Ruck Review: GoRuck Challenge Class 1165

Hello again! Sorry for this late post, but you knew that I had post a review about my first GoRuck Challenge ever! On September 12 Jill and I embarked on our very first GoRuck Challenge in honor of the fallen heroes of 9/11. Although I had made many training promises right after our GoRuck Light in July sadly I didn't do any of it. :( I don't want to say that I went to this event "cold," but let's just say I heavily relied on my crossfit training to get me by.

 

I was a bundle of nerves when Justin dropped us off at the mall. But we had to take a selfie beforehand. The calm before the storm if you will ;)

 

At first we didn't see anyone, but as we walked closer to the Smithsonian castle. We saw them. Hundreds of people all anxiously awaiting the cadre and their instructions.

Of course with any GoRuck event we kicked off with the "welcome party." A series of PT drills to get the night started off right. As soon as we began the first exercise I knew that this was nothing like the two GoRuck Lights I've done in the past. We quickly found out the Challenge is definitely not double the duration and intensity of a Light. After a hearty round of PT which included the ever famous "tunnel of love" and centipede push-ups (I still can't get the hang of those!) we split off into groups and were assigned a cadre. Ours was Cadre Luke, a fellow University of Maryland alum. :)

 

During a GoRuck event, you have to get to certain locations within a time cap. And of course when you don't make it to the destination in the time allowed you get penalized with PT. Obviously our first mission to the White House ended in an epic fail since we were still figuring out how to work as team. 

 

Flutter kicks in near the White House gates? Why not?

 

 

Next we headed to the Lincoln Memorial where we did a series of partner sprints and of course more PT for those who weren't sprinting.

 

Serving up pain...like a boss...

 

We had to make our next destination so we did the last sprint up the Lincoln Memorial stairs as a team.

 

 

Now I'm not going to tell you about everything we did because each event is different and each cadre is different. And even if you get the same cadre twice, you'll still get a different experience because it all depends on what kind of mood he's in, LOL. But! I will tell you my favorite thing during our challenge was when we had to "veg" up Marine recon style ;)

 

 

And of course with every challenge, you gotta get wet!

 

 

Just flutter kicking in the Potomac River...nbd...

 

A shot of me dumping the water out of my ruck! It was the easist way to get all the water out without taking the backpack off.

Before I forget I must give a huge shout out to our shadow, Aaron Wyche. He followed our group from beginning to end and he was the perfect shadow! He took these amazing pictures and was always there to offer help when needed (i.e.: "Can you watch our stuff while I jump into the Potomac?"). Thanks again! :)

 

As the night turned to day we crossed into Virginia to visit the 9/11 Memorial by the Pentagon and then back to DC...

 

Carrying various team weights along the way...

 

 

Jill is always surprised how often she gets carried at these things!

 

 

We stopped by the World War II Memorial for an awesome group shot!

 

 

We were on the home stretch...

 

But we weren't done yet! When we got back to the starting point it was time for...you guessed it..more PT. Here are the shortest girls doing log lifts (which of course includes my sister and I). By this time I had a permanent "poopy face" on (as Cadre Luke called it), but I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and I definitely wasn't going to quit now! 

 

Photo credit to Nick Schrein

When we finally got our patches, I was exhausted, yet happy! In my bleary-eyed sleep deprived state, I realized that this was the hardest thing that I have done in my life so far. It was difficult at times and I can't tell you how times I thought about quitting, but I'm glad I didn't. 

 

To conclude, my sister Jill said it best on her Facebook page: "I wouldn't have been able to endure the 19 miles over 12+ hours without my team to embrace the suck with me. We suffered in silence in honor our fallen heroes who would give anything to have the ability to even feel pain. Never thought I'd be grateful for pain until now; it means you're alive. I'm not gonna lie and say it was fun, but it was good livin'!"

PS...people have asked me when I'm going to do the next one and I must say I haven't signed up for another yet. But let me know if you want to do one, I may just join you for the action ;)

A Tale of Two Boxes - My First Foray Into Crossfit

I must confess. I'm in a workout rut :/ Ever since I made my New Year's Resolutions, I don't think I've been doing my best to get in shape. Since we're already past the halfway point, I thought now was a good a time as any to explore other avenues of working out.

I'm sure many of you have heard about Crossfit by now. It is a strength and conditioning program based on, “constantly varied, high intensity, functional movement." You can read more about it from this highly informative Wiki page here.

Since there are two Crossfit facilities (aka: Boxes) near my work (and they are literally one block from each other in the same industrial park), I figured I would try each of them out. I wanted to see if 1) crossfit is for me; and 2) if it was for me, which one would I like the best. So, here's my very informal review of each box. Take what I say as a grain of salt as I am completely new to this. :)

 

Image Courtesy of Tyson's Corner Crossfit

Tyson's Corner Crossfit
8466 Tyco Rd Suite E
Vienna, VA 22182

Schedule
The class schedule at TCXF may seem to fit my needs as there are weekday evening classes. I went to the 5:30pm class.

Facility
Because this was my first time at a box, I didn't have any expectations on what it should look like.  Honestly, I would have to say that it looked a little like a garage and was about the size of a two-car garage with an upstairs level. From what I hear, that's what they are supposed to look like. No frills with just the basics. I think what also contributed to the garage feel was that the entrance was an actual rolling garage door! In any case, I saw all of the crossfitters in all their glory before I even entered.

