Fit 360: TPG 10K Gun Run

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Monday, Nov 17:

Detox and Rest & 6 min Yoga for Hips with Adriene, since I've had abnormal soreness for the past two weeks. Workouts that normally don't make me sore left me sore. I wonder whether it's residual effects from the HH.

Wednesday, Nov 19:

Glute and pec PT V1 in 26:43, then HDT-KB 12.2.1 (core) in 37:48... that was a good one. Then a 1.5 mi ruck with Ballistic Trainers with a 30# Rucker v2 in 31:05, but I stopped early after rolling my left ankle and taking a spill on the asphalt. Fortunately, it was smooth and pretty new asphalt, but it still hurt. It's so odd how I tend to roll my ankles on smooth ground more often than technical ground. It was a worse than usual roll. The force was bad enough that I buckled and fell, vs rebounding and continuing on upright.

Friday, Nov 20:

During lunchtime, I went to visit my first Dambo Troll, Big Pete, who happens to live close to me. I took my mom. She saw it first, from across a drainage ditch on the edge of a new development. It smelled like whiskey barrels and was wonderful. There was a decent sized group of people there, since word has spread about it quickly.

After we took pics with and of the troll, we found a nearby geocache, which had toll pencils for signing the log... perfect.

10K GUN RUN

10K gun runs don't come around very often, so when TPG expanded their offering of options to include the 10K, I had to give it a go.

There were AM and PM briefings again. I attended the 7:30 safety brief and had a 8:06 run time. The recommended round count was about 15R/15P per stage as the minimum, with 8 stages for the 10Kers and 6 stages for the 5Kers. I brought 6x30 + 30 loose R (210 total) and 6x17 + 200 loose P (302 total). I didn't want to run out!

TPG does "time plus" scoring instead of pass/fail, which gives you a chance to get partial credit on stages that you might not clean.

Stage 1:
- From 4 different VTAC spots (and only being allowed to use a step spot 1x), shoot 4 rifle targets L->R, plus the red HVT at the end
- Load pistol and shoot the card suits L->R 2x through, plus the red stop plate at the end.

Learnings/Outcomes: 15/30 10K, 31/68 O

- I finished in 148.49 with no penalties

- I heard the RO mention needing to use 4 ports, but I thought that it was only 2x through total and that you just had to switch enough to use 4 different ports, but you actually had to shoot L->R from each of the 4 ports. I might've wasted about 20s from figuring all that out.

- I used the step, circle, large torso, and upward right slant as my ports

Stage 2:

- From inside the car, shoot 5 pistol steel out the front, L->R, 2x through, then shoot the red plate

- From the back of the car, shoot 3 rifle targets, then 2 more to the left side of the car.... all that 2x through, then reshoot the striped guy

Learnings/Outcomes: 14/30 10K, 30/68 O

- Got 97.79s plus a 10s penalty

- Had a tiny wait time again

- The rifle targets felt pretty big and close, compared to ones I've encountered in comps recently

Stage 3:

- From the wobble grate, shoot 4 rifle steel 2x through, then the red target

- Load pistol and shoot 3-4 targets L->R 2x through, then the red target

Learnings/Outcomes: 14/30 10K, 24/68 O

- Standing was unstable, but seated was the ticket. Standing is bad enough stable... even worse on a wobble board

- I only started to wobble 1x, but it stabilized quickly

- Pistol on the wobble board probably would've been more wobbly than the rifle, since there's less structural bracing

- I got 120s after penalties for the pistol non-engagements were added

Stage 4:

- Shoot 4 steel at the water's close edge, L->R 2x through, then the red target with pistol

- Load rifle and shoot 4 steel across the pond from the branch beam, L->R 1x

- Go on safe and repeat L->R from the slanted log, with the red target at the end

Learnings/Outcomes: 1/30 10K, 1/68 O

- Cleaned in 68.03

- I shot from the lower part of the front log first, before realizing I couldn't see all the targets, so I switched to the upper part after that

- I knew my hold for targets between about 150 and 300 (I felt like the squares might've been at about 200) and held it... turns out may other struggled and had to hold way lower than usual.... odd.

