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Old 05-30-2019, 19:07   #421
FishOnHisHead
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Today's workout

Gym workout as follows:

4 Minute AMRAP for 4 rounds:

Row 500m starting odd rounds
Run 400m starting even rounds

AMRAP remaining time:
- 12 Deadlifts
- 9 Hang Power Clean
- 6 American KB Swings @ 70#

Round 1 @ 135# Barbell
Round 2,3,4 @ 145# Barbell

Then 2 rounds:
- 400m Farmers carry with 2 53# KB's
- 20 Barbell Sit-Ups
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Old 06-02-2019, 16:59   #422
Malone
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Attended SFRE for 20th GRP this past weekend. Most of the events were gate events, so I will focus on those. Here is some insight and observations on the training I've posted over the past two weeks:
  • My feet were probably the only one without blisters after the weekend. Tuf-foot works after only two weeks of treatment. I've always gotten blisters on stand-alone road marches and after this weekend, I have zero. I combined antiperspirant deodorant, tuf-foot, and some foot powder in my boots before events.
  • If it is going to be hot outside, train in the heat. Most of our events weren't super early in the morning (none before 7am), and it got up to 91 degrees both days. We were still training in the heat.
  • The ruck route was a 6-mile loop done twice. The route was way more difficult than I had imagined and I was sucking by the end. You will not be prepared for this by rucking on the improved/unimproved roads. It was a combination of the heat and terrain. The loop went up and around the backside of a mountain (~700-800ft elevation gain). Moving as fast as I could the first 6 miles I completed it in 1:30, but my joints felt like they were going to explode from the pressure. The second 6 miles I could not fast walk at all, I was depleted and on the verge of being a heat cat. I finished in 3 hrs 40 min total. I puked 30 minutes after finishing and was experiencing vertigo the rest of the day. I was very disappointed in my ruck time/performance, and it was a humbling experience. Don't be like me, ruck on difficult terrain with rocks/roots in training, but do not hurt yourself.
  • The 5-mile run was much harder after the difficulties I experienced in the ruck. I fought a cramp from mile 1 that lasted the entire duration of the run, which eventually added around two minutes to my time as I was puking on the side of the trail. I did lots of stretching and rehydrating the night before the run and still had issues. I ended up running it in 39 min on easy terrain, where my route in training was over hilly terrain I was averaging 36 min. So, I would recommend getting your times down as much as possible so that if you do run into a cramp/dehydration on your worst day, you still make time.
  • The cadre running the events were very professional. They were extremely knowledgable and able to answer any questions we had. Out of ~100 people that said they wanted to attend, only 14 candidates showed up.
  • All the candidates were a mix of enlisted/officer/civilian. Most had attended previously. Everyone worked together well and it was refreshing being around people motivated to better themselves.

I hope this information can help someone else out there. I plan to return for the next SFRE and crush that mountain.
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Old 06-02-2019, 19:24   #423
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^^^
Ruck more. Get those times way down.

Run more. Get those times down too. Don’t ever stop to puke, learn to puke while still running/moving.
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Old 06-03-2019, 05:09   #424
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Malone View Post
Attended SFRE...

I hope this information can help someone else out there.

I plan to return for the next SFRE and crush that mountain.
Good specific detail with results and actionable fixes.

Good luck.
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Old 06-03-2019, 09:00   #425
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Make sure you are not chugging plain water. If you drink too much, you will experience hypernatremia and could die. We have lost candidates in SFAS and the SFQC from this.

Use ORS, Kool-Aid, Gatorade, salt and sugar, or whatever you can find to keep your electrolyte balance within tolerances, especially when sweating profusely.

Train yourself to drink small quantities of liquids constantly while rucking and moving.

As was already stated, work on ruck and run times, especially on gravel and in sand. Most of Bragg is in the Sandhills, and some areas, especially on the roads, are like trying to walk on the soft beach sand.

Good feedback, thanks.

TR
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Old 06-03-2019, 20:41   #426
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Today's workout

I am lucky to have job where I am contracted for work 1-2 weeks out of a month doing physical labor every other month or so. It pays well enough that I can live and leaves plenty of time to train hard.

Today I started with a five mile run at an easy pace. My time was 47:05 which puts me at a mile pace of 9:24. I have just over three months to ship so I figure volume over speed at this point and push for 7:00 miles for the five mile run by my ship date.

