GoRuck Challenge

Anyone here ever done a GoRuck Challenge? I'm signed up for the one here in Birmingham on December 14th.

You carry bricks (4 if you weigh 150 or less, 6 if you weigh over 150) in a backpack, and cover 15-20 miles over 8-12 hours of teambuilding exercises led by former Special Forces guys.

I'm looking forward to it, but have a long way to go to get into shape first.

I have done GRC's. I was going to do Flagstaff tonight in fact but I just completed SERE Performance's 40 hour challenge in Tucson last weekend and i didn't recover fast enough. Still can't feel my left toes. Pack was over 60 lbs for that. I am doing 3 more gorucks in the couple months.

You don't neccesarily need to train with the bricks and certainly do work up to it. Start with 2, then 4, then 6. You can find videos how best to wrap them.

key is to get them high in the ruck. Don't want them near your lower back. The GR1 ruck is my absolute favorite ruck. Life time warranty. Its not perfect but bombproof. I use it for my EDC pack. If you don't have a pack already, I know a lot of guys who use the Marine ILBE, Osprey's and Mystery Ranch. I love MR packs. As spendy as a GR1. Cheaper and the exact same pack as the most popular MR pack is the Camelbak Trizip that came out last fall. They worked with MR on it. Super comfy. Loads well. Don't go cheap on a pack for 6 bricks. I shredded, nay, destroyed a 5.11 pack in 10 minutes fully loaded. The shoulder straps frayed right at the top connection.

Any other questions, ask away.

Yeah, this will be my first time doing anything like this since boot camp in 1988, so I'm easing into it. My brother (former Airborne) has offered me my choice of his bags and I told him that I'm still going to order a GR1. Hoping they have them in coyote before 12/14.

I told him I'd rather go with the lifetime warranty and know that they have tested the everloving crap out of them both here and overseas. Plus I get the 20% off discount for having signed up for the GRC.

I'm using Gorilla Tape on my bricks, then wrapping them in a foam pad, then possibly bubble wrap if it'll fit okay. And ordering the Source hydration bladder that everyone has had such good reviews on.

Starting with 2 bricks tomorrow in a cheaper pack I already have. Won't be carrying any more until I have a GR1. Water bottles for now until I get the hydration bladder.

I love my GR1. I haven't done a GRC but I've carried my laptop in it everywhere. Best backpack ever, now I want to get a GR2.

You just have to chuckle at the idea of carrying bricks as a sport :-)

Gotta love freedom :-)

How much do the individual bricks weigh? I know that carrying any amount of masonry in your pack is heavy, but just wonderin'.

" Since I'm over 150lbs it'd be six bricks. So that's 27lbs."
At least no one can say you're a few bricks shy of a load.

That's probably my regular load with my laptop and other gear -- but I don't run 15+ miles with it, much less do the other "teambuilding" work.

With a GR1 especially that's overkill on the wrapping. Wrap few good layers paying attention to the corners and your good. Some do six as a stack like this:
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personally do four in a stack, then lay the stack left to right, add a top and bottom

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Strap tight inside and there will be some gapage at the bottom. I've a light yoga block in that gap to protect my back a bit.

Add low crawling, bear crawls and crab walks to your training. Pack must never touch the ground in a GRC. Also, learn to carry logs, rocks whatever you can find on your rucking. As you will be doing that in the GRC. They are a blast

I had bricks dropped off in my driveway by a friend who had some extra. So far I have taped the corners, then taped them together in pairs with Gorilla Tape.

Tomorrow, I start out hiking with 2 bricks. We were already planning on hiking tomorrow, I'm just adding a backpack with 2 bricks in it for right now.

Going to start using the treadmill every evening to ramp up slowly to rucking with 4, then 6. My current backpack wouldn't be suited to the GRC or even training with any more than a couple of bricks, so I plan on buying a GR1. They are supposed to be doing a limited run of coyote color per their website.

This guy's page gives a really detailed description of all the gear he wore and used, been studying it pretty heavily:

http://www.briangreen.net/2012/07/goruck-challenge-gear-loadout.html

Mine weighed in right at 5 pounds each, so I'll be rucking 30 pounds in bricks since I weigh around 180 pounds. Going to see once I get the GR1 just how high I can get them to set in the top. The guy on that site recommended using a foam yoga block underneath to raise them up also.

Day one of getting ready went great today. Rucked 3.26 miles in 1:45 total time counting a couple short rest breaks (at the wife's pace) over pretty decent up and down terrain out on some nearby hiking trails. Ruck weight was 24 pounds counting 2 bricks, water, snacks and a few other items.

For now I'm using my Kelty Redwing 3100 that I've had a few years. Didn't have a yoga black yet to put underneath the bricks so they rode very low. Went and bought a yoga black afterwards to put underneath them for next ruck.

