handle on your own.

I could see how maybe a 2:30 marathoner would have an easier time running 3:30 than finishing Tough Mudder, but I do not think that was the scenario raised.

Finishing a marathon has to be a lot harder I'd think

Ok- had to weigh in. I am a personal trainer, I own a gym, and I train people for TM and marathons. I also just completed TM. To be honest, it's evident that their are 2 types of people concerning with the TM. Those who challenge themselves and those who didn't. If you want to run 12 miles, you don't need to go to TM to do it. If you are the type of person who wants to just wear the T-Shirt, then I suppose you could walk through the course. But most people don't play games to cheat. It's like if your playing monopoly, if the banker goes to the bathroom do you swipe money? What's the point?

The TM is not a race. It's a challenge. 1/3 of the participants are ex-millitary and special forces. They were older people (60's) people who were and in some events even amputees. The message for TM is about the wounded warriors project and combat veterans. So the post about it being "easy" defies the purpose of the event. It's as easy or as hard as you desire.

But that's not totally true. If you do all 20 obstacles, you are a beast. The electro shock is not a joke. It's real and it hurts. The barbed wire is real and it's cuts. The courses are over mountainous or rugged terrain and its up-hill and down hill. People get hurt. Real hurt. In Mid-Atlantic 2013 someone actually does doing the "walk the plank" not very easy.

You sign a death waiver and leave it all up to God. It's not about the obstacles you do, it's more about the obstacles you skip. Because they haunt you. As in "why did I not do that and overcome that fear?"

Marathon is a straight course built on endurance and cardio. That's it. You have no extra challenge. I scaled a 12 foot sheer wall, pulled myself and my teammates up, then scaled down the wall. Then climbed a mud pit, did 200 ft of hanging monkey bars, and carried a 200lb piece of wood a 1/4 mile down hill and back up again. Then continued running to mile 4 of the 12! And that was not even 1/4 of the way done.

The truth is, a iron man may be the only true competition for the TM. Running a marathon is a test of endurance, but not strength, agility, or mental toughness. Your not facing your fear of ice, water, fire, cardio or electricity in a marathon. Your just testing your ability to run very far.

Training my team for the TM- involved 2-3 mile runs , bench press, squats, weight training, cardio endurance, plyo metrics etc. training for the marathon was more about getting in the miles.

Running a 3:30 marathon is great. But can that person pull up their body weight over a 18 ft wall, then help a 2001b man up that same wall, scale back down? Then run up hill for 2 miles, down hill for 2 miles, swim through the article enema and after that carry a 200lb log for 1/2 a mile? Before going through the really difficult challenges?

I'm sorry. A marathon may be exhausting, but in my 10 years of training athletes and regular people, the TM is by far the biggest challenge I have ever seen. Those who disclaim its merits I would say either never did it, or did not get the point of it, which is not to race it, but to compete against yourself in it.

Ok- had to weigh in. I am a personal trainer, I own a gym, and I train people for TM and marathons. I also just completed TM. To be honest, it's evident that their are 2 types of people concerning with the TM. Those who challenge themselves and those who didn't. If you want to run 12 miles, you don't need to go to TM to do it. If you are the type of person who wants to just wear the T-Shirt, then I suppose you could walk through the course. But most people don't play games to cheat. It's like if your playing monopoly, if the banker goes to the bathroom do you swipe money? What's the point?

The TM is not a race. It's a challenge. 1/3 of the participants are ex-millitary and special forces. They were older people (60's) people who were and in some events even amputees. The message for TM is about the wounded warriors project and combat veterans. So the post about it being "easy" defies the purpose of the event. It's as easy or as hard as you desire.

But that's not totally true. If you do all 20 obstacles, you are a beast. The electro shock is not a joke. It's real and it hurts. The barbed wire is real and it's cuts. The courses are over mountainous or rugged terrain and its up-hill and down hill. People get hurt. Real hurt. In Mid-Atlantic 2013 someone actually does doing the "walk the plank" not very easy.

You sign a death waiver and leave it all up to God. It's not about the obstacles you do, it's more about the obstacles you skip. Because they haunt you. As in "why did I not do that and overcome that fear?"

Marathon is a straight course built on endurance and cardio. That's it. You have no extra challenge. I scaled a 12 foot sheer wall, pulled myself and my teammates up, then scaled down the wall. Then climbed a mud pit, did 200 ft of hanging monkey bars, and carried a 200lb piece of wood a 1/4 mile down hill and back up again. Then continued running to mile 4 of the 12! And that was not even 1/4 of the way done.

The truth is, a iron man may be the only true competition for the TM. Running a marathon is a test of endurance, but not strength, agility, or mental toughness. Your not facing your fear of ice, water, fire, cardio or electricity in a marathon. Your just testing your ability to run very far.

Training my team for the TM- involved 2-3 mile runs , bench press, squats, weight training, cardio endurance, plyo metrics etc. training for the marathon was more about getting in the miles.

Running a 3:30 marathon is great. But can that person pull up their body weight over a 18 ft wall, then help a 2001b man up that same wall, scale back down? Then run up hill for 2 miles, down hill for 2 miles, swim through the article enema and after that carry a 200lb log for 1/2 a mile? Before going through the really difficult challenges?

