TRAINING LEAD-UP
Sunday, Feb 26:
Yoga for Renewal with Adriene in the morning, and 4 miles of Pokemon rucking in 1:24:00 with a 40#WV and the Altra Torin Plush in the evening.
Monday, Feb 27:
With the 8-hour South Fork Sampler Adventure Race and then the Rev3 50 Hour Adventure Race Challenge coming up, I got back on my MTB for a neighborhood ride for the first time in a long time. I went as the sun was setting, so that I could train during the daylight and at night. It was a good gear check session for my lights and bike, and I got to check that I still remembered how to ride my bike. I covered 11.5 miles.
Afterwards, I rucked 2.5 miles, in 50:07 to make it a brick session.
Thursday, Mar 2:
I did the RuckWOD.com 2/27/23 workout in 21 min with the 30#RPC, followed by the Crossfit 23.1 GORUCK style 14 min AMRAP with a 40#SB for 180 reps, followed by the Kettlebell Crusher #20 workout with a 26#SKB for goblet swings and a 40#SB for plank pull-throughs for 8 rounds and 14 reps during the 9 min AMRAP. It all felt harder than it should've, but was good.
Friday, Mar 3:
Self Love Yoga with Adriene. In the evening, I rucked around the neighborhood with my parents in MACV1s with a 30# Rucker v3.
Saturday, Mar 4:
8/14/22 RuckWOD.com 18 min AMRAP with a 30#R and 30#SB with 5 rounds and 12 reps. Then, I did the HDT Baba Yaga 30 min AMRAP with a 40#SB for 2 rounds and 23 reps at an easy pace.
Sunday, Mar 5:
Did a ruck uptown with my parents (who walked normal) with a 30#R in MACV1s. I took them to "The Green", which I had recently discovered during the Trailblazers Tough. We covered 6 miles in 2:16:00.
In the evening, I got in a long overdue 10K trail run at Iswa Nature Preserve, wearing Innov-8 X Talons, in 62 min.
Tuesday, Mar 7:
Revolution | Day 24 - Practice Patience Yoga with Adriene. I was tired from the past couple of days, and I needed to let my right butt heal, particularly because I felt it at the end of the run, even though the run wasn't anything crazy.
Thursday, Mar 9:
No workout, but I did do go-karting for the first time, with co-workers. You can get neck whiplash, if you hit the sides of the course with speed.
My sister came into town, too.
GUN RUN NIGHT OPS - NVG
Since my whole family was in town, they came with me to Old Fort, NC, near Asheville. We booked an AirBNB, which I think was my parents' first time doing one.
It was a fun place, a little cottage right next to the river. I wish we had more time to spend there and enjoy the scenery.
In the evening, I went out to VOCTAC for the Gun Run. It would be my first significant experience with NVGs, apart from the couple of difficult stages at The Proving Grounds, and my time with my personal gear at my friend's range.
The briefing was at 6:30pm, just before the sun set, so that we could maximize the number of runners going through before it got too late. Round counts were 50 pistol and 50 rifle. For the night match, I brought 7 mags of pistol on the belt, plus 2 more in the Haley Strategic Flat Pack , which I don't typically wear (135 total), plus 4 mags of rifle plus an extra box of 30 in the pack (150 total). I wouldn't want to run out of ammo and not be able to shoot a stage. I would end up using 48 pistol and 82 rifle, though!
This was the first time the Gun Run had a guest match director, who put his own spin on this iteration. This run would involve an extra component of mental tests, not just moving and shooting. After each stage, we'd need to remember to ask the RO for intel that might help us with the event. We should also be on the lookout for anything notable on course. Very cool idea.
Stage 1:
Before we even got to the stage, we had to do the rope climb, like we typically do at VODTAC. Untypically, though, I only made it 90% of the way up before I decided to give it up and do 10 burpees as a penalty. I think it was the extra weight of the helmet + NVGs that put it over the edge for me on difficulty.
At the stage itself, we started with a shotgun round to a popper, which is fun. Then, we went through a little outdoor hallway, and cleared side hallways of swinging cardboard pendulum targets, and static cardboard. We had to hit each 2x, and you had to be sure not to pass by any accidentally, or not get both rounds on.
At the end, there was a steel plate rack with black no-shoot targets, and also hit a hostage target.
The shotgun took me a moment to figure out how to chamber with a round.
I went slowly and carefully through the hallway, and even made extra hits at times, just in case, because I could see the bullet holes that I was making on the close targets, but the holes weren't as easy to see on the far ones.
