Trailblazer Clumber Park Review

Nice to Run Close to Home Though Ruined by a "Paula Radcliffe" Moment

Clumber Park Trailblazer Event Review by Jemma

It's always nice to do events when they're local. Alongside Dash of the Titan you couldn't get any more local to us than Clumber Park. I can get there in 43 minutes on my mountain bike along National Cycling Route 6 so it's pretty close though I'm pretty sure Liam could do it in well under 30 minutes.

The guys at Rat Race know how to put on a quality event so I was really looking forward to running in the heart of Sherwood Forest. I've done the Clumber Park Run before but was really looking forward to seeing what trails Clumber had in store for us having not done much running there previously.

With a warm race day with temperatures due to get into the mid twenties and blazing sunshine I opted for my Under Armour shorties and a vest top as it was far too warm to wear my trusty my Muddy Race T-shirt.  Along with my trusted Inov8 Trailrocs which I knew I'd need for some grip in the woods and possible wet ground from the sharp showers that we had the previous night.

Having learnt lessons from the sun at Bedgebury previously  I sun creamed up to the max so wouldn't get sunburn as it was a warmer day than Bedgebury at the start of June.

After running a 2 hr 17 minute half marathon at Bedgebury I opted to start in the "2:20 group knowing that Clumber is pretty rolling so beating my previous half marathon best would be pretty tough. At least this time I had my Garmin on to track my times.

As the race got underway I eased into the first few miles. A short distance into the race I noticed a man in a red top who was literally sprinting a short distance and then slowing down to a walk which seemed like a weird way to run a half marathon. I caught up with him after the first water station and eased him to find a steady pace to stick to. It turned out he normally runs 5km events so was taking a big jump up in distance which he seemed somewhat unprepared for. He steadied off and used me as a pacer for a number of miles before tailing off. Hopefully he had a good race by the finish

I was ticking off the miles in the glorious Clumber Park sunshine using a female runner in a bright yellow Sheffield vest as a marker before things started to unravel for me around the 10 mile mark. The easiest way to explain things is that I had a "Paula Radcliffe Moment" and needed to dart off course into the privacy of forest cover. Due to needing to pee drastically I had started to experience pain and discomfort in my lower back and stomach which was really slowing me down

After that I carried on slowly to get to finish line with a 2 hour 23 Min's finish. I was gutted I didn't get the better finish than Bedgebury I was hoping but I'll be back next year in search of a better time.

If you fancy a go in 2016 have a look at http://rwtrailblazer.co.uk/

Runners World Trailblazer South Bedgebury Review from Jemma

Rat Race Bedgebury Pinetum Runner's World Trailblazer Half Marathon Review

This is my first half marathon and I was pretty nervous on the fact of doing a race without any water dips, cargo nets and ….................... MUD. With the previous outing at the Dirty Weekend at 20 miles and with prep runs over the half marathon distance I knew I could do the distance. It was a case of how long will it be till Liam saw me at the finish line. 

Nursing a sore rib injury from a self inflicted bike error 2 weeks previously I was just at a comfortable to run stage. The great thing about the guys at Rat Race is that they just don't set you all off at the same time. You are let out in minute intervals based on the estimated time you think will do the race in.  My best times for 10K races was the hour mark so for doing an half marathon a good reasonable guess was a 2 hour 30 min finish. By staggering the groups the hope was that we would be separated from
the Sunday walkers and barely joggers. For me this meant my only issues were getting the Nokia Mix Radio going on my phone and getting past a girl running with her hands flapping around like she was wading in the swimming pool doing doggie paddle. 

New Bike and Some Fun at Cardinham Woods

When you're heading from Nottingham to Newquay for a holiday there's a risk that if you leave too late you'll hit all the traffic. Though if you do as we did and leave Nottingham at 2 AM there's the issue of what to do before you can check into your accommodation. I've found a great way to fill that time is to head to Cardinham Woods, 45 minutes drive from Newquay and hit the trails

Now the leg is healing it's time for me to have some fun and while I'm not up to running long distances and comfortable dealing with the trails on foot I'm fit enough now to get back onto the bike which has always been my main passion.  

Tackling the Bodmin Beast Run at Cardinham Woods

It's not every day your new bike arrives and it's just before you go away. That called for a potential opportunity to test out the bike on holiday. The question was where?

The Radon ZR Race 6.0 at Cardinham Woods, Bodmin

The joy of google meant that a few choice Internet searches drew me to Bodmin and Cardinham Woods. Home of the Bodmin Beast MTB route. Only a blue route from the information on the 1SW website but from a little further research this looked to be no ordinary blue run.

Cardinham is fortunately a short 45 minute drive from Newquay so a no brainer for anyone taking their mountain bike down to the area.

