TRAINING LEAD-UP
Wednesday, Jun 22:
RuckWOD.com Dec 19, 2021 workout with a 60#SB and 20#RPC in 34:26, followed by the SRT "High Speed Chase" 14 min AMRAP with a 20#RPC and 40#SB. Both were great workouts.
Followed by a 3.5 mile ruck with the 40#WV in the Altra Torin Plush. The WV became more uncomfortable for my shoulders as time went on, in a linear manner. The ruck took 1:04:02.
Thursday, Jun 23:
Self Love Yoga with Adriene for 50 min. My body needed it after yesterday.
Friday, Jun 24:
Yoga for weight loss - Balance practice with Adriene for 57 min in my 86 degree loft upstairs. It was hot and a bit challenging, which was good.
RANGE SIDE-TRIP
I was going to SC for the Sawmill Gun Run, and I had a late afternoon run time, so I decided to stop by my friend's place beforehand for some solo practice. I arrived at 6:30am (sunrise was at 6:18), because I had to be at Sawmill by 11:30am for the safety brief.
I tried the GORUCK Shooter May drill again, with this progression:
- warm up with 8" steel at 10 yards
- expand that to 20 yards
- walk and shoot on paper, 5 rounds, not as good today
- did the drill without PT, and even then, I'd only get 4/6 shots on target, typically towards the left, and not getting all of the time hacks.
- Did the drill with PT 5x, getting 4 rounds on paper at most, but always missing at least one time hack.
Afterwards, I did some more on steel, did standing and kneeling, multiple targets at 10 yards.
I moved on to trying the GORUCK Shooter June Drill for the first time. It involves a lot of rifle reloads and speed. I did it 5x without PT. My arms needed a break after all of the May drill attempts. It was taking me 6s to reload, and I needed to bring it down to 4s.
Opportunities:
- Get a rifle where mags fall out upon release on their own.
- Stop going on safe in between, but it's hard to break the habit
- Need to experiment with what I can do simultaneously
20 presses will be hard, even stand-alone.
I had a pistol malfunction, where a bad casing on a live round made the slide stuck half a cm out of place. Because it was a live round stuck in there, I had to be careful. I googled how to hold the slide with one hand and hit the grip with the other like I'm grabbing from holster. Crisis averted! It was 124 grain Norma, but I've shot thousands of rounds since without issues.
GUN RUN INDIVIDUAL @ SAWMILL
I got into this event last minute through a waitlist, because I had been at the Harry Potter BBB when the signups dropped. Fortunately, a spot opened up for me. I had a 3:24 run time.
With a minimum round count of 40 rifle and 35, I went with 3 mags of rifle, but I realized once I put on the belt that I had enough real estate for a fourth mag, since the mag holders float freely along the belt, and it can fit more when the belt is in a circle shape instead of straight and on the ground, since the stuff around the belt have more space to spread out and allow for gaps between them when they're in a circle.
I worried about not having enough rifle rounds, since I typically like to go with 3x the minimum, so I stuck an extra 2 boxes of 30 rounds each in my pockets.
I had 7 pistol mags.
I ended up with 37 rounds of pistol and about 90 rounds of rifle left over, so I was actually OK on rifle. I normally don't miss a ton on rifle, except maybe with long range.
It was cloudy, so it wasn't blazing hot... just a warm 81 degrees.
Stage 1
The course started with the o-course, where we crawled under the barbed wire, climbed over the wall, and then over the cargo net. With those two boxes of rifle ammo in my pockets, I immediately determined that it was going to be an uncomfortable run. I'd be eager to reload the mags with those rifle rounds.
Next, we ran over to the tall connex tower, as usual. I had wait time already.
For this stage, we shot two "Mozambique" targets (2 shots on the body, 1on the head) at about 10 yards.
Next, we grabbed a 1/2 full jerry can and carried it to the 2nd floor, where we shot at a single target (140 yards away, we'd find out afterwards) from 3 different slots - diagonal, diagonal, horizontal. Having struggled with height issues before at a match here, I knew to look for a pallet to stand on to see through the top diagonal slot.
My pistol was decent, and I did well on the topmost diagonal. I struggled more on the second diagonal, and never got to the horizontal slot. Only 20/113 passed. I failed. Most failed because they were moving too slowly, apparently. As always, "know your holds", which is easier said that done!