I ended up running out of time with 1 shot left. Soooo close. But I was confident that I could redeem myself on the white light stage.
In my excitement, I forgot to ask for the intel after the stage ended. It's crazy how much the chaos of a stage and competition will make you forget the one thing you had to remember.
I failed, along with 13/32 other competitors.
Stage 2:
The course went up the road, and then uphill, a different way than we usually go. I felt so out of shape. I don't remember struggling so much with running at Gun Runs before. Going with NODS wasn't too bad. You can't see close objects in focus, so things like thorny vines aren't as obvious, but there weren't many of them, so it was fine. Most of the trail was pretty clear and obstacle-free.
At the stage, I wasn't able to share the intel from Stage 1. Then, I was told that for this stage, my NODS couldn't be used, so it would be white light only, as a surprise. I wondered if it was because I didn't have intel, but it turned out that everyone encountered the same twist. The "intel" had been the word "snafu", which didn't get you any help... I guess it was mainly a warning that something chaotic was about to happen.
Prior to the run, I had unscrewed my rifle white light cap a bit, to avoid the risk of NDs... but now, I needed it!
We started with pistol at 3 targets, 2 hits each, from a low barrier. Then, we had to do a mag change while running to a second barrier up ahead, and shoot the 3 targets 2 times each again. I did have my white light on pistol, fortunately. The forced mag change was a great twist, since it's an important skill to have down.
Next, we moved up further to a barrier where we had to shoot rifle. There were 3 targets to hit 2x each, then do a mag change, then repeat.
I timed out before making a single rifle shot, which would've taken a bit to get to because of my light situation, anyways, so I wasn't even close on this one. I failed, along with 17/32 others.
At least this time, I remembered to ask for intel after the stage. The clue was "the brief at the next stage doesn't say that you have to drag the dummy."
Stage 3:
At the next stage, there was a skedco with a dummy on it. I knew to ditch the dummy. As you dragged the sled (very easy with nothing on it!), you had to shoot at 3 pistol targets, 2 hits each. We were allowed to shoot 2-handed as long as you maintained control of the sled, but I felt confident enough with my right-handed shooting, and the targets were big and close enough, that I went with that. It felt very nice to make those hits so easily.
Once we got to a tank trap, we had to shoot at 5 rifle targets, with the farthest at 125yd, with 2 hits each, left to right. The two closest ones were on the far right, and were only 70 yards away, but I never got that far with NVGs.
The rifle targets were very difficult to see, even with my very nice illumination. I think I might've forgotten to remove my Kiji diffuser, though, so I was underutilizing the power. The targets looked TINY! The smoke was an issue at times, but that wasn't my main problem. The offset was hard, too, getting the laser beam on the tiny target. It was soooo hard.
I timed out before hitting the first three targets, let alone getting to all 5, let alone moving forward to a barrel to repeat the 5 again with 2 hits each.
Only 6/32 NVG runners made it, so it was a hard stage for everyone.
I ended up forgetting to ask for the intel, AGAIN, but it ended up being OK on the next stage, because I used common sense to execute the stage efficiently.
Stage 4:
Once it was my turn to go, before the time started, you had to place one rifle mag in the ammo can.
Once the time started, you had to carry the can over to some caution tape and shoot 3 pistol targets with 2 hits each.
Next, you crossed a creek to a stack of tires, and had to shoot 3 torsos with rifle, 60yd away, for 3 rounds. Then, you'd have to move up to a barrel and repeat the rifle hits. The intel had been "you have two rifle mags, right?" But I didn't need that intel, since it was obvious to me that I had plenty of mags not in the can, that I could use. Not that it helped, though, because I timed out again, along with 14/32 others.
I did remember to ask for intel, which was that the latch on the door on the next stage was broken, so you had to open the door from the opposite side. Good to know! Except funnily enough, it ended up being unintentional "bad intel", because the inside latch worked just fine. The range had swapped stage cars without the MD knowing, last-minute.
Stage 5:
During the entire run, I was on the lookout for "tickets" to grab, because as runners had been finishing earlier in the night, the check-in person was asking people if they found tickets. It was on the way from stage 4 to stage 5, as you started up the final hill, that there was a deli ticket dispenser. I had not seen it in NVGs, though, so sadly, I didn't get one for a time bonus.
At Stage 5, we started in the car, had to exit, load rifle, and use 2 diagonals in a modified VTAC board with generously cut diagonal slots, to shoot 2 hits on a gong at 45 yards and 1 shot on a popper, from each diagonal. Normally, all those lights plus the muzzle wouldn't fit through a slot, but this version of the board had enough space for everything. Hitting was still difficult, though, even though the target was relatively close.
