It was time to leave the park and change our AO to Jason’s dad’s house, referred to last year as “Jay’s House of Pain” aka JHOP. Jennifer had done some recon via Google Maps and satellite photos so we knew that it was about 3.5 miles to Jay’s house on two lane roads. The cadre lined us up on the edge of the field and said we had a 75 minute time hack for a 5 mile ruck march. They sent us on a lap around the park first and then we hit the road. Shannon and I were confident in our ability to hit this standard and set an appropriate pace.
Having done two 50 mile Star Courses together, we knew the best methods. We shuffled down hills and at other points chose landmarks for where we would push the pace. It felt really good to just ruck and talk. We discussed where we were at physically and mentally and took the opportunity to drink from our water bladders. We were both feeling the lunges in our glutes and quads and we knew we were only about 6 hours in at this point.
On the last hill up to Jay’s driveway we heard a voice in the dark encouraging us and then saying good job as we made the turn. We thought it meant we had made the time hack. We kept walking until we saw Cleve who pointed us across the yard and then someone else directed us down the hill. At this point it was unclear what we should be doing or where to go. There was one team still within sight so we followed their reflective bands. Suddenly we were at the river and the other team had disappeared. We turned around and Jason was there. He wasn’t sure what the plan was but said we were probably taking a lap around the field.
This was a path we would get to know intimately over the next 40 hours but at the time we had no idea where we were going or how far it was. We could see some teams way ahead and thought we turned off the track to follow them. After wandering uphill through the woods in the dark and coming out in the neighbors yard, we made our way back to the cadre. At that point we were told that we missed the time hack by 6 minutes.
We were not enthusiastic about this at all fearing we’d get another strike on our patches. We explained what had happened and were told to go take care of priorities of work. As it turns out, we weren’t the only team to get confused about the trail and, although we didn’t get any points for that evolution, we didn’t get a strike. It was a sobering moment but we decided not let it affect our mindset. We did our priorities of work and said “We made it to Jay’s house.”
You Want Us To Do What
No camera angle can do The Hill justice. We’d all watched the Beta TA live feeds as well as Doug’s ordeal during Selection. We’d all heard them say over and over how steep the hill was but nothing prepared us for the real thing. It takes a sharp drop from the top and then a steady run until it flattens out about 25 yards down. Then it was a straight shot to the river and the turn into the woods (about a tenth of a mile). We would start referring to this as The [Favorite Expletive] Hill over the course of the next 40 hours.
We were turned over to JC and Barbarossa for our next evolution. They walked us down The Hill to where it started to flatten out and gave us our orders: One Mile Partner Wheelbarrow. We couldn’t switch positions until the turnaround. To say this is not what we were expecting was an understatement. Shannon and I quickly devised a plan of her starting in the wheel position and I’d carry both rucks and hold her legs. I’m not a fan of wearing a ruck on my front so when we saw another team put both of them over their back we changed to that. It was a grueling mile. Some teams were very fast. We started using our tried and true method: Count and Rest. Shannon would go 25 hand strikes and then we’d rest for a count of 10 and start again. The trail through the woods felt endless.
My shoulders were feeling the strain from wearing both rucks and low carrying Shannon’s legs and her wrists were taking a beating. We finally made it to the turn around and switched places. We were making our way back when JC came by and told us to stand up. All the teams in the back that weren’t fast enough had to do penalty ruck burpees on his count. It wasn’t fun but it was a lot faster than finishing that evolution. At some point in this evolution is when we lost the only women’s team to drop.
To the River and Back
The next series of evolutions had us moving sandbags in various ways from The Hill to the river and back with PT at the end of each leg. I can barely remember what all we did but I have it on good account that it included sandbag shoulder carries, bear crawls, sandbag clean and toss, bear crawl sandbag drags, and sandbag over the shoulder toss. All of these are exercises I had done plenty of times in Heavy Drop Training so I just fell back on my training. I remember the Over the Shoulder Toss the best because we were going for distance but you had to be careful. With all the teams throwing sandbags without looking, it was easy to accidentally get in someone’s line of fire or fling a sandbag right in front of them. As we finished this evolution, the sun began to come up.
It Was Refreshing
With the river right there, it was no surprise that JC decided we should get a few hydroburpees in to welcome the new day. We were allowed to strip down as much as we wanted and told to leave our rucks up on the grass.
The water was...refreshing. Actually the water was warmer than the air which was in the low 40s. For me the first one is the worst. After that, you just have to enjoy the lunacy and do them as quickly as possible.
The key to hydroburpees is doing them in unison. It’s guaranteed that someone at some point won’t be in sync but I think we were only no repped once...maybe twice for not shouting the number loud enough. We were originally going to do 25 but JC wanted us to honor the fallen from the various Spec Ops teams so we did 30 total.
I usually get cold really easily but the GORUCK pants dry super fast and I put my dry layers - UA base layer and t-shirt and windbreaker - back on. I felt more awake and the cold water helped with some of the sore muscles. A bear crawl back up the hill warmed us up. Shannon and I said “We made it to the first sunrise.”
]]>Checking In
When it got within 30 minutes, we tried checking in but the cadre said we had to wait. So got our gear ready, locked the car and hid the keys, and joined Jon Cichelli for a pre-event prayer. At 3:00, they called for us to form two lines - one for Open Division and one for Female Division. We did not want to be team 01 so we didn’t rush over. We were happy that we got roster number F-Zero-Four and immediately decided to call ourselves the F-4 Phantoms.
Shannon had small one and two pound dive weights in the car in case we needed to make weight but we didn’t need them.We took our water and food out of our rucks and handed them over for weigh in. Cadre JC even whistled at my ruck’s dry weight: 21 pounds. Exactly where I wanted to be. The requirement was 20 pounds dry. With food and full water, I would be carrying close to 30 pounds throughout the event.
We moved over to Cadre Hand’s table to sign some waivers and registration papers and declare any medications. We were directed to the field to wait.
The atmosphere was actually fairly chill. It was a beautiful afternoon as we sat on the grass, drank water, and availed ourselves of the porta potty. Jason came over and had us take a group photo.
Admin Portion
Once everyone was checked in, things started to get real. We were told that at no point over the next 48 hours should we be more than an arm’s length from our partner at any time. We also were instructed not to talk to other teams. Mocha Mike welcomed us and performed roll call before beginning the gear inspection portion (what we referred to in practice as “Show and Tell”). This is where the practice paid off. Knowing exactly where everything in your ruck is critical. You need to be able to quickly pull out whatever two items they ask for and hold them up in the specified hand. If you are digging around trying to find things, you’ll receive unwanted attention.
We had speculated that we may not have to dump everything out if we were good enough at Show and Tell. Jason quickly put this notion to rest by loudly proclaiming that you better not waste time packing everything back nice and neat thinking you’d get out of the ruck dump. So it was no surprise when they started yelling “dump it out” and then “pack it up”. The addition of the food threw me off just enough that I was one zip from getting it on the first try. Shannon too. (Jen and Anna did and I was so proud.) But I wasn’t stressed at all. We had to start from a standing position with the empty ruck held out front and upside down (just like we practiced). On the second try we got everything stuffed back in, zipped up, and on our backs in under 45 seconds.
This is when it pays to be a winner. While everyone was sweating over repeated attempts to dump and repack under a barrage of taunts and “suggestions” from the cadre, we got to sit down and repack everything back into the dry bags and zipper pockets like we wanted.
The Moment of Truth: The PT Test
Next it was the first test of our training: Could we pass the PT test portion? We knew that this was a Performance Strike evolution and one partner could make up for the other if one of us fell short. But we wouldn’t get points or only minimal points. We weren’t worried about points but we were worried about those Butterfly Sit Ups.
We were arranged in two lines of four teams and the Open Division was a little ways over in two lines of five teams. Each line had a cadre with a counter, a clipboard, and a sandbag. We were fourth in our line and had Cadre JC. I like JC a lot but he doesn’t play.
My heart rate was so high at this point. We didn’t know how strict the cadre would be on form and I didn’t want any no-reps to mess me up. We were told to turn around and face the other way and then called up one at a time.
I felt good about my hand release push ups because I could hear JC clicking the counter and I was way over the 25 rep minimum. Shannon and I were allowed to talk to each other but not other teams. So we were able to talk about how we did. I’m glad we worked on the PT test as much as we did. Even though I was nervous about the butterfly sit ups, I got over the minimum 40 reps by my count and didn’t think I’d been no-repped. Same for Shannon. The sandbag clean was my strong suit and I knocked out 15 or so reps without a problem.
One team was pulled and given a strike each for not meeting the minimum standard on an exercise but that was it. I like that wasn’t enough to send them home. Shannon and I were SO relieved to have gotten through this portion of the event. Now for the next 47 hours...
The Welcome Party
While we waited for the Open Division to finish their PT test, a lot of people changed from shorts into pants, refit on water, and hit the porta potty. The cadre had us line up on a line across the soccer field with the Open Division separated down to one end. Open Division had Cadre Cleve and Hand. We had Cadre Barbarossa and JC.
We were told it paid to be a winner and we were always being assessed. So we wanted to do the best we could but Shannon and I had devised our strategy before the event. We never aspired to be first and knew better than try to. We know we were better to pace ourselves and our motto was “don’t be last”.
