Destroy This Ruckus Obstacle: Down-n-Outs!

Try not to be too discouraged by the name of this obstacle—down-n-outs! It’s one of the many aspects that make Ruckus so much more unique (and fun if you ask us) than all those other races.

On some of our obstacles, you’ll need to sprint.  On others, you’ll need to climb.  On some, you’ll need to crawl.  But in the pesky Down-n-Outs section of our race, you’ll be doing a little bit of everything.

As we like to say, getting down into the mud is the easy part.  But getting out of these craters is where champions are made.  We figured that you could keep a few tips in the back of your mind if you happen to get stuck in the Ruckus Down-n-Outs: 

Enter the Terrain  

The first part is simply entering the challenging terrain.  The switch from running on grass to a giant mud pit can be quite a shocking change—especially if you’ve been practicing running on pavement and not on grass or mud.  Once you approach the Down-n-Outs, pick up your speed a little bit.  You want to go into the obstacle with momentum, so the mud is not overwhelming at first.   Power into this one!

Crawl on all Fours

Once you’ve gotten your shoes a little dirtier, be prepared to rub a little mud on your hands and knees as well.  There is absolutely no shame in crawling on all fours, like you did as a three-month old.  In fact, we recommend it.  When faced with mud up to your knees, you’ll need all the strength you can gather to push forward. 

Climb Your Heart Out

Soon enough, you’ll be able to see light at the end of the tunnel, or the grass at the end of the mud.  That’s when you know you are almost at the “out.”  This phase is all about climbing.  Your lower body has been taxed throughout the race, now this is a chance to show off that upper body strength you’ve been working on!  Give everything you have to pull yourself out of the pit.  And if you aren’t able, luckily you were smart enough to sign up with your team of friends, family and co-workers who will help lift you out of that muddy mess!

So follow these tips and the Down-n-Outs will be a breeze.  Or don’t, and you’ll look like this!

One Month Training Guide for a Mud Run

We are less than one month away from the Kansas City Ruckus mud run (and we’re expecting the 10:00am and 11:00am waves to sell out this week!)  This is an exciting and important time for everyone involved in Ruckus. While one month may seem like a while, it will go by fast! It’s important to maintain strong consistency with your training in order to achieve the mud run goal you’ve been working toward (and maybe even surpass it!).

So whether you’re a veteran runner or a first-time participant in a mud run, these helpful tips will ensure your success:

1.      Step up your training.
When runners are training for a marathon, they begin their hardest workouts a month before the big race. Training for the Ruckus, or any mud obstacle course for that matter, is no different. Begin your longest, hardest workouts now to make sure your body is totally prepared for the mud run. If you’ve been running three miles a day to train, start running four. That extra push will put you over the competitive edge.

2.      Get your gear in order.
Now is the time to take a full inventory of all your gear for the mud run. Leave nothing unaccounted for. This is important to do especially if you are ordering specific types of shoes or clothing that are only available online (this will ensure that ample time is allotted for shipping). It would be really disappointing to have a key piece of gear missing on race day. (Another helpful tip: don’t wear brand new shoes on race-day whether you’re in a mud run or a regular race.  First are foremost, you don’t want to ruin them.  And secondly, without breaking in your shoes properly, you could damage your feet with blisters and calluses.) 

3.      Beat yourself.
If you’re participating in Ruckus, odds are you love the idea of being the best version of yourself you can be. If you haven’t already been keeping track of your mile-times, pace and intervals, do so now. One month out from the mud run, track how long your runs are taking you and aim to improve by a few seconds each time. When it comes time to participate in mud run, a few seconds can make or break a runner winning a heat. MapMyRUN has excellent tools to help you track your routes, progress and times. Set out to beat yourself!

4.      Rest up.
The month before an event like Ruckus can lead to lack of sleep (perhaps you lay awake visualizing crossing the finish line!). However, research shows that lack of sleep can severely impair your physical capabilities. Sleep deprivation also takes a while to recover from, so sleeping a lot a couple of day before Ruckus won’t do you much good. Instead, reorient your life to match a healthy sleep schedule. You’ll be much better off for it in the long run – not just for Ruckus, but in general.

5.      Revel in your impending glory.
You are so close! You have taken a bold risk by stepping outside of your comfort zone and you have prepared for quite some time. Now it is time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Push through and achieve the dream you’ve been looking forward to! In a month, we’ll be applauding you as you reach the finish line. For now, we’re applauding you as you approach the starting line. Let’s do this!

