GORUCK Light - 3 months out

     I first heard of GORUCK several years ago when I was looking into doing a few 5k's and mud runs for fun.  I was a little out of shape and kind of depressed with life so I felt this was a way for me to jump back into living again.  What is GORUCK you ask?  Good question.  GORUCK is a team event of up to 30 every day guys and gals who want to test themselves physically and mentally by a hard ass Special Operation (aka Cadre) leader.  This isn't a race but more of becoming a team with lots of military training added.  I liked this event because I always thought my Navy basic training was the best part of the military and really wanted to "relive" the experience, in a smaller scale.

     At the time I stumbled across this, there were only Challenge events.  A Challenge event is 8-10 hours and covers 15-20 miles, all while carrying 20-30 lbs in a backpack and doing all kind of "fun" things like bear crawls, push-ups, flutter kicks and crab walks.  I hate to run so I knew 20 miles was not going to happen with the shape I was in.

     I started doing small things like Dirty Girl Mud Run and Color Vibe, just for fun.  I also signed up at my local gym and started working out 5 days a week at lunchtime.  Being a single mother, doesn't leave much time to workout with all the after school activities one must attend to be a good parent.  Lunch hour is the only spare time I had and it stopped me from eating a huge lunch.  When I heard GORUCK added a Light, I was excited.

     A GORUCK Light is 4-5 hours and covers around 7-10 miles.  This I thought I could do and when I saw an event close to me, I signed up before I could chicken out.  I bought my backpack (gulp on the price) and went in search for bricks.  By the time the backpack arrived, I was ready to test it out.  I tossed in a 20 lbs weight I had on hand and took off just to test myself and the bag.  I did 2 mile at a 12 minute mile without stopping.  For someone that never runs, I was pretty happy with that starting point and started mapping out my daily training to come.

Scout after a long hike with the GORUCK backpack.

     Have I mentioned that I hate to run?  Unless it's for something fun like the Zombie crawl my town puts on around Halloween.  Now THAT is fun.  While in boot camp, we had these awful Navy issue boots, that had no support, and we ran everywhere in them.  I developed horrible shin splits.  I can remember day I first felt the pain, after a really long run in these stupid boots, I had to crawl up the stairs to our second floor room and pull myself up by my bed rails just to stand at attention all the while my shins screaming in pain.  Worst pain ever.  Since then, my shins KILL me every time I try to run.

     I knew this was going to be a huge problem so I started working on that area right away.  I tried wraps but it only stopped the pain if I ran 1 mile.  I started looking into my shoes since I've been a die hard fan of Nike for years.  I found Sketchers Go Run shoes and was in love.  They took the pain almost completely away.  I also started stretching the muscles a lot.  When I feel them starting to hurt I stop and stand on my tip-toes for 10 seconds and than point my toes to the sky leaning into my heal.  This worked great as well.  The pain still isn't gone but not nearly as bad and something I can work with.
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      I researched GORUCK website and printed off their 6 week training.  I had to change a few things like rest days and cut some of the workouts in half because of time, but I tried to stick to each and everything thing.  Some of it was not to pretty but it's a start.  I'm on day 16 and can already see a difference in my performance from day 1.

     Since I have a little under 3 months left before the Light, I plan to do these workouts on repeat until a event day.  I will be posting how things are going in my workout and another one after the event as a way to keep myself accountable for my training.  I'm so excited.  Wish me luck!