JC and Barbarossa led us through a series of “down and back” races. It all runs together but we started with low crawl/bear crawl drags. So one partner would low crawl and drag their ruck while the other bear crawled and dragged a sandbag. When we got to the end of the soccer field we switched roles. If one partner got out of reach of the other or if you didn’t so the exercise properly, you’d get sent back to the start. Shannon and I talked to each other the whole way both to encourage and keep next to each other. I bear crawl crooked so Shannon was constantly having to redirect my line. We continued with this pattern through several iterations including sandbag ruck lunges, bounding drills, and sandbag farmer carries.
I remember the bounding drills for two reasons. First I was grateful ours was without a ruck whereas we could see the Open teams had their rucks on. Second, Barbarossa called the up and down so fast that we often couldn’t get off the ground fast enough and had to occasionally stay down for a call just to catch back up.
The other one that stands out clearly was the sandbag and ruck lunges. We had to lunge all the way down the field and back with a 60# sandbag. You couldn’t switch out with your partner until you got to the other end of the field. If you didn’t go down to the ground or took extra steps, then you’d be sent back to the start. They weren’t playing and several teams got that penalty. You needed to be in sync with your partner too. I remember having a moment of panic thinking I wasn’t going to be able to get off the ground with that 60# in addition to my 30# ruck (that’s over half my body weight). I used my hands on my knee to brace on the way down and up and we kept repeating our “slow and steady mantra” to get through it. The Open teams had to use an 80# sandbag in addition to their 50+# ruck. The lunges would be the undoing of more than one Open team for that reason.
We asked JC about the lunges during the after party thinking that maybe it was an unintended consequence that they smoked everyone so thoroughly. It was intentional. He said “What’s something that’s hard and that people hate to do? Lunges!”
After that the teams were given a sandbag and instructed to take a lap around the park (about a mile). Female teams had a 60# and Open teams had an 80#. Here’s another place where you could see different strategies. Some teams switched off periodically. Some teams took off at almost a shuffle pace. Shannon and I knew that we’d set a better pace buddy carrying it like we have at so many events. We steadily passed teams as we went around the field and settled into the middle of the pack as the sun went down. Right where we wanted to be.
It’s funny how hard it is to suppress our natural tendency to encourage others. Since there were no cadre with us on this evolution, we took the opportunity to say a few words to the others and exchange some laughs.
It was getting dark when we got back and had a short break to hit priorities of work. As usual ours were water and bathroom. Everything else was good. Then we were given a 40# and 60# sandbag and did several rounds of what I called Partner Switch. One partner would do sandbag exercises while the other took a sandbag down and back on another exercise. Then you and your partner would switch. We could choose which sandbag to do the exercises with and which to take down the field and back.
The first round had us doing 400m of more stinking lunges! We chose to lunge with the 40# while the partner exercising used the 60# to do clean and tosses. The nice thing was you didn’t have to do the exercises super fast but those lunges were horrible even with the lighter weight. We did several more rounds of this type but I can’t remember much about the down and back. I think there was a farmer’s carry in there and I know we did several exercises like clean and thrust but mostly I remember that we were lunging forever.
Each of these parts of this evolution was for points. We aren’t sure if they gave us a combined score for our overall placing or if it was points for each one. Either way we stuck with our “middle of the pack, don’t be last” strategy.
Dominate
One side effect of watching every hour of the live feeds from last year in preparation for this event is that we got to hear Jason say “Very Fair” at every opportunity. But also we heard him yell “Dominate!” so often during the Welcome Party last year that it became our running joke. Every time we’d see one of our other North Carolina teams, we’d say “DOMINATE!” as a rallying cry. It never failed to bring a smile to my face when someone would say “You’re really dominating that sandbag” as we struggled through the evolutions. So as we crossed paths with teams on the lap or on the back and forths, we passed several “Dominate!” comments back and forth.
Deck of Death
The cadre then brought out a whiteboard and gave everyone a brand new deck of cards. With Cadre Cleve on the roster, we knew the Deck of Cards workout was sure to make an appearance. The twist was that we had to do it with a sandbag. I’ve done this workout in training and at events, but never with a sandbag. (Female Division had a 60# and the Open an 80#)
They gave us two minutes to stack the deck however we wanted although we did not yet know what the exercises were. Cards were the number of reps shown, face cards were 15 reps, and Aces were 20. Jokers were 800 meters ruck. So Shannon put the Jokers at ⅓ and ⅔ of the way through the deck and tried to put several of the same suit together at a time to minimize transitions between exercises.
When they flipped the board around we got to see the exercises: hearts were 8 ct Body Builders (a standard with Cleve), and the other suits were ruck swings, ruck and sandbag thruster, ruck and sandbag (fricking) lunge. We were told our time hack for this evolution was 85 minutes and it was a performance strike offense. That isn’t an impossible time standard since we wouldn’t be trying to do it as an entire class and could go faster. But it would be tight.
We began flipping cards and doing the work. Our strategy was to flip 2 or 3 cards over at a time so we could combine reps. For example, if we flipped a 4 and a 5 of the same suit then we’d go ahead and do 9 reps (counting out loud for the cadre assessing us). But here’s the thing: the ruck part wasn’t actually written on the board for the thrusters or lunges so we honestly thought we didn’t wear our ruck on the SB Thrusters or Lunges. After a few rounds Barbarossa corrected this. It was at that point we knew we wouldn’t make the time hack.
We turned over a Joker and discussed a new strategy on our 800m of down and back rucking in the dark. We decided that at this point we wouldn’t make the time hack no matter what and so were guaranteed our first strike. We accepted this and decided we would keep doing the work but not kill ourselves to make the time hack. I’m all about setting a pace I can keep for the long haul so we went back to knocking our reps but didn’t stress when time was called. We even got to our second Joker and enjoyed the break from lunges. Our legs were really screaming at this point.
We were given a short break for priorities of work and then instructed to load all the sandbags back on the trailer. Shannon and I started marking our milestones. We’d look at each and say “We made it through the Welcome Party.” This was part of our mindset to keep pushing forward. To note how far we’d come each time we got through another milestone.
]]>After work on Tuesday, I drove from Georgia up to Shannon’s house outside of Charlotte to spend the night. It was funny that I’ve done events with both her sons and heard all about her family but had never actually met her husband in person...or her dog. They were both very welcoming.
Jennifer Lee joined us in the morning and we piled in the car. That was the fastest 7+ hour road trip I’ve ever had. We had all watched the Live Feeds from the Beta event last year so we had a lot to discuss. Jen and I had taken copious notes and Shannon’s memory is excellent, so we dissected each portion of the event. Even though this year’s event was different in a lot of ways, going through that process was an important part of team cohesion and understanding strategy. We were able to talk about our strengths, weaknesses, and preferences in different scenarios and carries.
The weather was gorgeous so we stopped along the way to have a nice Subway lunch in an outside amphitheater along the river in Charleston, WV. We found some Bellbrook signs to take selfies in front of and probably confused people driving by on the road. I don't think it's the type of destination that folks take pictures with the water tower in the background, but we embraced our weirdo status and went for it.
After checking in to the hotel, we picked up some dinner and headed out to scout the Start Point. Since we couldn’t have a proper Ruck Off at a restaurant (COVID and everything), we planned to rendezvous with some other Heavy Drop alumni and our North Carolina teams at the park. (Did I mention the weather was gorgeous?)
A quick 10 minute drive from the hotel and we were at the park. It was a lot of fun to get to meet people in person that I had only previously known through social media. Shannon and I had a proper little tailgate picnic while we all matched up the real life park to what we had watched on the live feeds. My fortune cookie was very apropos. Probably the two biggest discussion topics were whether or not to wear shorts to the start and if they would be allowing a separate food ruck. Oh, and how many teams would show up. We all counted off who we KNEW would be there, who we thought would be there, and who might be surprises. As the sun went down, we all packed it in and returned to the hotel.
Jen and Anna’s team joined us in our hotel room to weigh rucks and practice the ruck dump. Once again we followed along on the live feed through the gear inspection (what we referred to as Show and Tell). We helped each other refine our packing systems so that we did everything in the same order and knew where all our gear was. That gave us a lot of confidence as we called it a night. Settling down to sleep was hard but not as hard as if we’d had an early wake up. I haven’t felt that strange mix of excitement and nervousness in a long time but as my training partner said before I left “The hay’s in the barn.”
Day Of/Final Prep
Shannon and I took our time getting up and had a leisurely breakfast. This is where everyone’s preferences and event prep start to diverge. I didn’t want a lot of protein but wanted to hit the salt pretty good. Neither of us ended up having any lunch because start time was 3pm and we planned on being there at 1:30pm to hang out and shake some nerves loose. I don’t often eat close dinner before a Tough or Heavy and so this was no different. Everyone has to do what works for them and I once spent an entire Heavy regretting a meal I ate too close to start time. Lesson learned.
I have a weird metabolism. I don’t need or want a lot of food during an event. I will usually eat more for morale than energy. Shannon prefers a more consistent influx of calories. And bacon. Shannon runs on bacon. She had made some good observations about how many snacks and meals we could count on from the MREs so we based our choices off that. I packed some jerky, dried fruit, a candy bar, and some Sour Patch Kids. Shannon had an assortment of sandwiches and bars to go with her bacon.
