Nic Goes Beast Mode: the OCS Prep Edition

[NicTheRugger]

Hello, friends! I'm so excited to get this next challenge set up. 

 

So last challenge wasn’t as successful as I wanted it to be. I got a lax near the end. I’ll admit, I lost my motivation a bit. But now I need to move beyond motivation into persistence. I’m so close to getting into OCS, I can taste it. And I want this more than I’ve wanted anything. I feel like I’ve finally found my calling, and while it’s not going to be an easy journey, I’m going to do whatever I need to in order to get there and pass OCS.

 

Challenge goals:

 

1)     Be a Man Warrior:

A.    Pass the PFT:

An absolute must. My PFT will be in the first week of April, and I need to get to 4 pull-ups/chin-ups by then. Breaking this down into steps:

a.      All the strength of a raging fire (4 chin-ups):

In order to do this, I need to do the Armstrong program 5 days a week in addition to my other training. Resistance bands are okay!!

b.      All of the force of a great typhoon (110 crunches):

Do crunches training a minimum of 3 times a week

c.      Be as swift as a coursing river (run 3 miles in 27 minutes or less):

I need to pick my running schedule up and run at least 3 times a week: at least one set of sprints (2-3 miles) and one long run (4-7 miles) are necessary; hill training likely be my third run of the week.

 

B.     Train as You Fight

In addition to doing training that gets me into PFT shape, I need to be even better than that and get OCS ready. The Marines emphasize "training as you fight."  This means I need to train like I would at OCS. OCS is 10 weeks of grueling physical effort, and the better shape I’m in means I’m more likely to pass. I can’t just do PFT training and expect that to be enough. I need to do additional workouts to make sure I’m in shape. I’ll be working out twice a day 4 days a week, and have another workout day, and two rest days. This means I’m working out 5 days a week with 2 active recovery (foam rolling and intense stretching session) days. In order to do this, I’m going to add the following in (or back in) to my workout schedule:

-        Hiking with weight: my OSO loaned my a Marines-issue ruck. I need to be hiking a minimum of 3 miles once a week (weekend, because of time) with weight and my Bates to make sure I’m as prepared for OCS as possible.

o   Likely schedule: 3 mi @ 16 pounds (ruck is 8 lbs, plus 1 8lb dumbbell), 3.5 @ 21-23lbs, 4 @ 28lbs, 4.5 @ >30 lbs, and so on and so forth.

-        Actual OCS or OCS-inspired work outs. I can find these online. This will include the following:

o   Kettlebell workouts: probably once a week or every other week, as the emphasis will be on bodyweight, rather than weights

o   Fartleks. I gotta figure out how these work, but I’ve got to at least one of these a week

-        Push-ups!! I’m terrible at them, and I need to do them at OCS. Apparently OCS is the only time in a Marine Officer’s life when they’ll have to do a ridiculous amount of push-ups. I can cover this by doing the Armstrong method of pull-up training.

-        Bodyweight workouts. The OCS prep guide I found suggests doing bodyweight circuits of 9-11 different exercises for about 3 circuits. When you factor in rest times, warm-ups, and cool-downs, each bodyweight session should be approximately 41 minutes.

 

2)     Brains and Brawn in 1 neat package:

A.    Study for OCS

I’ve set myself up a study schedule so I can study all of the material I can find before going to OCS for June, if I’m selected. If I know as much material as possible, I’m going to be able to study new material without needing to relearn the stuff I already know. If I have less studying I need to do, I’ll have more time to sleep. Sleep, apparently, is a precious commodity at OCS, so the more sleep I get, the better I’ll do. Therefore, I need to study at least a little bit every day.

B.     Continue Studying Polish

Just because I’m in ultimate OCS Prep Mode doesn’t mean I can neglect studying Polish! My mom’s been teaching me a lot of new phrases that are helpful (like how to tell my grandmother that my mom’s not home and that she’ll call her back later). I should practice a little bit every day, whether it’s with my mom or on Duolingo.

