Training for Rugged Maniac and other obstacle course run races

Looking for something a little different than the swim, bike and run of a triathlon, a few friends and I signed up for a Rugged Maniac race in Lake, CO in October.  I had a lot of fun!

Rugged Maniac is a 5km obstacle run race “designed by Navy SEALs” and is one of several new obstacle course events like Tough Mudder, Spartan Race and Warrior Dash that are sprouting up all over the U.S.  A recent article for Outside Magazine states that last year as many as a million people ran obstacle races in the U.S. last year.

So…what exactly is an “obstacle course run?”

It’s just like it sounds – it’s a run that’s typically at least 5km with a multitude of obstacles like cargo nets, high walls, barbed wire to crawl under, mud to crawl through and floating cylinders to climb under or over (I picked over in my race because the water was cold).  The course may be partially published ahead of time and there is usually at least one surprise obstacle.  My race also involved a lot of up and down the side of a hill since it was held in a motocross park.

How do you train for an obstacle course run like Rugged Maniac?

I didn’t train specifically for this event, but I surprisingly finished 3rd overall out of more than 2,000 participants.

Here are the three things I attributed to doing so well:

1. First and foremost, it’s still primarily a running race.  I spent more than 90% of the race running.  For my training, I run 3x / week with my mid-week runs 40-60 minutes and my long weekend run 2 hours.  I run on trails around Boulder so my typical run involves hills (like the race course).
2. Upper body and core strength are a necessary. You need both to climb up, over and through the obstacles.  I learned about the importance of core strength when low crawling through the brush and dirt as part of the Special Operations Force Academy a few years ago.  I do Pilates 2x/week (core) and lift weights 1-2x/week to include Olympic lifts for power.
3. Proper pacing.  When the starting gun went off, most of my wave sprinted in front of me – just like a typical run race on the road.  By the top of the second hill about 2 minutes into the race, I had passed most of them without having to speed up because they had already slowed down after starting way too fast. I ran steady the whole race and slowly picked off everyone in my wave (except the guy who won).

What would I would have done differently for training?

What I didn’t do is include interval training at higher intensities (at and above lactate threshold), which would have enabled me to sustain a higher intensity on race day.

Bottom line: You need to run as part of your training.  Get stronger and practice climbing up and over things (pull-ups are a must).  Learn to read your body and learn how hard you can go. Don’t be afraid to push the intensity but mindful of the full duration of the event and back off as necessary.

I’m looking forward to more of these obstacle course run races starting with a Super Spartan Race in Southern California in January.

Live life richly and without regret!

David

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David B. Glover, MS, CSCS
Executive Triathlon Coach, ENDURANCEWORKS, LLC
Director, the ELITE Project
Author of Full Time and Sub-Nine: Fitting Iron Distance Training into Everyday Life