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Monday, December 31, 2018

GORUCK T-day Tough/Light Charlotte 2018

Thanksgiving was a good time to relax.  My family weren't in town, but I continued our tradition of Black Friday shopping.  It was a good opportunity to chill and rest before the T-day Tough/Light.  It would be my second T/L.  Rest makes a big difference, I think, in how you feel at events.  When you don't have to do a full workday right before the start of an all-nighter Tough, it helps. 

CHARLOTTE T-DAY TOUGH

The T-day tough started at night on Friday.  It started with a bit of drizzling and stayed that way for the first half, and the second half would be done in the pouring rain.  I went with a thermal top and a rain jacket.  Even if it wasn't raining, if the ground was wet, the rain jacket would help, since we'd inevitably be rolling all over the grass for PT and the welcome party.

We had a few friends who were shadowing.  They watched as we did 50% and 100% runs across Thompson Park, interspersed with lunges, flutter kicks, pushups, ruck overhead squats, "beep beep I'm a jeep" / "clank clank I'm a tank", "on your belly on your back  on your feet", and other Cadre Fagan favorites at the welcome party.

(photo credit: Shannon Bass)

The class was all guys except for me, but fortunately, SB was shadowing and taking pictures, and was also my battle buddy when the time came.  We went to Fagan's truck and picked up the coupons, which I'd get to know intimately over the course of the night.  You'd think that after many events, they might start to all feel the same, yet each one still ends up being unique in its own ways, and gives you new experiences. 

(photo credit: Shannon Bass)

Fagan's events are different in that there's no pre-planned route.  There are different waypoints, but you always have a random choice between three of them, from any given starting point.  We criss-crossed all over uptown and the surrounding parks all night.  Before the rain started, we did some PT at one of the parks, including really hard uphill and downhill bear crawls... the downhill ones were a real struggle.  

(photo credit: Shannon Bass)

At some other park, we also did a variety of buddy carries.  I paired up with a guy nicknamed Chicken, who was really impressive.  He might've been the shortest among the guys, but he pulled like 2x his weight with coupons throughout the event.  Cadre Fagan also likes to give us raw eggs to guard through the night, which is really hard... one under my care survived, while the other was a casualty of a buddy carry.

(photo credit: Shannon Bass)

It's also interesting how I mark some milestones in my life with GORUCK events.  I remember at the Chapel Hill Independence Day Tough with J-Dub, people had gone around the circle during the welcome party, talking about people's jobs... I had one answer then.  Fast forward 6 months, and I now have some new opportunities ahead.  

(photo credit: Shannon Bass)

One really fun part about this event was that Christmas decorations were out, particularly around the BoA stadium, so we got some cool pictures there.

(photo credit: Shannon Bass)

I'd typically go a full evolution on one of the coupons.  Slosh pipe stretched out your arms uncomfortably, but I'd alternate angles and ways of carrying it.  The team weight I'd rest a little against my tummy.  The large empty ammo cans I'd also hug in different ways.  I didn't feel at the time like I'd be much help on the sandbags (although I'd find out during the light that they weren't actually that bad) or the stretcher, so I did what I could to go full-time on the lighter but more awkward coupons, so that the others could swap with each other on the heavier stuff.  

The rain made it harder.  I kept pretty dry for a long time, but over the course of the night, everything gradually got soaked.  It was chilly, too.  If we weren't moving and carrying heavy stuff, we would've been freezing.  I remember feeling pretty miserable, even during the break when we got a chance to go under a canopy for a bit.  They were long evolutions of awkward and heavy things, in the pouring cold rain.  

There were even lessons in team dynamics.  One guy had some medical challenges that didn't allow him to help much on the weights, although we didn't know it, so we thought it was a grey man situation.  The info came to light, though, and I think we all learned from it.  Communicate needs... it helps everyone work together better.  It's also on us to ask, if we do see someone who may not be verbalizing stuff like that.  

It was different going through weather like that.  The bright lights of the skyscrapers in uptown lit up the fog and rain, so you couldn't tell when first light was coming.  

At one pitstop, we played a T-day trivia game, where the team that answered correctly got to throw sand on the other team, although we weren't too hard on each other, seeing how miserable the weather already was.

My feet were feeling pretty shot.  I don't know if it was the cold, rain-soaked pants against my legs causing the tightness, or if it was the miles and weight, but I was starting to straight-leg hobble at times.  It turned out that we'd go 22 miles that night... no wonder!  I don't think I've done that many at a Tough before.  Most may be like 13 miles, and maybe 18 was my max.

Finally, we could tell that daylight was there.  We made it back to the parking garage, sang our songs, and got patched.  Since this was my 4th Fagan event and first tough with him, I earned my green Cadre Fagan patch.  His lights are no joke, though... as tough as short toughs.  


