Category: Northshore

  • The Land of the Midnight Sun – from Steve

    Jose has returned! Well, technically he was already on his third beatdown of the week (ok, as of this writing, his fourth), but for the Covington crew it was his grand homecoming. And he returned with tales of a mythical land where the sun never sets, the summer temps never hit the 60’s, and F3 doesn’t exist. Though that’s not entirely true since Jose brought the F3 with him: apparently he roped some poor bastard into doing 100 burpees / absolutions with him each day. This man never stops.

    Brief warmorama, starting in a slow Gipper-cadence and then gently ramping up.

    Then off to the rear of the Justice Center for a brief fling with Jane Fonda. We hit all three stages of Jane today (straight Janes, pulses, heel-to-knees), all at 15x IC, each leg.

    Then looped around to the front of the JC for the main event – a series of 11’s between the courtyard benches.

    Started off with the chest/shoulders: Derkins on one end, bear crawl across the courtyard to the opposite set of benches for freak nasties.

    It seemed fitting that Jose would endure this one round and then have to leave for work, as he was the only Pax present to also have posted for Shooter’s brutal shoulder beatdown Tuesday, and Hammer’s brutal shoulder beatdown Monday. (YHC was reprimanded with a: “This is why you guys need to start writing backblasts!”)

    Next set of 11’s were Bulgarians (2:1), lunge walk to opposite end, Step Ups (2:1).

    Didn’t get to the core round, which was just as well since, really, what’s the point of crab walking when Legal isn’t there to show off.

    Finally, an old Maverick classic – reverse bear crawl (or crawl bear, as the kids call it) up the courthouse steps. Followed by some calf raises, and back to the flag for an abbreviated Mary.

    COT with announcement of Duke of Hazards’ VQ this Saturday! (Moby’s response: “Some $#%@& kid in diapers telling me to do 1000 burpees….”). Then we checked BBQ’s hat-o-meter only to see that the sweat lines weren’t quite up to last week’s beatdown (though still hot enough that ol’ Sonny gave the warm air one sniff before thinking, “Nah…” and settling back into Moby’s truck).

    And finally BBQ prayed us out. Prayers for BBQ’s niece’s son, ten-year-old Charlie, who is going through a very tough time as he awaits a kidney transplant. And as always, thanks for this great group of men and the opportunity to lead.

  • Goodness Gracious Great Ballz of Fire! – from Bushwacker

    The PAX showed up deep… Ballz Deep! 7 men started off, picking a a bicycling Bean with his own burning ballz (recovering from a minimally painful, though high anxiety snip) on Vermont. Tank, and BD trailed YHC, who was trying desperately to keep up with Speedy, while Shooter, Legal, and Bean moved at a leisurely pace with lively mumblechatter on a lovely morning. Parrot had spread his wings for some early miles and flew about as he saw fit. As per usual, the Future-Olympian Will I Am jumped in and blazed back to the coffee spot on our return. Sweetly satisfying Sunday shenanigans were shared and some EH was thrown about at the finish line upon meeting Zack and his buddy, training for the Northshore Half. Until next week meet,

    SYITG

  • Geezers at the A1C – from Einstein

    Just a couple of geezers today at the A1C with the averaged age of 71.
    Guess the young bucks (like BBQ) decided to sleep in. And we’ll cut Jose10K some slack because he’s up in Alaska catching salmon with his teeth (and probably playing music whilst doing so.)
    After a strong warmup we did burpees for 35 minutes – maybe.
    Moby prayed us out.

  • How about some sprints? – from Shooter

    YHC arrived early at 0500 believing there would be some Spartans out but I guess with Zoolander’s July ISI closed a break was in order.. Russo arrived and we had some pre chatter and stretching by Mr. McGruff and the exercise equipment.. It wasn’t long after that Speedy turned the corner and then Hammer as well.. The PAX was small considering the last few weeks, however we jumped into some warmups and stretches.. Russo journeyed out with his Ruck and was asked to pause at Messina/Monroe. He graciously obliged and the remaining 3 PAX ran down East Causeway approach to Monroe and then proceeded to meet him at the same location.. We completed 10 rounds of varying sprints and then proceeded to Mosey back to the AO..
    Appreciate Speedy taking us out in prayer and for you gentlemen posting.

    Until the next Gloom 👍🏼👊🏼✌🏼!!

  • That Ain’t The Way To Have Fun, No – from Steve

    With Jose away, the Pax will play – we took a break from the Purple Rain and dove into some Purple Haze on this hot and humid gloom, sweating it out to some 70’s classics (Yes, YHC had to adjust the playlist decade for the Covington crew, which skews slightly older – one day Pickaxe will hopefully be doing the same for me cuz I ain’t working out to no Drake!)

    Partnered up at the back of the Justice Center for some 100’s (not the Bushwacker kind): 100 cumulative reps of the following exercises (P1), with P2 running up the courthouse steps and doing 1 Bobby Hurley (temporarily renamed Caitlin Clarks by BBQ) before returning to pick up where P1 left off.

    Squats
    Merkins
    Lunges (2:1)
    Boxcutters
    Freak Nasties
    Alternating Step Ups
    Apollo Ohnos (2:1)
    T-Merkins
    Monkey Humpers
    Flutter Kicks
    Plank Jacks
    Rosalitas
    Crunchy Frogs
    Burpees

    Yes, I purposefully buried the burpees with the hopes that we wouldn’t get to them, which worked. Unfortunately, we did get to the T-Merkins, which gave some of the Pax PTSD from Pik’s H8! this past Saturday.

