Led a ruck club event at King's Mountain. It was a Revolutionary War battlefield where colonial militias from several states came together to defeat the loyalist militia. It was the first victory after a string of defeats for the Patriots, and helped to boost their morale.
I went up to Brown's Mountain for 7 miles with a couple of guys who joined in for the ruck club event (a father and son, which was cool), and then I did the battlefield loop twice more to round out my 10 miler requirements for the PATHFINDER mountain ruck.
10 miles in 4:08:36 in Altra Lone Peak Mids, with a 30# long plate in my GR1 (something different from the usual!). 1650 feet of gain total.
(imagine charging up this steep hill to attack the guys at the top!)
Tuesday, September 28:
Joined Cabarrus Ruck Club for a sample workout (workout 1) from the Ruck Strong training program for 38 minutes. The park where we were supposed to meet was packed and had no space left, so we gathered at the parking lot of some clinic across the street for our workout.
Afterwards, we did 1 mile of rucking in 18:57 with 30# in MACV1s. It's fun to try out different workout programs and styles. Each has a unique approach.
Wednesday, September 29:
I did an hour bike ride, more for gaining comfort and testing gear, than for getting a challenging workout. I rode at night with a new helmet light. While I was [intentionally] riding in the grass by the road, to increase the resistance and technicality, the front wheel suddenly dropped into a random deep hole in the ground, and I flipped over the handlebars. Fortunately, it was onto grass, and I was fine. It was very much a surprise, though, and if I were to try to inoculate myself to the fear of falling, I guess this would've been the nicest place to do it. The grass was deep. My handlebars were out of whack afterwards, but I got to become more familiar with my bike multitool as I fixed it.
THE MOG QUAD
I made the trip to Jax Beach for the Mog Quad, because this was the first time this unique series of events was being offered, and there was a special patch for those who completed all four.
Event 1: War Stories and Beer (Friday, Oct 1st, 8pm)
The first one was a War Stories and Beer event. It was my first time attending one of these. We had the privilege of hearing both Richard Rice and Aaron Hand speak. Both of them had been there at the time.
It was good to be reunited with friends from across the country who had made the trip, too.
GORUCK even fed us with Publix popcorn chicken, which was great, because we had a long series of events ahead, with the next one starting at midnight!
Event 2: 12 Mile Star Course - Mog Edition (Saturday, Oct 2nd, Midnight)
This was my first time doing a Star Course event in Jax, which is great all by itself. Jax Beach is like the GORUCK homeland for me, and I'm excited every time I come here. I've had friends do the 50. I wouldn't mind doing one here one day.
This had a midnight start, which is not typical for the 12 mile distance, which would normally start mid-day on a 50/26.2/12 weekend. Another twist was that at each of the four stops, we'd be doing a round of the Mog Hero WOD. I had originally linked up with a fellow PATHFINDER who is from Florida, to do this as a duo. Based on a hilarious suggestion from a PATHFINDER roster, our team name was going to be Lee Troy Jenkins!!! I actually didn't know the story behind the saying "Leeee-roy Jenkins" until I researched it after the suggestion was made.
At the start, three others (one single guy and a pair) asked to join our team. Troy and I had already taken our start point picture when the duo asked to join, so re-took the picture. Then, the single joined us, so we took a third start point picture, haha. The one single guy ended up being a roster in my PATHFINDER Horizon class, too, which was cool, so I got to be intentional about sharing Star Course tips and best practices along the way.
(First we were two)
(Then we were four)
(Then we were five)
It was a fairly short distance, so I was fine with having strangers whose training backgrounds I wasn't familiar with join us. I wouldn't do that for a 50 miler, because you can't have unknowns drag you down, because a 50 is difficult, and you will very much put your own finish at risk, or create a bunch of drama and difficult situations if part of the group is struggling and you need to either continue together and risk DNFing or the people struggling have to pull themselves out if they are really in no shape to finish. Even when people say that they are ready and have prepared, you can't always count on that, either. You have to know them and their training well. But that's for the 50. For a 12 miler, worst case, you can carry a second ruck for the entirety of the event and still survive, and we actually did end up having to do that. If this was a stand-alone 12 mile Star Course, that would be NBD, but this was a bit tougher of a situation because we needed to get back in a reasonable amount of time to maximize rest before the remaining two events, and not be on our feet excessively, or carry more weight than we needed to. But you deal with the hand you're dealt, and be as good of a teammate as you can be, and get the mission done. And you still have fun and learn about yourself and about how to be a good teammate and leadership along the way, too. Maybe you don't handle everything in the 100% ideal way (if there is such a thing), but you do your best and grow in the process.
