Since I had my first GORUCK HTL(Heavy/Tough/Light) attempt scheduled for October, I figured it was a good time to try the Heavy Drop Training (HDT) program, paired with PATHFINDER Endure. The HTL is a full weekend, consisting of a hard-core 24 hour event (the "Heavy"), followed by a still very difficult 12 hour event (the "Tough"), followed by a victory lap 6 hour event (the "Light"). My weakness has historically been ruck PT, so HDT would help me address that. HDT would push me out of my comfort zone, because I highly value listening to my body, and taking recovery days, to avoid injury. HDT's motto is "nobody cares what you can do fresh". I like to go into workouts relatively fresh. I wasn't sure whether I'd survive the training, but I'd try.
The program lets you opt in to pairing up with a "battle buddy". You and your battle buddy compete against other teams to complete as much of the program as possible. Each week of programming consists of a core-focused, an upper body-focused, and a lower body-focused workout, along with either a timed ruck or run, plus a shorter AMRAP workout. The names "core", "upper body", and "lower body" are a little bit deceptive, because they all work all parts of your body to some extent, with full-body functional movements. Plus, one of them is longer than the others, and requires putting in some work for nearly an hour. The others are shorter, at 35-40 min, generally, depending on how much rest you take in between sets.
The program leader Brian Singelyn is passionate and knowledgeable about training. He teaches anatomy at Case Western and is a beast, so he knows what he's talking about. Each week has a new focus, and tests you and pushes you in new ways. You don't get bored during the 6 week period.
There are now three variations of the program to choose from. Body weight only (this is new, and wasn't available when I signed up), ruck only, or sandbag and ruck. The sandbag option seemed like it would push me the most, so I went with that. This program pairs with PATHFINDER training, so the workouts that you do for HDT count as workouts towards your PATHFINDER requirements, if you do that as well.
Tuesday, Jul 30:
I didn't realize that HDT started exactly on the week, which meant that it started a few days before PATHFINDER's month-based calendar started. No biggie, though. I knocked out my first 2 HDT workouts on Tuesday (because I needed at least rest day after the Asheville Spartan Super and Sprint).
The foot didn't bug me much during PT, fortunately. I did it barefoot, in my garage. I knocked out the upper body WOD in 30 min, followed by the Core WOD in 40 min. I'd go straight through the sets without rests where possible. The program recommends that you use challenge weigh plus 10# for ruck exercises, but I stuck with challenge weight, for the most part. For sandbag weights, you do what you feel like challenges you. Since sandbag work is new to me, I kept it manageable to start, doing 20-30#.
Thursday, Aug 1:
I could start counting HDT workouts towards PATHFINDER requirements now. I did the HDT Care Package, which was a 20 min AMRAP, and then added on 25 min of body weight strength, to round out the workout and feel like I earned the right to count it towards PATHFINDER.
I had wanted to do a short coupon ruck with my area ruck club, but my foot wasn't feeling up to it, so I stayed at home.
Friday, Aug 2:
I did the lengthy Lower Body WOD. The blister on my foot from the Spartan races slowly healed through the week. It took a while, because I'd need to wear a band-aid to wear shoes during the workday, but that caused the wound to stay damp and not heal. Once the blister did heal, I realized that the pain that I had been feeling wasn't just because of the blister... there was something else going on.
Sunday, Aug 4:
In HDT, you get to pick the distance of your bi-weekly rucks and runs. You pick between 1-6 miles. I had chosen 5 mi for the run, because it's a comfortable distance, and it's the distance of the old Heavy run standards (where you go 5 miles in 40 min). At this point, with my foot issues, I was regretting the fact that I had picked 5 miles and not 1 mile, like many seemed to have picked. I was going to do my best to cover 5, though, even if it was slow. Fortunately, I could still run. It was my first run all week.
Splits> 8:47, 8:41, 8:37, 8:32, 8:28. 5.0 in 43:06, 8:37 ave, 2 degrees of incline.
Monday, Aug 5:
Week 2 brought a new set of workout requirements. You get the list on Sunday evening, and you can choose the sequence in which you take on the workouts. Some people who procrastinate end up having to stack a bunch at the end of the week, which sounds like a bad idea.
I took on the upper body workout, which took 40 min for the strength portion, and included a mile of a coupon ruck at the end. I stuck with a baby 20# sandbag, to not overdo anything on my already taxed body.
Wednesday, Aug 7:
I had picked 6 miles as my ruck distance. The good thing about that was that I could tack it on to a workout, and get pre/post workout miles credit for PATHFINDER. I did 6 miles with 20# at 15:40 average, followed by the core workout, which took 35 min for the strength portion, and ended with a 1 mile coupon ruck, where I used a 20# sandbag again.
