We would be doing Murph without the additional weight. Wow, instant good feelings there! We were also instructed to break up the work after the first run into sets of 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, 15 squats. Then we were off. A few people darted ahead to get the first mile done quickly.
I stayed in the middle of the pack because I knew by this point they were stronger runners, and i would catch them on the PT. I got back from the mile loop still about middle of the pack, and got to work. About 5 rounds to go, and myself and my swim buddy Tommy, a ridiculous athlete and former CrossFit Games competitor, were in the lead. Meaning, he was in the lead and I was like 5 rounds behind him! Tommy was out on his run and a few minutes later I was chasing after him.
The porta-potty was about halfway through the run course, so I set my sights there and ran, clenched-butt most of the way, right into the john. My time was 1 hour and 4 minutes, and a teammate that I nicknamed Big Hurt ran in behind me at 1 hour and 6 minutes. The remaining 4 did not complete Murph on time. Wow, that felt good. As more people got back and crowded us in the tubs, they started cycling us out, but not before dumping more icy water over our heads.
There were other screamers though, and the instructors had a good time. After Murph and the ice bath, we got a chance to change into clean clothes, hydrate and eat some food. We were told to pack a couple MREs and a bunch of PowerBars, and two canteens of water into our rucks, along with a lb sandbag.
As we were getting our stuff ready, we noticed a few more clean-looking individuals milling around, getting the same gear we were, but generally keeping to themselves and looking a bit lost.
It looked like us on Friday morning! We lined up and waited for orders for probably 20 minutes, and the new guys filed into a line facing us. There were 7 of us at this point, and I think maybe 7 of them. Sensing that we had no idea what was going on, Coach Dave explained that these guys were also doing some SEALFIT training, and were just getting started, and they would be joining us on our next evolution.
We were instructed to meet them, let them know about what we had done so far, and generally get to know them. So we did! I asked the guy in front of me his name and what he did for a living.
His name was Diaz, and he was an actor. What was going on here? Before we could chat very much, we were loaded into vans — one for our class, one for theirs — and we headed to Palomar Mountain for what would be our longest and most challenging evolution. Maybe because we were joined by the actors, or maybe just to wake us up from the ride, we were immediately thrown into a frenzy of PT for a good 20 minutes.
The trail was uphill the whole time, and after 10 minutes we slowed the pace down to allow stragglers to catch up and settled into a pace that was easy enough to talk in short spurts. Lucky situation for us as a class to get to know these guys, and also lucky to have some fresh guys to push us up the mountain.
We were really beat up and tired at this point, and the fact that these guys were pushing hard made us step our game up, too. After a couple hours, the sun went down. Stopping about every hour to hydrate, we climbed and climbed.
I saw massive caves cut into the side of the mountain, and looking closer realized they were small bushes that my eyes were blowing up out of proportion. The instructors, understanding our predicament, gave us some tips on grounding yourself in reality again.
What a relief! Then, having won the fight Hooyah!! I thought we were headed back down? An hour later, and a similar situation presented itself. The instructors would mix up the scenarios — sometimes we had to recon an area further up the mountain and then report back, sometimes we had to hide in the scrub brush and hang out in a defensive perimeter.
One evasive maneuver that sticks out to me because it caused so much post-Kokoro pain was a meter low crawl on the gravel trail. My elbows and knees looked like pork carnitas after that, even though I was wearing a sweatshirt and long pants. I had open cuts and scabs on my elbows for 2 weeks!
If there was one minute stretch of Kokoro that I could take back, that was it! We finally started down the mountain for real, and the mental relief was diminished a little bit by the severe muscle fatigue, and some really achy feet! Another post-Kokoro condition that lasted from Mount Palomar was complete numbness of my right big toe for about 1 month. After Kokoro was over, the instructors let us in on a coincidence that they just had to share — someone had their iPhone GPS on, and we had rucked 26 miles during the night, a marathon!
The Beach. When we got back to the base of the mountain, we loaded into the vans and took a minute drive to the coast. Tommy, who lives in San Diego, said that we ended up in Carlsbad. All I knew was that we were at the beach! As it turns out, the Vail Lake Resort was our home base, and this was the first time we had seen the ocean! It was very early morning, maybe about 3am, so everything was dark but the sound of the waves crashing was deafening as we got out of the van and gathered ourselves for what was to come.
