After getting back from from the "Myrtle Beach" FAD weekend, I got in a 40 min Horizon ruck workout - "Death by Ruck". I was tired and had multiple things I needed to do, but I wanted to make sure that I got in a workout. My joints were crinkly, maybe because of lingering effects of Bragg, or maybe from sleeping in the car curled up to stay warm from the freezing temps outside. It included a 1 mile ruck warmup at the beginning in 19:10.
Tuesday, Feb 25:
On the way back from Bragg, SBass and I brainstormed a workout that included a lot of highlights from Bragg 2020. I beta tested it with 20# in a rucker. The 1 mi warmup ruck took 20:32, and then the PT took 21:25, and it finished with a 1 mi coupon ruck in 26:23 with a toy car that I found by the dumpster that I carried home by lifting one side and rolling the other for 0.6 mi, followed by 0.4 mi with a sandbag. The car was really heavy, and I couldn't tell why at the time, but it turns out that there was a bunch of water in the wheels.
The Workout:
Warmup
- 1 mi ruck or run
Welcome Party
- 30 4-ct Overhead Hand Claps
- 30 4-ct Flutter Kicks
- 30 Squats with Ruck Front
- 30 4-ct Mountain Climbers
- 30 4-ct Cherry Pickers
- 30 Lunges
- 10 Dive Bombers
Suckfest
- 10 Prone Overhead Ruck Rolls Left
- 10 Prone Overhead Ruck Rolls Right
- 20 Burpees No Ruck
- 30 Right Arm Touch Low Crawl with Ruck
- 10 Shoulder-to-Shoulder
Coupon Ruck
- 1 mile
Thursday, Feb 27:
I signed up for my second round of HDT to help me get ready for Team Assessment. They started offering a Sandbag&Ruck+ version of their program, which adds some extra tasks to the normal Sandbag&Ruck workouts for bonus physical and mental preparation.
I did my baseline tests, starting off with two attempts the TA PT test:
I had a cold or something that I had been dealing with since the weekend, which made breathing a little harder than usual. Pushups: 27 & 27, Situps: 39 & 40, Squat Cleans with 55#: 7 & 7.
Then, 2 min APFT pushups with 34 reps, 2 min situps with 68 reps, 5 min burpees with 65 reps, 14:53 slick run in the Altra Torin Plush, and 6 mi strict ruck in 1:25:01 with 20# in the Speed Rucker and MACV-1s.
It's just a test, but it was a decent amount of work... 10 min of APFT, about 10 min of APFT PT, and then 1:40 of rucking and running. I choose more rucking miles than most, though. I did decrease my running distance from 5 to 2 miles, to make the run a little less demanding this time. It would be more like an add-on, than a stand-alone workout.
Friday, Feb 28:
Playful Yoga Practice with Adriene on Youtube, followed by foam rolling. My muscles felt too weak from yesterday's activities to do another workout. I needed mobility work, anyways, since it's been a while.
Saturday, Feb 29 - Leap Day:
3:60 Horizon Core WOD (with a 1 mi ruck with 20# at the start in 19:13), followed by some exercises for an extra 15 min to help me with squat cleans. The WOD was easier than the others, but it was nice for active recovery. My cold or whatever felt like it hit an inflection point, so hopefully, it's getting better.
Sunday, Mar 1:
Shopping for SB&R+ supplies was interesting.
- 25 feet of 1 inch rope
- 2 x 24 in lengths of chain
- 2 x climbing carabiners
- 2 x 5 gallon buckets
- 4x4x8 foot beam
- eyelets to put into the beam
- 50# sand
It had been a while since I had done a decent run, so I wanted to get one in and make sure that everything in my body still worked like it should. It was a good run. I tried Altra Superiors for the first time, and I loved them. Fantastic trail shoe with good cushioning.
During the run, since I still had remnants of the cold, I coughed a few times. I chuckled to myself because in the Zombies, Run! app that I play when I run sometimes, you're immersed (in an audio way) in a story where you're a first-person role player. In the story, you go on missions in a post-apocalyptic world where you try to survive against zombies and bad guys. When characters in the story have gotten bitten and are infected by zombies, a tell-tale sign is that they cough. I joked to myself that I had become one of the infected ones at last.
7.0 in 1:25:15, 12:11/mi average. 551 feet of elevation gain.
Monday, Mar 2:
6 mi strict ruck with 20# in the Speed Rucker in 1:33:00, with the Altra Torin Plush, which felt too plush and which lacked sufficient support for what my feet needed.
Tuesday, Mar 3:
Did the "Worst Hobby Ever" Horizon WOD. It was supposed to be an EMOM, but I couldn't finish all of the reps within a minute, so I just kept going until I finished. I feel like my body hasn't done ruck workouts in forever, and it wasn't used to it. It had been about a week.
