World's Toughest Mudder 2022 in Atmore, AL

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Monday, Nov 7:

45 min Vinyasa Yoga with Ryan Leier from Lululemon - not as good as the girl

Tuesday, Nov 8:

HDT 34.3.3 (core) with 54 min of PT, a 0.5 mi 20#R with 20#SB OH in 14:07, then a 2 mile ruck with 30# in 29:21 in Ballistic Trainers.

PRE-RACE

Thursday, I found myself heading down to Alabama for the second week in a row!  I got to see a little more of the state this time, since I wasn't only driving through a bit of it in the dark to get to the hotel.  It is pretty out there... quiet, farmland, etc.

WTM for 2022 was marketed as a Pensacola, FL, event, but that's just the closest big town.  It's actually an hour or so away, in Alabama.  I never set foot in FL during this trip.  An event that would go by the beach would've been cool, but this was not part of this event.  It was in a farm area.

I checked in, got my event shirt, and pulled my brand new beach wagon to my tent space.  Many people had beach wagons last time I did WTM, since it can be a bit of a hike with a lot of gear, to get from the parking area to the pit, sometimes.  It wasn't terribly far, but it is a lot of stuff to carry.  

I have started storing adventure and shooting gear in 27gal totes, and those fit perfectly in the wagon.  I really only needed one trip.

I liked the spot that I got.  I picked in the last was, since I wasn't an elite contender or a contender.  I wasn't far from the hospitality area, the march tent, the pit entrance, the bathrooms, or the race entry point, though.  My intention wasn't to go to the tent after every lap, so proximity to the race entry point wasn't a huge deal.

I attended one of the mandatory pre-race briefings.  They talked about the rules, and the fun twists that they had planned for this event.  They don't take themselves too seriously, and like to make it fun, especially for the non-competitive people like me.  

During the race, starting from a certain time, they'd have mini challenges where you could earn a "golden carabiner" that would allow you to take a shortcut to bypass a couple of obstacles.  This was only open to non-contenders (people who weren't going for podiums).  They also had wristbands that you could start earning after a certain lap, that would allow you to skip one obstacle.  That could come in handy if there's an obstacle with water that you want to avoid during the coldest hours of the night.  Getting wet once isn't bad, if you can move and get warm again, but getting wet repeatedly makes it very difficult to keep your body temps high enough, especially if you don't move fast.

Some of the obstacle failure penalties would also be "fun", like putting on drenched mismatched PJs and running a little loop, putting on flippers and walking around a little loop (potentially with drunk goggles added as well), using a bouncy ball to go around the loop, using a swim hand paddle trainer to balance a ping pong ball as you walk around a loop, etc.

There was an option to test run a lap, even pit crew members who signed up, I think, but I wanted to save my strength for the following day.  Pictures that people took from the "hot lap" gave us an idea of what we were in for, though!

Those people like to take pictures in portrait mode!

I got a few souvenirs from the merch tent.  That included a 50 mile patch that I hoped to earn.  I did WTM 2018 in Atlanta, and had wanted to do 50 miles then, too, but it ended up freezing overnight, and I ended up staying in my tent for 10 hours, to still stay in the competition and avoid hypothermia through the night, with the mental fortitude to make it out for one last daytime lap to complete the "24 hour" event.  I only got 30 miles that year.  I wanted redemption this year.  

Unfortunately, the temps weren't looking ideal for this race, either.  The race would be 71 at the start, but 35 for the low.  It was supposed to be warmer in "Florida"!  It would be warmer than Atlanta, but still tough conditions for a water obstacle-heavy race.

I checked in to my HIE in Atmore, for a good night's rest.

RACE DAY

I went back to my tent with final gear, and readied myself.

