Tough Mudder - 2019 Toughest Central

Race: Toughest Central 2019 (12 hour - 4 person relay)

Date:7/13/2019

Time: 10 laps for 50 official miles

Team Place: 1/10

Overall Place: 15th

Pre-Race Conditions:

Team International DIVAS are getting ready to take the Toughest Central course by storm. This time we are racing 12 hours as a 4 person relay team. Tough Mudder has some fun rules that for the relay teams we MUST complete our first and last lap together then for any laps in between 50% or more of us need to be running a lap. Some strategy is involved here to make sure we get our last lap done before the 8:00AM hard course cutoff.

This should be a fun event. Jack, TJ, Sara and me on a team should be able to put down some good miles and with some breaks in there 60 miles should be doable. And hopefully that’s enough for a podium spot finally this year.

This is the first race I’ve been focused on since Toughest East. I’ve ran the Chicago Spartan Sprint, Ohio Beast, Ohio Sprint, Michigan Ragnar Trail Ultra and paced the Charlevoix half marathon. It’s been a busy month leading up to this with the 4th of July week recovery in there. I had some decent places in the Chicago Sprint and almost winning my AG on the Ohio Sprint without really pushing.

I’ve been fighting a VMO strain for the last several weeks that peaked about the Ragnar. The last few weeks have been good with it on the mend but I still only put it at about 85%. My speed and running are ready for this race. This VMO is just going to make it uncomfortable. I’m not incredibly worried about it. I’m slightly concerned about my strength and grip. I haven’t been in the gym since this injury and hopefully I’ll be able to stay proficient on the obstacles and avoid loads of penalties. It’s supposed to be warm through the night which like Philly means no wetsuits! That’s going to be really nice. The trick is going to be staying loose and warm in between laps.

The plane is about to land and then have some errands to run to get ready. 36 hours to race time seems like a long time but it’s going to fly by. Just keep hammering miles.

Race Recap:

What a whirlwind of a weekend.

We got into Minnesota Friday and all headed to Mall of America and ended up at Benihana for a great pre race day dinner. These events that start at 8PM are hard to fuel for. They are outside normal race times and distances. Saturday was a sleep day and rest at the AirBnB. We headed over to the venue about 4PM and got checked in and setup in the crazy heat. The setup only took about 90 minutes so it left us time to sweat until we finally had the idea to head to the car and sit in the AC for half an hour. Best idea ever!

Unlike the former Toughest Mudders we didn’t have to be in the start coral until 20 minutes before the race. Not the typical 45 minute unnecessary time sitting around.

We started the sprint lap at a comfortable pace to me. It was pretty fun running with the whole team. We finished in 50 minutes right on our pace for 60 miles. After that lap Jack and I immediately headed out for the second lap without pitting. We hit a couple obstacles early on. My Nathan water bottle got caught on the cargo net low crawl just after mile 1 and got ripped apart. I was tangled for a good 15 seconds before I got free now covered in half my bottles tailwind. Dumped it out and secured it and then made the decision that I wasn’t going to carry that with me anymore after that loop. The 5 mile loops with a break while the other group went was fine enough to fuel for the race. We hammered out the second lap in 50 minutes with a few other obstacles in there and then got our first break.

TJ and Sara got to do their first lap with full obstacles. Jack and I got time to go to the tent and refuel and make any gear changes we needed. Jack headed straight to the tent to lay down for a minute and I went right to eating. An hour sounds like a long time but it always went by really fast. An hour and 16 minutes later we were met at the finish line by TJ and Sara and it was our turn to go back out.

