How to Train for the GORUCK?

Since signing up for the GORUCK Challenge a little more then a month ago, I've been doing a lot of runs with a lightly-loaded backpack, but I've known that I would need a more structured training regimen to get me where I want to be. So I set out to develop a 12-week workout program to help guide me through my training.

The GRC is not a competitive event, but it is absolutely a test of strength and endurance. With that in mind, my goals for the program are:

1. Develop functional strength in my legs and upper body. I'll need this for lifting "coupons," logs, or carrying my fellow GORUCKers
2. Increase running stamina / endurance. This will come in handy when we're doing Indian sprints with 35 lb packs.
3. Focus on stabilizer and core muscles to prevent injury.

That last point - injury prevention - is a huge priority for me. During the challenge, we're going to have a combination of extreme fatigue, physical stress, and awkward/unnatural motions (such as hoisting a log over our heads) that could be very taxing on muscles and joints. I expect to get some bumps and bruises, and be sore afterwards, but getting any kind of serious injury would really ruin the experience and make me feel like a macho chump for attempting the Challenge.

With these goals in mind, I built a workout plan for each of the above elements, then combined them into a realistic weekly schedule.

Strength

Strength training is not something I've done a whole lot of. Over the past few years my focus has been on endurance events like triathlons, so I've tended to emphasize cardio training at the expense of building a lot of muscle. I want to use the GRC as an opportunity to get strong. After doing some research for strength training ideas, one of the best resources I found was this article from Men's Journal. I highly recommend reading it, as I'm using many of the principles it talks about in designing the strength portion of my program.

First, I know that I'm interested in functional strength, so I want to do just about all of my lifting with free weights. Besides recruiting multiple muscle groups to work together (as they must do to, say, lift a log), free weight exercises tend to engage stabilizer muscles as well, which are crucial for preventing injury. I'm going to focus on squats, dead lifts, and bench press, as these three should work the majority of the muscle groups in the body. My primary goal for this element is strength (as opposed to power and endurance), so the plan will be to do several sets of 4-8 reps per exercise.

I ran those ideas by a trainer at my gym, and he suggested I add some variations like inclined bench and hack (machine) squat to make sure I cover all the muscle groups. He also thought some shoulder presses or other overhead-strength work would be beneficial.

Timing is the tricky part with the strength component of my plan. Ideally, I'd be doing three strength workouts a week to take full advantage of my muscles' supercompensation cycles (again, see the article for explanation of the jargon). But, given the demands of the running element and my other commitments, I can only manage twice per week. We'll see how it goes.

Running

The running component was fairly simple to put together. I consulted a number websites for half-marathon and marathon-training tips and came away with these basic rules:

1. Do not increase the weekly mileage or the length of any single workout by more than about 10% per week
2. Do at least 3 runs per week
3. Vary the pace, structure, or terrain of your runs
4. Drop the weekly mileage and intensity every 3-4 weeks to give your body some time to rebuild

With these rules in mind, I established a  goal of being able to run 15 miles with a 35 lb pack by the end of the program, which is not quite equivalent to running the entire distance of the GRC in one go. I think that the running bits of the GRC will be much shorter than that and broken up by other activities, so I figure being able to do that much running all at once will put me on a solid footing to avoid any overuse injuries during the challenge. With the goal established, it's merely a matter of working backwards with the 10% rule. I'll plan on a long run every weekend plus two other runs of varying distance during the week.

Running with weight is an added twist. Initially I was tempted to increase my pack weight gradually following the 10% rule as well, but in practice I think it will wind up coming in chunks. Since I decided to insert an "easy" week every 4th week, the training program will be made up of 3 blocks. The weight will increase in each block - 15, 25, and 35 lb, but drop off during the rest week.

As for varying the runs, I borrowed some ideas from my triathlon training and came up with five types of runs to include in the program:

• Long runs - easy pace for a long time. It's a good idea to make these time-based rather than distance-based because so many factors can cause your pace to vary.
• Accelerator runs - start at a very easy pace and slowly increase throughout the run. You should wind up at a "tempo" pace by the end.
• Interval runs - steady pace punctuated by several-minute intervals of tempo or hard pace. Some of these could simulate Indian sprints.
• Double runs - two runs on the same day. This is a good way to prepare for longer and longer runs.
• "Tough Run" - A run mixed with body weight exercise like pushups, squats, bear crawls, crab walks, whatever. Be creative, and use triggers like stop signs, mile markers, or time to dictate when to exercise.

Injury Prevention

The above two components take care of the majority of injury prevention through sheer preparation. Building up the runs slowly and using weight will make sure my joints are resilient enough to go the distance. Using free-weight exercises should work my stabilizer muscles, and by building strength I'll make myself more resilient against injury. But, to top it off, the article I mentioned above contains an easy injury prevention workout that targets four of the most commonly weak muscle groups on the body. I'll throw this in as an added preventive measure.

Putting it All Together

With all the elements in place, the last step is to combine them into a coherent program that I can actually follow. I included one rest day each week to allow for some flexibility and help the body rebuild itself. Beyond that, I simply spread out three weekly runs, two strength workouts, and the injury prevention workout as best I could, such that there would never be two days of the same discipline (e.g. back to back runs). I tried to be smart about this and consider my schedule - weekends obviously make sense for the long runs. I have church commitments on Monday and Tuesday evenings, so one of those days should be a rest day. Monday makes sense because it follows the longest run of the week. You get the idea. The final touch is to taper off the training volume substantially starting one week before the challenge to give the body plenty of time to incorporate all the strength and endurance gained through training.

The 12-week program that I came up with is shown at the link below. We'll see how well I'm able to follow this program in practice, and I'll report back in if I wind up making significant changes.

Here we go!

Ryan's GORUCK Workout Plan

UPDATE: now that I've completed the GRC, I've written up some lessons learned that I would use to modify this plan if I were to do it all over again. See "Lessons Learned from GORUCK Training" for the details.

Note: this post was written in mid-January 2012 (when I launched my blog), but is back-dated to reflect the journey I've been on as I train for the GORUCK Challenge.