Before we headed out we taped our backs and got our feet ready. We did a final check on our bags and put our Post-Event rucks and spare gear boxes in the car. I like to show up to the Start Point ready to hit the ground running just in case traffic or some other unforeseen circumstance holds us up. Having my box of spare gear in the car also gives me comfort so that I don’t have to worry that I forgot anything, plus I have extra stuff to loan out should anyone need it.
There is a lot of nervous energy at the Start Point at any event. This one was cranked up to 10. After meeting some more HDT folks in person, checking on friends that had just gotten in, and hugging a few surprise participants (Renee Aly flew even more under the radar than I did), we joined our NC teammates chilling in the shade.
]]>I remember when the first Team Assessment event was announced I was intrigued by the concept of an event a step or two below Selection that could be done by a partner. But the dry weight and PT test requirements took it off the table for me. I didn’t even watch a lot of the live feeds like I would have for Selection. But when that Beta Team Assessment was over there was talk of a scaled division for women.
When it was announced there would be a Female Division for Team Assessment and the entry fee was super low to incentivize sign ups, a friend hit me up right away. We decided that we are always up for bad ideas and signed up. Some personal challenges and injuries eventually took her out of the event. I was fine letting my registration ride and seeing how the universe might conspire for or against me doing this event.
For awhile, I thought I was out because a work conflict came up for the June date on top of the fact that the 80# sandbag cleans in the PT test kept being a No-Go for me. (The weight wasn’t the problem. It was the floppines of the two filler bags that kept me from being able to flip my wrists.) When COVID pushed the date to the fall, I kept up with my usual training with a “Wait and See” attitude.
Choosing a Partner
Team Assessment is a unique situation. You not only have to endure 48 hours, but you also have to find someone that will commit to that with you AND be able to handle each other's highs and lows. It’s one thing to train and plan for an event. It’s quite another for it to be dependent on someone else being able to do the same. For regular events if something comes up that’s a conflict or if you get injured or if you simply fail to prepare, then you just don’t go. For Team Assessment, you have someone else depending on you. That puts a whole new twist on who will make it to the Start Point and who won’t.
By that same token, it was funny to watch the lead up to the event. A lot of people signed up first and found a partner later. Many of us signed up with it being a goal or aspiration. I think being an athlete all my life has made me slightly superstitious. I like to fly under the radar and not really tell anyone what I’m working towards. It feels like a jinx to announce my intentions. So like many others I did the work and only let close friends know I was headed to Ohio right before the event. It was fun to speculate who would show up since many people were lurking on the event and training in the shadows.
Team Assessment ended up being almost exactly on my three year anniversary with GORUCK. My first event as the 9/11 Tough in 2017. Since then I’ve done nearly 60 events and over half of them have been with Shannon Bass. I knew her as a Pathfinder Course Advisor and we met in person at my second event. Shannon is an amazing teammate and I was always happy to hear she’d be at an event. We hit it off and were soon planning our event sign ups together.
Shannon and I make a good pair. We are about the same build and body type, both in our mid-40s, raising families, working remotely even when there isn’t a pandemic, and don’t take ourselves too seriously. Shannon and I have taken on a lot of GORUCK challenges together including Bragg Heavy, 50 Mile Star Courses, HTLs, Expedition, Immersion, and Land Nav Heavy to name a few. In the almost 60 events I’ve done, Shannon has been at about half of them. I’ve been Assistant Team Lead to her TL position more times than I can count. She’s a great leader and we have identical mindsets about challenges. We both smile even when things suck and laugh a lot. So Shannon was the obvious choice as a partner...I just had to convince her of it.
So as soon as I heard that the Female Division would get to use a 60# sandbag for the PT test, I messaged Shannon, and in a moment of weakness, she agreed to do this terrible thing with me. That was July 31st. We basically had 6 weeks to ramp up/prepare to actually do this event in Mid-September.
Training and Preparation
My pitch to Shannon involved saying: If I said “Let’s do an HTL in 6 weeks, would you be ready?” For both of us, the answer was yes. The training we do is a part of our regular life. At any time we could drop what we are doing and show up for a Tough. So ramping up for something that was, in our mind, equivalent to a Double Heavy wasn’t too far fetched.
Part of my motivation for signing up was that I need an audacious goal to train for. I like working out and prefer to ruck or do a sandbag workout 6 days a week BUT I need something to keep me accountable otherwise I find myself on cruise control. Shannon wears a patch on her ruck in honor of Kirk Deligiannis that says “Pick a goal you cannot achieve then plan for it, train for it, and destroy it.” I can’t think of a more fitting quote for taking on Team Assessment.
Another part of my motivation was, to be honest, some FOMO. I didn’t want to be watching the live feeds of the event and thinking “I could do that. I should be there.”
I’ve done all the Pathfinder Training levels and find that really helps when I need to stay on track for high mileage events like Star Courses. But for day-to-day training, I’m a Heavy Drop Training disciple. I do much better when someone tells me what to do and I love the accountability and support that the HDT facebook group provides each round. Sandbag training doesn’t just make you strong, it makes you tough too. There is a large mental fortitude element to the Heavy Drop workouts that I find very beneficial.
Heavy Drop Training is Bryan Singelyn’s baby and he started programming a lot of the PT test elements into each HDT round since they were announced. I even did a few rounds of the HDT “Plus” for added suck. The Plus version essentially adds some extra before and after the “regular” soul-crushing workouts. This is how I ended up carrying buckets of water around my neighborhood or dragging my sandbag through the yard on multiple occasions over the summer.
Heavy Drop proved very helpful on several evolutions during the event simply from sheer muscle memory. When you’ve done almost 20 minutes of sandbag tosses or drags while wearing a ruck during training, then it’s easy to fall back on that during an event. I’ve steadily gone up on weight during my 15 rounds of Heavy Drop and love that I started with a 40# sandbag and now regularly use a 70# for a lot of the exercises.
Most of the time my workouts would be an hour to an hour and a half. If there was a coupon ruck after, then they went as long as two hours. I especially like that a lot of the workouts will have a run, ruck, or coupon ruck as a finisher. When you’re smoked or your legs feel like jelly and then you have to go pound out a mile, it builds up your suck tolerance and is very much like what you experience at an event.
For Team Assessment, I knew that the miles wouldn’t be as much of a factor as the PT and coupons so I didn’t change from my standard 10 to 15 miles per week. My Strict Ruck for HDT is 4 miles so I’ll bang that out several times a week along with a 12 miler every 4 to 6 weeks.
[Shameless Plug: If you are interested in signing up for Heavy Drop Training, send me a message and I can give you a discount code.]
PT Test Prep
For months, I tested repeatedly on each of the PT Test elements. I struggled to make the standard 40 reps on the ButterFly Sit Ups. I didn’t get fatigued. I just simply couldn’t move fast enough. After sending videos back and forth with Shannon and my other NC buddy, Jennifer Lee, and getting some feedback from Bryan Singelyn, I found a form that worked for me. As Jen says “you have to be violent going back down” so I adopted a technique from my swimming days and visualized doing a backstroke start to get my hands back and behind my head as quickly (and violently) as possible. I started out in the low 30s and by event time, I was consistently going over 40 reps.
The Sandbag Cleans were an issue with the 80#. I couldn’t manage to flip my wrists because the two filler bags kept flopping to opposite sides. I have an overfilled 60 that weighs in at 70# and I can clean it no problem so I knew the weight of the bag wasn’t an issue. Two filler bags makes it a No-Go for me no matter how much I worked on it. But once the change was announced, I worked on getting lots of reps with my 70# so the 7 reps wouldn’t be an issue. Some people try to get as many reps as fast as possible, but since I knew I had plenty of room I like to set a pace and just do consistent reps. I could usually hit 16-17 reps without a problem.
I’m not awesome at regular push ups but I can usually pass the test at a Heavy on the first try so the Hand Release version was not a problem for me at all. When I sent a video to Singelyn for review, I realized how much I was letting my back sag and how high my feet were coming off the ground in a rocking motion. So I concentrated on making my back straighter and keeping my feet on the ground. Even changing my form like that, I could still hit high 30s for reps which put me well over the 25 rep standard.
Research and Recon
One of the training elements I did for the month leading up to TA is based off an All Day Ruckoff Podcast interview with Mark Jones where he talks about training with the full load out. Normally I ruck and train with 40# of plates which is ten pounds heavier than my ruck usually weighs loaded for a normal event. So it was weird to go down to just shy of 30#. However, when it is fully loaded the ruck sits on your back differently and it changes how it feels during exercises. Since the load out made the ruck super full, I’m glad I got used to how boxy it felt on my back.
I also watched all the live feeds from last year since I tuned in very little during the actual event. It was helpful to see the terrain and types of evolutions but most of all I gained a lot of confidence hearing the cadre say over and over again “This isn’t Selection.” I also got excited because there were a lot of scenario driven evolutions which I find really fun.
I practiced ruck dumps endlessly. Shannon, Jen, and I even traded videos showing our methods. The people at my gym got a kick out of watching my training partner Alan Ward harass me while I practiced. It even made some of them curious enough to come over so I got to tell them about GORUCK. I also practiced on my own at home and developed a system for both when everything was packed into place and when we were doing the “Scoop Method” to make it under 45 seconds. Even with the 20L Rucker, I got my system down and was confident with it.