From the finish line to the start was about a minute run of flat ground by the pits. That minute was a little achy loosening up and getting back into the groove. Luckily it was hot so we didn't cool down a lot. Dry robes are still an amazing invention. Now all obstacles were open for us. Right across the start line was the inverted wall followed closely by black widow, a slackline maze over a water pit. Nothing too hard. Right at the 1 mile point was the log carry. They said teams could buddy up so Jack and I grabbed one of the longer skinny logs and took off at a jog. We completed the short loop with a quick countdown. 3… 2… 1 and tossed the log back into the pile without even slowing down. Right after that was the annoying cargo net low crawl. No hydration belt this lap so we slid right under. After that we got over to the mud mounds and jumped in and out of all the pits pretty quick. They were pretty easy to get over. Then we moved over to Augustus Gloop. Think Willy Wonka, climbing up a ladder in a tube while getting sprayed with water from the top. A short jog over we made it to the gauntlet. Tough mudders combo rig with a balance beam, plank walk, rings and cliff hanger. No problems for either of us.

We had a nice little run to the hydration station half way through the course and arctic emema, a dunk wall with ice water. Like Philly, this cool water felt so good in the heat and energized us for the run up to ladder to hell and leap of faith. 2 years ago they had the previous version of this obstacle called rope-a-dope. It was a rope you had to jump to, climb to the top and then traverse to the other side. Now they have made it easier by jumping to a cargo net and sliding down a pole (making a ‘weeeeee’ sound as you do). I miss the original. Right after mile 3 and the timing mat was Funky Monkey. The bars were dry and it was a breeze. From there we were off again with the knowledge we were less than 2 miles from the finish and getting a break. From there we hit some speed bump obstacles of spread eagle, a bunch of slack lines over a pool of water to crawl over, the 10’ wall and then got to Everest. Everest is a warped wall with a rounded top. This event it was a must complete obstacle. Mad props to the crew that spent the night up there helping us up. Abhi and Ashley, I still owe you a beer. After that the slip wall was easy and we worked out a system of the first guy jumping up and grabbing the rope and reaching back to grab the next. Only about 3/4th of a mile left at this point. Only the cage crawl obstacle where you lay on your back then float under a chain link fence inches above your face, the blockness monster, which is just fun and then the final 2. Electroshock therapy. A tough mudder must have with live wires dangling over a mud pit. Luckily the wires were high enough we could easily crawl under without getting shocked. And finally a 35’ A-frame cargo net climb. Fun, taxing and slow. We did the muddy crawl then climbed up and over and a sprint to the finish line to hand off the chip and TJ and Sara were off again. We hung around at race central for a few minutes and watched our place update to confirm we were still in first and collected our first obstacle bypass bands of the night.

We had an hour to get some food and relax. The only issue was after the crawl we were wet and muddy that took some rolling around in the grass and some paper towels to get clean enough to the point I felt ok putting my dry robe on. This break went by fast. This year the pit has had more of a World’s Toughest feel and they had fire pits and a projector showing movies. We had just seen the beginning of The Sandlot and the got the monologue about the beast before we got ready and headed back out for lap 6.

Lap 6 was a smooth lap. We were in cruise control by now. We ran the flats, easy hills and downhills and hiked the harder longer hills. It was a pretty uneventful lap besides trying Jack’s frog bounce method for spread eagle that I need some practice on. When we got to EST, we decided to take the short penalty to stay dry and clean over wet and muddy for the next break. A quick run that maybe cost us 10-15 seconds and we headed over to the A-Frame. We started our climb and I slipped and banged my shin against the metal guard rail. A bruise and some blood didn't stop us as we cruised back across the finish still holding strong onto first place.

This break went by fast too. I didn’t recognize the movie so I didn’t pay too much attention. Instead I tried to eat and get ready for the next lap and we had a nice strategy session trying to figure out how second place was doing and if we could maintain our lead.This year for the Toughest events after your 4th lap and every lap after you receive a wristband that allows you to skip one obstacle no questions asked. This was factoring into our strategy because everyone running would need to use them. We couldn’t hand them off in between team members or only one of us bypass the obstacle. Our plan was to save them up and use them on our last lap to guarantee we could get through it fast and maybe let us get in another if we had time. Sara and TJ cam in from lap 7 right at the same pace as their last lap. We still had the lead. During the handoff TJ said Sara twisted her ankle and told us we’d need to run back to back laps before our final team lap.

