GORUCK Triple Heavy 001 Recap Part 2 of 4
The start of a 72-hour journey begins with a step
Note: I originally wrote this back in 2016 on my old website. My website is going away, but I didn’t want to lose this story, so I’m reposting it here.
This is the second part of my recap for the first GORUCK Triple Heavy (HHH) event. This will cover highlights from the first GORUCK Heavy of that event. Read Part 1 of this recap if you’re unfamiliar with GORUCK events or are curious about how I trained and prepared for this event.
There are few things you should know about the Triple Heavy. First, each Heavy was treated at its own event, which meant that each Heavy had its own PT test (Standard GORUCK Heavy PT Test is 2 minutes max push-ups, 2 minutes max sit-ups, 12 mile ruck under 3 hours and 30 minutes). Second, all items needed for the three Heavies would have to be carried for the entirety of the event. Unlike a GORUCK HCL, we would not have access to a base to drop off and resupply items between events. Third, the end point for each Heavy was different from its start point (hence why we couldn’t rely on a base). And fourth, like all GORUCK Heavies, we still needed to carry a team weight that weighed 50lbs in addition to our gear.
GORUCK Heavy #1
On October 1st, 2015 before 0900 hours, seventeen brave individuals met at Grant’s Memorial Park in New York City to begin GORUCK HHH 001. I only knew a few of my team members prior to this event, but what better way to get to know everybody on the team than to do an insane 72-hour team endurance event together? One of the participants, Eric Traynor, set a good tone for our team by leading a group stretching session prior to the event’s start.
The three cadre who led this event, Glenn “Flash” Wells, Daniel Stokes, and Chris “Soul Crusher” Sanchez, helped us get our minds right for this event with a simple question. Prior to the Heavy PT test, they asked who’s ready to do a HHH. We all said “yes!”, but the cadre said we were wrong. They argued that we should be focusing solely on completing this Heavy. One of the tenets of mental toughness is to only concentrate on the present when dealing with a monumental task. You can’t be thinking about the second or third Heavy when you still have to get past the first one.
In some Heavies, the cadre will mess with your head by taking your food away at the beginning of the event and not returning it until much later. I was anticipating this for the HHH and mentally prepared myself to be without food for several hours. Sure enough, the cadre took our food at the start of the event, but surprised me when they gave it back after we all completed the 12-mile ruck for the Heavy PT test. The cadre said that we were going to be outputting a lot of effort for up to three days, and to do this event safely, we needed to consume a lot of calories. Being able to eat at any point during the Heavy removed the stress of worrying about nutrition during the event. In a weird way, I felt a little safer doing this 72-hour endurance event
The Triple Heavy was also a Mogadishu Mile themed event, which commemorated the bravery and sacrifice soldiers endured in Operation Gothic Serpent (read the book Black Hawk Down for more info). In keeping with the Mog Mile theme, we were separated into two teams, Rangers and Delta Force. We were taught how they cleared buildings, which was amusingly represented by having each team do different PT exercises.
We spent several hours in Central Park practicing our new techniques and doing other field exercises. We then rucked about five miles from Central Park to Battery Park, with a brief demonstration of our newly-taught building clearing techniques to startled and confused Times Square tourists.
We took a brief break upon arriving at Battery Park, and determined that we were near if not already past the half-way mark for the first Heavy. So far so good, until we found one of the sketchiest logs I’ve ever encountered at a GORUCK event. This large thing had railroad ties sticking out of it and looked unsafe to carry. It took some time (as with any team-building GORUCK event), but we eventually figured out how to carry this monstrosity as a team without completely injuring ourselves. After carrying the log for about a mile or so, we dropped the log off near City Hall and did an AAR (After Action Review) on how the team leaders performed during this evolution. Team morale was high after ditching the log, but we knew we still had a lot to go through as we left downtown Manhattan and made our trek over the Brooklyn Bridge.
After rucking for several miles in Brooklyn, I reached one of my low points during the event. I had no idea where we were or how late it was, and all I wanted to do was sleep. I was nodding off as I moved forward and was getting close to sleep-rucking (which is not a good idea because you’ll just end up falling on your face). I didn’t feel like quitting, but taking a nap would have felt amazing at that moment. To combat this feeling, I relied on the mental toughness technique to just focus on the task at hand, which was putting one foot in front of the other. As miserable as I felt, I knew from experience that the feeling of sleepiness would eventually pass, so I just had to bear through this uncomfortable moment. The sun was rising after several more hours and miles, indicating that we were getting close to the end of the first Heavy. I got my second wind at this point and my sleepy haze went away.
A cruel tactic cadre will occasionally perform at the end of a GORUCK event is a false finish, where they trick you into thinking the event is about to end before extending the event a little further. It’s a devious psychological attack, and I haven’t had the opportunity to experience one until this event. I have to commend the cadre for how they implemented it.
As I mentioned earlier, the end point for this Heavy was not going to be the same as its start point. Thus, it was impossible to gauge how close we were to finishing the event because we did not know where it would end. We eventually reached Maria Hernandez Park and did a bunch of PT exercises before the cadre lined us up in two rows. The cadre took out a stack of Mogadishu Heavy patches and started giving a motivating speech, so it certainly felt like we at the end of the event. I remember telling Doug Otte (my teammate and the one who devised the Triple Heavy event) about how I couldn’t believe we made it to the end. I thought about how we didn’t do the Mogadishu Mile exercise at this Mogadishu Mile event, but that concern went out the window when I saw that stack of patches.
The mental trap was set and the cadre pulled it off beautifully as they then instructed us to rush to our next destination and executed the Mogadishu Mile exercise. Without giving too much away, the Mogadishu Mile exercise is pure chaos, as the cadre yell at you and make you carry nearly half your team as you scramble to the final destination. I couldn’t help but mentally laugh at the situation. You can’t have a Mogadishu Mile event without trying to recreate the Mogadishu Mile. I really appreciated how the cadre psyched us out and gave us one last team challenge to finish the first Heavy. We eventually made it through the chaos together and arrived at the Heavy’s true end location, Bushwick Crossfit.
When the cadre handed out the Heavy patches, a couple of thoughts ran through my mind. The first was that I really grateful that I completed this Heavy without any major injuries. The last time I attempted a Heavy (which was also my first HCL), I sprained my right ankle from overuse. Neither my ankle nor my left calf (which I tore earlier in the year) became issues during this Heavy. The second was, as great as an accomplishment of finishing a Heavy was, I couldn’t enjoy it too much because I knew it was only the beginning and I would be starting another 24-hour Heavy soon. We got some sandwiches from a nearby corner store, and I remember how much my feet hurt walking around. It should be expected, considering that we rucked around 35 to 40 miles for the first Heavy (which included the 12-mile ruck from the PT test). Nonetheless, I felt okay, and I hoped that the brief nap inside the Crossfit gym would be enough to get me ready for the second Heavy. We finished at around 0830, giving us about a 3.5 hour break before the second Heavy started at 1200.
I really have to commend how strong this team was, as all seventeen who started the first Heavy made it to the end for a 100% completion rate. It’s an amazing feat, but it is not totally surprising considering that you had GRT (GORUCK Tough) veterans who were committed to doing three consecutive Heavies. However, the true test of this event was about to begin. No one had ever done back-to-back GORUCK Heavies, let alone three in a row.
Special thanks to Pete Silver and Jessica Walkup for the pictures used in this recap.