Stage 5:

- Start from the bottom step of the helicopter / deer stand with rifle loaded (must shoot from above the top bar, so no prone)

- At the top of the stand, shoot 5 white steel L->R 2x through plus the red target at the end

- Load pistol and shoot 4 poppers L->R 1x through

- Spin the spinner, then shoot red

Learnings/Outcomes: 10/30 10K (10K only stage)

- I started on the left side of the beam for the rifle but couldn't see all the targets well, so I switched ot the right side of the beam (when I ROed this later, others could work from the left side, so I guess that would've worked out OK had I stayed there)

- There was tall grass obstructing some of the rifle targets closer to the front in the second array

- The RO's timer wasn't set when I got there at first, so that used up a little time, and then he couldn't find my name in the list after multiple searches, which ate up more time, until I asked him if he could just write down my info for now... turns out the tablet was still on the list from the previous RNG.

- I didn't get to the stop plate in time

Stage 6:

- After a long run to the back of the property and around a field, you start from the first step of the bus

- From 3 different bus windows, shoot white steel L->R... at the last spot, shoot the red target

- Get out the back of the bus and shoot 2 torsos L->R 2x, then the red target

Learnings/Outcomes: 5/30 10K (10K only stage)

- When I got there, there was no RO, since he was still finishing up his run, but I ran into the MD on an ATV as I was running away from the area, so he came back with me to shoot this

- After 2 rifle shots, my trigger wouldn't work anymore... another popped primer got stuck in there. I opened my lower to try to clear it up, and the MD helped me get it working again. Now I know that it's possible to clear on the fly if I have to, without tools and complete disassembly.

- He let me reshoot (probably fair, after the extra running back and forth after no RO initially, and I hadn't asked for time back), and no malfunctions this time, but I timed out during pistol

- The ammo had looked ok, but it was the same IMI brand that had given me popped primers earlier

Stage 7: (pistol only)

- Shoot 4 white targets L->R 2x through, plus red, from the first position

- Run up to position 2 and shoot 3-4 white targets L->R 2x through, plus the red target

Learnings/Outcomes: 26/30 10K, 55/68 Overall

- I didn't shoot it very cleanly... I think I might've started well, but then it turned messy

- I cleared it, but when everyone clears it, that's not good enough at a time plus match

- I picked up my empty mag at position one before leaving, which did save me from a detour or forgetting to do it later... it did eat up from PAR time I guess, but if you clean, then that doesn't matter, not that I'd know ahead of time how tight PAR would be

- I might've forgotten to rack the slide at the second position (not used to having to go cold between spots), which wasted time, assuming we did have to clear between stages since I may not remember everything perfectly well

- Finished in 86.96

Stage 8: (rifle only)

- Shoot 6 white targets L->R 2x through, then red, with rifle, from the top of a pickup after a long run around a field

Learnings/Outcomes: 18/30 10K, 36/68 Overall

- Cleared in 73.17

- Got a popped primer malfunction, and saw the primer come out while working on clearing it... all that used up time, but I was glad to work through it

- Apart from that, it went ok

- I felt slow panning... maybe unavoidable based on the zoom that was optimal for these targets for me and the wide span of the targets

Overall 9/30 10K, 18/68 combined based on %

- Ran 5 mi (including the extra bit back and forth on stage 6 with no RO) in 1:30:12, minus 2:33 wait time

- I'm glad I now know that I can clear popped primers on the clock if I have to

- I shot 122 rounds of pistol and 115 rounds of rifle (vs carrying 302 of pistol and 210 of rifle) across 8 stages

ROing

- I ROed after I finished running on a pretty straightforward stage, so no major new learnings, other than learning how to use the tablet, which is very helpful, in case future matches need me to help

- I also figured out how to set the PAR time on the timer, after random clicking

- 1 guy in the match brought a GC to use on my stage, but that's it

- You could tell by the 3 hits on the stop plate on my stage by the end of the day how hard it was to clear

- No concussion headaches for me after hte match, maybe due to less shooting and less me having to stand right next to them

- Wish I had thought to bring glass to RO the stage... had to rely on sound sometimes, which isn't always readily apparent if there's other shooting going on at other stages at the same time

- In the blocks of free time between runners, since I only had 10Kers coming through, I could shoot a little and practiced the spinner.