Shut up, I know this is a wall of text. Deal.
training, packing list, and final thoughts
The surreal part of being GoRuck Tough is that I know that I’m both a different person and not a different person than before my challenge. I have an incredible sense of mental strength and determination that I wasn’t aware of before my challenge and yet I’m far more in tune with how much more growing I have ahead of me and how I can be a better and stronger person. All of that aside, here is how I prepared for my challenge and what I learned the hard way.
training and preparations
So, a big part of the Challenge is running with weighted rucks... but here’s the thing, I hate running. I’ll run, but I’ll hate that I’m running for 95% of it. Naturally, I didn’t run much to get ready, which was probably a mistake.
In fact, I didn’t do much specific training, like weighted runs through the snow or something. What I did do was continue being fit and having fun doing it. I’m trying to not live in The Land of What-If’s, but maybe my stress fracture wouldn’t have happened if I did more pre-challenge foot care. I guess we’ll never know.
A typical week for me before January included a rotation of weightlifting at the gym. I’ve never been big into WODs or a strict lifting regimen. I’m more of the “work on whatever isn’t sore, wait till it’s not sore anymore, work it again” mentality. Generally speaking, it was mostly a full body workout every other day, sometimes with an extra rest day.
For January I added hot yoga and hot spin into the mix, which was nice for winter in Minnesota. I would go to hot yoga two or three times a week and hot spin once or twice a week. On the weekends I would lift as well, but not as intense of workouts as before.
February went very much like January, though I stopped lifting, only went to yoga twice a week, and added indoor rock climbing. I was still going to spin about twice a week. The rock climbing helped to balance out the lifting from before and gave me some nicely calloused hands. I would climb for 2 to 4 hours three or four times a week.
March was pretty boring. I did a bit of yoga at home, climbed a bit, went for a few long walks, and mostly just relaxed. Let’s just say I used March to prepare myself for all of the drinking that was part of being GoRuck Tough. Oh, and there was also the Pre-GoRuck Challenge that I posted about.
And that’s it. That’s all I did. Other people did crossfit, weekly weighted ruck runs, lots of lifting and whathaveyou. I get why they did that kind of stuff, but that isn’t my style. I’ve been lucky to be able to keep myself fit most of my life and try to keep myself at a pretty fit baseline. Moral of the story: everyone’s different, what worked for me probably won’t work for you.
Since I keep putting disclaimers on everything, here’s another one: I’m a minimalist. If it’s not essential on some level, it’s not allowed (both in my life and in my ruck). Most of the time this is GREAT, other times... not so much.
Columbia soft shell jacket
long sleeve Adidas dry-fit-type shirt
short sleeve off brand dry-fit-type shirt
Under Armour compression shorts
SmartWool base layer mid 250 bottoms
old knee pads from my soccer days
4 Bricks, wrapped in an old yoga mat and duct tape
Platypus 3L water bladder, high profile
Extra pair of Mechanix covert gloves
Sea to Summit Nano Dry Sack, 2L
3 Clif Blocks (consumed 3)
2 Clif Shots (consumed 2)
NU electrolyte tabs (never refilled my bladder)
a list of important numbers
what I learned the hard way
In short, wear a good hat. Especially at 3 am during a thunderstorm in 38 degree temperatures during March in Minnesota. Biggest life lesson.
There really isn’t a way to put into words what exactly you get from being part of the GoRuck community and family, because it is a family. All of the things I realized and learned through becoming GoRuck Tough are incredibly personal and life altering, and I imagine that my next GRC will be just as insightful for me. That’s just the nature of the beast.
I guess there are other things that I learned (mostly in the “whine less, train more” category) but that’s the easy stuff to learn, and also pretty boring to talk about. I need to run more, and I plan to once my foot heals a little more. I also need to trust my body to overcome the limits that I think it has, something I plan to challenge with climbing and more GoRuck events. Finally, I need to do more of everything; I need to experience more and live more life. The Woman and I are talking about trips out west, to see things and meet people, and whether that’s around the corner or down the road it’s helping to whet my appetite for adventure a little more.