CHARLOTTE T-DAY LIGHT 

After the Tough in the Charleston Mog Mile Event with Cadre Brad, I sucked it up and stayed in the car in between events to rest and refuel.  I'd save time and parking money that way.  After finishing the Tough though, I knew there was no way I'd make it in my car until the light.  Too cold and wet.  my only chance of making it to the Light would be to recuperate with a hot shower at home.  I did that, ate, and even got in a 20 min nap attempt before heading out.  I felt much better, though.  No second thoughts about going to the Light.  It's nice to live pretty close.  


Lots of fresh legs joined in for the Light.  We had a big class.  I guess Thanksgiving is a good time for families to participate in active pursuits together, and most already have the days off.  There were lots of newbies.  There were many more people to share the load of the coupons.  I tell you, though, although my mind was eager to help as much as usual, my body wasn't able to do as much as my mind thought it could.  I'd volunteer to carry stuff, but I'd only be able to handle it for a little while before someone else would have to take over for me.  Fortunately, my classmates were all great and were eager to help as much as they could.  It was humbling to have to rely on them to help with the load, and I was grateful.  They knew I (and a number of others) had done the Tough, and were super helpful.



We went to a different park for the welcome party, with similar activities as the Tough's welcome party.  One bonus... someone brought gummy bears to share, and they were delicious.  Something else pretty sweet was that Fagan wore a turkey costume!  It was awesome.  Light = fun.


Interestingly, I did start to feel stronger and stronger as the event went on.  I guess I was gradually recovering from the Tough.  We went until it was getting dark.  I remember walking by some of the same places multiple times, since we were using that three-point style course design.  At the end, we went into the fountain for final songs and patches.  We hadn't gotten wet up until that point, but of course we couldn't leave without getting wet.

9 miles covered.  31 total!




RACE REPORT: Spartan Carolina Beast x2 2018

It was getting towards the end of a heavy racing & event season, but there was still more to do.  Spartan picked a good marketing strategy with their Trifectas.  It makes you do more races than you'd otherwise do.  The numbers and available races worked out again this year for me to be able to go for a triple trifecta with the races within about 3 hours of driving distance from where I live, so it was time for me to do the Saturday & Sunday beasts again.


SATURDAY BEAST

For a number of years, I've volunteered during build week for the Carolina Beast.  I wasn't able to, this year, due to WTM.  I made the hour-ish drive down on that frosty morning.  It wasn't cold enough for me to use the wetsuit, but it was cold enough for me to wear a thermal top and buff, instead of winging it with a Legendborne top and arm sleeves.  I had gotten way too cold at the Charlotte Sprint in March. It ended up working out well, and I only got too warm for a little while at an exposed field during the middle of the race.

From last year, I remembered there being many jumanji thorny vines, but that wasn't as noticeable this year.  Maybe the cold already killed those plants.  The course was changed up this year, which I liked. It's nice to try some of the obstacles that are normally saved towards the end, near the beginning.  You get a chance to see what you can do fresh on those, for a change.  I still did fail Olympus, though.  The dew/frost made many of the obstacles including Twister too wet for me to finish, which was frustrating.  That's one downside of an early wave... the obstacles may not be dry by the time you get there.  Many good athletes have enough grip strength to where that's not an issue, but it is a barrier for me.


It wasn't until obstacle 12 at the multi-rig that I finally made it through one of the tougher upper body obstacles.  I'm still liking the pre-filled buckets, which promote fairness (everybody hauls the same amount, nobody is subject to the task or variation in filling).  The herc hoist was sooooo hard for me that I probably expended as much time and energy as I would've if I had burpee penaltied out of them, though I'm for the spirit of the sport and would try to avoid burpees if reasonably possible.

Even though the course was changed up, many parts were still the same.  That's fine, though, because I do enjoy this course.  It's relatively flat, with not a lot of bush whacking.  There are also some scenic spots that go by ponds.

The shower afterwards was chilly, but I did endure the cold after the race and before the shower to pick up my 2X trifecta medal first, though, in case they ran out like last year.  They stepped up their trifecta free swag game this year, offering a delta icon, a patch, and a little bag that holds the medal.

I had been hoping for a spot on the podium, but I failed more obstacles than I should've in the early part of the race.  13.5 in 3:01:50, 13:28 ave.



SUNDAY BEAST

I started the race 30 min later on Sunday, since I was running the 8:45am open heat.  I actually had thought that I was signed up for age group on both days, and I didn't realize until I got there that I was doing open.  I would've been doing age group simply because I had codes to use, not because I thought I had a chance on day 2, after racing and going for it on day 1.  

I still failed Twister, but I did get almost there.... literally 1 inch away from the bell.  I was soooo mad when I didn't get it at the end.  I feel like it was probably mental... if I had been able to put mind over body and muster the energy to hold on that little bit more, I could've gotten it.  Lesson learned for next time.  I had been running out of grip, but I could've eeked out a bit more, probably. Herc Hoist was still a struggle bus for me.  However, I did make the spear, but the second time ever in my life!  To make it, I have to get so many things right... the angle, the balance (the right off-balance, actually, to counter the way the spear normally orients itself in the air after I throw it), and the running start.  I normally get one or more things wrong, but this time, it all worked out.  