C.     As Mysterious as the Dark Side of the Moon- the Stoic Warrior

I need to discipline my mind as well as my body to make sure I’m as well-prepared as possible for OCS. This means practicing mindfulness and making sure I can “stay cool under fire,” as it were. For this challenge, I’m going to make sure I:

-        Journal at least 3 times a week

-        Try to stress less about things

-        “Give a f*ck” and “Leave it Better than I found it.”

That last one is some advice from a Lt. Colonel in the Marines who spoke to my candidate pool at our event on Saturday. For me, these two pieces of advice mean that I need to remember why I’m training to become a Marine Officer, and make sure I am better at the end of the challenge than I am at the start of it. Motivation is a fickle thing, and doesn’t always drive me, but if I remember why I’m doing what I’m doing, I’m going to fight as hard as I can to get there.

 

I'm going to use zero week not as a prep week, but as the start of the challenge. I don't have time to lose. OCS starts in 90 days and I have every intent at being in Quantico when it does. Let's do this!

[Son of Rylos]

In it to watch you win it all!!

[Echoceanic]

56 minutes ago, NicTheRugger said:

1)     Be a Man Warrior:

 

Not gonna lie: the song started playing in my head as soon as I read this.

 

Also, wow this is intense and cool. I like it.

 

Fartleks - I think these are basically interval runs? Slow-fast-slow. I know you'll figure it out.  

[NicTheRugger]

17 hours ago, Echoceanic said:

Not gonna lie: the song started playing in my head as soon as I read this.

I may have been listening to the song while I was coming up with my challenge haha.

 

Day 1 and partial Day 2 update:

I got in a great bodyweight workout session in at the gym in the morning. I also got a 2 mile hill training session done in the evening! I'm a little concerned that this 2-workout-a-day thing may be too much for me to handle, but that just might be because I'm still getting used to it. I'm definitely feeling both workouts today, and that impacted my run this morning. I was intending for this morning's run to be my long run, but I was still sore and barely did two miles of sprint training. It was brutal. I'm not sure how much of that was because I was getting a migraine and was nauseous (for me, nausea out of nowhere is usually the first sign of a migraine), how much of that was me not having eaten since dinner yesterday (which was then followed by a hill run),  how much of that was me being tired from yesterday's hill training session, and how much of it is due to the fact that I can't bring myself to do long runs on treadmills and it was too dark to run outside (CURSE YOU, DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME). Maybe it was a combination of all of them? I'll give the "two-a-day" workout thing the rest of the week to see how it works, and then workshop from there to see whether than an adjustment was made. Maybe I should just make runs a PM thing?  Alternatively, I keep my usual one workout a day schedule but set myself a goal of hitting 50 pull-ups/chin-ups and 100 push-ups a day that way I'm making sure I'm actually training? I did that once for about 3 weeks and was able to get to my second and then third chin-up that way. Hmm... choices, choices. 

 

Yesterday, I didn't do duolingo, but did practice a little bit with my mom. I just finished my Duolingo Polish for today! No journaling last night, but I will do my best to journal tonight. My brain is feeling a bit scattered because migraine, but maybe journaling will help me get my thoughts in order.

 

Tonight's workout is pull-up training + crunches. I'm going to try and do some push-ups during the day as my "warm-up" for the Armstrong workout I'll be doing. The Armstrong method recommends doing 3 sets of max effort push-ups 4-6 hours before doing the pull-up training. The push-ups should be interesting as I'm in a pencil skirt and knee-high boots today.

 

I think that's it for now! Bye, friends.  

[Echoceanic]

6 minutes ago, NicTheRugger said:

I'm definitely feeling both workouts today, and that impacted my run this morning.

 

Another thing to consider is what muscles you're working out - if you're doing two routines for different parts or two for the same part of your body. 

[NicTheRugger]

7 minutes ago, Echoceanic said:

Another thing to consider is what muscles you're working out - if you're doing two routines for different parts or two for the same part of your body. 

Yeah, that's definitely something to consider too! The bodyweight stuff impacted the whole body, but it was strength training rather than cardio. The hill run last night however... definitely cardio. Same with the run this morning. I tried to set up my schedule to be as balanced as possible, but I think two runs in a 12 hour period may be too much for me. For now, at least. Thanks for bringing that up! I'm definitely going to readjust so that I'm not doing two runs in a 12-hour period like I did last night/today. That should hopefully help correct the situation.

