The event came around so quick for the Melbourne tough mudder at Phillip island. It felt like I’d only just signed up! Our plans before the event was to do 2 laps Saturday 40km, and 2 laps Sunday 40km. Due to time restrictions we were only able to do 1 lap on Sunday. Total of 60km over the 2 days.
Due to work commitments myself and brother Shane flew into Melbourne from Tasmania Friday night after work. By the time we arrived and were in bed it was just after 12 oclock. I remember setting the alarm for 4:40 o’clock to allow 20mins to get the car ready for an hour and a half drive to the event getting us there just before 7:00am, ready for our 8:00am start….whole time thinking gosh! we’re not going to get much sleep!
“BEEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP”, crap! it’s time to get up!, lots of things going through my head on what gear to take and what gear to leave, not enough space to bring everything and certainty didn’t want to leave something important behind like Gel shots. Darrel, Adrian and Shane were all prepped with their Bananas, Gel shots and Powerade/Gatorade drinks. Before heading out we did the standard, everyone got ID, Waivers, tickets etc……..Time to head off…..
Saturday, So plan for Saturday is for Adrian, Shane and myself to do a semi fast lap and then the second lap Darrel a team supporter and long term training member of aussiemudders to join us on the second lap. Adrian and Shane going for the shorts/t-shirt combo and myself wanting to try out the anchor wetsuit combo for as long as possible.
First lap pumped out, personal opinion but I enjoyed the change of course an
Group replenishment’s after walk the plank
d new obstacles. It’d be my third?/forth? time on the Melbourne course, and I really liked it this time around. The “unknown” always gets you wondering whats next and makes the course more interesting. We finished just over the 2 hours mark for the first lap, I’d have to say I did drag the team down a bit…..need some more practice with the wet-suit.
Second lap, We run across the finish line from lap one, and about 30 seconds later see Darrel and line up for lap two!, Big mistake!, We agree’d later on that maybe we should of replenished ourselves a bit with some banana’s etc, but just how the timing went it sounded logical at the time to join Darrel on this start time.
Darrel did a lot of training with team member Adrian in Melbourne, for myself and Shane we were unsure what level of fitness he’d be at. Boy were we shocked. He ended up leading the pack the majority of lap 2! Darrel setting the pace helped lots with encouraging for us to keep going and made it clear how much training paids
From the left, Adrian, Grant
off. One key thing I remember from lap two was we’d just ran one of the long back straits, I’m running along side Shane, Darrel is slightly ahead of us, A massive hill is approaching, and I’m thinking in my head this will be a hill to walk on. Well……was I wrong “Darrel, smart arse runs up the whole hill”, Shane looks towards me and I look towards him and we’re both like WTF, where’d this guy come from! I quote that smashing of the hill run as “doing a Darrel”.
Ok ok, We get to the end of lap 2. Adrian and Shane had just ran through the last obstacle, Darrel and myself are just in front of all the wires. Darrel asks me, how does this one compare to the electric eel? my reply “This is tame compared to the electric eel”, 1….2….333……..I spoke too soon I got owned by the electricity shocks, even though I was fully wet-suited up. Two sharp shocks down the back and I was on my knee’s. Darrel replies to me in a laughing sense along the lines of “Tame compared to electric eel you say? no way” He got his fair share of shocks also. So we finished up for lap 2, headed off for the day and got some needed sleep.
Sunday, Lap 3, nice and stiff sore legs, arms as expected after having a break after some long distance running. Experience shows, i.e. the Raw challenge 24/hour run, it’s easier to just to continue to run than to have breaks in-between. I personally was in a lot of pain, but this was the whole point, to see how much pain could be handled. No Pain no gain right? Correct 🙂
Adrian and Shane join me on this lap with wearing wet-suits, certainty makes a difference from wearing wet-suits and not wearing them. But once again, from previous worlds tough mudder’s we’ve seen people wear wet-suits so we want to be getting in early and training with them. Where better to train with them than on a local tough mudder course 🙂
Grant – Lap 3, electric eel
Another tough mudder memory for myself……Electric eel lap 3, As approaching the event some cousins in Melbourne had arrived and were waiting for us at this obstacle (Chris, Al and Steve), I wasn’t expecting them and it was fantastic to see them. I explain to Chris….”warning there will be swearing”. Adrian, Shane jump under the eel’s and look like their going strong. I go for the “I’ll get a run up and jump and slide trick” ……..well it failed. I run jump and go to slide but don’t and hit a rock/lump of mud and wind myself. i.e. out of breath and weird pain, not sure exactly what the heck had happened. Being near the side, I shimmy half my body to the side get some breaths of air in, I recall someone asking if I’m ok, but couldn’t see anything due to a face full of mud. I put two thumbs up and say I’m heading back in and finish the course. Lots and lots of mud. Fun times.
Summary/Improvements for myself?
Eat more, take more gels. Try strapping my ankles to provide a little more support.
A special thanks to Tough Mudder Volunteers, this time around they stood out for me the most in regards to continuous encouragements throughout the course. Saying “keep it going” to every person must be hard throughout the day, but doing so with enthusiasm that I saw on Sat/Sun was awesome.
From the left (Shane, Grant Adrian, Darrel)
Group shot after electric eel
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