Monday, Jan 20:
I tried the Team Assessment PT test (a scaled down variation of it) for the first time since the standards were published the previous week. I wanted to wait until after the Tough/Star Sprint to try it.
Womens Division PT Test:
- 1 min of hand-release pushups, min 25
- 1 min of butterfly situps, min 40
- 1 min of squat cleans with an 80# SB, min 7
The pushups are reasonable, if you compare that to the 1-min split you'd need for the original 2-min pushup standards. The butterfly situps require a lot of speed to hit 40, though. The squat cleans aren't scaled based on body weight, so raw strength is the must-have there.
I did two run-throughs, with videos so that I could assess my form afterwards to check for no-reps and opportunities to improve my technique. On the first one, I wasn't expecting a lot, since it was my first time doing those movements with those time hacks. For the second one, I still felt pretty fresh, so I hoped that I might actually do better after having gone through the movements one time.
I used 55# for the SB, because I knew I wasn't prepared to try 80# yet and didn't want to injure myself. I need to make sure I'm comfortable and confident with doing the movement at 55# before working up to 80#.
(28 pushups, 35 situps, 6 cleans at 55#)
(25 pushups, 35 situps, 6 cleans at 55#)
After that, I did a core WOD in 30 min with a 20# ruck. The PT tests will be a good way to kick off workouts, so that I can see how I do at them fresh, and get used to doing work after doing the PT test.
Wednesday, Jan 22:
I wrote a full body workout for the PATHFINDER Horizon Star Course training program, and it was time on the schedule to do it. I had beta tested 3 rounds of it when I first wrote it. Now, I'd be trying the full 5 rounds for the first time, with a 20# ruck.
I called it "Star Force", since it sounds like "Star Wars" and "Star Course". I tried to use "5s" in it as much as I could.
I do a lot of my workouts in the evening/night, particularly during the darker winter months, so I made it more fun by breaking out my glow in the dark and light-up stuff.
It went pretty well, though I did wonder during the hip thrusters "what idiot decided that 50 reps was a good idea"?
I finished it off with a 3 mi ruck with 30# in 53:09.
Saturday, Jan 25:
Charlotte has some of the GRT community's hardest hitters. One of the 2019 selection candidates hosted the "Bago Beatdown" Bragg prep workout for us. WE met at 5am for 2 hrs of muddy lot PT with LKN Ruck Club. He had asked us what we wanted as our workout, and 1) log PT is an area where I need improvement, and 2) it's virtually guaranteed to be a part of Bragg.
I was actually as scared about going to this workout as I am going to Toughs and stuff. I didn't know quite what to expect, what Bago was like, or how big of a beat-down it would be. It had been raining in the days leading up, so there were puddles all over, too.
There was a pile of sandbags ready for us, and we each got one. To kick things off, we were told to start low crawling while rolling the sandbags forward. That was a new one for me... quite challenging! I think I had a 40#er, and it gets wet as you roll it through the puddles. We were reminded that we work as a team, so my teammates helped me move mine along as they also moved theirs. We were all nice and muddy and grassy by the time we reached our destination.
Next, we picked up logs from a secret stash, with 2 people per log. I was fortunate to have SBass as my log buddy. We had three teams of two, and two teams would do some kind of log PT movement while the third team did a carry to a tree and back. We did lunges, good mornings, (missed shoulder-to-shoulder, since we were on a carry), squats.
We did overhead holds with the log, alternating with the other two groups, as we rucked to the far side of the parking lot. We did elephant carries of the logs between our legs.
Back at the field, we got to put the logs back down, but only because it was time to do some PT in the deepest puddles that we could find. American ruck twists, pushups, thrusters, sit-ups maybe. We jogged to the back of the field a couple of times to warm back up after hearing some tales from Selection.
We did some more log PT in a row, so I finally did get to do shoulder-to-shoulder. We put the logs back. We did "I'm up, he sees me, I'm down" with a sandbag per pair as a casualty. Then, we finished with walrus crawls through the line of deep puddles.
It was pretty awesome, and I couldn't have hoped for a better Bragg prep workout. It was cool being out there in the cold and mud, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with other awesome GRTs who willingly came out on a Saturday at 5am to do this to train for the event. Between the mud, the logs, and the sandbags, it was a perfect taste of Bragg for a Bragg newbie like me.
The MACV1s worked well, since we did limited rucking, and the drainage was great as usual.
That night, I wanted to see if I could get in a Timed 12 as well. I got through 6 miles at a good pace with shuffling on loops around my neighborhood, but I started feeling little complaints in my joints, and I was kind of tired, so I stopped after 6. I was a little disappointed in myself, but sometimes, you got to make a call based on what you think is best for your body at the time. Nothing said that I had to get the 12 done that day. Doing loops around my neighborhood did make it easy to stop early, though.
6.0 in 1:20:54, 13:29 average.
Sunday, Jan 26:
Yoga for Manual Labor with Adriene on Youtube, plus foam rolling. Hamstrings, some outer glutes, a little back and shoulder and biceps and calves were sore today, probably from the Bago Beatdown.
Then 2 miles with 30# at Pokemon pace. It was nice to ruck without time pressure, and just let my body get some active recovery.
Did a core wod in 41 min afterwards. Half was a nice active recovery. The other half was more intense.
Monday, Jan 27:
Went to ATL for a conference. It's fun to explore other cities on foot, so I really wanted to try to get in that 12 miler. With the 3:30 time hack, I knew I needed to avoid as many traffic lights as possible, so my strategy was to make my way to the Belt Line, which is a pedestrian trail that will eventually loop around the city. Only parts of it are complete so far. Our 26.2 Star Course team went on parts of it. Before I was able to get there, my strategy was to take whatever intersections gave me green lights, so that I never really had to stop, even if it meant moving away from my destination at times.
