Sunday, May 2:
SB & I went down to Pete's range to help me train for Alpha Shooter. When we arrived, there was a truck there, and it turned out to be Fagan! We got to put functional fitness to the test on the tracks. He had brought a little one along, who asked SB & I where "the boyfriend" was. At first, we were confused, before we realized that he was referring to Pete, haha. Pete gave him a watch and showed him how to set an alarm, to Fagan's delight, I'm sure.
After the ruck gave everyone at the GVL Shooter event a lot of trouble, I wanted to do a test run with my gear. It's not often that you can ruck around with a rifle slung around your back with a battle belt on you. I wanted to test out the short frame rucker, since that would accommodate all of the height of the battle belt setup better. It ended up being OK. It'll always be uncomfortable and have some risk of skin pinching between the belt and the gear and the ruck, but it wasn't terrible. The VTAC backpack sling was decent. We covered 1.5 miles in 26:43.
We did pistol and rifle drills, with sandbag PT mixed in, to mimic the GVL Shooter Comp. SB was nice enough to take the 60#er so that I could use the 40#er. We practiced shooting with our rucks on, as well. It does feel a little different, but it doesn't change things too significantly.
That night, I mixed up matcha ice cream, dark chocolate gelato, and matcha powder for a nice dessert.
Did the "Dedicate - Day 1 - Discern" Yoga with Adriene Youtube video. It was good to un-jack my body. My neck and back made little popping noises while I was breathing.
Tuesday, May 4:
THE DAY BEFORE TA (May 5)
(love this guy)
FIRST HALF DAY OF TA (May 6)
Met up with SB to make the trip up to Bellbrook, OH, to spectate Team Assessment 2021. We wanted to be able to see the event from the other side and cheer on people we knew who were taking it on. It would also be fun to watch, period, and see how it would shake out.
(love this guy)
We checked out a nearby taco place called "Rusty Taco", which we ended up loving for its variety and quality, and we ended up going there at least 2 more times over the course of the trip!
Since it was nice to do our year, we organized a meetup the day before the event, for people to bring dinner to the start point of the event. It's a good opportunity to be familiar with where you'll go the next day, so that directions and logistics aren't an issue. It makes it less scary in your mind if you've seen it before in a low-stress context. It's also nice to be able to meet some of your fellow competitors in a casual setting. SB even shared some tips for the event with the group.
After dinner, we did a drive-by of JHOP. There were many cars there, probably cadres cars as they did their scheming. We also spotted the slosh pipes!
It felt like coming home, because we were so familiar with the soccer field and with JHOP. It's a very meaningful place for us now, because of what happened there 6 months prior. It was nice to be back, without the pressure of having to do the event.
The Morning
We got to JHOP at about 8:15, when the first teams were finishing. Their Timed 12 was mostly on roads. Teams had to re-weigh their rucks when they finished, to make sure everyone was still meeting the standard.
TA didn't start until 6pm, so JB, SB, and I decided to tackle the APFT, so that SB could knock it out as well. We used the opportunity to create some videos about PU and SU tips for PATHFINDER, in the parking lot of the hotel.
Don't believe SB if she downplays her running. She says that she doesn't like to run, and she doesn't consider herself fast, but if you try running with her, she starts zooming.
(my friends are awesome)
Checkin
People arrived. There were supporters and participants. There was a scale near the pavilion, where the rosters could double-check the weight of their rucks to make sure that they met the dry weight requirement. Nick was out and about, doing little interviews before the event. There was an impromptu meeting where instructions were given about where to place kit bags and line up for the checkin process. That's one of the reasons I like being close... if something comes up and you need to know something, you're there. I spread the word to the ones who were on the other end of the parking lot at the time.
We did not have kit bags our year, so this was a new twist. It definitely made packing easier, since there was more space to store stuff, and there would be a bit less to lug around, gear-wise. They did still have to have the same dry weight (in fact, more, for the women, since the requirement bumped up from 20# to 30#) in their rucks, though.
Another twist was that there was a table of random objects that the rosters were asked to review for 30 seconds and memorize. The tests had already begun. One team got a strike before they even left the checkin tent, because their ruck was under-weight. Scales don't always read exactly the same, so it's better to be on the safe side than to show up light.
Admin
"Admin" makes it sound like a bunch of talking and instructions, but this is what they call the PT test and gear inspection. This is still just the barrier to entry, before the event even truly starts. Make sure you have the required gear and can meet minimum standards of fitness.
The Cadres (Barbarossa, DS, Hand, Jason, Rich, Mocha, Cleve, JC) introduced themselves.
You can prepare as well as you can based on what you know, but also prepare for twists. They had to dump and repack the kit bags as well, during the ruck dump, which started at 3:30pm. They also made the partners mix their gear together in a big pile before repacking this time, which added to the chaos. They also made people discombobulate rolled up items.