I played the live stream of the ruck dumps and did it repeatedly with the audio of the cadre shark attacking the ones that struggled. My kids enjoyed it when I put it up on our TV. Every time Cadre DS would come on screen, they’d say “I know him!” They also asked me lots of questions which helped me work through distractions.
All the practice paid off big time at the event. When everyone else was struggling to cram stuff in and sweating under the pressure, we were sitting down with lots of time to repack everything how we wanted it. Jason even pointed at us and told another team “That’s what winning looks like.”
]]>We highly recommend doing events with after parties. Jay’s hospitality did not disappoint. After we got our patches and did our interview with Jason, we found a buffet of BBQ and brownies and even some donuts along with many coolers of beverages. My buddy Bill who had to med drop during the Welcome Party had been a friendly face by the fire during our breaks. Now he caught a ride back to the park and returned with my car.
Bryan Singelyn had come down and we saw him rooting for us during one of the CulEx evolutions. It was cool to finally meet him in person and even more amazing to take a picture with everyone that had completed at least one round of HDT (which ended up being almost all the finishers).
One of the strangest sensations was the first time Shannon walked away from me after Endex. I immediately started to tell her to “Wait!” Afterall, we’d just spent the last 48 hours literally side by side. It was weird to go anywhere without each other.
Just like at every other event, I think about how good the food will be when I finish. Shannon and I had even planned what we’d pick up on the way back to the hotel. But as usual, I couldn’t eat that much. It’s like my stomach shuts down and I just can’t/don’t want food. But, man, did that cold beer hit the spot.
Shannon and I would have liked to hang out and socialize with the cadre and finishers longer but between the sun and food and the fact that we could finally relax, we were starting to shut down. Jen was asleep with her head on the table. So we said our goodbyes and thanked the cadre, Jason, and Jay and hobbled to the car.
But we took a little detour to look down The Hill one more time. Then we took pictures of our rucks in front of the pile of sandbags. Then we stopped and talked to some of the Ohio GRTs that had stayed after the Cloverleaf. Then we talked to Jason. Finally we made it to the car.
Everything Hurts and I’m Dying
I have a patch with that saying on it from a GRT friend. Never has it been more appropriate. We had packed post-event bags just in case we ended up as nasty as we were after Bragg but didn’t need them. We kept our hotel room as a fail safe. Ever since that tragic Bragg Heavy where we lost Jerome Gonzales during the event, we always spend the extra money to have a hotel room in case things don’t go according to plan.
So we picked up some french fries and ice cream and slowly made our way back to our room. We debriefed with Jennifer for a little while then she went to her room and Shannon gave me first shower. In addition to doing events with after parties, I also recommend doing them with a licensed veterinarian. Shannon had a horse-sized tub of epsom salts. I turned the water on straight hot and had a nice little doze while soaking my legs.
By the time Shannon had showered, I was barely coherent and really looking forward to sleeping like the dead. I had received so many messages and posts and tags from everyone congratulating us, but I didn’t have any words for this experience yet. But as we both drifted off to sleep the last thing I said was “I can’t believe we finished Team Assessment!”
The next morning we didn’t feel so badass. In fact we each took a solid 30 minutes to decide if we could even get out of bed. To say my legs were trashed is an understatement. Any time I activated any muscle in my upper legs, I would get sharp shooting pains. It hurt too much to stretch or roll. Wrapping was good though. Shannon thought we should have stayed somewhere that would provide stretchers down to the car. Alas, we had to make do with shuffling along with a luggage cart.
On the drive home, we stopped every one and a half to two hours per Singelyn’s instructions. We had to show Jen some tough love at the first rest stop. She wanted to just stay where she was lying across the backseat. We made her get out. I’ve seen that girl run by me carrying a 120# sandbag at the end of a Heavy. She’s no wimp. We were all in serious pain.
We then had a good laugh because we had to brace each other to step up on the curb. I can safely say I have never touched so many toilet seats in all my life. It was simply impossible to lever ourselves into standing positions otherwise. Cruise control was another welcome feature on our drive home. One time I was making my way into a gas station in Virginia when a guy coming out stopped to hold the door for me. He soon regretted this reflex because it took me an awkwardly long time to actually get to the door.
Recovering and Reality
It was an entertaining activity trying to reconstruct the event. You’d think between the three of us we could come to a consensus or at least fill in the gaps for each other. There was one evolution that Jen had no memory of. And Shannon and I disagreed about how many evolutions involved slosh pipes.
The high of finishing didn’t wear off for a couple of days. The ridiculous amount of pain (truly it was pain and not just soreness) took much longer. I thought I would sleep so well back at home in my own bed but that was not the case. Not only was every position uncomfortable, but also every time I moved the pain would wake me up. I’ve never taken this long to recover and I was not in the least bit tempted to do any kind of workout. Just going up and down stairs took concentration and a heavy reliance on handrails. It was a week before I could see my massage therapist and even then I had to tell him to ease off a few times (that’s never happened before).
I had to wait to see my chiropractor too because getting on the table and contorting into any position that involved bending my legs was simply not going to happen. When I finally did get to go in her reaction was straight up WTH?!. She’s worked on me after my repeated HTLs, Bragg, and Star Courses so she’s no stranger to the bizarre stories or pains. At one point she said “Whatever is going on with your left hip is a mystery.” That’s when I realized I hadn’t told her about falling and pulling my IT band and she said it made more sense. She finally let me go with a “I’ll see you next week.” (I usually go once a month.) Recovery from this event was going to be much longer than I anticipated.
]]>It’s funny how we went from anticipating tackling the apparatus phase to just wondering if the addition of the wheels was going to make it suck more or less. Turns out the wheels did make it not terrible to lift and pull but steering was another matter.
We had to assemble what we started calling “The Cart” first and that went quickly. It’s a pretty straight forward design afterall. We loaded a 40# sandbag (the Competitive female teams got a 60# I think) and were told to go to the river and back. The top teams had to take a lap around the field but all of them were still handling everything like a boss. I think the cadre didn’t want to wait all day for us to finish a lap.
Going down The Hill was a little tricky but we managed not to run over anyone or get run over ourselves. (The sandbag had to come down separately.) We quickly decided that titling the two bars up at a steep angle and resting them on our shoulders was the most efficient way of going. Steering was a lot like driving a flat cart at Lowes in that it took some effort to correct if you went too far to one side or the other. We made pretty good time, all things considered.
While we were taking the apparatus cart for a spin, everyone that had finished (the top teams) was “enjoying” some PT with JC in the sunny part of the yard. We soon realized that they were going to keep it up until everyone joined them.
You Gotta Earn It
Having completed an HTL with JC, I am familiar with his belief that you can’t just line up to get a patch at the end. You have to finish strong. You have to earn it. And how you earn it is with some reps and a fair amount of strong encouragement to do it right.
When we joined the line everyone was doing ruck overhead holds. Here’s the thing about PT. Everyone has that one or two exercises that they are good at even when they are tired. One of those for me is locking out overhead. We had to stand there waiting for everyone to get their rucks up because the top teams had been getting smoked for some time now. It was pretty warm in the sun and I felt bad that their PT session was long due to how slow we finished our evolutions.
I didn’t bask in my ability to hold my ruck up because I knew more was coming. JC called for low crawls and I was in trouble. I literally could not bend my leg that I’d strained the IT band on. I did a controlled fall to get on the ground and then tried to crawl. My leg was on fire so I started only using my right side with Shannon encouraging me. Unfortunately that meant we were slower even than usual...which meant we got noticed by the cadre. I was tuning them out pretty well but I start to panic when the team is waiting on me. Sure enough they had the whole class waiting on my gimpy self.
Walking Wounded
Crab walks are the one exercise that Shannon despises. I’m not a fan either since my triceps always lock up when I do them. We had a running joke that if, at any point during the event, they called for crab walks then Shannon would immediately say “I’m out.”
After the low crawls, they called crab walks. I started to fall apart and couldn’t hold back the tears. I knew she wasn’t going to actually quit but my leg wouldn’t hold my weight. We got permission to scoot along on our butts. Shannon said that it’s a good thing I was injured so she didn’t have to quit right before Endex.
Hurry Up
We formed a single line and started bear crawling around the yard. We were near the end of the line and I was keeping up okay despite the pain. That was until I looked up and suddenly Jen was 10 yards away. The accordion nature of the starting and stopping made me instantly the one keeping everyone waiting. Again.
The rest of the class was standing in a squat position while I made my way over to the formation. Not being able to bend your leg does not make for a fast bear crawl. Eventually we made it to the formation and joined to with my best attempt at a squat.
Endex Emotions
Even when I’ve finished challenging HTLs or Star Courses, I’ve never felt as emotional as I did at Team Assessment Endex. Mocha Mike’s speech had me fighting tears. I was relieved and overwhelmed. I couldn’t believe I’d finished something so grueling and brutal. Going in, I had no doubt I could do it but there were many times during the event that I just didn’t see how my body was going to be able to keep going. When we were patched, I was so proud and so happy for everyone that had completed this elite level challenge.
Standing there I loved seeing everyone that had gutted it out and conquered their demons. I’m so damn proud of every man and woman that finished that event. I’m grateful to the cadre for recognizing that there were Competitors and then there were those of us in “The Rec League”. That the cadre let us continue showed their belief in the value of doing the work without giving in, even if we were doing it slower than the top teams.
