Mud Masters 2012

I am a Mud Master!

Saturday @5:00 AM: Just woke up because of the sound of the rain, it was pouring so hard as if someone just turned the water on from the sky. Some thoughts running in my head doubting if I should do the MudMaster which I signed up for it few months ago. The doubts were mainly fear of causing more damage to my knee who has been behaving good the last few weeks.

Mud masters is where I get to run in the mud push my boundaries on an adventurous trail of 12 km of military obstacles, barbed wire, water a pyramid hill and... the shocking “Sizzler” obstacle.

This idea made me all excited and I thought well if I cant do that than it is a sign that my knee is not fit enough and surgery is the way to go, since on Monday I have to decide the future of my knee. I drove at 7 am towards "Harlemmermeer" to meet up with 4 other enthousiastics Mud Masters, Andrea, Silvia, Barry en Harm. We were from the ALPHA wave which is meant for experienced mud masters :) . The start took off at 9 am with an amazing atmosphere.

We started by climbing the pyramid and headed to the rest of the course. We took our sweet time on every obstacle, we enjoyed the scenery we laughed so hard, we encouraged and helped each other. We were an "undefeated team"  for about 1:30 hour. We must have walked in the freezing cold water for about 10 times, and run most of the course in the mud. To be honest I loved running in the Mud it has an amazing feeling.

Everything was perfectly organized, I would definitely do it again but for sure the next time I hope to be fit and try to prepare more for it now that I know what to expect.

Mud Master would not have been as much fun without
the MudMasters finishers
Silvia, Barry, Andrea en Harm.

 

Knee Update

My happiness was even bigger when I finished without any pain on my knee. That is another reason why I decided to postpone the surgery. My surgery that should take place this Thursday is moved to December.  Doctor recommended the surgery for a fast result but also believed it can be healed with a good treatment. I thought after all the treatments I already had I wouldn't want to do any other treatment, but since I am enjoying my 1 hour run without pain I am not ready to go through a 2 months of recovery at the moment. The surgery can always be done, I am pain free 99% of my day!! This is a big Milestone!

I decided to give my knee a good treatment of 2 months of time and if in December the knee is not 100% then I go for the operation.

"I really hope I made the good decision, but I think I DID!"

Today also I got the chance to run on this amazing Anti-gravity treadmill at the Bergman clinic. 

I run with 20% less of my actual weight! What a difference to run so light! So basically I was running at 46 kg!! I even reached 20 km/h at some point! My own new record!

What is an anti-gravity treadmill? It’s a machine that essentially allows an athlete to run at less than his full body weight, thus reducing the pounding on joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles. It creates a sealed chamber below the waist—the runner is zipped into a pair of neoprene shorts with a closure similar to that of a whitewater kayak—and lifts the runner slightly with upward air pressure.

I will be getting back in shape training on this treadmill for the next months combination with outdoor running. It is not as fun as outdoor running but it is very cool!
                             
                            I am very excited !!