[Elastigirl]

Those workouts sound intense! What is your food like? You may not to up your intake to fuel all that.

[JuiceeTarget]

I love this challenge.

You have a very measurable goal that you need to hit, and you have a realistic plan for hitting it. I'm excited to follow along!

[NicTheRugger]

On 3/12/2019 at 12:07 PM, Elastigirl said:

Those workouts sound intense! What is your food like? You may not to up your intake to fuel all that.

I try to stick to 3 meals a day, and then if I'm truly really hungry, eat a snack. I'll also indulge in a piece of dark chocolate mid-afternoon to fend off the 3 pm slump, usually. In terms of calories, I really don't know! I don't weigh my food, and most of what I eat is home cooking, and other than weighing each thing individually (which would take more time than I have) I can't think of a reliable way to track how much food I'm actually intaking during the day. 

 

On 3/12/2019 at 2:56 PM, GoodDoug said:

I love this challenge.

You have a very measurable goal that you need to hit, and you have a realistic plan for hitting it. I'm excited to follow along!

Thanks!!

 

Day 2 wrap up:

Pull-up workout: check!

Study: check!

Read for fun: check!

Journal: check!

Abs: ...whoops. Forgot those.

 

Day 3: REST DAY!! (Mostly)

It's rest day today!! And man, it feels good to have slept in this morning. I'm going to do a nice foam rolling session tonight and then do some crunches, since I forgot to do them yesterday. It's only going to be a minute and a half though, so it shouldn't be too terrible. I still need to do my Polish practice and study the "Knowledge" today. "The Knowledge" or "Knowledge" is the term describing the material that I'll be learning at OCS, and since I'm trying to study as much as I can in advance, I'll be calling my own review materials "the Knowledge" as well.

 

Tomorrow, I'll be going to the gym in the morning to do a bodyweight/pull-ups training session, and then I'm going running with some work friends who will be running a Spartan race with me in May! They don't do a lot of running, and the Spartan sprints are a minimum of 3 miles, so getting them (and myself!) out on the track should be a good time for everyone.going to do a fartlek-type run (I found out what it is! Apparently short-ish distances of runs interspersed with either faster sprints or stopping to do some kind of exercise) So I may not be able to do the longer run this week, but that's okay because I can do two sprint sessions (since the Fartlek runs are going to be done as quickly as possible) and a hill session in a week. I don't see anything wrong with that for 0 week. For next week though, I'm going to have to be diligent in fitting in that long run.

 

This is what I've come up with for the fartlek. My friends are going to hate me haha.

 

 

400 m

30 burpees

400 m

30 push-ups (knees acceptable)

800 m 

45 second plank

400 m

25 air squats

800 m

10 lunges (per side)

400 m

20 burpees

 

[WhiteGhost]

How many pullups are you up to now?  I seem to remember at the end of your first challenge you were already up to 3?

[JuiceeTarget]

Ping!

[NicTheRugger]

On 3/14/2019 at 9:42 AM, WhiteGhost said:

How many pullups are you up to now?  I seem to remember at the end of your first challenge you were already up to 3?

Unfortunately, still only 3! I'm really struggling to hit that 4th one. Admittedly, when I tried on Monday I was pretty sick, so I'm not sure how much that influenced my ability to do pull-ups....

 

 

On 3/19/2019 at 1:28 PM, GoodDoug said:

Ping!

Thanks for the ping! I promise I'm (relatively) alive.

[NicTheRugger]

Zero week went so well! I spoke Polish every day, and was even able to place an order at a Polish grocery store pretty much completely in Polish all by myself!  (Well, first I had to ask my SO for a couple of key vocab terms, like the number "four")

 

Thursday's fartlek training with my friends was lots of fun. Half of the track was still covered in snow (oops), so our feet got wet and we cut down by one lap, but it was otherwise lots of fun. My friends probably were more sore and grumpy than they let on, but they were absolute troopers and did well!  I was also able to do a nice little (3 mile) hike in the woods with my ruck and boots. My feet weren't happy, so I guess my boots weren't as broken in as I thought they were, but thankfully no blisters. I had a 10 lb weight in the ruck, which is a little more than I originally planned on carrying, but I already had that weight in the ruck and didn't want to go all the way down to the basement to get the 8 lb weight... The ice wasn't a lot of fun, but hopefully the warmer temps this week will melt all of the ice. 