Something else remarkable about the race, other than me making the spear, is that the end was the muddiest mess I've ever been a part of.  I've run on day 2s of Spartan weekends before, but the dunk wall was the most saturated I've ever been through.  We were all orange afterwards.  It coated every part of you like 1cm thick.  That was not pleasant.  At least it was at the end, though, I guess.

13.5 in 3:57:38, 17:36 ave.  Volunteered at the finish line and Aroo crew afterwards.  Love Fit-aid!




Sunday, December 9, 2018

RACE REPORT: World's Toughest Mudder 2018 - Atlant-ice / Fair-burrrrr-n

TRAINING LEAD-UP

I didn't really do any kind of special training for WTM.  It was the end of the racing season, so I had many hard efforts under my belt from the summer and early fall races, going into this.  WTM came right after the end of the 3-month Pathfinder Ruck Training program, too, so my focus was more on rucking miles and ruck workouts than running mileage, which I would've focused more on had I not been doing Pathfinder.  The heavy race schedule and rucking both kept me in reasonable shape, though, so I wasn't worried about going into WTM unprepared.  Maybe I didn't have enough miles under my belt to hit a really high mileage like I would if I came off of marathon training, but I'd have decent endurance for at least suffering through.

The weekend before, I had done the Columbia, SC City Ruck Tour, which was a pretty stout effort and was getting tough for me towards the end, so it was a good last low-impact, reasonable duration effort.

Wednesday, Nov 7:
My one effort the week of was 3 miles that I squeezed in.  Normally, I'd prefer to have a full 3 days of rest leading up to a major event, so Wednesday closer than I'd like, but I didn't get it in on Tuesday.  My body felt ok, other than the run mentally lasting a long time.  I only did 3 miles, which is lower than my usual weekday runs, but it felt enough.  I didn't want to do too much so close to the event, and I had felt a little bit stress fractury in my foot the past few days, maybe from the recent long continuous rucks, or from getting used to the new MAC-V1 boots.  I've never had a stress fracture, as far as I'm aware, so I don't really know what it feels like, but I listen to my body and lay off when it starts hinting at issues.

I am looking forward to getting back into running full-time in 2019.  I realized that Myrtle Beach Marathon training should've started a week ago.  I knew I wouldn't be able to get into the full swing of things for a while, between additional big events that I had planned in November, plus travel in December.  Oh well... at least the big events help to get me some base mileage.

Splits> 8:29, 8:27, 8:21.  3.0 in 25:17, 8:25 ave.


WTM 2018

After being held at Las Vegas for 4 years, WTM was moving to Atlanta.  I had heard good things about WTM and was contemplating making the trip over to experience it in Vegas, so when I learned that it was coming to the East Coast, not too far from me, it was a no-brainer for me to sign up.  "The Pit", where racers would set up a tent city with their support crews ready to help, supposedly had an awesome vibe to it, so I wanted to see what it was like.



Having done Iceland Ultra Spartan World Championships the previous year, I generally knew what to expect from a 24 hour race.  I knew my body could handle the continuous effort (with walking definitely built in) fine, and my nutrition strategies worked out in the past.  It would be interesting to see WTM's twist on this style of racing.

I drove down on Friday, and rolled up to Buchart Farms a little after noon, which was the time when the open racers (non-elite, non-contenders who had done well at Toughest Mudder events, and non-Holy Grail holders) could check in and take whatever pit spots remained.  They did a good job of evening the playing field with pit spots this year compared to previous years, from what I understand.  The course ran right through the pit area, so most racers only had a short walk to their tents.  They also had plentiful porta-potties and a few hospitality tents where you could get food and hot drinks.  I was very pleased with the setup.  No real congestion... all pretty convenient.


There was a little bit of a walk to get down to the pit area, so people in the community recommend getting a wagon.  I contemplated spending $40 on a wagon that I'd probably only use that one time, but in the end, I decided to "rough it" with a rolling cooler that I had bought years ago but had never used, and it was fine.  I made one half-mile trip on tent setup day, with food and drinks in the cooler, my tent on top of that, and my luggage with all my race clothes on my back.  It was heavy, but manageable.  Checkin was in a muddy spot after the rain that had come during the week, but there was no line at all, and the volunteer was very enthusiastic and nice.  They did run out of size small shirts, which is a bit disappointing, but eh... first world problems.  I'm fortunate to be able to do events like this.

There were still many tent spots available when I was there.  I found a spot close to the hospitality tent, which I figured might help me... though there really is no bad spot.  Everyone would need to use the restroom anyways, and those were towards the back of the pit areas, so everyone would probably end up walking equal amounts anyways.  They did their best to make the pit areas less wet, by spreading hay on any spots that had some standing water left from the rain.  I set up my 4-man tent, which took up pretty much the whole allocated spot, apart from a couple of feet in front where I could leave my buckets and cooler.