Thursday, Mar 5:
Cabarrus Ruck Club has been hosting weekly workouts on Thursday mornings at 5am to help members prepare for the upcoming A Shau Valley Tough/Light. SBass was leading one this week, and had something special planned. It was going to have a theme and story that went along with all of the work we were going to do. We got a preview of what to expect a couple of days prior.
We had a good group show up. We started with some pre-mission training, with some PT and a demo of how to do sandbag swaps. We armed ourselves with waterguns and mini marshmallow guns.
Then, we coupon rucked 0.5 mi over to the Gazebo, where we made contact with the Doctor. We had brought along some resources that we used for negotiation.
Eventually, the Doctor accepted the trade, and we got the meds that we wanted. Before we could leave, though, we had some PT to pay.
With our casualties and the meds, we headed back towards base camp.
When we got near the camp, though, we had to cross a field where we expected resistance from the enemy, so we bounded with our coupons to get back safely. We ended with some pullups and then a little yoga. Mission accomplished!
Afterwards, I drove to work, showered at work, then went about my day.
That night, at around midnight, I did some more work with the Deck of Cards, Cleve Heavy style. The Manmakers in the "Worst Hobby Ever" workout had made me realize how weak my back had become, so I wanted to work on it. I got into it after stretching, foam rolling, and chocolate.
- Heart = 8-ct Body Builders
- Spades = Brickyard Man Makers
- Clubs = Flutter Kicks
- Diamonds = Ruck Swings
Reps:
- Ace = 20
- Face = 15
- Numbers as-is
- Jokers = Jog in Place for 1 min
It took me 74 minutes. It's such a beautifully designed workout. The exercises are a good mixture, the rep counts are reasonable, and there's an element of variation and surprise to keep things fresh and exciting.
Saturday, Mar 7:
For the Charlotte Ruck Club, I organized a combo ruck + PT. I needed to do a navigation ruck anyways, and I added the PT at the waypoints as a twist to keep things interesting. I called it the "City PT Tour". All of the participants had been at Bragg last month, so it was nice to reunite and see everyone out training again.
Freedom Park
- 50 Leg Levers
- 10 8-ct Body Builders
- 20 Lunges
Evans Clock Tower
- 5 min Overhead Hold (incl breaks if necessary)
Mint Museum
- 20 Ruck Swings
- 20 Ruck Curls
- 20 High Pulls
Trader Joe's Parking Garage
- Climb to the Top
- 40 Squats with Ruck Front
- 40 4-ct Cherry Pickers
NASCAR HOF
- Crab Walk Race
Panther Stadium
- 50 Ruck Jump Burpees
- Panther Walk
There was more planned, but we took more time than I expected, so I cut out 3 waypoints, and we headed back to Bad Daddy's Burger Bar by the start point for brews and food.
We covered some good mileage, and got some good workouts in along the way!
Sunday, March 8, was the last time I went to stores. Not messing around.
Monday, March 9:
Heavy Drop Training Round XVII-20 started, and I was paired up with an HDT newbie from WV. Prior to the Upper Body workout, I had to practice ruck dumps. I did this with my gear compartmentalized in a way that made everything fit in the 25L Rucker.
For the Coupon Ruck, the Plus-ers carried a 5 gal bucket of water with the goal of not spilling to avoid a penalty. I tried to ruck with my normal pace, and that resulted in about half of the bucket spilling all over me. When you ruck, your body and your movement naturally causes the water to sway.
Tuesday, March 10:
6 mi strict ruck with 20# in the Speed Rucker in 1:23:37 in the Altra Torin Plush, which felt more comfortable this time. After a bowl of spaghetti.
Wednesday, March 11:
HDT Week 1 Lower Body workout. Very little spillage this time because I went super slow, but my biceps were smoked. The PT took 70 min.
Friday, March 13:
Did the TA PT Test again for fun, doing my best yet with 26 pushups, 40 situps, and 8 squat cleans at 55#. Afterwards, I did my 2 mi slick run in 14:56.
Sunday, Mar 15:
Started with Yoga with Adriene - Home - Day 3 - Awaken.
Then, did the 20 min SANDDOOM AMRAP.
Then, did the ruck dump and core workout in 35 min with a 1 mile ruck with a capped 5 gallon bucket of water. I decided to cap it, so that I wasn't spilling everywhere and looking weird in my neighborhood where people might start getting antsy about COVID.
I kept expecting to get a notification saying that we could start working from home, but we still had to go to work on Monday. I didn't think it was a good idea. I left my backpack in my car, and only took my laptop in, and wiped stuff down. Mid-day Monday, though, we were told that we could start working from home.
ENTER THE COVID ERA...
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