This vaguely reminds me of the qualification test I used to take for wildland fire duty. We had to walk (not run) 1.5 miles in thirty minutes carrying 45 pounds. The advantage is that fire duty pays, sometimes considerably.

Someone needs to come up with a lightweight brick....

I have my next GoRuck class next weekend. Quite a few are friends i have done stuff with before, a GRC, SERE Performance course, obstacle race, other local training.

That's good stuff. I'm very seriously considering trying a GORUCK Heavy by mid-2014 and a Selection at some point after that. The last Selection started with 19 and 1 finished.

I gave myself plenty of time but am trying to start pushing myself now so I don't become complacent with the amount of time I have to get ready.

Today I'll be rucking with 24-pound backpack (starting light) and see how many miles I can put in. I did 5 miles last Saturday and didn't break a sweat (slow pace for right now). Going to be pushing the distances out and the pace quicker as I go.

No doubt whatsoever, Selection is nothing to sneeze at. I'm going to wait until I finish my GRC and see how I feel after that. Then take on the Heavy and see.

Some observations -

Why bricks? Carry stuff that is useful in case something happens. Add canteens/waterbottles for weight. Bricks are pretty useless. Also, the bricks are pretty dense and just sit in the bottom of the ruck, making weight distribution tough.

In this case, it's a stipulation of the organizers of the event. They also make you pick stuff up along the way and carry it for long distances (logs, cinder blocks, one class said they had to carry a Zodiac boat for 9 miles).

You still carry water with you, and are free to carry just about anything you want. But you will be hauling it for the duration of the event and will wish you had left every ounce at home that you could.

My packing list for my pack (which will probably be tweaked several times between now and December 14th) so far includes 6 bricks, a yoga block (keeps bricks off bottom of bag), 3 packs Peanut M&Ms, 3 Clif's Builder Bars, 3 Clif's Gell Shots, 18 Nuun Active Hydration tablets, and a Source 3-liter hydration bladder. Possibly one spare pair of socks.

Ty TJ. No reason other than "they" say so, so that makes sense.

While in the Army, I had to do the Expert Infantry Badge a few times. We had to carry 35 lb rucks (packing list enforced and weight checked prior and post march), helmet, weapon, web gear and had 3 hrs to complete 12 miles. And for some reason, they always held it in spring/summer, so you got the full benefit of the lovely NC weather.

Something you may not know, knee high women's stockings work really well under socks to prevent blisters.

Ive always been a big proponent of wearing women's garments. Oh,wait,wrong Forum.

Hee hee,you should know better than to feed us lines like that.

Yeah, in the Navy we did a lot of stuff "just because". Including the ever-popular "Hurry up and wait".

We didn't really do any rucking anywhere, but we did run endless miles around a giant paved area we called the "Grinder" and do countless pushups, situps and jumping jacks.

I mentioned the stockings thing to my wife and she grinned and said "Really?".

I've thought about it, but trying to figure it out. Obviously a long hike/obstacle course thing. But what's with them trying to make you buy their bag or equipment on the website?

They say nowadays that you can bring any bag you want and use it. But they recommend theirs due to the beating you're going to put on it. I talked to a guy who "shredded" (his term, not mine) a supposedly high-end bag trying to train for a GRC with bricks in it. He bought a GR1 and is still using it today as his EDC.

It lasts 8-10 hours+, covers 15-20 miles+, carrying a pack with bricks in it and the entire goal is to make everyone work as a team. The rest is just the side effect from what I've read. They will get you out of your element and test what you're made of. They'll get you wet, get you tired, and push you to your limit. And then past it.

From what the founder of it says on their website, that's the whole point. Taking you to failure and beyond. Shattering what you previously thought were your physical and mental limits.

Personally I want to do the GRC as a stepping stone to a Heavy (24 hours+), then a Selection (48 hours+).

I have a couple of close friends who have completed Selection or been some of the last to drop. You have all describe what a goruck challenge is very well and why its bricks not real world stuff. Mostly because the weight is consistent, easily found and cheap. I might do a heavy in 2014. I am doing Death Race in Vermont this summer so probably won't travel after that for races. Heavy were only created because a couple guys thought the regular challenges were to easy and started doing back to back classes. SERE Performance also does similar events and i find them very cool. Different cool.

Once I make it through Challenge, I plan on doing a Heavy by mid-2014 also. Then seeing how I feel about doing a Selection after that. They offer both in Atlanta which is really close to Birmingham.

Started training a couple of weeks ago. Mon/Wed/Fri it's 1/4 mile run, 3x15 pushups, 3x20 situps, 3x3 chinups. Tue/Thu it's 1.33 mile run on the treadmill. Sat or Sun I ruck at a normal hiking pace 5 miles or so depending on terrain with a 26.8 pound pack with 2 bricks in it so far plus water and stuff.