The first lap is called the "sprint lap".  You do as many 5 mile loops as you can during the 24 hour period (plus 2 hours so that you can finish a lap if you need), but they keep the obstacles closed initially, to spread out the field and avoid bottlenecks.  Everything is closed on the first loop, and gradually, the obstacles start opening up.  Some of them don't open until really late, intentionally.  It's somewhat nice that you have something "new" to look forward to on the next lap, but you don't really want it, since it makes the miles more difficult as the obstacles come online.  Sometimes, when you hear that an upcoming obstacle is about to open, you sprint to get past it and avoid getting caught up in it.

It was warm initially, so I didn't have my wetsuit on at the start.  That would mean that I would have to go to the tent later on, to put it on.  There are always lots of choices to make, and strategy to plan.  

I did my second lap still without a wet suit.  Some of the obstacles started, but we were still pretty clean.

I put on my wetsuit for my third lap.  

There was one obstacle that put a grin on my face.  We had to carry "wigglies" through a mud pit.  It's hard to keep it in your hand, which you're required to do, because it wants to slide out, and you need hands to help you climb up and down the rolling mud walls.  If you dropped it, you just had to wait for it to float to the top of the mud and carry on.

While I was chilly in my wetsuit, some of the elites were still going shirtless!  The final stretch before re-entering the pit area was really windy.  

There was one obstacle called "Coach's Corner", which was a building with some spider web-liked ropes and inflatables that you had to climb through.  There was blaring music and CS gas, too, but it provided a bit of warmth and wind protection, so I liked it in there.

I didn't realize where the golden carabiners were being earned, until it was too late to attempt the first challenge, where you eat a random pepper that could be hot or could be mild.  I like spicy food, and heat would be welcomed in the cold temps.  

I did earn one for an electric stick-your-hand-in-a-box-of-live-wires challenge.  I failed a "flip cup" challenge.  It was a fun thing to look forward to and have a chance at earning something, though.

...

I went for as long as I could with the temps.  I had run very little in the lead-up to this event, which is a mistake if your goal is to do 50 miles, I guess, but this was for fun, anyways.  But the lack of fitness made it such that I couldn't move fast enough to generate enough body heat to stay warm.

At about 10pm, I decided to bed down for the night in my tent.  I had covered 30 miles, which already matched what I had done in 2018, so at least there's that.  And of course, those 30 miles were thanks to fellow racers who would help others get up the obstacles.  One difference between Tough Mudder and other events is that TM is designed to encourage racers helping racers, because many obstacles are extremely difficult (or on some obstacles, even impossible) to do without help.

It was warmer in the tent this year than in 2018, at least.  It's not super easy to sleep, since it's cold, and there's noise in the pit area from support crew and racers and the announcers giving live updates, but it's OK.  At least you're lying down, able to get some rest, and it's not as cold if you're in dry clothes.

20 minutes past sunrise, at 6am, I decided to head out for my last lap, which I had to finish somewhere between 8am and 1:30pm.  I was moving very slowly with my lack of running fitness, so I knew that I'd take more than 2 hours, for sure.

I did get to do the crazy steep slide, which was fun.  In ATL, the "Stacks" free-fall jump was the big thing. Both are scary in their own way.   They actually had to extend the length of the pool because people were going so far.

I didn't hit 50 miles, but 35 was more than I did in ATL.  If I had trained, it would have gone better.  A thicker wetsuit might've helped me last longer, too.  I did the best with what I had, though.  I kept bigger goals (Mammoth) in mind, too.  There was no way I'd hobble through 50 miles this time, so it wasn't worth putting Mammoth at risk.

I stayed in Atmore one more night, to get good sleep before the long drive home.

On my way home, I stopped at an Arby's to try the Diablo Dare.  It wasn't that spicy.  Someone in the restaurant had a nasty cough, and I felt a tingle in my throat (before eating the sandwich) at one point.  I ended up getting sick for weeks, and had pneumonia.  Who knows whether I got it at the Arby's, or as a result of the race.  I guess the race at least weakened my immune system.  Getting sick afterwards sucked, though.  I had a bad cough and congestion that made it difficult to sleep.