First 6 Weeks in the COVID Era (HDT SB&R+, Fig Tracker)

A TIMELINE OF MY ENTRY INTO THE COVID ERA

I don't remember the exact dates for when I had different feelings about what we were about to get into, but here's my best recollection:

• Feb 16th - My parents start sending me articles almost daily, warning about what's happening with COVID in other countries.
• Late Feb - it's clearly spreading.  Viruses don't care about borders.  It's going to come here sooner or later.
• First week of March - Getting ready for what's coming.  My mindset - preparation.  
• March 8th - last time I went to stores.  Since people can be asymptomatic and still spread it, I wanted my last time in stores to be before there were active known cases going around.  There was a noticeable difference in the availability of supplies between March 1st and March 8th.
• Early March - Mental state - exasperation about not everyone understanding the gravity of the situation.  Had the news on more often, to stay informed about what was going on.
• March 17th - Allowed to start working from home.
• Mid-March - Mental state - Feel like people on social media are starting to "get it" now.  Feel some sadness about how life is going to be different, not getting to see friends and do events anymore.  Turning my focus towards providing encouragement during this time.  
• Late March - A family member gets sick, but who knows what they're sick with, since there's no testing available, even for essential workers who come into contact with many others.  It's crazy that we're in this situation.  Mental state - lots of anger about how unprepared the country is to handle this.  Reduced the amount of news I watched.  Just caught up a little about twice a day.  
• April - Start getting more used to working from home.  More productive than I was in the first couple of weeks, where I felt tired, physically and mentally.  Keeping busy and having goals to work towards helps.  I work during the day, and work out at night.  Staying in touch with people over social media helps.  It's not too different from how my life would've normally been, anyways.  I'm fortunate to be able to work from home, that I have a job at all, and that I have good living conditions that make staying at home not a real burden.  I'm fortunate to have communities that help me still feel connected, even when physically apart.

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Tuesday, Mar 17:
HDT XVII-20 Week 2 Legs, which consisted of 25 min of PT, a 7:03/mi slick 1 mi run, and then 62 minutes of dragging a 45# sandbag with rope!  I felt low-energy today, which made the workout feel less effective than usual.

There was a new twist on ruck dumps this week, too!

Wednesday, Mar 19:
I noticed that my fig tree started growing leaves.  The little sprouts looked so vibrant and cute, so I took a picture.  It was nice to see life thriving, even through the pandemic.

At night, I did 40 min of static stretching and foam rolling, where I listened to Yo Yo Ma on Facebook videos that someone had shared.  With all the stress that had been going on, that combo of physical and mental release was good.  I had been feeling like there was a big weight on me.  It had started sinking in that we were going to be in this for the long haul, so this came at a good time.

Did a 25 min AMRAP afterwards for HDT.  The movements were awesome prep for the TA PT test.

Friday, March 21:

Just 2 days after my first Fig Tree Branch picture, I noticed that the branch had grown significantly.  I decided that I'd start taking pictures of it every other day, to track its progress.

I was supposed to be in NOLA with my buddies to take on the 50 mile Star Course.  We decided the week earlier that we were going to cancel those plans, since it involved air travel.  It was a difficult decision.  I even thought about workarounds to get myself there.  The week leading up to the would-be event, NOLA looked like it was developing into a hot spot for COVID.  GORUCK ended up cancelling the event, so I felt like conflicted about not going.  It was the first event that I would've done that got cancelled, though.  After training 12 weeks for it, it was difficult to not be able to see the fruits of our labors.  However, it must've been even harder for those who would've been first timers at that distance, who had put in that training.  I've finished the 50 miler twice, so I at least had that knowledge.

Our team decided to virtually ruck 20 miles, though, so that we could still hang out a bit on a conference call and at least enjoy the fellowship aspect and get in some rucking together.  3 states, 1 team.  

20.0 mi in 5:45:39, 17:17 average, with 10# and 1L of water and some EDC.  I brought more EDC than usual, since I wanted to be self-reliant, protected, and not in need of touching anything that didn't belong to me.  

I tried out some shoulder strap attachments that I had gotten from Amazon for the first time.  It provided quick access to gear, though all I ended up reaching for was my headlamp.  I had hand sanitizer, wipes, a buff, a power bank and cables in the other pockets, but didn't need them.  It was a little bulky, but didn't really get in the way.  It's not durable enough for a challenge event, but it's good for casual rucks.

