Tips On How To Prep For A Mud Run & What Shoes To Wear?
By admin
I can’t believe that the Marine Corp Mud Run is less than 2 weeks away. I am really excited about for a number of reasons!
- It’s the first race/event Dan and I have ever done as a team
- It’s the actual course that the Marines practice on
- Last year was awesome, but now that I know what to expect, I want to do better!
- Getting dirty and jumping into a pool of pluff mud is fun!
Course Details:
- 5.2 Miles
- 36 Military style obstacles
Here’s what the site had to say about it:
But then there are a few drawbacks to the whole event too…
- We have to be on the road around 5:30 am to make it for our start time.
- Doing a team event means relying on others… one of our members just broke their toe, so fingers crossed it will be manageable by then.
- Goodbye clothes, towels and shoes. Everything gets tossed. There is no way I would even attempt to bring post mud run clothes home. Once they get peeled off, they get trashed.
And that’s what I need your help with today! Choosing which pair of shoes should be offered up to the USMC Mud Run Gods as my sacrificial offering.
The Sacrificial Shoe Survey
I have three pairs of shoes that I rotate between workouts. None of these are my “running shoes” but are all overall good workout shoes.
The Reeboks are my newest shoes and the Puma’s are my oldest (but I <3 the blue)…
The Reeboks are actually only a few weeks old, but I am considering them because they are so light-weight and are a narrow shoe. Since I have narrow feet, they fit well and I am confident they aren’t going to flip off as we’re trudging through mud and water.
But really, I think all 3 pairs would do just fine.
So that’s why I need your help.
What pair do you think should be my “Official 2012 Mud Run Shoes”?
Leave a comment below, which ever shoe gets the vote will be my toss away shoe in 1.5 weeks!
The Pumas…
The Reeboks:
Since Mud runs are the cool thing to do nowadays I’ll leave todays post with a few other prep tips:
Tips On How To Prep For A Mud Run
- Wear tight hugging clothes, so nothing gets snagged or caught on obstacles along the course.
- Wear clothes that you don’t plan on ever wearing again. That goes for socks, underwear, sports bra… everything.
- Bring towels with you, this was my saving grace. I just wiped off the best I could with a towel, tossed it and threw on clean clothes for the drive home.
- Contact solution. I didn’t do this last year to either of the mud runs but I will make sure this year. I ended up with muddy water under my contacts. It didn’t hurt but caused me to see blurry the entire race and the drive home. It would have been great to have been able to wash them off after the race was over. Lesson learned.
- Bring bandaids… you will get scratched, bruised and banged up. It’s inevitable.
- Don’t rely on the showers offered, just grab a towel (or two) run under the hose system and wipe off to the best of your ability.
- Don’t eat a heavy meal before hand. Whatever you eat before a run is the best option.
- Tape your shoelaces. I don’t do this but I have seen a lot of people duck tape their shoelaces down to the top of their sneaks. I believe in the old fashioned triple knot. It worked last year just fine.
- Avoid headbands, they’ll end up lost. I find braids work the best for this kind of race. My hair stays out of my face and doesn’t end up all knotted up at the end.
- Do more than just running for performance training. There is a lot of pulling up, lots jumping over, and a ton of climbing through mud. Practice by doing strength training (pull-ups, push-ups, squats, etc), doing sprints and plyometric workouts, and incline intervals. You’ll be glad you did on race day!
Have you ever done a mud run? If you haven’t would you like to do one?
Which shoes are the “ADIOS SHOES”?
Thanks!