This decision was made after much deliberation and soul searching.  After much debate and many late night conversations with my friends, family and most importantly my wife; I have decided to join the U.S. Airforce.  TACP specialty is the position I have choosen and have been preparing for 2 months to date.  I don't see this as a last ditch effort to find a job (there are many opportunities around my community), this is not a choice to find glory and be a "rambo" copy cat....this is something that has been pulling at my heart and desire to serve others since I was a young lad in junior grade school. 

Weighing the pros and cons of what kind of strain this may put not only on myself but also my wife and family.  I have been fortunate enough to have their full support and blessing going forward.  I am anxious as I write this not fully knowing the challenges that are waiting for me.  Again, I have been blessed to have good friends around me helping me through all the training and trials to prepare as best as I am able with the time I have been given.

So let's begin this story, on to hero school...

PAS 

 We shall start two days ago, and the reason is I was able to catch one of my friends who is a former Army SF operator who took me through and "orientation" in the finer points of rucking.

Starting weight: 35lbs.
Distant traveled: 5.65 miles
Time: 1hr 20mins

We started out on pavement and drives near a local university and then gradually started working our way through more brush and shrubs as we got into the meat of our ruck this day.  Learning where I should position myself during a ruck march, how to balance out my gear more for a more even distribution of weight (even the TRX came in handy for that part). 

Quoat of the day:  Learn to embrace the suck, and learn to get along with everyone in your squad.   -Austin (my guide this day)

After our ruck, having learned to never take this pack off.  We began this PT for another 30 mins


Pull-ups: 5 reps for 10 rounds
(Super-set) 
TRX Rows: 8 reps for 10 rounds
{be careful to not let the weights and pack to slam into your back}

Push-ups: 10 reps for 5 rounds
(Super-set)
TRX Push-ups: 7 reps for 5 rounds

Squats: 5 rounds of 20
(super-set)
Walking lunges: 10 reps each side for 5 rounds

   Having gotten a taste of rucking I decided against better judgement and set back out and try to do another ruck march this day as well.  It was cooler so it made the work at least a little bit more bearable. 

Weight: 32lbs
Distance: 3.5 miles
Time: 1 hour

My goal was to try to get to a run (a shuffle more like it) and hold that tempo for as long as I could before my energy would be exhausted.  I would only focus on getting as much time in rather than distance this day to get used to moving faster with a load on my body. 

After getting about 1.5 miles under my feet.  I found a long flight of steps as the university, and you know the kind of flight I'm talking about.  The kind that only architects in their grand scheme during which all realization of actual work exerition from students is never taken into account by guys like me and for what I'm doing go searching for on a regular basis.  Yeah that kind of flight of steps.

The flight was bout a story and a half up with a small landing into another half story in height.  Here was my work:

2 story flight of steps:  10 rounds up and down
(found a pull-up bar)
Pull-ups: Max for 8 rounds
Push-ups: Max for 8 rounds
Sit-ups: (ruck in front of body)  Max for 5 rounds
Squats: 15 reps for 5 rounds

Ruck back taking scenic tour of campus before arriving at my starting point...about 2 miles

PAS

   I took a day off from training for TACP in memorium for those who gave their lives eight years ago.  My best friend who is also a firefighter helped myself come up with this workout for the day.  

We call it of course the "firefighter workout" 

If you have access to a stair master or stair climber, great! if not get creative as we did:

Flight of 4 we found on the local university campus.

200 flights of steps with 20lbs on your back

200 pull-ups
200 push-ups
(when you hit the wall try to rest in the Navy rest position, or isometric squat as much as you can)

5 50 yd sprints to finish the jobs,  this took us the better part of the afternoon as we didn't try to hydrate while this was going on.  If they couldn't on that day, then neither could we.

Enjoy and have a good weekend.


PAS

   After this point into the week, my body is starting to get stiff.  I woke up early just to move my body around and to stretch and recover.  Grabbed my unfortunate victim (my dog) and took him out for a 4 mile light run.  After I got in I began to study more on my future career.  Took more time to just rest and recover while I try to endulge my mind. 

My two books of choice right now are the Meditations and the Notebooks of Davinci. 

20 mins Movement Prep
28 min Run: 4 miles
20 mins Movement Prep

Study and prepare my ruck sack for another trial.

 13th:  Rest day. Caught up on some studies and that was it.

14th:  I ended up breaking my workout into 3 sections.

