3-14 August A&S

[dmcgill]

3-mile Ruck, 45lb: 46:36

Notes: Okay, so I walked as fast as I could and could not get down to 15:00 / mile. It has occurred to me that there is some shuffling that needs to happen. I tried both shuffling and jogging. I felt the stress in my knees, so I didn't want to push it. I tried short, choppy steps. I tried long strides. I have short legs, so I may be at a disadvantage here. "

It's not a hike, so you should try to not walk at all. What kind of boots/insoles are you wearing? If I train in my favorite field boots (Danner RAT) I have all sorts of problems, but they all go away when I wear my Bates Lights.

Work to get your 3-Mile ruck time down to around 30 minutes.

 

[Sandman3]

You should run, and if you can, the entire time. But I wouldn't do anything crazy leading up to the final week or 2 out, if you can do 5 miles, you can do 12, so don't get hurt training.

Most importantly, how's everyone's aquatic training coming along?

 

[turminal_lance]

@joe24 I did 300 meters in 8 minutes (i even stopped to take my ring off mid-swimming) then swan another 300 working on technique. then treaded water for about 20 minutes, with no problem, I'm confident in my swimming i don't want to oversee like you said before

 

[Ape_Hot]

@joe24 I did 300 meters in 8 minutes (i even stopped to take my ring off mid-swimming) then swan another 300 working on technique. then treaded water for about 20 minutes, with no problem, I'm confident in my swimming i don't want to oversee like you said before

Is this with or without utilities?

 

[Ape_Hot]

You should run, and if you can, the entire time. But I wouldn't do anything crazy leading up to the final week or 2 out, if you can do 5 miles, you can do 12, so don't get hurt training.

Most importantly, how's everyone's aquatic training coming along?

It's been hard to measure my progress because I usually do a WOD immediately beforehand. With the survival swim, I'm getting comparable times every week. I've become more comfortable doing the 25m underwater swim, and today I'm going to see if I can do it multiple times with minimal rest in between.

My body is still sore from that GoRuck Challenge this weekend.

Also, I just got word that I need to complete week 7 before heading out... which means I could either start from square one because I started a little early, or I could just continue on with the training.. what do you guys think?

 

[AWP]

I'll preface this post with a disclaimer and allow the vetted Marines like joe24 to beat me up as necessary:

I was a support guy with average to poor run times (7:30 or so miles) who swims slightly better than a brick....but not much; I could ruck my ass off though. 12-15 min. miles as needed for about ever. A couple of things:
- I'm 5'8" with a short stride and I rarely had to shuffle to make 12 min. miles. It took some work to get there, but I did.
- I've seen people recommend lunges to help with their ruck times. I didn't have the benefit of workout programming and gyms like you do today. That's not a point of pride or smack talking. I just rucked with little to no guidance. Good, bad, or "other" I'll let you decide. The point being, I spent a lot of time under a large ALICE until I got it right.
- We have a member here who is 5'6" and for him to maintain a fast pace he has to basically jog/ shuffle. If your legs are short there's only so much you can do. It sucks, but that's the nature of the beast.
- One of the threads about SFAS had a prospective candidate inquire if 12 miles a week under a ruck was good enough. The answer was "No." I can't speak to the Marine's requirements or selection processes, but the only sure fire way I've found to reduce ruck times is to get under a ruck. There's no magical or fast way to prep your body and decrease your ruck times.
- Over training may be worse than under training, so be smart and don't hurt yourself.

Some of the above may fall into the "duh" category, but maybe it will help someone. I like seeing our members succeed.

Good luck, Marines.

 

[x SF med]

I hate my Bates Lites. I only wear them for the CFT. I'm bitter because I bought them just a tad bit too small. ...