On my first "create your own team" event, also in Jax (at a Scav), a random group with a dog (who ended up being GRHQ-affiliated people) accepted me and another orphan, which I appreciated, so I know the feeling of coming to the event and hoping to be accepted into a group.
Navigation was smooth and straightforward, although at the first park, there was a shortcut that I guess the local teams just ahead of us knew about, that saved us from having to do a little extra roundabout section. The PT was hard with 30#, but we get through it.
On the next leg, I carried the teammate's ruck for about half a mile in total. The second stop was by a marina. The road there was cool - a little surreal and spooky with the trees, in a cool way. There were a bunch of other teams at the marina park.
The third stop was at the entrance of a park, with a lot of teams again. I guess with a short course and the duration of the PT each time, we saw other teams more often than we would at a normal Star Course.
The last stop was at a sculpture garden near the beach, not too far from the third stop, and not far at all from the finish. We ran into the SCARSs team there.
When we got to GRHQ, there was a surprise - we weren't done yet (true to the Mog theme). We had to complete one extra round of the Mog WOD. After that, though, we earned our patches, and we took a team pic, with me saying "Lee", and Troy saying "Troy", and then the three saying "Jenkins". It was fun.
We had a few hours of rest and recovery between the end of the 12 miler and the start of the Cloverleaf.
(right before the event)
The format of this event was doing a hero WOD in the back parking lot of GRHQ, followed by a 1 mile ruck, 5x. I used a 20# plate, with the water out of the ruck for easy drinking, most of the time. We were allowed to scale, and I didn't end up using the sandbag much.
I decided to try a tank top at an event for the first time. I was wearing a Rucker v3, so the 210D should've made it an OK decision. With sweat saturating my skin, though, even the 210D became abrasive against my shoulders after 2 rounds, and I put on a light jacket for subsequent iterations of PT. At least I tested this out at a relatively short event. The Ballistic Trainers on my feet did well, though.
(would not go sleeveless again!)
Here were examples of the WODs:
We rotated leaders for the WODs. I ended up volunteering for one, because it's better to deal with the discomfort of volunteering to lead, than to suffer the team consequences of having nobody step up.
I know that I was tired, from the 12, and I think everyone else was, too, but you always do the best that you can. And again, the nice thing about Cloverleafs is that they're scalable. The Cadres will still push you, like they encouraged us to see who could do the mile fast on one of the iterations, and I did push. It's hard not to, and I want to do my best. A big goal of the Hero WOD and commemorative events is to honor the bravery and sacrifice of those from the battle, and we honor them with our effort.
Event 4: Mog Basic (Saturday, October 2nd, Noon)
For the Basic, I got to use the 20# plate again.
At our first stop at a nearby park, we learned L-shaped ambushes and bounding.
We stopped here by the creek next, just for a quick break.
I wore a marketing sample 20L black with coyote webbing rucker, though. I transferred my hip belt to it because I really wanted to use it, especially at the end of a long weekend.
I put on MACV1s in anticipation of surf PT, which we did do (more like wave thrashing than PT, though).
I was hot in long socks, long pants, and a long sleeve hooded tee. My HR felt higher than usual. We were sugar cookied at the beach, which was exacerbated when we did baseball PT races and had to roll around in the dirt. It was my worst sand chafing at an event ever.
I carried the 60# SB a lot, did some litter, a half full water jug, and a shared 120#. It was heavy and hard, but we were at the last event of the weekend, so you know you can push through.
At the baseball field, we were in 4 teams, and had to do movements from one base to another as quickly as possible.
There are some locals who are familiar with GORUCK, too, and spotted us on our route, haha.
We did finish!
After the events, I got a good rest at the HIE near GRHQ.
SANTOS MTB TRAINING
Day 1: (Oct 3)
The next morning, I felt like I had earned a cinnamon roll. It wasn't quite as good as it looked or like I imagined it would be. I think I imagined something less dry. The omlettes are always good, though. HIE breakfast makes me happy.
Rather than going home, I went farther away from home, towards Santos, a town known for some of the best mountain biking trails in the Southeast. The Sea to Sea 72 hour adventure race website had specifically mentioned that we'd be biking there, so I took the opportunity to swing by and familiarize myself with the terrain while developing my nearly non-existing mountain biking skills.
I made note of the road conditions during my drive out there, too, since we'd be essentially doing the opposite journey during the race (Santos towards St. Augustine, vs Jax to Santos). I noted the availability of sidewalks, gas stations, parks where we might do some orienteering, etc. I did see a few bikers on the way, which was promising... that meant that the roads would be pretty bike-friendly.
