Category: Richmond, VA

  • IronPax That Beach!!

    2 Warriors of the vaca, arrived at the sandy footsteps of their beach cottage to get this weeks Iron Pax Challenge.

    With Bells in hand this is how it went down:

    THANG

    Warmup – DQ, Helicopters, Arm Circles

    Week 2 Iron Pax Challenge – Premform as many reps as possible in 8 mins. After every 25 reps run 25 yds out and back (50 yds total). Rinse & Repeat until 8 mins is up. Rest 2 mins (no more, no less) between sets. Sets were as follows (ALL W/ KB):

    • Set 1 – Thrusters
    • Set 2 – Curls
    • Set 3 – Swings
    • Set 4 – ManMakers (aka KB Burpees)

    Numerama, Namerama, Announcements, YHC took us out

    MOLESKIN

    Since YHC decided last week he would be participating in this Iron Pax challenge, somehow this weeks challenge had to get done. YHC was able to talk his double respect father-in-law into posting. He took it lite manly join to make sure YHC had a witness to the reps completed.

    The PAX had the added challenge on running in the sand which everything can agree sucks (atleast it was only 50 yds at a time)

    SPIT ON THAT!!

  • PAX meet White Deer…

    A noble and mighty group of warriors clanged around some heavy metal in optimal conditions this morning.  Here is how it went down:

    • COP
      • 25 SSH
      • 20 invisible jump rope
      • 20 IW
      • 15 cherry pickers
      • 10 2x merkins
      • 15 crab cakes
      • 25 2x LBC
      • 15 Helicopters
      • 10 BOYO
    • Weighted carry towards the practice fields with a brief stop for a one-man triple check
      • 15 donkey kicks
      • Bear crawl across the walkway
      • 15 lawnmower pulls – each arm
    • Weighted carry to back to parking lot for 4 corners – 10, 15, 20, 25 reps at each corner, with weighted carry between stops
      • High pulls
      • Haloes
      • KB swings
      • Sit ‘n presses
      • Weighted squats
    • Mosey to the curb for 30 second AMRAPS
      • Heels to heaven (buoyed by KB)
      • Overhead pulls
      • Skull crushers
    • COT with YHC taking us out

    Welcome to Circus Maximus to our summer tourers.  In particular, congrats to Phonics and Kubota on completely their last leg, much admiration and definitely enjoyed your fellowship.  Speaking of which, summer tour participants meet White Deer.  I do not need to introduce you to him, as he simply wasted no time in talking at you, to you and through you.  Some of the hot air this week came from the orifice on his head as opposed to his backside.  Dare I say, his mumblechatter is legendary, but not representative of the rest of the PAX.  I hope you were entertained.  It is strictly for that purpose.

    Solid work by Johnsonville.  He continues to throw around 35 pounds with a vengeful energy.  T-claps!

    All in all, strong work from the PAX   Here is to soreness on Friday.  Otherwise, the Q failed.  God is good all the time!

    Attila

  • Honey Do and Honey Moon!

    2 lonely guys showed up for a hot potato Q.

    Mossy around the school for wram up activities.

    Light pole challenge

    Mossy to track for some activities and 4 – corners

    Overall some strong work and great to have a visitor from far!

    Sorry so short, work is really busy!!!

     

  • Sisyphus Strikes Again

    Two seasoned veterans did their best to defeat Twin Team Hill, with none but Persephone to witness this Sisyphean task.

    Sisyphus depicted on a black-figure amphora vase, with Persephone looking on

    Gumbo expected a leisurely solo run down by the river, until YHC rolled in at the stroke of 5:30 with the Q and a handful of cones & flower pots. We ran to the top of Twin Team, dropping markers along the way, and had a quick COP at the summit: SSH, DQ, Russian Soldiers, Freddie Mercury, hand-release merkins

    Then, the latest installment in hills & soul-crushing futility.

    Run to each cone/pot, perform the prescribed exercise, then return to the top of Twin Team. The five markers went something like this:

    • Bear Crawl back to summit
    • 25 derkins, run to top
    • 30 uphill WWIIs, run to top
    • 2 Man Triple Check: one man runs to previous cone & back, while the other performs an exercise (run to top @end)
      • mountain climbers
      • LBCs
      • alternate 10 merkins & hold plank for 10-count
    • 20 burpees, run to top

    Return to Bettie for numberama, name-o-rama, ‘nouce-a-rama.

