GORUCK Constellation 12 CLT 2019

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Constellation doesn't really require a lot of physical training.  You might be jogging at times, but it's based on your group's desire to move faster for certain spurts during the night.  Constellation non-beta Class 001 in Cary, NC, was my second event ever, after I had done the Veterans Day Tough 2016 in Columbia, SC, the year before.  After the memorable physicality of the Tough, I remembered loving the lack of PT in the Constellation.  It was more about learning and practicing skills with a mixture of classroom sessions and missions through the night.

With that said, here's what I did in the week leading up to it...

Wednesday, Apr 10:
GORUCK's April rucking challenge for individuals was "Lucky 7".  Complete 7 prescribed ruck workouts during the month of April.

Since I had a big first week of April, where I was recovering from the Coupon Ruck and Spartan Volunteering (it was probably the latter that banged me up), and then tapering for and doing the Spartan Sprint / Vol / Super / GORUCK Bataan Light, I didn't start with the first workout until the 10th.

Some people had started already and were posting their times online.  That was helpful, since I could assess how long I could expect each one to take, and plan and mentally prepare accordingly.

I started with the 1 mile ruck on a 2 degree incline treadmill in 14 minutes, followed by the 10 x [10 ruck squats, 10 ruck pushups, and 10 russian twists], with each set taking about 2:30 each.  My pushup form deteriorated a lot in the last 2 sets.  My Russian Twist form wasn't great at any point, either... I didn't go too deep on the twists.  It's what I could manage with the 20# that I used, though.

Since it's been almost 6 months since I did Pathfinder, I've forgotten how much ruck workouts suck ;)

Thursday, Apr 11:

I feel like I've been tired since January.  Fortunately, I was feeling a bit more energetic after work today, so I got in 6.0 in 48:09, 8:02 ave, 2 degrees of incline.  The run did feel harder than it should've felt.  Maybe it was because I had peanuts, a Fiber 1 bar, chocolate, and a mustard shot prior to the run, and I was still digesting.  The pace was pretty good, though.

Splits> 8:36, 8:23, 8:14, 7:59, 7:93, 7:17.

GORUCK CONSTELLATION

In 2018, GORUCK revamped their Constellation course modules, based on feedback that they had received the year before.  The syllabus still looked pretty similar to the one I originally took in 2017, and my 2018 schedule was already full of a bunch of other GORUCK challenge events, OCRs, and the other 2 survival series events, so I didn't try to take the new version last year.

Since they were offering Constellation in my home town this year, though, and since I had snagged some good deals on events towards the end of 2018, I signed up this year.  It was nice to have a hometown event, where I wouldn't have to drive a bunch to get to the event location.

I had gone into 2017 without a team, and was adopted by a group from a local crossfit box.  This time, a fellow participant from a Light had reached out prior to the event, and we were planning on teaming up with some of his friends.  His friends ended up bailing, haha, but we found a group of 3 to join.  We ended up with 2 teams of 5 and 1 team of 6 at this event.  This was much smaller than the massive class that we had had in 2017, where there were 3 cadres and like 9+ teams of 6.

We had one Cadre, but he was a good one.  Cleve was back.  I had him for the first time a week ago, at the Bataan Light.  My impression of him was that he was funny, chill, and good at connecting with participants.  I'm sure a Tough or Heavy version of him would be different, but now I'd see the Constellation version of him.  

The event was based at Crossfit Eternal.  They let us meet inside their box, which was awesome.  In 2017, we also met at a crossfit gym, but we only got to use the parking lot. It was great to have lights, a whiteboard, plenty of space, and restrooms to make the classroom sessions easier.  That gym was close to IKEA, so I knew a bit about the area, although our area of operation was pretty small, so I never got as far as IKEA and the places that I knew.  It wasn't a bad thing that our AO was small... you don't want the missions to take you miles away, and have you walk miles back each time... you wouldn't be able to cover as much content, if most of your time was spent walking around.  

