Having participated in the first Tough Mudder Infinity at the Midlands event, I wanted to give my short list of things you need to know for your first Tough Mudder Infinity event. I am going to stay away from anything that I think Tough Mudder will change – there was definitely a few teething issues due to it being the first event, but I am sure in time, these will be rectified. I will also stay away from what’s in the rules as I am sure you can read them for yourself!

The being said, here is a quick recap of the Infinity Race:

• Complete as many laps within 9 hours (7:30am – 4:30pm). First lap has to be 15km, but after that, participant can choose between 15km or 5km laps.
• Minimum distance to be completed to be deemed a “Finisher” is 20km within the allocated time
• Last 15km lap to be started by 1:30pm and final 5km lap to be started by 3:30pm
• All obstacles to be completed, some (such as Funky Monkey and Electroshock Therapy) have a penalty if the participant cannot complete
• Headband and Medal for finishers and special distance medallions awarded from 25km – Belt Buckle award for 60km finisher

My Five Tough Mudder Infinity Need to Knows

1. Have an idea on your lap strategy – we discussed this a lot on the UKOCR podcast, where in before hand, we thought that running 5km laps after the initial 15km was the best way to go (less elevation and easier to pit for nutrition). But, it seemed that the elites actually preferred the 15km lap as it “flowed” better for running and even with the additional elevation, the 15km lap was overall faster than 5km lap due to the obstacle density and transition time. There is still that balance between elevation / fueling and I personally think at Tough Mudder Yorkshire (very hilly) 5km is the way to go. However, everyone agreed that 15km lap followed by a 5km lap is the way to go, just to then have an idea of how to lap for the rest of the race.
2. Keep Warm – For most that have done a lap of tough mudder, the idea of neoprene or a wet suit may be strange, but being in and out of water for 7+ hours really does take the heat out of your core. Its always best to have some neoprene and at least have the option. The forecast for Midlands was for it to be warmer – and truth be told, it was, but there was a biting wind across the course bringing the “feel” way down and neoprene saved me and I am sure many other people. You can cool yourself down quite quickly, but warming up once you are cold is very difficult to do
3. Keep those calories coming – like any ultra race, you have to be constantly consuming those calories. There was bananas and flapjacks on course, but personally, dont rely on Tough Mudder to bring you food. I had a gel with me on course and then lots of easily consumed food in the pits. If you’re interested, I had flatbread and peanut butter and cola. Nutrition is a very personal thing, but realise you are burning around 100 calories every 10 minutes and you need to be constantly replacing those calories to keep going.
4. Transition space is tiny – Space is very much a premium in the transition area. Don’t think you have the space as there was at ETM, so don’t bring trolleys and a ton of stuff you probably wont need. Space was only really an issue before the start as people are trying to change etc. Coming into transition between laps wasn’t a problem as most racers were on their own time table. If you are running with time a premium, make sure you have all the stuff you may need to hand – whether this is a separate bag/box that is easily to hand compared to everything else in a different bag.
5. No dedicated lanes – Infinity racers are on course at the same time as other Tough Mudder participants which means, that queues can form and possibly slow you down. However, this is generally not an issue. All participants are warned before hand to allow Infinity runners to the front of queues. Just a quick “Excuse me, do you mind..?” gets you to the front (don’t be a dick and just barge to the front). The bonus of having additional participants on course are: A helping hand on obstacles – Blockness, MudderHorn, Hero Walls are easier with someone helping you up (the rules state that participants can help, just not MVPS or others). They will cheer you on as you run on for a nice bit of ego boost especially as youre starting to feel tired!

So there are my five things you need to know for your first Tough Mudder Infinity. I will update this as I participate in more and as Tough Mudder start to standardise the race after feedback. Do you agree with the list? Any more you want to add? Please feel free to add in the comment section. Has this inspired you to do your first Tough Mudder Infinity? My 20% discount code below works for your first Tough Mudder Infinity!

Tough Mudder Infinity Gallery

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Toughest Mudder is an Obstacle Endurance race from Tough Mudder. Participants run as many loops in an 8 hour time period from 12 midnight on Saturday evening through to 8am Sunday morning. Penalties are not included in the official mileage and anyone on course after 8.30am will not have those lap miles counted as part of the official total. A special patch is given to anyone completing 25 miles, whilst “Contender status” was given to males completing 30 miles and females completing 25.

