Author: Splinter

  • Soupy and Poopie

    Two students with thumbs up

    Eight frolickers gathered in the thick mustard this morning, joined by an extra credit 2.0 for today’s rendition of WDog. Circle around the flag to start sweating, wait for Posh to come in hot, then off we went for a jog by the entrance of Maymont and over to Shields lake.

    COP
    7 Don Quixote’s
    17 Copperhead Squats
    78 SSH
    8 Burpees
    34 LBCs

    The Thang
    Partner up for no good reason and mosey to the nearest hill. Bear crawl up the hill, 10 merkins, crawl bear down, 10 merkins. Repeat for a total of 3 ups and downs.

    Mosey over to the nearest sidewalk and partner up for good reason. Partner 1 runs to the base of the staircase, up the stairs and returns while the other partner performs exercises. 3 iterations with exercises being burpees, jump squats, monkey humpers.

    Wait around for Wojo only to realize he is visiting somewhere on campus so we collected EF Hutton and mosey’d around Shields lake to the south stone wall. Line up in derkin position on the wall, first person in line completes 5 derkins then runs to the front of the line. Continue two times through the line.

    Line up in dip position on the wall. First person completes 10 dips and then runs to the front of the line. Modify from reverse plank to flutter kicks to freddie mercuries. Congrats to Saab for watching Bohemian Rhapsody. Two times through then mosey to the nearest hill.

    Clockwork merkins. 20x at 3, 6, 9, and 12 positions. Careful to navigate around the land mines left by the ducks and geese.

    Work our way back up to Spottswood for a final push of sprints, squats, reverse sprints, lunges. Repeat twice then run back to the flag for 3 minutes of Mary including LBCs, Hammers and Flutter Kicks.

    I learned something new today. Luke Bryan’s birthday is today.

    Numbers, names, and YHC took us out.

    Moleskin
    It was warm. It was moist. It was aromatic over by Maymont. Great job by everyone showing up and pushing through this fine midsummer RVA morning.

    Saab was trying out a new type of SSH this morning. Sorry you hate regular ones so much but they are a good full body warm up. Keep practicing brother.

    Everyone pushed hard today including Jaws who is working on a summer fitness program required through school. Multiple referencers to Mark Harmon in Summer School quickly occurred.

    Stay cool everyone. It’s a gross one out there.

    Announcements
    Early Risers this weekend. 4:00am. Have fun.
    Puppy Pile the following weekend. Marv will join via skype from Japan.

    Piles of Big Data out there just waiting to be cleansed.

  • PSA – Lost Data

    PSA – Lost Data

    There was a momentary loss of data yesterday evening on the website. As of 5:00AM this morning I had to restore the site to a backup from yesterday at 4:38PM. I have verified that any posts created during that window have at least been recreated; however, if you made updates after 4:38PM EDT yesterday and 5:00AM EDT this morning they are lost. Feel free to recreate any comments, or just forget about them all together.

    If anyone has any questions, just ping me and I’ll fill you in.

    #BigData should be clean. If you see otherwise, just ping me.

    Splinter

  • Finally Saw the river at River Run

    Solo post at River Run this morning. I waited an extra minute and then headed for the trails down by the river. Got turned around and ran back past the car, up Twin Team and then back around the school and parking lot to finish out the 45 minutes and 4.20 miles.

    I run faster with a group and when I know where I am going.

    Kids late for rowing drive really fast

    The river trails are kind of spooky in the foggy dawn.

    Prayers for Helix’s daughter. Peace fellas – see y’all tomorrow.

    Can’t add QIC, Date, Pax.. somehow I screwed up my posting options…not known for my WordPress skills and it keeps me from wanting to Q -I don’t mind writing, I just screwed this up in some way.

    Shakedown

  • [4, 6]

    Interval

    A combination of RAMMers, Gear-heads, and early risers tackled today’s iteration of RAMM. Only the RAMMers got to experience today’s long overdue interval plan. Here’s how it went:

    Group into 4 milers, 5 milers, and 6 milers. Everyone goes north on Commonwealth and right on Monument and returns the same way.

    15 minute warm up at a relatively easy pace
    15 minute pickups which includes 1 minute of fast pace followed by 30 seconds of recovery. 10 of these, reversing course after the 5th interval.
    15 minute cool down

    Numbers, names, YHC took us out.

    Moleskin
    It’s been over a year since we did this variation of the fartlek at RAMM. Based on the discussion post run, everyone (including Marv) seemed to enjoy the faster pace. Speed work is always good to mix in to break up the monotony of always running for distance.

    The idea is to stick together in your pace group. Phonics and Faceplant did a good job of doubling back on the recovery part of the intervals to make sure YHC’s group stayed together. Next time YHC will be a little more explicit about that desire to stick together. Thanks to Upgrade and Bleeder for captaining their groups respectively.