Have tips on how you're training for Ruckus?  Want to share your training experience with us?  Have an incredible Ruckus training story?  Share it on Facebook! 

Top 5 Tips for Pacing Yourself During an Obstacle Course

Once you have sorted out the pre-competition details such as a clever team name and in which race you will compete, your focus should turn to the Ruckus course itself.  With April 6^th and Kansas City’s event rapidly approaching, we encourage our participants to have an idea of how they will attack the race.  We’re here to give you a few tips on how to pace yourself during this unique running experience—the mud obstacle course: 

 

1. Have a goal in mind before the race.  First and foremost, Ruckus is about enjoying a fun and unique style of exercise.  But we also understand and encourage our runners to push themselves to the best of their abilities.  Knowing your pace beforehand can be crucial.  So before you toe the starting line, try to have an idea of a time or position at which you hope to finish.  If you have partaken in a Ruckus before, try to beat your previous time.  Or maybe you want to try to finish in the top half of your starting wave.  Regardless, go into the race with a goal!   

2.  Run with a partner, or a few.  This is more of a personal preference, but if you are in the business of maintaining a steady pace, competing alongside a friend, family member or co-worker is a great way to not get ahead of yourself.  It’s crucial to plan ahead and make sure that you will be in the same wave as your teammate; otherwise your day might be ruined!

3. Don’t start too fast.  We can tell you right now that your adrenaline will be pumping as your grouping heads for that first obstacle.  But don’t get ahead of yourself!  There are more than 20 obstacles looming ahead of you.  Stay within your limits, especially if you are attempting the four-mile Challenge race.  The first quarter-mile of the course is not going to make or break your final time and placement, but if you don’t have any energy left with half of the race left, it’s a whole different story. 

4. Pick which obstacles you really want to attack.  With countless challenging obstacles littered throughout the race, you probably aren’t going to be able to give 100% on all of them.  After exploring the course, make sure you have an idea of which obstacles you can attack full speed ahead.  If you think you are upper-body strong, then go after the Nose Bleed Nets and Gr8 Walls of Ruckus.  If you rely more on your speed and agility, then attack the Down-n-Outs and Tirefield.  Either way, try to push yourself on at least a few of the obstacles!

5. There is no pace at the end of the race.  Plain and simple—give it everything you’ve got once you start sniffing that finish line.  You should be proud of yourself for having come out to exercise on a Saturday in the first place, but you should really make it worth your while and sprint the end.  You have the rest of the weekend to relax.  This is a perfect chance to earn some bragging rights over your running partner!

The way you run your Ruckus race is totally in your hands.  We just suggest you have an approach in mind.  We don’t want to find you taking a nap in the Mud Garden mid-way through the race!  So pace yourself and you’ll be a RuckStar.  

Swap Your Cover Photo for a Chance to Win a Free Ticket to Ruckus!

Want to win a free ticket to Ruckus Kansas City?  Now's your chance!  Simply swap out your Facebook cover photo for our Ruckus image and you could win!  Here's what you need to do:

• Upload the image (above) as your Facebook cover photo
• Tag Ruckus Sports in the photo
• If you win, we will notify you via Facebook!

Many will enter, only 5 will win.  So what are you waiting for?  Swap out your cover photo and show your Ruckus pride!  It may earn you a free ticket (or a reimbursement if you've already purchased your ticket) to Ruckus Kansas City on April 6.  Good luck!

Follow us on Twitter too! @RuckusSports

Top 5 Reasons to Love Mud Obstacle Courses

Regardless of your personal relationship with running, you can toss it out the window when it comes to Ruckus.  Don’t get us wrong—we love running.  But why stop there?  As long as you don’t mind dirtying a t-shirt and a pair of Asics, come off the beaten path and join us.  Consider why mud obstacles courses take fitness and fun to the next level.  We’ll make it easy on you and give you the top 5 reasons everyone should love a fun mud obstacle course race:

