I realized a few days before the event that this would be my 3rd anniversary with GORUCK. My first event had been the Veterans Day Tough in Columbia, SC, in 2016. That was pretty cool. A lot has happened to me GORUCK-wise in 3 years, with most of that action taking place in the last 2 years, since I only did a single Constellation in 2017. So, it was a special event because of that, and it was special because the Cadre for the event was DS. He makes his events memorable.
TRAINING LEAD-UP
Wednesday, Oct 30:
I finished my requirements for PATHFINDER Endure a few weeks early, so I didn't have any pressing work to do from that perspective. I took the opportunity to get in some non-ruck work, with a 5 mile run. Splits> 8:22, 8:13, 8:04, 7:55, 7:23. 5.0 in 40:03, 8:01 average, 2 degrees of incline.
I also signed up for my next PATHFINDER class, where I'll do Endure again, to get ready for the Fort Bragg Heavy in Feb 2020. I'm eager to do the new Horizon program again, especially with some Star Course goals in 2020, but for now, I'll get in another Endure. PATHFINDER has great Course Advisors, who provide guidance and motivation during the program. They help to foster the great community that you find in the groups and on the class page. I decided to sign up with a CA the I haven't had before (but who I know personally), since it'll be good for me to learn from different CAs, to see what their training philosophies are, and techniques they use to help their groups succeed.
Friday, Nov 1:
With the new PATHFINDER class underway, I was ready to start getting some work done, especially since I was fresh from a couple of weeks of relative rest and ease. I did a nice session of a yoga routine, plus the Army Physical Fitness Test (47 pushups, 71 setups, 14:49 2-mi = 299 pts), followed by a 2 mi baseline ruck in 26:53, followed by a Horizon ruck workout and another mile ruck in 14:05. One nice thing about getting older by an age category - you get more points for the same amount of work!
Saturday, Nov 2:
Ruckingchallenges.com's November challenge was "Ruck the Summit". It so happens that a mountain ruck is one of PATHFINDER's challenge options, so I rucked a mountain that I had been wanting to try for a while - South Mountains State Park. NC's state parks and other public areas never disappoint. They're well-maintained and free of charge, which encourages more people to be active. There were lots of trails to choose from. I picked a strenuous waterfall trail because it would be scenic, followed by a hike up to Chestnut Knob Overlook. You can actually see the CLT skyline waaaaay in the distance from the top! I had to tack on a little bit of extra at the end, but I got in the required 10 miles.
I used the opportunity to test out some replacement Salomons that I'll use for rucking. I forgot to put in the insoles with arch supports that I've been trying to use to help my foot situation, and I did feel it. The hike was great, though. I'll have to explore more of the trails there in the future.
I also took the opportunity to gain more experience with my watch. The map feature is pretty cool, though it didn't always think that I was on the trails that were pictured. It doesn't seem reliable, as a result, but at least it can give you a general sense of what's around. It did better plotting me against streets when I did a ruck through the city.
Tuesday, Nov 5:
It was about 11 days out from the HTL, and GORUCK had publicized in their monthly rucking challenge that the Hard Hitter HTL crew would be doing 3 workouts during the event: the Robbie Miller WOD (expected), the 300 (never heard of it before), and the Will Buddy Hero WOD (had seen it referenced before at the Crossfit Games sponsored by GORUCK, but had never done it). The 300 looked fairly straightforward, so I used this day to test out the Will WOD.
10 rounds of
- 10 Ruck Squats
- 10 American Ruck Twists
- 10 Ruck Pushups
- 10 Ruck High Pulls
1 mi coupon ruck (I used a 30# SB)
This honors his 4 daughters, and his wife. It was a good workout. It took 35 min for the rounds, and 19:30 for the mile.
GORUCK Veterans Day TOUGH CHARLESTON
All but one of the Charleston events that I've done have started at Waterfront Park, by the Pineapple Fountain. At the D-Day Tough in 2018, we started at Patriot's Point, which I loved because it was closer to where my parents live, and you don't have to deal with driving through and parking in downtown. That, by the way, had also been an event that included DS as one of the three Cadres.
This event was even more unique, and it started even closer to home. At first, I was thinking that we might be going to the beach at some point for surf PT, but as I waited in my car for start time to arrive, I realized that it would've been a 10 mile ruck directly to the beach, using the highway, and the max distance for Toughs tends to be around 20 miles, so that was an unlikely route.
The start point was a soccer complex, which had restrooms that were open for night-time soccer players, which was great, since I used it like 4x waiting for the start. I debated whether or not I wanted a caffeinated energy drink before the event, since I didn't want to desensitize myself from the effects of caffeine one week before the HTL. I did it anyways, because I felt like I could use it that night.
A friend that I had met at the Jax Beach Reunions event in 2019 was now in-state, so I was excited that she was coming to this event, as well. We started with 16 people, and a minute or two after start time, the soccer complex's lights turned off. It was all dark, it was chilly (upper thirties/lower forties to upper forties or upper fifties? I don't remember now), and DS's dog Maya was dashing around super fast.
It started with gear inspections. Then, we had to completely empty out our rucks, run out, run back, and re-pack them. Selection wasn't too long ago, so I wouldn't be surprised it that inspired this activity just a little bit. It went OK for me, so I had time to help others afterwards. My ruck still had some extra space, and some of the contents (but not all) were modularized. I decided that I would modularize more next time, though, because it would've helped me gather my food and stuff it in the front slant pocket more quickly. I can see why that activity is stressful for the people at Selection. It's the first time that I recall doing that activity at an event, in recent memory.