Thursday, Aug 8:
I did the Lower Body workout, which took 17 min because I did a lot straight through, and I followed it up with the 15 min AMRAP care package. The leg workout included a 1 mi AFAP run, which I was happy to do in 7:01, given my foot issues.
I've historically done my workouts in the evening after work, and after a 45 min decompression social media session. But, with HDT, I started waking up really early (at 4-something) to get in workouts. I knew I wouldn't be able to easily do the workouts at the gym at work, since I needed sandbags of various sizes, and I didn't want to haul those around, so I'd have to do it at home. I'd rather get that stuff done and out of the way early on, rather than have to go home and have to tackle the temptation to eat and then rest and not work out.
My messy garage became my new favorite room in my townhouse, because it was my workout zone.
My shoulder did feel a little bit strained. I wondered whether between stress on muscles and stress on joints, it was my joints that were the weaker link.
I decided to take on the Army Physical Fitness Test baseline today, for PATHFINDER. It's an easy one to tackle early on, and you can use it to set your baseline, so that you can compare your fitness at the beginning of PATHFINDER vs. at the end of PATHFINDER.
- 45 pushups
- 67 situps
- 14:24 2 mi run (7:11 ave)
- 25:53 ruck (12:57 ave)
One nice surprise was that I aged up in grading categories, so my reps were worth more this year than last year. It will get harder in subsequent years, though, as I get older while the standards stay the same for a while.
Sunday, Aug 11:
I did a 60 min swim. It's nice to have the option, when I want to get in some cardio, but I'm unable to run or ruck as much as I want. I did 1250 free, 1200 breast. Wasn't in the mood for any fly today.
In the afternoon, I participated in a photo shoot to promote PATHFINDER and women in rucking. It was lots of fun. I ended it with a ruck with a friend. It was a short but fast 2 miles in 29:34 (14:44 ave), but the best part was the conversation.
Monday, Aug 12:
I did a 6 mi AFAP ruck (14:01 ave), followed by the upper body WOD, which was 35 min of strength work, followed by a mile run in 7:48 (it felt faster than that, but it wasn't that fast).
Wednesday, Aug 14:
I had been feeling some improvement in my foot in the 2 weeks since I messed it up, but I reversed about 7-10 days of progress on this day. I did the core workout in about 50 min, followed by a 1 mi coupon ruck with a 40# sandbag and 25# ruck (too much) in 24:12 pace, followed by an extra 6 miles for post-workout PATHFINDER miles, in 17:13 pace. Blah.
I did highly enjoy the workout, though. It's fun throwing around sandbags.
Friday, Aug 16:
HDT Care Package 22.5 min (interesting time limit) AMRAP. Since 22.5 min is kind of short, I tacked on the GORUCK MAC-V SOG Vietnam Memorial workout, to start the August Monthly Challenge (starting pretty far into the month). Fortunately, that workout only took me 14 min, so it was easily stackable with the care package.
Saturday, Aug 17:
My foot did feel wrecked from Wednesday's activities, but I had time to kill while waiting for an oil change, and the number of days left in August was dwindling down. I still had to finish the GORUCK Monthly Challenge workouts, and I wanted to do the ruckingchallenges.com monthly challenge in the prescribed month, so I did the Scavenger Ruck while I waited.
Ryan Burns gives you a list of things to find. You ruck until you find them all. Fortunately, the oil change place was near a small town, so there was some of everything in an accessible distance. I looked up potential spots where I could find each of the requirements, plugged them into a route optimization app (Road Warrior), and got the suggested sequence. I hit them, and found some of the random items (like flowers, vehicles of various types) along the way, and managed to get all but 1 find in 5 miles. I did everything I could to find an ambulance, even walking by the medical office park area in town. No luck, but I was happy with the day. It was a slow and hot ruck, but I covered the miles and got the challenge done to my satisfaction.
Sunday, Aug 18:
I had a lot of work to make up, since I had a rough week with my foot. I did the 5 mi run in 43:05 (8:37 ave), followed by the Lower Body WOD with 35 min of strength work plus a 1 mi coupon ruck in 22:17 with a 20#SB to keep it light). I was happy to get it done, and to stay on target for my battle buddy and I.
Monday, Aug 19:
I did HDT Arms with 22 min of strength followed by a 1 mi coupon ruck with a 30#SB in 20:49. I tacked on another 8 min of additional arms work, to make it an even 30 min.