By December 14th, planning on being at 20x20 pushups, 20x25 situps, 5x12 chinups and 20x15 dips. Also extending my run distances by .33 mile every other week from now until then. Ruck distances by a bit more each time.

I'm already down from 187 to 178 pounds over a couple weeks.

Completed Class 417 yesterday. Easily the hardest GRC i have done. loved it.

That's good stuff. I have a long time to go until mine, so no-one else has signed up on the Facebook group for the event yet. I'm hoping some others sign up before long.

How far out do they usually issue a class number or do you have to wait until the day of the event?

Been pushing myself to do my running/pushups/situps/chinups on schedule. Have a little soreness in my right calf due to not being used to running, but working on it with ice, Aspercreme and stretching to get it worked out. Luckily it started right at the start a 3-day off from running period in my schedule.

I'm beginning to wonder if extending my long run days by .33 mile every other week might be too far or if I'm pushing too hard on increasing the pace. 1/4 mile one short run day was 3:20, the next was 3:07. Maybe pushing that a little too hard so far.

A guideline that works for me is to increase your weekly overall mileage by no more than 10%. I ran across that advice during my marathon-running days, but it worked equally well recently when I was taking daily walks to recoup from a medical procedure.

I don't know your physical fitness history, so just a couple general tips.

Especially if you're starting from a condition with not much running, particularly running with a load on your back, your muscles and cardiovascular system will typically improve faster than your bones and tendons/ligaments, particularly in the earlier phase of training.

So, just be aware that injuries like stress fractures or popping an Achilles could be more of an issue now than later on in your training, after your skeleton and connective tissues have had a chance to toughen up more. In other words, listen to your body and don't just look at a decreasing time as your indication to add mileage or push the pace harder. There's nothing more demoralizing than getting knocked out early in your training by some injury that takes weeks or even months to heal. As we get older, we just don't heal as fast as we once did. Once your body is more accustomed to hard training, you can be more aggressive in improving your performance.

Also, don't forget that your improvement will not be linear so don't be a slave to some gradually increasing workload. You'll go through phases where you improve quickly, improve slowly, or hit a plateau and not improve at all or even slow down. Just roll with it, maybe vary the workout in some way when you hit a plateau, and eventually you'll be on the upslope again. Good luck!

Yeah, I was afraid pushing from 1 mile to 1.33 on my long run days was a little big of a jump. Should probably cut that back to 1.1 for now and see how I feel. My right calf feels a ton better after a good bit of stretching, Aspercreme and icing it last night.

One runner I talked to said to ice it directly after running and see if that makes it better also. On strength training/short run days I've been doing 4x15 pushups, 4x20 situps, 3x3 chinups and then running 1/4 mile, but pushing the pace a little faster each time.

Also probably want to be more careful of how much I increase the pace and try not to overdo that too. Gotta stay healthy to be in shape by my GRC. On a good note, I'm down from 187 to 177.6 pounds as of today. Least I've weighed in at least 20 years and within 2.6 pounds of my target weight I've been shooting for (175 at 42 years old and 5'11").

Our event page did not have a class # for it or the next night. We shared the same event page. I didn't know our class number till the night of the class.

Focus on rucking with six bricks, water, etc for a minimum of a couple hours at a fast jog as you can manage. Then find something odd shaped and weighs 25lbs and carry that too. That will simulate the team weight. If no team weight trying, take another pack with six bricks and wear that on your chest as a second pack to simulate carrying a buddies pack.

Rucked 6.23 miles in 2:07 yesterday, then found out my wife ordered me a Coyote-colored GORUCK GR1 pack today. I'm super-happy and will be swapping my bricks over to it as soon as it arrives.

Little update on the Goruck Challenge. I have since also signed up for a Goruck Light event they announced here in town (4-5 hours, 8-10 miles).

Rucked 9.4 miles Sunday in 2:56 and felt great at the time. Only one stop for about 5 minutes at the 7.5 mile mark for a Clif Bar.

Afterwards, my right foot started swelling a little on the outside edge of the sole and it got really tender. Went to the doctor yesterday morning and had x-rays taken.

Doc said nothing obvious without taking an MRI. Told me to ice it, take anti-inflammatory prescription they gave me and stay off it for a couple of days.

Back to training in a few days when it's all better. 39 days until my Light and 221 days until my Challenge. Better shoes are en route right now also.

If I may -

Try intervals to build endurance/speed. We used to jog the straights, sprint the corners on a track to start, then sprinted the straights and jogged once we were in better shape. For mileage, find a road with phone poles and start sprinting X and jogging Y. Then increase X over time.

Update on training. Been rucking 7 miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays (2 hours flat on Tuesday) and did 11.5 on Sunday in 3:20. Current ruck weight is 37 pounds fully loaded. Shooting for 13 miles this Sunday.