 

I didn't hit all of the crunches workouts or journaling sessions I wanted to do, but otherwise, 0-week was super fun. 

 

And then, on Monday, on the very start of Week 1, I woke up sick. I felt weak, congested, and all-around exhausted. I couldn't even do two complete chin-ups without bands, that's how weak and awful I felt. Needless to say, that automatically derailed my 2-a-day workout plan for the day. I was able to do an upper-body workout on Monday, but was too sick to do anything Monday evening or all-day yesterday. I was, however, well enough this morning to do a hill-training workout on the treadmill. I'm still kind of sick, but I think I have enough energy to, at the very least, do some pull-ups tonight and some crunches. I also still need to practice Polish via duolingo tonight (I'm finally learning more verbs!) and journal. I hopefully should be well enough tomorrow to do a workout at the gym in the morning, and then an interval run in the afternoon with some friends, weather permitting. I'm a little worried that I won't be able to get to 4 by April 4, since that's the deadline for me to do my PFT.... I may have to commit the awful sin of kipping, since that might be the only way for me to get to 4 in time, even though kipping definitely won't fly once I'm at OCS. 

 

That's all for now, friends. I'll try to check in and see how everyone's doing tonight!

[JuiceeTarget]

Glad you are back and sorry to hear about getting sick. That sucks. But it sounds like you are bouncing back. 

Take care of yourself and good luck!

[WhiteGhost]

ugh, getting sick sucks all of the energy out of you. Hope you recover quickly

[DJtrippyT]

Feel better soon!

[Son of Rylos]

Looks like things are progressing despite the illness. This season has been unusually nuts when it comes to viruses. Fluids will help shorten the duration of most of what's out there right now. Keep up the progress and feel better!

[Elastigirl]

Hope you feel better soon!

[NicTheRugger]

Thank you for all the well-wishes, friends! I'm definitely getting better. I'm still pretty phlegmy, which isn't so fun, and running yesterday outside was tough because my lungs would rather hold mucus than air still (gross), but I'm definitely getting better. @Calibre, I have been stewing in fluids, it's actually a little disgusting how much tea I've had over the past few days, and I say that as someone who loves tea. 

 

Speaking of tea, earl grey with a dash of unsweetened vanilla almond milk and sugar tastes amazing, and I highly recommend it. I've kicked using cream in my earl grey tea in the mornings for this. And now, back to your regularly scheduled content.

 

I've updated my workouts on my battle log so you all can check out the workouts there, and even though I've had only one full day of two-a-day workouts this week so far, I'm still pushing to do the best I can. I can't control when my body gets sick, but I can choose how I handle the illness, and when I was at my sickest, I knew that doing two a day would do more harm than good. But yesterday felt pretty good, so I'm back to the two-a-day for today and hopefully tomorrow. Yesterday's run was pretty good, tightness in the lungs aside, and it's nice to run with my friends. One of my friends was pretty funny. He was surprised that he was faster than me, and said so, and just as he finished talking I couldn't hold in the coughs any more and just started coughing like I was dying and then he went "oh, you're sick, never mind."  My lungs have great comedic timing. 

 

Polish practice has been going pretty well. I'm definitely happy to be learning new words, because that means my vocabulary is slowly expanding! One day I may actually sound like I know what I'm saying in Polish. 

 

Journaling... hasn't gone too well. I haven't journaled at all this week, so I'm going to have to journal for the next 3 days (the rest of the week) if I want to hit that goal. 

 

I haven't been able to do armstrong workouts every day this week, but I'm still doing pull-up stuff, so I'm counting it. I'll make sure to do my armstrong workout tonight though, and tomorrow. 

 

Well, I think that's it for now. Bye, folks! I'll try to check in tomorrow and let you know how today rounded out and how tomorrow's ruck goes. 