STOP RIGHT HERE... sell the boots that are too small, or give them to somebody they fit, or donate them to Goodwill. DO NOT WEAR ILL FITTING BOOTS IN AN A&S COURSE, EVER. Let me make this clear - don't ever fucking wear those boots again, buy new ones and break them in immediately, chalk it up to a loss and a learning experience. YOU WILL GET HURT, possibly permanently - up to and including nerve damage. You will get blisters in too large or too small boots, too small boots can actually fracture the small bones in the feet once your feet swell and you are hammering them on a long march, the subsequent swelling and grating bones can then do multiple other bad fucking things to your feet, forever... get fucking rid of them. You could do worse than be a non-select, you could go to Fort Livingroom permanently on a med discharge, or just spend months recovering from the injuries you caused.

I'm an SF medic, I know things... follow my advice and all the injuries will be from something other than your own cheapness and stupidity.

Buy your boots after 1700, btw... your feet are larger in the evening from use and hydrostatic pooling due to gravity... they'll still feel too small after a 12 mi ruck march, but won't injure your hind paws.

 

[turminal_lance]

Is this with or without utilities?

Without. how much time do cammies add to your time ?

 

[Ape_Hot]

I'll preface this post with a disclaimer and allow the vetted Marines like joe24 to beat me up as necessary:

I was a support guy with average to poor run times (7:30 or so miles) who swims slightly better than a brick....but not much; I could ruck my ass off though. 12-15 min. miles as needed for about ever. A couple of things:
- I'm 5'8" with a short stride and I rarely had to shuffle to make 12 min. miles. It took some work to get there, but I did.
- I've seen people recommend lunges to help with their ruck times. I didn't have the benefit of workout programming and gyms like you do today. That's not a point of pride or smack talking. I just rucked with little to no guidance. Good, bad, or "other" I'll let you decide. The point being, I spent a lot of time under a large ALICE until I got it right.
- We have a member here who is 5'6" and for him to maintain a fast pace he has to basically jog/ shuffle. If your legs are short there's only so much you can do. It sucks, but that's the nature of the beast.
- One of the threads about SFAS had a prospective candidate inquire if 12 miles a week under a ruck was good enough. The answer was "No." I can't speak to the Marine's requirements or selection processes, but the only sure fire way I've found to reduce ruck times is to get under a ruck. There's no magical or fast way to prep your body and decrease your ruck times.
- Over training may be worse than under training, so be smart and don't hurt yourself.

Some of the above may fall into the "duh" category, but maybe it will help someone. I like seeing our members succeed.

Good luck, Marines.

I'm 5'5". I'll try the lunges out. That's a good idea. I think jogging's going to be inevitable for me, though.

I'm seeing a lot of people on here saying things that I shouldn't be rucking with anything more than 45lbs on my back. I don't exactly have any joint issues, so would this be something I could push to about 60lbs? The GoRuck Challenge really put this into perspective. 45lbs is nothing.

I signed up for a pre-sniper land nav course to get used to rucking and land navving at the same time. I also need to brush up on my land nav basics.

 

[Ape_Hot]

STOP RIGHT HERE... sell the boots that are too small, or give them to somebody they fit, or donate them to Goodwill. DO NOT WEAR ILL FITTING BOOTS IN AN A&S COURSE, EVER. Let me make this clear - don't ever fucking wear those boots again, buy new ones and break them in immediately, chalk it up to a loss and a learning experience. YOU WILL GET HURT, possibly permanently - up to and including nerve damage. You will get blisters in too large or too small boots, too small boots can actually fracture the small bones in the feet once your feet swell and you are hammering them on a long march, the subsequent swelling and grating bones can then do multiple other bad fucking things to your feet, forever... get fucking rid of them. You could do worse than be a non-select, you could go to Fort Livingroom permanently on a med discharge, or just spend months recovering from the injuries you caused.

I'm an SF medic, I know things... follow my advice and all the injuries will be from something other than your own cheapness and stupidity.

Buy your boots after 1700, btw... your feet are larger in the evening from use and hydrostatic pooling due to gravity... they'll still feel too small after a 12 mi ruck march, but won't injure your hind paws.