There was a festival area with a gigantic merch tent, plus some vendors with giveaways.  I made a trip around.  I contemplated doing another out and back to the car to get the rest of my stuff, which would've added another mile of walking, but I figured that I'd have to walk out here the next day for the race anyways, so I could bring the remaining things then.  Good call.

Because of the weather, I think they changed up their schedule for the pre-race info sessions, but someone recorded it on Facebook Live, so I was able to learn what I needed from the comfort of my hotel.  I had heard good things about the Community Dinner that would organically spring up from racers (not organized by the race itself), but I didn't want to battle Friday Atlanta traffic, or spend too much energy socializing right before the 24 hr race.  If it was closer to my hotel, maybe, but I decided it would be better to go straight to the hotel, eat some of the food that I had brought, and use the time to plan and rest, instead.

I mapped out how I wanted to lay out my gear in the tent when I got there the next morning, to easily locate what I needed, when I needed it.  I also made my mileage plan, following the format that I had used in Iceland.


The next morning, I had the Holiday Inn Express breakfast... always the same, at all HIEs... with the usual stuff I enjoy... turkey sausage, milk, oatmeal, egg.  I ate more than I usually do, almost to the point of getting a little uncomfortable, so that I'd be fueled up to the max.  The pit re-opened for loading in early in the morning, and they had another info session available early in the morning, but I chanced it with staying at my hotel as long as possible.  It was cold, and I'd rather rest in the warmth of the hotel than shiver in my tent and use up energy and body warmth for a couple of hours right before the big race.


I still had like an hour to get ready, by the time I got there.  I suited up in my wetsuit and layed out my gear.  I decided to start in my wetsuit, since my plan was to go from the sprint lap (the initial lap where we didn't have to do any obstacles, so that the crowd could be spread out and not cause congestion) straight into the first obstacle lap, to avoid wasting time once the clock had started.


They had a few ceremonies at the beginning.  I was pretty far back, since I was an open racer, but eventually, we crossed the starting line, and it was time to begin.  24 hours is a long time to be moving, so I knew not to go crazy from the start.  


Even in the pure running lap, there was still a little bit of congestion at one point, where we were in the woods and everyone had to step over a big log.  But no point in getting too impatient... we'd have plenty of time to be moving.


As planned, I finished the first lap and kept going on to Lap 2.  I had rolled down the top half of my wetsuit during that first lap, and I had a thermal top, plus a visor to keep the sun out of my eyes.  I also had a belt with food to help me make it through that first lap.

They call it a Sprint Lap, but you can actually get more than 1 lap in without obstacles.  They have different starting times for different obstacles, and I knew I could get past many of the ones in the first half of the second lap, too.  The first obstacle that I encountered was Underwater Tunnels, where we got into the cold water and had to get fully submersed a few times.  After that, more obstacles involving water.

When we got to Cage Crawl, there was a massive backup.  Only 1 of 2 lanes was open, because the other lane was filled too full with water, leaving no room between the cage and the water line for people to breath, especially when peoples' movement would be causing waves and stuff.  We might've lost like 5 minutes there... pretty frustrating, when you know you're under time pressure, but what can you do?  They pumped out excess water, and the second lane finally opened up.  



The major difference between Spartan Ultra WC and WTM so far has been the water obstacles... Spartan took you through a couple of knee-deep stream crossings each lap, but that was the extent of it.  WTM had a number of full-submersion obstacles.  I started feeling cold and had some second thoughts start to appear.  Back at the pit after my second lap, I added a fleece under my wetsuit and put on a windbreaker as the outer layer.  People had recommended it in the facebook group, as a way to prevent the wind from sucking away body heat even from the wetsuit.  I also drank some bone broth and ate most of a breakfast sandwich.  Lap 2 had been 90 minutes of running, with a 20 min pit.  

Lap 3 took me 100 minutes, and it's when the first set of obstacles started opening.  I was towards the end of that first gauntlet when they were opening, so I was hit with Augustus Gloop onwards, which meant doing that (crawl up a tube using a ladder, while water pours down on you), Black Widow (use slack lines with your arms and legs to get across a pond), Funky Monkey (made it at my Tough Mudder, even when it was placed the end of the course, but didn't manage to do it at all during WTM... too wet, too weak), and Ladder to Hell (not bad).


At the water obstacle gauntlet, I failed the Gauntlet (a mash-up of 4 different obstacles, one after the other), and Leap of Faith (jump and grab onto a cargo net hanging above the water, then climb up and slide down a pole), which meant running penalty loops.  They weren't super long, maybe 1/3 mi, but it's miles stacked on top of miles and adds up.

At the pit, I had cherry juice and chocolate, and only took 5 minutes and took the opportunity to restrock my pack, since I planned to eat some food item available for me on the course during each lap.  15 miles covered so far.  

