Tag: RAMM Gears

11 runners and 2 bikers came out for another installment of Friday’s RAMM

Number off by 1s and 2s and form two columns as we mosey as a group into Windsor Farms.  Upon entering the greens, partner up and perform the following:

4 partner burpees (each)

run

8 Boo-Yah Merkins

run

Elbow Plank

The Pax converges and goes deeper into Windsor Farms.  When we got to the Civil War earthworks, we stormed up and over into the trench, performed 5 burpees, and bear crawl/crawl bear out the other side of the trench.

A nice Mosey down Sulgrave to Queen Charlotte and over to Portland.  Partner up with someone your own size for partner carries up the hill.  Three rounds with the following exercises:

Round 1 – 10 hand release Merkins

Round 2 – 25 PLT

Round 3 – 40 LBC

Mosey on to Cary St and circle up in the thick grass triangle.

10 APD and 21 American Hammers IC.  Hot potato to Swirly for Flutter Kicks and hot potato to Sippy for elbow plank walks.

Run home using Cary to Malvern to Grove.

YHC took us out.

Since we were doing a boot camp with a run tomorrow, I figured we should taper a little and intersperse our run with a boot camp today.  Lot’s of options back in the neighborhood to switch it up a bit as we took in the sights.

Fifteen strong showed up for spring time in January.  Fourteen by foot and one on two wheels.

Commonwealth to Cary and head East.  Take a left on Hamilton and take to Westwood.  4 and 5 milers take a left on Westwood coming back on Malvern to Grove with 5 milers taking a victory lap around the school block when they get back.  6+ milers take a right on Westwood to the Boulevard and back on Grove.

Marv took us out today offering a special prayer for the treasonous Aaron Burr.

NMS

YHC has been reading Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton and wanted to honor the founding father with a route the entire length of his namesake road.  Running with Lab Rat and Upchuck, YHC did not realize he would also get a musical today.  Going under the first underpass we experienced “Under the Bridge” by the Chili Peppers and upon the second underpass “Under the Boardwalk” by the Drifters.  There was also some Dark Side of the Moon (during the impromptu astronomy discussion) , Timberlake, and yes, Hanson.

On another note, it turns out there is a massive WDog headquarters on the other side of Broad St.  That AO is taking off!  It must be the t-shirts.

This may be episode one of YHC’s founding fathers running series.

14 men showed up for an early run this morning.  Here is what shook out:

Route:  Carillon route for 5 and 6 milers.  For the 4 milers, same out, but come back on Sheppard to Cary after passing the tennis courts at Byrd Park.

NMS:  YHC was thinking Carillon route, everybody knows that route, right?  Well, turns out Back Bay and Copernicus (who is usually running with the 6 mile guys) did not know the exact route to get back across the Powhite and got a little turned around over in Windsor Farms.  YHC was running with Saab this morning, and was glancing back to see if they were behind (because I wanted to take a more scenic route thru the neighborhood).  Luckily, they were found on Cary after a couple minutes of driving around, and were pretty close to getting back on their own.

Straight up, my apologies.  I should have run with them and got them back.  I was talking beer with Saab and was off the Q during the run, when I should have been making sure everybody got the route correct.  This is a great route, but it is tricky to get from the carillon across to Windsor Farms.  This should have been my goal this morning.  Sorry specifically to Back Bay and Copernicus for not watching the six.

Aisle 5 and Taxi Cab had a little mixup this morning as well, although YHC saw Sheppard when he went by, so he doesnt feel guilty on that one!  Great to have you back, Aisle 5…..KOTTERS!

Lab Rat out.

10 runners and 3 gear heads emerged from the fartsack this morning for a morning of exercise. Drizzling and cool to start out, perfect weather for outdoor frolicking.

The Thang

4 milers, right on Grove, left on Malvern, left on Patterson, left on Libbie, left on Grove, back to the flag.  5 milers, right on Grove, left on Malvern, left on Patterson, left on St. Christophers, left on 3 chopt, left on grove, back to the shovel flag.   6 milers, right on Grove, left on Nansemond, left on Patterson, left on St. Christophers, left on 3 chopt, left on grove, back to the shovel flag.  Gear heads went for  ride of many turns and varied terrain.

No confusion on who was supposed to Q today.  TYA was the man.  Marv had to take a rain check until next week (so next week we will be on Monument with Marv) because his M was out of town, so YHC stepped to the plate.  I did throw a little hitch into the game by selecting a route that had us leave Grove avenue. We went on my favorite loop, navigating around St;. Chris’s.  That made Lab Rat happy as he was hoping for that route.

Scanning the crowd pre-run, I was not sure I was going to have to give the 6 mile directions.  At the last minute Rosie and Sippy Cup posted, so the 6 mile route was in play.  Those guys were flying as they passed me on the way back to the flag along Grove avenue.  Just as they were passing me, they got passed by a faster runner.  He was flying down Grove, hitting a pace that I could not hit in the 1/4 mile (or 100 yard dash for that matter).  That dude must have worked at Jimmy John’s.

Swirly also opted too the 6 mile loop.  When he was not back at 622, we had to send Bleeder out to find him.  The PAX all agreed that it was way more likely that Swirly was lost versus any other reason for his absence.  Bleeder found him on track a few minutes down the road.