[NicTheRugger]

Hello, friends! Week 1 is coming to a close. I'll do a more comprehensive wrap-up tomorrow, when I'm at a computer rather than use my phone, but all in all, not a bad week one, all things considered!

 

Done today:

-a 3.5 mile ruck. My heels are pretty raw from my boots though, which is going to make running difficult this week...

- Polish practice

 

To do:

- crunches

- journal

 

I'll check in tomorrow! Hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

[NicTheRugger]

Week 1 wrap up!

 

Hello all, as promised, a more comprehensive wrap-up for Week 1. First, the break down:

 

- 2 a day workouts: 2/4 days, BUT I was sick, so I'm still counting this as a success

- Armstrong workouts: 3/5; my work schedule makes it tough to do the push-ups 3-5 hours in advance of the pull-ups, so I may re-work this goal to be "push-up workouts at least 3 times a week"

- Running: 3/3: one hill run, one interval run, and one longer "run" on the eliptical, which I normally wouldn't count as a run except for the fact that doing over 4.5 miles on an eliptical for 45 minutes is still a cardio workout and I really can't rearrange my workout schedule to do a longer run without either sacrificing a training day with my Spartan teammates or giving up my weekly ruck.

- Crunches: 3/3-- a success! I did a timed 90-second session and was able to do 94 crunches in 90 seconds, which is lit. 

- OCS workouts: 0/1

- Fartlek: 0/1

ruck: 1/1, a success! A little slower than I would have liked (18:57/mile), but there was still ice on the trails, and so. many. puppers that stopped and demanded petting. And of course I had to oblige, I'm not a monster. (And I love dogs.) Carried an additional 18 pounds in the ruck, for a total of 26 pounds, which is on the heavier side than what I originally planned, but this just means I'll be able to do 28 pounds more easily next weekend. My heels are terribly chaffed though, which is not so good. Running is going to be rough this week. I'm gonna have to look into either taping the heel area of the boot or maybe wearing dress socks with my boot socks to prevent chafing. 

- push-ups: I'm not sure how to measure this, but didn't do as many as I would have liked. 

- journaling: 3/3 some of those entries barely count as entries, because I was pretty tired as I wrote them, but Saturday's entry was almost an entire page, and covered a lot of stuff so I'm counting it

- Don't stress: I think I was too sick to feel overly stressed this week, except for Friday because things are imploding and it turns out someone made some HUGE mistakes in filing returns, which was decidedly not good. We are probably going to lose this client after this year... other than that though, not too stressed.

- "Give a fuck" and "leave it better than you found it" I'm doing my best to stay motivated, even though it's hard, and I'm trying to leave things better than I find them (although I should probably try to apply this to my room this week, and specifically my "dump pile" chair, where I, as you might guess, dump everything)

 

All in all, not a bad week 1 considering how gross I felt at the beginning of the week. 

[darkfoxx]

Way to go on a solid week 1!


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[JuiceeTarget]

Given the hiccup at the beginning of the week, I think you've done very well. How is it looking for week 2?

[NicTheRugger]

13 hours ago, GoodDoug said:

Given the hiccup at the beginning of the week, I think you've done very well. How is it looking for week 2?

Well, my plans for week 2 are changing rapidly because I'm taking my PFT on Saturday! So all goals other than language and journaling are on hold until next week so I can make sure I'm well-rested and not overworked for Saturday.
This means my workout schedule has been reduced to one workout a day, with Friday off to make sure I'm as ready as possible. My new goal for the week is to have a passing PFT score.

 

I'm a little nervous and even though I'm trying to stay calm, I'm stressing because I still haven't hit 4 pull-ups yet and Saturday has now become my do or die date.

 

All that said, yesterday was a pretty good day. Had a brutal but good workout in the morning that would likely be something that I could do at OCS involving a combination of bodyweight training and Kettlebell exercises. It was the "filthy 50" workout by Spartan. Details in my battle log! I also did a mile and a half of hill training on the treadmill in the evening, before I realized that Saturday is PFT day.

[WhiteGhost]

1 hour ago, NicTheRugger said:

I'm a little nervous and even though I'm trying to stay calm, I'm stressing because I still haven't hit 4 pull-ups yet and Saturday has now become my do or die date.