I was proud of Tina & Liz for being the first to successfully repack. Ruck dumps are a staple of the Tier 1 events. You can count on it, which means you can prepare for it by practicing. If you don't do well, it shows that you didn't care enough to practice, or maybe you did, but you didn't do it in a smart way, or you got frazzled by the twists. Train in non-ideal conditions. Make it hard on your self intentionally, because that's something you can expect the cadres to do on game day.
The cadres demonstrated the rules for the pushups at 4:13pm.
The rosters were tested in each row, with everyone else's backs turned, like they did the previous year.
Sit-ups were next, with demos, followed by the tests, with partners holding each others' feet. The demos started at 4:40pm.
We live streamed it, channeling our inner Jon Cichelli, who famously provided excellent commentary in 2020. The cool thing about previous finishers live streaming is that they can provide context and first-hand accounts of what different phases may be feeling like for the rosters.
I tried my hand at live-streaming as well, although I forgot to unlock the portrait orientation of my phone ahead of time, so the video was sideways for everyone 😅.
Unlike last year, there were no relays at the soccer field, though. Instead, the teams set off on their timed 12 mile ruck after loading their kit bags into a truck, at 5:30pm.
Note: At Selection 2021 later in the year, the rosters had to carry their kit bags on a 5 mile ruck to JHOP, so you never know! Mentally prepare yourself for the worst, and for twists.
While they set off, we had dinner to fuel up before the long night. After dinner, we hit up a local grocery store that had a drive-through beer barn. We were going to need supplies for the weekend. It felt a little bit like a combination car wash + fast food order line. They also sold large bags of loose-leaf tobacco.
JHOP
The teams got baptized in the ways of TA in the waters of the Little Miami River the first night at 9:45pm with hydroburpees.
It started raining. During the event, I'd try to provide updates to the family members of the participants. They probably worry about how their loved ones are doing. This isn't really an event that is conducive to spectating, and historically, Tier 1 events don't really allow it. My family didn't really know what I was doing when I did mine, though, since I try to not scare them with what I'm doing. It would only cause unnecessary worry, and they don't care much about what I consider big accomplishments in the exercise realm, even if I do well. Anyway, I wanted to provide proof of life and updates, although even without this service, they could assume that no news is good news, assuming their roster updates them if they drop early, or assuming no staff member contacts them for emergency contact purposes.
The rosters' grip strength was tested for hours at a time in different evolutions up and down the hill. The rain made the hill slick, which made for slower and more unstable movements, and less mileage covered than if it had been dry, firm ground. My phone's ability to endure the rain and take photos as night was also put to the test! The hill turned into a slip and slide after a while.
I did another live feed in the dark, and it wasn't until I was almost done with the live feed when I realized that I had had it on selfie mode the whole time, but it was so dark that I didn't realize that it was pointed towards me instead of towards the rosters. They wouldn't have been able to see much anyways without a big spotlight, but it was kind of funny. It was my second live feed learning experience.
A number of people dropped out from the cold, or the discomfort caused by the cold. It definitely has a mental impact when you're muddy, tired, wet, and cold, and it's dark, and you know that you're still in the first 12 hours, maybe the easiest 12 hours, of a 48 hour event. As people dropped, they were paired up with others as more singles became available. They even paired up people who had been in the womens' division, with people in the open division. If you really want it, you'll continue however you need to.
SB and I went back to the hotel to catch some rest, since we still had a long way to go with spectating, and we didn't want to be zombies for the rest of it. We stayed until about 3am.
In the morning, before I was back onsite, the rosters had a workout that involved doing sandbag exercises, followed by trips into the river. The exercises would help with warming back up, but it must've been hard having to go back into the water each time. More dropped after that.
At events, tell yourself that you won't ever quit during an evolution/segment... if you're tempted, just tell yourself that you can quit once you finish that segment. Then once you finish that segment, tell yourself that you're not allowed to quit in the breaks between segments, that you must at least start the next one, because it may not be as bad as you think. And repeat until you finish.
Day 2
The second PT test, which wasn't a strikeable event, consisted of
1. 50 yard run2. 15 SB GU (40#)3. 50 yard SB farmer's carry (40#)4. 50 yard SB backwards drag (120#)5. 15 SB push press (40#)
You don't get to rest for long, though. The Cadres keep you on your toes.
The next evolution was a loop around the field with the newly released weight vest, plus rucks. I did a third live feed at this time and walked the loop, to give everyone back at a home an idea of what it was like. Most of the event had taken place in the main path to the river and in the section of field by the river, so this would give them a broader perspective. I tried to share lessons and experiences from my event year, as I ran it.