After eating a generous helping of eggs, bacon, chopped onion, toast and fruits I studied for an hour then I set off for my second activity of the day. A three mile ruck in the foothills near my home. I have a run that I have done up there since I was young. It consists of a 280' climb out to an overlook and back. The trail is covered in softball sized rocks (some buried halfway, some free) and soft dirt. It provides a good quick difficult climb that allows you to push yourself both in ruck weight and your ability to navigate hazards in uphills and downhills. I ruck with a 60# pack. It doesn't hurt me but definitely pushes me (I make sure to pay attention to my body and my joints as I do this). For me, knowing that I am going heavy now will give me mental strength at SFAS. My time for the three miles was 45:13 which puts me at 15:04 mile pace.

When I got back from the ruck I was already running late for the gym so I hurried in, changed into gym shoes and headed to the gym.

The gym workout consisted of:
Superset:
3x
Barbell split squats 10 each leg @ 60#
Single leg Romanian deadlift 10 each leg @ 60#

Immediately into:

50 Dumbbell Box step ups @ 50#
50 Burpees
50 Dumbbell Snatches @ 50#
50 Box jumps

Ending with 100 Push-ups

I just finished dinner and am about to do a two mile recovery jog and a stretch/ rolling routine. Today was a good day.

On a less physical note I have been reading "Inside Delta Force" By Eric L. Haney. He goes into detail about the selection process and through his writing you can't help but recognize valuable mental strategies. I should be finished with it tonight and already have "The Mission, the Men, and Me" queued up on the nightstand.

Have a great week! Kick some ass guys!
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Old 06-03-2019, 21:06   #427
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Get your run and ruck times down.
Runs need to be sub-7 minute miles.
Rucks need to be sub-12 minute miles - no running.
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Old 06-04-2019, 13:53   #428
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Malone View Post
Attended SFRE for 20th GRP this past weekend. Most of the events were gate events, so I will focus on those. Here is some insight and observations on the training I've posted over the past two weeks:
  • My feet were probably the only one without blisters after the weekend. Tuf-foot works after only two weeks of treatment. I've always gotten blisters on stand-alone road marches and after this weekend, I have zero. I combined antiperspirant deodorant, tuf-foot, and some foot powder in my boots before events.
  • If it is going to be hot outside, train in the heat. Most of our events weren't super early in the morning (none before 7am), and it got up to 91 degrees both days. We were still training in the heat.
  • The ruck route was a 6-mile loop done twice. The route was way more difficult than I had imagined and I was sucking by the end. You will not be prepared for this by rucking on the improved/unimproved roads. It was a combination of the heat and terrain. The loop went up and around the backside of a mountain (~700-800ft elevation gain). Moving as fast as I could the first 6 miles I completed it in 1:30, but my joints felt like they were going to explode from the pressure. The second 6 miles I could not fast walk at all, I was depleted and on the verge of being a heat cat. I finished in 3 hrs 40 min total. I puked 30 minutes after finishing and was experiencing vertigo the rest of the day. I was very disappointed in my ruck time/performance, and it was a humbling experience. Don't be like me, ruck on difficult terrain with rocks/roots in training, but do not hurt yourself.
  • The 5-mile run was much harder after the difficulties I experienced in the ruck. I fought a cramp from mile 1 that lasted the entire duration of the run, which eventually added around two minutes to my time as I was puking on the side of the trail. I did lots of stretching and rehydrating the night before the run and still had issues. I ended up running it in 39 min on easy terrain, where my route in training was over hilly terrain I was averaging 36 min. So, I would recommend getting your times down as much as possible so that if you do run into a cramp/dehydration on your worst day, you still make time.
  • The cadre running the events were very professional. They were extremely knowledgable and able to answer any questions we had. Out of ~100 people that said they wanted to attend, only 14 candidates showed up.
  • All the candidates were a mix of enlisted/officer/civilian. Most had attended previously. Everyone worked together well and it was refreshing being around people motivated to better themselves.

I hope this information can help someone else out there. I plan to return for the next SFRE and crush that mountain.
Malone,

Good job on figuring out what works for your feet and mitigating blisters! Sounds like you were severely dehydrated due to the heat and environmental factors and never fully recovered from it...muscle aches and cramping and all that. Did you guys have any ORS packets to add to your water? If not, add some salt into what your eating to retain better hydration. Other than that, experience is the best teacher right?
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Old 06-04-2019, 13:56   #429
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joker View Post
^^^
Ruck more. Get those times way down.

