GORUCK Light - Extortion 17 - Charleston, SC

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Wednesday, Aug 8:

I spent Monday and Tuesday of this week recovering from Asheville.  My Course Advisor recommended at least attempting the Army Phyiscal Fitness Test in the first week or two.  If you pass with a score of 250, then you've knocked out one of your challenges. Even if you don't pass, you can get your baseline and make 3 more attempts during the program, and as long as you show improvement, you're good. 

Based on the standards for my age and gender, I'd probably be fine, but I was super nervous beforehand, anyways.  Excited during the day, then nervous, like I get before 5Ks, in the hour beforehand.  I did 33 pushups in 2 min, then 68 situps, then a 13:46 run.  That was good for 79 + 85 + 100 points = 264, based on my age and gender.  Next year, I'll get a significant bump in points if I can maintain current performance, just by aging up, though!

It's kind of as I expected... weakest on pushups, ok on situps, crushed the run (in light rain, but ok temps - 76* wasn't too hot, and I was glad to not have sun beating down on me).  The APFT kicked my butt... I was pushing hard and running scared.  I followed that up with a 2 mile ruck, to fill out the day a little bit.  I was rewarded with a gorgeous sunset.   

Thursday, Aug 9:

The next day, I gave my first Ruck Workout a try.  I did the one that my Pathfinder Course Advisor (CA) had recently done - 11s and Penalty Holds.  I was giving IT training for work in South Carolina that day, so I decided to stop at Crowder's Mountain on the way back to do this and get in a few miles on the trail.  I did the workout at the trailhead, in a grassy area.  OMG, it was brutal. 

• 11s
• 11 reps repeatedly, with ratios tilting between two exercises (ex: 10/1, 9/2, 8/3, etc)
• Plank Jacks & Pushups
• Burpees & Squats
• Jumping Jacks & 4-ct Mountain Climbers

• Penalty Holds
• Hold the following stress positions for 5 min, and if you break form, do a penalty of 20 burpees and 20 ruck thrusters each time
• Overhead Ruck Hold
• High Plank Hold

I did one set of penalties, mid-way through the overhead hold... after doing the penalties, I was determined to not have to do them again, since they were as painful as the holds.  My form might not have been perfect, and I was a bit contorted at times, trying to shift weight from one hand or another, but I pushed through to make it through the rest without another set of penalties.

It took only about 45 min in all, but it was a painful and intense 45 min.   Even though it was cloudy with no sun, there was sweat streaming down my face the whole time. 





After that ordeal, a gentle 4 mile ruck up and down Tower Trail, to the summit of Crowder's Mountain, in 95 min.

GORUCK LIGHT EXTORTION 17

I drove down to Charleston for my next event, a Light.  With OCR race season and not wanting to risk injury or impacting my running workouts, I only had 4 Lights planned during the 12 weeks of Pathfinder, no Toughs. 

I grew up in Charleston, but I haven't lived there in 14 years, so it was nice to re-visit and be a tourist in my old town again.  We met at the famous Pineapple Fountain.  I saw a couple of ruckers that I knew from previous events.  There was a good number of rookies, too.

We had Cadre Fagan, who I knew from Expedition 12 in Rock Hill, SC.  I had only done one Light before, so I didn't have a good sample size to know what to expect.  This Light was much more physically challenging than the previous one.  The previous one had some Special Ops lessons mixed in, and some V-day Massacre history lessons mixed in, which I enjoyed.  This one didn't really have either of those, but there were more coupons, so I got much more of a workout.  Every Cadre and every event is unique... that's part of the fun.  It'll always be different.

 

We started off with a Welcome Party of some PT, plus group activities like Tunnel of Love and Bridge of People.  Some people at Waterfront Park were intrigued by us and filmed us on their iPhones.  We also low crawled through the Pineapple Fountain.  Normally, I don't enjoy getting wet in normal clothes, but it was hot, so I was appreciative of the opportunity each time it came.