When they got back to the top of the hill, they had to put sandbags (120#/80#) onto poles, go down to the relay field, and do laps back and forth with that, as many laps as possible. You could low carry it, shoulder carry it, walk on a horizontal plane with your partner, or walk on a vertical plane with your partner... all up to you.
The table of random objects made a re-appearance, so they might've gotten another chance to review what was on it.
The shadows had the luxury of hanging out under a canopy or by the quitter's fire, and drank beer.
Like in 2020, they were woken up abruptly, but this time, instead of diving into physical activity, they had to ramp up their mental capacities for a cognitive test with number and word puzzles. I wonder how they felt, 26 hours into the event and groggy from the potential nap.
After the test, they set off on a slosh pipe and bucket evolution. They're empty initially, but they get filled up in the river. The first year, they used gravel and water. Our year and this year, they just used water.
We were nice and waited until after the teams left, before diving into pizza that we had ordered. The smell and promise of warmth would've been very tempting.
It was past 8pm by now, so this evolution continued as the sun set.
Day 3
We went back to the hotel for more rest, and came back before sunrise. The rosters were told to turn around and face in the direction of the river, a little before 6am. These people had made it to the final day. The volunteers kept the fire going.
The shadows couldn't stick around and watch for too long, because a few days before TA, GORUCK announced that they were going to host a Cloverleaf for just $6 or so at JHOP on the last morning. They had hosted a Cloverleaf during our TA as well, and it was nice to have signs of hope and extra people cheering us on at the end when we did ours.
DS led it, where we started with a SB toss down the hill, a coupon carry around the field to the river, 7.5/10 rounds of "Sloth" for me (ruck lunge out and back, SB bear crawl fowards out and backwards drag back, with 25m one way), a fast ruck around the field with a shortcut, and then a workout where we did 50 flutter kicks, 10/8/6/4/2 clean and toss and pushups, and 50 more flutter kicks. We finished with farmers carrying our SB and rucks to the top of the hill, with a 5 air squat penalty each time we had to stop to put our stuff down. It was good to get to join in the muddy fun and work out again on the hallowed grounds of JHOP. We covered 3 miles in about 2 hours and 30 minutes.
While we were doing the Cloverleaf, the TA teams got really muddy in a lesson about camouflaging. They went into the river to wash off the sandbags, and then they did hydro burpees and lots of rucks overhead, which washed them off as well. Holding rucks overhead is hard enough when you're fresh... this far into an event, especially when the ruck is full of water, it's extremely difficult.
The Cadres know all the ways to test you, both physically and mentally. They know the tricks. They know how to make you feel it, because they've been there and survived and thrived at their own selection processes.
They got to "warm back up" with some PT by the fire... how nice of the cadres. They took the empty sandbags back up to the top of the hill, and put away the slosh pipes.
You might be very tempted to start breathing a sigh of relief at this point. It seems like the instruments of torture are all being put away. It's past 10:30am on the third calendar day now. But there's always more. They like to end with a bang and make you earn it.
First, though, they had another cognitive test, where they tried to recall the list of items on the table.
Then came what seemed like the most difficult parts. They were marched down the road to a dead-end street where they had to do different movements with their sandbags in unison. That made it very obvious if you were falling behind, which got you a lot of unwanted attention. This part wasn't about points anymore... it was about survival.
During the ruck back, they wanted to push the people who were lagging behind, so they threatened that whoever was last would get a strike. A couple of the teams in the back already had two strikes, so this was life or death for them.
While the teams are competing against each other during this event, they have also endured something very difficult together and feel a bond because of it. I think I got to witness an act of gallantry and self-sacrifice during that final push, where one team did end up getting a strike, but one that could still afford it.
They ended up at a roundabout, where they had to just keep circling the wagon for an indefinite amount of time. Everyone is in view, so there's no getting away with stopping or going slow.
Eventually, they got to to the backyard again, for what felt like the final shark attack, with lots of PT and extra water movtivation.
If I remember correctly, when it was time for them to sing the national anthem, it wasn't passionate enough, so they had to low crawl and then go back to the wheel of death. That must've been super disheartening, to think you're almost done, and then lose it. That must happen in battle, too, which is why they're tested this way. The enemy always has a vote. Never let your guard down and celebrate too early. Keep fighting until the very end.
The next time around, they did sing to standard, and they were patched.
Celebrations all around!
It was cathartic to come back here about 8 months later, and see my classmates again, and see the human spirit prevail in this year's competitors. TA remains the most difficult event that I've done, by far. It made me question my ability to prevail twice, but thanks to my good partner, we worked together, endured, and never gave up, in spite of the odds and how bad things seemed. After completing that, I know I can complete most other things. TA puts you through the wringer, but what you learn from it and gain from the experience is worth it.
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