Kit Choice

Kit was important and again, I had learned from last year that a back zipped wet suit wasn’t quite right and a front zipped shorty would be the way to go. This helped two ways – easy access to change and help to regulate the body temperature if I was over heating.

My kit included:

• Gul Code Zero shorty wet suit
• Enertor base layers
• Enertor socks (energy return for the night and recovery socks for the morning after
• Saucony Peregrine 7 trail shoes with Enertor insoles
• Nathan Strobe light
• Black Diamond Spot
• Project E2 nutrition – gels, energy bars, hydration fluids and recovery shakes (review to come)

I also had a back up pair of socks and trainers. Last year I took way too much. I decided I would run all of the 8 hours and therefore wouldn’t need any change of clothes.

Europe’s Toughest Mudder Course Map

The route is a 5-mile course around some of the Belvoir Estate (Leicestershire) overlooked by Belvoir Castle. It loops a very similar route to last year, with the first 3 miles on relatively flat terrain, before a long climb up towards Birth Canal and T-Boned and then back down the hill towards Mud Mile and the finish. The down hill was pretty treacherous as due to the rain and the sheer number of people running earlier in the day, the mud as almost as slippery as ice. Runners had to be very careful, taking slow steady steps, rather than enjoying a gallop down the hill.

The obstacles in order were:

• Electroshock Therapy (opened at around 4am)
• Pitfall – Long trench of water with random deeper pits
• Boa Constrictor – Crawl tube down into a pit of water, and another crawl up. This became increasingly difficult as the tiredness set in
• Funky Monkey the Revolution – A penalty loop for failure, whilst it was modified to “Spunky Monkey” around 5am
• BlockNess Monster – 2 revolving blocks in around 5ft of water
• Kiss of Mud – Barbed wire crawl with water ditches and hay bales to traverse
• Pole Dancer – Tricep dips over water, whilst the poles were wobbly and angled with an apex in the middle. Penalty loop for faiure
• Cage Crawl – laying face up in water, traversing around 20m. This was modified with 2 dunks for full submersion
• Swamp Stomp – a bit of mud
• Arctic Enema – Ice bath with 2 full submersions – closed around 5am
• Creek Crusade – wade through water
• Everest – Half pipe. The longest penalty loop for failure (around 500m with steep climb)
• Kong – Ring Traverse with penalty loop for failure. Closed around 4am
• Devil’s Beard – Cargo net crawl
• Long ass hill (not an official obstacle)
• Birth Canal – tight crawl under water bag
• T-Boned / Irish Table – a modified hero walls with ledge
• Down hill ice skating rink (not an official obstacle)
• Mud Mile 2.0 – a series of 6 mud trenches
• Operation – opened at 5am – Think electrified hook a duck. Penalty loop with sandbag
• Pyramid Scheme 2.0 – Modified with ropes

19 obstacles opening and closing over the 8 hour time period. All timings of opening and closing was approximate – out on my laps I just remember them being opened or not. The first lap was a “sprint” lap – with none of the major obstacles open. They were opened from 1am onwards, I do think by my third lap (around 2am) pretty much everything was open, apart from Electro Shock Therapy and Operation which opened much later in the race. What was interesting that all of the major water obstacles were in the first half of the race – pretty much a “get it over with” mentality before being able to stretch the legs out and do some running to warm back up.

Although the weather was “warm” (10C) it was raining through the night until around 4am in which it started to get light but more importantly dry up.

I ran the first three laps with Craig, who is also going to Worlds Toughest Mudder. Last year we ran ETM and managed the 25 miles. Unfortunately Craig swallowed a lot of water at Cage Crawl in the second lap. Something he didn’t really recover from and decided to drop out after the third lap. I carried on solo. We had a schedule (1 hour 20 minutes per lap) and I was happy we were in front (thanks to the Sprint lap).

I just had to ensure I kept to pace and I was happy I was averaging around 1.15 per lap which gave me time to pit and eat. Food was one of the learns from 2017 and I ensured I have my food (flat bread peanut butter sandwiches, chocolate crepes), gels and fluids all laid out for me. I was also very fortunate to run with the Solo Mudders, in which a pit crew was organised to look after the runners. I was able to let them know what I wanted for the next lap and at times, they helped me open food because I couldn’t! Pit Crew also ensured that everyone was keeping warm, getting out for the next lap if required and just generally ensuring everyone was well looked after

As the night wore on, some of the obstacles seemed to get more difficult (Boa Constrictor) whilst others became easier (birth canal, mud mile). Tiredness did wear on a lot of the participants with the field well and truly thinned out by 4am.