Run more. Get those times down too. Don’t ever stop to puke, learn to puke while still running/moving.
^^^Puke on the run!! Funniest shit to see! Been there done that, first time at SUT in the Q. Lol, good times!
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Old 06-04-2019, 16:16   #430
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackSunrise View Post
^^^Puke on the run!! Funniest shit to see! Been there done that, first time at SUT in the Q. Lol, good times!
Easy way to train for puke-run. Run hungover. Hard. Never stop. Don’t be a wimp.
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Old 06-06-2019, 08:38   #431
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Originally Posted by BlackSunrise View Post
Malone,

Good job on figuring out what works for your feet and mitigating blisters! Sounds like you were severely dehydrated due to the heat and environmental factors and never fully recovered from it...muscle aches and cramping and all that. Did you guys have any ORS packets to add to your water? If not, add some salt into what your eating to retain better hydration. Other than that, experience is the best teacher right?
Thank you to all the QP's for your advice! It is greatly appreciated!

I believe you are correct BlackSunrise, I was not myself after the ruck and on the 5-mile run. We were given a rice-based hydration mix called Cerasport. The night before the ruck I was drinking Pedialyte and water to rehydrate from the previous day's exercise and ate an entire MRE. The morning of the ruck I did not eat much and during the ruck, I opted to not use Cerasport until the end. I find it does not agree with me for one reason or another and has upset my stomach in the past (Used it in airborne and air-assault schools as well). I believe this was a mistake now, but as you said, experience is the best teacher.

From the symptoms, I believe I was experiencing the early stages of Hyponatremia (I'm no way qualified to actually diagnose myself, I'm a soon-to-be Ph.D., not M.D., and if any 18D's want to chime in and educate me I welcome it). Common symptoms include dizziness, nausea, disorientation. After a certain amount of sodium loss, your body cannot absorb water effectively and attempting to rehydrate with just water is futile and even dangerous. I sipped a Cerasport/water mix after the ruck and drank more Pedialyte after the day's events were complete. Even with these efforts, I was still very dehydrated and 4 days afterward I have only now returned to my pre-SFRE body weight.

Hyponatremia is something I have heard about previously from David Goggins' book "Can't Hurt Me" in the world of marathon/ultra-marathons but I did not think I would experience in my training. I thought I just wouldn't experience the extreme conditions that would lead to something like Hyponatremia. However, looking back on the SFRE weekend, I realize we easily exceeded 30 miles total running/rucking in heat and I lost nearly 7 pounds throughout the weekend, so we definitely dipped into the marathon-range distances (though definitely nowhere close to ultramarathon distances).

I have since done a little bit of research on Hyponatremia and how to prevent it, to include calculation of my sweat rate in the heat. I lose quite a bit of sweat and I believe I need to do everything I can when going through the next SFRE or SFAS/SFQC to ingest as much salt as possible before, during, and after the ruck. My understanding is that supplements common for marathon runners like salt tablets aren't an option for SFRE/SFAS, so I must find other ways to make up for the deficit.



On another note, I have a team deploying soon and their send-off is tonight. I'll put that running hungover and puking on-the-move to the test tomorrow!
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Old 06-06-2019, 08:48   #432
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Gatoraid worked the best for me. 50-50 mix, liquid GA with water. We used it in the ER for heat injuries.
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Old 06-06-2019, 12:32   #433
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Tuesday, Wednesday.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joker View Post
Get your run and ruck times down.
Runs need to be sub-7 minute miles.
Rucks need to be sub-12 minute miles - no running.
Copy, Thank you Joker.

Tuesday:

Five mile run: 9:11 pace
Three mile ruck @ 60#: 16:09 pace
Gym workout:

EMOM x 10 minutes:
Odd: 12 Overhead Squats
Even: Jump rope for 45 seconds alternating with 12 calories on the air bike every other minute.
Rest 3 minutes.

EMOM x 10 minutes:
Odd: 12 Hang Power Cleans
Even: Bike, Jump rope (alternating)
Rest 3 minutes.

EMOM x 10 minutes:
Odd: 12 Overhead Lunges
Even: Jump rope, Bike (alternating)

Definitely felt sore from Monday. Struggled to keep run/ruck times consistent. Gym kicked my ass but I didn't quit and finished the workout.
Scrapped the two mile "recovery run" kept the stretch and roll out session.

Wednesday:

No ruck or gym workout.

