GORUCK Extortion 17 Tough/Basic in Wilmington, NC

Monday, Aug 2:

I did 5 miles in the v3 rucker with 30# plus water.  Originally, I was planning to ruck to the subdivision's fitness room to do stationary biking to start training for the Sea to Sea adventure race, but there were people in there, and I didn't want to catch COVID.  I watched videos and listened to podcasts related to adventure racing as I rucked.  I learned about what to look for in a good adventure racing bike.  It felt good to ruck for active recovery, since I had been sore in my feet and my pull-up muscles.

Tuesday, Aug 3:

After range day with SB, 

I got in the PATHFINDER Rucklympics Week 1 workout in 48:28.  It didn't feel too intense, I couldn't even tell what muscles I had worked afterwards.  Some members of our group were into it, though, so I did it to support them.

Thursday, Aug 5:

SB hosted a Cabarrus Ruck club event where she would lead us in a yoga practice.

I went to the local cycling store ahead of time, to see what they had available.  The pandemic made people gravitate towards outdoor activities, so the demand of bikes had risen.  Supply was probably impacted, too, with factories and supply chains around the world impacted as well.  There was a waiting list for the model that was the best fit that they had to offer, but if the wand chooses the wizard, this one didn't speak to me a whole lot when I test drove it.

Yoga was great.  It's cool seeing someone do something that they're really good at, and learn from them, especially when they're your friend!  During the class, we even got to attempt a headstand, which I think I did for the first time in my life.  That was a neat experience.

GORUCK EXTORTION 17 TOUGH

I wanted to do this event for a several reasons.

1) Cadre Dan was leading this event.

2) It was going to be Cadre Dan's 10th anniversary of leading Toughs.  

3) It was going to be my first time in Wilmington.  I've been wanting to get out here to do an event for a while.

I had built a team weight when nobody had one to offer, but a different one came up last-minute, and we went with that one, instead.

Bridget was there as well, since it's not too far from where she lives.  It's always fun doing events when she's there.  To celebrate the 10th anniversary, Cadre Dan was going to tell stories about favorite moments from his 10 years along the way.  

One example of a story is a Tough in Houston, where they went a long distance and expected an easy stream crossing to help them get home.  The river ended up being a raging one, but backtracking wasn't a great option, so they dumped their coupons, tested for a safe crossing, and got everyone through.

We started the event the way events used to begin - with a beer.  This was my first time officially *starting* a Tough with a beer, as opposed to finishing with a beer.  Some people pre-game with a beer, but beer makes me want to use the bathroom sooner than I otherwise would, so I don't do it.

It had been raining, so the tennis court where we started was wet.  As usual, the atmosphere of the event with Dan is pretty relaxed and genial.  We had a coupon : person ratio of 1:2.  I carried a sandbaby for the first 1/3 of the event only.  We did the Extortion 17 WOD 2x during the event, with breaks mid-way through both times.  

Our first stop was at the 5 mile mark at Halyburton Park.  Our second stop was at the 13 mile mark at Claude Howell Park.  By then, the morning was coming.  We celebrated another Tough tradition there, that I had not previously taken part in - Fireball.

The Extortion 17 WOD was a 31 min AMRAP of

• 8 thrusters
• 6 rows
• 11 squat and jump over ruck

alternating with a partner, who would do a 400m sandbag run in the meantime (we rested).

At the end of the event, while celebrating with a second beer, we took a picture in front of his trusty truck, which he'd be retiring.  This would also be the retirement of the 10# sandbabies, since he wouldn't have a good place to store them in his new home.

GORUCK EXTORTION 17 BASIC

The Basic ended up being unique as well, because we stayed in a single park the entire time, doing loops but with different combinations of coupons and going in different directions.  It wasn't boring at all, and I quite liked the format, as a way to change things up.  You always knew you were close to home.

I decided to go with ranger panties, which is rare for me.  Since it was threatening to rain and was pouring in the beginning, it was a reasonable choice.  We did our welcome party in the parking lot, and it didn't require low crawling or anything that would've made pants a better option.

During the event, we did the Extortion 17 WOD again, with a break halfway through for a history lesson, and half of a slick Robbie Miller WOD.