I started at Centennial Park. While I was meandering in the general direction of Fourth Ward Park from Centennial Park, I was happy to stumble upon Auburn St. where the MLK National Historic Park and Ebenezer Church are located. That street was pretty quiet, and led me to the Belt Line, about 2.5 miles in.
A lot of the belt line is actually unlit, which was surprising. There were many runners out and about, though. It's cool to have a place like that where like-minded people in the community can get together and get fit.
I found Fourth Ward Park. I got a strange feeling when I was there, knowing that I had been in that exact spot with my teammates about a year prior. I went back up onto the Belt Line and kept chugging along. I went by a brewery. It was a little tempting to go in for a beer.
It had been daytime when I was here last time. I had to look really hard to make sure that I didn't miss the metal robot statues. It was really dark on the trail.
The trail ends at around Piedmont Park. There's a section of gravel road that you could go on for a little while, but it was pitch black dark there, and the gravel road is uneven, so I got in the required distance by looping around Piedmont Park a few extra times.
My ruck had 20#, plus some EDC (power bank), and a liter of water. I drank about half of the water at Piedmont. I was still feeling good there and was hovering a little over a 15:00/mi pace. I had no desire to call it quits, since I was 6 miles from my car. No quitting this time!
I shuffled back and did some extra meandering at the end to hit the 12 miles. I sprinted at the end to get my total time below 3 hours.
It was a good feeling to finish. I had eaten some leftover Subway beforehand, so I was OK on fuel.
Tuesday, I got to go to the Aquarium as part of a welcoming reception, so I didn't work out. I'm not sure that I could've, anyways. I did so many miles of walking at the conference... like 8 miles per day just at the conference. It was pretty crazy. That expo was huge, with three large buildings of endless rows of vendors.
And I gotta get Menchies when I can...
Dinner with co-workers and many more expo miles on Wednesday.
Thursday, Jan 30:
Did another TA PT test, getting 27 pushups, 33 situps, and 7 squat cleans at 55#.
Put in a little more practice, then did the Enigma Ruck WOD with 3 miles afterwards.
Saturday, Feb 1:
Another PT test with 25 pushups, 35 situps, 7 squat cleans @ 55#.
4 mile pre-workout ruck with 30# in 1:11:39, 17:55/mi.
HDT Arms workout in 31 min.
1 mi coupon ruck to finish, with a 45# SB and 30# ruck, which was hard. 22:11.
Sunday, Feb 2:
Did another TA PT test, with 26 pushups, 36 situps, and 8 squat cleans at 55#. That was a PR on squat cleans and situps.
I rucked half a mile to the gym, where I did a 3 mile interval run since I really wanted to run. It's been a while.
I did the Devils 15 Core WOD, with 4 rounds in 40 min. It had interesting core variations, and it was a good workout. Rucked back.
The NC ruck clubs had another challenge, to help motivate me and other TA hopefuls. It included 100 HR pushups, 100 butterfly situps, and 100 slick squats/day for 7 days. I decided to start right after midnight.
Something about the Core workout must've activated some long-dormant fast twitch muscles, because I did 3 sets of 1 min, with 40+ reps on the situps. I was really excited.
Monday, Feb 3:
Did yoga (not a huge fan of Vinyasa, because I prefer to go slowly to not strain anything), then a 2 mi ruck with 30# in 34:40, and continued towards my goal of getting 200 reps per exercise per day, to support multiple ruck clubs.
Tuesday, Feb 4:
With Bragg coming up in 10 days, I wanted to get in my conditioning ruck while I could.
10 mi in 2:44:22, with 48 floors of the parking garage. The first time I did this challenge, I didn't feel it much, even though I went 3+ miles longer. This time, my calves and hips did feel it. Kind of odd, but it means that I needed it!
Friday, Feb 7:
My dad visited. I haven't seen him in months. We went on a walk, and I brought my ruck along. 4.0 in 1:18:05. 30#. Continued with the NC Ruck Club challenge.
Saturday, Feb 8:
I'm trying to help with the revitalization of the Charlotte Ruck Club, so I hosted a little coupon ruck at the Whitewater Center. With 1 week left before Bragg, we kept it to just a couple of 20-30# coupons between the 3-4 of us.
We did loops around the Whitewater. There are interesting things to look at, and the looped format makes dropping or picking up coupons easier. We chatted, and later on were joined by a Raleigh-based GRT. We finished the ruck on the Lights trail, which was fun to explore (and get lost in).
We ended right on time, and right at the 5 mile mark in 1:41:06. It was a good time with friends old and new.
Saturday, Feb 8:
I had recently discovered South Mountains State Park, so I had been looking forward to taking my dad there. We went around High Shoals Falls Loop, where there was a thin layer of snow in the higher elevations.
At night, we went back out to Lights. It took a little convincing, because he thought it might be a standard Christmas Light display. I explained that it was nature-inspired artwork made of lights. He ended up loving it, and it was fun wandering around with him.
1.5 slow miles in 1:23:48, 54:58 average.
Tuesday, Feb 11:
To taper for Bragg, I just did a core wod on the Tuesday leading up. 3 rounds in 25 min. More strenuous than I remembered from my previous attempt on this one. Surprisingly hard, but doable with grunting.
2 miles afterwards with 30# in 33:36.
Thursday, Feb 13:
Foam rolling, and Office Worker Yoga with Muscle and Mat. Kind of fast. I would've preferred something slower that day.
T MINUS 2!
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