Review Tough Mudder Midlands 2015

Why was Tough mudder midlands 2015 a bit of a flop. In my eyes.

Big hype from the start and the chance to be a great obstacle race I took the plunge and paid close to £90 for Tough mudder.

I am in shape and like a challenge so when this race was announced close to home I signed up and despite the high entry cost i was convinced this could be something. 

The mudder of all mudders, plenty of photos and video footage to back it up, sounded like something great to achieve.

On the day itself we had to arrive early and it became apparent that this is a big money making machine. Extra for parking (in a field!) extra for dropping off your bag. Etc. Why? Surely the entry cost, double that of other obstacle races should cover that?

Then the start, so busy, you would think the whole midlands were invited for a free beer. Wave after wave was filled up so our starting time moved by an hour.

Finally race underway and even though it is not timed you do want to push yourself and feel like you have given it your all.

After a few simple obstacles we found out that you can, and lots of people do, just walk around obstacles. No penalty, no nothing.

What a joke. Then the obstacles themselves, often too busy and certainly covered in mud making them impossible to hold on to even with dry gloves.

Fast forward to the end we completed the event as a team and though I enjoyed that part it was overshadowed by the sheer amount of people dodging obstacles and still getting the finishers headband and some obstacles being boring or just madly made.

All in all no real challenge I personally felt, and the day probably cost me £120 with parking, baggage drop en lunch not to mention travelling cost.

The goodie bag advertised was a joke. Finishers towel, honestly, you call a 20x30cm piece of fabric a towel? I could not even dry my feet with that! And a very cheap non technical T-shirt. Bit disappointing.

So i will not be doing a Tough mudder again as it is not that tough and there are better and cheaper races out there.

And I also would not recommend it unless you want to show off to people that do not know and live in the illusion that this is an amazingly hard event to complete.

Paleo day 7 and the last

Well, i weighed myself again this morning and in 6 days i have lost over 2Kg

That might sound great to some but the last thing I want is to loose weight.

That combined with how much this has cost me in organic fresh vegetables and meat it unfortunayely unsustainable for me.

Do i feel healthier, a bit.

More or less energy? About the same but more hungry on average.

Any odd sympthoms. Nothing out the ordinary.

I feel slightly less bloated and my skin does look good.

What have I learned.

It is much better to eat less pre-packed food and more fresh.

I will be eating more protein and less wheat.

I have found quite a few nice recipes whilst researching paleo and will keep making these.

So a waste of time? No.

I have learned there is life after boring sandwiches in the office and with planning & prep you can make exciting lunches.

So i will be taking that info with me and adjusting my current lifestyle with different choices.

Paleo day 6

Breakfast of some nut granola and bacon

Snack banana

Lunch salad with egg, broccoli, pear & tomatoes.

Snack home made muesli bar

Dinner cougette pasta with tuna

Energy wise I feel fine, lost 1kg so far which for me is not good as I am quite lean anyway.

Will weigh myself again Saturday

Paleo day 5

After breakfast of some chicken breast and 2 eggs, off to work.

Snack. Some nuts

Lunch. Chicken , egg, carrots, ham and olives.

Afternoon snack. Satsuma 

Got home at 6:40 and starving as well as a headache.

Drank plenty of water so must be low blood sugar. Ate some granola and yes the headache started to go.

Dinner. Cauliflower rice with curry chicken.

Very tasty!

And so easy to make with my new friend the food processor

Been reading about paleo and the pros & cons a lot.

Most people start this diet because thry eant to lose weight, I don't.

I am naturally lean and struggle to put weight on. I eat generally quite healthy and mostly avoid pre packed foods and sugar.

I run quite a bit and go to the gym.

Saying that I was curious about this Paleo diet. 

Eating more organic with plenty of protein, less diary and sugars would be good for most people.

However  some nutritionist say that the paleo diet is not diverse enough, lacks in calcium and too much fat out of meat leads to blocked arteries & high cholesterol.

The problem with any diet is that people have so many opinions. With paleo almost all reviews I have read focus on weight loss.

There is few people who have wrote about their personal experiences interns of energy levels, feeling less or more bloated, any allergies etc etc.

The biggest negative I have found with the Paleo diet is cost.

Honestly, i have so far spend a lot more aweek on all this fish & meat.

If you think about it you substitute your potential sandwich lunch for another cooked meal.

A 1kg bag of pasta cost 80pence which gives the base for 6 meals. Compared to £1 for a cauliflower for instance which gives 2 bases for meals (cauliflower rice).

Seriously, I was adding my weekly Paleo shopping in an electronic basket of my supermarket and the result was staggering, I doubled the cost!

We are talking at over £220 for a weekly shop (this is for a family of 5 where I am the only one that is going paleo).

This unfortunately is unsustainable as this would mean £1000 a month on food.

So i am doing my best to keep Paleo on a budget but that might be the stumbling block..

Paleo journal day 4

A quick one as I am limited on time.

Breakfast

Nuts & seeds granola with soy milk

Snack (needed this as 6:30-12:00 is just too long without).

Peanuts & beef jerkey

Pre gym banana

Gym workout 45mins

Lunch

Sweet potato with chicken & broccoli & tomato & olives.

Snack at 16:00, satsuma

Dinner 

Chicken terriyaki and a salmon fillet with baby organic sweetcorn

Was starving when i got home at 7, it has been a while since my stomach actually grumbled for food loudly!

Paleo day 3

 

Day three is almost through and i did it.

Breakfast: scrambled eggs , bacon & tomatoes

Lunch: chicken breast salad with avacado & raisins

Snack: fruitcake & dates

Dinner: sweet potatoe mash with sausages and sweetcorn

And a glass of red wine.

Maybe not 100% paleo in some peoples eyes but fine for me.

Already started planning lunches for in the office as that is going to be the hard one..

Day 4 here I come!

Day 2 paleo

Well that was day two done!

Because it was a Saturday I had more time to prepare so that made it easier.

Breakfast of nutty cereal and a banana

Lunch of avacado, ham & eggs

Dinner of sweet potato with chili con carne.

I did feel hungry in between so snacked on some beef jerkey and dates.

I did not feel more tired and so far i have not missed my bread nor diary.

Saying that it is only day three coming up so early days yet.

What i have found is that in order to follow this "diet" through is that you have to change what you buy.

Some if these things are not mass produced ready available things.

Then there is the organic bits and the free range.

All in all the financial concequence is that you spend a lot more on this.

Yes it is better to give your body the best you can but for some of us this increase in food cost is just not sustainable.

So I will also try to look at paleo on a budget in the coming days.

Day three here we come!