Tough Mudder Tuesday: The Last Mile

First off, I ran Color Run this weekend, which was a glorious 5K full of powdery paint you got blasted with every kilometer or so. I'm still trying to get it all out of my ears and nostrils, and I have a giant bruise on my bicep from when I got shoved into a pole trying to avoid bad parents with strollers letting their kids inhale mass quantities of paint.

Secondly, it's over halfway through July and I keep plugging on my three miles and training. I try to end every Tough Mudder circuit training workout with a cool down mile, and no matter how many I run beforehand, that mile is the worst. I remember going to a yoga class a few years ago, and the instructor tried to explain how so much of a workout is mental. Your body usually won't physically give out on you unless you let it. Your legs will keep running; your arms won't fail. Seeing as I'm pretty sure I've actually had my legs fail when I was lifting during a CrossFit WOD, I might disagree with that as an overarching theory, but I do think it has some grounding when we're running.

The last mile is the worst. I get on the treadmill (or I'm a little over two miles into the trail around the reservoir) and I tell myself I only have to do half the mile. And then when I get there I realize it's just half a mile, and it's pretty pathetic if I can't run that last half. And I either sit there staring at the distance on the treadmill or praying that the last park around the reservoir will come up, and eventually it does. A lot of this training has been completely mental for me, and that last mile has been one of the biggest tests of how much I'm willing to put into this ridiculous obstacle course. As opposed to those pull-ups. Those are all physical, and I still can't do them.

Playlist additions: I've started running to Incubus' A Crow Left of the Murder on shuffle, which probably won't do much for anyone unless you are were hugely obsessed with Incubus. There's always Wiz Kahlifa and Willow Smith for when you're doing high knees and burpees. Those have always been two of my favorite songs to box to, and they both work pretty well for plyometrics.