We first went out to Brittlebank Park.  It was a Saturday afternoon in Downtown Charleston, so many people were out and about.  Downtown's nice.  I enjoyed going by the palmetto trees and the pretty buildings.  During the first leg, I carried an ammo can for the first mile, then switched with someone who had done the Tough, for a 60lb sandbag which I carried for the rest of the leg.  It had been getting heavy, so I was glad when we finally made it to the park.  We stopped for a bit, someone briefly described what happened at Extortion 17 (I had done a little bit of research beforehand), we ate, and then it was time to go again.

 

 (photo credit: Shawn Whittington)

For the next leg, we pretty much went the whole time until we got back to the start point.  I had the ammo can the whole time, and got practice switching up ways of carrying it.  It got tough towards the end, and I was switching way more frequently, but we eventually made it back to the parking garage!  Another group took turns on the stretcher, but nobody was my height, like with most events.

 (photo credit: Shawn Whittington)

At the end, we finished with a rendition of Spongebob Squarepants and Baby Shark, in the Pineapple Fountain.  And beer... macro lagers somehow always taste amazing after events.  The cooler that the stretcher people carried around all over Downtown had goodies in it!

In all, we covered 7.2 miles.

RACE REPORT: Asheville Spartan Super & Sprint 2018

THE SUPER


Obstacles are way harder (and often impossible for me) to complete in the rain, so I kept an eye on the weather forecast for Asheville during the week.  It was raining for much of the week leading up, so much to the point where Spartan advised that only SUVs and Jeeps attempt to come to the parking lot.  Fortunately, there was a knight in shining white Jeep who offered to take others in a carpool.

The course at the quarry is one of my favorite Spartan venues... not that I've been to a ton, compared to the biggest enthusiasts, but it's something special.  The mountains surrounding the valley are a beautiful, deep green, and bands of cloud above the mountains complete the picture.  The side of the mountain is a giant tiered wedding cake of rock.

It was extra muddy this year, with all of the rain.  Normally, I volunteer post-race at every race I do, but I was glad that I wasn't signed up for it this time.  You had to wade through mud through the festival. 

Team Southern Spartans had the biggest team perks for the weekend, so I hung out in the tent before my age group heat.  It was a bit chilly, so I used a trash bag to keep warm.  Before I knew it, it was time for me to start.



The race always starts with a long hike up a river... in the river.  There are large rocks under the water, so I have techniques to try to avoid banging my shins against them, having learned in past races the hard way.  What I wasn't expecting this time was to hit my knees against sharp rocks.  I raced the next day, too, and I think I found the culprit.  There was a rock that looked like a giant stack of razor blades... that explains the deep cuts I ended up getting from it, on both legs.  It was on the left side of the river, too, where most of the runners were going.  On facebook after the weekend's races finished, people were sharing pictures - I wasn't the only one who hit this rock, it seems.



Fortunately, it wasn't raining during the race, but with all of the mud and the numerous water crossings, you were wet, which got the obstacles wet.  The obstacles were the usual ones, for the most part.  I failed Olympus (which I have always failed apart from my very first time on that thing in Tahoe), Herc Hoist (heavier than usuasl with the rain that seeped in to the sandbags), Twister (too wet), Multi-rig (too wet for me), Spear (always fail), Monkey bars (too wet).  Their new obstacle at this event was the Great Wall, which is a Devil's staircase (a slightly leaned in wall), but with more wall with some rock climbing holds above it, such that the only way to get up was to jump up high enough to grab onto the lowest series of handholds, then pull your way up. 

I couldn't get my hands to grab onto the handholds... I was tall enough, but not enough strength to hold myself up on it, once I do.  I can do fine, jumping and grabbing onto pull-up bars, or tops of walls, but either my strength was gone by the time this obstacle came around mid-race, or there's something different about this kind of grab.  I hope to get to try it again at some point, maybe earlier in a course, so that I'm fresh for it.

The Asheville course is known for its elevation gains, so we had the usual steep ups and downs through bushwhacked trail.  It always amazes me how the competitive racers bomb down the hills with no injury to their ankles.  That's brave of them.  I take my time going down.