Lap 4 took me 140 minutes.  Failed Gauntlet, Leap, Funky.  At the pit, I had broth, the rest of the sandwich, and decaf coffee.  Night had taken over.

Lap 5 was when the electric route opened up as an alternate to the section of obstacles that included the Gauntlet and Leap of Faith.  I wanted to at least try it, and based on how cold it was, I figured that if anything, some electricity may help to warm me up, and I didn't want to go through more cold water.  It ended up being just fine... you could maneuver around the electrified elements of Electroshock Therapy and Entrapment.  I got to try Operation for the first time, where you use a pole to grab a rubber bracelet off of a nail, while not letting the pole touch the edges of a circle that you had to stick the pole through that was positioned between you and the bracelet.  I used my shoulder as one stable point, and my hands guided the pole as the tweaking lever.  



During this lap, I messed with my headlamp, swapping out a malfunctioning one for a fresh one, for like 10 minutes.  I thought it was fresh, but maybe the cold sapped the batteries.  It used up a lot of time, but it happens.  It was in the middle of a dark trail when it went out.  This lap took 255 minutes!  It brought me to the 25 mile mark, though, which meant that I earned my first intermediate prize, which was a 25 mile patch.  I went in to WTM with a goal of getting a 50 mile Bib.  I was so proud just to get that patch, though.  It meant enduring a lot of cold.  

After 25 miles, you also get a golden carabiner.  It allows you to bypass either the water gauntlet or the first gauntlet, at some point during the race.  I was going to save it to the end, if I used it at all, so that I could squeeze in a fast mile towards the end in case I was cutting it close on some mileage goal.  But if I wasn't at the edge of some goal, I would be fine with not using it, and keeping it as a souvenir, too.  


With my patch and biner in hand, I decided that I needed to turn in for the night, to get into some dry clothes, and try to get warm again.  I ended up staying in my tent from 9:45pm to 8am.  I realized that I hadn't remembered to bring my handwarmers or my blankets... I had left that bag back at home.  And, I didn't have a sleeping bag that I kept in my car.  Racers aren't allowed to leave the pit and festival area.  I guess if I had a pit crew, they could've gone to the car, since they are allowed to go and bring food and stuff.  Fortunately, my tent neighbors gave me a thick emergency blanket, and I did have my dryrobe, so I used the dry robe as a sleeping bag, and I used the emergency blanket to give me a bubble of warmth within the tent.  I slept on other sets of clothes and my luggage and bags, in lieu of a sleeping pad, for insulation from the cold ground.  

It was chilly, but not terrible, thanks to that emergency blanket.  I thoroughly enjoyed eating all the things, to my heart's content.  It was nice to have a variety of foods... tart, fruity, salty, crunchy, etc, and I wanted them all.  I went to the bathroom 3x.  I tried to sleep, but it was a little hard, with the temps, and with the emcee talking through the night.  I'd hear his commentary as the bravest racers continued running through the night.  I couldn't believe that some people were still able to run through that kind of cold and wet.  I also heard that some obstacles got closed, because they were too icy.  If it was that cold out there, I was not tempted to go out there, too.  At this point, my goals had been adjusted, and I just wanted to make it as a 24 hour finisher, which meant that you had to complete a lap some time between 8am and 1:30pm.  It didn't matter how much you were in your tent, otherwise.  Even that would require mustering up some nerve to go back out, though.


I waited until the sun was back out, in hopes that it would be warmer.  When I went out to start to gather my gear again, I discovered that my wet gear had frozen solid overnight, laying outside my tent.  All of the tents were covered in frost.  I relied mostly on new clothes (I was so glad to have extras!) like a second fleece, a random shirt, a second set of leggings, socks, and even shoes (the original ones were frozen solid and wouldn't be able to open up enough for my feet).  I coaxed the wetsuit back on, along with the bib and gloves.  

I was lucky because at 8am when I went back out for Lap 6, some of the obstacles that had been closed from the frost were still closed, so it ended up being a pretty speedy lap.  It felt reasonably warm, too, so I regretted not starting up earlier that morning, to take advantage of all of that. 

The premier obstacle in Las Vegas was a giant cliff jump... maybe 30 feet tall.  It psyched people out.  Everyone had been wondering what they would do to make Atlanta special.  The answer ended up being Stacks.  It's even taller, and to get up to the top, you had to climb up (rather than just gradually walk up as part of the trail and terrain, like with the Cliff).  I wouldn't feel like I had gotten the WTM experience if I didn't try it at least once, so I was determined to do it.  From doing Deep Water Solo, a rock climbing activity at the Whitewater Center where you climb as high as you can, before simply letting go and falling into the water, I knew that the impact of the water could hurt.  At least it did with bare skin.  At least here, I'd have lots of clothes.  This was probably taller, though.


