The Proving Grounds @ The Sawmill Feb 2024

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Sunday, Feb 4:

HDT IR31-35.1.2 (Legs & Core) in 31:49, Baba Yaga 30 min AMRAP with a 40#SB with 3 rounds and 18 reps feeling decent, and a 2 min dead hang finisher

Tuesday, Feb 6:

APFT with 53/40 push-ups, 83/76 sit-ups, and a 15:08/17:00 2 mile in 44* temps in the Adidas Boston Boost.  Afterwards, I rucked 2 miles with 30# in 26:56 in the v2 Rucker in the Altra Torin Plush with a bandaid on my blister from the MACV2s, nose breathing.  It felt good.  

Wednesday, Feb 7:

4.5 miles with 30# in the v2 Rucker int he Altra Torin Plush nose breathing in 58:24 with a bandaid again.

Thursday, Feb 8:

Range trip to work out my pistol flinch and zero my BCM.

Finished reading "Delete the Adjective" by Lisa Jaster... so eye-opening about the uphill battle and standard-crushing the first female Rangers went through.

TPG @ SAWMILL

TPG has certainly grown and become more popular since its early days.  It's great to see such a fantastic event get the recognition it deserves.  I had gotten used to being the only female to show up, so it was a great surprise when there were 9 competing at this match, with about 5 in my squad alone (1/3 of the squad).  

The PAR time for each stage was 7 minutes.  I used my 12# Crye plate carrier, BCM AR-15, and CZP10C.

Stage 3: It's All On

There was a really neat strategy twist here... you had to load your rifle mag on the clock, with as many rounds as you wanted to have for the stage.  Load to many, and you will have wasted time, potentially leading to a time-out or at least doing worse from a time plus scoring perspective.  Load too few and run out, and you'll get misses count against you.  How fast do you load?

Once you've loaded, grab an empty air tank that may weigh about 25# and carry it to the first floor, where you can put the tank down to shoot at 5 pistol targets.  Then move to a window to shoot at 5 rifle targets N->F.  Move to a second window and repeat the rifle engagements.

Go up to the second floor with the tank and shoot at 5 targets all the way through, 2x.  

Go up to the third floor with the tank, and shoot 5 rifle targets from any port.  Then move to the balcony and shoot the rifle targets again.  Now you can go back to the ground floor, put the tank down, and go around hte corner to shoot one final pistol target to end the time.

I was towards the end, so I had a lot of time to stretch and make a plan.

I ended up using 29/30 rifle rounds that I carried and 19 pistol.  I was 3/9 for women and 48/80 overall.

I had a malfunction at my second rifle window.  I removed the mag immediately, but I needed to pull the charging handle alllll the way back to clear it.  I should've followed the full process the first time to address it more quickly.

Stage 4: Consequences

Move to a rifle wood barricade and shoot 5 pistol targets 1x each, 2x, L->R.  Shoot rifle from the rope section of the barricade at 2x150yd targets, 4x200yd targets, 1x each, L->R.  Each time you miss, bring a metal torpedo out to the flag and back and re-engage.

Move to a table and repeat the rifle series.  If you miss, bring a comically large but not terribly heavy dumbbell out to the flag and back.

Move to the tank trap and shoot from it with your gun touching some part of it, and repeat the rifle engagement.  If you miss, you only have to do a slick run out and back.

Move to the low table with a flat SB and shoot at a 400yd rifle target until you hit it 1x with no penalties for misses.

I got 4/9 for women and 41/80 overall.  I used 24 rifle and 11 pistol.  

I missed 4x total on rifle, 2x needing to carry the torpedo, and 2x needing to do the slick run.  

I had to move3e around on the rope to see all the rifle targets and shoot around the pistol targets, which was an interesting twist.  

I farmers carried the torpedo, but shouldering it would've been better for my hands, even though it wasn't heavy or a long trip.

I felt like I had good positions and did OK recovering after the penalties.

It does add extra stress having everyone watching during this stage.  The connex one was mainly blind.