 

I can't say enough about how beautiful this course is... there were a few times that were "wow" moments.  Even though I've been here twice before in 2016 and 2017... it never gets old.

Something else that was new this year was the finish line photos.  They had props!  I've always been into 300 and Spartans, and I have my own shield at home, but they had nearly full kits (no capes... I may need to bring my own, for my next event)!

After the event, we had beer, then got out of the parking lot before it got more chewed up.  I checked into and took a nap at the motel, and then went into Black Mountain to meet up with my knight for dinner.  I walked around the town a little bit afterwards, doing some Pokemon Go.  It's a nice town, with restaurants and shops.  I can't believe I never knew this was here.  I plan to be back in the future, and to bring others along.

THE SPRINT

The next day, I was out for more.  I was signed up for AG again, since I had some remaining race codes to use before they expired.  It was even muddier that day, if you can imagine, since it rained overnight.  They even slightly delayed the festival opening in the morning, so that they could pump out some of the water, or something.

I feel bad for spectators, especially for those who expected to just be watching people get dirty... they would be getting a good taste of mud, too.  An immersive experience.

My obstacle failures were similar for this race, although I did make it on the rig this time, since it was dry today.  We got about as many obstacles on the Sprint as we did on the Super... only minor exceptions, like the Great Wall, which I was glad not to see again, since I know that I'd have even less of a chance on it today when I was already tired.

The Bucket Brigade has been easier for me since they started pre-filling and adding lids on them.  Either I used to over-fill them, or I'm just stronger, or there's less of a chance of extra water weight from rain getting on the rocks, or maybe the shapes and sizes of the rocks of late have left more natural gaps.  I've wondered if my rucking would help with the sandbag carry.  Since they made the switch to the 40lb sandbags, it has been harder than the ultra-light sandbags that we used to have.  It doesn't feel any easier, but I guess I'm at least more confident on them.

At the finish line photos, I went for the Spear prop this time.

 

After the race, I went rucking, so that I could take advantage of the fact that I was in Asheville and able to hit up some new trails.  I went back to the Blue Ridge Parkway Visitor Center, where I had found a trailhead the previous day.  I discovered that the Mountains to Sea trail went to the Folk Art Center (and beyond), which was 3 miles away.  Perfect distance to add 6 miles of pre/post-working rucking for Pathfinder, and a nice goal and place to explore for the mid-way point of my ruck.



I had been to the Folk Art Center before with my family when I was a kid.  I remember thinking it was boring at the time, but I really enjoyed it this time!  They had fantastic folk art on exhibit, and it was better and more interesting and diverse than what I find at most museums!  And I've been to many museums around the world.  I highly recommend it.  It's free, it doesn't take up too much time since it's not a massive place, and it's a good mix of traditional art forms with modern designs and twists.  Really cool.  They don't allow photos, so I can't give you a preview, but you'll have to check it out and see for yourself.

After rucking, I went back to Black Mountain to try another restaurant - the Trailhead.  It was decorated in an outdoors-themed way.  My kind of place!  They had a pretty good selection on the menu, and the menu items were named after local outdoors spots, too, which was nice.  I appreciate local stuff.

Another fun weekend in Asheville.  Asheville is great for outdoors stuff and food.











Kicking off My First Pathfinder Ruck Training Program

PATHFINDER is probably the most well-known ruck training program in the rucking community.  My initial exposure to it was maybe seeing pictures of peoples' patch boards, and seeing the finisher patches from Pathfinder.  At the time, I thought "who needs to be trained on how to walk with a backpack", and didn't give it any more thought.  I also assumed that those patches were like participation patches, which would be another assumption that would turn out to be wrong.

(example of a patchboard on google)

A couple of months later, I started listening to the GORUCK show podcast consistently, and that was awesome.  It fed my obsession, so I was soon searching for other rucking podcasts and discovered All Day Ruckoff.  You start with the most recent episodes that sound interesting, and start working your way back through their archive.  I found a June 2017 episode about that PATHFINDER ruck training program, and that's where I learned more about it. 