Our Adventure at the Rat Race Dirty Weekend 2015

Jemma and Liam hit the Rat Race Dirty Weekend 2015

The Rat Race season continues for us and this is the second race we have done. Jemma as eager as ever was keen to see just what the main Dirty Weekend event would be like and for Liam it was a case of joining up with the marshaling team for a free weekend.

Jemma at the Dirty Weekend. Ready to be a #ratracer

We also dragged good friend Mark along for the weekend too.

Mark generally looks like this all the time!

Loads of Awesome Spartan Race Team Name Ideas

Spartan Race Team Name Ideas

Jemma and I really love Spartan Race. It's the event that got me into OCR events and for Jemma it's been a big part of her fitness journey over the last couple of years. We're not going to deny that a Spartan Race event isn't going to be tough and push you outside the comfort zone of running in the park or lifting weights in the gym but for us it has a competitive challenging element that's somewhat lacking in Tough Mudder and some other events.

Spartan Race is great individual or as a team

The joy of a Spartan Race is that despite it's individualistic nature which means it can be treated as a race there's a huge proportion of participants wanting to make their way round and experience the feel-good factor of the finishline and a nice well earned beer. For that reason if you're not contesting the elite wave and want to get a team together from your local bootcamp, school run or fancy a bachelor/ hen party with a difference it's a great time to gather a group together and go for it.

Here's a Selection of Team Name Ideas for Spartan Race and other Mud Runs

Inspired by Spartan warriors, race conditions and the infamous 30 burpee penalty for failing an obstacle.

• Achilles Heels
• Burpee'd Out
• Burpee'd Off
• Dirty 30's (Named after the number of Burpees you must complete at every obstacle failure)
• Team Aroo (Aroo is the Spartan war cry)
• The 300 (After the film)
• Leonidas' Lions
• The Spartan Warriors
• No Surrender
• I Hate Burpees (You might just love them by the end)
• Keep Calm and Spartan On
• The Sprinters do Spartan
• Muddy Love
• I am Spartacus
• This is Sparta

Team Muddy Race Take You Through Spartan Race

Mud Related Team Name Ideas

• Band of Mudders (great is you're a group of soldiers tackling an event together)
• Dirt Up My Skirt
• Dirt Up Ya Kilt (For the Scottish racers)
• I Can’t Believe It’s Not Mudder (Play on the dairy spread I can’t believe it’s not butter)

I can't believe it's not Mudder

• Dirty Mudder Funkers
• Dude… Where’s My (Insert trainer brand here as someone might lose them in a bog somewhere on course)
• The Dirt Digglers (Great for a group of guys if you fancy dressing in 60's attire thinking you're Mark Wahlberg)
• Sexy Mudder Funkers
• Mud Sweat and Tears
• Mind Over Mudder
• Mud Flaps (Great for a group of classic car enthusiasts or Max Power readers)
• The Dirty Dozen
• The Muddley Crew (Grab some wigs from the fancy dress shop and go in character)
• Mud Mud Glorious Mud
• Happy as Pigs in.
• The Mudarellas
• The Mudstaches (Head to the fancy dress shop for some mustaches or grow your own as part of Movember and raise more money for charity).
• Pure Spartans (Ideal for a team from the chain Pure Gym)
• LA Spartans (Great for a group from an LA Fitness Gym)
• The Muddy Virgins (If you're from Virgin Active health clubs)

We're sure you can come up with plenty of other Spartan Race team name ideas to enlighten, inspire and have put onto T Shirts

Gather together your team for a Spartan Race or Mud Run

Lessons Learnt at Tough Mudder by Jemma

Jemma did her first Tough Mudder event in 2014 at Broughton House in Northamptonshire. Here are some of her thoughts and feelings which we feel may help others to make the most of their experience

Jemma at her first Tough Mudder event 2014

What I Learnt from Tough Mudder

When I'm preparing for a race I'll be putting the hours in at the gym, boot camps and running in the great outdoors to get ready for the latest obstacle race so when you are at the start line you know you've done all that you can do to get to the finish line or better last years times. Failing to put the preparation work in can leave you in serious trouble on event day at long events like Tough Mudder where you're likely to be on the course for 3+ hours experiencing warmth, cold and fatigue.


I saw many training timetables online on how to train for events and to be frank I found these not helpful and too easy on participants.From the few previous events I'd done I knew I had to target certain areas and improve further on other areas.

Key Event Needs for Tough Mudder

• Upper Body- Hauling yourself over obstacles and holding your weight on monkey bars is far tougher than many training schedules allow for.
• Being able to run for extended periods was also beyond what I was used to doing

Not long after completing my first Spartan Race in 2013 one of our gym PT's suggested getting a team together for Tough Mudder. He ran a number of boot camp style sessions a week which I was attending where work allowed so it made sense to join up with their team for Tough Mudder in the Midlands at Broughton House, Kettering. By event day there were 24 of us which made up Team Jelly Fitness.