I made my way to the top.  Something else I've tried at the Whitewater Center is their Hawk Jump, which is 100 feet in the air.  I guess that's comparable to this, then.  But I knew I can do that without freaking out, so it would be a similar kind of action here.  You just do it, and don't think about it.  Just step off.  At Hawk Jump, you have a cable that lets you free fall at first, before putting the brakes on for you as you get close to the ground to give a gentle landing.  Here, you go into the water and then swim to the other side.

I asked for tips, and the guy said to point your feet, so that your feet don't slam into you, and go down straight.  I held my nose, too, and kept my headlamp tucked into my shirt, so that I didn't lose it or get smacked in the face with it.  It ended up being not bad at all... didn't hurt or anything.  The free fall feels shorter than I expected, and you're in the water, and I wasn't too far from the surface, so there wasn't that kind of drowning panic, either.  The swim was nice and short, and felt like a victory lap after overcoming Stacks.  It was actually really fun, and I regretted not getting out and experiencing it earlier.  









It later dawned on me that this is what my friend who was on her high school diving team does on a regular basis, for fun and as a sport.  They're crazy, haha.  Suddenly, my one jump straight down didn't seem like such a big deal.

I finished that lap within the time range needed to be a 24 hr finisher, but I still had plenty of time, since that lap went by so quickly with the Ladder to Hell, Underwater Tunnels, and Cage Crawl closed.  I wondered if I could squeeze in not only one, but two more.  I made a super quick pit stop just long enough to grab a can of Celcius energy drink and run.  I drank it on the run, going up the hill to Mudderhorn.

Suprisingly, they hadn't closed Twin Peaks, even though that was a little icy, and part of it involved mist that made the peaks slippery.  The water spray actually helped, though, to wash away mud and melt ice, so I picked the lane with the heaviest spray.  That was one of my favorite obstacles, since it was just the right amount of challenge.  "The Splits" would've been another good name for it.  My legs are barely flexible enough for me to bridge the gap.


I didn't like Spread Eagle.  My initial strategy was to pull myself across the two slacklines, with my feet as anchors, but that required the effort of doing a bunch of pull-ups.  In later laps, I saw people rolling, and that worked much better.


Unfortunately, more obstacles did open back up on this second morning lap of mine, so it took longer, and I got cold and wet again.  My thoughts of managing a third morning lap soon went away, and it was all about just enjoying the finish.  

I did get to do Stacks again, and I loved it.  There were two other girls up there at the time, and when they saw me, the idea was that we'd all go at the same time.  On the count of three, though, only I jumped, haha.  Both times after my jumps, I'd try to coach the hesitating ones behind me to get them to just make the step, too, but I'd always give up on it and move on after a while before seeing them do it.  I heard that most people eventually do do it, though.


So, final finish.  I finished a couple of minutes before noon, so I could've gone out again, but I knew that it would be very very hard to finish another lap in less than 90 minutes, and it would even tougher than usual since there would be few racers out on course by that time, and a  number of obstacles rely on people helping other people, and people would be sparse.


I was glad to finish up the 24 hours with 35 miles.  It's not the 50 that I hoped for, but it's a good amount, given the fact that I also had a 11 hour break of no running at all.  It's a good baseline to build on next time.  

Sunday, November 25, 2018

City Ruck Tour - Columbia, SC 2018

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Tuesday, Oct 30:
First run (though I had 2 x 10+ mile rucks) since OCRWC, which was 9 days ago.  Felt surprisingly good.  I had considered doing strength today, since I needed that as much as I needed running again, to stay trained, but I figured that if my body would allow me to run today, I should.  There wasn't much time left to train before World's Toughest Mudder, which was 11 days away, too. 

6.0 in 48:26, 8:04/mi.  I can't believe I need to hold this pace for 26.2 miles for a BQ.  It feels so hard right now. 

Thursday, Nov 1:
I got in the strength session, 45 min worth.  I listened to WTM podcasts while doing this, to get in the right mindset.  I had been craving a ruck workout this week.  I would've done one here, except I didn't have my ruck with me at the office gym.  After doing ruck workouts for the past 3 months, it was odd to go back to normal body weight strength workouts.  It was weird to have my body crave the ruck workout.
  • Crunches: 500/side
  • Plank: 3.5 + 2 min
  • 6 in: 2 x 90s
  • Assorted dumbells
  • Adductor/Abductor leg lifts: 55/80
  • Squats: 55
  • Pushups: 25
  • Weighted Dead Bug: 60 w/ 20# 

CITY RUCK TOUR

Last year, a Cadre from GORUCK decided to lead a Capital Ruck Tour, where he traveled to 50 state capitals plus DC, to raise money and awareness for Operation Enduring Warrior.  This year, they expanded it to non-capital cities, too, to make it more accessible and allow it to grow.  The City Ruck Tour for 2018 had a stop in Charlotte, but I had a conflict with that date, but I was able to make it to the one in Columbia, SC.  I do like exploring other cities through events, and my last event in Columbia itself had been my first GORUCK (Veterans Day Tough 2016, Class 2123), so it was nice to get to go back and explore some more.