Diagonal shooting is crazy with IR... you have to deal with distance offsets (not that a 36yd zero needed this piece, at least), plus cant offsets, plus the laser offset. I probably didn't really need to worry about the cant offset much at this distance, in hindsight. I probably only needed to worry about laser, if anything, and even that might be not a big deal with this target size.
Next, we had to go prone and repeat the 2 on the gong and 1 on the popper.
Then, leave the rifle, while going in with pistol through a large pipe, shooting 2 cardboard targets with 2 hits each, followed by a plate rack with 3/6 no shoots.
I timed out, along with 22/32 others, after struggling so much with rifle.
The intel at the end of this one was simply "run fast". Not helpful, but at least I remembered to ask this time.
Overall:
I struggled a bunch with rifle, but I knew that I could do better on a number of stages with white light, and was excited for the opportunity for redemption.
I was 13/32 with my running score, which is good, and which is also kind of expected, since I had good gear.
I was 24/32 (tied with all the other 24th placers who passed zero stages) in shooting.
Between the two, that was good enough for 21/32 overall. Not bad for a first time with night vision. I guess moving with NVGs is a skill on its own, too.
It was a very fun match. I loved the mental aspect and was surprised by how much it challenged even me.
When I got back to the cottage, which involves driving on dirt roads, my family had made me leftover dinner, which was nice. They had had fun grilling together outside while I was away.
MONTREAT LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN & ASHEVILLE
The next day, we went on a hike in Montreat. There were some steep bits, but we all made it up there and enjoyed the view at the top. We took an easier way down. We hiked 2.8 miles, and I did it with only supplies, no extra weight.
For a late lunch, we went to the downtown Asheville location for White Duck Tacos. I've been to their other location before. They have many unique flavors and meats to choose from. I think I got duck and lamb.
We enjoyed some outdoor statues and browsed a consignment shop for little while before our parking meter time expired.
We finished the day with a visit to the Omni Grove Park Inn. It kind of reminded me of visiting the Old Faithful Inn at
Yellowstone.
GUN RUN NIGHT OPS - WHITE LIGHT
It was time to gun and run again, this time, with white light! I met up with SB at VODTAC.
Based on the amount of ammo I used on Friday night, I only brought 3 mags of rifle ammo (90 rounds) and 7 mags of pistol ammo (105 rounds) this time. I ended up using 56 pistol rounds and 49 rifle rounds.
Stage 1:
This time, I was able to complete the rope climb, since I wasn't weighed down with the extra ammo and helmet setup.
I finished the stage in 50s, passing, along with 36/50 other competitors, finishing 22/36 for the stage.
I did remember to ask for intel after the stage, this time, and just got the word "snafu".
Stage 2:
For the snafu in white light, the weapons mounted lights were out of play. Fortunately, I had a good Lupine headlmap to use. I passed along with 9/50 others, passing 4th out of 9 passers, in 64s. Top 10%!
I asked for intel here, too. I already knew what the intel was from the night before, but I asked in case the MD decided to change anything up between nights, and in the spirit of the match.
Stage 3:
I did fail this stage, even in white light, but not as miserably as I did with NVGs. I never got to the barrel portion of rifle, so I was still far off. Only 13/50 passed in white light, so it was hard. I swapped tank trap spots to try to get away from smoke, but it was still hard.
I did remember to ask for the clue.
Coming up to the stage, I had set my watch to "hike" instead of "trail run", since I'm used to using that setting for rucks, which meant that my wait time didn't get recorded like I normally did, which hurt my runtime. Unfortunate.
I was able to pass the stage this time, though, along with 38/50 others, ranking 17/38 among the passers, in a time of 106s.
Having run the night before, it was helpful to know where the shooting areas were already, since the lanes weren't obviously marked.
I did ask for the intel again, which was the same message about the latch, which still didn't really apply because the car had been swapped.
Stage 5:
I did pass this time, along with 31/50 others, ranking 27/31 among the passers, in 110s.
Overall:
It was a great match for me.
I was 26/50 run wise, although it would've been a better rank had I not messed up my wait time at stage 4, I'm sure.
Shooting, I was 14/50, quite good!!!
Overall, I was 14/50, but it should've been better. That is by far the best I've ever done at a Gun Run, though!!!
I went back to the cabin to a nice dinner made by my family.
The next day, it was raining, so we didn't do anything, but we had done a good bit already, and were ok with going straight home.