Our first class and mission was about finding good hiding spots.  Using a map of the AO, we found 3 candidates for good hiding spots that gave cover and concealment.  We went to the one we liked the most, planning a route that would allow us to move around with the least risk of detection.  We went in one way, scoped out the area, found ways of egress, and sent photos of our spot to HQ.

I loved our hiding spot.  We could've lived like kings there, although you're only supposed to stay in one spot for 12 hrs max.  I'm surprised we didn't run into security or homeless people there, because it was that good of a spot.

We took an alternate route back, and on our way back, we received instructions to try to snipe other teams.  While we were on a parking deck, I spotted another team, and we all got down.  They came up the staircase, and we sniped them.

We learned to make fire, with 0000 grade steel wool and a 9v battery.  In a real SHTF situation, I don't know how easy it would be to find 0000 grade steel wool, but it was cool to learn (and be forced to use) an alternate technique for fire making, rather than reverting other techniques that we may have encountered in the past.  

As usual, I'm not good at making fires.  Fortunately, my teammates were.

We learned first aid ("MARCH"), we learned how to make a stretcher out of rucks with waist belts.  I was glad that I brought some extra gear that wasn't on the packing list, like my tourniquet from Constellation 2017, and paracord, since we used those.  We learned how to escape from restraints, using paracord.  As a nice new twist, we also learned about how to take down sentries.  

We learned how to make improvised weapons, using stuff that we scavenged.  It's fun to see peoples' creativity.  It's amazing what kinds of stuff you'll find lying around the city, too.  You can make some pretty effective weapons with random stuff.  Wouldn't want to run into the wrong side of this group in a Mad Max scenario.

We made maps.  We hid and found caches.  We had a final evolution that mixed together a bunch of elements from the skills that we learned during the night.  We had to cook chicken feet, and we tried it.  It tasted like fatty chicken skin.  Bleh.

We also couldn't leave without getting pepper sprayed.

At Constellation 2017, I had tossed my gas mask into a dumpster after we got sprayed, since I didn't want that stuff to touch everything else I had.  I made a new one prior to the event, so that I wouldn't have to worry about rushing to construct it during the event.  

Good times.  Something different.  As the Cadre mentioned, these skills are perishable, so it's always worth doing these events, even if you've done them before.  Learned new stuff.  Gained confidence in my ability to better handle things if SHTF.  

I enjoyed our team.  As Cadre mentioned, sometimes, when emergencies arise, you know the people you'll be working with.  Other times, you have to come together with strangers to accomplish your mission.  We helped each other get through the challenges, we worked together well and incorporated everyone's ideas.  

RACE REPORT: Spartan Vol/Super/Vol/Sprint & GORUCK Bataan Light CLT

BUILD VOLUNTEERING

The day after the coupon ruck, I volunteered for the Spartan Build Crew.  In the morning, our crew of 5 volunteers manually filled the following sandbags, using shovels, a scale, and a heap of sand:

• 40# x 218 bags (festival)
• 45# x 30 bags
• 30# x 20 bags
• 20# x 25 bags
• 70# x 22 bags (womens herc hoist)
• 105 x 22 bags (mens herc hoist)

All this, the day after a Coupon Ruck!  The thought of the 105#ers is a bit scary, but we 2-man carried them to the scale and to the pallets, which made it manageable.  We used cones to help funnel sand into the sandbags, and they needed some shaking and maneuvering to get the sand through the end of it.  Imagine shaking around 30# of sand repeatedly for a few hours.

It was good fun, though.  I like the manual work, as an escape from what I normally do for work.  

In the afternoon, after a good lunch (I always like the lunches that Spartan provides for Build volunteers), I was content to have a less physically demanding task.  I assembled the blade flags.  By the time I finished that, it was the end of the work day.  8.5 hrs of good work.

The next day, I was limping because my right butt was strained, and my left rib felt bruised, and my left shoulder was strained.  I felt like I had been in a car wreck.  Decent sleep the next night helped me recover some, although I wasn't feeling good enough to try a workout.