It did feel weird at the end to not be able to hug my teammates.  Physical distancing felt very real for the first time.

The ruck did feel harder than it should've, especially since I was only carrying a 10# plate.  I attribute that to the fact that I hadn't tapered and was wrapping up my first week of HDT.  It was a warm 75 degrees here, though for one teammate, it was in the 40's!  I didn't need any food during the ruck, which kind of surprised me.  Just water with some BCAAs and electrolytes were enough.

Sunday, Mar 22:

HDT XVII-20 Core with 40 min for PT, and a 1 mile coupon ruck, with another hour of 45# sandbag drags to cap it off.

Monday, Mar 23:

HDT XVII-20 Legs.  After some conversations, I came to accept the fact that a proper ruck dump involved discombobulating everything.  So I practiced 10x.  It's much harder to get everything in the 25L ruck when it's not packed neatly and tightly.

Since I wasn't making the time hack, I challenged myself with the squat clean penalty by going for 65# instead of my usual 55#.  I did it!  Only for a couple of reps, but I did it!

The "plus" also got a little extra dose of muck this week, but coming from an OCR background, I didn't really notice it much.

Wednesday, Mar 25:

Stretching and foam rolling, then HDT-XVII-20 Week 3 Arms, which had 40 min of PT, then 2x5 gallon buckets of water with a 30# ruck.  Finished with the RWB March Madness mini PT challenge to cool down.  

A nice surprise for the day.  I have an electric guitar (my sister's), and I've thought that it had a broken string, or else I would've tried playing it more.  I kind of missed playing music, and people have been talking about picking up new skills or hobbies during this time, so I decided to check it out.  I discovered that it was still intact!  I must've been remembering a different guitar, or definitely my violin has a broken string.  I feel like music activates parts of my brain that are usually dormant.

Thursday, March 26:

A rest day, because my arms were sore.  Did Yoga for the Spine with Adriene.

Friday, Mar 27:

It's been nice that people have been more intentional and purposeful about connecting on social media during this time.  One example is Cadre DS, who has been posting motivational and inspirational and instructional videos from his new digs in Morocco.  Today's included a review of his EDC, which included the Pelican case of gear that we got to play games with at the Veterans Day Tough last year!  I didn't think I'd be seeing that again so soon!  

HDT XVII-20 Week 3 Core, with 65 min of SB PT and a 1 mile interval run was on tap for the day.  I didn't feel really sad and lonely much during these 6 weeks, surprisingly, but I did on this night.  I broke down a little bit during the "Carl Fredricksen" HDT exercise, but that's the only memorable time.  I do feel alone sometimes at night, but just the normal stuff, and I can cope with it.

Saturday, March 28:

Chatting with family is nice.

I did a 2 mile ruck with 30# where I managed to roll my ankle on a little rock on a trail in my MACV-1s, even with its high ankle.  I need to do some physical therapy with elastic bands to strengthen those ankles.  They seem like they've been weak lately.

I did a 2 mile run afterwards in 15:43.

Sunday, March 29th:

5 min of burpees to get seeding into the HDT March Madness tournament.  Then, Week 2's care package with 45# for a 25 min AMRAP.  Did ankle PT afterwards.

My fig tree's coming along nicely!  The branch pictures were taken every 2 days, and the full tree pictures were taken every 4 days.

Monday, March 30:

HDT plus got extra terrible this week with the yoke carry and icy ruck dump.   

The yoke carry / crucifix carry consists of a wooden beam and 2 half-filled 5 gallon buckets.  The corner of the beam sits on the back of your neck, and your arms are strained trying to hold up the beam.

I did the Week 4 arms workout, which was almost all body weight.  I remember that the pretty much one post that I made in the facebook group in my previous round of HDT was to ask whether there was going to be any planned pull-back week, because I was feeling really roughed up.  This more body weight-oriented week was the break.

Tuesday, March 31: 

6 mile ruck in the Speed Rucker with 20# and MACV-1s.  It had rained earlier, which helped to wash the pollen out of the air.  

My sister and I get along very well.  It's fun to still be able to joke around with her all the time and play games.  Some things never change, and it's nice to have that constant.

Since I'm avoiding stores for as long as I can, I'm rationing different kinds of food, especially product.  I was on my last carrot, and I found a little piece of a different carrot.  It was a nice surprise!

