If you think an ordinary 5,000-meter race is kind of boring, just add water. And dirt. Then throw in a few military-style obstacles for good measure, and you’ve got a mud run. It’s part serious, grueling athletic competition, and part excuse for thousands of people to act like kindergarteners. Mud runs are booming in popularity, and popping up in different forms -- and degrees of difficulty -- around the country. 

“It’s slower to run in than a road race. And a lot messier. So you don’t care about time, you just compare yourself to how your friends do,” says Jim Gallivan, who entered the Merrell Down and Dirty Mud Run outside Los Angeles this spring, wearing a Beetlejuice costume -- complete with white makeup. (He won a prize for it, by the way.)

Gallivan was one of 3,000 competitors in the sold-out event, which is part of a series of Down and Dirty races -- all in their first year of existence -- being held in four cities in 2010. Another brand-new set of races is the Tough Mudder, which considers itself more punishing than the rest. It doesn’t keep track of entrants’ times, because the goal is just to finish. It’s organizing four events this year and 11 (including an overall championship) next year.

Both the Down and Dirty and Tough Mudder owe their startup success to the granddaddy of mud runs: the Columbia Muddy Buddy Ride and Run Series, created in 1999 and drawing more than 40,000 entrants for its 18 annual competitions. It’s the least intense of the three. “We try to make our competitions as user-friendly as possible. We want just about anybody to be able to do this,” says Bob Babbitt, the Muddy Buddy founder.

Here’s a rundown of each series -- what each event involves and what’s expected of you:

Columbia Muddy Buddy Ride and Run

(Muddy-buddy.competitor.com)

Fitness level:

All levels

Competitors per team:

2

Equipment:

One bike per team, running shoes

The competition:

Each team completes a 6- to 7-mile course that has five obstacles (like crawling on a cargo net, scaling a low wall or crossing a set of monkey bars). Team member No. 1 rides the bike on the dirt course while Team member 2 runs it, until they reach and complete the first obstacle. The team members then switch running and riding duties. The final challenge before reaching the finish line is to crawl through a massive mud bog. If you can run 3 miles in an hour, you can physically compete in this race.

Average race time:

One hour

Costumes:

Optional

Benefits:

Challenged Athletes Foundation

Merrell Down and Dirty National Mud Run Series

(DownAndDirtyMudRun.com)

Fitness level:

Able to handle a 5K or 10K race

Competitors per team:

One

Equipment:

Running shoes

The competition:

The Down and Dirty is essentially a mud-filled, obstacle-strewn trail-running race. You can compete on the 5K or 10K course. You might find yourself scaling a mountain of hay bales, doing the combat crawl under a cargo net or using a rope to climb a wall -- and definitely ending the race by dragging yourself through the mud. The race is geared toward anyone in decent shape, but prep with cardio work and core strength training.

Average race time:

About an hour for the 10K and 45 minutes for the 5K

Costumes:

Encouraged but optional

Benefits:

Operation Gratitude

 

Tough Mudder

(ToughMudder.com)

Fitness level:

Excellent physical condition required

Competitors per team:

You can compete as an individual or within a team of any size

Equipment:

Running shoes, leather gloves (for ropes events), a swim cap

The competition:

A gauntlet of 17 obstacles designed by British Special Forces is placed along a grueling, hilly 7-mile route. You’re very likely to confront a cargo-net climb, underwater tunnels, stream crossings, an obstacle course of flaming straw bales, steep hill ascents and mud. Tough Mudder offers a 17-exercise training program (including a sprint workout, shoulder press, decline push-ups, chin-ups and squats) on its website so you’ll have the proper strength and stamina for the race and its obstacles.

Average race time:

2 hours and 30 minutes

Costumes:

Encouraged but optional; free head-shaving is supplied on-site for the Best Mullet contest during post-race bash

Benefits:

Wounded Warrior Project

It’s softball season, and the teams are choosing sides. Whether it’s a squad of your buddies or your co-workers, you’re expected to be part of it. And while slow-pitch softball -- the type most commonly played recreationally -- is a casual sport, you don’t want to look like a dork out there. So how do you figure out which softball field position you’re best suited to play?

By taking our softball aptitude test:

Find the statements that best describe you, and our experts -- Glen Payne, regional commissioner with the Amateur Softball Association of America (and the coach for Wagner College), and Steve Shortland, coach for the U.S. Men’s National Slow Pitch team -- will assign you your position on the field.

This is you:

I’m a big guy, but I’m kind of slow.

This is you on the field:

“You’re going to play first,” says Payne. “Your major assignment is to cover the bag and catch the ground balls that are occasionally hit to you.” Being big/tall makes you a bigger target for the infielders -- making it easier for them to find you when they need to shoot the ball to you. And while there’s a skill to knowing how to best position yourself on the bag to take the throws, “you can learn how to do that,” explains Payne. “You don’t have to be the most athletic person in the world.”

This is you:

I’m not big and strong, but I’m quick and I have a decent arm.

This is you on the field:

Says Payne, “If I’m a smaller guy with good quickness and a good arm, I can play shortstop. If I have a weaker arm and good quickness, I can play second base because my quickness with the ball will allow me to cover ground and make the double play.”

