Author: THE Yankee Aggressor

  • Lonely on the Trail

    Rain was in the forecast, but the rain never came.  Three strong and fast posted at the Pump House parking lot this morning for a nice trail run.

    The Thang:

    Cross the bridge, start on the Buttermilk trail.  Cross over at Belle Isle, run the perimeter of Belle and run back on the Northbank trail.

    Moleskin

    When YHC pulled into the parking lot at 652 this morning, there were no other cars in the parking lot.  Offshore pulled in a few minutes later followed by Saab at 7 am on the nose.  I was glad to have the company for the run, especially two rabbits to chase the whole morning.   Chase I did, but I never did quite catch up.  Thanks to Wilson and Offshore for doubling back for me every mile or so.  I appreciated the motivation in front of me.

    YHC had to leave shortly after the run this morning so I could get down to the world championships.  I was in such as rush that I realized halfway out the parking lot that my phone was not in the car with me.  I knew I had just checked the time on the phone so it couldn’t be too far.  I searched the car, no phone.  I drove back to where I had parked, no phone.  I looked around the parking lot and the whole path I had driven…no phone.  I re-searched the car and trunk…no phone.  Where the hell is it.  My maiden in shining armor pulled in beside my car when I was mid panic.  I politely asked if she could call my cell so I could locate it.  She made the call, and quickly pointed to my back window where my phone was sitting.  Thank you unknown lady…I appreciate your help.  Just as an aside for those unmarried PAX, this approach is not a bad way to get a young ladies phone number.

    See you in the gloom next week.

  • Back to the basics

    8 fleet footed faithful found there way to the festivities this morning.  Weather was perfect for a run. 62 degrees and cloudy, no humidity.

    Take a right on Grove, four mile loop turn around at Malvern, 5 mile loop turn at Roseneath, 6 mile loop turn at THE Boulevard.  All run to Three Chopt, turn around and back to the shovel flag.

    Moleskin

    Lots of injuries and illnesses in the PAX right now.  Bleeder had to fartsack due to a twisted ankle yesterday….Get well soon Bleeder…  Swirly started off strong, but slowed considerably at the end due to a bout with Sciatica.  Lots of good advice was thrown Swirly’s way.  Hopefully one of the many suggestions will do the trick.  Saab was back in the saddle today after a week of inactivity due to  a cold.  He had a ton of energy and easily lapped the field on his six mile jaunt.

    Toga and Offshore seemed to swap the lead several times during the run.  Offshore was a little ahead at the first turn, but when they came back from the Three Chopt Hill, I think Toga was in the lead.  YHC ran with Honeydo and Swirly for a good portion of the run and enjoyed the company.  I had a rare run for me today.  I felt great on the majority of the run and was able to get in a great groove.  I wish all my runs were like that.  Grizzly and Pucker knocked out the 4 mile loop with ease.

    Weird not having Sippy Cup or Marv out there with us today.  Both are such consistent participants in the run that it did not feel right without them.  See you out there soon.

    Weather is getting great for running.  Many F3 related runs coming up.  Join in on the fun.

  • Lets Play a Little Ball

    9 motivated woke up in the gloom and posted at the Punisher.  Beautiful morning with a little chill in the air.  Fall has arrived in the RVA.  No more sweat towels needed after the workout.

    The Thang:

    Mosey to front right corner of the school for COP.  20x SSH, 15x Merkins, 20x Through the Tunnel, 20x Don Quixote, 33x LBC.  Mosey back to the parking lot in front of the school.  Baseball with cards.  Pick one card from the exercises deck and one card from the hits deck.  Single = 25 reps of exercise and one lap around the parking lot, Double = 20 reps of exercise and two laps around lot, Triple = 15 reps of exercise and 3 laps around the loop, HR = 10 reps of exercise and four laps around the loop.  We did Merkins, Jumps Squats, SSH, and Burpees (with a triple).  In all we made it through six innings.

    Mosey to front of school for 6 minutes of mary (dealers choice).  Promo pics russian twists (x20), Best Shot picks leg lifts (x20).  We also did Freddy Mercury and a few others.

    NMM:

    Great to be back out at the workouts after a few days away at the BRR.  Apologies for the lack of detail in the backblast.  My mind is still a little spent from a Thursday/Friday with only a few hours of sleep.

    Promo is in town for the World Championships.  He has a big job to accomplish between now and then.  Best of luck, and let us know if we can do anything to help.  He led the Pax on a lot of the runs this morning.  Great work my friend.

    BRR guys had a little jump in the step for the first several laps around the school.  After a few laps, the legs became heavy and the pace slowed down.

    Announcements

    Convergence on Saturday:  Come one and all.  Bring a friend.

  • New parking spot at Mary Munford

    Gentlemen,

    After scouting out the AO and trying to figure out where we can park and have minimum noise impact on the neighborhood, we have a new spot.  It is still on Commonwealth Avenue closer to the Grove Avenue end.  It is the staff parking lot for the school.  It is restricted from 8am to 4pm during school days, but we should be out of there long before then.  From our current parking location, travel towards Grove Avenue, take the second entrance on the school side of the street, directly across from N. Willetta.  We will plant the shovel flag there starting with tomorrow’s run.