My diet has actually been more varied in quarantine, because I've been going through my pantry and freezer of stuff that's been there for forever, and eating my way through that.  When my parents visit, they buy or bring food that I wouldn't have bought for myself, like meat.  So I've been discovering nice surprises in my freezer, like shrimp, chicken, and sea sticks.  I've been eating maybe slightly cleaner than usual, too, since I don't really have junk food around / left anymore.  I did have dark chocolate for breakfast a few times, but that's not terrible.

One thing that has decreased is the amount of produce that I have available.  I normally eat a decent amount of it, but I'm rationing that, and I'm doing more powders and dried fruit to replace the fresh stuff.  I have some frozen produce and some baby food (that I had gotten a while back for GORUCK events when I'm craving something tangy) that I can go to, and hopefully, I'll have a bunch of figs sooner rather than later.

I am doing a little more "cooking" than usual, too.  Not that making rice in a rice cooker and then mixing in salsa, sauce, and canned chickpeas is cooking, but it's more than I usually do.  Toaster oven food and eggs and turkey bacon is normally the extent of my cooking.

Wednesday, Apr 1:

HDT XVII-20 Core in 30 min, with 20# ruck run, then a 20 min RWB Final 4 AMRAP.  

Thursday, Apr 2:

I had been looking forward to this virtual Brew Ruck for a while.  It was nice to see other NC ruckers and virtually share beer and miles with them.  One pre-ruck beer ended up being plenty for me, though, so I just kept rucking the rest of the time, covering 5 miles in 1:30:39, 18:07 average, with 30#.  

Saturday, Apr 4:

HDT XVII-20 Legs, including another 1 mi crucifix carry and more ice.

Sunday, Apr 5:

Timed 12 miler in 2:50:26, 14:12 average.  "Every day I'm shufflin'."

Monday, Apr 6:

HDT decided to host a March Madness tournament with 2 rounds of body weight, 2 rounds of ruck, and 2 rounds of SB AMRAPs.  It could provide some entertainment even while sports were cancelled.  It could also be used to help raise money for No Kid Hungry during this time when many kids who rely on free or reduced meals at school no longer have access to that resource.

Today was the first round.  I used the 1 mi 55# SB "go heavy" sandy & wet coupon ruck with a 25# ruck as my warmup, along with the max 2x5 gallon bucket carry challenge to see how long you could hold it without spilling.

Then, I went live in the facebook group for the AMRAP.  With HDT, if I nap or rest/eat/decompress after work, I don't get to working out until night time.  We weren't allowed to start the AMRAPs until midnight Eastern, so I waited until the wee hours of Tuesday morning for mine.

After the 15 min AMRAP, I did HDT XVII-20 week 5 core, followed by 90 min of dragging a 30# sandbag 0.5 mi.  I finished at 3-something AM.  I had started everything at around 10pm.  I had spent an hour shifting around sandbag weights, trying to see the heaviest weight I was capable of carrying.  I wanted to try to get the 80#er on myself but only ended up with the 55#er in the end.  

Prepping for even short tasks like the 3:30 max double bucket carry carry hold takes time.  Then those drags... 

I saw my first coyote in person during the coupon ruck.  The neighborhood facebook group has warned about coyotes eating small pets, so I brought a spear with me to do the SB drags.

It was like a GORUCK Light's worth of work and time, it felt like, by the end of the long, long night!  Crazy.

Tuesday, Apr 7:

I saw some facebook posts about a pink supermoon.  I had forgotten about it until I went out to check the mail (I try to delay when I check it, so that there's less risk of COVID) at about 10pm, about 30 min before the peak.  The moon was bright.  That explained why there was so much light out night when I did sandbag drags the night before.  

I decided to go on a "moon walk" around the neighborhood with my ruck.  I wasn't feeling recovered, especially as tired as I was from the previous long night, so I just used 20# and treated it as a recovery ruck.  

I followed it up with a 2 mi run in 15:54.

Wednesday, Apr 8:

HDT XVII-20 O2 Depletion Care Package 25 min AMRAP.  Biceps sore today.  Not sleeping enough this week.  May not be eating enough, either.  I've been pretty intentional about getting more protein (in the form of whey powder) since starting HDT, but I slacked off on that this week.

