It might feel like ages away but September will be here before we know it. Tough Mudder will be back in London South and I’ll be taking on my first ever Tough Mudder Full. Yes. It had to happen one day! …I’m gonna be running as part of the Black Tower Tough Mudder Tribe; they’re the ‘Official Wine Sponsor’ of Tough Mudder UK and of the Kiss of Mud obstacle. So in preparation for race day I thought I’d pull together some strategies for tackling Black Tower’s Kiss of Mud so we can say #CheersToMe and maybe even start the celebrations early…
What Is The Kiss of Mud Obstacle
Let’s start with the very basics… and introduction to Kiss of Mud 2.0. The Tough Mudder website don’t even mince their words. Kiss of Mud 2.0 is a Barbed Wire Crawl; 40′ Long and contains 1,000 Gallons of Mud. That made for a short paragraph! All that remains to be said, is you might as well get ready to embrace the mud!
Get Some Training In Before Race Day
When I’ve asked all my OCR friends, they’ve pretty much said the same thing. Practice your bear / low military crawls in which you use your arms and legs to propel you forwards. This way you save yourself a fair bit of energy by being all efficient.
Time Your Start Perfectly
It helps to time when you start tackling the Kiss of Mud properly to avoid having other people’s feet in your face – mainly ‘cos it’s painful! Give the peeps in front of you a few seconds to get moving especially if you think you’re gonna be super slinky and speedy. There are some people that might attempt to roll (I don’t recommend this as it’ll prob make you dizzy) so look out for their feet as they won’t even be able to see whats going on around them!
How To Position Your Body
The aim of the game here is to get through the obstacle as quickly as possible, without acquiring any scrapes or cuts, right? Oh and to avoid touching the barbed wire. Although you should focus on keeping your head down, don’t forget to keep your hips / butt nice and low too! And ladies… don’t forget to protect your chest from the ground.
Another tip for those with long hair is to choose a hairstyle which sits low on your head like french plaits rathe than a ponytail or bun so that you don’t get your hair caught in the barbed wire. That means that my trademark afro puff is a no go for race day!
A couple of extra tips shared with me include this one from Tess – “don’t tire yourself out too much by dragging your body with your arms” and this one from Michael – “everyone catches their bottom layer [of clothing] because they only focus on their head. If there is space then alternate between rolling and crawling; it’ll get you to the end quicker”. And I almost forgot, Helen said – “[make sure to] wear shorts over leggings or tighter shorts, if your top layer gets caught the whole race might not want to see your butt’. lol. 😀
Make Sure You Smile When You Get To The End
Last but not least, ‘cos if we aren’t doing this for some fabulous photo’s, what’s the point? There is usually a photographer situated at the end of this obstacle so make sure you smile when you get to the other side whether you loved it or hated it!
Have any other tips for tacking Kiss of Mud?! …If you’re gonna be at the London South Weekend make sure you let me know so we can say #CheersToMe together with a glass of Black Tower (they have a stand there) to celebrate!
Elle
Get some more tips for tackling your first Tough Mudder here!
Wanna know what kit you might need? Find out in this post by OCR pro Ian!
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