Lap 4 I changed my shoes and socks, there was so much sand in the socks and my Saucony peregrines don’t have as much grip as the Reebok Trail Attack. They were however more comfortable and whilst I had the Enertor insoles, the previous 20 miles had taken it’s toll on my feel.

Operation was a terrible obstacle this year, last year I did it no problem, but I don’t know what happened, but I hooked and lost 2 bands, whilst being shocked around 5 times for good measure. (Yes, that was the moment I was getting shocked).

Laps

I was lapping pretty consistently with lap 3 a little slower due to Craig suffering. Lap 4 and 5 I was feeling good, and even wondering if I could fit in lap 7 for 35 miles. However it all came to a bit of a halt at lap 6. My ham strings started to tighten and the ground seemed much harder when I was in the Reeboks. I decided that my target of 30 miles was good enough and walked/ran lap 6 as a victory lap. My total run time was 7 hours 10 minutes. If I competed again next year, I would need to keep a slightly faster pace, whilst pitting a little quicker if I am to make 35 miles and 7 laps. (And reduce my penalty count!)

All in all, Europe’s Toughest Mudder was a great race for me. My fitness and running has definitely improved, last year I managed 25 miles in a similar time frame. Whilst this year I felt fresher and stronger at every point of the race.

30 miles is in the bag, “Contender” status is achieved and now begins the hard training slog towards World’s Toughest Mudder.

Images taken by Epic Action Imagery on behalf of Tough Mudder

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Europe’s Toughest Mudder is now only 8 weeks away and training is going well.  This post is focused on the lessons learned from last year and how I can improve my performance for 2018. Especially when the “contender” status for World’s Toughest Mudder athletes has been increased from 25 to 30 miles. As I am participating in WTM in November, contender status at least affords me a better pit area (closer to the start/finish line) therefore, not wasting as much time or energy looking for my pit area.

Here are my reflections, I hope they are useful for your own Europe’s Toughest Mudder training.

• Pitting & Timing – Last year’s time plan was just enough to get 6 laps in. Allowing us plenty of leaway to get the 5 laps competed. Timing will be tighter this year, which means spending a little less time in the pit (definitely dawdled around) and getting in and out quicker.
• Shoe choice – I wore the Reebok All Terrain gen 2 shoe. The grip on those were awesome, but we’re very light with little cushioning – built for speed rather than distance. Which meant after 3 laps, I was starting to feel every inch of the terrain. The last lap I walked as I had issues with my hip and foot, I think stemming from the Reebok’s and lack of cushioning.  I’m  planning on wearing the Adidas Kanadia and Reebok Trail Attack. Both have great grip just like the All Terrain, but more.importantly have more cushioning like a traditional trainer. Hopefully I can go for longer without feeling too uncomfortable. They are a little heavier, but that’s the pay off I will have to make for better comfort.
• Clothing – I had a wetsuit shorty along with base layers and was pretty happy with the choice. This time around I have purchased a front zip shorty (and full for WTM). This will make transition and changing easier. I did waste a bit of time in the pits because of a back zip AND couldnt quite regulate my temperature on the sprint lap. I have also purchased a pair of “Bleggmitts” which opens out to allow my hands to do the grip work rather than trying to grip with slippery gloves.
• Nutrition – I was ok with my choices of food last year – having peanut butter and coconut sandwiches (no crust) when pitting along with some chocolate brownies. However towards the end I was getting a little fatigued. The only addition here will be to ensure I’ve taken a gel to take half way around the lap. I think it will definitely help in keeping me going.
• Strength – In later laps my grip strength let me down. Since last year, I have started working on upper body strength with my gym work and started to climb at my local gym to help with grip strength.
• Endurance – Again, since last year I have started working on my running and endurance. I have joined a running club and have upped my mileage so 30 miles is less daunting to me than 25 was last year.
• Start – We were called to the start line at 11.15pm ready for the 12.00 start. We grouped near the back and this definitely lost me 10ish minutes on the first lap (that and stopping for a pee). I need to be nearer the front and ready earlier. 10 minutes could mean the difference between completing the 30 official miles.

So there are my thoughts on where I could improve to hit 30 miles. Do you have any additional tips for me or anyone looking to do a Toughest Mudder for their first time?

