Dirty Girls: Why More Women are Signing Up for Mud Runs

The fitness industry has many crazes that aim to get your wellbeing into gear, but the latest fad – the mud run – really kicks things up a notch. Wellness writer and fitness enthusiast Tatiana Boncompagni didn’t know what she was letting herself in for when she signed up for the New York mud run, but it didn’t take her long to find out. ‘Adrenaline pumping, we surged onto a 3.15-mile course littered with mud pits, water traps, and a dozen other obstacles,’ she recalls. ‘Within minutes, I was panting, and my shoes, sopping wet, felt like cinder blocks.’ So why are people taking up this crazy challenge?

 

Mud runs are not for the faint of heart or weak of muscle, but that hasn’t stopped fitness fans taking up the challenge in the last few years. In 2010, a Harvard Business School graduate founded the Tough Mudder series of intense 10- to 12-mile races – the most extreme of which include belly-crawling under barbed wire and dodging live electrical wires. 150 similar events were held cross the US last year alone, and up to 35% of the 1.5 million participants women. Still, girl power was not the reason why Boncompagni took part: ‘I had my husband to thank for landing me here,’ she details. ‘We’d originally planned to go ice-climbing in Pennsylvania that spring, but warm weather foiled the trip, and he’d found the Survival Race online. I agreed to go, and then put it out of my mind. That morning, though, as I faced the course and signed a “death waiver,” second thoughts tumbled to the fore.’

 

Endurance athlete Carrie Adams, of Spartan Races – a group that organizes obstacle-course runs – admits, ‘The events can be intimidating. [But this isn’t just a men’s race. It’s in our DNA, too.’ In fact, Boncompagni acknowledges that she was taken over by the mud run’s primal allure. ‘My biggest fear beforehand had been the wet and the cold—small ponds pockmarked the course,’ she explains. ‘But as I stumbled through them, the water felt refreshing. Still, I hadn’t anticipated how hard it would be to run in muddy shoes. One obstacle, a wooden board slung across a deep ditch, gave me pause before I steeled myself and clambered across it. The surprise of the obstacles is part of the races’ appeal.’

 

Melissa Rodriguez, senior research manager for the International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association, comments that the mud run provides an opportunity to have a life-changing experience with friends, and get out of your fitness rut. Big groups often sign up for mud runs, as they ‘bring a social component to fitness’ says Rodriguez. In fact, this all-in-it-together aspect has spurned a new crop of women-only events, such as the Dirty Girl, Kiss Me Dirty, and Pretty Muddy mud runs. In these events, the obstacles are optional – as are the tongue-in-cheek names like Wood You Rather or H2OhMyGod. You’re not even against the clock, although costumes are encouraged.

 

So, would Boncompagni recommend mud running? ‘As I hugged my kids and hightailed it to a hot shower, I couldn’t believe how great I felt—not tired, but high,’ Boncompagni notes. ‘Once home, I signed up for another race. Then, a few weeks later, an e-mail from my husband popped up, subject line: YOU ARE A CHAMPION. Clicking on the link he’d sent, I saw I’d come in first in the female 30 to 34 age group. Astounded, I grinned. A bit of that race-day adrenaline resurfaced. I couldn’t wait to feel it again, and I couldn’t wait to get back in the mud.’

Categories: boncompagni, Endurance Events, events, fitness, mud runs, nbsp, runs, Women

4 Impressive Endurance Challenges that Even YOU Can Do

New Year’s resolutions can be greatly beneficial to your wellbeing. Not only are fitness goals good for your health, but the sense of achievement you’ll feel when you tick these goals off your list will do wonders for your mental wellness. If you’re looking for a New Year’s fitness resolution with a bit of prestige, you might like to try training for an endurance event. Still, even though it’d be great to be able to say you ran 100 miles or completed a marathon-length swim, who has the time (or inclination) to train for such an event? Luckily, there’s a happy middle ground between striving for an endurance goal with boasting power, and actually having the capacity to achieve it.

 

1. Tough Mudder: According to Pete Williams, editor of EnduranceSportsFlorida.com and the co-author of Mark Verstegen’s Core Performance fitness series, ‘Tough Mudder is roughly 12 miles of obstacles, including 12-foot “Berlin Walls,” a plunge into a “Chernobyl Jacuzzi” (a dumpster full of ice water), and an “Electroshock Therapy” dash through charged wires. With no timing chips, Tough Mudder is billed not as a race but a team event to be faced in groups. Most take around three and a half hours before picking up an orange finisher’s headband for their efforts. Will Dean, who worked in counter-terrorism for the British government, created Tough Mudder as a Harvard Business School project. After debuting in Allentown, Pennsylvania in 2010, Tough Mudder will stage 35 events with more than 460,000 total participants this year.’

