# First Ruck

I went for my first ruck yesterday.
[Rucking](https://www.goruck.com/pages/what-is-rucking) is
not a new idea for me—I have just been avoiding actually
doing it for over a decade. This year, I walked around the
backyard once or twice with a weighted pack for a little bit
but that was it. Yesterday, did 1.5 miles around the
neighborhood in 26 minutes with a 10-pound weight in my
pack. Today, I can feel it in my upper back and a little bit
in my left ankle.

My partner got me a [GoRuck
GR0](https://www.goruck.com/products/gr0), which is a 16L
minimalist assault-style pack, for Christmas in 2013 but
I’ve just been using it as a normal backpack. A few months
ago I listened to [a podcast with Jason McCarthy, the
founder of GoRuck](https://peterattiamd.com/jasonmccarthy/),
and I learned a lot about how and why to ruck from that
conversation. His recommendation was to carry the pack high
up on your shoulders—he doesn’t use the waist belt or the
sternum strap. Dr. Peter Attia uses both of those straps but
also carries up to a 90 pound load. Since I’m starting with
a light load (less than 10% body weight), I removed my waist
belt but kept the sternum strap.

To pack my weight, I put two synthetic foam yoga blocks at
the bottom of my bag then wrapped a beach towel around a
[10-pound Rogue change
plate](https://www.roguefitness.com/rogue-lb-change-plates)
so that there was one layer of towel between the plate and
the back of the pack. I cinched a [Gunner tie-down
strap](https://gunner.com/products/tie-down-strap-kit)—[one
from NRS would be fine
too](https://www.nrs.com/nrs-15-heavy-duty-straps/pywr)—around
the towel bundle to hold everything in place. This kept the
weight high and close to my shoulders. It also filled the
pack so nothing bounced around.

It was hot and sunny when I went out. There’s a lot of shade
in my neighborhood but there are stretches of road that get
a good amount of sunlight. My subdivision was designed in
the 50s and the roads look like a doughnut where if you
follow the outer loop, then the inner loop, it’s exactly one
mile long. This layout was deliberate—they used to race
horses around the “track” formed by the roads in the early
years. It’s really convenient for measuring exercise.
There’s also some hills—which aren’t too common around
here—which helps keep it interesting.