Toughest Mudder swag

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• Europe’s Toughest Mudder
  • Tough Mudder is one of my favourite races series (in case you didn’t already know) but the Toughest Mudder series took it to the next level. Europe’s Toughest Mudder was based at the Midlands venue (Belvoir estate, near Grantham) and was a shortened (5 miles) Tough Mudder course ran for 8 hours, with participants running as many laps as possible within the time limit. The difficulty being that the race starts at midnight and ends at 8am. The winner, Jon Albon, completed 50 miles, whilst I managed 25. Next year I am back again and aim to completed 30 for “contender” status for World’s Toughest Mudder. ETM was my first taste of endurance racing and I loved the lap elements whilst keeping warm and fed through the 8 hours.

Arctic Enema (3rd of 4)

• Toughest
  • Toughest Races is a series that travels across Europe. I was fortunate enough to go to Amsterdam in the early part of the year and then entered again when Toughest came to Pippingford Park. So very different from other races I ran, giving me the opportunity to try new obstacles, whilst having the confidence of trying “fast lanes”. Copenhagen is on the TBC list for next year!

Start line selfie

• Tough Viking
  • Another European race makes it to the highlights, purely down to the obstacles and layout being quite different to anything in the UK. The Stockholm race was their “crown jewel” race and it didn’t disappoint. A series similar to Toughest, without being too serious with elements of Spartan. This 15km race had the tallest half pipe and longest swim I have encountered, whilst red bull at the half way point was pretty helpful!

Tough Viking Super Ramp

• Tough Mudder London South
  • Nothing really different about TMLS compared to other races, however it was the first one I ran solo. Really enjoyed the different experience that running solo brought about when the “challenge” is meant to be taken on as a team. I will be doing a few Tough Mudder races next year solo in preparation for ETM and WTM.

Tough Mudder London South BlockNess 1

• Tough Mudder Germany
  • I went to Tough Mudder Germany with  group of OCR Solo Mudders for a 40th birthday party. The race itself was the longest Tough Mudder I had ran (20km), whilst the “surprise” obstacle (20m slack line) was a fun addition. This is in my list of highlights, not because of the race, but the company and the weekend surrounding it. Oh and birthday cake and Jaegarbombs in electro-shock therapy.

Honourable mentions

• JCB Mudrun – a great local OCR (£40 including beer and burger at the finish) ran by JCB with ALL proceeds going to charity.
• Wolf Run – Another local run which gets thousands of runners over the race weekend. Solid obstacles with good trails. I can see why they have a great reputation
• Mudnificent 7 – A race hosted by Obstacle Race Magazine and made up of 7 different OCRs taking on a section each.
• Airfield Anarchy – Sadly the last “Epic Weekend” in which you were able to take on one of the best obstacles in the UK – Take Off.

That was my 2017 OCR highlights, I already have a number booked for 2018 and cannot wait to start the OCR season again!

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I was aiming for 25 miles and the plan was for myself and two others (all of similar pace) to run together to help over obstacles, encourage and to keep pace. Unfortunately Carl was injured on a snowboarding holiday so the team of three became 2! Even though Toughest Mudder is a competitive race, the ethos of teamwork and camaraderie of Tough Mudder still apply. We were also very fortunate that the OCR Solo Mudders (http://ocrsolomudders.co.uk/) had a small team to pit crew for us – generally take care of feeding and watering us between laps so we could get in and out as soon as we can without getting too cold.  The plan was for a 60 minute “sprint” lap and then aim for around 90 minutes for each consequent lap which could reach for 6 laps in total. This time included some time to pit.

I had to purchase quite a bit of equipment for this as it was my first ever night race – I also run cold, working ard to ensure my body keeps temperature.

• Black Diamond Spot head torch
• Gul shorty wetsuit
• Gul Neoprene Vest (didnt use)
• O’Neil neoprene gloves
• Neoprene hat (didnt use)
• Nathan Strobe light

I ran in my Reebok Spartan Trail shoes with Enertor insoles (25% discount with the code BAWIL). In terms of food for the evening, I had SIS gels and hydration tablets, Meridan Peanut and coconut butter sandwiches and lots of chocolate and flapjacks just for quick calories and morale.

The Start of Europe’s Toughest Mudder

For some reason, we were asked to be ready for 23.15 (for the 00.00 start) so in my opinion, there was quite a bit of waiting around until the off – sure there was the rule reading and some motivation from Gil, but we didn’t need to line up so early. Anyhow, we were off on time whilst Craig and I were aiming for a 60 minute opening “sprint” lap. This lap has very few obstacles “open” allowing the field to spread out without congestion.