 

2. Spartan Race: You may have heard of the Spartan Death Race – which has no set time limit and has lasted as long as 67 hours – but this version is not so punishing. Williams details, ‘Spartan Race comes in three challenging-enough formats – ranging from three to 12-plus miles – that most mortals can attempt. Race creator Joe DeSena, a former Wall Streeter who once did 12 Ironman triathlons in one year, stresses that Spartan is no mud run or team-building event. It’s a race – and a brutal one at that. Athletes must haul five-pound buckets of gravel, climb walls, flip tires, pull hunks of concrete, and run a race-ending gauntlet of Spartan warriors swinging double-sided mallets. Thirty Burpees for each obstacle not finished.’

 

3. Goruck Challenge: Created in 2010 by Green Beret veteran Jason McCarthy as a way to market his $295 military-style rucksacks and provide a taste of Special Forces training, the Goruck Challenge is a firm favourite if you like teamwork and being yelled at by a former Special Ops guy. ‘Goruck now draws “classes” of 30 who must work together to haul telephone poles, railroad ties, and sometimes each other,’ Williams explains. ‘Throughout the event you wear a backpack filled with a water bladder and either four or six bricks depending on your body weight. There’s no set time or distance for the Challenges…but 12 hours and 20-plus miles is typical.’

 

4. Sea Paddle NYC: If you’ve always wanted to see New York, why not do it via stand-up paddleboard? Williams points out that ‘this 26.5-mile charity paddle around Manhattan, which began in 2007 and is held in August, takes most athletes around five hours to complete. Along the way, even veteran paddlers are challenged by the wake churned up by boat traffic in the Hudson and East Rivers before finishing under the Brooklyn Bridge. (Though it’s a calm ride compared to the choppy 32-mile Molokai-to-Oahu challenge in Hawaii, which requires each racer to have a boat escort.) In New York, participants must raise $1,000 that goes to autism-related charities.’

Categories: Endurance Events, event, Goruck Challenge, mudder, set time, spartan, tough, Tough Mudder, williams

Hangovers and Long Meetings: Diet Help When You Need It Most

In life, love, wellness and everything in between, timing is crucial, and this is no less true when it comes to what you eat. According to Marta Montenegro, the creator of the Montenegro Method DVD workout series with a master’s degree in clinical exercise physiology, ‘Depending on the time of day or what situation you’re in, your body needs certain nutritional properties to help you get through—so you can work and live at your optimal level. Food creates all kinds of hormonal reactions in your body—reactions that affect your mood, your alertness, your energy level, and everything in between. So while you may already know what you need to eat, it’s also important to know when to eat it.’ With that in mind, let’s take a look the best foods for your wellbeing, and the best times to eat them.

 

1. After a Tough Workout: While amping up your fitness is eventually good for your muscles, immediately after a workout they will be stressed and broken down. They then grow in preparation for the next challenge, but you need to give them proper nutrition in order to take full advantage of that growth cycle. Andrea Hacker Thompson, MS, RD, of the ACSM Fit Society Page, recommends a carbohydrate-to-protein ratio of 2:1 for short, low-to moderate intensity workouts or 3:1 in long, high intensity training sessions. Montenegro adds, ‘Eat 30 minutes to one hour after completing your workout, because that’s the best window for your body to absorb the nutrients after a workout.’

 

2. After a Long Meeting: Lauren O’Connor, RD, from Nutri-Savvy advises munching on almonds when feeling foggy in or after a meeting, as they provide you with a little protein and plenty of healthy fats. Montenegro details, ‘Research published in the journal Neuron shows protein, not sugar, activates the cells that keep us awake and burning calories. While whole grain carbohydrates provide the glucose that keeps the brain going, protein is what guarantees that you won’t forget what the meeting was about in the first place. That’s especially true when protein is rich in the amino acid tyrosine, a neurotransmitter that is critical for brain energy and alertness.’

 

3. After an Endurance Event: At the finish line, the name of the game is replacing sweat loss, as you need to replace those glycogen stores. Registered dietician and certified fitness trainer Shari Portnoy, RD, CPT says the best post-marathon foods and drinks will contain mostly carbohydrates, some vitamins and small amount of protein to help replenish those deleted stores. Ximena Jimenez, RD, national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, points out that chocolate-flavoured milk has the ideal 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein, and it helps replace other nutrients. Jimenez enthuses, ‘It’s actually a great source of electrolytes, especially potassium.’

 

4. After a Bad Night’s Sleep: Not only does a restless night make you feel groggy the next day, it also gets in the way of your waistline. Montenegro notes, ‘Researchers at UCLA researchers found that poor sleep causes increased ghrelin and decreased leptin during the day, which can lead to an increased appetite and overeating. To combat this, start your day off with lean protein. Try an ounce of nuts or three ounces (abut a size of a deck of cards) of lean meat, which will keep you feeling satisfied longer. You can also try Greek yogurt mixed with a banana and some Chia seeds sprinkled in.’

 

5. After a Night Out: The morning after a night on the town provides a hangover as well as sleep deprivation, so what you eat is key. Luckily, Jimenez has the morning fix you need: ‘The next day have a virgin Bloody Mary. It’s an easy hangover cure. The tomato juice will replenish your body from water and electrolyte losses caused by an alcohol binge.’

Categories: body, Endurance Events, hangover cure, montenegro, nbsp, Protein, sleep deprivation, Workout