Our fellow Star Course teammate and Shannon’s sister-in-law, Amy Troutman, asked us on the way home “At what point did you know that you’d make it? That you had it in the bag and were going to finish?” Honestly, not until that patch was in my hand. We truly went from evolution to evolution knowing that it could be the last one. We could do down with an injury or get our third performance strike and get dropped. I felt some relief going into the CulEx evolution knowing that it was almost over but I didn’t feel that we were going to finish for sure until we actually did.
I’m so happy the cadre didn’t let us quit. I’m so proud that Shannon was my partner and we lived through this together. And I’m so grateful to everyone that affirmed our motivations and goals by saying we inspired them and that they knew we would finish.That patch means something different to each person that finished. In some ways, it might even mean more to some than to other finishers.
For me, I’ve never actually lived the “when you think you’re done you’re only at 40%” so completely. I’ve given birth to three kids (two naturally) and I can safely say this event is the only thing that has come close to that - both in pain, endurance, and pride when it’s over. Knowing we’d finished such a grueling challenge with so many of our friends watching on live feed was nothing short of surreal. I kept saying to Shannon “Holy S%#! We finished Team Assessment!”
]]>Now that everyone knew where they stood and what they had to gain or lose by their performance on the CulEx evolutions, we were ready to begin. First JC warmed us back up with some reps of PT. Getting down on the ground for 8 count bodybuilders was nothing short of ridiculous. My legs simply wouldn’t bend all the way and I debated just letting myself fall and trying to catch myself before my face hit the ground.
The first of the CulEx evolutions was a sandbag collection race. They had the sandbags piled up by weight - 40#, 60#, 80#, and 120# sandbags each had their respective piles. Your points were determined by how much weight you brought back across the line. The usual rule of staying within arms reach of your partner applied. But additional rules included that if a sandbag hit the ground, then it had to stay there and the cadre would put it back in the pile.
The distance to cover was short Shannon and I knew we wouldn’t be fast but we also figured the other teams were going to go for the bigger sandbags to get more bang for their buck. So we took off for the 40# pile. We each cleaned and put one on our back and then buddy carried a 60# between us. The next time we decided to share an 80#. I don’t know how well our strategy paid off but our pile had a decent amount of sandbags when time was called.JC had us do some more PT in unison while the cadre tallied up everyone’s weight. It was very kind of him to keep us warmed up and limber.
Bounding with Buckets
This year HQ invested in some nice branded white buckets. I have to admit that carrying the American flag spearhead bucket made me feel more badass than an orange Home Depot one. They made for good photo ops too.
The next evolution involved taking two buckets down to the river, filling them up, and bringing them back to the top of The Hill all while keeping the water level above the line. I asked if we could leapfrog or bound with the buckets and was given an affirmative. This was the strategy that I think almost all the other Rec League teams used.
This involved carrying one at a time together. Then going back for the next one and carrying it passed the first one. We knew that we couldn’t carry both buckets at a time. So we would switch sides and therefore hands each time we set one down.
With several teams using the strategy, there was some concern about getting buckets mixed up. Jen put a buff around the handle of their buckets. We thought this was an idea so we picked some long blades of grass and added them to our buckets. Soon each team had their own designated additions like leaves. We joked that it looked like we were making tea. We were a little punchy but just settled into the work.
The hardest part was getting up The Hill. By now, Shannon and I had developed a preferred path up the slope with designated stopping points along the way. We started at The Ledge where the slope began, made our first stop at The Knoll, and geared ourselves up for the ascent at The Bare Spot right before the steepest part over the lip of The Hill. We’d leave one bucket at the bottom and take one to the top. Once both buckets were at the top and passed inspection, the cadre had us dump them out and repeat. The objective was to get as many buckets to the top in the time allotted (an hour I think).
At some point, Jason decided (I think he was bored) to turn the garden hose on everyone as they made their final steps over the top. I think he even offered to add water to a few buckets. Eventually he handed the hose to Cleve who tried to spray our faces but my hat brim took the brunt of the water assault.
Over a day and a half, most of the low crawling and other abuse had worn all the grass off the upper part of the slope. The result of all this water play was the very steep hill was now not just hard to climb, but dangerous. I can’t remember how many times we made the ascent with the buckets but we started going as far to the right as possible to avoid the slickest part.
Perceived Effort
The trainer/owner of the gym I go to once explained perceived effort to me. Sometimes it isn't about the weight of what you are lifting or the percentage of your max but the amount of effort you think it takes to make it.
On the next evolution we had to take an 80# sandbag each (120# for the Open) down to the river and then back up the hill. I was in no condition to carry an 80# sandbag down and back. The repeated hill climbs had returned the “my quads are about to separate from the bone” feeling again along with the almost constant cramping sensation in my glutes. Shannon was in the same place. So we got out the nylon runners and proceeded to drag the sandbags.
Well Shannon did. My sandbag clearly had way more friction than hers. I mean, it must have had more contact with the ground because I was struggling to move it. I tried pulling it forwards, backwards, hugging it. Nothing. I was so smoked.
This is where it helps to have a level headed, problem solving partner. I wanted to have a mini pity party and kick my sandbag a few times. But Shannon suggested that we buddy carry one and come back for the other. I told her I wasn’t sure I could press an 80# at this point. She assured me we could clean it and then use one of our practiced techniques to duck under it one at a time. This is another time when having a lot of event experience with each other paid off. We’ve done this at events and it works like a charm. It was such a relief to share the load and set off at a nice clip down to the river. Suddenly I felt like a badass again. That was until we got to the top of The Hill.
Going Down
So that path way to the right that wasn’t as slippery? It was now just as slick. We were within arm’s distance of the top of The Hill feeling confident and making sure our penguin feet were propelling us up the steepest part when it happened. My left foot slipped and my quad failed. I felt my IT band yank tight and we were going down.
I gave an involuntary yelp when fire shot down my leg along my IT band and then the sandbag on our shoulders drove us face first into the mud. We each had one hand on the outside handle and then the other arm looped through each other’s so we couldn’t catch ourselves. Once we were flat on the ground (albeit at a steep angle) I couldn’t even get the sandbag off of me.
Shannon helped me roll over and halfway sit up while yelling for a cadre. JC and Mocha were there in a split second and Hand was standing by in case I needed medical attention. It hurt like hell but I knew I wasn’t injured...I just couldn’t move my leg at the moment. I was SO relieved that I wasn’t injured and neither was Shannon. After they assessed the situation and we assured them that we could continue, the cadre let us laugh it off for a minute before we had to get moving. “Your shirt was too clean.” Shannon said. “I thought you were getting bored.” I told her.
Sitting on that hill with her partner in severe pain and not once did Shannon think “Well, now we are out.” Nope. She was immediately plotting how she could get that other sandbag to the top of The Hill by herself. We were finishing this event no matter what.
]]>The cadre put their heads together as we got a break for priorities of work. Then Cleve and Hand took back over and gave us the next evolution. We went up the hill to retrieve an empty slosh pipe and five gallon bucket per team. Our task was to take them both to the river, fill them and then bring them back up to Cleve at the bottom of The Hill. He would inspect them. We would dump them out. Repeat. As many times as we could for an undetermined time. We simply said “thank you, cadre” and did what we were told.
As we were getting the slosh pipes and buckets up in the yard, Jason said the Cloverleaf event would be starting soon which he was leading. This is a new format event where participants do 3 workouts and 3 distances in 3 hours. It is facilitated by a cadre but participants scale the weight of the ruck and sandbag to their ability level. We had all speculated that we’d have to do the workout with the people from local ruck clubs that were coming out. Luckily we didn’t because we would have been a sorry sight and not inspiring at all.
Before we set out, Jason told us “I’m going to be playing some Metallic and what not up here for the Cloverleaf folks. Don’t go getting motivated by it or anything.” Check. We were not allowed to be motivated. Ha.
Having the Cloverleaf participants going back and forth on the trail while we were working was a nice distraction. They’d say encouraging things to us. We’d praise them for coming out and getting after it. It was nice. Except when there was a traffic jam.
Getting back in the river wasn’t too bad since I only had to go knee deep but we kept inadvertently splashing each other with the slosh pipes. When it’s only 40 degrees you want to avoid that. I still struggled to lift the full bucket to eye level on the bank but Shannon was there to take it over the edge.
We were allowed to leapfrog the bucket and slosh pipe as long as they didn’t get out of range. So we’d carry the slosh pipe a little ways ahead of the bucket then go back and carry the bucket passed the slosh pipe and repeat. We always had to stay together. Carrying the bucket with one hand each was becoming a habit and this evolution rolled by despite the pain we experienced bending down to pick up the slosh pipe every time.
Cleve was in a great mood and gave us a rousing speech about the glories of freedom which include hot showers, satisfying breakfasts, and being an American dammit. On one round of emptying our bucket and slosh pipe he told us that he’d dipped his hat in the bucket of the team ahead of us before they dumped it. “You want to know why? Because I was too damn comfortable. Gotta remember why we are here.” We couldn’t help but laugh.
Could It Be?! CulEx Time
Before watching all of last year’s live feeds, I wasn’t familiar with the term “CulEx”. But 44 hours into the event and I was looking forward to our “Culminating Exercise”. After completing maybe 4 rounds of the bucket/slosh pipe trek, we had to move all the supplies back up the hill which took three trips. Then all the teams were given a little longer break. We all relocated out from under the trees and onto a sunny slope in Jay’s yard to warm up.
