GORUCK Bataan Basic / Rugged Maniac Rockingham / Spartan Sprint Triple Header

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Sunday, April 3:

10-hour Spartan Build volunteer shift

Monday, Apr 4:

I hosted an "Intro to Rucking" clinic at the park where the Pearl Harbor Tough had been held, since it was a nice location.

I talked about ruck and sandbag options, and then we did quarter mile loops.  There was a pile of sandbags weighing 20, 30, 40, 60, and 80# for people to try out.  

Afterwards, we did a 10 min, mostly ruck-based workout.  You could scale it to be slick, or add more weight with sandbags and ruck wearing.  We did lunges, SB DLs, ruck swings, flutter kicks, and push presses, for one minute each, for two rounds.  I thought it was a decent mixture of muscle groups worked, with good scaling options.

Lastly, since GORUCK is known for its team-based events, I split them into two groups for relays, but they got to strategize a bit on which sized sandbag to use for the two movements - tosses vs sandbag bear crawls, and they worked with a buddy to go out and back.

We finished with another tradition of GORUCK events - beer at the end.  Blue Blaze Brewing was probably less than a quarter mile a way, fortunately for us!

It's awesome that such a big group came out.  I wonder if it sounded very approachable, or if the title made it sound official.  All of the Charlotte Ruck Club events are scalable to any level, but this one seemed to really appeal to people.

Wednesday, Apr 6:

JBF 30 min "Ladders" SB workout with a 40#SB and 30#R, wearing Ballistics and a v3 shorty ruck. 

Finished with 19 min of 2x(100 situps, 25 pushups) and 2x(50 4-ct flutter kicks, 50 ruck swings).

Tacked on 4.5 miles with Pokemon and the Straight Dope podcast as a recovery ruck in 1:33:32.

Thursday, Apr 7:

Joined Cabarrus Ruck Club for a history ruck.  We covered 2.5 miles in 1:06:07, including a stop in a cemetery where we saw a monument that honored Lt. Col. Samuel Iredell Parker, who at least a county is named after.  He was awarded the MoH for his acts in WWI.  When machine gun fire from a hill exploited a gap in the allies' formations, he led a group up there to storm and overtake the position.

GORUCK BATAAN BASIC CLT

This would be a very unique Basic, because it would be held at night.  It's cool that they're willing to change things up to see what sticks with people.  That gave me the opportunity to do the Basic, and still get to the elite wave of Rugged Maniac 2 hours away.  The Tough would be held during the daytime, so I'd miss that.

I was so glad to be able to do this, since Cadre DS was leading it, and he always puts on unique and quality events.  It was also the 80th anniversary.

The start point was Romare Bearden Park, and I don't like paying for parking, so I rucked 1.5 miles in to get there from free parking.

At the park, we went barefoot, like we were just chilling, and then had to respond to air raid sirens to get to the other side of the park.  We did this a couple times, as a part of admin.  One guy had left his ID in a car, which was unfortunately within retrieving distance, so he had to bear crawl to get it, or something.

Our first stop was at a Japanese restaurant.  We had to drink up, since we wouldn't be allowed to take more sips of water or eat until we were given permission to, again, the way the prisoners had to keep going despite hunger and thirst, even when they walked by potential sources of comfort.  We had to keep our water containers out, as a reminder.  We got hints that the soldiers would've tried to resist by getting what they could past the watching eyes of their captors.

We went to Pearle St. Neighborhood Park near Trader Joe's.  I never knew that a park existed there.  We did a round of the Bataan Memorial WOD.  

We learned Alpine butterfly knots and connected our rucks to it for a movement to Freedom Park.  At the park, the rucks stayed connected as we did exercises in a circle.  We took turns introducing ourselves and an exercise, and as each person took their turn, they had to recite the names of everyone who had come before.  Fortunately, I knew many of the people in the class already, and it wasn't a huge class.

After that, we learned some BJJ moves, where you grab someone's arm and twist it behind their back.  

We went up to Latta Park for more PT, and then made our way back into uptown.  We did another round of the WOD, still with rucks tied together, in front of BoA stadium.

We covered 7.2 miles in 4:31:06.

RUGGED MANIAC NC I

Before:

After:

In Between:

Still got it!  I got first place again.  Fortunately, I didn't get asked to give advice on stage, like they sometimes ask the winner to do.  I'd end up saying something dumb.

The balance beam was new for this year.

It was good to be able to go home and rest afterwards, as opposed to doing a volunteer shift.

SPARTAN SPRINT CLT

The next morning, though, it was time to race again, this time with Spartan.

This was a very interesting vehicle to park behind.  It didn't seem super new or clean, though.  I wonder what the story is behind it.  Bold choice, especially at these races... at many races where it rains, these fields become mud pits where cars get stuck.  I once had a $1000+ repair bill from it.

Since GORUCK Games includes an OCR component, these back-to-back rucking and OCR events were a good confidence builder.  My goal wasn't speed, by this point in the weekend.  It was just completion.

This was an honor series race, so the medal was really, really cool.  Maybe the coolest one so far!

Afterwards, I volunteered at the kids' race, followed by tear-down.  

Post-race "Excitement"

As I exited the farm, though, I somehow managed to drive over a piece of rebar that was on the dirt road.  I heard it happen.  While driving, I'd hear a clanking noise.  Further into town, though, my tire pressure warning came on.  I pulled over in a random parking lot and saw something sticking out of the tire.  Air was coming out of the tire quickly.  I looked up auto repair shops on my phone.  This late in the day on Sunday, not many were open.  An AutoZone was just down the road, though, so I went there.  I bought a patch kit and borrowed a pair of pliers, but I couldn't pull the thing out.  Little did I know that the thing was like a foot long in there.

A guy coming off his shift from the Autozone helped me swap out the tire with my spare, though, out of the goodness of his heart.  That allowed me to drive home.  Fortunately, this was a CLT race, and not a "middle of nowhere" race that was hours away, so I made it home, and was able to take the car to a shop the next day to get the rebar pulled out and the hole patched.  The guys at Comptons saved the day again!

The car issues stemming from the parking situations at these races have ended up being pretty costly elements of the racing budget!  Almost makes you think twice about racing, even.  You can't predict the weather beforehand, for the mud pit scenario, unfortunately.

RACE REPORT: Rugged Maniac NC 1 & GORUCK Expedition+ Double Header

TRAINING LEAD-UP

I had recovering to do after the Fayetteville Triple, so I only did one workout in the week leading up to Rugged Maniac NC 1 and GORUCK Expedition.  I would've wanted to taper for Rugged, in any case.

Tuesday, May 15:
4.2 in 34:45, 8:16 average.  I did my second run with the treadmill app that simulates running in outdoor locations.  I did the Magic Lake video, which is flatter.  It was a recovery run, sort of.  I didn't need to go fast.  I just wanted to move some, to maintain fitness and shake out from Fayetteville. 

My body is ok.  I haven't done anything speed-related in a while, though.  I took a nap before the run after work, since I was passing out tired and would've needed adrenaline to force myself to run despite the tiredness.  Right arm is still 30% numb from the HH12HR. 

Splits> 8:47, 8:34, 8:21, 7:50, 1:12 for 0.2.


RUGGED MANIAC

Since Expedition is more about learning survival skills and not about enduring a bunch of PT, I wasn't concerned about tacking Expedition on to my existing race plans for Rugged Maniac.  I was glad to be able to fit in both.  I'd be done with Rugged in the morning.  I'd have to skip the volunteering that I'd usually do, but I'd drive to Expedition afterwards, with a chance at a nap before the 12hr overnight event.

At Rugged, they had the same set of 2018 obstacles as the ones I encountered in SC.  The main challenge was the rain that made all of the obstacles tougher than usual. 

I managed through the rings, and I chicken winged my way (for the first time on a monkey bar style obstacle) through the tilting monkey bars.  I wanted to do things right, even if it took longer.  It helped that I had a good lead and was in 1st.

The rules allow for help on the warped wall.  I wanted to try to do it myself, and I tried, over and over again.  It normally takes me like 3 tries.  I tried over and over again, and it still wasn't working.  You may find a drier spot on a normal race day, but today, everything was wet.  2nd and 3rd caught up to me, and they were going with volunteer help.  My chance was slipping away.  I lost one spot, then finally got help up and managed to get 2nd, maybe because the 2nd girl up the wall knew that I had been there for a while and felt sorry for me.  She was nice.  Anyways, I was happy just to podium, and to get through reasonably well in the rain.  It'll be like that in England, probably, so I need to start getting used to wet obstacles.  I'm ok at best on dry ones, and wet ones are normally nearly impossible.  We'll see!  One day, though, I want the top spot at Rugged.

GORUCK EXPEDITION

The packing list for Expedition said no food, which is different.  I figured that we may learn how to find food.  I didn't want to go in empty, especially after doing a race right beforehand, though, so I fueled up at Arby's.  I wanted salt, meat, and lots of sauce.  Plus, lots of light lemonade for hydration in the heat.  It was warm.

I realized that I didn't have everything I needed, so I swung back home before going to Westminster Park.  I don't know what kind of park it is, but it's open to the public during daylight hours.  It has some open fields, plus access to a river.

After introductions of the participants and cadre, we split up into 3 groups of 13 to learn how to build a rope bridge, which includes a figure 8 knot and a knot with a bite, and the alpine butterfly, plus the Swiss harness.  I've never been good at understanding knots, visualizing how they work and are assembled.  This practice helped, though.  After doing rope traverses with a caribeaner (not with pure arm and leg strength like in Spartan with the Tyrolean Traverse), we practiced all connecting ourselves, which was cool and unique.

Next, we learned how to estimate distances with paces and keep bearings with a compass.  Then put that into practice during a map making exercise, which was more challenging than usual because we had to do it in the dark.  There was some wild terrain with elevation changes and bushwhacking to get through, too.  When I was a kid, before the days of Mapquest and later, Google Maps, I'd ride all around my neighborhood in my bike, and mapped all of the roads and ponds and other landmarks.  It reminds me of that.  

The 6 hour Expedition people taught us about first aid, which we also covered in Constellation and Immersion.  It's good to get some repetition, though, to reinforce it.  First aid isn't something you think about on a day to day basis, so it's easy to forget unless you get it reinforced.

After that, we learned foraging techniques and fire building techniques, including how to prep rabbits, eggs, etc.  That was very new to me, too.  There were a lot of people in the class, so not everyone got to do everything, but there were chances for each person to contribute in some way or another.  We learned about using the skillet, aluminum foil with food by the coals, and boiling.  

The fire building instruction was useful.  The patience to do the necessary prep at the beginning to get enough wood and tinder, and to sort it, is critical.  We kept the fire going on the jetboil to sanitize water.  

We did a mission where we got to put a lot of the learnings into practice, using our previous exploration and map making of the area to go to a location, build and cross a rope bridge, get water, bring it back, and boil it.  

After that, we learned about making shelters, staying dry, staying off the ground to stay warm, creating insulation, etc.  That was pretty cool.  I car camp occasionally, and I usually try to avoid using AC or heating, and maybe wouldn't at all, except I don't want to damage my house with the temp swings and extreme temps.  So this was useful to learn about.  

Our time ended too soon, but for those who could stay and wanted to stay, we could go through the culminating exercise that had been planned.  It involved doing a 1 mile float down the river, Immersion style but with the added skill of the rope connection with alpine butterfly knots.  Afterwards, we navigated our way back to the start point.  I was game.  Going through missions are my favorite parts of events like these.  

The water was cold, but we endured and swam our way downstream through the uncharted waters.  The currents were a little stronger in some areas, but we all made it through to the landing spot.  It was a little surreal, floating under I-77.

Next, we started navigating back to the start point.    There were twists and turns and obstacles along the way, but that's an important and normal part of navigating that's good to learn and get used to.  The most intense part was the final stretch, which I had planned on being a straight shot back home.  However, it was a path riddled with obstacles of all kinds.  I thought numerous times that there's no way we were getting through this or that, but where I saw obstacles that prevent us from getting where we want to go and doing what we wanted to do, the cadre saw challenges to get through and overcome.  It was really cool to see them operate in conditions like this, and to see how they think and get through unpredictable situations.  That's what training and learning like this is all about.  It was such a special opportunity to be able to go through this Expedition Extra with them and the team in a more intimate setting.