Try different energy gels to see what works for you

As Tough Mudder was going to be the longest event I'd done (I want to say "Race" but Tough Mudder isn't a race) Liam suggested to try using energy gels whilst running to keep my energy up over the course of an event. One of his best suggestions was to trial different energy gels during longer runs to see what worked for me. I initially tried the SIS (Science in Sport) gels which I found were relativity cheap and easy to find on the shelves of the local Tesco. I also picked up a variety of flavours to try as I know I wouldn't be happy consuming something I didn't like the taste of come the day of the event. 

My final food preparations for the race involved deciding how many gels I should carry. The event paperwork advised there would be feed and water stations around the course so I decided that to take 4 gels to supplement what had on the feed stations. Unfortunately I had very little experience with using these gels and when is the best to take them. 

Eat Little and Often to Maintain Energy Throughout the Event

On event day at the first feed station we were offered water and squares of a protein/ energy bar which was probably the driest thing I've ever tasted. I only manged half of the square as it was so tough it was almost one of the obstacles! Over the course of the event I learnt that whenever you're offered food take it as YOU WILL need it. At the next feed station was again that same awful protein bar and with the after taste of the previous square I was discouraged so settled for a gel and cup of water. Eventually I found that the SiS gels I was using didn't sit brilliantly on my stomach towards the end of the event and I'd need to look at other options for future events

Finding the Distance a Real Issue

During mile 8 I started to suffer from shooting cramps down my calves was handed a drink from a fellow person in my team who had a hydration pack with electrolytes in it and told to have another gel and that should help. At least i knew how to stretch out my legs to help ease the pain out. The one feed station after this was a bananas which I easily ate which the state was feeling I should have eaten another one along with more water than the two cups I drank.

When I completed the course even the electrocution at the end was too much to bare. I was feeling in a rather bad place with no energy left and my body cramping up. Given a bottle of water and another one of those protein bars I looked at that bar without any enthusiasm and tried to give it to Liam who refused and made me eat it before I could have that earned pint. Because I hadn't eaten enough this is one of the reasons why was in such a bad shape. If eating that bar was an obstacle then it was a hard one at the time.

Realizations After Tough Mudder

My after thought with this event was "oh shit I have little over two months" till I started my Spartan series campaign. Tough Mudder has its faults such as no timing, electrocution, no penalties or alternative if you fail an obstacle but it made me work on my distance more and try different forms of race nutrition to see what would suit me.

We talked over what I felt I struggled on throughout the course and as ever I found it to be my upper body strength. I simply could not hold the bars or rings on Funky Monkey or Hang Tough. Liam was  running alongside at points so he could see how my performance was and what I needed to work more on. This was a great help for the small things you don’t notice.

Take Positives Out of Each Event as Well as Negatives to Work on.

Every race I have now done I take a good thing and a bad thing from it so that got something to work on for the next time. Focusing on the good shows the progress you have made and the bad is where your going to conquer in future.

Jemma hated the electrocution element of Tough Mudder

The progress I made was visible throughout 2014. I went from struggling with the distance of Tough Mudder to finishing the longer Spartan Beast in much better shape. I also saw my strength and technique increase. At the beginning of the Spartan Race series I could barely roll an Atlas Stone along the ground yet managed to carry it during the last 3 races. I gained great satisfaction in lifting an Atlas Stone where there were blokes around me rolling them.

The bad for me is still elements of my upper body and grip as I've suffered badly with the monkey bars, rope climb and traverse walls.

As long as you're having fun, weaknesses are just something to work on in training. That's why I love obstacle racing so much as there's always something to keep me on my toes.

How to Get an I am Training for a Spartan Race Shirt

Ever since she got into obstacle racing and Spartan Race Jemma has craved on of the "I am Training For a Spartan Race" shirts. She's hunted high and low on eBay and online but the reality is that to get on of the T shirts you have to attend a Spartan Race training workout.

Jemma in her I am Training for a Spartan Race t shirt

Last weekend after seeing them advertised on facebook we headed up to the Regional Athletics Centre in Manchester to attend what we hoped would be a tough workout with a few obstacles to challenge us. Sadly we didn't get any obstacles but we did get a nice Bootcamp style workout with a Spartan Race theme. I'm sure I did more burpees in that one hour than at the whole of the 2014 race series put together (and I missed a lot of Spear Throws!!)

Jemma outside the Etihad Stadium Manchester. Shame she's a Red!

 For Jemma the main thing about that free workout was finally getting her hands on a I am Training for a Spartan Race T Shirt which she will now wear in the gym with pride.

Muddy Duck OCR at the Dash of the Titan

A selection of images from Team Muddy Duck from last weekends Dash of the Titan event.

Mudstacle at Dash of the Titan 2015

A selection of images from the people of Mudstacle from last weekend's Dash of the Titan event. 

Team Ram at Dash of the Titan

A selection of images from Team Ram from Dash of the Titan. A big congratulations to Monika for showing everyone how it should be done and being first to complete 3 laps of a challenging course.