I also drove through Ocala National Forest, where Green Beret Fitness does its long distance rucking event. I thought we might bike on some of the trails there, since they want to keep us on trails and off of roads as much as possible.
When I arrived at Santos, I was immediately impressed. At the main parking lot, there was a pump track, a technical skills mini-park, the entrance to the main MTB trails, a paved trail, and then within the trail system, there was even a route to the bike shop. There were restrooms and a bike cleaning station and repair station, too.
I cautiously embarked on my first green trail at around 10am, had a couple of minor tip-overs (the trails aren't always wide enough for 2 bikes going opposite directions to squeeze through, which led to me going off to the side and sometimes tipping over because I hadn't learned to control my lean well enough yet), wandered over to some sandy horse trails that were deep and hard to pedal through (leading to a couple more tips-overs).
Back at the parking lot, I experimented with some of the skills features. The canted boardwalk looks scary, but I mustered all of the courage I could, and did it repeatedly. It seems to defy gravity, but it's not too hard, especially when you have good momentum going in.
Even scarier was going over a ramp, but I did it! I was so proud of myself.
I didn't get very far with the skinny boardwalks, though. Another day.
I drank seltzer water to cool myself down and recover at noon. My hands were death-gripping the handles the whole time, since even the slightest downhills makes me pick up speed to uncomfortable levels, and the rocks and roots and turns require focus on lines and control.
I did some more biking, and then made my way over to the Santos Bike Shop, which offered me another opportunity to take a break. The shop was huge, and it was fun to see all off the different products that were offered, especially because I'm new to it.
I bought a handlebar bike compass (which I ended up using at Sea to Sea), a chain cleaning tool, and some souvenirs for my teammates (buffs, patch kit).
I rode further into the park, going on a paved trail that was the main thoroughfare going across Florida. It was nice to go on faster, non-technical terrain for a while, which allowed me to rack up some more mileage without having to stress out my grip as much.
(the info on these signs is actually quite interesting!)
There are entrances back into trails all along the way, though, so I ventured onto some more trails.
(The rock on the left appeared suddenly after I came around the turn, so I rode up one side and crashed down the other. Fortunately, I was ok.)
(Discovered this cool rusted truck on one of the trails. It would make a nice CP!)
In the second half of the day, I decided to try my first blue level trail. There were some steep and technical uphills where I had to walk the bike up. I'm not even sure if it's possible for a human to ride up those portions. It came right after a turn, too, so it surprised me, and I whacked my shin with the pedal.
The scariest part was a short but steep downhill on a giant rock. Santos actually has some elevation change, despite being in Florida, because it's built on an old rock quarry. Because I had gained confidence in myself and my equipment in the skills park, though, I decided to attempt it. At the bottom of the downhill was a sharp turn left, followed by some narrow and twisty trail, but I made it without falling!!! It was a thrill, but not something I'd necessarily repeat a bunch of times to test my luck. I was proud of myself for having done a blue trail, though.
I rode until the sun was setting. I didn't even really mean to be out when it was getting dark that quickly. It sneaks up on you, because it's darker in the forest. I could barely make out the trail for the last part, and my heart was beating so fast. I rode quickly, because I knew that even that little bit of light was going to go away soon. I didn't have any lighting with me, apart from my phone (which you can't really use to light the way while biking), which is a mistake I hopefully learn from.
I washed off afterwards.
I camped out in my car at a church nearby.
Day 2: (Oct 4)
In the morning, rather than starting the journey home, I decided to go back to the park for more. I had driven so far to be there, so I figured that I should take advantage of the rare opportunity. It was also good training to ride on tired legs, not only after covering 43 miles the previous day, but also after completing the Mog Quad.
I did another 27 miles, with a mix of paved trail and green level trails. I explored some of the more remote green trails, so I was the first one to break through the spider webs that had formed overnight. That's a sure sign that you're the first one on that trail that day.
One thing to note about the greenway is that it is easy to get turned around, because the mountain biking trails do loops and cross over the main paved trail multiple times. When you exit the MTB trail and cross the paved trail, it's easy to get confused about whether left or right will take you home.
I was happy with how much confidence and mileage I was able to build.
I was happy with my gear. The Bontrager chamois did well, as did the Garneau fingerless gloves.
The Liv clipless shoes did well.
I finally did start going home, and made one last stop at Fort King. It's mainly one enclosed square with a bunch of info signs to read. There is a museum, but they were closed.