We were off again on lap 8. We got started and discussed that we should shoot for 60-65 minute laps with a couple minutes in the pit between laps to refuel and stock up. We hadn’t planned on both of us going to double up. I had volunteered early on and was still feeling like I could here. The hour breaks were really nice. As we headed out it took a little while to settle in. My stomach was upset after the break and the stop and go. Luckily once we got going it wasn’t an issue. Jack pushed the pace and part of our strategy was to use our bands at the Gauntlet. We could have completed it but it was slow why risk the penalty. We took the strategic penalty at EST again because it ran right by the pit and we were able to call out to TJ and Sara what we wanted when we got back to the pit. Another sub hour lap. Sara and TJ met us at the finish line with supplies. Nothing is better than a FitAid to refuel. We walked to the tent quickly restocked and 2 minutes later were back out on lap 9. Now only about 7 minutes ahead of second place.

Back out on lap 9. About 2 miles in Jack started to hit the wall. He hadn’t fueled enough a couple laps before and it was catching up to him. We were still moving. Running where we could and hiking where needed. I gave him the gummies I have with me and we found a banana at cage crawl and he started feeling better and we were back at a better pace. One thing I think helped was sunrise. This lap the sun had fully risen which meant warmth and not having to run by headlamp. It's an amazing feeling to be running and watch the sun go down and then still be running when it comes back up. We finished the lap and crossed the finish line to see TJ and Sara there holding snacks for us to have so we could get back out.

We did a quick stop by the tent on our way through to drop off some gear. We didn’t need headlamps anymore and could grab some more fuel to carry with us as we headed out. We each had 2 bands left and decided we were skipping the gauntlet and funky monkey. Sara was the one pushing the pace this lap. Even with a banged up ankle she was moving us along and crushing obstacles. #BadAss. I only had one thought in my mind. We had to get to Everest before 7:15. That's when Abhi and Ashely said they were going to head to the finish and it would be so nice to get there and get the help. We cruised through the lap having fun and joking around all during a light rain. It was our victory lap. Our teamwork was on point. TJ has filled a water bottle for me with tailwind and gave it to me as we headed out. As we got to Arctic I called out and threw it over the wall. It was a perfect throw that he caught. We repeated the same tactic at Leap of Faith. Unfortunately on Spread Eagle I didn’t think to toss it and it fell in the pool never to be seen again. 2 water bottles down this race. We made it to Everest to see that there were a few people still there helping. We sprinted up and kept moving strong. We hadn’t seen any groups of 4 behind us and we powered through the last few obstacles stopping in blockness to help a girl on her own (who ended up winning her AG). At this point the win seemed in the bag. We finished the final obstacles and ran across the finish to the MC announcing the International Divas were the first place team.

The Bad:

Starting with the bad of the weekend. Definitely my fueling was better this race but I should be getting more fuel and tracking to see how big of a deficit I’m in. And looking back I now need to replace 2 water bottles to make up for the one that got damaged and the one that got lost.

I know this was a quick B race for me but a better organized pit and a bit more planning for food would have went a long way. Our pit setup we’ve been using with Sherilyn has been working great and need to keep that up.

This isn’t a bad against my race but a huge oversight on Tough Mudders part. Later in the event about 4AM we notices a severe lack of volunteers and Marshalls on the course. It’s scary to think about what could happen if someone got hurt and there was no one to call medical.

The Good:

The good parts of this race are I was able to do 35 miles without much discomfort in my knee and able to push when I needed to. I think this course could have been a 55 or maybe even 60 mile individual total if I had gone in as an A race. My fitness is on point and now just to tweak my grip going into Killington. It was another clean race too. That’s always a good feeling not having to run penalties.

Moral of the Story:

I finally got my podium I’ve been chasing and I couldn’t think of a better way to get one. The team was on point and we had an amazing amount of fun that was rewarded greatly. Mostly with getting covered in champagne on the podium. (Note to self: need practice popping a bottle of champagne) I couldn’t think of a better way to start the second half of the season and my important A races!

Map: