Post-TA Recovery - Month 3 (Constellation/FoF, Hard Hitter T/L, T-day, Santa Ruck)

 Monday, Nov 9:

Whole Body Therapeutic Yoga Flow with Revive N Thrive.  My traps were sore from the TL, so the twists felt great.  My left shoulder is noticeably strained.

Tuesday, Nov 10:

4 miles in 1:18:32 as active recovery in the Salomon X-Missions with 30#.

Wednesday, Nov 11:

HDT 17.3.3 (Core) with 56 min of SB PT, followed by a 1 mi interval run in 7:58.  I could only hit <1/2 of the 60# SB situp reps to failure vs what I used to be able to do pre-TA.  My body was craving some cardio today.

Thursday, Nov 12:

The shooting range had a Member's Appreciation day.  They had free firearms rentals and free targets, so I tried out a DD AR with a Viper pST 1-6X24 scope.  It's amazing how different looking at the target is with a scope!

After shooting, I went to the lounge for some free beer.

I went for a ruck afterwards to ruck it off, covering 2 miles in 36:45.  I got to explore a different part of the city.  I managed to roll my left ankle, though, while walking on some debris.  Don't drink and ruck.  This was in the I/O cross-trainers with a Speed Rucker.  My body is still craving cardio.

Friday, Nov 13:

After work, I did the HDT March Madness "1st Quarter" 15 min BW AMRAP, followed by HDT's Hell's Sandfire 25 min, 45# SB AMRAP, followed by a 2 mile run in my Kinvaras because I was still craving cardio.

After getting in my own workout, I went to shadow the Veterans Day Tough in CLT.  It was being held close to home again, so it was really convenient.  The class did the CHAD 1000X with Cadre Clay at the start.  Even though he's come to CLT twice, I still haven't done a Cadre Clay event!  I've just shadowed both times, due to conflicts with other events.  While it's nice to be in the action, I'll tell you what, though - shadowing can be quite fun, too.  I like taking pictures, hanging out with other shadows, and living vicariously through the participants.

Saturday, Nov 14:

GORUCK CONSTELLATION

The reason I wasn't doing the Tough was that I was doing the Greenville Constellation on Saturday, followed by the Greenville Force-on-Force.  At Constellation, we started with a classroom portion where we learned about the legal use of force, and the nuances involved.  It was remarkable how slightly changing the scenario that you were presented with could drastically change your answer with how you'd respond.  For example, if you were coming out of a movie theater and saw someone breaking into your car, what would you do?  What if you knew that you had a firearm in there?  What if you had your grandma's life-saving medicine in there?  When you call something in, you also have to be cautious about your wording, and make it obvious that you're not the threat.  

We learned how to use physics to lift a car.  We learned how to get into a locked car.  We learned how to tie a swiss seat.  We rappelled off of the top of the third level of conex's.  We learned surveillance techniques - the amount of info that could be gleaned, the effectiveness of social manipulation, and techniques to avoid detection, were eye-opening as well.  We learned restraint defeat (handcuffs via bobby pins, and zip-ties via paracord).  We learned stop-the-bleed first aid techniques.  We built masks that could be used against CS gas, and we got to put it (along with our restraint defeat skills) to the test in the CULEX.

SB joined me that evening so that we could get some good sleep before FoF the next day.  

Sunday, Nov 15:

GORUCK FORCE ON FORCE

FoF is an even more eye-opening class.  You go to the range, and you think you're a B.A.  How should that translate into real-world decision-making, though?  If someone sticks up a cafe and wants the cashier's money, what do you do?  If there's a teen who's threatening to harm herself, and a bunch of HS's are egging her on, what do you do?  If you're in a crowded party, and someone comes in and starts stabbing everyone, what is it like?  If someone random parked at your workplace pulls out a seemingly unloaded weapon, what do you do?  What if there's a home invasion, and someone has taken a loved one hostage?

We went through these scenarios with simunitions, so that it would feel more realistic, and we could get a better appreciation for the implications of different decisions.  Your views going in may be drastically different from your views coming out.  It's interesting to see where your focus may naturally go.  I tended to give the benefit of the doubt too much, and ended up getting shot in most scenarios.  I wasn't satisfied with how I performed, so I really wanted to take the class again to see if I could respond better.

Monday, Nov 16:

I caught up on the virtual Badass Babes event, although I didn't get the patch.  I just wanted to do the workouts.  It was actually quite challenging!  I started with a 1 mile warmup in 18:48.  That was followed by the 20 min "Jenny" AMRAP, then 3 miles in 51:44.  Followed by the 'Enriquez" WOD in 10 minutes, then 2 miles in 18:48.  Then the 35 minute "Shannon" AMRAP.  I used a 30# ruck.  It was my first time in the Ballistic Trainers, which were surprisingly comfortable, even while rucking.  They seem to be the most comfortable of all three GORUCK shoe models so far.

Tuesday, Nov 17:

Detox Yoga Fusion 1 : Upper Body Yoga Workout with Brett Larkin.  The unweighted movements were different from what I've experienced in other yoga classes.

Wednesday, Nov 18:

HDT IR 18-19.1.1 (Arms & Core) in 28 min, followed by IR18-19.1.2 (Legs & Core) in 42 min = 70 min total.

Friday, Nov 20:

GORUCK HARD HITTER TOUGH

The 2019 Hard Hitter HTL had been an incredible experience.  Perhaps my favorite event.  The scenarios and the way that each event built on the previous ones made it special.  Even though this year wasn't going to be an HTL, I had to go back.  Ragnar was the originally scheduled cadre, but a conflict came up for him, so Fagan stepped up to lead it, instead.

Prior to the event, I met up with AT, AW, SB (who I had carpooled with), Fagan, and SW at Eighth State Brewing Co for dinner.  Fagan enjoys hanging out with GRTs and doing events as much as he likes leading events, which is cool.  They brought sandwiches out for outdoor dining, and the beer selection was good.

Some of David Rotten's relatives came to the start.  They said a few words, and were glad that we were out to honor David.  We did warmups at Cleveland park... on your belly, on your back, on your feet in the volleyball court.  We did relays between two teams involving tire flips.  Our team won, but I think our tire was slightly smaller.  We traversed a section of the Reedy River, which was different and fun.  Fagan's brother came to shadow.  I didn't realize that Fagan had a brother!  It's cool that they do stuff together.

We rucked around with ammo cans on poles.  There was a wide log team weight that AT brought.  We had some sandbags, and a litter and the flag.  Albert was there, pulling his weight and inspiring us all as well.

Most of the event was pretty typical for Fagan.  TL pics a number between 1 and 3, which corresponds to our next destination.  Rinse and repeat until it's about time.  We had eggs to protect during the event.  Mine did pretty well in my challenge windbreaker pocket... just some micro-fractures.

My stomach was fine for the vast majority of the event, but when the sun was rising and we got to the baseball fields near First Baptist Greenville on the Swamp Rabbit Trail, it had had enough of something.  I wonder now if it's related to the pre-workout that I've been drinking, that I had gotten from WTM.  Maybe it was past its prime, or something.  

The ending of the event was unique, I will say.  Fagan split us up into guys and girls.  The girls went first, and had to roll our eggs to the halfway point of the volleyball court, using only our heads.  Fortunately, I had my tac hat, whose bill I could use.  Unfortunately, the micro-fractures in the egg spelled early doom for the egg, so after a while, I was just pushing a mass of egg innards.  Once you crossed the line, you were allowed to pelt anyone who hadn't finished yet, with the egg.  AT was first, followed by SB.  Fortunately, I was spared.  Bridget was an easy target, haha.  She's a larger target, and would be good natured and hilarious about it.  SW got the second egg.  

We took a Hard Hitter Award pic after the Tough, while it was still light out.  By the end of the Light, it would be really dark and hard to see.

GORUCK HARD HITTER LIGHT

This was going to perhaps be my last Light, since we'd start transitioning to Basics in 2021.  Same event duration, but using Tough weight standards.

One guy showed up late and had to get into the water before doing the warmups in the volleyball court, which meant that he turned into a sugar cookie.  We did tire flip relays, which my team lost (probably because we had the bigger tire this time).  We lost the second competition, too, which involved getting water from the river into a giant trash can drum.  I went in first, since I had some practice in filling buckets from TA, although I'm not the strongest when it comes to passing the bucket up.  We lost that, too, which meant that we had to get into the water.  If "t'aint wet, you didn't get in far enough", as Fagan says.  It was a blessing in disguise for him that we had to go into the water, since he got to rinse off the sand a little bit.

The rest of the event went pretty much as usual.  I remember carrying the jerry can for a while.  Early on, the girl who was our TL got hit with either an ammo can or a mailbox or something, but she shook it off and kept on going!  I think our next TL got us lost for a long time, but I didn't mind the break.

We didn't do egg relays again after the Light.

Monday, Nov 23:

I got in a 10 mile run at the USNWC at 11:08 pace.  I explored the new "Rail" trail, which goes along some train tracks.  Always something new to discover at the Whitewater Center!  

My legs got tired at mile 9.

Tuesday, Nov 24:

HDT 18.5.3 (Arms) in 50 min with a 1 mi coupon ruck at the end with a 30# ruck and 45# Sandbag in the Altra Torin Plush.  Took my time during the workout to enjoy the day off with working out.

Wednesday, Nov 25:

I visited my sister for Thanksgiving.  We went to Pilot Mountain.  I kind of wanted to do my 10-mile Mountain Ruck challenge for PATHFINDER, but she wasn't interested, so we just did 3.5 miles in 1:59:18.  We had driven up to the top of the mountain and did the trails around the top, and we went a little bit of the way down the mountain then back up.  The trails were very technical, so it wasn't a bad thing that we didn't do that much mileage.  820 feet of gain.  I do want to come back some day, to get my National Park Passport stamp.  The trail up and down the mountain didn't seem quite as technical, so that could be what I do.  One section of the top loop was pretty cool because it looked like a lost city.  I'm a big fan of my sister's phone's portrait mode.

My sister made spaghetti squash for dinner.  She makes real food.

Thursday, Nov 26:

Thanksgiving afternoon, I went for a 6.5 mile run at Salem Lake in 57:29 in the Brooks Mazamas.  My body felt the 3.5 mile mountain ruck from the day before, along with the arm workout, so I opted not to do either a 12-mile ruck or the Robbie Miller WOD.  The trail was all wet, anyways, so PT on the ground wouldn't have been fun.

I very minorly helped my sister make Thanksgiving dinner.  It was pretty traditional, with mac and cheese, green beans, red potatoes, and turkey with gravy and stuffing.

Friday, Nov 27:

We tried to go to Grandfather Mountain, but of course it's going to be busy on Black Friday, especially if you wait until the late morning.  Plus, they needed advanced purchases online because of COVID, so we weren't able to get in.  It ended up working out, though, because there's a free trail nearby that we did, instead.  Profile Trail.  We ended up getting to some of the same spots, anyways.

With this option and the 8 miles that we covered, we didn't encounter the really steep and long ladders, or the mile-high bridge.  We did see tiny ladders that were scary enough for my sister.  I did this one slick, since had we been able to get in to the main park, I had no desire to do the tall ladders with a 30# ruck, especially if there was a chance that I'd have to catch my sister if she slipped.  We had 2,795 feet of gain and covered it in 4:21.

Saturday, Nov 28:

I said goodbye to my sister, and headed back to CLT.  I stopped at the UNCC area to meet up with SB to do some recon for the upcoming Santa Ruck.  We needed to find some good spots for PT along the route that she had mapped out.  We covered 4 miles in 1:09:09, and found some good spots, plus some nearby backup locations in case we wanted to do PT with some shelter from potential rain.

Sunday, Nov 29:

Everyday Vinyassa Flow by Lululemon for 45 minutes.  It was pretty good, although Adriene is still the best.

Monday, Nov 30:

My friend Joe Baker started his own fitness program.  He ran a promotion over the holidays for his 6-week program, and it was actually perfect timing for Bragg Double Heavy.  HDT would've been my usual plan for an event as difficult as that, but its 6 week schedule is already pre-planned, whereas I would need to start right then to finish the program with enough time to get in some taper.  I chose his "Bulletproof" program, since it was the most challenging of the three standard tiers that he offered.  

I started with his PT test, and then I did a mile strict ruck with 30# in 12:37, and then I did the "Welcome Party" day 2 workout with its 30 minutes of PT, since just the PT test hadn't taken a long time.  Since the PT involved some small rucking and running bits, I wore the GORUCK Ballistic trainers instead of going barefoot in my garage like I normally do.  I still love how comfortable those shoes are!

Wednesday, Dec 2:

I was sore yesterday and today, surprisingly, in my legs and in my arms somewhat, and in my shoulders.  I also slept weird and had a crick in my neck all day.  The neck thing made form more challenging when I had to integrate some 8-count body builders during my 4-mile ruck, which was done in 1:05:06 including the PT mix-in.

Thursday, Dec 3:

1 mile strict ruck in 14:16, then a workout that I doubled with some of my own exercises, taking 60 minutes total, but with 30 minutes of working time.  Then another 1 mile strict ruck in 13:35 with 30#.  Craving cardio again.  Wore Altra Torin Plush for the rucks.

Friday, Dec 4:

Timed 12 miler in 2:51:54 with 30# in Salomons.  Drank at miles 6, 8.5, 10, and 11.  I didn't need it the last few miles, but it helped to lighten the ruck.  Negative splits!  It felt difficult even 2 miles in, but I pressed on.  Glad I did, because this ended up being a confidence booster.  It's good to practice the Timed 12 leading up to Heavies!

Saturday, Dec 5:

SANTA RUCK VIRTUAL LIGHT

The Santa Ruck was virtual this year, meaning no cadre was going to be supplied, but groups could still physically meet up on their own if they wanted, and that's what we did.  We volunteered Mark to be our cadre.  Baker provided a "12 days of Christmas" workout.  SB did the planning and publicizing.  Brian Tomlinson was the official photogrpaher.

I got there early to plant flags for the meetup.  Although we didn't have a Special Ops cadre leading the event, we did have Fagan participating, along with his brother!   People assembled, many coming in festive garb.  A few went to the wrong Blaze Pizza at first, but we did some warmups to kill time while everyone got there.

We set off towards the pond at the Shoppes at University Place.  We must've been an interesting sight, although it was still 9am, so there weren't a ton of people around.  The Christmas decorations were nice to walk past.  SB and I had thought about when we wanted to start.  An early time was good for giving people the rest of the day to do family stuff, but it did make it harder for people who had to come from out of town, since they'd have to travel really early, or else stay somewhere local the previous night.  Next year, we'll probably go with a later time to account for that.

I was the navigator and stayed up by the flags with the little kids, since I had done the recon loop.  #RLTW = Rudolphs lead the way, blinky red nose and all!

Cadre "Fat Thor" as he called himself, was great with the kids and really creative with the theme.  As we were rucking, he'd tell us to carry our rucks like a bag of presents periodically.  Whenever we came across other pedestrians, we had to sing "Jingle Bells", too.  That kept things fresh and continuously stimulating for the kids.

The kids really enjoyed getting to hold the flags, although Santa threatened to "cancel Christmas" if anyone dropped the US flag.

 

Santa also had a wrapped brick that he called a "present" that he passed around to the kids to have them carry as an extra weight sometimes.  There weren't any other coupons, since we wanted to minimize any COVID risks.  We told families that they could bring them if they wanted, and that families could stay together and away from others if they wanted.  Nobody brought coupons, though.  

We stopped on a longer stretch of greenway for an egg transfer game using spoons.  It was a race between the two sides.  People were static.  We just had to pass the egg along without breaking it.  At one point, a landscaping cart came through, so we got to sing "Jingle Bells" to the driver.

We got to Kirk Farm Park, where we did JB's "12 Days of Christmas" workout, which consisted of

• 1 Ruck OH Squat
• 2 Pushups
• 3 Ruck Swings
• 4 Ruck Curls
• 5 Burpees
• 6 Ruck Squats
• 7 Ruck Jump Overs
• 8 Flutter Kicks
• 9 Seal Claps
• 10 Crab Walks
• 11 Bear Crawls
• 12 Duck Walks

(a perfectly timed picture where the duck walks look more like a reindeer showdown)

Guenther's kids did the demos.  Somehow, it was challenging for me to keep up while we did this as one big group!

Our next stop was at a shelter at UNCC, although we opted to stay in the grass out front.  Charlene was the leader for this evolution.  She talked about women in rucking, and her experience getting into this sport.  She led a workout there as well.  

• 10 gorilla shuffles right, 10 gorilla shuffles left
• 10 upright rows
• 10 ruck to toes leg lifts
• 10 russian twists

After the PT, Guenter let the kids play bit of touch football.  It was impromptu, but the kids enjoyed it a lot.  We then rucked through some athletic fields to the grassy area by Archaeopteryx Pond, where Shane Marshall gave a talk about F3, and then had us split into groups of 4.  In these groups, we had to get a certain number of reps of bear crawls and flutter kicks, going in pairs.  The goal was teamwork.  Some groups of four finished faster than others, but we joined together to help everyone finish more quickly.