    MOLESKIN: This is the third iteration of Sisyphus at Twin Team, and I think, the best one yet. The third time running on the triple check leg, knowing I was only coming down in order to go back up again, really drove home the mental element of this workout. Great to force yourself to dig a bit deeper when you think the well’s dry. Sisyphus will definitely make his return, and share with more of the PAX.

    YNWA

  • Praise the Lord, and pass the Gatorade. (preblast… Dirt Church Sundays at 0800)

    For a couple of months now, some of us have been assembling on the short street in front of the Courthouse Church of Christ for a Sunday Funday Liturgy of Singletrack and Gravel.  Non-demonenational (we’ve even had ‘cross bikes), and no-drop, with routes that can be as short as an hour and as long as twice that and change.   It’s real mountain biking, so helmets are required and you’ll want to be prepared.  Bailout points will be available for the time-compressed.  When RVA MORE closes the singletrack for weather-related reasons, this ride very easily becomes Gravel Church.  We roll at 0800.

    YHC has been riding the venue for about ten years and has seen the scene mature and Pocahontas State Park become a real MTB destination.  Plenty of old dudes (and not so old dudes, and not dudes, for that matter) are out here every weekend and you may see someone you already know.

    Come channel your inner Tinker Juarez with us (he’s 57 now, btw).

     

  • Carillon the Right Way…

    24 descended upon Mary to see where their legs and wheels would carry them.  After Splinter provided a quick translation of the Belizeian word for “Hello”, we were off.  Runners covered distances ranging from 4 to 8 miles, and every distance in between.  Bikers covered all that is RVA.

    YHC’s Lab Rat-esque apology goes to the 4 and 5 milers, who got slightly lost – but gained extra distance – thanks to poor instructions from the Q.

    Announcements:

    • Puppy Pile next Saturday
    • Dirt Church coming to a back blast near you

    Saab Abides

  • The Twenty Difficulties – The Buddha at LMM

    There are twenty difficult things which are hard for human beings:

    1. It is hard to practice charity when one is poor.
    2. It is hard to study the Way when occupying a position of great authority.
    3. It is hard to surrender life at the approach of inevitable death.
    4. It is hard to get an opportunity of reading the sutras.
    5. It is hard to be born directly into Buddhist surroundings.
    6. It is hard to bear lust and desire without yielding to them.
    7. It is hard to see something attractive without desiring it.
    8. It is hard to bear insult without making an angry reply.
    9. It is hard to have power and not pay regard to it.
    10. It is hard to come in contact with things and yet remain unaffected by them.
    11. It is hard to study widely and investigate everything thoroughly.
    12. It is hard to overcome selfishness and sloth.
    13. It is hard to avoid making light without having studied the Way enough.
    14. It is hard to keep the mind evenly balanced.
    15. It is hard to refrain from defining things as being something or not being something.
    16. It is hard to come into contact with clear perception of the Way.
    17. It is hard to perceive one’s own nature and through such perception to study the Way.
    18. It is hard to help others towards Enlightenment according to their various needs.
    19. It is hard to see the end of the Way without being moved.
    20. It is hard to discard successfully the shackles that bind us to the wheel of life and death as opportunities present themselves.

    THE THANG

    WARM-UP – Wind mills, bend-and-reach, legs spread bend-and-reach, one lap around park

    Three kettle bell exercises (1×20) per evolution, while meditating on one of the Twenty Difficulties:

    Evolution 1

    Halos

    Lunge

    Goblet Squat

    Evolution 2

    Press and Push

    One-arm extensions

    Beep, Beep – I’m a Jeep

    Evolution 3

    Squat and curl

    Plank

    Upright row

    In between evolutions, 5-minute run, then bear crawl or crab walk 15 yds

    COT

    Prayers for continued strengthening of the Pax
    Prayers for Fire, Police, EMS, Military
    Welcome visiting Pax F3 Spit from Richmond
    Congrats to Snickers and other GO RUCK finishers – Strong Work!

    MOLESKIN

    As a preacher’s kid growing up in the church, there was an implied expectation to make everyone *happy. Hence, I quickly got into the business of *trying to make people happy. I have seen this unrealistic dynamic work out in friendships, my marriage, and most especially with my kids. And the results have often been mixed if not disastrous.

    Alas, I have become weary.