Second MREs were broken out. Fresh socks were donned. And we were all sitting close and talking quietly among ourselves. I got a quick nap in the sun that was exactly what I needed. I even decided to change into my spare t-shirt. Everyone was in a good mood because we knew we were in the final stretch.
Mocha and JC brought over the apparatus and gave a quick demo of how to put it together. There were clamps and washers to hold the tires to the axel and the cargo net and poles we had plenty of familiarity with. Then they had us line up and brought out the whiteboard with all the rankings.
Rec League
Unsurprisingly there was a clear demarcation between the top three female teams and the bottom four. (There were only two open teams left plus Chad was being allowed to do the work by himself after losing not one, but two partners during the night.) But the cadre said that the CulEx evolutions would count double points so it was open season.
Shannon and I were not gunning to win or even get top three. (One team would be given Champion status for winning and that’s it.) We just wanted to finish. That had been the goal all along. We were in 4th place exactly where we expected. Shannon dubbed our teams in the bottom four teams “The Rec League”. We were all here to participate but winning wasn’t the objective. It was demonstrating the true DFQ mindset.
Throughout the event but especially during the second night, I witnessed the struggle. All of the “Rec League” teams had low points where one teammate was keeping the other going. Where we were glassy eyed and wondering how we would make it through an evolution. It was encouraging and humbling to see everyone fighting their demons and still standing the next day.
]]>WOD in the Dark
After the 12 Miler, the next evolution was the 9/11 Memorial Workout. This was another way to keep us moving but not making it absolutely awful. We had noticed in some of Jason’s photos before the start that they had big tires like you would flip at a gym. Originally Shannon and I were like “Heck yeah, we love flipping tires.” Now we were saying “Oh. No. I can’t squat to flip a tire.” Luckily the tires ended up being used for step ups. (big relief)
It was 2,001 meters “run”, then 11 reps each of Tire Step-ups, Thrusters, Bent Over Rows, Power Cleans, HRPU, Ruck Swings, V-Ups, Sumo Deadlift High Pulls, and Ruck Presses, followed by another 2,001 meter “run”. I can assure you we were not running. We did move with purpose and it was a huge bonus that we didn’t have to wear our rucks. It definitely helped us shake out the stiffness but getting down for V-Ups was laughable. Also, we had to help each other on step ups. We literally could not do a step up without bracing on our partner’s shoulder at this point. That’s how utterly shredded our legs were.
To keep us moving for 2 hours, they had us repeat the workout. We didn’t get all the way through a second round but we kept moving the entire evolution. With the temperature dropping, moving was important.
The Longest Mile
The apparatus evolution was the one we’d been looking forward to the most. We’d practiced knots and talked strategy and build techniques. This year though we saw that they had more of a prefab set up but we were still game to take on that scenario.
Our first introduction to some of the apparatus components however was not a barrel of fun. We were instructed to get two poles, one cargo net with carabiners attached, and a 40# sandbag (60# for Open) then take it down to where The Hill flattened out. We would use this set up to make a litter and do 3 miles (three loops around the field but not up The Hill thank God). We were not allowed to shoulder carry it but, other than that, we could devise whatever system we wanted to get the job done.
We clipped the cargo net to the rings on the poles, loaded our sandbag, and attached the nylon runners I brought just for this purpose. We put our hands through the loops and picked up our litter ready to take off.
Oh. My. Word. This thing was SO heavy. We couldn’t go 10 steps. The Wheelbarrow Mile and the miles of Bucket Carries and Farmer’s Carries had done their job. Shannon’s grip and forearms were gone. My shoulders were toast. I had a moment of panic that we would not be able to complete this task. We had to regroup and reassess.
The two poles were essentially like using two barbells, you know the 45 pound kind, to make litter poles. The sandbag wasn’t too bad but the combined effect was crushing. We decided to make a drag litter. We arranged the sandbag towards the front and let the end of the poles rest on the ground behind us. Shannon took one side and I took the other. We counted 40 steps and switched sides. It was horrible.
When we got into the woods, Shannon started searching along the edges of the path at every switch. It took a couple tries but she found a sturdy stick to modify our litter with. We fed the stick through the loops on our straps so we could pull the litter like a couple of plow horses. It took some of the strain off our hands. Any modifications, even incremental ones helped.
This was the longest evolution. We took 40 steps. Set it down. Switched sides. Bowed our heads and pushed on. It took forever. JC was walking the course checking on teams. He made fun of us later for how slow we were going. How slow? So slow that Shannon was having trouble staying warm. The temps were in the high 30s but next to the river it felt colder.
When we were halfway around the field we stopped and looked out. We could see the headlamps of a few teams here and there. We’d already been lapped by the front runners. It was a clear night and the stars were out. I looked out at the moon on the soybeans and told Shannon “You know...we could just stop here. Break out the MREs...have a little picnic...they’d come find us eventually.” We enjoyed that little pipedream for a minute and then pressed on.
We kept repeating to each other that it sucked but we’d come this far, we’d made it through all this crap, then we better make it count. Part of our mentality was that we were NEVER doing this again which meant that we’d better finish. However, if we had to go another lap we were done.
Eventually we completed that arduous mile 40 steps at a time (40 steps for 40 pounds). We were so relieved when we got to leave our litter apparatus on the side of the trail and take a short break.
Sand Babies and Hallucinations
I’ve had some pretty trippy moments during the second night of an HTL. I’ve been unable to walk a straight line and staggered like a drunk. I’ve fallen asleep while carrying a sandbag. But nothing prepared me for the delirium we experienced during the wee hours of Friday night/Saturday morning. (It was around 2 or 3 am.)
Our next evolution had us reversing our direction around the field so we were coming up from the river on the end of a lap. Once again we were thankful that a lap did not include The Hill. We retrieved another 40# sandbag so we each had one now. This time we were told to bear hug it or baby carry it for 3 laps (3 miles). No shoulder carrying.
I thought “No problem. At least we aren’t pulling that damn litter or low carrying anything.” Instead of counting steps, we used the landmark method - make it to that tree, that rock, etc. Very soon things got weird.
I thought I was fine. I knew I was tired, sure, but thought I was okay. That was until I would say something incoherent to Shannon. It was bizarre to hear the most random phrases come out of mouth. My responses to her were insensible. It’s one thing to tell a rambling story or get distracted (squirrel!) in the middle. But for utter nonsense to come out of my mouth without any control was trippy.
The most entertaining part was the hallucinations. Shannon kept seeing the other team’s headlamps as kids playing in a park. One time JC was standing at the start of the woods trail shining a high beam across the field (he actually was) but I thought he had the whole class stopped and sitting on the ground in front of him. I vividly remember staring at my boot because the top was made of purple and silver glitter sparkles just like my six year old’s sneakers. A few minutes later I looked down again and now it was just a leaf plastered to the toe.
We stumbled through the woods. Shannon kept up a steady stream of encouragement. Later she told me I kept trying to stop every five steps. When we would stop, we’d drop the sandbags and Shannon would rest her face against a tree and nod off. I would bend at the waist and immediately be dreaming with my elbows on my knees.
We encountered teams in similar states of delirium and we’d mumble words of encouragement to each other. As we came out of the woods on our second lap the sun was finally coming up and reality was restored. Time was called at that point. Another milestone - we’d made it to the second sunrise.
]]>Down to the River
Our next evolution was a five mile ruck alternating coupons - sandbag and five gallon bucket of river water. Female teams started with the water bucket and Open started with their 60# sandbag.
Since I don’t mind the water and Shannon was better at lifting the buckets over the edge of the bank, I volunteered to get back in the river. Getting the full bucket out without spilling it was harder than carrying it. There was a lot of poison ivy around and Shannon would discover some on her arm when we got back home.
There were lines in the bucket several inches from the top. We had to carry it around the field without letting the water spill below that line. We both had experience with bucket carries from Heavy Drop Training so we knew carrying it down by our side was the best way to make it without sloshing out too much. Some teams had other (faster) methods like carrying it together but we used our count steps and switch method because that was our preference.
On the even number laps, we carried a 40# sandbag. Shannon and I have a lot of experience trading sandbags on the go from all the events we’ve done together. So we rocked around the field and would do our sandbag spin whenever we needed to switch. I think we only got through 4 laps before time ran out and we were called in. The sun went down as we were finishing the 5 mile loops and the temperature was dropping. It wasn’t supposed to get to freezing but upper 30s by the river is still pretty chilly.
We Got This...Or Do We?
As they gathered us for the next evolution, Shannon and I were doing a buddy check. They announced the 12 Miler and we thought “Okay, we’ve got this.” There was some momentary confusion (elation) when they said “Slick Ruck”. Then we were reminded that in GORUCKLANDIA “slick” means “ruck only”. Most of us are used to “slick” meaning “no ruck”. But no big deal. Shannon and I can knock out a 12 Miler in under 3.5 hours (the usual standard) at any point during an event. It is something we are comfortable with through training and multiple Heavies.
But then...it was announced that we would have to climb The #$%^ Hill at the end of each lap to check in. The wind went out of our sails a bit. We looked at each other and said “We can do this. Even with The Ever-Loving Hill.” It would be a tight time hack but we felt we could give it a good go.