Wednesday, Apr 3:

5.0 in 40:12, 8:02 ave.  The run was harder than it should've felt, maybe because I ate peanuts and dried mangoes prior to the run.  I was feeling good and was eager to work out today, though.  Maybe it was the Vitamin B and St. John's Wort.  I went for a run, since I wasn't sure I could handle a workout from GORUCK's April "Lucky 7" ruck workout challenge on that day.  It had been a while since my last run, anyways.

Splits> 8:21, 8:17, 8:03, 7:50, 7:39.

SPARTAN SUPER

This was the first time that Spartan has hosted a Super-distance (6-9 mi) race in Charlotte.  Sprint distance races (3-6 mi) are typically the most plentiful, and as you go up in distance, the races are harder to come across without travelling longer distances, so it's nice to have more of the longer distance races in your backyard.  

Porter Farms hosts OCRs for a variety of companies, so I'm familiar with the venue, and I knew they could handle the extra distance.  I'm also familiar with the cow poo, but it's part of the experience.

Now that volunteer free race codes only cover open heats, I stuck with the open heat and didn't upgrade to an age group heat.  It was actually nice to not have the extra pressure.  It was crowded, but I just focused on crushing the obstacles as best as I could.  To be fair, it's crowded even in the Age Group heats, in the beginning.  

With the 9:15 am start, there wasn't frost to contend with, so the drier-than-usual obstacles certainly helped.  It was wet, since it had rained the previous day, but it wasn't bad on the hanging obstacles.  I was strategic about taking advantage of dry spots.

Hay Wall, Over Walls, Rolling Mud, Dunk Wall, Hurdle, Invert Wall, Bender... no issues.  Z-wall is always challenging, but if you're patient and are careful with your holds, you can get through.  Herc Hoist was challenging, too, but not impossible.  Barbed Wire, Tubes, Slip Wall with a half-length rope, Vert Cargo with an Irish table - a new twist on an old obstacle.  I had to get help up the Irish table, but I was in the open heat, so I didn't mind.  

Atlas, Sandbag, Twister.  They don't normally have photographers at Atlas, so that was nice.  I got through Olympus, for the second time ever in my life (the first time was suprisingly in Tahoe, the very first time I encountered it, and I've failed it a zillion times since).  I think the drier course helped.  

7' wall, Barbed Wire 2, Stairway to Sparta, Beater... a new obstacle for 2019... I failed on the very last bar... bummer.  Oh well, at least I know I can do it.  6" wall, Multirig, Spear fail, Bucket.  The bucket carry course was flat.  I'm glad they've moved away from super steep bucket courses... those things are dangerous, if buckets get dropped or if people slip, so I'm glad.  It's challenging enough as it is.

A-frame, Rope Climb, Monkey bars, Fire.  

8.4 in 2:15:18, 16:06 ave.  

COURSE SWEEP

I wanted to get in some more volunteering, and based on when I finished the race, that left Course Sweet as the only shift that I could still fit in... so another 7+ miles of work it was!  I was with a team of 4 others, walking through the course, and taking down course tape, picking up trash, and picking up other course markers.  

It was a great team effort.  It's wonderful, when you're in a group where everyone's committed to working hard and doing their part.  We worked together seamlessly to take everything down.

We were rewarded with some great views and getting to work with a staff member named Woody, who is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  He truly cares about people, and giving them a meaningful and great experience, whether they're racing or volunteering.  

I'm glad that my body held up during the volunteering session.

SPARTAN SPRINT

Day 2... I was in the 9:15am volunteer wave again.  I was scheduled to do the GORUCK Bataan Light at 1am, and I had planned to pick up food for an HTL participant prior to the Light, so I had to hustle.  

I got to meet my CLT Star Course teammate SP for the first time before the race.  She happened to be doing the Super/Sprint/Light combo, too.  It was nice having her on course, too, since it pushed me to work harder.  