I stretched, iced and rested most of the day. I went down to HQ and got my CAC and handled some other clerical work I needed done before my ship date.

I got home and felt like I hadn't done much so I ate and headed out on a five mile run. I concentrated on regulating my breathing a bit better and saw improvement at a pace of 8:57. I think I need to work on stretching more before runs and striding out (as I have read in this thread) to really see the gains I need. I am aiming for 25-30 miles on "Endurance weeks" and plan on throwing a "Speed week" consisting of heavy interval training into the mix every third week to help remedy my slow running.

As always, thank you for your help and advice.

Have a good day.
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Old 06-06-2019, 12:41   #434
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Malone View Post
Thank you to all the QP's for your advice! It is greatly appreciated!

I believe you are correct BlackSunrise, I was not myself after the ruck and on the 5-mile run. We were given a rice-based hydration mix called Cerasport. The night before the ruck I was drinking Pedialyte and water to rehydrate from the previous day's exercise and ate an entire MRE. The morning of the ruck I did not eat much and during the ruck, I opted to not use Cerasport until the end. I find it does not agree with me for one reason or another and has upset my stomach in the past (Used it in airborne and air-assault schools as well). I believe this was a mistake now, but as you said, experience is the best teacher.

From the symptoms, I believe I was experiencing the early stages of Hyponatremia (I'm no way qualified to actually diagnose myself, I'm a soon-to-be Ph.D., not M.D., and if any 18D's want to chime in and educate me I welcome it). Common symptoms include dizziness, nausea, disorientation. After a certain amount of sodium loss, your body cannot absorb water effectively and attempting to rehydrate with just water is futile and even dangerous. I sipped a Cerasport/water mix after the ruck and drank more Pedialyte after the day's events were complete. Even with these efforts, I was still very dehydrated and 4 days afterward I have only now returned to my pre-SFRE body weight.

Hyponatremia is something I have heard about previously from David Goggins' book "Can't Hurt Me" in the world of marathon/ultra-marathons but I did not think I would experience in my training. I thought I just wouldn't experience the extreme conditions that would lead to something like Hyponatremia. However, looking back on the SFRE weekend, I realize we easily exceeded 30 miles total running/rucking in heat and I lost nearly 7 pounds throughout the weekend, so we definitely dipped into the marathon-range distances (though definitely nowhere close to ultramarathon distances).

I have since done a little bit of research on Hyponatremia and how to prevent it, to include calculation of my sweat rate in the heat. I lose quite a bit of sweat and I believe I need to do everything I can when going through the next SFRE or SFAS/SFQC to ingest as much salt as possible before, during, and after the ruck. My understanding is that supplements common for marathon runners like salt tablets aren't an option for SFRE/SFAS, so I must find other ways to make up for the deficit.



On another note, I have a team deploying soon and their send-off is tonight. I'll put that running hungover and puking on-the-move to the test tomorrow!
This is the first time I have heard of Cerasport. Riced-based, made with simple sugars and supposed to balance carbohydrates, sodium, chloride and potassium intake, all natural and non-GMO. Interesting enough it is suppose to help the body absorb electrolytes easier without causing stomach distress. Wonder why it causes you problems?
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Last edited by BlackSunrise; 06-06-2019 at 12:45.
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Old 06-07-2019, 14:57   #435
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Thursday's workout.

Had to change up the order for Thursday's workout. I began with a three mile ruck then moved on to the gym and ended with a five mile run.

Three mile ruck @ 60#: 15:36 pace
Im still working on opening up my pace and leaning into my stride. No running from now on. (a mistake I made in my first post) After reading what Malone had said about "Tuffoot" It definitely reinforced my desire to try it. I will be ordering some- I will let everyone know the differences I notice.

Gym workout:

25 minute running clock:
3 rounds:
5 Bench Press @ 135#
300m Row
Rest 90 seconds
2 rounds:
3 Bench Press @ 155#
300m Row
Rest 90 seconds
1 round:
1 Bench Press @ 205#
300m Row

Score the slowest Row and heaviest Bench:
1:01
205#

Followed by 3 sets:
Max rep Dumbbell Floor Press
8-10 Dumbbell Rows
Rest 90 seconds

Five mile run: 8:56 pace

I am happy to know that my pace stayed consistent with Wednesday's, it shows that my breathing and conscious efforts while running are helping.

As always, thank you for your help and advice.

Have a good day.
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