GORUCK Statesville Ruck Club Fit Party

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Sunday, Jan 22:

HDT 35.6.3 (Core) in 50 min

Tuesday, Jan 24:

HDT 35.4.2 (Core) with 41 min of BW PT plus a 3 mile easy run in 26:58 in the Brooks Pure Flow.

At Blackstone with SB.... we weren't shooting low left... we were taking care of the hostiles' attack animals.

Thursday, Jan 26:

Lunchtime skateboarding...

(not as cool as it looks... I was just in the middle of doing the flip-over start trick)

HDT 35.6.3 (Legs) in 44 min plus a 1 mile run in 9:35 in the Brooks Pure Cadence, which had no arch support and which made the ball of my left foot uncomfortable.

More Blackstone.  Winter weather makes my skin crack!

Friday, Jan 27:

30# ruck in the rucker v3 with mom and dad at the Cramerton greenway and goat island, in Salomon XA Comps.  We saw many animals along the greenway.

I played Pokemon, and we got up close to and played with one of the disc golf baskets.  

On our way home, we decided to re-visit a nature preserve that I had explored with my dad once before.  When I visited the first time, there was only a 100m trail that led to some fishing spots near the water, but nothing more.  In the years that followed, a nicer parking lot was built up, and we noticed more cars parked there.  It turns out that they recently added a nice 1 mile trail.  There are no bathrooms there, but otherwise, it's a great spot that's close to home.  The trail isn't too technical, so it could be good for something like trail marathon training.  It's mainly forest on half of the loop, but the second half goes along the water and offers great views.  

My mom's been away a lot visiting her family in Taiwan, so it was good spending time with both of my parents again.

GORUCK FIT PARTY

GRHQ started hosting some "fit parties" where people could compete in different divisions in short little challenges.  Ruck clubs or affiliates could also request to host them.  Statesville Ruck Club was hosting one, and it was free, so I RSVPed and managed to convince my dad to come along for his first rucking-related event.

This one wasn't going to be competition-style, which I was good with.  No pressure, just fun.  It was more like a well-organized 1-hr ruck club workout.  Many people from surrounding ruck clubs came, which was awesome.  Joe Baker's wife Tamara from Tamara Baker Photography came and took some awesome pictures.

We started with an 800m coupon ruck, with no shouldering allowed.  I brought a couple of lighter sandbag and KB options for my dad, which came in handy.  I also realized soon after starting that I was the only one who had decided to keep my ruck on for this part!  40#SB and 30#R.... not insignificant.

We did one-arm thrusters.  I was glad to have a lighter 20#SB option.  For the 60, I divided it up with half using 20# and half using 26#.

We did 50 burpee SB jump-overs.  My dad has good form!

We did a 15 AMRAP where we carried a (in my case 26#) KB and (in my case 40#) SB to the other side of the field (50m - the short way), and did 20 KB swings and 20 SB plank pull-throughs, and repeated, going back and forth across the field.  

It was a nice workout!

Good fun with friends.  The CLT area is large, so it's not that easy for everyone to all be together often, so this was a nice little reunion.

Sunday, Jan 29

Our original plan had been to hike along the trail by the Boathouse, where the South Fork Sampler had started, but it was muddy from recent rains, so we abandoned that plan quickly.

We drove over to Rocky Branch Park, for their gravel trail, instead, and covered 2.5 miles in 1:04:07.  I was carrying 40# and wore Altra Lone Peak Mids.

It's a nice little local getaway when you want some nearby quiet and nature.