    Wrapped it up on the Monkey Humper round – knocked out 40 together before heading back to the flag. BBQ noted that starting with Randy Newman’s Mama Told Me Not to Come was just as appropriate as wrapping things up with The Allman Brothers’ Whipping Post. Touché.

    Speaking of BBQ, we checked his hat-o-meter sweat lines at the end of the workout (as has been tradition the last few times I’ve posted) and he surmised this beatdown was one of the top three most sweat-inducing. And while I’d love to take credit for such an achievement, I think if he just laid on the concrete in front of the courthouse he’d probably have sweat just as much.

    Moby also then provided a profanity-laced PSA about heat stroke, which is indeed a good reminder for all of us: Don’t be a %#@*$ idiot and mess around with that shit, get yourself some %#@*$ water. Yes sir! (Respect, respect, respect.)

    Oh, and it’s unanimous – go watch Your Honor!

    COT and Fletch prayed us out with much needed prayers for world peace. Always a pleasure and an honor to be out there with you guys!

  • Can You Follow Instructions? – from Steve

    With Chewy calling in for a replacement Q the night before and Russo’s Altima nowhere in sight, YHC was pretty confident it’d be a solo beatdown.

    But that’s why you never bet against Russo, who pulled in shortly thereafter, barefoot but with shoes in hand, ready to rock. (The shoe-less drive, FYI, is not an uncommon thing – both Hammer and Bush have done this a few times as well.)

    YHC was happy to be the Q because I wanted something mellow today. So kept things simple, with a mosey to the lake, stopping at each intersection to add an exercise and ladder up:

    5 jump squats
    10 lunges
    15 merkins
    20 gas pumps
    25 shoulder taps
    30 flutters IC

    Along the way, we discussed the Olympics, drag queens, homeschooling, and the instructions test. Anyone remember that? Teacher gives you a list of instructions to follow, and basically the last one negates 90% of them, so then you look like an idiot if you did all 18 things on the list? Well, Russo and I both admitted to being that guy (but hey, that would be no surprise to my wife).

    At the lake, we worked in some Bulgarians and freak nasties (as is customary), and followed that up with another lake tradition, 5x calf raises up each step.

    Hit the road back to Granny’s with 10 merkins at each stop to get our merkin total up to 100, and closed it out with a little Mary.

    COT and Russo prayed us out. As always, thanks for the post and the camaraderie – appreciate you brother!

  • Synchronizing Our Cycles – from Steve

    6 men ran
    5 miles, drinking
    4 coffees afterwards, discussing
    3 things,
    2 of which were the Olympics and womens’ cycles, and
    1 of which was the unnecessary trip to Acquistapace’s that has been saving marriages in Covington for decades.

  • Block of Ages – from Akbar

    Good to see the Whacker return to the Marsh this gloom. 5 men suffered the humidity with a block beatdown, and we all got better for it.

    Warm Up: SSH, Imperial Walkers, Arm Circles, Self Love, Shooters Self Love, Toe Touches, Grass Grabbers, Windmills, run to the stop sign and back.

    Thang:

    Chest Press, Goblet Squat, Curls, Shoulder Press x15 OYO, descending by 1 each round. After each round, mosey to the playground for pull ups and 10 second dead hang. Run to the stop sign and back.

    Rinse and repeat until time.

    Whacker waxed us all, and Dark Wing prayed us out.

    Announcements:
    Spartan October, multiple races through November.

    Thanks for the post! SYITG – Akbar

  • There are beavers in my creek – from Russo

    Pax of 3 this morning, mid 70s throughout. With doctor’s orders to keep the running to a minimum, we did just that with a Tabata at the stage.

    Warmup (all 10x)
    – arm circles
    – High knees
    – Toe touches
    – Hillbillies
    – Torso twists
    – Self love

    Tabata (37 seconds on, 23 off)

    Merkins
    Monkey humpers
    LBCs
    Plank jacks
    Imperial squat walkers
    Scissor kicks
    Peter Parker’s
    Apollo Ohnos
    Gas pumps
    Cherry pickers
    High knees
    Penguins

    We tabata’d that circuit almost three full times, with a slalom and a trip up and down the pilot house between the rounds.

    Around the middle of round 2, Pelican updated us on the status of a recent purchase: there were indeed beavers in his creek. What sounded like a euphemism was indeed a true statement, so the next few minutes were a discussion of how to treat the furry creatures: friend, foe, or delicacy.

    How we pivoted almost immediately to Joe’s shoes, the benefits of rebates, cash payments, manager discounts, and the overbearing presence of the eponymous owner, was a thing of beauty and the sign of good mumblechatter.

    No Mary to speak of, but we did of course wrap with a circle, announcements, and prayer. A special intention lifted up for a coworker’s family, and I’m happy to report things seem to be ok there.

    Thank you gents for joining / reading. SYITG

  • The Name Fits – from Waterpik

    Speedy Gonzalez. Yep that’s right! When he shows up for the scramble, the average
    Minute per mile decreases drastically. As in today, where he and Steve ran the last mile of the weekly 5k at a brisk 7:00 per mile. To put it bluntly, the man can move.

    The rest of the Pax ran the lakefront route today 3.7 miles at 9:00 minute a mile pace.

    Ruckers and runners, we had both.

    SYITG