I'm sorry. A marathon may be exhausting, but in my 10 years of training athletes and regular people, the TM is by far the biggest challenge I have ever seen. Those who disclaim its merits I would say either never did it, or did not get the point of it, which is not to race it, but to compete against yourself in it.

Ok- had to weigh in. I am a personal trainer, I own a gym, and I train people for TM and marathons. I also just completed TM. To be honest, it's evident that their are 2 types of people concerning with the TM. Those who challenge themselves and those who didn't. If you want to run 12 miles, you don't need to go to TM to do it. If you are the type of person who wants to just wear the T-Shirt, then I suppose you could walk through the course. But most people don't play games to cheat. It's like if your playing monopoly, if the banker goes to the bathroom do you swipe money? What's the point?

The TM is not a race. It's a challenge. 1/3 of the participants are ex-millitary and special forces. They were older people (60's) people who were and in some events even amputees. The message for TM is about the wounded warriors project and combat veterans. So the post about it being "easy" defies the purpose of the event. It's as easy or as hard as you desire.

But that's not totally true. If you do all 20 obstacles, you are a beast. The electro shock is not a joke. It's real and it hurts. The barbed wire is real and it's cuts. The courses are over mountainous or rugged terrain and its up-hill and down hill. People get hurt. Real hurt. In Mid-Atlantic 2013 someone actually does doing the "walk the plank" not very easy.

You sign a death waiver and leave it all up to God. It's not about the obstacles you do, it's more about the obstacles you skip. Because they haunt you. As in "why did I not do that and overcome that fear?"

Marathon is a straight course built on endurance and cardio. That's it. You have no extra challenge. I scaled a 12 foot sheer wall, pulled myself and my teammates up, then scaled down the wall. Then climbed a mud pit, did 200 ft of hanging monkey bars, and carried a 200lb piece of wood a 1/4 mile down hill and back up again. Then continued running to mile 4 of the 12! And that was not even 1/4 of the way done.

The truth is, a iron man may be the only true competition for the TM. Running a marathon is a test of endurance, but not strength, agility, or mental toughness. Your not facing your fear of ice, water, fire, cardio or electricity in a marathon. Your just testing your ability to run very far.

Training my team for the TM- involved 2-3 mile runs , bench press, squats, weight training, cardio endurance, plyo metrics etc. training for the marathon was more about getting in the miles.

Running a 3:30 marathon is great. But can that person pull up their body weight over a 18 ft wall, then help a 2001b man up that same wall, scale back down? Then run up hill for 2 miles, down hill for 2 miles, swim through the article enema and after that carry a 200lb log for 1/2 a mile? Before going through the really difficult challenges?

I'm sorry. A marathon may be exhausting, but in my 10 years of training athletes and regular people, the TM is by far the biggest challenge I have ever seen. Those who disclaim its merits I would say either never did it, or did not get the point of it, which is not to race it, but to compete against yourself in it.

you are trying to claim that running a marathon requires no mental toughness while waiting in line to climb some monkey bars in a TM does?

Wow

Clavdogg wrote:People get hurt. Real hurt. In Mid-Atlantic 2013 someone actually does doing the "walk the plank" not very easy.

Most of your post was BS but do you know what actually happened at walk the plank? One person told me a girl drowned but then I was told she was revived.

It didn't seem like they had enough medical personnel. My group came across an exhausted girl sitting on a hill by herself. She had a difficult time even talking. We went to the nearest medical tent and told them a girl needed help and they said something like, "Sorry, but we're too busy with more serious injuries like concussions."

Deer Goucherfghasdg wrote:

you are trying to claim that running a marathon requires no mental toughness while waiting in line to climb some monkey bars in a TM does?

Wow

Well, he did post three times. So there is that...

I will say the TM is harder if I get to feel these:

marathon guide 2011 statistics - 10.4% of marathon competitors ran under 3:30

tough mudder website - 78% of people who compete in a tough mudder finish

Clavdogg wrote:People get hurt. Real hurt. In Mid-Atlantic 2013 someone actually does doing the "walk the plank" not very easy.

brogan1 wrote:Most of your post was BS but do you know what actually happened at walk the plank? One person told me a girl drowned but then I was told she was revived.

I just came across this article. Somebody probably jumped too soon and landed on him. I always wondered how well those death waivers would hold up in court, guess we'll find out.

That is impressive.

Bingo - so we have now confirmed it is much easier to slog through a "tough" mudder (couldn't hold myself from laughing) than it is to push yourself to run a 3:30 marathon. we're talking 26 back to back 8 minute miles, something half the people can't even string 6 together.

And rather than end it at the 8 minute miles, it gets better - you have genetic freaks out there that are stringing together 26 back to back sub 5 minute miles.

Clavdogg....BS posted three times....doesn't change the fact that running a 330 is a must must harder.

It was said before but it didn't sink in...99% of 330 runners could easliy do well - doing a TMer

yet most (80%) TM contestents could not run a 330...no way!

The achievement level goes with the marathon - BTW - I have done both.

NOT EVEN CLOSE....I also did Jay Marathon (Vermont) several years back....not that was a TMer!

3:30. I bet all of 3:30 can finish TM but not vice virsa.