    Trying to make people happy is that way. It also makes you anxious, fearful, apprehensive, uncertain and a dozen other unappetizing states of being.

    So recently I’ve stopped.

    “So you’re giving up?” said a friend.

    “No, I think I’m just letting go,” said I.

    Life is difficult (see above), and the only real thing we can do is sit with each other at our respective times of distress and suffering. Sit and sit quietly. You’d think the “doing” would be the hardest thing in trying to relieve someone’s suffering, but it’s actually the “not-doing.”

    Hoff, out

  • Sweating Shoes

    7 studs showed up for a Wednesday jaunt…we all did some loops around hillcrest.  So as not to offend some of the sensitive tuckahoe folks, I will not review who did what.

    NMM

    Honeydo pounded a beer before the run in preparation for training for the CSAUP in Oct…apparantly he is doing the 6 pack version….go Honeydo.  Rumor has it that he will pound 24 beers on Saturday night and call it a training run.

    Bleeder launched a few second early and held Swirly and BT off for the first mile.  Give the man an objective (or let him make one up) and he will go after it.

    Plenty of bathroom issues were taken care of during the run…i have to step carefully walking the dog this weekend.

    Sweating through the soles of your shoes is possible…just look at TYA or Swirly post run on a really humid day…

    TYA OUT

  • Wally World

    18 studs came out this morning for a beatdown that went something like this.

    Short Mosey to a longish COP
    ATM — 15 Alternating shoulder taps IC, 10 tempo merkins IC, 10 reg merkins OYO
    Smurf Jacks
    Crab Cakes
    Flutterkicks
    Boxcutters
    American Hammers
    arm circles
    tabletops
    One more round of ATM’s

    Wally World
    PAX will perform one set of the following:
    5 Donkey Kicks, climb to Balls to the Wall position, hold for 5 seconds, bring it down and do 5 stump merkins
    Repeato with 10
    Then with 15

    Mosey to the Tennis Courts
    Triple Check — one does suicides across the court, others are doing PLT’s, switch up, do 3x of course.

    Back to Wally World for the deodorant we forgot from the first trip
    see above, but this time modify to regular merkins instead of stump merkins
    We did 20 and finally 25!!  Good work, guys!

    Quick Catch me if you can
    One runs backwards, the other does 5 burpees and then catches up with the partner.

    Circle up
    Various members called out exercises and we had to do ten of whatever was called out.
    WW2 situps, one legged crossover raises,  low merkin hold around the circle (everyone had to count ten seconds), run to the wall and back.  I think there was one more, but YHC has no recollection of what it was.

    Mosey back to the flag
    Numbers, Names, YHC took us out

    Announcements —
    Check preblasts for the upcoming CSAUP’s and the Labor Day convergence.
    Aug 25th is the next Puppy Pile — bring your 2.0’s!

    NMS–
    Confession time.
    YHC likes big Weinkes and long COP’s.
    YHC is also very fond of Donkeys.
    There it is.  In a nutshell.
    Not that there is anything wrong with that.

    SYITG,
    Opus

  • BLIMPS with 800m Repeats

    This is one of those “better late than never” posts. Sorry for the delay.

    Three of the GridIron faithful convened at Pouncy Tract Park on a wet morning, following buckets of rain the evening before. Johnsonville (YHC) took lead, and ran through a typical F3 round of in cadence warmups (SSH, Imperial Walkers, Cherry Pickers, Don Quiotes, LBCs). Chum Bucket came in a bit late, and slowly integrated himself into the PAX, making 3.

    We then moseyed over to the track, and took a position on a corner of the football field for a round of BLIMPS – 50 seconds on, 10 seconds off AMRAPs consisting of Burpees, (stationary) Lunges, Imperial Walkers, Mountain Climbers, Plank Jacks, (WWII) Situps. Run 2 laps around track at a brisk pace.

    Move to another corner. Repeat BLIMPS, but 45 seconds on, 15 seconds off. Run 2 laps around track at a brisk pace with a sprint leg.

    Move to another corner. Repeat BLIMPS, repeating 45 seconds on, 15 seconds off. Run 2 laps around track at a brisk pace with a sprint leg.

    Move to the final corner of the field. Repeat BLIMPS, but 40 seconds on, 20 seconds off. Run 1 lap around track at a brisk pace with a sprint leg and mosey back to VSF.

    COT with Attila taking us out.

    Thanks for letting me lead! Jville