This is you:

I’m a take-charge guy who likes to be the center of the action.

This is you on the field:

We’re handing you the ball. Pitching in softball -- where the idea is to let everybody hit -- is not about learning how to finesse the batter or record strikeouts. “The pitcher in softball is really the field general,” says Shortland. “He’s involved in every play.”

This is you:

I’m easily distracted. I can’t really focus for too long on … what were we talking about?

This is you on the field:

“Sometimes I watch these recreational games, and the outfielder is out there picking his nose,” says Shortland. “You need to stay alert.” Payne agrees -- and says if you have trouble focusing, the outfield is not the place for you. “I’ve got to put you at third base, where you’ll have to react,” says Payne. It’s not called “the hot corner” for nothing: Third basemen have to stay on their toes (not pick their noses).

This is you:

I can run.

This is you on the field:

“I’m putting you in center field, where your speed covers the most ground for me,” says Payne. “You’re going to close my gaps. I can have a guy in left field who can’t run. So I can give you that responsibility.”

This is you:

I like to talk trash and have some laughs out there.

This is you on the field:

“If you’re going to chatter,” says Payne, “the best place for you is as a catcher, behind the plate.” In part, that’s because there’s really not much else to do back there.

Smack!

The batter connects and the softball flies over the second baseman’s outstretched glove, headed to you in the outfield. You field the ball cleanly on one hop, but the man on second is racing around third. “Home!” your teammates scream. “Throw it home!”

Only a strong throw from you can ensure your team’s victory. You rear back the ball and heave it, to the effect of … what? A missile to the catcher, who tags the runner out, making you the hero of the game? Or a sissy dribbler that barely makes it to the pitcher’s mound?

Well, that depends on how you throw a ball -- and how well you’ve prepared for this moment.

“If you just try to use your am to throw, you’re not going to generate the force you need,” says Lexington, Kentucky orthopedic surgeon David Dome, a spokesman for the American College of Sports Medicine. Throwing a ball, he explains, is a chain of movements, starting with the leg, moving through the hips and core, and finally your shoulder.

Developing that throwing-specific strength requires work on the field, as well as in the gym. Mike LaLuna, who pitched professionally for the Detroit Tigers (and who is also a certified personal trainer) recommends these two drills to make sure your throws -- whether you’re on the mound, in the outfield or the infield -- have punch:

1. Everyday Throws
A daily 15-minute drill for everyone. “You’re basically playing catch here,” says LaLuna, but you’re doing it with a conscious effort to work on the multiple phases of throwing. The drill consists of the following:

• The stretch

  “Your knees are slightly bent; your rear is sticking out almost as if you’re about to lower yourself into a squat,” says LaLuna. “It’s a strong, solid position to start your throw.”

• The leg lift

  With ball in glove and hands held forward, lift your left leg (right if you’re a lefty), then lower it, grasping the ball from the glove with your free hand.

• The step-off

  Several things happen simultaneously: Plant your leg in front of you, with your toe pointed at your target. That’s key: “People have this misconception that it’s a push-through with your arm that creates velocity,” says LaLuna. “It’s more that your front leg pulls your body around.” This in turn transmits the power into the shoulder, as you release the ball with a whip-like motion, using the power from your legs and core. Your throwing arm comes around and up, while your glove hand is pointed straight out.

2. Long Toss
A more accurate name for this exercise might be “start-short-and-get-longer toss,” but that’s out of our hands (so to speak). “The long toss,” says LaLuna, “is how you increase distance on your throws.”

After five minutes of easy warm-up throws with a partner, start throwing to each other from about 60 feet apart. Then, each minute, one of you backs it up five paces. Continue until you get to about 180 feet apart -- or to the point when you’re hitting your partner on one bounce to the ground. The benefit to your pitch: As you throw a ball farther and farther, your body must adapt to it -- you’re taxing more muscle fibers, mobilizing more energy and firing more neurons -- which is the same result as, say, increasing weights on a barbell.

Then start gradually walking it back in (five paces every 60 seconds). “The arc in your throws, which will increase the further you’re apart, should flatten out again as you get closer,” says LaLuna. The point of closing in: Readjusting your now stretched-out muscles to the shortened distance -- key to building strength in the arm. You should find it easier to fire the ball hard from short distances and increase your arm’s output power.

Throwing the ball from a great distance, which would be the max distance of your long toss drill, your whip, or rotational speed of the arm is not as fast as it would be since you are trying to throw the ball higher in the air to reach your partner and not necessarily on a tight line low to the ground. 

Practice long toss three times a week if you’re a pitcher; once a week if you’re a fielder.

Bottom line: Practice these exercises and … whoa! There’s the throw -- the runner slides, and he’s … out at the plate! Nice toss, buddy.

Lance Armstrong and Michael Phelps have reason to look as clean-cut as their bankers and accountants who take care of their mountains of money: Being well-shaven -- sometimes from head to toe -- actually boosts training and performance in some speed-related sports. Cyclists and some runners shave their legs, while swimmers and triathletes often shave their whole bodies before big races. Here’s why they do it and why you, Mr. Weekend Warrior, should think about following suit.