Stage 2:
I reloaded my rifle mags on the run, which immediately helped make the heavy pockets on my quads a bit more comfortable. I ran to the waterside bay, where we had to submerge ourselves fully, but we were allowed to remove our kit first, if we wanted to. I appreciate that. I get "testing your gear in terrible conditions" like mud, but I don't want to if it's unnecessary. This gear is expensive. The "good" expensive gear is going to be more durable, yes, but I don't have much of an appetite for intentionally abusing my gear if it can be avoided. I want to prolong its life so that it will work when I need it.
Once we got out of the water, we had 4 rifle targets to hit. I had to use two different positions to see all of them. I started with kneeling, but missed, so I went to prone and was good after that.
58/113 passed, and I was 28th among those who passed, finishing in 69s. Those who failed may have gotten discombobulated from the water situation. Donning and doffing gear might have eaten up time, but it was worth it to me!
Stage 3:
I reloaded more on my way to the next stage and had some wait time.
For this long range stage, we got a messily drawn range card "like one that your buddy might draw for you", with some targets represented, with the dark shaded ones indicating the ones you had to hit. Distances were given. In real life, though, there were way more targets on the range than what you saw on the card.
Also, depending on where you stood in the wide shooting area, that changed which targets you were able to see. It's hard to know where you should position yourself, and I feel like it's chance sometimes. I went for what would normally seem like an optimal position, the highest spot in the area, which was on the far left, figuring it would give me the best chance to see over tall vegetation. In the AAR, the match director suggested walking around to see what the vantage points looked like from different positions before building a position, but that does take time.
We had to hit three targets, near to far, and repeat.
My first struggle was hitting the wrong target because there were so many out there, and matching up what I saw on the partial range card to all the ones out there in real life was hard.
Next, once I did find the right target, I started hitting the near one multiple times because I was in the habit of doing so. That's a good lesson - don't have training / match scars from past stages.
I failed. 72/113 passed.
Stage 4:
I reloaded some more... lots of rifle so far, which was good for helping me empty my pockets.
I had 2 competitors to wait for this time.
We were in the forest bay now. We had to shoot rifle at a diamond 2x, then go left and shoot another 2 shots at a diamond, then run down further and look for a pistol target to hit. Everything was super close, I felt.
105/113 passed, and I was 52nd among them, finishing in 50s.
Stage 5:
I reloaded a bit more on the run. I also helped out a guy who had somehow gotten lost moving from stage 1 to 2, and had somehow ended up at 4.
I had wait time for 2 competitors again.
This was the schoolbus bay, with a cool scenario. We started in the driver's seat of a car, with our rifle in the back seat. The scenario is that you've come across a hostage situation, and you've crashed into a bad guy car with 2 bad guys. You have to get out of your car and get the bad guys on each side of the bad guy car with 2 hits each, with pistol.
Next, you grab your rifle, and hit a far away target.
Then, you grab a riot shield and run up to a schoolbus to address the hostage situation. You have to use the shield, looking through the small window within the shield, and you only get a single pistol shot to kill the bad guy (circle steel), who his hiding behind two no-shoots. Failure to eliminate the threat means a DNF.
I took my time on that shot and got it! It's such a good feeling to save the day.
72/113 passed, and I was 60th among them, finishing in 61s. The misses tended to be low left. Poor hostages.
Stage 6:
We were at the small connex stack for the last stage, where we went up the stairs, shot out the window at 3 large targets with pistol, with 3 shots each.
Then, we moved down the ladder, opened the barn door, and shot the same 3 targets again with 3 shots each.
90/113 passed, with me finishing 68th among them, in 71s. Some people ran out of ammo.
I think it's good to have an easier stage as the last stage, since you feel good and are riding high as you finish, and leave the event with a good taste in your mouth, regardless of how the rest of the stages might've gone.
Texas Star Side Challenge
There was a side challenge at the event, to see how quickly you could knock out a Texas Star from Krate Tactical. I didn't even realize it was a competition when I was doing it. I thought it was just "pay $5 to play" with the star. It was my first time with one. The trick that Bosco told me was to wait until the thing pauses before changing directions, so that it's more of a static target. Also try to shoot for whatever's up top, since it'll knock out the plate and cause everything else to be heavier in relation - you want the heavier stuff to be at the bottom, so by making the top even less top-heavy, that's good.
The winner got half the pot of the side challenge entry fees, and Sawmill got the other half. You were allowed to try as many times as you want, although I just did the one try to experience it.
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