It was special being able to celebrate Cadre Dan's 10th with him.  He's one of the best, and has done a lot to make GORUCK what it is today.  His events are always unique and well-thought out.  No matter how many events you've done, you can always expect to be delighted and thrown something unexpected with him.

Asheville Spartan Super 2021

Saturday, July 31:

I signed up for the Asheville Spartan Super with SB.  I haven't been running much, so I wasn't looking for a fast time.  I mainly wanted to do it and have fun, so it was a great opportunity to do the race with a first-time Spartan racer.  She's done at least one OCR before, but it had been a while, and Spartan just has a different vibe.  They do a good job with the festival area and atmosphere, and it adds to the excitement of the event.

Tryon is one of the more fun venues, because they hold equestrian events there.  You can see the horse jumps and other obstacles on course, so it's unique.  Last year for the Beast, we got to wade through a shallow man-made pond that had large objects that made it feel like a miniature golf course.  The land and grass is pristine, too, because it's made for fancy horse events.

As we approached each obstacle, I'd give SB tips on how to navigate the obstacle.  What made me go from a struggling racer to one who could do well was discovering techniques that allowed someone with limited upper body strength and height to succeed.  I didn't necessarily gain any strength.  I just figured out the tricks.  You still need some strength... grip strength, and some pull-up strength, but nothing crazy.

Hurdles are a matter of getting as much of your weight forward past the upper part of the bar as possible, and then letting the center of gravity do the rest, after you get a good push up.

On the inverted wall, get a good simultaneous kick as you pull yourself up, get your forearm over the edge, and then get a leg over to finish it.

We had previously tackled rope climbs at Pete's.  It's about hanging long enough to get your feet clamped around the rope, and then you can just squat up.  Try to use 90% leg power, and only 10% arm power.

For water crossings, try to keep your hands dry by lifting them up and even clenching fists to prevent incidental splashes from getting your hands wet.

With walls including Stairway to Sparta, get a good jump, maybe an upward kick up, grab, and then most importantly, try to get an ankle up.  Once that's hooked over the wall, you can use your strong leg muscles to pull the leg back and your body up.

On monkey-bar style obstacles like Twister, Multig, Beater or changing elevation monkey bars, you don't have to keep L-shaped arms.  You can keep your arms straight and build up momentum with your legs to go the required distances between bars.  

Olympus is one that I am rarely able to complete.  Maybe there's more technique for me to discover.

On The Box, if you can get a foot on one of the knots, it can be like a little rock climbing hold to help you get over.  This one is challenging.

Herc Hoist is where you can get leverage from your squatting muscles if you put a leg on the fence and pull with your core and arms while you push with your squatting leg.  

Sandbag Carries, Atlas Carries, and Bucket Carries have become nothing burgers to me, since I've started doing GORUCK events with heavier coupons for much longer distances.

Z-walls are a matter of patience to get good holds rather than rushing it and potentially slipping on the muddy and sometimes rounded cornered pieces of wood.  Throw your hips as far forward as possible, like you would while rock climbing, so that your arms have less pulling to do.  Let your legs hold you up as vertically as possible, to put minimal stress on your arms.  

On Barbed Wire Crawls, rolling is faster and less taxing than army crawling.  You get dizzy, but you can mitigate that by trying to keep your face pointed forward as often as possible, like a ballerina does while spinning.  

For Rolling Mud, there's no sense in trying to keep your hands dry, because you meet the Dunk Wall at the end anyways.  If you get a good jump into the water and get some distance, that is less for you to wade through.

On the Slip Wall, look for dry spots for your feet to use as you walk up.  Get a good run as you approach, so that you can get as high as possible with your feet alone, without the use of arms.

On cargo nets, if you're tired, you can use the chicken wing approach and grip with your elbow pit instead of your hands.

The Spear Throw is generally a no-go for me.  I still need to work on that one.

Helix is similar to the Z-wall, in that patience, and knowing how to shift your weight effectively, help.

SB did awesome, and crushed most of the obstacles as if she had been doing this for years.  The monkey bar style ones were tough for her, but the rest were good.  This "other side of racing", getting to enjoy it with a friend, and help someone through their first time, and share knowledge from my own experience with a sport that I love, was really rewarding and fun.