    FEBA

     

  • Another trail run, another Jville adventure!

    Nine men posted, nine men ran, and nine men conquered the trail run once again.  Despite its best efforts, the nine of us were cat quick and agile and attacked the run on a beautiful Sunday morning.

    The Thang

    Trail run, Northbank trail to Belle Isle, outside track at Belle Isle, Buttermilk back to nickel bridge and back to the parking lot.

    Naked Moleskin

    Johnsonville has been a regular on the trail runs and by most accounts is considered an expert in this area.  He has run numerous 50k trail runs, is a veteran on the northbank, buttermilk, and Pocohontas trails and generally does more trail running than any of the other F3’ers.  So how is it that despite all this experience he continues to flirt with disaster seemingly every week.  He has burned 3 of his 9 lives in the past month on the trails.

    About a month and a half ago, he became dehydrated on the second loop of the trail.  YHC knew something was wrong when I was consistently ahead of him on the second loop.  On that trip we had to call for rescue.  Two weeks ago on our inaugural trip to Pocohntas, he had two issues.  First, he had some stomach issues after trying some “Goo” after the first loop.  After battling past that, he started to hallucinate because of lack of food.  Luckily one of us had food to tide him over.  Since he now has water and food on his list of things to take care of on the run list, he tackled both with ease today.  Today’s escapade was a fight with an obstacle on the trail.  He tripped over a metal rod just off the trail today and went down hard.  Fortunately, no damage was done.  Jville may need a companion runner until and during the BRR.

    Toga and Conspiracy had committments post run so for the most part were through runners (Toga did catch with us just past Belle Isle).  As usual, Saab cleared all the cobwebs away and made sure that he got a few extra miles in by doubling back every mile or so. Wilson was fighting last nights merlot this morning, but despite the slight hangover put in a good run.  BT came out for his inaugural trail run and made it through with relative ease.  Great job BT. Chum is a machine on the trails.  He seems to have an automatic pace set that he runs each and every mile on the trail.  No matter the terrain, hills, or miles under his belt, his pace is consistent.  Lug Nut keeps pounding out the trail miles as well.  He has made a ton of progress on the trails the past few months.

  • Under 10…way under!!!

    10 fleet footed F3 PAX posted for the weekly jaunt around Mary Munford.  Weather was ideal, mid 60’s, no humidity and clear skies.  Perfect day for a fast run.

    The Thang

    Right onto Grove, run to Boulevard and turn around.  4 mile loop run to Wisteria, 5 mile loop run to Tuckahoe, and 6 mile loop run to St. Catherine’s bus loop.  After turnaround point, back to the shovel flag

    Moleskin

    Lugnut and Bleeder were pushing each other the whole route today.  Having already broken the ten minute mile barrier a month or so ago, they were pushing themselves even harder today.  At one point while Lug Nut was in the lead, Bleeder knowing that Lug Nut was afraid of dogs, started barking to try and slow him down.  In the end, they finished together and they posted a 930 average pace for the 4 mile loop.  Great work guys…level of improvement is impressive.

    Many were sporting new shoes today.  At the beginning of the run, Saab, Swirly and LG (I think) all declared that this was the first run in their new kicks.  is August national new shoe month or something.  I had no idea.

    Swirly tweaked his back a little during the run today.  Quick healing I hope.  YHC had the pleasure of running with Saab today.  Good to get a little second F in during the run.  I think we solved at least a few of the worlds problems.  After the workout, Bleeder told YHC that when he saw Saab and I arrive together, he immediately was worried that Saab must have gotten injured or something else to slow him down.

    Announcements

    BRR is exactly two weeks away.  Team appears to be ready. Stay healthy for the next two weeks guys.

    Go Ruck is Mid October.  Contact Honeydo for details.

  • Balls to the face

    16 posted for 45 Minutes of Mary.  The weather was perfect although we could have used a bit more sunlight to conduct our final set of exercises (Initially called “3 Man Weave” but may need to be called “Balls to the Face”).

    THANG:

    Mosey to first COP in front of school

    20XSSH, 20XLBCs, 20XImperial Walkers, 20XFreddie Mercuries, 15XMerkins

    Mosey to second COP at Grove/Westmoreland

    3 groups of 5 did ladder runs to Cary/Westmoreland

    Mosey to third COP at Blacktop

    Setup Triple Check with a wall squat (people’s chair), plank and a run backwards 40 yards then sprint forward 40 yards, 4 rounds

    Mosey to fourth COP in field

    New drill that was counting on a little more light at this time (probably better in June for this) called the “Three Man Weave”

    Group of 3 with football run half way across field executing “the weave” and pitching the ball to each other (rugby-style) stopping at mid field to do 2 sets of exercises then “weave” to far end of field do same 2 exercises – repeat 5 times

    Exercises were:

    1 – 20XMerkins and 20XLUNGES

    2 – 20XBurpees and 20XSQUATS

    3 – 20XLBCs and 20XMOUNTAIN CLIMBERs

    4 – 10XFLUTTER KICKS and 20XCAROLINA DRY DOCKS (10 per leg)

    5 – 15XWWII SITUPS and 15XPLANK PUNCHES

    Moleskin

    During round 5 (when there was more light and we’d had practice), if a team of 3 dropped the ball they did 5 MERKINS on the spot and continued.  Attesting to our need to work on our coordination, there were many stops for MERKINS.