The other two Toughest Mudders had two routes, the first opening 00.00 – 4.00 and then route two 4.00 – 8.00. Which meant some of the larger “marquee” obstacles were opened and closed at different parts of the evening. Europe’s Toughest Mudder was different, one route for the whole night with obstacles opening through the night.

In the “preview” before hand, TMHQ said 20 obstacles in total with 15/16 open throughout the night – therefore we all expected some to open and close through the night. In truth, obstacles started to open from 01.00 but never closed, this meant by 03.00 all obstacles were open and we were doing a shorted “Full” course of 20 obstacles each lap. Very different from the courses before it. In the day and maybe doing a lap, this would have been fun!

Europe’s Toughest Mudder Map

Not sure what opened in what order, but towards the end of the la we hit Pyramid scheme just opening. Lap two I remember doing BlockNess, Agustus Gloop. Lap three I think Arctic Enema was open (ran past King of the Swingers before it opened!) and Lap 4, Hang Time / King of the Swingers was open.

Arctic Enema (3rd dunk of 4) You can see the ice floating!

I’m not the best swimmer, so KOTS was the one I feared most – not because I wouldn’t have help if I got into trouble, but because if I did get help, I would be DQ’d! I did it twice, failed twice. But I got out without help.

Kiss of Mud

So quick overview of the course:

• Pitfall – Nice start to the course, knee high water with random deeper holes to go down to the waist
• Quagmire – Large man-made hill into a long 10m trench of waist high water, finishing with another man-made hill to climb
• King of the Swingers / Hang time (opened around 03 I think) 20ft platform jump to a swing. Transition to a rope to traverse down to the floor. Miss and you fall into water.
• Kiss of mud – barbed wire crawl
• Water station (too early on in the course)
• Bale Bonds is always a fun obstacle, but by the 5th lap – (like all the smaller obstacles) was just challenging!
• BlockNess – Rolling blocks in water – need teamwork to spin them around for people to get across
• Everest 2.0 – Modified with grapple hook to get a rope to the top to climb up and over
• Agustus Gloop –  climb up a tube whilst a shower of water is raining down
• Arctic Enema – Ice bath plunge with additional dunk
• Creek Crusade – Wet and muddy
• Devils Beard – Cargo net with hay bales in the middle just for extra difficulty
• Liberator – Pegboard climb
• (Long elevation)
• Birth Canal / Black hole – I’m sure they added more water than usual just so that the crawl space was smaller and weight pushing down was heavier
• Funky Monkey 2.0 – Monkey bars with spinning wheels over a splash pool
• Hero Walls / T Boned – Modified to have a ledge (think Irish tables)
• Mud Miles – 5 trenches of ud with mud walls to climb over
• Pyramid Scheme – modified with rope for solo competitors to scale the wall
• Operation – A WTM/Toughest Mudder exclusive where competitors stand in water and handle a metal pole through a hole to hook a wristband to retrieve it. Just like the board game, operation, if you touched the sides you received an electric shock! I managed to do this 5 times without failing it, however I did get a shock from someone else getting zapped!
• KONG – 5 rings to scale across an airbag

Bale Bonds – not so easy on the fifth lap

My shorty was keeping me nice and warm through the lap. This was good, because there was a lot of water in the lap and between mile 2 and 3, there was BlockNess, Agustus Gloop and Arctic Enema. The Creek Crusade immediately after Arctic Enema actually felt warm in comparison, however I must admit, AE wasn’t as cold/bad as I expected it to be.  It started raining from around 03.00 with varying intensity.

Arctic Enema (3rd of 4)

Europe’s Toughest Mudder Splits

I was feeling strong and fresh up to lap 3. Lap 4 was a little more difficult as I kept feeling cramp about to set in (it never did fortunately). Whilst Craig, the machine just kept going! The fifth lap was pretty difficult – however we started that at 6.00, so knew that we could walk the lap and still get round in time to finish for 25 miles. Which was great as by then my legs were pretty much dead! We managed to walk/jog with 3 others and just enjoyed the lap, doing most of the penalty runs (grip strength was gone by the end) and just chatting in general just to keep occupied.  at 7.50 we were back to the finish line. Happy we made it by the 8.00 cut off (even though there is an additional 30 minutes grace period for competitors to finish their lap).

But guess what? I have signed up for 2018!

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