After the event, I volunteered at Herc Hoist on course, followed by Rope Climb and MultiRig Tear-down.  The Herc Hoist was at the top of a hill, so I got to enjoy some great views as I shouted the instructions to the racers making their way up to the obstacle.  Women on the red bags, men on the black bags.  Don't drop the bag at the top, or else you'll do burpees.

To my delight, 5 different friends from the rucking world came through the obstacle while I was manning it.  It was fun to be able to cheer them on, say hello, and take pictures.

Sunday, Aug 1:

The next morning, I went out to volunteer again, since the drive wasn't super long.  I signed up for my first ever shift as an elite wave obstacle referee.  I was assigned to the Spear Throw, which was nice, because I got to practice during the down-time.  This was near the end of the race, so I had a while before the racers showed up.

The other referee for that obstacle volunteers and refs a lot, and he showed me a technique that ended up working well for me, at least fresh.  I hit it maybe 30% of the time, which is up from like 3% of the time.

When I got home, I did the APFT to kick off PATHFINDER Class 029.  I did 46 pushups (45 is the minimum to get a score of 100 for my AG and gender), 81 situps (min 76 for the 100), and a 14:02 run (minimum 15:54).  It was 83 degrees, so that wasn't bad for a warm day after racing and volunteering.  I did a 2 mile strict ruck with 30# in the v3 Rucker wearing Ballistics afterwards, in 26:48.

It was a great weekend!

Sioux City & Omaha

Sunday, July 18:

While watching GORUCK Pre-selection, I became aware of how the Cadres spent about 15 minutes using the illusion of them wanting to switch from one exercise to another frequently, to get into the minds of the candidates while also physically exhausting them.  You have it in your mind that you are about to do one exercise, and you set it up by lifting your heavy ruck and moving your tired body into the proper starting position, only to be told to switch to some other exercise that you now have to shift everything over to.  It might frustrate you if you don't realize what's happening.  Just moving from one exercise's starting position to another, non-stop, is in and of itself a workout, too.  I decided to build my own Pre-selection 2021-inspired workout based on what the cadres had them do in the surf at Jax Beach during the beginning of the event (11pm on Friday night).  

Here's the workout, for your exercising pleasure...

Pre-selection 2021 Welcome Party Part 1 WOD

- 1 mile coupon ruck

Drop the Coupon, then with ruck:

- Low crawl 25m

- 5x (5 roll right / 5 roll left)

- 50 4-ct Flutter Kicks with ruck OH

- 10 Ruck F-Ups (refer to the YouTube video)

- 25 Leg Levers with ruck OH

- Bear Crawl 25m back to the Sandbag

Sandbag Work (with ruck):

- SB over-the-shoulder throw 25m

- 10 SB back squats

- 10 SB lunges (per leg, alternating legs each time)

- 1 min SB OH hold

- 10 SB farmers carry hold then dip to ground 

- Low crawl SB drag 25m

- Then SB side toss until you hit 45 minutes

If you have time afterwards (I didn't), the workout continues...

- 10 pushups

- 10 mountain climbers

- 5 SB cleans

- 5 SB clean and squats

- 5 SB clean squat presses

- SB clean squat presses to back for a lunge left and lunge right

I made a nice salad afterwards that reminded me of what Ari would make me in Switzerland:

Lots of fresh veggies, herbs, balsamic, and olive oil.  Superfoods.

I did an 8 mile ruck in the evening, to try to get back into the habit of some longer rucks, going at a 20:09 pace, wearing Salomon XA Comps, carrying 30# in the Speed Rucker.

Monday, July 19:

I did 45 minutes of stairs to prepare for the upcoming 9/11 HTB.  I carried 30# in the Speed Rucker.  I got exactly 90 stories up and down the parking garage (2.5 min per 5 flights = 30s per flight).  My knees crunched a bit in the second half, so although this is a nice workout in concept, I don't think it's healthy for me to do for too long at a single time, or to do too often.  I had on long sleeves and pants despite the heat, because I had originally planned to go to the range, but ended up doing stairs instead.

Tuesday, July 20:

HDT IR 17-18.1.3 (core and arms) in 62 min.  The pullups weren't great, but that means it's good that I'm doing them and working on it now.  I did this at midnight, since I needed a shower anyways, and wanted to get in some training while my body felt up for it.  

