GBF Operation Tiny Dancer

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Monday, Aug 5:

Day 14 - Closer - MOVE & Yoga for Change and Drain with Adriene

Tuesday, Aug 6:

APFT for Pathfinder, with 49/40 pushups, 75/76 situps (99 pt), 2 miles in 14:57/17:00 in the Saucony A4S = 299 (a non-300 for the first time in years... maybe since 2018 or something).  I've been having poor sleep and less protein recently.  I also had a big steak a couple hours before taking the test.  There wasn't anything at stake here, so it's good to learn about what affects performance and what I can vs can't get away with.

I wrapped up the baseline assessment with a 2 mile ruck in 31:23 with 30# in teh Salomon XA Comps in the rucker v2.

Wednesday, Aug 7:

18A "Upper Body Prep" in 26:41, followed by "Push-ups" in 42:52, then Glute and pec PV v2 in 28:06.

Thursday, Aug 8:

Power and Balance 30 min yoga practice & Regulate Your Nervous System 30 min practice with Adriene

Plus dry fire to reinforce what I had learned from Andy...

• "Eyes, Muzzle, Target"
• "Bolt back, breathe in, bolt forward, breathe out"
• "I see the bullet"

I focused on being upright and squared up, and I did micro-adjustments if needed.

Friday, Aug 9:

3 mile ruck at Iswa Nature Preserve with 50# in the v2 rucker, wearing 8" MACV2s.  It was slippery, and there was a downed tree to get around from a recent storm.  I covered it in 1:11:42.

Saturday, Aug 10:

Range day at Coleman's with SB and Scott, to practice some more.

We zereod our rifles and our Impacts.

We confirmed where our Vortex Fury reticles were vs the actual laser center.

We drove from range to range, ranging and drawing range cards for 5 min at each one, and sharing notes to compare results afterwards, by having one person talk the others on through each target.

Through this exercise, I gained confidence in my ranging abilities.  

I liked my technique of dropping down onto the target from above.

We did a little shooting, practicing speed, but I feel like I generally already go as quickly as I can have my accuracy keep up with.

We ended with pistol arcade play.  By 2pm (after starting at 9am), my hands weren't as steady, due to the fatigue and heat, though.

After my friends left, I zeroed my Honey Badger and used it for the first time, with Supers.  I did a little standing, too, to start familiarizing myself with it.

Sunday, Aug 11:

18A "Upper Body Prep" in 30:19, "Pull-ups" in 31:59 maybe the worst yet, but better to get back on the wagon now vs later, especially with OCRWC coming soon.

I then did Glute and Pec PT v1 in 27:16, because I was still feeling fresh, followed by a 90s 60#SB OH hold palmed.

I then did a recovery ruck with a 40#WV in the Altra Torin Plush, for 2.5 miles in 55:26.

At night, I was still fresh and craved VO2 work, so I did a 5K of intervals with a 1 mile warmup at 7mph, then 2x (0.5 mi @ 9mph, 0.5 mi @ 7mph), with 0.1 miles at the ned to round it out at 24:16 for 5K at 2 degrees of incline with the Saucony Vitarras.  My stomach was knotting up in the last mile, so I probably couldn't have gone on, but it's best to not go crazy before GBF, and I'm just getting back into speedwork.

Monday, Aug 12:

Cabarrus Ruck Club, the first active ruck club in the area in my generation (Team Spearhead might've done stuff before, but I wasn't around then and am not sure), was celebrating their 5th anniversary.  I joined them for a 3 mile ruck in 51:42.  A good number of people came out.  I used a 30#RPC.  The route was nothing special, but it ended at Cabarrus Brewing, where I splurged on chicken and waffles.  

Thursday, Aug 15:

Tapering this week.  

Did Flow - Day 17 - Rinse and Day 28 - Intuit Yoga with Adriene

For dry fire practice, I did build-and-break, gaining a few seconds and more consistency with fewer critical errors through practice.  Keeping my eyes on the target as I lay the gun down helps a lot.

GBF OPERATION TINY DANCER

This would be my first GBF mountain event.  I've done their shooting events and their dog event.  I'm generally not a big ruck running person, but I can shuffle if the terrain isn't treacherously downhill or risky on footing.  

I had done recon on the route, and it seemed OK enough to try.  It took 5:15 including wrong turns when I did it with my dad, but I'd have a little less weight and no dad for the real thing.  I also knew the route now.

My dad came along, since he could find small trails to do by himself while I did the race.

There were two events that day.  Tiny Dancer was the 10 mile short one, and Dragon's Dance was the 26-28 mile big one.  I'd start with a short one and see how it went.  Most of my friends were doing the long one, but I also had some doing the short one, for fun.

I wanted to go for dog tags.  To be considered a "finisher", you needed to complete the route in 5 hours or less.  To get dog tags, you had to complete it in 3:30 or less, though.  Dog tags or bust!

We had our rucks weighed.  We were asked to attempt to check in via text during the race, but I knew from the recon trip that there were very few spots where we'd get signal.  We also had the opportunity to carry a name of a fallen soldier with us, organized by Captain Charlie, a volunteer with GBF.

I set of on a mission and led the field the whole time.  I used trekking poles for the first time, and they were amazing.  It was like they allowed me to extend each stride by 10% distance.  My arms were able to help my legs do the work.  They were doing so much work that I felt like my push-up muscles would be sore by the end of it.

I was carefully watching for the turn, although I started looking for it way too early and wasted a little time looking way too early.  I found the spot, took the opportunity to mark my territory, and did the big descent followed by the big climb.

I drank water a couple times along the way.

I got to the end in 3:01:21.  Maybe if I hadn't stopped to look for the turn too early, I could've broken 3, which would've been nice.  Maybe that will be my goal if I do it again.  Dragon's Dance may be good to try, though.  I'd want to do recon to be 100% certain about the route and also to see how technical the footing is.  I've heard that some parts have big rocks that are not easy to run on.

The next person to cross the finish line wasn't too far behind, but he had missed the infamous turn and ended up looping back around early.  He says that he did cover 10 miles, but at the very least, it wasn't on the prescribed route.  He was considered a VW.  He regretted not turning back and looking for the real route, since he could've potentially fixed his mistake in time.  

The others didn't come back until about 4:45 into the event.  I got to spend about 1:45 hanging out with Gregg's pack of dogs and chatting with him, which was one of the highlights of the day.

The others did finish in time, thankfully.  Afterwards, after having waited around for so long, I was ready to head home with my dad, and didn't stick around to jump into the river.

I enjoyed the event much more than I expected to.  Rucking in the mountains is something that you can do for free any time, but it is fun to go after a standard and to achieve it.  I also like the planning, preparation, and strategy aspect of it, which is one of my favorite parts of any event that I do.  I'm not the biggest or strongest or fastest, but I can try to make up for it with smarts and preparation.

I have my eyes on other NC events, and maybe some Colorado ones, too.  Not the heavy ones, but 20# isn't bad.