Stage 5: Yard Hand

Shoot a dueling tree with 6 targets with pistol.

Put a SB in a wheelbarrow and push it to the next bay.

At the first table, shoot 6 steel of various sizes with 1 hit each, L->R.

Push the wheelbarrow to the closer table in the bay and shoot a plate rack.

Push the wheelbarrow to the third bay and shoot rifle standing at a far right target, 1x.  Move to the first barrel/tire combo and shoot 5 left targets L->R 1x each, with prop usage allowed.  On your way to the next barrel/tire combo, you must shoot the far right target standing again at some point.  Repeat the 5 target series on 3 more barrel/tire combos, and do one more final standing shot on the far right target before pushing the wheelbarrow back to the start.  

Shoot pistol on a freshly loaded gun to end the time.

I got 4/9 for the women, 57/80 overall.  I used 32/60 rifle, 39/45 pistol.... so bad on pistol.. I missed a ton on the plate rack.  I was high, and looking back, I probably held at the wrong place on my chevron reticle since I wasn't thinking about it.  It's good that I brought 3 mags, because I almost needed all of it!

My rifle standing shots weren't bad, all things considered.  I had been most worried about that.  I only missed a couple of times.  

I forgot about the last standing rifle shot and had already dropped my mag before the RO reminded me.  Fortunately, I hadn't cleared my chamber yet, so I had one chance to make the hit without needing to reload.  I had to make it count!  I pulled the trigger on a good shot, but no bang... I had the safety on!  So I had to do it again, which ate up time, but I did make the shot.  

Stage 1: What an Obstacle

Start from the far end of a bay and run up to and climb a rope without your rifle.  Afterwards, grab the rifle and move to the next bay.

Shoot from your non-dominant shoulder from barrels at 7 rifle targets, L->R.  Move to another barrel and repeat, but you can use any shoulder and any position this time, including prone.  Repeat the engagement, from prone.  Repeat from a low railroad tie wall.  Leave your rifle and go to the original O-course with a tightrope, cargo net A-frame, Railroad tie wall, window, barbed wire crawl, over/under sternum checker, and balance beam 3/4 of the way.  

Return to teh shooting bay and shoot 5 pistol targets 1x each, twice, from a barrel.  Then shoot at a farther silhouette to end the time.

This was a good redemption stage after my previous pistol disaster.  I got 1/9 for women and 15/80 overall.  I used 30/60 rifle and 14/30 pistol.

I'm surprised by how many people can't climb ropes.  Off-hand practice came in handy!  The positional rifle shooting all felt good... it's a strength for me now, thanks to precision rifle.  

I pushed the pace pretty hard and didn't make very many mistakes or misses.  I felt confident, since I knew that obstacle courses were kind of my thing.

Stage 2: <<Removed>>

From a seat inside a shoot house, locate your gear that the RO has hidden somewhere inside the house.  Exit the house and go to the short connex structure where you climb up to teh first floor and shoot 7 targets from the first window and repeat from a second window.  

Run to the end of the hill overlooking the big car bay.  Shoot at 7 targets L->R from a beam, again from a wobbly beam, and again from the top of a tall crate at 200yd.  

Load pistol and shoot at 5 poppers 1x each to end the time.

This was another fun twist.  It would've been cool to shoot inside the shoot house, but this is a good second place.  I love the creativity of the stages.  

I had to check a few rooms before finding my gear.  I fumbled putting it on... I should know better about "slow is smooth, smooth is fast".  

I'm surprised that my rifle shots went as well as they did, after the elite male who went before me used 2 full mags and ran out.  I used 29/120 rifle and 38/60 pistol.

I brought multiple grains of 5.56, intending to use 77gr IMI for the longer shots, but I pulled out the 55gr Norma instead.  It worked.  

There was still light out when I went as the 3rd to go.  It was too dark even with car lights on for the later part of the squad to go, though, so they removed this stage from scoring.  Too bad.  