We got through at last, and round 2 of the beers felt so rewarding after what we accomplished together.  

South End Pub Runs & RACE REPORT: Rugged Maniac Charleston, SC 2018

TRAINING LEAD-UP:

Monday, Mar 5
I have kind of wanted to try joining a running group for many years.  I always hesitated, because it would require driving somewhere, and they normally run on roads that are hard, and the availability of the right pace group for you may not be there.

One turned up on Facebook, though, and it was called the South End Pub Run.  It offered a beer punch ticket, and it wasn't too far from work, so I gave it a try.  I'm glad I did!  Starting from the Ultra Running Company, you could choose a 1, 3, or 5 mile route.  It was partially on the rail trail (which runs parallel to our single-line metro) and partially through quieter streets in South End.  This was the last Monday before daylight savings, so it was a run than was darker than planned, but it was really pretty, with the lights of uptown in the background.

We ran by breweries, restaurants, and fitness class providers.  I settled behind the lead pack and followed them through the course.  We sped up quite a bit as we went on.  We didn't follow the planned route completely, so we ended up with 5.7 in 48:02, 8:27 ave.  Afterwards, we got our well-deserved beers, at Pop the Top, which has an excellent selection of beers from state breweries even I haven't heard of.  Sours are great post-run.

 

Splits> 9:06, 8:59, 8:22, 7:54, 8:02, 5:34 for 0.7.

Blaze Pizza offers 1 free pizza ticket as a raffle per 10 participants, and the run was co-hosted by Black Men Run.  I enjoyed the company, and getting to explore South End.

Thursday, Mar 8:
Treadmill run, 2 degrees of incline.  6.0 in 48:10, 8:02 ave.  The treadmills were acting up today... two of them stopped working mid-run, but third time was a charm.  Warm in the gym at first, but got better after a little while.  So tired this morning.

Friday-
The next morning, woke at 2:15 am, not sure if I slept much before work.  The next day, after work, watched 10x 1 hr episodes of Altered Carbon - the whole season!  Slept at 2am.

Saturday-
Slept, ate, watched tv... mostly slept... the whole day gone.

Sunday, Mar 11:
Trail run with the Zombies, Run! app on.  Mini Clif bar @ 2 hrs because I was bonking and had started walking the hills.  Had to push myself to keep running.

Monday, Mar 12:

Back at the South End Pub Run!  It was threatening to mist rain, and it was chilly, so the crowd was a bit smaller, but at least we were past daylight savings, so it was light out.  I led with this speedy guy.  It was supposed to be a recovery day, after doing the trail run the previous evening, but I can't help it.  We cut one part short when we were trying to find the right route, but we made it up with an extra loop later.

Splits> 7:42, 7:36, 7:25, 7:19, 7:30, even including some pause time at stoplights.  I didn't realize it was such a progressive run.  I thought I had been bonking, but it was really just speeding up.

After such a speedy run, I ended up resting the rest of the week, in preparation for Rugged Maniac, in my hometown.

RACE REPORT:

I ran in the 9am competitive heat. I went with a sports bra, but went without calf sleeves because by the time I realized that I hadn't put them on, my shoes were already on.  I did have arm sleeves.

They introduced some new obstacles this year.  I'm not tall, so I was worried about Pole Position, which is kind of like an Irish Table, followed by a fireman pole down, but I was able to get up, fortunately.  They also had an uphill zip line, where you had to use your momentum with a running start and some body control to hit the bell at the end... it was challenging, but it was so satisfying to hit that bell!  

Got 2nd this time! 1st was way ahead of me, though.

Rugged does a good job of having good craft beer, and activities like stein hoisting, corn hole, and a mechanical bull afterwards.

They didn't have official podium pics this year, but a random guy with an OEW LB jersey came up to us afterwards and asked if we could do our own podium shot on him.  This guy was able to hold three of us on him arms and on his shoulders!

POST-RACE:

I spent the rest of the weekend with my parents.  My dad and I went on a run at the beach afterwards.  It was his first run in like 6 months, since he was away in Taiwan, so we ran/walked 2 miles.

 

We also shopped at TJX and Marshalls, which is what we always do for fun.