    Bootleg forgot to turn around and may still be running had he not seen the six mile group on the reverse course.

    Is TYA reading this BB? We know Marv won’t.

    Happy Birthday No Tools.

    Announcements
    – Puppy Pile 6/29. Marv has the Q.
    – Amateaur RAMM Gears next week with Lab Rat on the Q. Bring something that rolls for a fun day peddling on the streets. 2.0s welcome?

    Splinter out

  • Turf Toe

    Nine from Arlington welcomed a traveling Splinter for a perfect morning beatdown at Yorktown High School. The turf was damp but perfect, eclipsing the quality of fields at NoToll.

    The Thang

    Four corners for COP, lots of variations of merkins including superman and swimmer merkins, which I enjoyed and will likely reuse in the future.

    Multiple variations of catch me if you can.

    Fun with Bocce balls. Toss a ball with a partner and treat it as an exercise race. You have to do exercises until your partner returns.

    Fun time was had by all.

  • Indecent Exposure

    Image result for running shorts meme

    Sixteen wandering Westhamers promptly departed from the Commons at 5:29, leaving behind at least 1 just-in-time PAX member to locate the crew. TYA inquired and everyone was excited when YHC announced his claim of the Q. Off we went:

    The Route

    • West around the baseball field, left on College, right on Lakewood
    • 4 milers right on Wood, right on Hampshire (whoops, Baldwin), across to Ridge Top, stopping at Chandler
    • 5 milers right on Wood, right on Westham, right on Woodberry, right on Horsepen, left on Devon, right on Ridge Top, stop at Chandler
    • 6 milers continue on Lakewood to a right on Westham, right on Woodberry, right on Horsepen, left on Devon, right on Ridge Top, stop at Chandler

    Stop for intervals on Chandler. 1 minute up at high intensity and 1:45 down for recovery. Complete anywhere from 3-5 intervals depending on arrival time.

    Follow Ridge Top back towards campus with a quick jog through fraternity row before returning back to VSF.

    Moleskin
    Apologies to the 4 mile crew for mislabeling the right on Hampshire. It should have been a right on Baldwin which turns into Hampshire. Thus, some of our PAX didn’t make it to Chandler on time. Eventually everyone but 2 showed up to enjoy the intervals.

    Many thanks to our elder statesman for demonstrating what proper running attire is for a cool 50°F.

    Announcements

    • Donate to Shakedown to support childhood cancer. See him for more details
    • Puppy Pile on 6/1, “the last Saturday in May”
    • Memorial Day convergence on, you guessed it, Memorial Day
    • Summer Tour challenge starts on the actual last Saturday in May. Check out the google sheets doc for details. You can even request a patch.

    Splinter out.

  • Magnum, PI

    Nine rain-shower dodgers circled around the flag for this morning’s iteration of Hoedown. Everyone greeted the sleeveless Fudd, then off we went for a quick warm-up jog through the neighborhood before meeting in front of the school for:

    COP
    SSH x20
    Arm Circles x15
    Copperhead Squats x20
    Don Quixotes x15
    Freddie Mercuries x20
    Merkins x20

    The Thang
    Mosey to the parking lot nearest the cafeteria for instructions. 3 exercises of 20 each then run to the far end of the parking log, traverse up and down the hill, then run back to whence we came. The run got shorter and shorter with each iteration. Exercises were:

    Merkins, Squats, Flutter Kicks, Run forward/backward
    Werkins, Lunges, LBCs, Bear Crawl / Crawl Bear
    Clerkins, Ball Dippers, Reverse Crunches, Crawl Bear / Bear Crawl
    Boo Ya Merkins, Step Back Lunges, APDs, Crab Walk / Walk Crab

    Slow shimmy over to the stairway ramp for 3 sets of 10 jerkins.

    Sideways shuffle over to the paved ocean for triple check. Al Gore, APDs and Karaoke / Backwards Run / Forwards run.

    Hustle back to the flag where announcements were made and YHC took us out.

    Moleskin
    The weather was glorious today. Soon after COT, the skies opened up and everyone scattered. Always great to see Fudd out in the gloom and he continues to EH even from afar. Welcome to FNG Ben who is a local Midlo graduate, thus the Magnum moniker.

    Someone commented about the length of the karaokes on the blacktop should be called ball twisters, from which YHC retorted “twisticles”. Someone should look to see if that can get added to the lexicon.

    Announcements
    Memorial Day convergence at Tredegar. No Hoedown that day.

    Prayers to Handshake’s friend who is going through terrible circumstances.

    See everyone in the gloom.

    Big Data is watching.

  • I feel like I worked out with my 2.0

    Image result for workout meme funny

    Wait… I did!