1. Escape the monotony of an ordinary road race.  Sure, you can find a 5K-road race to run just about any weekend.  But how often can you find a two-to four-mile course littered with more than 20 large-scale obstacles?  Instead of a few right and left turns through residential neighborhoods, you are forced to pull yourself across Gorilla Bars, climb over Nose Bleed Nets and either sprint or swim through the Mud Garden (just to name a few of our Ruckus obstacles).
2. Compete as an individual, team or family.  Although every competitor is timed individually, we encourage you to participate with friends, family and co-workers.  As long as you are willing to sacrifice a few seconds more to your final time, you may even stop to enjoy watching a loved one struggle out of our deep, muddy craters, called “Down-n-Outs.”
3. Push your mind and body to the limit.  Naturally, the Ruckus course is loads of fun, but we also acknowledge the competitive aspect of any race.  That’s why Ruckus provides the best of both worlds.  For the die-hard competitor, we offer the Champion’s Heat, which features a second race consisting of the top 10% of men and women finishers from earlier in the day.  Those who qualify for the Champion’s Heat will cover a total of eight miles of terrain for the day.  Now that’s a challenge many runners may be looking for.
4. Enjoy courses designed for various fitness levels.  Our mud obstacle course allows almost anyone to compete.  We have events for ages 2 to 72.  For the kids, there is the Mini, which allows children of all ages to take on various obstacles all day long.  The Heater is a 2-mile race course of obstacle after obstacle.  And the Challenge race offers a four-mile course aimed at the more serious competitor.
5. Get out of your rut and into a rut!  Try something new and different.  Give your body a workout it’s never experienced before.  Come join the fun and see what the buzz is all about.  Ruckus isn’t your everyday-available workout, so take advantage of the opportunity while it’s in your area! 

We hope you’ll consider joining us on the road, or in the mud, less traveled.  Ruckus offers a little bit of everything for everyone.  So when it comes to fitness, do you just work hard?  Or do you play hard?  

The Benefits of Breaking Through Your Comfort Zone

At Ruckus, we’re all about having fun. That’s why we created our amazing mud run obstacle course. It’s a place to get muddy, get silly and laugh with the people you love. But Ruckus is also about personal challenge. They don’t call it an obstacle course just because of the stuff between you and the finish line. Obstacles are challenges that must be overcome to achieve a goal, and that often takes a tremendous amount of discomfort. Ruckus will challenge you to get out of your comfort zone. Here’s three reasons why getting out of your comfort zone is a good, even great thing:

1. You will surprise yourself.
Getting out of your comfort zone will allow you the chance to see exactly what you can do...and you may be very surprised by the results! It’s easy to settle into our day-to-day routines and convince ourselves to stay away from challenges. Disruption of regularly scheduled programming is a good thing, and will remind you of just how much you are capable of. The feeling of achievement when you cross the finish line is a memory that will last for years.

2. Discomfort will stir personal growth.
When we are living life purely to pursue comfort, we can slip into a period of internal stagnancy. New, challenging experiences are the things that help us grow as people, not chasing comfort. Unchecked comfort has a tendency to contract our sense of possibility, while periodic experiences of discomfort can help us to remember exactly how we feel when we push past normal boundaries.

3. Your doubt will lose its power.
When we aren’t consistently challenging ourselves, self-doubt can creep in silently. Before we know it, not only are we not pursuing challenges, we’re actively avoiding them. Self-doubt can be crippling, and challenging ourselves in times of doubt will keep us from becoming our own worst enemies.

Facing obstacles and overcoming challenges are two paths toward personal growth. At Ruckus, we care that you have fun, and we care that you are fulfilled. We hope you’ll join us for the challenge!

Learn more from Ruckus on Twitter! @RuckusSports

Congrats to Our Ruckus Caption Contest Winners!

Not too long ago, we asked you to be clever, witty and hilarious and participate in our Ruckus Caption Contest.  Every week, we put out a new awesome Ruckus photo and asked you to come up with a caption for it.

Thanks to our amazing Facebook fans and Instagram followers, we got some great submissions.  But only 4 could win!

Congratulations to the following Ruckus Caption Contest winners—you came up with the best Ruckus captions we’ve ever heard!

Dinah Wiegers proclaims being a trophy wife isn't as easy as it may seem...

Anna Kossen encourages RuckStars to keep up.  

Anytime Fitness of Lawrence, KS knows what Ruckus is all about. 

Kristi Sasnett knows the importance of quality girl time. 

Congrats to Anytime Fitness of Lawrence, KS, Dinah Wiegers, Kristi Sasnett and Anna Kossen!  All 4 of you have won a pair of tickets to Ruckus Kansas City on April 6, 2013!

And a big thanks to everyone who participated in the Ruckus Caption Contest.  We’re glad you had as much fun with it as we did.