Author: Bootleg

  • Post CSAUP Sunday Fun

    A PAX of one assembled for some post CSAUP merriment bright and early this Sunday morning.

    PAX decided to head down the North Bank towards Tpot. Beautiful weather and not many other runners out today. Between the Monument 10k yesterday and our own CSAUP turnout was light.

    I must say especially when in close proximity to the tracks the fresh spring breeze carried with it some dank odors. I don’t mean dank as in “The Rudeboy Pita from the Dank Eats food truck is diggedy-dank!” I mean dank as in “Are these bushes competely full of dog poop?” Once clearing the sewage smell it proved to be a pleasant day for the trails if not a bit warm and humid. Warm weather is here and so is perspiration. Keep hydrated.

    PAX decided to complete the 7 mile loop returning on Buttermilk, content to progress at Bootleg speed.

    NMS: YHC had a great CSAUP experience. Many thanks to Splinter for pulling it together and TYA for organizing the Richmond Proper team and everybody who helped make it happen. Thanks to my teammates and hats off to everybody who participated, came out to support in between other activities, or thought about us as we were out in the dark leaving a trail of samples across Richmond for Offshore to come back and collect.

    I needed more miles for the week even tho I was exhausted. After getting a nap and a full 8 hours last night it felt good to get out. ET’s with one of my 2.0’s was great.

    Get some rest folks. See you soon

     

  • April Fools

    Three April Fools, a pup, and a Saab were on the trail this Easter Morning, the first day of the month.

    No jokes. Small group today I presume due to vacations and Easter, etc. It was really nice weather to get out and we nearly had the trail to ourselves.

    Offshore, EF Hutton, Sally (K9), and YHC decided to cross the bridge and take Buttermilk down to Belle Isle and return on the North Bank.

    Some good conversation and a Saab sighting. YHC appreciates the team accommodating his slowness and Sally for always keeping an eye on me to make sure I’m not lagging too far behind.

    Short and sweet. Thanks for the run today guys. Have a good rest of your weekend and start your week off well.

  • Spring will spring eventually

    Four men converged on the Stone House at Forest Hill Park to top off their tanks with motivation and camaraderie sufficient to begin another week.

    Per the official record this is how this Hot Potato QIC came together

    Swirly lead the COP in the gully courtyard: all in cadence – SSH x 20, Merkin x 20, DQ x 10, Whirlybirds x 10, LBC x 20

    Swirly commanded the PAX choose a token of his esteem and proceed to the path:

    • Set: Exercise with token, overhead carry to top of hill, 5 left hand on token merkins, 5 right hand on token merkins, carry back to start
    • Exercises: (May need clarification from Swirly) 10 x Overhead raises, 10 x arm curls

    Baton passed to Sippy Cup

    Sippy directed the PAX return to courtyard with tokens in hand and arrange in a four sided circle

    • Set 1: Right hand token merkin, Left hand token merkin, plank walk sideways to next token and repeat – total of 3 times to arrive at new token (not all tokens indicate the same level of esteem so it must be shared), 10 step ups on wall with newly assigned token, back to four sided circle
    • Set 2: Repeat Set 1
    • Set 3: Repeat Set 1 but move to left
    • Set 4: Repeat Set 3

    My Cousin Vinny sensed his biological clock ticking as he took the reins

    • Indigenous Peoples Run – 6 does 5 merkins, up the hill and around to flag and back to courtyard
    • Crab walk around the courtyard
    • Bear crawl around the courtyard
    • 10 jump squats in cadence

    PAX was crabby after this one

    YHC finished us off

    • Return the tokens of esteem to their resting place to be replenished with esteem until next time
    • Mosey to playground
    • Set 1 – repeat three times: 5 pull ups, 10 dips, 10 incline merkins
    • Set 2 – repeat three times: 5 pull ups, 20 LBC
    • Plank variations for a few minutes

    Back to the flag, numbers and names, Vinny took us out

    NMS:

    YHC was glad to be back at Batteau after a couple weeks off tending to responsibilities and nursing injuries. I wasn’t sure how my ribs would do after the Saturday beat down but was pleasantly surprised. The healing progresses. Thankfully I have been able to keep running throughout and the silver lining is my legs, lungs, and heart had a chance to get in better running shape. Bring on the Stupidity!

    Vinny, thanks for taking us out. Glad you’re all in and becoming an F3 regular. Keep it up. Swirly and Sippy, stalwarts as always. Good start to the week.

     

  • Partner assisted James crossing

    Four Sunday regulars – three men and a doggo – braved some of the most beautiful RVA weather in weeks hoping for dry trails and calm winds. No disappointment.

