GORUCK Light : V-day Massacre

This year is going to be a year of many GORUCK events.  Collecting the patches is so enticing!  I want to go on all the adventures, too.

They were hosting 2 Vday Massacre light events in Charlotte.  I was originally signed up for the morning session, but I moved it to the afternoon session when I thought I might be doing a race in the morning.  I ended up not getting to do the race, but that meant that I got to sleep in.

I watched videos of the events going on in different cities, for Vday Massacre, on facebook live.  I started regretting my decision to sign up... the funishment didn't seem so appealing, carrying heavy stuff in the wet and cold in the mud, with misting rain outside, while I was warm inside.

Once I got there, though, I was excited.  Time to turn on my competitive juices and hunger for adventure.  It was my first light.  In the GORUCK arena, I did a Tough (12 hr beat-down overnight) in 2016 and a Constellation (12 hr gentleman's event overnight).  This would be 5 hours, with 10lb instead of 20lb in the ruck, and less heavy stuff to carry. 

 

The mood from the beginning was different.  You get the fun version of the Cadre, who doesn't even require you to call them Cadre - he goes by Garrett, at Lights.  It's about having a good time, at Lights.  I liked it.  The Vday Massacre event was a mix of history and the usual themed event.  It's related to the Moran and Capone rivalry that grew in Chicago after Prohibition, and why Prohibition is bad because it impinges on freedoms, and what happened to Capone.

The welcome party was some sprinting, crab walking... a light and quick say-hello party.

 

I liked how Garrett sprinkled in some random Special Forces lessons learned along the way... first, Building Rapport.  Get to know people, to build their trust, and maintain it.

 

We carried one log as a team, and we called it a "still", since we were about bootlegging.  We went through the town, and went along a greenway sidewalk.  We split up into 6 teams of 4, taking turns on log duty, and on flag and team weight duty, and on road guard duty.  I liked being road guard, because you got to sprint ahead, then protect the road from cars as the team went through.  The "still" was better than usual, because there were others my height or shorter, but it's still hard. 

 

Our point of no return was another park, where we heard more of the story, and completed a task where we dragged our rucks up a hill, low-crawling to the flag.  We learned about Astronomical, Nautical, and Civil twilight, and how twilight plays tricks on your eyes because of the refraction of light.  That's why enemies like to attack then... it's harder for you to shoot back at them then.

On our way back, we learned another lesson.  We weren't sure of how to get back (we had to go back a different way from how we came), and a scouting pair was sent out... but we didn't have a GOTWA plan.  While they were out, Garrett told us about how we should know where they're going, others being taken with them, time planned to be away, what to do if they don't return, actions to take if either group gets hit while we're apart.  They came back, and we found a different way onwards.  

It was a light mood.  I enjoyed just being out, rucking, surrounded by people, meeting people, getting to decompress from usual life.  I like the mood of Lights.

We finished with the end of the history lesson, and then did an obligatory Tunnel of Love for Vday to earn our patches.  Fun times.  About 9.5 miles covered.  It made me want to do more events, even more than I'm already signed up for!

Alone in the Woods - Real-life Adventure, Bday, Snow, Visitors

Tue, Jan 2:
5.0 in who knows - forgot to start timer.  The run was harder than it should've been, cardiovascularly.  Been feeling cold symptoms since NYC.

Thur, Jan 4:
4.0 in 30:53, 7:43 ave, 2 degrees of incline - Interval Session.  Despite congestion, glad with how it went.  I hadn't planned on doing intervals, but after 1.5 mi, I realized that my legs were in the mood for intervals.

• 2 mi warmup (8:35, 8:17). 
• 2 x [0.75 @ 9mph (5:00), 0.25 @ 7.5mph (1:59)]

Not a full interval workout, but glad for even this.  Glad I still have at least some cardio and speed, even after the Iceland 24 hour.

6 strict pullups and 7 toes to bars, then 4 strict pullups and 3 toes to bars.

Sat, Jan 6:
11.1 mi in 2:09:02, 11:35 ave, on the trails.

Mon, Jan 8:
55 min strength session

• Crunches: 400/side
• Plank: 3 + 2 min
• Lunges: 100
• Abductor/adductor Leg Lifts: 85/90 + 60/125
• Burpees: 50
• Lower Leg Extensions: 100
• Assorted Dumbells

Tue, Jan 12:
5.0 in 43:15, 8:39 ave.  Harder than expected.

Birthday weekend, saw Paddington Bear, which came out on my birthday.

