Cancer survivor, inspirational cyclist and seven-time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong is often quoted with the following: "I take nothing for granted. I now have only good days or great days."
I like that, because it's the key to a positive outlook on life. When I look at the tough training I've been enduring the last few weeks, I know it's good because in the lowest moments when I'm just gassed and I think I've got nothing left to give, I find the strength to go on and I realize – there is nothing else that I'd rather be doing! So this past week was action-packed and information-filled, with lots of room for a big learning curve and mistakes to boot. But man, when it dawns on you that they are PAYING you to do this crazy fun stuff, whether as a recruit in training, obedient probie, or veteran career firefighter, it just doesn't get any better... it's a GREAT, not just good, DAY!!
Put a bunch of those great days together and you get a Fan-fricken-TASTIC week! A lot of variety; we did more building construction tours, marched in the Remembrance Day parade, trained for vehicle and dumpster fires, spent 12 hours at the burn building with live fire, climbed aerial ladders, did ground ladder evolutions, victim rescues... does it get any better? Well yeah, but for now, I'm enjoying every minute... bruised shoulders and all. Some things I have noticed during the more physical side of training:
TD
I like that, because it's the key to a positive outlook on life. When I look at the tough training I've been enduring the last few weeks, I know it's good because in the lowest moments when I'm just gassed and I think I've got nothing left to give, I find the strength to go on and I realize – there is nothing else that I'd rather be doing! So this past week was action-packed and information-filled, with lots of room for a big learning curve and mistakes to boot. But man, when it dawns on you that they are PAYING you to do this crazy fun stuff, whether as a recruit in training, obedient probie, or veteran career firefighter, it just doesn't get any better... it's a GREAT, not just good, DAY!!
Put a bunch of those great days together and you get a Fan-fricken-TASTIC week! A lot of variety; we did more building construction tours, marched in the Remembrance Day parade, trained for vehicle and dumpster fires, spent 12 hours at the burn building with live fire, climbed aerial ladders, did ground ladder evolutions, victim rescues... does it get any better? Well yeah, but for now, I'm enjoying every minute... bruised shoulders and all. Some things I have noticed during the more physical side of training:
- Being vertically challenged, and depending on my position during the drill, ground ladder carries with other people means either I get slammed with a whole lotta ladder, or I am in a full overhead press (if I am even lucky enough to reach the rungs & beams). Now we invert the ladder, meaning we flip it over while we are carrying it. Now we practice carrying it through a narrow passageway... yup, that's me hanging off the middle! Now try all of that while running. Makes for some fun times!
- It's all about hose handling. Our T.O.s have driven this into us from the beginning, but as we progress during our training evolutions, no matter what new fire suppression technique we are learning that day, what beats me down every time is humpin' charged hoseline. No amount of strength & cardio training can prepare you for this particularly eveil-yet-necessary task. I'm consoled by the fact that every other person, in my recruit class and any firefighter that knows this, shares my pain because what it boils down to is it's hard physical work. Nothing fancy or special, no magic technique to make it easier, just a ridiculous amount of grunting and sweating to get the job done. Truth be told, I'll take the unbearable heat of the burning building over the punched-in-the-gut feeling of complete exhaustion from humping hose anytime.
- Using proper body mechanics, a small gal like me (5'4", 130lbs) can "rescue" the biggest guy in class (6'5", 265lbs - no gear) and carry him down a ladder. And when the safety line snaps off accidentally? No prob... I got ya. That was a nice feeling.
- The CPAT fitness test, while challenging to a point, is really the bare-bones minimum to what the physical demands of firefighting really are. Hindsight being 20/20, I would have done a lot more HEAVY kettlebell workouts, then build endurance from there. Exercises of choice, if given only 2 choices, would be clean & jerks and snatches. I would use no less than a 16kg bell, optimally working towards a 20kg, then top off with a few reps of 24kg. This is pretty heavy weight to be swinging around for a female my size, but once I am able to get back to a regular training routine, that is my goal. And it's a goal not to impress anyone, not even myself, but it's a necessary goal to be able to do this job effectively. I'm going to hit the gym tomorrow, and give it a shot. It should be interesting, because I haven't done a KB workout in over a month, but at the same time I have been pushing HARD since training began. I'll report back in my next post.
TD
No comments:
Post a Comment