My Goruck Light is coming up in 10 days then I can shift focus to Challenge which is on December 14th.

Feet are doing great except for a couple of blisters, but that's to be expected I suppose when you go from nothing to the deep end of the pool this fast.

Finally got into drinking plain water and taking Hammer Endurolytes capsules to keep from having to mix anything in my hydration bladder. After drinking flavored water for years, plain water took some getting used to.

Figured I'd give a little update.

I got my tail handed to me during the Welcome Party at Light due to poor cardio and conditioning and dropped out - a mistake I will NOT be making at Challenge. I'm bringing the pain train to Challenge this time and kicking butt every day I train.

I'm up to rucking 3x per week right now as I'm 56 days out from Challenge. I ruck 7+ miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays and long distances on Sundays.

Today's ruck was 20.7 miles with 5:25:19 time in motion. Current training ruck weight is 47.5 pounds (added a 10-pound steel plate, extra water and stuff). Added in 160 pushups for extra fun.

I try to stay consistent with what days I ruck but things come up so I had to ruck Friday instead of Thursday. Did 8.3 miles in 2:06:55 with 110 pushups thrown in. On short days I also hit a few laps up a steep hill to a park and back down with no rests in between for some elevation change.

I carry Clif Shotbloks in my pocket for an on-the-go snack and take 2 Hammer Endurolyte electrolyte pills every hour. I carry a 3-liter Source hydration bladder and generally try to stay well hydrated. The Source bladder is fuggin' BOMBPROOF, love that thing. I've rucked it well over 250 miles so far. I ordered the last of my gear a few minutes ago from REI (pants, jacket, another bottle of Endurolytes pills and a Petzl Tikka 2 headlamp).

Gear list consists of:

GORUCK GR1 bag
6 bricks wrapped in foam and duct tape
Mechanix Fastfit gloves
boonie hat
Merrell Moab Mid hiking boots (Columbia Drainmakers just didn't work well for me with the low tops)
Swiftwick Aspire 2 socks
Powerstep Pinnacle insoles
Pelican case for my iphone
Under Armour Heatgear t-shirt and shorts
Columbia Rebel Roamer pants
REI Windstill jacket
snacks (cookies and stuff)
photo ID, $20 cash
BodyGlide on feet/shoulders etc...
spare socks (x2)

The gear I've selected is good stuff, no doubt, but gear will only get you so far. Attitude will carry you farther than you ever thought in an event like this. The $20 cash is for cab fare back to your start point if you don't make it. My $20 will be a piece of paper that says "I OWE ME $20". I have no intention of needing or using cab fare, NOT gonna happen.

After Challenge on December 14th, I'm planning up doing a Heavy (24-hour version) in March or April with another guy who's about to do Challenge. They don't have those everywhere so not sure yet where I'll have to travel to do that. Got another guy coming to ruck Tuesday with me who's in for December, wants to see where he stands.

Thanks for the update. Very inspiring!

My banged up knees ache just reading about it...

Passed GRC class 871 Saturday in Birmingham. Good God, the cadre put a royal beating on us. Our group was supposed to be 8 people, only 4 showed up. So this meant we ALL got something to carry. Flag, 25-pound team weight, or one of two chunks of concrete.

All total, we put in 10 hours, roughly 20 miles, and a large chunk of that was in monsoon-type rain. Almost none of the photos taken by the guy shadowing us to take pics are worth a darn due to all the rain.

We ran more flights of stairs than I can remember, I got to actually sit down once the entire time and that was for about 10 minutes. I tried to quit a few times but the cadre and my teammates would have none of it.

We did have one guy quit about 2/3 of the way into the event. I felt so bad for him as we had come so far already. I've been taking Motrin and covering myself with Aspercreme ever since I got home Saturday, also been in the tub with epsom salts.

I'm darn sure not 18 years old anymore like I was in boot camp back in 1988.

CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!!!!
You da' MAN!!
-Blast

I'm feeling like the "really OLD man", lol. I had already signed up for their 24-hour version in February and can honestly say that is out of my range. I have emailed to see if they will allow a transfer to a lesser version like Light (4-5 hours).

Found out the other day why I was having elbow issues that made me want to throw in the towel. I have an avulsion fracture which has partially torn the tendon loose at the elbow. Going Tuesday to have an ortho specialist have a closer look at what it'll take to fix it.

Been there and done that. Ouch. Best of luck with it.

Got told yesterday by the ortho specialist that I need to give it a month then he'll x-ray it again before making the decision on possible surgery. I can still hump a ruck all over creation for miles, but basically can't use my left arm for anything.

Good thing I've been paying into short-term disability insurance at work for years. Gonna be sitting around the house for a month since there are no "light duty" positions for me at work.

Specialist said if surgery is required, it might be another 2-3 months after that before I'm back to even close to 100%.