Morning:
Pull-up Ladder-wide grip: 2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16
Push-up Ladder-standard width:2,4,6,8,10,12,14,16
4 count flutter kicks: 4 rounds of 25
TRX Oblique twist: 4 rounds of 10 each side

Afternoon:
Barbell Deadlift: 225lbs 6 rounds of 4 reps
Dips: 10,10,8,5,5,5,8,10,10
Heavy Plate Rows: 90lbs per side: 8,8,6,4,4,3,2
TRX Atomic Push-ups: 4 rounds of 12

NIght:
6 mile run: 1 hour

 Movement Prep: 20 mins
Bench Press body weight: 185lbs
5 reps for 10 rounds (super-set)
TRX Push-ups
10 reps 10 rounds

Barbell deadlifts: 225lbs
5 reps for 5 rounds
TRX Pull-ups: 5 reps for 5 rounds

TRX bicep curls
(super set)
TRX Tricep extensions
12 reps for 5 rounds

Leg has been bothering me so I've been trying to do extra foam rolling and PNF stretching to release tension.  See how it is tomorrow.

   "Late night gone bad."

This ended up being an enpromptu workout as the original plain had to be scrubed due to bad time management and no execution on my part and training partners.

So we made up for the fact by scraping together.

TRX Dips: 5 reps for 5 rounds
Pull-ups: 5 reps for 5 rounds
Dual KB Snatches: 5 reps for 5 rounds

TRX Atomic Push-ups: 8 reps for 5 rounds
Hanging Leg Raises: 8 reps for 5 rounds
Barbell Hangclean: 5 reps for 5 rounds

Clock Push-ups: 2 laps for 4 rounds
KB overhead Squats: 5 reps for 4 rounds
S.E.A.L.S.: 5 reps for 4 rounds
TRX Dips: 8 reps for 4 rounds
Wide Grip Pull-ups: 8 reps for 4 rounds

The goal was to move from one circuit right into the next.   The struggled with the last circuit as our energy was sapped at this point.  But yet it was intense short and to the objective.  Have a good one guys.

   Took the day off from heavy training.  I did do however (after some coaxing) participate in a relay event.

3 20yd sprints
20 push-ups
20 sit-ups
20 body squats

all in 54 seconds.


Not too bad with a broken wheel.

I'll be off to Ft. Bragg this weekend.

I'm not sure of what I will be able to accomplish.  Just a short trip to check out possible some future digs.

 18th:  Rucked for 4 miles.  tried to keep a sub 15 min mile.  Not really focused on time, just distance this round.  Next week I'm going for 4 hours under the ruck.

19th:  Did not get to train, however, I did get a chance to visit the Speical Operations Museum and tour Fort Bragg with my wife.  Surreal...

20th: Went back to Ft. Bragg after spotting some pull-up bars and dip bars.  I couldn't help myself...

5 rounds:

25 pull-ups
25 dips

Just enough to break a sweat and get some blood flowing.  The atmosphere was wonderful...Spent some time at the 82nd Airborne Museum on the way out.

   Nothing fancy just hard work.

Not too hot outside, just 81 degrees.  Felt hotter on the run back.

1.5 mile sprint: 12 mins 42 seconds

Pull-up Ladder: 10, 8, 5/5, 10, 8, 10, 8, 10
Push-up Ladder: 20, 15, 20, 15, 15, 10, 10

400yd laps between each superset of pull-ups and push-ups.

4 mile run back.

Total time elapsed: 1 hour 38 mins.

Nothing great, just hard work.
Felt tired and run down. Perhaps I didn't prepare as well as I should have.

   40lbs.
An old Alias ruck sack.

2 month old Bates boots

new pair of acryllic socks.

4 hours under the ruck

3.5 miles per hour.

14 miles total.....

 Today is my birthday...however I won't be able to take part in any physical activity for the rest of the day and tomorrow.  I will be traveling to a hotel to be delievered to MEPS all day on the 24th....see how this all goes....

   Movement Prep: 10 mins

Balance and propreoception work: 20 mins

2 mile run: 14 mins

Real light today, after sitting all day thursday makes a person stiff. 

 Movement Prep: 10 mins

Standing Barbell Shoulder Press: 95lbs(10 reps)x2, 135lbs(6 reps, 6 reps, 7 reps, 7 reps), 115lbs (8 reps)
(super-set)
Lat Pull-down: 100lbs(10 reps)x2, 140lbs(10 reps)x3, 200lbs(5 reps)x2

4 rounds: 5 reps each
Wide Grip Pull-up
Arnold Presses: 45lbs
Curl Pull-ups

3 rounds: 10 reps
HS Plate rows: 95lbs
DB Shrugs: 85lbs

S.E.A.L.'s
3 rounds 3 reps each
95lbs...