    Also during the Weave, several teams had other mishaps.  After the workout, one PAX member was quoted as saying “I got several balls to the face”.  I am not sure why, but that seemed funny.

     

    Mosey to flag

  • Watch out, man down?

    Six fleet and fit posted for a Sunday trail run in RVA.

    The Thang:

    Start at Pump house parking area, take the northbank trail towards the city.  Cross over the to the dark side (oops south side) at Belle Isle, take buttermilk trail to nickel bridge and run back across bridge to parking lot.  Covered somewhere between 6.5 and 7.5 miles depending on how many time you turned back.

    Moleskin

    Great showing by Aisle 5, he posted for the Sunday run for the first time and had a relatively uneventful first trip.  Relatively because on the way back, he tried to tackle the downramp/stair challenge on the downramp.  He lost control and had to sprint down.  While sprinting he let out a loud and audible scream for  good 5 seconds.  YHC hearing the scream, immediately doubled back to assess the carnage.  Aisle 5 put my fears to rest quickly by shouting out “I’m OK”.

    Saab and Trophy continue to pace the group out front.  Thanks to both for clearing the route of all spider webs in the am.  Trophy sweats an incredible amount on the run.  After the run he announced that he losses 9 pounds during a typical sunday jaunt.  WOW.

    Wilson continues to wear a long sleeve shirt.  I will officially declare that he has now made it through the summer in long sleeves.  Impressive or crazy, you be the judge.

    Oyster’s pace on the route continues to increase.  If he continues to improve at this pace he will eventually finish the route before he starts.

    See you next week in the gloom.

  • Blimps with a Twist

    6 Beasts posted to prove that it is worth getting out of the fartsack and making yourself better.  Weather was beautiful, mid 60’s, low humidity, no sign of rain.

    The Thang:

    Pick out a couple of mid sized rocks for later in the workout.

    Mosey to front of school.  20x SSH, 5 burpees, 20x Through the Tunnel, 4 burpees, 35x LBC, 3 burpees, 20x Imperial Walkers, 2 burpees, 20x Squats, 1 burpee,   Mosey to track, stopping along the way to retrieve rocks, leave rocks at side of track.  BLIMPS with a twist.  6 stations, one in middle of front straight away, one at each corner of track and one on back straight away.  At first station, 5 burpees, second station 10 LT. Dan’s, third 15 imperial walkers, 4th 20 merkins, 5th 25 plank jacks, sixth 30 squats, back to start and do 35 russian twists.  Repeat x 4.  Mosey to rocks and do 20x tricep curls, 15x bicep curls, 10x lawnmowers each side.  Mosey back to shovel flag.

    Moleskin

    Aisle 5 continues to channel his inner Sippy Cup, posting to the workout on foot with a waterbottle in his hand.  Despite the fact that they are relatively the same height (?) nobody is going to mistake one for the other, even in the dark.  Aisle 5 is getting stronger and stronger everyday, he put in a respectable performance at the Sunday trail run last week.  Great job for his first time out.

    Wedding Singer is quickly approaching the birth of his first child.  Many of the seasoned parents pointed out that a first newborn does not have to slow down your excursions from the house.  With a young child who is not yet mobile, pretty much anything still goes.  YHC has been trying to get Singer out for a Sunday run.  This week he is going to be occupied with family in town, followed by a baby shower.  Oh, what fun is in store for him!!!

    I have decided to enter Swirly and Bleeder into a push up contest.  The contest would be for speed.  I am sure someone could beat them in number of push up done, but not in the speed in which they are done.  They lap me everytime a push up is involved in a routine.

    Best Shot was back after a short rest.  After posting for 5 days straight his first week, his body needed a little R&R.

    Good luck to Lug Nut who is off taking his son to college!!

    Announcements

    Hill run today, 530 pm at Hillcrest and Cary.

    Tomorrow will be Pucker’s Virgin Q.  I am looking forward to seeing what he has in store for us.  A whole workout of backwards running.  Come on out to find out!

    Year anniversary convergence on 9/19 Gridiron.  More info to come.

  • Preblast: Hill run and HDHH

    Hill run today, 530 pm.  Meet at top of hill at intersection of Cary and Hillcrest.  Beers and snacks at Tya’s house at 6:30.  Address is 210 west hillcrest ave.  See you there!!

    TYA