Not every day can be a complete victory. But I won a battle, even thought I haven't won the war.
Today's Action: Perform a 12 mile foot march.
Conditions: Given a course, ruck sack with appropriate equipment, full uniform with helmet and rifle.
Standards: Complete within 3 hours. For Fit-to-fight, complete 20K in 4 hours.
Yesterday, I posted a very quick time that I honestly thought I could still attempt. After a night of restless and short-lived sleep, I was up at 01:30 to be at my unit by 02:30 for our weapons draw. From 0300 to 0400, we hydrated and did last minute checks on our equipment and talked about strategy. We moved up to the start point and received our briefing on the task at hand.
Today's Action: Perform a 12 mile foot march.
Conditions: Given a course, ruck sack with appropriate equipment, full uniform with helmet and rifle.
Standards: Complete within 3 hours. For Fit-to-fight, complete 20K in 4 hours.
Yesterday, I posted a very quick time that I honestly thought I could still attempt. After a night of restless and short-lived sleep, I was up at 01:30 to be at my unit by 02:30 for our weapons draw. From 0300 to 0400, we hydrated and did last minute checks on our equipment and talked about strategy. We moved up to the start point and received our briefing on the task at hand.
Preparing for the foot march and moving out to the start line.
At 04:30 we were off and I had ended up starting way to far back. I moved to the side of the road and jogged forward until I was near the front. The first two miles went smothly and that brought us down to the tank trail.
The slope in was tricky as Fay's rains had left the some spots in the trail slick. At about mile 4.25 there was a long section of rocks. From the 2 mile point to the turn around at mile 6, myself and 2 others Soldiers kept each other going. The great part of being near the front was that we didn't have to deal with crowds when we got to the few muddy areas and had to get through them single file. We were able to keep this up until the turn around.
The turn around had a "water buffalo," which is Army speak for a huge water trailer. They gave us rubber bands to indicate that we had hit the turn around point. Throughout the foot march I drank sips from my CamelBak, which had water, and a bottle that had 16oz of Gatorade. I controlled the hydration to the mile markers, starting at mile 4. This strategy worked until about mile 8, when I needed more water and Gatorade at about every half mile. I did notice that the body was quickly adapting the every mile pattern very well, as I would start feeling the body get thirsty as I was approaching the mile markers.
I was jogging and fast walking the first 5 miles well, but the ruck sack was really starting to drag me down, and I did only about 6 more sprint jogs from mile 6 on. Going back is an uphill trek and my times were starting to add up as I moved forward. I knew that if I just continued on, there would not be a problem with making it on time. At about 8 miles, I almost rolled my ankle on a surprise rock. I caught myself as my foot came down onto it and was able to move off the rock with no injury.
When I crossed back onto the hardball heading back through Kelley Hill at mile 10, I ran into the Brigade Sergeant Major, who was motivating candidates as they were going by. The sun was coming up and soon the hill would be illuminated by the dawn. My Gatorade sipping lasted until the last mile, when I downed the last swallow and sucked down more water. I tried to jog sprint one last time down the motor-pool back road, but my shoulder was feeling the burden of the field pack. I was able to keep up the fast walk at a decent pace and motored in.
Once checked off at the 12 mile mark, I continued on to complete the Fit-to-fight 20K. The Soldiers who were candidates for the EIB had to "dump" their ruck sacks to ensure that they adhered to the packing list guidance.
My legs and feet felt fine, but my right shoulder was a wreck. One of the Soldiers who had other duties this morning got ice for myself and SGT "K" (from the Country's 5K.) He is also an EIB holder and was out to support his troops.
I'm tired.
As I sit here blogging and enjoying my nightly fiber hit, I feel my shoulder getting better. My feet and legs will be tight, but they should be ready for a slow recovery run sometime tomorrow. then Saturday I'll be running on the beaches of Panama City, FL trying to beat T.S./huricane Gustav.
Bottom line: 12 miles in 2:42:00
... Then with a brief stop at the finish line and a few motivational shouts for my Soldiers to get in on time: 12.427 (20K) in 2:58:00.
At 04:30 we were off and I had ended up starting way to far back. I moved to the side of the road and jogged forward until I was near the front. The first two miles went smothly and that brought us down to the tank trail.
The slope in was tricky as Fay's rains had left the some spots in the trail slick. At about mile 4.25 there was a long section of rocks. From the 2 mile point to the turn around at mile 6, myself and 2 others Soldiers kept each other going. The great part of being near the front was that we didn't have to deal with crowds when we got to the few muddy areas and had to get through them single file. We were able to keep this up until the turn around.
The turn around had a "water buffalo," which is Army speak for a huge water trailer. They gave us rubber bands to indicate that we had hit the turn around point. Throughout the foot march I drank sips from my CamelBak, which had water, and a bottle that had 16oz of Gatorade. I controlled the hydration to the mile markers, starting at mile 4. This strategy worked until about mile 8, when I needed more water and Gatorade at about every half mile. I did notice that the body was quickly adapting the every mile pattern very well, as I would start feeling the body get thirsty as I was approaching the mile markers.
I was jogging and fast walking the first 5 miles well, but the ruck sack was really starting to drag me down, and I did only about 6 more sprint jogs from mile 6 on. Going back is an uphill trek and my times were starting to add up as I moved forward. I knew that if I just continued on, there would not be a problem with making it on time. At about 8 miles, I almost rolled my ankle on a surprise rock. I caught myself as my foot came down onto it and was able to move off the rock with no injury.
When I crossed back onto the hardball heading back through Kelley Hill at mile 10, I ran into the Brigade Sergeant Major, who was motivating candidates as they were going by. The sun was coming up and soon the hill would be illuminated by the dawn. My Gatorade sipping lasted until the last mile, when I downed the last swallow and sucked down more water. I tried to jog sprint one last time down the motor-pool back road, but my shoulder was feeling the burden of the field pack. I was able to keep up the fast walk at a decent pace and motored in.
Once checked off at the 12 mile mark, I continued on to complete the Fit-to-fight 20K. The Soldiers who were candidates for the EIB had to "dump" their ruck sacks to ensure that they adhered to the packing list guidance.
My legs and feet felt fine, but my right shoulder was a wreck. One of the Soldiers who had other duties this morning got ice for myself and SGT "K" (from the Country's 5K.) He is also an EIB holder and was out to support his troops.
I'm tired.
As I sit here blogging and enjoying my nightly fiber hit, I feel my shoulder getting better. My feet and legs will be tight, but they should be ready for a slow recovery run sometime tomorrow. then Saturday I'll be running on the beaches of Panama City, FL trying to beat T.S./huricane Gustav.
Bottom line: 12 miles in 2:42:00
... Then with a brief stop at the finish line and a few motivational shouts for my Soldiers to get in on time: 12.427 (20K) in 2:58:00.
1 comment:
I can't even imagine the chafing that is involved with all that gear. Does the army provide a full supply of Body Glide or what?
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