Great post Michael, and some great challenges to take on. Another challenge from Teddy Roosevelt served as the inspiration of the JFK 50 mile ultra. From their website: "In 1963, the initial inspiration behind the event came from then President John F. Kennedy challenging his military officers to meet the requirements that Teddy Roosevelt had set for his own military officers at the dawn of the 20th Century. That Roosevelt requirement was for all military officers to be able to cover 50 miles on foot in 20 hours to maintain their commissions." Teddy initially required the officers to complete the hike over three days, JFK challenged the Marines to complete is with weapons and a 25 lb. combat load in one 20-hour period.
Suggestion to Improve the Article with Additional Data
Hi Michael,
I recently discovered your work and have been intrigued by rucking, so I started practicing about a month ago.
(Currently, I’m carrying 17 pounds and increasing the weight by about 2-4 pounds every two weeks.)
I’m looking to challenge myself, and as a trail runner, I noticed something in your rucking challenges (Great article, by the way, just a suggestion for better understanding).
It seems like the data on "elevation gain" is missing?
This is crucial because the same challenge with 0 elevation gain, 700m, or 3500m would result in vastly different efforts.
For example, in total self-sufficiency, I can easily run 35 kilometers (22 miles) in 3 hours with 2,297 feet (700 meters) of elevation gain, but it takes me 7 hours to cover the same 35 kilometers (22 miles) with 11,483 feet (3,500 meters) of elevation gain.
Do you have any data on this, or did I miss something? (Yes, for the 5th challenge, the 10th-Mountain Division Quarterly, it seems the military are in the mountains, but it's vague if I want a better understanding of the achievement).
By the way, thanks for your work—I just bought Scarcity Brain.
PS : The way you describe your venture with data in "Comfort Crisis" is very inspiring
Love these challenges! As someone who has never done a marathon or any kind of ultra (but has gone camping/backpacking), do you build in breaks? 10-minute stops to shrug the pack off? I want to plan to do one of these next year now. There’s a 36-mile forest preserve trail near me that I could look to chunk out.
Of the GORUCK gear, which would be ideal to handle the range of weights in each of the five challenges? How much of a difference does it make to use a ruck plate vs a 50 lb bag of sand from a hardware store?
Have you looked at Americans. 65% -- not 42- are OBESE. WHO organization says 35 inch waistline is obese; average American woman has 38.7. LOOK Most of the fatness is due to the wellness formula " eat healthy exercise more and hydrate"- failed failed and led to BINGING!!
Awesome post, as always. Another good one is the Norwegian Foot March. It is not as aggressive, but still not easy. 30k carrying 25# ruck with certain time hacks depending on age and gender. I’ve done this one once. The Norwegians do this as a training event and then go on with their normal duty day. Good stuff, foor sure!
Great post Michael, and some great challenges to take on. Another challenge from Teddy Roosevelt served as the inspiration of the JFK 50 mile ultra. From their website: "In 1963, the initial inspiration behind the event came from then President John F. Kennedy challenging his military officers to meet the requirements that Teddy Roosevelt had set for his own military officers at the dawn of the 20th Century. That Roosevelt requirement was for all military officers to be able to cover 50 miles on foot in 20 hours to maintain their commissions." Teddy initially required the officers to complete the hike over three days, JFK challenged the Marines to complete is with weapons and a 25 lb. combat load in one 20-hour period.
That's a fantastic one. Thanks for sharing.
I love the challenges - must workout to at least some of them.
One of my favorite posts so far.
I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Suggestion to Improve the Article with Additional Data
Hi Michael,
I recently discovered your work and have been intrigued by rucking, so I started practicing about a month ago.
(Currently, I’m carrying 17 pounds and increasing the weight by about 2-4 pounds every two weeks.)
I’m looking to challenge myself, and as a trail runner, I noticed something in your rucking challenges (Great article, by the way, just a suggestion for better understanding).
It seems like the data on "elevation gain" is missing?
This is crucial because the same challenge with 0 elevation gain, 700m, or 3500m would result in vastly different efforts.
For example, in total self-sufficiency, I can easily run 35 kilometers (22 miles) in 3 hours with 2,297 feet (700 meters) of elevation gain, but it takes me 7 hours to cover the same 35 kilometers (22 miles) with 11,483 feet (3,500 meters) of elevation gain.
Do you have any data on this, or did I miss something? (Yes, for the 5th challenge, the 10th-Mountain Division Quarterly, it seems the military are in the mountains, but it's vague if I want a better understanding of the achievement).
By the way, thanks for your work—I just bought Scarcity Brain.
PS : The way you describe your venture with data in "Comfort Crisis" is very inspiring
Greetings from France! 😉🥖
Love these challenges! As someone who has never done a marathon or any kind of ultra (but has gone camping/backpacking), do you build in breaks? 10-minute stops to shrug the pack off? I want to plan to do one of these next year now. There’s a 36-mile forest preserve trail near me that I could look to chunk out.
Of the GORUCK gear, which would be ideal to handle the range of weights in each of the five challenges? How much of a difference does it make to use a ruck plate vs a 50 lb bag of sand from a hardware store?
Have you looked at Americans. 65% -- not 42- are OBESE. WHO organization says 35 inch waistline is obese; average American woman has 38.7. LOOK Most of the fatness is due to the wellness formula " eat healthy exercise more and hydrate"- failed failed and led to BINGING!!
Awesome post, as always. Another good one is the Norwegian Foot March. It is not as aggressive, but still not easy. 30k carrying 25# ruck with certain time hacks depending on age and gender. I’ve done this one once. The Norwegians do this as a training event and then go on with their normal duty day. Good stuff, foor sure!
That's a great suggestion. Thanks for sharing.