I actually went on a few rucks with them and they seem fine. I'm wearing two pairs of socks as well. I suppose it just feels a little weird in the back of the boot. My toes are fine. The reason I didn't go with a size bigger when I bought them was because I felt like there was a little bit too much wiggle room in the toe area.

 

[Ape_Hot]

Without. how much time do cammies add to your time ?

For me, it's about 3 minutes at 300m, so 1min/100m on average.

 

[Hillclimb]

Without. how much time do cammies add to your time ?

I was swimming a 500m slick in about 8 minutes, and 300m in cammies around the same time. I would definitely spend more time in the pool with cammies on, there wasn't any slick swimming when I went to A&S

 

[x SF med]

I actually went on a few rucks with them and they seem fine. I'm wearing two pairs of socks as well. I suppose it just feels a little weird in the back of the boot. My toes are fine. The reason I didn't go with a size bigger when I bought them was because I felt like there was a little bit too much wiggle room in the toe area.

If you wear 2 pairs of socks make sure one is a very thin, slick under sock ... it will prevent blisters.

 

[turminal_lance]

I'm 5'5". I'll try the lunges out. That's a good idea. I think jogging's going to be inevitable for me, though.

I'm seeing a lot of people on here saying things that I shouldn't be rucking with anything more than 45lbs on my back. I don't exactly have any joint issues, so would this be something I could push to about 60lbs? The GoRuck Challenge really put this into perspective. 45lbs is nothing.

I signed up for a pre-sniper land nav course to get used to rucking and land navving at the same time. I also need to brush up on my land nav basics.

Where did you sign up for that course ?, not that my command is going to let me, but I'm going to give it a try. Sounds like a really good idea

 

[mac21]

You gents might also want to look into orienteering to practice land nav.

http://www.us.orienteering.org/

 

[Ape_Hot]

I was swimming a 500m slick in about 8 minutes, and 300m in cammies around the same time. I would definitely spend more time in the pool with cammies on, there wasn't any slick swimming when I went to A&S

Did you follow the 10-week trainer?

Where did you sign up for that course ?, not that my command is going to let me, but I'm going to give it a try. Sounds like a really good idea

Call your local sniper school and see if they can work something out. All I did was pull out a phone book

 

[Ape_Hot]

Did you follow the 10-week trainer?

What I mean is, everyone seems to be harping on the swim portion of the trainer-- would it work to my advantage to swim for cardio / endurance instead of doing the LSDs?

 

[Ape_Hot]

If you wear 2 pairs of socks make sure one is a very thin, slick under sock ... it will prevent blisters.

I'm thinking about trying the Injinji's out- I'm seeing that under socks work for some people and not for others.

 

[Hillclimb]

What I mean is, everyone seems to be harping on the swim portion of the trainer-- would it work to my advantage to swim for cardio / endurance instead of doing the LSDs?

I followed the 10 week prep until the first 12 mile ruck. I'll be honest, I only used the prep guide for the ruck distance build up.

I swam everyday except Wednesday and Sunday. Interval sprints/LSD/timed 300-500-1000s to start, then everything else such as treading/underwaters/kettle bell or brick work after.

everyone is different; i just wanted to be comfortable being in the water for longer periods of time, so I supplemented more pool time.

 

[Sandman3]

With just being about a month out you should be dialing back your workload, keeping it light, keep swimming and work on mobility.

You really want your body to be healed up because you're going to slay yourself everyday for about a month and a half. Even if you've never rucked 12 miles, if that was your task tomorrow you would get it done. It's a little late at this point to make any significant increases in your stamina, endurance and strength.

And just a side note for the 10-week prep guide, it's nice if you have no idea how to workout, it was designed for a novice, I actually don't know a single dude who followed it besides for the rucking portion. Most guys did military athlete or something of that genre, if they even did that. I swam, ran and lifted, didn't see a need to get crazy and complex with workout, I did zero ruck runs because it's just bad and I have strong legs so I was able to afford skipping that task and dedicate more time to other shit. But like I said before, only you know your weaknesses and you should make that your focus...to include trying to become Poseidon himself.