The first two laps went great. We were on pace and enjoying a break from carrying stuff. But eventually our glutes started cramping and we had to slow the pace. The Hill was sucking the life out of us and taking a ton of time. It wasn’t just the climb up The Hill but also picking our way down. Shannon adopted a ski trail zig zag pattern and I side stepped along with her.
This was our lowest point. So five laps into the 12 Miler we had The Discussion. I’ve never been more smoked by a Welcome Party than I was at this event. 6 hours in and our legs were done. I’ve had muscle fatigue before but I’ve never felt like my quads were going to shred right off the bone or that my glutes were going to lock up the next time I did a squat or lunge. (And lunges kept coming up in evolutions!) In our minds, we were on the verge of injury and just didn’t see how we could finish the event. I remember that I kept thinking we had 24 hrs to go but we really only had just over 12 (it was almost midnight on Friday). We definitely got in our own heads.
At our lap check in we told Cadre Hand that we were done. I am so grateful that instead of marking us down as a Voluntary Withdraw and directing us to the Quitters Fire, he called Mocha Mike and Jason over. The cadre were confused. We went from smiling and doing the work, never complaining to casually saying we wanted to quit. For them it just didn’t compute. We weren’t in last place. In fact we were still 4th or 5th consistently. After expressing confusion and hearing us out, all three had words for us. What happened next is still mind blowing to me.
Mocha said “We know that you aren’t here to win, and that’s fine. We know that you want to be middle of the pack, which you are. We know that you just want to finish, which you can. We know that you want to inspire people by showing that middle age moms can do an extreme event like this, and you’re doing that. So what’s the problem?”
This was crazy. Those were the EXACT words that Shannon and I had used when discussing our goals and motivations for showing up and completing Team Assessment. Those. Exact. Words. But we’d never said them to anyone else at all. Ever.
When I said “Yeah, but we are sucking at everything. We are missing time hacks and struggling to finish evolutions.” Jason replied “Well that’s just ego.”
That struck home. I realized that we wanted to quit because we weren’t as good at this as we thought we ought be. Shannon and I are used to being some of the more capable GRTs at events through sheer experience. And here we were: wanting to quit because we were struggling like a new guy at a Tough. Dang. That was an eye-opening, slap-in-the-face moment.
So we headed back out and the rest of the event when things got dark and seemed impossible, we’d say to each other “Just do the work. We’ve come this far, let’s keep going”. And we did every evolution bit by bit. Counting steps and switching holds and just moving forward. I thank God that Hand, Mocha, and Jason basically said “Nah.” when we tried to quit. They told us what we knew but needed to hear from someone else.
We only made it 7 miles before time was called. It was a little gut wrenching to see Cleve mark that second line on our roster patch. But we’d decided something on the rest of that 12 Miler. If we got another strike and were performance dropped, then that meant this event wasn’t for us. But until that time arrived, we would take it one evolution at a time.
Scaring Our Followers
Jon Cichelli was shadowing and running live feeds to the Tough page constantly for the whole 48 hours. When we had our weak moment, he was interviewing the cadre and turned the camera to us. Mocha felt it was too personal of a moment and told him to shut it off.
Apparently all our family and friends who were about to tune out and get some rest, lost it. None of them ever doubted we could finish and now all the sudden we were quitting. Several people ended up hung over from not knowing what was going on for the next 45 minutes. Luckily Jon was in contact with our family and posted that we were back in.
We didn’t know all this until later of course but it just showed us that this event wasn’t just about us. There were a lot of people pulling for us, glued to their screens, not getting work done...it’s pretty crazy to think about it. I doubt we were extremely riveting viewing but Jon’s commentary made up for it I heard.
]]>We aren’t sure if anyone else in the state calls Ohio “God’s Country” but Jason sure does say it a lot. I have to admit, the sun rising over the soybean field and glinting off the slowly flowing river was very pretty. The weather during the Welcome Party and the night had been incredible -blue skies and mildly warm. This day was shaping up to be another splendid one as least in terms of weather.
We got cadre change over and Cleve was in a great mood (No, really he was, I’m not being facetious). He gave each of the women’s teams two 40 pound sandbags (Open had 60#s) and told us to take them for a 3 mile farmer’s carry. I was really feeling the wheelbarrow in my shoulders so we did our count and switch methods. It was slow going but we tried to admire God’s Country while we trudged through the woods and around the field.
As we came around the last leg of the field, Cleve was waiting. He bestowed a gift upon us by saying we could now shoulder carry the sandbags. We immediately decided he was The Nice Cadre...at least for the moment. The next two miles went much faster and we finished 4th on that evolution. Fourth and fifth place was our sweet spot. We simply weren’t fast enough or strong enough to keep up with the top 3 teams (01, 03, and 08) so we were happy to stay at the front of the second wave of teams.
Hill Repeats
Our next evolution was a series of laps around the field with exercises at the top of or up the hill after each loop. The loop around the field was like a gift. Just rucking a lap was like activity recovery. Some of the exercises weren’t too bad like Sandbag Volleyball where each team member cleaned and tossed a sandbag to each other for 50 reps (40# Female, 60# Open). Or the Bear Crawl and Drag reverse down the hill and forward up the hill.
Others were just horrible like the Low Crawl up and down the hill. Going down wasn’t so bad. The top of The Hill is very steep so we adopted a River Otter Technique where we were basically sliding along on our belly for most of the way. The way back up however was the WORST. On flat ground my low crawl is not impressive. On a vertical incline, it was downright comical. It seemed like we were only progressing by inches and the worst part was how rocky and hard the ground was. I was missing our nice soccer field.
We spent a lot of time low crawling up that hill and many of the teams struggled as much as we did. I remember we ended up laughing at ourselves quite a bit. It’s hard to feel like you are dominating when you're inching along side other teams. At the top Cleve asked why I was smiling, probably thinking I wasn’t trying hard enough. I told him we just loved this so much. My answer should have been “Well nobody is asking what’s for dinner or to put their hair into a ponytail so this is like a vacation.”
We figured out on our loops around the field that this evolution was more about the time spent working than how many laps you completed (for those of us not in the battle for first at least). We noticed the top teams starting to repeat exercises so we were hoping that our pace would keep us from having to repeat the low crawls up The Hill and we MAY have taken a little more time than was strictly necessary on that last lap (working smarter not harder). We did get lucky and time was called before we had to do that particular exercise again.
The 24 Hour Break
One of the biggest milestones was getting to the 24 hour mark. It did not feel like “half way”, that’s like saying you're half way up Everest. But it was a significant milestone. The best part is this is what we called “The Long Break”. We were given 60 to 90 minutes to get some real calories in and catch some rest. It was also an opportunity for teams that were in the back of the pack to get a significant rest period. Up until this point, the top teams reward for winning was a good bit of extra rest. Now all the teams got to fuel and recover.
With relief we got to our priorities of work. We had worked out a strategy ahead of time. We knew we needed to dry out our feet, eat, and rest. Since we had time to break out the MREs, we took off our socks and shoes then got the heaters on the MREs going while we went to the bathroom.
Jason’s dad has a nice yard with thick, soft grass. Even though our feet were doing fine, it was heavenly. We thought this was the point that we would want to change into our second set of clothes but since we had not gotten especially muddy or sandy, we didn’t bother.
By the time we got back from the bathroom, our MREs were nice and warm. The cadre all chimed in on their recommendations on which entrees would be best. Shannon enjoyed some spaghetti while I elected for chicken and noodles. Up until then, we’d just had some of our snacks. Either the MREs were pretty good or we were just hungry. I also mixed up some Drip Drop electrolytes in my Vapur bottle and drank about half.
We filled our water bladders and repacked our rucks. We also went ahead and put on dry socks and put our boots back on. Jen had the good sense to suggest packing a gallon ziploc bag to put our wet stuff in so it wouldn’t get everything else in the dry bag funky. I was grateful for the foresight. While we ate we applied Ruck Wrap to our legs with particular attention to our quads and hamstrings. If I could have figured out how to wrap my glutes, I would have.
We knew the cadre would give us a 3 to 5 minute warning so we settled down to sleep without worrying. I’m a power napping pro so having 30 to 40 minutes was perfect. That’s all I will usually sleep between a Heavy and a Tough anyway. Some people chose not to rest because they didn’t want their bodies to start shutting down. You have to do what works for you.
Since we’d repacked and refitted before going to sleep, the call the ruck up wasn’t stressful. The stiffness and screaming quads was another matter. The Ruck Wrap really did make a difference in recovery and being able to get up again but as Shannon said “My quads have some words to say.”
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The best way to find out what works is to use it in training and then an event. I’ve read blogs and AARs to find out what people recommended when I first started. Then at events I wasn’t shy about saying “What brand of pants are those?” or “Do you like that jacket?” But at the end of the day, you have to use what works best for you.
Consider the Great Sock Debate. Some people swear by Darn Tough. I bought a pair. Wore them for some rucks. Disliked their texture and lack of stretch. Gave them to a friend. Bought Smartwool. Loved them. Tried to save money on additional pairs by buying a cheaper brand. End up not finishing an HTL because the fuzziness of this other brand held onto sand and wore holes in my feet. Morale of the story: test your gear in the conditions you will experience in the event.
This list includes things that were on the required packing list that I already had. Some things (like the tan t-shirts) I had to purchase so I looked for ones most like what I preferred wearing.