The program consists of a certain number of rucking miles that you need to cover during the 12 weeks, a certain number of challenges that you select from a list, and a certain number of rucking workouts (which are like strength workouts, but using the ruck as a weight in all kinds of creative ways).  The community is another big aspect of it, first with your peers, and also with a course advisor whose sub-group you get added to.  In the facebook group, you are able to get encouragement, advice, camaraderie, and more feeding of the obsession 😏


If you take a look at the list of challenges, they are no joke... they are true challenges.  There are 11 to pick from, and you pick 4 or 5, depending on which program you've signed up for.  Each one pushes you hard in a certain aspect of training, and the challenges are quite varied, so you are also challenged on being well-rounded.  Breadth and depth. 


I had decided that I wanted to sign up for the program at some point, but the question was when.  The next class would start on Aug 1st.  At first, I was hesitant, since that 3-month period would be at the peak of OCR racing season.  However, the two are reasonably compatible... both require and build on strength, and that's where I have the most room for improvement.  And, if I were to delay it until the class after that, I'd be running into my next marathon buildup, and that is more speed-oriented and less strength-oriented.  Now would be the time.


The night before July 31st, I got 5 hours of sleep.  The next day, I was understandably tired after work.  I considered napping then running, but my feet were too worn for a run.  I considered doing a midnight ruck to kick off Pathfinder, but it would've meant finishing at 3am and then getting 3-4 hrs of sleep, so I didn't do that.  I did, however, plan out my schedule for Pathfinder. 

I did this so that I could determine what pace I needed to set to complete everything in time.  I had to account for weeks I'd be travelling, or tapering or recovering from other events, too.  I'm happy with how the plan turned out.  It's going to force me to do more than I'd normally do, and some of the challenges scare me (that 20 miler!), but it should be a great adventure chasing this down. 

My first activity for the program was on August 1st.  It was raining in many parts of the country that day, but I was determined to start off on the right foot.  With thunder grumbling overhead, and the occasional lightning strike, I rucked for 4 miles in the rain.  My baptism into the program.

Completing the program is going to be a challenge.  I realize now that those Pathfinder patches on the patch boards were earned with a ton of work.  Even for those who don't check all of the checkboxes by the end of the program, though, they'll still be getting much stronger through the process, with all of the miles and workouts and challenges, and the groups are going to still be a great place to encourage rucking.

Adventures in Asheville (New Belgium, Lake Powhatan NRA, NC Arboretum, Spartan Build)

THE WEEK BEFORE

Tuesday, Jul 24:
Interval session at the gym.  4.0 in 29:29, 7:22 average.  My first workout back, after GORUCK Tough - Operation Red Wings.  Surprisingly, I wasn't sore from it.

• 1 mi warmup in 8:11
• 4 x [0.5mi @ 9mph, 0.25 mi @ 7.5mph]

Didn't do the usual 3 x 0.75 mi reps, since my legs didn't feel like they could handle reps so long this time.  This was a decent alternative, though.  Last speed session before Spartan Asheville.  Record 8 pullups afterwards.  Then 4, then 10 toes to bars.

Thursday, Jul 26:
I started rucking around the neighborhood because I wanted mileage for Pokemon Go.  Plus, I wanted to get a better feel for how realistic Star Course would be.  At first, it felt easy, and I regretted not bringing a sandbag along.  But just the ruck with 20 lbs started to wear on me after a few miles.  I went until I was hungry, then until my shoulders started to feel smashed.  I didn't want to develop an imbalance that would spread to my legs and core, so I stopped at 5.7 mi in 1:40.  While doing it, though, I made the decision to go for Pathfinder training!