Wednesday, Aug 21:
HDT Legs with 35 min of work and 1 mi of coupon rucking in 20:59 with 30# in the morning. I had a visit to the doc in the afternoon, so I wanted to be able to do the workout with a clear conscience before getting whatever news would come. I was desperate by then to figure out what was going on with my foot. I was happy to find out that it wasn't a bone issue. I did need to let a nerve calm down, though, and would need to get more cushioning and support for my feet.
Thursday, Aug 22:
30 min AMRAP care package, all sandbag. I felt thoroughly worked after this, so I didn't tack anything else on.
Saturday, Aug 24:
HDT core with 37 min of strength and a 1 mi ruck in 12:46, followed by the GORUCK Mata Mile Vietnam Memorial Workout, which included 2 miles of rucking and 12 total minutes of as many reps of 4 exercises as possible. It was a pretty fast total 3 miles, because they were kind of interval-style.
Sunday, Aug 25:
I finished up the requirements of the GORUCK monthly challenge by doing the Hammer workout, followed by the Banks & Yarborough workout. In total, it was 40 min of strength work and 3.5 miles of rucking.
Monday, Aug 26:
5 mi slick run in 42:28, 8:30 ave, 2 degrees of incline. Rucked 0.5 mi to/from gym in slow 20 min.
Tuesday, Aug 27:
In HDT, you can request tapered versions of the week's work, if you have an event that week. The number of sets is scaled down, and you always have the option to do whatever weight you want. I planned to do the Vietnam Tough/Light combo, so I requested the tapered version.
The core workout was the same for the tapered and non-tapered versions. It was 40 min of strength work, and 1 mi of a coupon carry, where I did 40# of SB and 20# of ruck in 22.5 min.
I was really tired on this day. I had so much work to do this week, too, between finishing the HDT requirements in time to recover for the T/L. After the T/L, even if I survived it, I'd be too wrecked to do any more workouts that week, so I had to get in the work in the early part of the week.
There was also my area's new ruck club's ruck club callout on Thursday, but I skipped that, to save up reserves for the T/L.
Thursday, Aug 29:
Triple stacked workouts (although 2 were tapered versions that equaled less than a half of a workout each). Arms with 10 min of strength and 1 mi of coupon carry with 30# in 20:11. Legs with 22.5 min of strength work and a 1 mi interval run in a slow 8:01. And then a 25 min AMRAP care package. It was "heavy week" at HDT, so we were supposed to push the limits of weight in our sandbags. I hadn't really been sore all HDT long. This was the first week I could notice being sore. Maybe it means that I haven't been using enough weight in the other weeks? But I was doing what I felt like was safe levels for my joints. Maybe in future rounds, I'll be able to challenge myself more on the weights from the start.
GORUCK VIETNAM TOUGH
My first DNS for a GORUCK event (or any event?). I drove down with my CLT buddy, and met my GA friend for dinner. I had kind of resigned myself to skipping the Tough so that I could ensure a safe recovery, but FOMO kicked in as the event drew near. Walking with body weight, I'd feel fine sometimes, and it makes me feel like I'm OK enough. I even geared up. But when I put on my ruck, the foot wasn't having it, so I gave up the idea. I shadowed instead.
The cadre was LDB, who I had first encountered at the Charlotte 50 Mile Star Course. He seemed like he'd be a good cadre at the time, and he didn't disappoint. He was super professional and good at teaching. Good planning and thought was put into the event.
I stuck around with a few others to watch through the first movement, and then decided to get some rest before the Light and head to my parents' house at around 11pm.
GORUCK VIETNAM LIGHT
My friends came over for inter-T/L rest and refreshment, and then we headed back to the start point at Hazel Parker Playground near Waterfront Park. Since the foot issues have started, PT has felt fine. Running has been manageable. Rucking with challenge weight has been doable. Significant coupons have been rough.
I was going to go for the Light. It was hard enough skipping the Tough. The beginning was fine. We did admin. We incorporated some yoga into the welcome party, which was great and thoughtful of the Cadre. We did body weight exercises. Then, we started on our first movement. I stuck with 0->40# coupons, knowing that 40# started to trigger some issues for me. There were 60#ers, but I gratefully let the others take those.
We had a good number of newbies, and it was a great group. There were some really nice people there, who came to honor veterans that they knew, and they put out effort that they should be super proud of.
In all, we covered about 8 miles. Charleston's a great town to explore while rucking. Of the events that I've done there, I've only been on the bridge once, though, so I do hope that I'll get to go on that again some time in the future.
It was a great event. Great cadre, great teammates, and great way to honor Vietnam Vets. It's tough being injured, though. I can't wait until I can be normal again, if I'm ever going to be normal again. I am lucky to have some awesome friends, though.