Pretty immediately, we were in the water. We would walk in as a class, arms linked, and turn around to face the beach in about knee-deep water. The water was cold, but colder still was the wind whipping off the water when we got out. I was much more comfortable in the water!
He broke away from my arm, and walked up to the instructors. The next time we saw him was in the van when we were done at the beach. That was awkward. We all knew that we were almost done! One of the coaches showed up with breakfast. Breakfast burritos! They were super dry, and hard to choke down even though we were so hungry. Posted By: Geoff.
Posted By: wpengine. Posted By: Mark Divine. Leave a Reply cancel reply You must be logged in to post a comment. At almost 50, I would do this in a heartbeat. But with a bunch of 20 and 30 somethings, I'd probably slow the team down. I've had some exposure to military training as a Naval Academy student but nothing on this level.
I'd do it just to see if I could reach the end. I personnally read the pot of gold comment completely differently. I thought he was pointing out the difference between a person who is going through this type of training evolution for as part of an existing military career vs someone going through for fun. For a most civilians, minus the Crossfitters portrayed in the video who see it a professional comparison of how their training product stacks up, the program is seemingly without value.
Sure, they will have the knowledge of saying that they have done it which is , I guess, their "pot of gold". It is two entirely different training contexts, which I took to be the point of John Page's comment. I am wondering if those individuals who went through felt the need to take some additional recovery time afterwards before resuming their normal strict main site or otherwise Crossfitting routine.
I like it And yet, even with that said, CrossFit is certainly doing a great job here. What a priviledge it is to test your self and the loyalty of your team. Once again you Crossfit celebrities are living the dream of many of us. Enjoy it and learn from it. Brian Thurmond replied to comment from Rick Thornton …. I ain't' saying that it is not possible, just that I think it is not the norm. As far as you saying that the reward for being a SEAL is a stamped piece of metal, I would have to respectfully disagree.
Even if it was an initial reason, I doubt it would hold sway for a long career. Sure it is a symbol, a very strong symbol of what it takes to accomplish that goal, but just a symbol. I agree with both of you questioning if the course would be fun, it would not be for fun.
It might be fun-like, funny memories when it is over , but fun is definitely not what I would expect. It would be to test your limitations, to see what you can or cannot endure. There would be nothing fun about finding out that the course surpassed your individual limits, nope not fun. Individual pride, character development, finding your personal courage to continue even though it sucks real bad, that may be how I would describe doing something along these same lines.
I don't know though, sometimes people like to say that challenges are fun. That may be. If I had the capital, I would take off from work and go to this course too Maybe after my taxes are done and I get a re-fund, and I save a little bit more. I would pay the bucks to go. The top mens no 1, 2, and 3 games finishers from , as well as women champ have all done the course.
They have nothing to prove, yet they see its value. I took from the comments as being pretentious, and condescending. Dustin Kreidler wrote …. Stop bickering over your interpretation of other people's comments. Quite the flame war. I expect all of you to hug and make up at the code pink rally, dammit. That said, this looks like an amazing experience, even if I harbor the secret fear that I would crack like an egg, or if I did make it through, do so in a state of near catatonic shock.
Alex Castro wrote …. I wanna go! Greetings to all from Mexico! Awesome vid can't wait for the next! Great program to go thru not only to test your physical but mental strength as well. In regards to your comment of why would a person do this, the question is why not? Why not push yourself to the limit to see if you can do it? If you tell yourself that you can't or that there is no purpose, than why do most of the things you achieve in life? I look at life this way to some degree.
What I have learned in Crossfit is that it isn't all about me somedays, it is about the team that I am with, it is also a test to see how far my body is willing to go without quitting. This would be a phenomenal experience for many of us who may or may not have had the dream to achieve something that was bigger then ourselves, that is how I see Crossfit and that is how I see this test that all these elite's are putting themselves through. Congrats to them.
They are trying to see if they can "break" them by annoying them with water. Someone made a comment about the duration being 4 weeks Not to take anything from the others, but through their various vids, these 3 have proven to me that their mentality is on another level. I went to basic training a few years ago and was expecting the training to be like this Granted, I am not a Ranger, or a Seal, or even infantry, but this is what I was expecting.
This video sent chills down my spine We change lives. We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. And we can prove it. Your subscription to The Christian Science Monitor has expired. You can renew your subscription or continue to use the site without a subscription. If you have questions about your account, please contact customer service or call us at This message will appear once per week unless you renew or log out.
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