We were pretty much back near the start point by then, and we basically only had to cross the road to get back to Blaze.  

At the end, there weren't patches, since those were going to be mailed directly from Team Ninja, but SB had purchased candy canes for Santa to give out.

Blaze Pizza was open by then, so many of us got food there, and we ate out in the outdoor patio.  Guenther gave us the TA shirts that we had ordered, too.  It was nice to have another little reunion.

5.0 in 3:41:17, with 20# in MACV1s and airsoft mask with car reindeer antlers.

Sunday, Dec 6:

No workout today, but it was crazy foggy outside in the morning.

It was a special day for SB!

Monday, Dec 7:

43 minutes of Joe's Week 2 PT test, which was 4 sets of 2 min max's with 2 dispersed miles of running and rucking.  I added an extra 200 situps and 10 plank 2-way 45# sb pull-throughs, 75 4-ct flutter kicks, 2:55 dead hang, 2:55 high plank with ruck in 24 min.

Tuesday, Dec 8:

"Welcome Party Volume Strength" JBF workout in 39.5 minutes.  A decent workout.

Wednesday, Dec 9:

45 min Slow Vinyassa Flow with Kassandra.  Eh... not a huge fan of yoga props.

Thursday, Dec 10:

Robbie Miller WOD, for Bragg practice...

- 3 miles in 57:29

- 12 rounds with ruck for all but pull-ups, which got progressively worse even slick, in 50:25

- 3 miles in 53:52

30# and MACV1s, since I don't mind tearing them up in PT.

Friday, Dec 11:

60 minutes of rucking with stops every 5 minutes for about 2 minutes of PT (10 sets total), covering 2.5 miles, followed by another 1.5 to see Lights at the USNWC.  Altra Lone Peaks.  The ruck curls rubbed my TA knuckle scars again.

They changed up Lights a bit slightly this year.  There was a curtain stream overhead, but no glowing river this year.  The river with its sound effects had been my favorite last year.  The blue crystals were farther from the path this year, maybe to prevent people from walking all over stuff.  There were many more mushrooms this year, tiny ones.  They almost looked like they were moving.  There was no nest, but there was a cool lava effect in the ground.

Saturday, Dec 12:

Osprey Ruck Club and Cabarrus Ruck Club had a Ranger Panty ruck at Latta Plantation, in the Hill Trail area.  There were 4 exercises with 25 reps each, spread out during the 4 mile ruck, for the 25 days of Christmas.  This included flutter kicks, which worked out, since SB and I started a virtual 10K core challenge, and week 1 was going to require flutter kicks.  

I had been wanting to earn a ranger panty ruck patch for a while, so I was glad to finally get the chance.  5.0 in 1:45:07.

Sunday, Dec 13:

For CLT Ruck Club, I organized 3.5 miles of coupon rucking, me with a 30# ruck and 30# SB, stopping every half mile for flutter kicks to get to our 333 total for the day for the 10K challenge.  We did another 0.5 without coupons at the Lights exhibit.  We also did a little sandbag throwing in there for the fun of it.  I wore a mask the whole time. 

It was my third consecutive day of reaching my daily protein goal of 30%.  It wasn't easy, but I'm looking forward to gains and faster recovery.

Monday, Dec 14:

Week 3 repeat of JBF's R/BW PT test.  I improved by 2-3 reps in each of the 4 exercises.  I finished the PT in 15 minutes.  I also beat my previous strict ruck time by more than a minute (11:21 this time), using the same XA Comps.  I then did SB beta week 1's PT test for 35 minutes.  JB let me test it out, since I wanted more.  I did another 15 minutes of 345 4-ct flutter kicks after that.

Tuesday, Dec 15:

47 min of JBF Primal Movement Welcome Party, with 30#R and 45#SB... a great full-body butt kicker that had me working cardio-wise, for sure.  350 flutter kicks afterwards in 12.5 minutes.

Wednesday, Dec 16:

Shakti Power Flow - Yoga with Adriene in 56 minutes.  Easier and slower, but longer.  Traps are somewhat sore today.