I failed Herc, Spear, and Rope.  They took away the Irish Table for the Sprint, so that wasn't an issue.  Normally, the Rope isn't an issue, but it was slippery and at the end, so I took the burpees.  I barely rinsed off, wanting to get back into town for the Light.  I did run into my HS Soccer Teammate, though, who I haven't seen in like 10 years... she was volunteering.  It was awesome seeing her.  

Went to Bojangles to pick up some Chicken Biscuits.  I was a bit messy and out of place going in there, but it was starting to rain a bit, so everyone was a little bit messy.

3.5 mi in 1:16:45, 21:56 ave.

GORUCK BATAAN LIGHT

I changed out of wet, muddy clothes, into fresh clothes, once I was at the start point and no longer under big time pressure.  I didn't have a whole lot of time, though, so I gave out some Chicken Biscuits, scarfed down my own, and hastily geared up.  My HTL friend was still going strong.... looking tired, but still in the fight, which was awesome to see.

At the gear inspection, I couldn't find my ID and cash in my ruck immediately, and fortunately, the Cadre moved on without looking for everything in my bag.  I did have it and found it like 10s later, but I had a bit of a panicy moment for a little while there.  

We had a big group, so we split up into 2 teams.  We started the event by honoring Cadre Rooney, who had passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer.  We did the Rooney WOD, which consisted of a 400m run, and 5 sets of [75 mt climbers, 75 squats, 100m run, 75 flutter kicks, 75 overhead claps], 400m run.  The Cadre did "it pays to be a winner", to incentivize the two teams.  The winning team would gift the losing team with an extra sandbag.  We had to start over at one point after mixing up the sequence, but we recovered.  We took turns leading the counts.

Cadre Cleve, who I've heard of, was the second Cadre.  He brought a drone and took shots.  My friend KD was there with her adorable kids shadowing, too.  It was so cute to see those future GRTs running around with us and guarding their own eggs from Cadre Fagan.  

Our team was awesome, so we won.  Each team got a healthy batch of coupons, though, so there was fun all around.  I like Fagan's philosophy of bringing lots of coupons so that nobody hides and everyone contributes.  It can be easy, especially if you doubt yourself, to shirk from the tough stuff.  So it's nice when you're forced to push yourself.  You discover that you can do more and do better than you though.  Fagan's strategy prevents people from being robbed of the opportunity to learn from the event, by people discounting what they're capable of and therefore not discovering their potential.  

We set off for some park.  The two teams started off going the same way, but our team decided to split off after a couple of blocks, so that we weren't competing for the same limited sidewalk space.  We hauled it and ended up making it to the destination, first.

At Latta Park, team members shared stories of people who were part of the Bataan Death March.  Then, the Cadre shared GORUCK's overview of the historical event.  Since we got there first, we might've given another coupon to the other team.  I was feeling bad for them.  They walked further and had more to contend with.  Each team had gotten an even split of newbies and experienced GRTs.  It's always a learning experience.

Since the Rooney WOD took a longer than usual percentage of the event, the next destination was the start point.  We carried stuff back.  During the event, I was on poles with ammo cans the most, followed by a single small ammo can, followed by an 60-80# sandbag.  I think people normally exaggerate the weight of the sandbag by about 20#, haha.  I don't know, though.  I don't have a scale.  But I have my suspicions.  

At the end, we got patched, Fagan handed out some Cadre patches, and then the HTLers got patched.  I got to meet some GRTs who I haven't met before.  They traveled some distance to be here.  It's cool to meet GRTs from around the country.  Despite living in very different places, we all share a common spirit.  

The HTLers were great.  Despite having already done 24 + 12 hours of intense work, they didn't shy away from putting in as much effort as all of the fresh Light people during the event.  Their bolts were well-deserved.

Amazingly, my Fagan egg survived its ~5 mi journey in the back pocket of my trail running shorts, even when I had forgotten about it during story time when I was sitting down and stuff.  Time for another celebration omelette.