We met at a mall.  I thought it was for the convenience and free parking, but at the event kickoff, we learned that there was a special significance to the starting point, too.  While the 2017 Capital Ruck Tour focused on wounded veterans, in 2018, the founder realized that wounded law enforcement officers didn't necessarily have all of the same kind of support that wounded veterans did, even though they also give so much, so the 2018 series had a special focus on our LEOs.  At this mall, a LEO was KIA while responding to an incident.  We had 2 LEOs join us for the ruck, too.


There was a big group.  Our plan was to ruck into the city, drop off donations of non-perishable food to the Oliver Gospel Mission, and ruck back.  It was nice to be able to do a little service project while honoring the service of our veterans and LEOs.  We had our flags flying... lots more flags than usual, since we didn't have coupons to worry about.  It was fun to see different parts of the city... residential areas, shopping areas, the setup of a BBQ festival, and then the city.


 
I wore the MACV-1s again, to give them another try.  They did end up rubbing me the wrong way again... some hard points jutted in around my ankles and hurt.  I'd adjust the tongue of the shoes and it would help a little bit.  Even my 26L GR1 wasn't playing very nice today.  I had put an Expert 20# plate directly into the document pocket... maybe it was because the weight was sitting lower than I'm used to.  For challenges, before I got the expert plate, I used to strap a 10# circular plate to the top webbing, and I'd stick a second 10# circular plate in the laptop compartment, so at least half of the weight was up higher.

It was getting pretty difficult in the last couple of miles.  I did meet 2 other people who had MACV-1s... I kept looking around to see who had them, to see what they thought of them.  They did like theirs.  



There was an adorable weiner dog who came with us.  It belonged to the official photographer.  He was adorable, and we kept thinking... if he's able to do these 10.8 miles, we have no excuse.  It was so little, but it covered all of those miles without any trouble!  A weight plate falling on him would've crushed him, though.  He was so little.


Afterwards, many people stuck around to have lunch at BLD Diner, which is run by a veteran.  Everyone raved about how good the food was.  It was quality, with good portions.  It was a nice way to celebrate.

10.8 miles in 3:45, including our stop at Oliver Gospel Mission for the dropoff and a refueling break.

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Biggest Fox Event

42 Hours of Navigation and Ranger Operations

I learned about this event through some of my rucking friends.  I really enjoyed events like the GORUCK Survival Series and Green Beret Challenge Behind Enemy Lines, so I was excited for a chance to do more.  This event would have some elements that I hadn't experienced before, too, like shooting, so that was a big plus.

The agenda was as follows:
- Check-in Friday night
- Training
- Evolution 1 = Recon (Early AM Sat)
- Evolution 2 = Military Land Nav (Mid AM Sat)
- Evolution 3 = Shooting (Pistol/Carbine/Sniper) (Mid-day Sat)
- Evolution 4 = Orienteering (Late Afternoon Sat)
- Evolution 5 = Waterborne Operations (Early Evening Sat)
- Evolution 6 = Night Orienteering (Evening Sat)
- Evolution 7 = Final Exercise

Biggest Fox was held in Uhwarrie National Forest, which I had heard good things about in the past, but which I had never visited before.  We met up at a campsite for checkin.  It had been raining all day, but it was supposed to stop shortly after the event began, thankfully.  Temps were going to be cool, but not super cold, which was great.  I had packed a bunch of gear, and left for the event right after work.

Four other participants rolled up a while later.  A fifth who was driving from Texas would come the following morning.  We split into two teams of three, and we'd be competing for points throughout the weekend.  The four knew each other already, and they were nice and welcomed me.  They even made ranger beads for the other participants!

First, we had some training in military land nav, with a compass and a protractor.  I had always wondered how to use a compass, and it was so nice to finally learn.  I struggled a little bit at first, but I soon figured it out.  Mark was a great teacher.  We practiced pace counts, too, so that we could combine our knowledge of going the right direction with the ability to go the right amount of distance in the right direction.


Our first task was to do a S.A.L.U.T.E. report on a recon mission.  We were given the general direction of some guys we had to scout out.  The two teams split off.  We had to be stealthy and patient.  The people were were spying on would survey the area with their lights periodically, especially if they heard us.  We were getting muddy with our first evolution, from crawling low to the ground to avoid detection.  We had to determine the size of the group, determine their activity (including overhearing what we could from their conversations), determine their location, determine their unit (based on their conversation, if we couldn't tell from their uniforms), get the times of various activities, and identify what equipment they had.  Hey, that stuff stuck with me from memory!

Our team won, as a result of patience and good positioning, thanks to my teammates.  After that, we got to rest, since it was after midnight.  Normally, people have to tent camp at Fox events, and you're carrying all of that camping gear the whole time.  You're lucky if you even get to sleep at all.  So, we were fortunate this time to have a base camp.  I slept in my car, since it was cleaner and easier.  And, more comfortable, in my mind.