Why Bikers Shave
Shaved legs serve several purposes for cyclists:

1. Prevent “road rash.”

   These are the scrapes you get from falling on the pavement. (Without hair on your legs, there’s less friction and fewer abrasions.)

2. Decrease aerodynamic drag.

   According to Bryan Roberts, an instructor at the Sports Technology Institute at Loughborough University in the UK, about two-thirds of the aerodynamic drag caused by cyclists comes from their bodies -- and it can easily be reduced by “wearing a smooth suit or by shaving the skin.”

3. Enhance street cred.

   “Fellow bikers don’t take you as seriously if you don’t shave your legs,” says amateur Ironman triathlete Ned Tobey. “For whatever reason, it’s a credibility thing.” 

Why Runners Shave
Yes, smooth skin can improve aerodynamics enough to boost results not only in short sprinting events -- when thousandths of a second matter -- but even long-distance races. That’s what a respected study from the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise tells us. It found that being well-groomed, along with wearing clothes that fit more snugly and produce less drag, can “result in a significant performance increase” that can trim seconds off your time in a 10K race.

Why Swimmers Shave
There’s no conclusive evidence correlating body shaving with improved performance in the sport, but all competitive swimmers swear it makes a difference. Most let the hair grow when training -- to create resistance -- and wait to shave until immediately before a big competition.

“I think the benefit to a swimmer is in the ability to ‘feel’ the water. That’s definitely hard to measure, but most, if not all swimmers will tell you that shaving is important to them,” says Russell Mark, an aerospace engineer and the biomechanics expert for USA Swimming.

Why Triathletes Shave
Shaving’s performance benefits in biking, swimming and running have been mentioned above, but there’s also one side reason to do it -- especially if you’re subjecting your body to the wear and tear of triathlon training. “Massage treatments for tendonitis or sore muscles work better with no leg hair. The massage therapist can get to the skin easier,” says Tobey. “And a better massage is always a good thing.”

Want to get more out of cycling? You’ll need to make your bike an extension of you. Here’s how.

The snow and ice have finally melted off the roads, and the wind cutting through the bike trails is morphing from stingy cold to balmy warm. And this year, you’ve decided you want to up your game on the two-wheeler from leisurely to somewhat more serious and maybe even Lance-like. Lucky for you, there’s a way to instantly improve speed, stamina and performance on a bike -- and it requires no exercise. It’s simply a matter of making a few adjustments to the handlebars and seat to get a more precise fit.

“A bike should feel like an extension of you as a rider,” says Christopher Kautz, who owns PK Cycling in the California Bay Area and also works as a professional … bike fitter.

That’s right, there are people who actually make a living customizing the settings on your bike so the cycle suits you perfectly. Their numbers are growing too, as pro cyclists and savvy recreational riders are realizing the importance -- and advantage -- of proper form and biomechanics.

Think about it: If you’re in a more powerful, aerodynamic and comfortable stance, you’ll be able to go faster and farther by using less energy, and feel less pain doing it. This concept isn’t rocket science, though the laser body measurements and fluid mechanics that fitters employ pretty much is.

Since you’re more likely a casual rider than the kind of pro who would actually need lasers aimed at the torso, all you really need is guidance on how to best set your bike yourself. Here’s how to modify your ride the DIY way:

1. Comfort is king.

“It should never hurt to sit on a bike, no matter what kind of rider you are,” says Kautz. “If your bike and body match, it definitely won’t hurt.” Some folks, though, try to soldier on -- even when they’re not fully at ease. “People sometimes tell me, ‘I can get used to this position.’ But you shouldn’t need to get used to anything.” So what’s a comfortable stance? When you’re gliding on a flat road, you shouldn’t feel any strain on your body at all -- it should relax and drape over the bike. How to achieve this? Read on.

2. Achieve optimal performance by adjusting seat height.

Proper leg extension is the initial step in maximizing power and comfort. Raise the seat enough so when you hit the bottom of a pedal stroke, you’re just barely extending that leg all the way. Craig Upton, a fitter and owner of Performance Labs in California, says people almost always ride a little too low. 

3. Don’t overreach.

If you need to stretch as far forward as possible to reach the handlebars, you may have a slightly more aerodynamic stance, but you won’t be able to steer or brake nearly as well -- or sit as comfortably. Adjust the seat forward so when you’re riding, your arms bend slightly. “Some people are timid down hills because they can’t quite reach the brakes. I’d also be hell-scared coming down a hill if I couldn’t reach the brakes,” says Upton.

4. Employ your body weight.

The biggest misconception riders have is that they should put no weight on the handlebars. “If you’ve got no weight on the front of the bike, you’ve got no steering,” says Upton. “You need some weight on the front wheel.” How much? Stand up and lean forward on a table, as if you’re reading a piece of paper there, keeping your arms slightly bent. “You know you can hold that position for a long time,” says Upton. That’s exactly the amount of weight you should have on the handlebars. To get it, just adjust the handlebar height.