Class Size
There seemed to be about 15 people there that day. There were four girls, two (including myself) of which were new and were doing the free class for the first time. That wasn't too promising because you could be the only girl on any given day. I know I should be like, "I am woman hear me *rawr*," but I'm not at that point just yet...

Warm-Up
The warm-up was really informative because I got to use a pvc pipe to practice different types of lifts. The only lifts I know are the "clean" and "press" so I found it useful to practice the form of these newly learned lifts without the weights!

The Actual Workout (aka: the Workout of the Day-WOD)
Being the newbie that I am, I can't believe I actually participated in an actual crossfit workout. The name of the workout was "Helen" which consisted of the following:

3 rounds for time:
Run 400 meters
21 kettlebell swings
12 pull-ups

Of course I struggled with the run since I hadn't run much since the Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon back in March (!!). I was somewhat comfortable with the kettlebell swings since I had done them before. The pull-ups were what really killed me, but I was thankful that I had a large rubber band to use, to help support some of my weight (but apparently not enough, lol). From what I am told, this workout and others, such as the infamous "Fran", are great benchmarks for you to find out how fit you are getting, and how your body is developing athletically. You are supposed to time yourself in order to see improvements, but for this first one I was just trying to get through it!

Stretching/Cool Down
Everyone pretty much did their own thing as far as the stretching went.

Coaching/Instruction
The main instructor, Matt, was nice and he helped me every step of the way. Kari, Matt's wife and fellow instructor, offered me some guidance as well. There were some TCXF instructors taking the class as well, so they helped me with informational tidbits, too.

Vibe
Upon entering the box, everyone introduced themselves to me, so they seemed pretty nice. After that, everyone went to their own cliques, but that isn't different from any gym...

Overall:
I would say it was a cozy box. Yes, I know in real estate cozy=small, but I say cozy because it appeared that everyone was like a pretty tight knit group.  In addition, the box is kind of small, so you are sure to easily get to know one another. The pricing can't be beat ($150/month unlimited, no contracts).

Image courtesy of The Meanest Momma

Crossfit Rubicon
8500 Tyco Road  Vienna, VA 22182

Schedule
The class schedule at Crossfit Rubicon also fit my needs, as there are weekday evening classes. If I were to join this box, I would most likely attend the 6PM classes; however, they have a free beginner's class on Saturdays at 10AM so I went to that one. If you happen to be a seasoned crossfitter, you can email them to attend a free trial class.


Facility
After attending the other box a few days earlier, I kind of knew what to expect. Unlike the first box, CFR's space is definitely bigger. Upon entry, you saw the women's bathroom on the right and a huge contraption consisting of barbell racks and ropes(!). There were shirts of other boxes displayed on one wall and various exercise equipment (foam rollers, pvc pipes, etc.), and medicine balls located on the other wall. On the website, there were pictures of astro turf (where they flip tires and what not), but I didn't see any turf. Maybe it's in another room?

Class Size
In my intro class, there were 4 females.  Right before I started our intro class, I got to see the end of their morning XF class.  There looked to be about 15 people in that class and let me tell you that class looked intimidating!


Warm-Up
We grabbed a weight plate and rotated it around our body using our shoulders.  Then we did some inchworms (crawling out to pushup position, and then crawling up again). It was a good active warm-up.

The Actual Workout (aka: the Workout of the Day-WOD)
We didn't do the WOD, but instead did a tabata (timed, high-intensity interval training), consisting of a overhead presses and ball slams.  We did as many as we could in a short amount of time. After that, we laid on the floor and got up as many times as we could (also timed). That was pretty exhausting!

Stretching/Cool Down
As a part of the cool down, we used the pvc pipe to loosen our shoulders. We moved the pvc pipe in front of our bodies, and then in back of our bodies (without bending our elbows!). They also showed us some techniques using the foam roller, which felt great!

Coaching/Instruction
Our intro class was led by Hronn.  Her husband and co-owner/instructor, Dave, also assisted with instructing the class shortly after it started. What I like most about them were the helpful anecdotes they gave us throughout the class.

"Please pay attention, because the minute you stop paying attention is when something bad happens." (Oops, my eyes were caught wandering, sorry I was in stimulation overload!)

"As a woman you want to be strong. You don't want to be running around the house, looking for your husband to open a pickle jar." (How did you know!?!?)

"The human body wasn't meant to run long distances. You all saw the Olympics. Look at the distance runners. Now look at the sprinters. Which one do you want to look like? (Never thought about it that way, so true!)

Vibe
The vibe between the four women in the intro class was amicable, but like I said earlier, the class before us looked intimidating. Dave said it best when he compared the WOD to an orchestra practice: "It looks like chaos at first, but once you get familiar with Crossfit, it all goes together."

Overall:
I'm glad that there was a separate intro class because the instructors were able to break things down further than if it were a regular class. Compared to TCXF, the pricing is a little more expensive for the unlimited option. They do offer a 3x/week no contract option for $150 that I would probably do if I joined because I would only be working out there weekdays.

What a tough decision! What say you? Are you a crossfitter and lovin' it? Out of all the boxes in the world, what were the deciding factors in choosing the box you now work out at? Although they are just around the corner from one another, they each have their own qualities. I'm going to take a few days and decide if I want to join up with either box, but I'll be sure to keep you all posted on my fitness journey!