“The only easy day was yesterday.”
- Navy SEALs motto

Photo: David ready to skydive (Photograph by: Gunnar Örn Arnarsson)

Each day was different. Each day brought new challenges to push each of us outside of our comfort zones.

We learned to skydive and ended the week with an assisted freefall jump. Two skydive instructors jumped with us out of the plane at 13,000 feet and stayed with us until we arched, located and threw our pilot chute at which point we were on our own. We became certified in open water SCUBA driving beginning with the classroom then moving to the pool and finally to Lake Rawlings to practice in cold water. We learned about navigation at night with a compass and map to get from point A to point B, estimating distances by counting our steps and moving cohesively as a team while remaining undetected. We learned combat medical skills that we practiced on each other: stop the heavy bleeding first then worry about the breathing. We learned to shoot rifles, shotguns and pistols.

The days and nights blurred together.

The only constant evolutions each day were the PT sessions. We never knew when a PT session would begin, and once it began, when it would end. “Be in the moment,” became my mantra for coping with the uncertainty of what was next.

Each PT session was different depending on where it was held The PT sessions although each session always seemed to include push-ups and flutter kicks where we would lie on our backs with legs extended and flutter our legs up and down. We counted everything: “One, two, three, one. One, two, three, two. One, two, three, three. One, two, three, four.”

When we PT’d near the barracks on Fort Story where we lived, we would low crawl – lie prone on our stomachs and crawl while keeping our butts and heads down – across the asphalt, through the weeded fields and through the puddles after push-ups, sit-ups, mountain climbers, body builders, etc. When we PT’d at the obstacle course, each five person boat team would gently pick up a heavy log, which we then moved from one shoulder to press overhead then to the other shoulder and back as we jogged it down to the beach where we pressed the logs above our chests and did sit-ups embracing the log. Never did we drop the log – that was forbidden.

For beach PT, we would lie prone on our stomachs with our faces buried in the sand and put on our “beach camouflage” by piling sand on top of our backs and rolling from side to side while wet. We scaled sand dunes as boat teams, pushing and pulling each other up. We entered the cold Atlantic Ocean with arms embraced then laid back in the surf for surf torture. “Get your heads under water!” yelled the instructors. We stood up together then sat back down together as we shivered in the cold. Back out of the water and into the sand. Face down and low crawl.

At Lake Rawlings after diving, we bear crawled, crab crawled and alligator crawled what seemed like half a mile from the dive shop building down to the lake. Each crawl was a different variation of moving on all four’s with crab crawl being on our backs. We did the crawls after a few hundred push-ups, flutter kicks, mountain climbers and a low crawl with bare chests across asphalt and through the brush.

Each day was different. Each day was exhausting. One day at a time.

Cheers,
David

–
David B. Glover
Professional Triathlete, Coach and Race Director
Author of Full Time and Sub-Nine
Personal Web: www.davidglover.net
Business Web: www.enduranceworks.net

© 2008 David B. Glover