The next morning, we had to be ready to go at 6am.  We did a ruck march to get to the start point of our military land nav evolution.  It was supposed to be a competition, but all 6 of us walked as a group and got to know one another.  So, to determine a winner, we did a plank competition.


For the military land nav, there were waypoints marked by reflectors.  We had to find as many of the waypoints as we could, and make it to the shooting range before a certain time.  Since we were in the lead, we got a head start.  We were making good progress, but when we got to where we expected to find the first reflector, no luck.  We started looking all over the place, trying to figure out where we were based on the land features we could see, compared to the topo map.  As much as we tried to find #1 and the other points, as much as we walked, etc, no luck.  Near the end of the time, when we had decided to just go straight to the range to at least not be late, we finally ran into the other team.  It turns out that they had struggled, too.  It was good to know that we weren't alone.  We walked together to the range, where we broke the news to the leaders.  They thought we were joking at first, when we told them that neither team found any of the points.  



Well, we had tried.  There was no winner for that evolution.  I don't consider it a loss, though.  I feel like I do know how to navigate, even if we weren't able to execute this particular mission.  


Anyways, on to shooting.  We got to try a sniper, a semi-automatic, and a pistol.  With the sniper, I think I hit the bullseye once, after shifting left to correct for the scope taking me too far to the right.  For the semi, I think I was going right again, but I was at least shooting onto the paper.  It surprised me how hard it was to aim.  I thought my hands would be steady enough to at least point at the target, but the slightest movements that are barely anything can make your crosshairs go way off of the target.  It was crazy.  And if you have to factor in wind or distance or other things, it's crazy that anyone can hit stuff in real life.  The shooting range had the benefit of being somewhat enclosed, so that wind wasn't as much of a factor as it would be in other environments. 


For the pistol, we were what I felt was super close to the target.  25 somethings... feet, I guess.  Yet, I couldn't even hit the paper consistently, haha.  I showed my target to my dad afterwards, and the first thing he did was start laughing and asking me how close I had been to the target.  He had been the best shot in his class when he had been in the military in his country of birth, so he says.

 (mine was the upper left, and the team semis were the 2nd and 3rd from the right on the bottom row)

It was interesting to try.  Loud.  Interesting.  Some of the participants in the group were impressive shots.  The cadre were good at coaching, too.  They were patient and helpful.

After that, it was time for water operations.  It was chilly, even when we were shooting, and we were about to strip and get into the water.  Well, I wanted to fully earn the patch, so I was for it.  We had to build a floatation device and swim over to a dock and back in the fastest time.  The other team ended up winning.  They had also won shooting.



It was tough.  I'm competitive.  After a strong start, the other team had caught up.  

Next, we had an orienteering course.  Orienteering is different from military land nav (I discovered), in that with orienteering, you're constantly keeping the map oriented in line with the real world.  You also focus on landmarks to help you navigate.  We had to find glowsticks on trees.

We were chasing the other team this time, and we were eager to make up ground.  There's some strategy involved in this kind of competition.  If you get stuck with finding a particular waypoint, do you continue trying to find it?  Or do you cut your losses and move on to the next one?  You don't know whether the other team found it, either, or if they're going to find it, depending on whether you're the first to go out, or whether the other team went first.



We got stuck with one... and then we got really stuck and couldn't find two others.  It was tough.  When we got back, we found out that we found 1 less than the other team, but in any case, they had finished 40 min before us, on top of that.  Tough luck.  They were now in the lead.

We got to rest again, and Mark's wife brought us some great beef and potato and carrot stew.  One of the participants got a good fire going, too, so we were able to warm up a bit.  It was nice, chilling and enjoying the night with great people. After some rest, it was time for the final challenge.

It was another orienteering course, and this time, we were finding flags.  The other team was in the lead with points, and our team was going to head out first.  We encountered some surprises along the way, but the team worked together well.  We were pushing the pace and knocking out the points.  We did miss one, but so did the other team, and we finished faster.  We managed to tie up the score!

The cadre hadn't intended to make it possible to tie, but since land nav had no winner, we were in a tied position.  It was time for a tie breaker.  They wouldn't tell us what it was, but they said we'd need our life jackets.  It was cold, so I was fearing the worst, and started jumping around to try to build up body heat in case we were going in the water again.  Since it was a final challenge to determine the winner, I thought it may be an endurance competition, to see who could survive the longest in the water before tapping out from cold or fatigue.



The final challenge did require that we wear life jackets, but it was a race around the camp ground.  Our team really wanted it, but the other team pushed hard, and came in first.  I was happy, though.  I was glad to see the other team succeed, and despite being on opposing teams, everyone had grown closer together.

It was satisfying when we got patched at the end.  It was a wonderful weekend, meeting great people, and hearing all of Mark's stories from his time in the military, and from his knowledge of WWII history.  I got to try and learn new things, too, and challenge myself in new ways.