Overall

I got 4/9 for the women, within 2% points of 2nd.... it was that close among 2->4th.  I was actually 3rd when the entire field was used as a benchmark, but when the top female was used as the benchmark, I was 4th.  Interesting how scoring can work out.  I was 37/80 overall.  

I can be good when I'm focused and confident.

I need to figure out rifle holds.

Position building is a strength of mine now, as is experience.  

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

First time not getting a podium in my division at this match, but the competition is raising the bar, which is good, and I was close.  Next time!

Reedy Creek O-Meet 2024 - Red Course

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Monday, Jan 29:

18A "Lower Body Prep" in 23:29, "Lower Push BW" in 37:35, "Dip Abs" in 21:30.

Tuesday, Jan 30:

18A "Upper Body Prep" in 28:07, "Push-Up" in 53:19 did pretty well

Wednesday, Jan 31:

Recon ruck of my parents' new house in MACV1s with 50# in the Rucker v3 Shorty in 1:17:41

Thursday, Feb 1:

Start of PATHFINDER Class 039...

Flow - Day 2 - Notice + Day 9 - Release Yoga with Adriene

Friday, Feb 2:

I didn't know it when I became a member, but Coleman's Creek has monthly night shooting opportunities, so I was excited to get a chance to train under NODS.

Following the GORUCK classes, I wanted to work on trigger resets, which I'm aware of during pistol shooting, but that I had never really thought about with rifle, maybe because the recoil was overwhelming.  I also practiced unsupported prone, experimenting with establishing different bases, but none of them were silver bullets.  I tested the group sizes for a couple of guns in the process.

I did some walking and shooting and multiple targets with rifle.

I did some fast shooting to practice for Triple Bull, and tried out a WML that I had won as a prize, but it wouldn't stay on, unfortunately.

Night fell at around 6:30pm, and I worked on pistol and rifle.  

Lessons:  Make sure the MAWL is screwed on tight

There are so many combos of MAWL IR brightness, laser vs passive, Kiji vs no Kiji to experiment with.

REEDY CREEK O-MEET (RED COURSE)

My progression with orienteering began with reading Squiggly Lines, then trying sections of a permanent O-course at Latta Nature Preserve in 2021, followed by live meets with the intermediate Orange Course level at Kings Mountain State Park (Jan) and Reedy Creek (Feb), Kings Mountain NMP (Mar), plus ARs at the 2021 Long Creek AR @USNWC, Sea to Sea 2022, and the 2022 South Fork AR, and the 2022 Land Nav Gun Run Team Match.  

For the second season (with seasons being in the fall and winter when there's less vegetation to deal with), I warmed up with the orange course at the 2023 Jan McDowell Nature Preserve meet and a random rogaine in Ohio, before trying my first green course at Kings Mountain State Park in April, with some more competitions with the 2nd Annual South Fork Sampler, Rev3 50 Hour AR, and 2nd Annual Land Nav Gun Run, plus the Search for Big Mac Rogaine.  

For the start of my third season, I shared my knowledge with interested friends at the McDowell meet in in Nov 2023 sticking with Green.  It felt straightforward, so now I was going to try my first red course...

Just looking at the map, there's a lot of ground to cover!  When I saw the map and messaged SB, I told her this was going to be a doozy.

They tried something new this time and encouraged participants to download an app called livelox.com, which would allow you to watch everyone's tracks afterwards and see how strategies differed.

From the start, I ended up veering left somehow... It might be happening when my compass isn't perfectly parallel to the ground.  It was a straightforward one, but I had already messed up, but I found myself in a reentrant and saw people to my right getting it, so it turned out OK.

I veered left going from point 1 to point 2 again.

Going from point 2 to point 3, there was a trail on the map.  It was more like a logging cut-through.  I used its intersection with a creek as an attack point to start looking for the point inland, and it worked.

The route from point 3 to point 4 was longer.  Towards the end, we'd be going through a swampy creek area, so wet feet it was!  I ended up veering left again.  The left side didn't look like it had a point, but the right side did look like it could have a pond since the vegetation was more diverse, so I tried going right, spotted others looking for it which helped confirm that I was going in the right direction, and kept going through the thorns until I found it.