Thursday, Apr 9:

HDT March Madness Round 2 15 min Body Weight AMRAP.  I ended up getting knocked out of the main bracket in this round, but I lost to a hard-working, strong guy with solid form, so I don't feel bad about it.

Friday, Apr 10:

Needed some body maintenance today, in the form of a TENS unit on my back, and mobility floss and the theradrill on my left tibialis anterior.

HDT XVII-20 Week 5 Legs, with another max hold bucket carry challenge, and more 30# 0.5 mi sandbag drags.

Sunday, Apr 12:

To cap off Heavy Week, I decided to go heavy with adding more weight in my ruck, since I couldn't get a heavier sandbag on my shoulders.  With a 40# ruck and a 55# SB, I could get through the mile without stopping, though my upper back wasn't super happy.  I know it's not a good idea to ruck nearly your body weight, but events call for it, so I need at least some conditioning for it.

One of my fellow HDT+ers used the slow mo feature on her phone to record her squat cleans.  Her form is impeccable.  It inspired me to try, too.  I decided to go for 70# for the first time, and I was able to do a couple!

Did HDT XVII-20 Arms, and more SB drags, in the rain.  I had waited until the last day to do this last workout, so that I could taper and have the best chance for March Madness.  But that meant not being able to avoid the weather.  It was rainy, very windy, and chilly.  It was kind of odd to spend my Eastern Sunday this way.  A weird Easter, for sure.  I was just sitting out there for an hour, after the workout was already over, sitting on the ground in the rain, dragging that sandbag through the trench that the bag had formed, with water flowing down it.  

A couple of times, I half expected to see my GORUCK teammates next to me when I looked around, since I'd typically be doing this kind of thing at an event with them.  But it was just me and the wind and rain.  

Tuesday, Apr 14:

I was out of the main bracket, but Bryan created a mini bracket, so I participated in the round 3 ruck AMRAP with 20#.  I ended up getting knocked out of that, too, but I didn't care so much, now that I was out of the running for the main tournament.  I only point that out because I'm normally super competitive about stuff.  This is a rare exception.

After that, I did the 20 min 30# SB AMRAP for HDT week 6.  I went from doing 8 rounds of it 5 weeks ago, to doing 10 rounds this week!  It's been nice to see gains like my squat clean PR and this.  As tedious as some of the + work has been, it seems like it's been effective!

After that, a 6 mile ruck in 1:26:42 with 20#.  My times have not improved, but that's OK.  That's not my focus right now.

Wednesday, Apr 15:

HDT XVII-20 Week 6 legs, including a 1 mi coupon ruck with what started as 5 gallons of water, which ended up as maybe 1 gallon.  I was going really slow, but I still ended up spilling a lot.  I didn't care at this point anymore, though.  The ruck was 30#.

Week 6 brought a new torture device.

Thursday, Apr 16:

I got the new ruck club patches for CLTRC!  It was cool to design something and see it turn into something real.  It was also nice to get to use some of my creative side that I don't normally get a chance to express with my job.

Team Assessment got postponed until September, which buys me 3 more months.  Good, because I needed it.  My squat cleans are still far from where they need to be.  I need to still increase my PR weight by 10#, get to a point where I can do 7 within 1 min with that weight, and be able to do it with the standard 80# bag with 40# fillers and no compression straps.  I was very happy about the news.  

HDT XVII-20 Week 6 Arms.  I constructed it indoors this time, so that I wouldn't have to drag everything outside and set it up in the dark.

Friday, Apr 17:

HDT XVII-20 Week 6 Core, including a 1 mi ruck with 20# in 11:45, including 3 stops to tie my MACV-1 shoe laces.  And with that, HDT round XVII-20 was complete.  On to the tie breaker!

Saturday, I could wash all of my gear.  My ruck smelled like wet rope, and the SB was beat up from the drags on the gravel.

The right shoulder straps (if you're wearing it) of my ruckers have started coming out of their sockets, too, so they'll need to go to SCARS for repairs.

I've noticed a lot more wildlife while at home.  I don't know if it's because there is less human activity, or less pollution, or if they've always been there this time of year / this time of day, but I'm normally at work and therefore not able to appreciate it.

More silliness with my sister:

Sunday, Apr 19:

I did the virtual 2.62 mile Tough Ruck to honor Mario Santoro, a paramedic who lost his life trying to get people out of the WTC on 9/11.  