Ruck
The size of the ruck was a point of much debate among participants leading up to Team Assessment. I have always used a 20L Rucker and it is my preferred ruck. I like how high the weight sits in the Rucker 2.0, whereas I don’t like how the plate feels in the pocket of a GR1.
I had a 25L Rucker for a little while but after doing an HTL with it, I decided it just doesn’t fit my body type. (I’m 5’6” with a broad back and shoulders.) The base comes down over my butt, the top comes over my head on bear crawls, and the straps just hit me wrong on my sides when I cinch them down. I did not like it at all. So I just couldn’t see using a ruck that was a bad fit just for a little extra space.
So I stuck with my 20L Rucker like I have for all my events (Bragg Heavy included). If you are smart about space and know what you need, then it IS possible to fit everything in.
FAQs on my Ruck: Yes, I fit everything in a 20L Rucker. Yes, I passed the ruck dump portion of admin easily. No, it wasn’t a problem to fit everything back in during breaks. No, I don’t wish I had more space. My point is everyone has to do what works best for them and this worked best for me.
I will grant that I did not pack extra shoes. I only wear MACVs and even run in them during training. I’ve had Salomon’s in the past but the MACVs have seen me through 50 mile Star Courses and multiple HTLs. They work for me and I don’t even need to change socks that often. So my partner and I decided that if not having a second pair of shoes was an issue during gear check, then we’d take whatever punishment they deemed necessary. (Spoiler alert: it wasn’t an issue.)
I did use a custom weight plate that is flatter than the GR 10# plate. Also I purchased MREs from AllMREs.com which allows you to choose what’s in them, so mine were a little less bulky than the standard ones. Both these things helped with space issue.
Other Gear
I used the GORUCK padded hip belt with two Simple Side Pockets attached on either side. I didn’t utilize these during the ruck dump but rely on them during the event. I put my headlamp in the left and my gloves in the right. I tend to take both of those items on and off a lot at events and I like to have easy access to them.
I used a sternum strap and had two web dominators to hold my hydration bladder hose. I usually use a 2L bladder but used the required 3L bladder this time and I have to say, when filled it is flatter than the 2L and I will probably use it from now on at events. I packed my 2L as my spare.
Instead of a Nalgene, I used a collapsible Vapur bottle. They are not expensive on Amazon and make a huge difference in space even when filled. I tend to like to leave my bladder for plain water only and utilize the Vapur bottle for ORS.
Headlamp and extra batteries: I use a Black Diamond headlamp and I taped together a set of extra batteries. The batteries weren’t on the list but knowing we’d be using the headlamps constantly for two nights, I felt it necessary. I didn’t end up needing them but I’m glad I had them.
Nylon runners: If doing events with Cadre Fagan has taught me nothing else, it’s to bring straps to help carry stuff. I have a set I bought pretty cheap off Amazon that are about 18” long with handles sewn on either end. I bring them to every event and GRTs familiar with my setup will often ask “Did you bring your blue straps?” I used them on timed 12 milers to keep my hands high and pull my ruck off my traps. I used them to carry ammo cans and sandbags. I like that I can daisy chain them to make longer pull handles. So I pack 4 and they did come in handy on multiple evolutions. They are the only thing I ever put in my front pocket which makes it easy to pull out on the move.
Ruck Wrap: This roll of compression tape does take up a little extra room but it is a lifesaver during events so totally worth it. On breaks, Shannon and I were constantly wrapping our quads and calves. (If I could have figured out how to wrap my glutes, I would have!) Ruck Wrap definitely kept us in the fight and maximized our recovery during down times.
Misc: My usual Mechanix gloves are a given. I only packed one pair but some people brought an extra. I also had a flat pack of duck tape, extra MACV laces that double as paracord, and the required odds and ends like sunscreen and chem lights. I also keep a carabiner clipped to the front molle on my ruck which helps get to the dry weight. Annnnd a contractor bag - very useful as a ground cloth and heat blanket during longer breaks.
Dry Bags: I used two SeaToSummit bags like I always do. The 20L held all my clothes and the 4L held everything else. I’ve tried other bags and I like how low profile these are. Other ones have been too thick and stiff for me to work with.
Rash and Blister Management
I used CombatReady tape for my back and biceps and it stayed on really well. It did not stay on my feet well but that didn’t really matter because I fell back on my usually antichafing cream for that.
Salty Britches Antichafing Cream: This stuff is nice and thick and stays in place. I use it on my feet, neck, arms, and anywhere I get ruck rub. Bonus - it smells nice.
Clothing
Head: I wore my usual GORUCK Tac Hat and packed my Smartwool headband to go over my ears when it got cold at night. I packed a Smartwool beanie because it was required but I didn’t use it. I also used extra hairbands to roll my extra clothes in case I needed extra (I didn’t).
Smartwool neck gaiter: I've used this buff for a lot of events in various temperature. It's lightweight so it packs down small but it is a game changer when the temp drops and/or the wind blows. Definitely needed it during breaks on the second night.
Base Layer: I've been using a long sleeve Under Armor heat gear shirt for several years. It is light enough that I can leave it on for PT without getting too hot, but tough enough that it holds up on low crawls.
T-shirts: For only about $5, I got two tan A4 Men’s Performance Crew (small) t-shirts and wore one, packed one. I liked that it was lightweight and felt like my UA shirts I normally wear but the tan wasn’t too see-through.
Windbreaker: The GORUCK Women’s Windbreaker is one of my favorite gear items. I have this windbreaker in the lightweight version too but when I saw temps were going to be in the low 40s at night, I switched to the Midweight. I love everything about this layer. It keeps me from getting too cold at breaks and is easy to get off when I’m on the move and warmed up again. It dries fast, wicks water away before soaking in, and packs down really small. Best of all, I’ve put it through hell and it still looks brand new. After events, I wash it and wear it day to day.
Extra Outer Layer: My go-to outer layer at events is the Northface Venture 2 jacket. When the temperature drops close to freezing or it’s going to rain, I pack this layer. I wear it when we have a break to keep from getting too cold. I take it off again once we are on the move because you can really work up a sweat in it. It’s a great rain jacket and packs pretty flat. Key element - it has a hood to help hold the heat in and keep the wind/water off my neck.
Pants: I used to wear exclusively Prana pants for events but since getting some GORUCK Women's Simple Pants, I've converted. I normally wear the original version but am not a fan of the skinny legs (can’t change my tall socks because calf muscles). I was ecstatic that when GORUCK released the Power versions which have much more room. I just wish I’d gone down a size because once they stretched out they were a little baggy. I love how fast the GORUCK pants dry, how well they hold up to abuse, and how flat they pack down. The Prana ones are much thicker so they don't pack very flat or dry super fast.
Belt: I used to wear a Grip 6 belt and liked how sturdy and endlessly adjustable it was. I didn't like how the buckle left bruises whenever we did burpees or how I had to completely undo it to use the bathroom (not ideal when on a short time hack). I switched to a Arcade belt for several reasons: it is thinner and fits the Simple Pants belt loops better, it stretches, but most of all it has a buckle closure that is easy to do and undo. Also I can throw it in the wash still on my pants when I get home from an event.
Socks: Smartwool all the way - wore one, packed 4 (as per the requirement). I packed a couple different lengths and thicknesses, all of which I’ve worn before. I only changed socks twice because wet feet don’t really bother me. (sand is another story) and both times we ended up back in the river almost immediately. Ha.
Footwear: I only wear the GORUCK MACVs. They drain well, keep my feet warmish, and have lots of room in the toe box. I’ve worn out the inner lining in several pairs of these so the greatest challenge was breaking in my latest ones. For the record, I don’t think the traction is any worse than any other boot or shoe I’ve worn off road. Everyone was slipping and sliding on The Hill no matter what was on their feet.
And for the ladies that need to know what I had on underneath...
Undergarments: I wore one and packed one of each Icebreaker brand sports bra and underwear (bikini style). I wear these at all my events, hot or cold. They dry pretty well and don’t make me cold when wet. And they hold up really, really well.
]]>Fellow weirdos can relate, especially my Star Course survivors.
Here are my Stages of a GORUCK Event:
1. Enthusiasm: See the patch and event description. Coerce friends to sign up. Declare it will be epic. 💪🏻
2. Slight Nervousness: At SP, hugs and high fives for fellow GRTs. Tell each other “We got this!” Discuss preparation (or lack there of). 🙌🏻
3. Reassurance: Joking and swapping stories with your buddies. Along with repeated “This is fine. It’s not as bad as (insert event where your soul was crushed).” 👊🏻
4. Trepidation: “What time is it? We’ve only gone how far?” Begin to wonder if this was the smartest decision you’ve ever made. 😬
5. Anger: Who’s *#$% idea was this? Why do I keep doing this to myself?! I’m an idiot. A masochist. I hate my stupid self right now. This is awful. 🤬
6. Acceptance: We can do this. Only a few more hours. No quitting now. Let’s grind it out. 😑
7. Euphoria: Get the patch and the beer. Pictures with friends. Photo with cadre. Hugs all around. Compare blisters and chaffing. Discuss worst parts of the event. Declare “One and done. That was horrible. No way do I need to do that again. Ever.” 😎
8. Pride and Amnesia: (24-48 hours later) “That was awesome. Next time I’ll make sure I do _____ differently.” Get on internet. Pull up “Find an Event” page.