 

 Sun, Jan 14:    ALONE IN THE WOODS

The trail system where I run is continuously expanding its facilities, and new sections of trail will appear suddenly, sometimes.  I started off in the late afternoon, and I saw a new part that I thought would be a small detour, but it ended up taking me 5 miles through the woods, as the sun set and disappeared completely.  My heart was pounding, going on an unfamiliar and newly cut trail, so new it wasn't even on the map yet.  Not knowing how long it was, or where it would lead.  Not even moonlight to show the way.  Nobody around.  I could get some sense of where I was from Google Maps, but that didn't help, with the dense and wild forest between me and roads or neighborhoods.  My battery was draining.  I had to keep a quick pace, using my iPhone light, to make the most of the light while it still had power.  Finally, I connected to a trail I've run before, but it's long, and who knows how far until I can get to the end of the trail.  33%.  A podcast on The Last Jedi keeps me company, keeps me calm despite my pounding heart.  Stopped periodically, to check what kind of progress I was making with the geolocator on Google Maps.  Finally, I hit a service road, and although it was still pitch black, it was solid ground and led me back to my car.  A wild adventure.  A real-life version of some of the adventure stuff that I like to "play" sometimes.  It was below freezing, and I had been in a short sleeve t-shirt.  It was comfortable while I was moving, but if I had run out of light and had to stay in place all night, it would've gotten really cold.  My worry had been how quickly I could get into work the next morning, if I got stuck out in the forest overnight, haha.  Hermione.

14.2 in 2:57:56, 12:31 ave... somehow kept that pace, even with the iPhone light running in the dark.

Made it out alive!

Tue, Jan 16:

6.0 in 48:59, 8:10 ave, 2 degrees of incline.  Expected snow the next day, so wanted to work out while I could.  Excited for the gym today, while at work.  Originally planned to bike or row, but my legs, despite being slightly sore from the adventure on Sunday, were ok to run on.

 

Sat, Jan 20:

55 min strength session

• Crunches; 450/side
• Plank: 3.5 min
• Single Leg Squats: 80 + 95
• Lower Leg Extensions: 105
• Dumbell Row Pushups: 20
• Abductor/adductor Leg Lifts: 95/100 + 85/95
• Pushups: 20 + 20
• Squats: 50
• 6 in: 75s
• Star Side Plank: 60s
• Assorted dumbells, left shoulder a bit off

Sun, Jan 21:
5.0 in 42:25, 8:29 ave, 2 degrees of incline.  After gelato, so still digesting.  Harder than it shoudl've been.  Tough week this week, emotionally.

Zipline and  rock climbing today.  Have been oddly pass-out tired feeling suddenly, a few times this week.

Tue, Jan 23:
13.3 mi stationary biking.  Not possible to run, partly because too full from apple, carrot, cheez-its, all-natural version of Thin Mints, chocolate, cheese... yeah, I can see why.  Knees were a bit complaining.  Ride mentally lasted a long time, since I hadn't done a bike session in a while.  No water necessary.  4 + 4 pullups after.

Thur, Jan 25:
7.0 in 56:13, 8:02 ave, 2 degrees of incline.  Gym was warm today.  Treads on my shoes look worn.  The run felt pretty good, maybe because it has been a while since my last run.

Sun, Jan 28:
6.0 in 49:55, 8:19 ave, 2 degrees of incline.  Didn't do the run earlier in the weekend, because my ankle integrity was lacking - plantarflexing wasn't too strong, oddly.  Decided to get out anyways, after feeling like I was dragging all weekend, eating, tv, sleeping, repeat, bleh.  Did go to church today... need it to survive right now.  Was waiting for laundry anyways, so might as well try the gym.

Tue, Jan 30:
50 min Strength Session

• Crunches: 400/side
• Plank: 2.5 + 2.5 min
• Pushups: 25 + 20
• Abductor/adductor Leg Lifts: 105/115
• Lower leg extensions: 110
• Single Leg Squats: 2 x 75
• Squats: 100
• 6 in: 90s
• Russian twists: 35, with 8lb med ball
• Assorted dumbells

Thur, Feb 1:
6.0 in 49:06, 8:11 ave, 2 degrees of incline.  Surprised that mile 6 wasn't that bad, since I had been wanting to stop after mile 5, at first.  Felt decent.  Feared that I might be getting out of shape, and not race fit and ready for my OCRWC qualification attempts that were coming up.

Sat, Feb 3:   REVISITING THE TRAIL
I returned to the new trail where I had gotten stuck out in the dark, this time, in the daytime, to see what the foe looked like, in the daytime.  Get to know it.  Strangely, I ended up going around some other way, because the way I took today took me in a full circle, so I don't even know how I got where I got the previous time.

Sun, Feb 4:
4.0 in 31:39, 7:55 ave, 2 degrees of incline, with the Super Bowl on TV.  I had planned on doing intervals to try to get my speed fitness back, but my legs didn't have it, so I made it into a tempo effort.  Harder than it should've been, maybe because I was still digesting tofu curry and other foods.  Even used preworkout, for the first time, trying to get an extra boost, but it didn't help.  Oh well, some kind of run is better than nothing.  Left outer knee still a bit tweaked.  Right back tightened in the last mile.

During the workweek, family friends visited from Taiwan, with my mom.  I took them to my favorite spots, plus work.

 

 

 Fri, Feb 9:

3.5 in 25:05, 7:10 ave, 2 degrees of incline.  A decent interval session.  

• 0.5 mi warmup in 4:09
• 3 x [0.75 mi @ 9mph (4:57), 0.25 mi @ 7.5mph (1:59)]

After a week where I was especially tired, between hosting visitors and work... baggy eyes.  Thankfully, the meetings turned out ok.  Probably couldn't have done another rep.  Not a record-setting session, but very solid.