Point 4 to point 5 was short.

Point 5 to point 6, I took advantage of the big cut-through for speed, so I went south to hit that.  The intersection on the main road was my attack point for point 6.

From there, I took the road further east to the next intersection, where I found the trail that would take me north to point 7.  I came across people definitely going the wrong direction.  

It was around this time that I suddenly had a blister flare up in my MACV2 8"s.  It came out of nowhere and hurt.  I'd be dealing with that for the rest of the event.  

Going from point 7 to point 8, my original plan was to follow a creek, but I couldn't find it for some reason, so I stopped to measure and follow a bearing, instead.  I found the creek fork that I was looking for and went onwards to point 8.

To get to point 9, I felt safest returning to the creek fork, even though it wasn't the most direct route.  From there, I went south to hit the trail and used that as a reference to get to 9.

I don't remember anything special about the journey to 10, but point 11 was hidden in an area with many re-entrants.  From ground level, you can't really tell where all the cuts are, because they're at a lower level.  I looked really far north before going further east and finding another cut and the point.  It was a parallel error.

I did do a pretty good straight line to 12.

For 13, I took the trail, although I thought I was in a different part of the map when I made a wrong left turn and had to backtrack... there for everyone to see!

I was getting more worried about meeting the 3 hour time limit, but the later parts of these courses tend to be easier and closer to trails, so I hoped that I'd make up some ground.  I ran on trail going from 13 to 14 by getting to an intersection before going due south off-road.  It looks like I went more out of my way than others to attack that one.  Others took an earlier reentrant and went west.

Going to 15, I came across a point that seemed like it was coming too soon.  It ended up being a point for a different course.  But when I had chased that point, I had veered off of my original track... d'oh!  But I went further west and found the real point, fortunately.  That could've been bad, though... I didn't need any more mistakes when I was cutting it so close on time.

On my way to point 16, I found another participant.  He had started way after I did, though, so he wasn't pressed for time like I was.  

Going to point 17, the other participant off-roaded a bit.  I didn't want to follow him, but I did off-road a little bit later on when there were fewer potential confusing trails that I might run into.  This point ended up being a bit trickier than expected to find, because we were in the middle of disc golf world, with lots of trails and cuts and elevation changes.  I found the point, though, and rushed to the finish, with 1 minute and 58 seconds to spare!  I covered 6.5 miles during the course, with water and my nav kit in my GORUCK Bullet Ruck.

Lessons:

- Keep the thumb compass parallel to the ground to avoid veering left

- To avoid mixing up distances with bearings, double-check that the NSEW makes sense.

- Good using available clues like terrain, vegetation to help you figure out where you really are relative to where you want to be, to get back on track and re-oriented when you're off-track.

- I liked doing safer paths to avoid so much dead reckoning through the forest.

- Good re-adjusting the plan when the stream that I had planned to follow wasn't there.

- Be aware that reentrants may not always be visible, so when there are many of them, be aware that you may have to go further in case you hit a parallel error.

- Measuring intermediate distances is always a good thing... do it every chance you get... never skip this.  The longest I had to count was about 300m, which wasn't bad.

- Double-check CP#s and be cautious about decoy points from other courses.

The Livelox replay is really cool, and it's something that will help us all get better as we learn strategies from each other.  I used to have to compare Strava to the physical map, but you don't get to see exactly where the points are and have to guess based on where you had eventual sharp turns or wandering on Strava.  I did feel a little better seeing that even good navigators get a little lost sometimes.  They go fast, though!  They all left me in the dust.  

This was a heart-pounding course because it had been so tight for me.  I took the time to take some pictures and videos, but looking back, if I knew it was going to be so close, I would've skipped some of that and had more urgency in my movements. 

I'm glad that I did successfully complete my first red course, though.  The nav wasn't much harder than green level nav, but it did cover more distance and therefore was more physically demanding, which was the main thing.