Thursday, July 22:

Someone on FB said that the moon was low, orange, and big.  I decided to ruck outside to try to see it.  It wasn't particularly big, but it didn't hurt to get in a recovery ruck.  I progressively went faster, wearing a 40# weight vest and Ballistic trainers.  The air quality was bad today, as a result of the western wildfires.

Friday, July 23:

HDT 19.5.2 (legs) in 35 min, followed by 100 situps and 2x[15 40# SB rows w/ ruck and 1 minute of high plank with ruck] for 10 minutes.  The 6 minutes of duck walks with the 20# plate in front of my body was probably good for shooting strength.  My left knee has been a little wonky lately, though.

Saturday, Jul 24:

The Olympics have begun.  I've been a big fan of the Olympics ever since I was a kid.  When we had writing assignments, I'd always choose to write stories about Izzy, the 1996 Games mascot.  It got to a point where my teacher encouraged me to branch out.  One of the earliest CD roms I remember using when computers were first "a thing" in my household was one that came with a big book about the Olympics.  It let you learn about and play videos related to different sports and athletes, kind of like a website would do nowadays.  

Anyways, I decided to organize a ruck club ruck carrying the Olympic flag.  Nobody else came, but that's OK.  I  make the rucks interesting enough to myself that I wouldn't mind doing it alone anyways.   And I wasn't alone, in a way.  A couple of construction workers along the route cheered, and I'd say "go USA" to other pedestrians along the rail trail.

Sunday, July 25:

Not a workout per se, but I volunteered to help build some obstacles for the following weekend's Spartan Super in Asheville.  It is physical work, and tiring, being outside on your feet all day.  I do enjoy volunteering with Spartan, though.  I've done many different roles over the years, and it's always interesting to see how they organize things and try to optimize processes and flows.  The behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to run such a big event is helpful.

Monday, July 26:

At one point in my life, my role and team at work allowed me to travel about 25% of the time, with international trips in different continents.  It was a great amount, because it wasn't so much that it significantly impacted my home life, but it was enough to get to enjoy it.  I've missed it, so even the opportunity to go to the Midwest was really exciting, especially since I haven't gone much of anywhere since COVID started.

Tuesday, July 27:

I look like a bee-keeper, according to my sister.

Someone mentioned that the location where we were staying (Sioux City, NE) was near three different states.  I checked it out on Google, and found that it was close enough for me to hit all three states within a 10-mile run.  Mission accepted. 

I started out in Iowa, where I was staying.  I ran up a greenway where I could get onto an overpass that took me into South Dakota.  After crossing back, I went a little further out on the Iowa side to check out a park that was the terminus of the greenway.  I then made my way back towards my hotel, and then crossed into Nebraska.  Picking the route required some creativity, since this isn't meant to be pedestrian-friendly for some segments, but like in adventure racing, you see what options you have (with the benefit of Google Map satellite imagery in this case), make a plan, and adapt when you need to.

I saw a wild turkey on the way, and also found a cool feather.  I also saw a historic site of where the first white settlers had built a cabin in 1849.  It was a hot run (99*), but I survived without water.

Afterwards, I enjoyed a tasty salmon salad and porter.

Wednesday, July 28:

I did some geocaching, which is a go-to hobby when I'm traveling and don't have definitive plans.  It's fun on its own, but you also get to see a bit more of the city, and may wind up discovering things or places you wouldn't otherwise get a chance to appreciate.  Not all of the sites are glamorous, when they're in parking lots or industrial parks, but there are nice nuggets every now and then.

Thursday, July 29:

Before the trip back, I stayed at a hotel in Omaha that was designed around fitness, which was pretty cool.  They had some equipment, as well as a workout video player, right in the room.  I wish I had stayed long enough to take advantage of those amenities.  

Omaha has a cute downtown area with shops and restaurants, which I explored.  I had wanted to see the Heartland of America park, but it was closed for renovations.  The stores were interesting, though.  Antique shops, collectible toys shops, etc.

Friday, July 30:

On the plane ride home, I had to be careful about protecting the feather, which I was bringing back as a gift to my dad.