ASHEVILLE ADVENTURE

I had signed up to volunteer for Course Build for the Spartan Super & Sprint.  Since I was going to make the 2 hr drive anyways, I decided to make a weekend of it.  On Saturday, there was a spot open on a New Belgium brewery tour, so that was my first stop after I got in.  They have three tasting stops during the tour, and the tour guide is really friendly.  There's an Asheville vibe to that place.  A slide takes you from one floor to the one below!  They support the local community, with promoting food trucks and being situated close to the town by the greenway on the French Broad River.  They have a good beer selection, too, with a good variety of styles to choose from.  Sierra Nevada has a more impressive campus, but their beers were a bit more homogeneous, with IPAs for the most part.  New Belgium even had a special brew called Hemp Pale Ale, flavored and smelling like its namesake.  I was craving some hot food after the tour, so I got pulled pork at the BBQ food truck. 

Fueled up and hydrated, I went to the Lake Powhatan National Recreation Area to find trails.  It was within Asheville's city borders and wasn't too far away.  Having camped there a few weeks earlier, I knew that there were decent trails there, too.  On the map, it looked like there were a variety of options.

I planned for a long run, so I wore my Salomon S-Lab Set Pack that included a Nalgene of water.  I also brought a battery pack and headlamp.  I learned from past experiences with the headlamp, that time I was on an unfamiliar trail after dark on a run gone awry.  It did make me a bit slower, but it's good to practice with packs every now and then, since that's the way to go for certain races.

 

I started by heading out to Lake Powhatan.  After I did a loop there, I decided to go on a larger loop on the left, which would pass by the NC Arboretum.  This large loop touched the Blue Ridge Parkway on the other side.  It was double-track, with consistent elevation gain, followed by elevation loss.  No roots at all, just small gravel.  It was a warm day.  The trees offered some shade.  The lake and creek portion had been more scenic.  This big loop was mostly a giant circle around a steep forest.


I came across a gate for the arboretum, with signs saying that it closed at 9:00pm.  It had been 2:30pm or so when I set out.  I took the opportunity to explore the arboretum a bit.  There was an azalea garden, and more structured gardens.  I do regret missing out on the Bonsai garden, which I only noticed after that part had closed for the day.  The arboretum had interactive exhibits about different natural fragrances from plants, which was interesting.  I also just relaxed on a rocking chair for a while.  If I wasn't here, outside, in a pretty garden, I'd be waiting out the day in my hot car, so this was much better.

I did a bit of geocaching throughout the day.  I grabbed some late in the day before I decided to start heading back.  The way I had intended to get to my car was behind a locked gate, though.  I tried to find alternate ways, but in the end, with about an hour left before the trail gates would close, I determined that I had no choice but to take a longer way back to my car.  With the sun setting, and the gate closure looming, that gave me some extra adrenaline for the run.

The first leg of my run to the arboretum was 8.6 mi in 1:47:31, 12:41 ave.  After the couple of hours walking around with Pokemon and Geocaching, and chilling, the run back to my car was 3.2 in 36:28, 11:07 ave.  In all, I got in 1184 feet of elevation gain.

I went without a shower and car camped at night.  A bit chilly, with a low of 62, but I have a decent amount of gear in my car to help me survive whatever.

The next morning, volunteering.  We did tables, a couple of big tents, fencing, blade flags, and fence signs.  We were efficient, so we finished up a little early.  Sweet!  Enough time to go home and do laundry from the weekend.




Monday, Jul 30:


50 min Body weight strength session.  Since the 12-week Pathfinder (PF) Ruck Training program was going to start up on Aug 1st, and that had a heavy emphasis on ruck workouts, this may be the last time I'd do the body weight session for a while.  Not that I couldn't do it during the PF program, but it could be harder to fit in while hitting all of the other requirements.

• Crunches: 500/side
• Plank: 4 + 2.5 min
• 2 min Pushups, to prep for the Army Physical Fitness Test (a PF challenge): 32 + 27 on the 2 tries
• Squats: 50
• Adductor/Abuductor Leg Lifts: 65/115
• Lower Leg Extensions: 100
• Single Leg Squats: 115/140
• 6 in: 60s
• Assorted Dumbells