During the ruck, I finally found some of the stuffed animals that neighbors had been putting in windows for kids to find in "bear hunts".  They started doing that at the beginning of Stay-at-Home, but I typically ruck at night, and not a lot of houses have it, so I was just now discovering them.  It was a nice surprise, and it made me want to ruck by every house in the neighborhood at some point to hunt for bears.

It was so delightful that I decided to put one up, too.  It's a little easier to see in person than it is in the picture.

After the ruck, I did the tie breaker AMRAP for round XVII-20.  

Monday, Apr 20:

Now that HDT was officially over for 2 weeks, I could spend some time catching up on rucking.  I'd normally fit in more rucking, but "+" takes a lot of extra time... 2-3x as much time as normal HDT.

5.5 mi with 30#, sans waist belt, in 1:49:52.

Tuesday, Apr 21:

Even though I was out of both the main and mini brackets for March Madness, I went ahead and did the 25 min SB AMRAP #1 for fun.  Since my 40# SB was already clean, I put the 40# filler in a 60# SB.  It made movements more awkward, and I had to shift the filler bag over a few times, but it wasn't terrible.  

I did a 3.5 mi ruck afterwards, again without the waist belt.  I could've put one on the ruck, but it's also good to remind oneself every now and then of what it's like to not be able to use certain pieces of gear, like gloves or waist belts.  I used 30# again so that I could get more accustomed to rucking with event weight, which would be a 20# weight, plus water and gear.

Wednesday, Apr 22:

6 miles with 20# in 2:02:22.  Went with a lighter weight today.  My body is sore in lots of places from the AMRAP, and my upper back was still a little out of whack.

Friday, Apr 24:

Did the 25 min 40# AMRAP for the finals for fun.  I tied up the ends of the 60# shell for a better fit against the 40# filler this time, which helped.

It was fun to remotely cheer on a friend in her finals comp afterwards.

Saturday, Apr 25:

I like to get in some more running when I'm not in the middle of PATHFINDER rounds, too.  It's been at least 7 weeks since I did a run longer than 2 miles, so I was eager to do a decent run.

I used the daylight and the reduced traffic on roads to explore the broader reaches of my neighborhood.  I discovered 2 subdivisions that I didn't realize were connected to my own.  One has super fancy mansions by the water.  Another has cute little lake houses by the water.  I can't believe they've been there all along!  

12.0 in 1:57:05, 9:45/mi average.  I'm surprised that my feet and legs held up ok.  I guess the rucking has helped them stay fairly conditioned.  My legs did get tired in the last couple of miles, but I also didn't drink or eat anything.  I think if I had, I could've kept going.  But it's better to ease back into things, anyways.  

I did Yoga with Adriene, Home - Day 15 - Reset, at night.  It's been a long time since I've done mobility work, too.  

One surprising thing about COVID is that weekends go by quickly.  Never long enough.  I wonder why that is.  Maybe it's because there aren't events that make it feel like I've accomplished something notable each weekend.  It all kind of blends into the rest of the week.  On the weekends, I tend to just keep doing when I'm not working on weekdays, which is eat, sleep/rest, and workout.

A nice freezer find that my parents had left me long ago... pork tenderloin.

Another one... old banana.

Sunday, Apr 26:
I mostly signed up for the Inter-round body weight program of HDT to see what the workouts were like.  There's no tracking, so it's pretty informal.  Since I was busy with rucking, running, and doing a couple of MM AMRAPs this week, I didn't get around to trying any of the workouts until Sunday night at the end of Week 1.

It ended up being surprisingly good.  I did two of them back-to-back, since they aren't too intense if you're not trying to grind through as fast as possible.  You get to pick from three levels of rep counts for each set, and I felt comfortable with doing the advanced level on all of the exercises.  I wasn't necessarily planning on doing two, but I was still feeling pretty good after the first one.

I started with Arms & Core, since my legs still felt used from the previous day's run.  It took 45 min.  It got my blood flowing, so I felt OK enough to try the Legs & Core workout next.  It seemed pretty doable.  Nothing was too jarring... the most jarring thing for my legs would be burpees, and that's controllable.  There's special focus on stability and balance in the inter-round, so the leg workout was great for my ankles.  Low impact, but helpful.  This one took 40 min.