    Shakedown, Offshore, Sally (K9) and YHC set out with a general idea to proceed down the North Bank toward the bridges and figure out the rest later with a target of 7 miles. Basically this is what Shakedown thinks of as tapering for a 25K next weekend…

    Decision was made to cross over to Belle Isle and return to the North Bank via Potterfield Bridge.

    Sally started over Potterfield strong but trepidation grew as the sound of rushing water increased. Eventually no amount of encouragement from the team could get her to budge another inch. To be fair, the rushing water also sent Shakedown looking for some relief of his own.

    Activate the partner assisted bridge crossing and Sally made it to the safety of dry land and we headed back. In the end we completed a leisurely 8.7 (8.9 for Shakedown as he ran ahead to find a john) miles. Just a tad over 7.

    Lots of other runners on the trails today taking advantage of the gorgeous running weather.

    Guys, thanks for the excellent conversations about power tools, yard fowl, photography and music. I hope Reba, Emmylou, and Dolly appreciate their new abode.

    Good luck Shakedown, Upchuck, Honey Do, Flashdance (any others?) running the Bel Monte 25K in Wintergreen next week. Hats off!

    Great work TYA finishing 100 miles! Amazing

  • Four sore cores

    Four men gathered in the gloom with hopes of working some soreness out of their cores and getting their weeks off to a positive start with a Hot Potato Q. This is how it went

    Swirly opened the COP:

    IC: 20 x SSH, 10 x DQ, 10 x Helo, 10 x Merkin, 20 x LBC, 10 x Flutter, 10 x Freddie

    Swirly continued:

    10/20/30 of each with a run to the top of the hill between sets: Dips, Decline Merkins, WWII

    Baton handed to Sippy Cup who lead us to the coupon bin as he is want to do and then to the tennis courts with coupons overhead

    Line up on one side of the court, carry your coupon across and back walking backward. Rotate through each coupon so each got a turn with each.

    One man elbow plank supporting coupon while partner runs around the other tennis courts (or court as you may have interpreted the directions). Each partner gets a turn. Repeat with regular plank

    Bootleg received the baton and kept us at the tennis court four some Four Corner work.

    Round 1 – Merkins: 10 each Regular, Wide, Diamond, Release – Lunge between corners (careful not to do the splits on slick patches!)

    Round 2 – Burpees: 2,4,6,8 – Lunge between

    Return your coupons and back to the flag for numberama/namerama. Swirly took us out

    Announcements:

    • Sign up for CSAUP
    • Monument 10k Prep at the Healing Place on Saturdays – sign up and help out
    • Hardywood can’t get enough quality time with shoes

    Good work guys. Great start to the week

     

     

  • Spring in January at Batteau

    On a beautiful Spring day in, January?!?!?!, seven men convened at Batteau in the darkness to start their week. This is how it went

    Mosey lap to COP
    IC: SSH 20, Don Quixote 10, Box Cutter 10, Freddie Mercury 10, Merkin 10

    DirtyMacDeuce: Four sets of 3 x 20 count exercises – each set followed by a Lap
    Set 1 – Incline Merkin, Lunge, Heels to Heaven
    Set 2 – Merkin, Squat, LBC
    Set 3 – Dips, Lt Dan, Reverse LBC
    Set 4 – Decline Merkin, Step up (10 each leg), WW II sit up

    Mosey to the tennis courts

    Four Corners Escalator
    C1 – 10 Merkin
    C2 – 10 Merkin + 20 Squat
    C3 – 10 Merkin + 20 Squat + 30 LBC
    C4 – 10 Merkin + 20 Squat + 30 LBC + 40 Lunge

    Four Corners Regular
    C1 – 10 Rosalita
    C2 – 10 Heels to Heaven
    C3 – 10 Box Cutters
    C4 – 10 Hello Dolly

    Blackjack Fast Deal – (aka 21s with a short run)
    Merkin++ + sprint across court + LBC– = 21 total exercises each round

    Mosey back to flag

    COT Names and numbers, YHC took us out

    Welcome back to Clavin who’s been on the DL for a while.

    YHC’s VQ. I am grateful to be welcomed into such a great group of people and honored to be able to contribute. Overall I am satisfied with how the workout went today considering it was my first Q. I think I would skip the Four Corners Regular if I had to do it over. I wasn’t quite sure how the timing was going to work. Blackjack ate up a good amount at the end and we hit 45 minutes almost on the dot.

    I’d like to say that was exactly how I planned it but mostly it was serendipity! Great work everybody!

    Announcements:

    • CASUP insomniac craziness April 13-14
    • See Honey Do for details on being a coach for the Healing Place Monument Ave 10K training team
    • Breaking Bread this weekend