    At least 6 stellar dad’s woke their kids up early for the first Puppy Pile of ’19. It went something like this:

    Mosey to the far circle for COP. The Q left behind his 2.0 for a while. Survival of the fittest!

    COP
    COP stuff. Stretching and warming up the muscles and heart

    The Thang
    Skip-to-my-lou over to the field for multiple iterations of partner carries. Twice the length of the field.

    Slow saunter over to the west side of the Carillon for touch a tree. Burpees, Merkins, SSH, LBCs. Many exercises were had. Wait, was it 1 tree, 1 exercise or 2 trees 1 exercise? Q can help explain. There were some monkey squats in there somewhere too.

    Long shuffle circumnavigating the Carillon and head over the the amphitheater for partner exercises, dips + running, step-ups + running. Maybe some more stuff? I think we squatted over some more monkeys.

    Cartwheel over to the nearest circle for Animal Instincts. Crowd favorites were seals, crabs, worms (audible to elephants). Maybe a few other exercises that the Q can fill in.

    Push and shove our way over to the field for some Sharks & Minnows. Why not? Only (2) 2.0s were injured during this less than desirable exercise.

    A tired stroll back to the VSF for some more squatting with monkeys.

    Did YHC forget anything? Only the Q would know.

    Moleskin
    24 hours is well past. YHC collected as many thoughts as he recollects and captured them here. Marv has officially lost his authoring privileges on the site.

    My favorite quote of the day was when my 2.0 Tidwell (as in Rod Tidwell, call my agent) walked in the door at home and what was the first thing he exclaimed to his family?

    “Guys – that was the most fun I have ever had. I had a grown up knock me over in sharks and minnows!”

    Sorry Sippy, he threw you under the bus.

    Till next time covering for Marv’s backblast…

    Big Data is watching.

  • Celestial Navigation

    Image result for celestial navigation

    Fourteen noble steeds emerged from their chariots eagerly awaiting a Splinter Q. Everyone huddled around before YHC asked, “who has the Q”. Upon realization of YHCs negligence, we settled upon Mount Henrico. Off we went with little instructions and only the simple question, “do you know where you are going?”

    4s, 5s, and 6s were bountiful. Huddle up for numbers, names and TYA insisted on taking us out with his recommendation not to rely on GPS. Good thing it wasn’t designed for military use where precision is important. Saab appropriately interjected with his support for high priced athletic tracking gear.

    Moleskin
    Apologies to the group for not having something more elaborate planned. YHC takes pride in proper preparation and for some reason did not look at the Q sheet yesterday. Had there been even a few minutes more, something else could have been called. I wonder what that could have been? Be forewarned, next time there will be ample planning.

    I am just glad that everyone loves my running routes. They may not be in Lockjaw territory, but the grin on Saab’s face when he hopped out of the car in anticipation of directions (which never came) gave me solace that I must be doing something right.

    Announcements

    • Awesome news but prayers continue for Toto’s family
    • PuppyPile will make is re-emergence Saturday 4/27 at 7:05AM. Marv has the Q. If you see him, be sure to remind him of this fact.
    • Congrats to TYA on his recent accomplishments and PR with the 50k.

    Big Data wasn’t watching very well today.

  • Babbling Brook

    Image result for babbling brook

    A mighty 11 came strolling into a not-so-dark Hoedown this AM for a Splinter led post vaca beatdown. Huddle up to watch Upchuck tie his shoes then off we went down to the bottom of Lindsay for:

    COP
    SSH x20
    Imperial Squat Walkers x20
    Don Quixotes x10
    Arm Circles each way x15

    The Thang
    1k5k. Partner up and one partner runs up to the top of Lindsay while the other does an exercise. Exercises were 100x Jump Tucks, 200x merkins, 300 two-count Freddie Mercuries, 400x LBCs.

    Mosey back to the blacktop for some more March Madness fun. 3 modified line drills on the blacktop, using the basketball hoops as our lines. At each line complete increasing number of specified exercise. 5x, 10x, 15x, 20x. First iteration was merkins, second iteration was jump squats, third iteration (much to the delight of Bodos) was two-count mountain climbers. Much fun was had.

    Bear crawl down the ramp (and via a shortcut if your name is Ronnie) to the cafeteria wall for COT.

    YHC took us out.

    Moleskin
    What a wonderful morning for some light jogging. BT clocked us at nearly a 5k (2.7 miles). We accomplished > 1k exercises so we will call that a wash.

    Great to see Two Can out and about again. Up Chuck was gracious enough to offer a second pair of gloves which required Up Chuck to re-tie his shoes, prompting for a delayed departure.

    The babbling brook was clean and active this morning. Nice backdrop for the 1k exercises.

    Announcements
    Game tonight. Make sure you post tomorrow.

    Big data is (mostly) watching…