After that, the welcome party started. We moved from goal post to goal post in the large soccer field complex in various ways (animal movements and crawls or rucking), and we took turns introducing ourselves and leading some sort of exercise selected by DS, at each goal post. Unfortunately, we had one GRT drop during the welcome party, due to some violent-sounding puking.
This event was the coldest rucking event I've done so far, so I wanted to test my clothing choices before the HTL, since the HTL was forecasted to have similar temps. I did get really warm during some of the exercises, so having jacket layers that could unzip, and a base layer that I could lift up to provide ventilation, helped.
After the Welcome Party, it was time to rock and roll. Cadre DS chose me as the first TL, since I was experienced. Different Cadres take different approaches. Some intentionally pick newbies to throw them into the fire and have them learn leadership stuff fast, by trial and error. I was fine being the first TL. Our first task was a surprising one... pushing all of our cars in neutral out of the parking lot, and up half a mile to a school parking lot, since the soccer complex's gates needed to be locked. That was pretty unique.... car coupons. We had 15 people and 8 cars, so we made 2 trips. We met the time hack by less than a minute.
Our first destination was about 2 miles away. A TL typically picks a navigator. This time, I was pretty sure that nobody would know the area better than I would. I didn't really know the area, since this area was built only in the past year or so, but I would know some of the broader areas better than anyone else. We only had empty sandbags, our team weight (a "Ruck of the Fallen" that I brought), and a flag, so I used our fairly fast-paced ruck to the first destination to train everyone. More than a third of the group was new to GORUCK. Since we didn't have the added stress of coupons, we could practice staying in a tight formation, learning what "half step" meant, talking through how to swap sandbags later on, taking appropriate care of the flag, and so on. The pace was maybe a wee bit fast for some, especially the newbies, so I was a little worried what would happen once we got coupons, but we had a time hack, albeit a fairly lenient one for a slick-ish ruck.
Once we got to our destination, we lined up to do 300 8-ct body builders, but fortunately, split up among the group. I demoed the 8-ct and then led the group in the 20 reps, making sure everyone was together and not overwhelmed. We got through it on the first try without being zeroed out, so that was a success. We had a little break, and then it was time for new TLs.
DS led us through to a trail system. We had to go into stealth mode, so no lights. We also practiced using hand signals to communicate, with ones like "stop" and "rally point". We'd pull security when we stopped. I like trails. They're soft. These trails weren't too technical, which was good, especially since we weren't using headlamps. We eventually got to a point maybe a mile-ish later where we stopped for a special activity. DS brought out a box and arranged a series of objects. We had a certain amount of time to memorize the contents of the box. In case he was going to ask, I also tried to remember the positioning of the items. That helped me memorize the contents of the box, anyways, since I could visualize the items and remember each one in series.
Before we moved on, a couple of scouts went to retrieve a camera sensor from a downed unmanned plane. They weren't allowed to touch it, so they had to use other items to help them carry it. It turns out that the ball-shaped thing was 62#, too. We decided to transport it with a stick. We didn't find any suitably sized sticks in the area, so we rolled the dice with an unsuitably sized stick that bowed a little under the weight. We didn't have time to look for something better, so we went with what we had.
We retraced our steps about halfway through the trail before we turned off onto a power line. Fortunately, the trail there wasn't bad, either. We'd take turns carrying the "camera sensor" and the other coupons. This reminds me of the time that DS took us through a power line that was much more rugged, with creek crossings, at the Expedition extra. We eventually got to our turnoff back into civilization, where we walked along a road in a major subdivision. Each time a car came by, we had to continue to be stealthy by getting down on the ground. Cars didn't come too often, but often enough. We also had to low crawl through mud, and go out of our way on some uneven dirt mounds at one point, to make sure we got appropriately dirty.
We kept going through the neighborhoods, on our way to a small airport. We were on a mission, so we weren't going to take any easy ways... we were going to take epic ways. This involved bushwhacking, walking through some shallow swampy mud, a bit of crawling, pushing through briars, avoiding barbed wire, etc. It was pretty special and memorable. Not a typical Tough, but 100% DS.
We made it back onto a road, where we were now allowed to touch the sensor. It was a kettlebell whose handle is embedded in the middle of the sphere, so the only way to carry it is to single-arm beast that 62# thing. Some courageous people took turns carrying it. Our next mission was to go to a helipad at a hospital (real helipad, real hospital), where we got a little break. After that, we had to procure some rice for people who needed food. We rucked to piles of sand, and proceeded to fill the sandbags. We now had a healthy set of coupons to carry around. The sun was rising now.
We took it to a parking lot where we linked together the sandbags and did group lifts together. After that, we were individually tested on the contents of the box. We didn't know what the reward or punishment would be for our performance. Supposedly, I got all 16 right, which was pretty cool. SF guys have to be able to think and remember stuff clearly even when under pressure, so that was an interesting challenge to throw into the Tough, which is normally 100% about physical work.
A nice surprise was that afterward, he let us visit the donut shop in the parking lot, using our quitter's cash. Some nice teammates treated the rest of the team to donuts, too. It was time to go back to the endex, so we continued on with all of our sandbags another 1.5 ish miles back to our cars.
Just as we were putting away our coupons in the back of the truck, though, the flag dropped. We had been planning on getting patches... instead, PT. DS's rule is flag drop = 500 8-cts. The perpetrator (who happened to be a newbie, too, so I felt bad for her) led the group in the 8-cts. It must've been hard yelling out the counts for that long, especially if you're smoked by the PT, and also feeling bad about what happened. The group kept at it, though, and stayed encouraging through it. Eventually, we got to stop, and we got patches and brews while sharing what we learned during the event.
17 miles, 15 teammates, and another memorable DS event in the books!
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