Five milers were led by Lab Rat and Back Bay.  Not sure that Back Bay had planned on listening to the radio this morning – WRAT – but given the pairing, I am sure that station was playing loudly.  Lockjaw and Upchuck were trotting right along.  YHC was in their slipstream for the first half of the run, listening to the mumble chatter until i fell back a little on the way back in.  Tu-can and Lug made the 4 mile loop look like a 1/4 mile track.  Those two look nearly ready to move up to the longer distances.

Announcements.

Convergence coming up sometime soon…not sure when.  Invite as many people as possible.  It will be an epic beatdown.  Two years and rolling for F3 RVA.  Making the community and the men of RVA better everyday.

If you want to run some trails, Bear Creek and Belmonte are coming up

13 Pax showed up to cover miles either by foot or wheels.  For the runners, it was the Carillon routes of the 4, 5, and 6 variety.  Perfect weather, though with some higher humidity leaving us drenched.

An eager Wilson took us out.

NMS

When YHC arrived on the AO, there was speculation amongst the Pax that there would be some sort of game today.  Perhaps a travel sized version of Sharks and Minnows in the parking lot.  YHC notified the group that he had hidden 200 glow sticks in Windsor Farms and we were having a scavenger hunt.  Total silence fell upon the group.

Kidding of course, today was about going to a favorite: the Carillon route sans glow sticks.  Flat out running some familiar roads.

It was great running with Upchuck, WIlson, and Honey Do where discuss gravitated around renaming guidelines as well as the usual mumble chatter.

Way to go TewKan who seems to be everywhere these days!  Consistency pays off with results.

11 strong posted for a morning run in RVA. Weather was glorious. Cannot ask for a better day to run, mid 60’s and a bit overcast.

The Thang.

Grove avenue jaunt. Right on Grove, 4 milers turn at Malvern, 5 milers turn at Roseneath, and 6 milers at The Boulevard. run all the way to three chops, turn around and meet back at the shovel flag.

NMM

Marv gave me kudos for my creativity on the route today, asking if I stayed up all night to map it out. The choice of the route today was selfish, not because I did not want to figure out another route, but because I wanted to get back in a familiar running groove. I have been struggling to get in a comfortable running rhythm for a couple of months and thought the familiarity of Grove would do the trick. It indeed did work. The other reason I wanted to do Grove was because we were less than a week out from the BRR. Two things on that: first, it is a relatively flat/easy route and I thought the PAX could use a break. Second, doing this route post BRR shows you how what you thought used to be a hill (coming up to malvern or libbie) is just merely a slight change in elevation.

Saab ran along side of me for the first 2/3 of the run today. He was conveying the plans for the cloud splitter race that he has coming up in a few weeks. If he is not ready, it is impossible to prepare. He has put in a ton of work and has a great plan. Now it is just about execution, work the plan and listen to your body. The rest will happen. All of the RVA PAX will be with you out on the trail. Take strength in knowing that you have done all you can do to prepare and now you will reap the rewards.

Lug is on fire post BRR. The dude is pumped about running, an activity that he has reluctantly done over the past couple years. He keeps mentioning races to do and his desire to do them, and he has even picked out what legs he wants to do on the BRR next year. Today he did is run averaging1 minute per mile less than he did a year ago today. That is progress (and a ton of hard work). Way to go lug….

Swirly told me he was going to take it easy today and then went out and scorched the route, averaging 815 miles. For a dude that had not run a 10K a year ago, he is a runner now. Toga was on the route today getting ready for the spartan next week. He looks ready. BT was taking a page out of Lockjaw’s book and tapering today. Toga was also thankful today that Lab Rat wore a shirt for the running (as were the rest of us). Ricky Bobby joined in on the run today as he was the only Gear head in town. Toucan joined the run and ran at pretty good clip. Back Bay and Upchuck were moving right along, trying to keep pace with Swirly.

Announcements

Reesestrong 5k tomorrow. Come on out if you can

Spartan and bike ride next week.

Convergence on the 8th…see Swirly for details

Bear Creek 10 miler on 12/4. Fills up early so sign up now.

YHC thought the proper way to say goodbye to summer was with a festive game of sharks and minnows.

4 Rules to the Game:
-Partner up – run with your partner
-Movement can only be forward, no U-turns.
-Turns at intersections.
-Stay between Malvern and Westmoreland, and Grove and Patterson.

Rosie and Sippy were volunteered as the sharks giving the Pax a head start as the sharks circle the school block.

The shark attack commenced with speed and agility with all Pax converted to sharks by the end.

YHC enjoyed conversation with BT while covering the game area.

BRR – less than a week away!

18 Faithful gathered at MM for a pre-BRR run (or bike).

The THANG. Everyone mosey to the corner of Belgrade and Cambridge. Run on Cambridge and then around the oval loop back to the start. Split into groups based on pace. At random intervals, one runner in the group will do a ~1 min fartlek while the rest of the PAX will try to keep up. Keep running loops until the time is up (Most everyone did 3 loops). Mosey back to flag.

COT

MOLESKIN

YHC was looking for some new routes from our AO, when he noticed that there was a nearly perfect 1.5 mi oval in Windsor Farms very close by, so he decided to give it a go. YHC reasoned that there would also be very little traffic on the oval (more on that later), so we could all focus on our running without interruption. YHC apologizes for forgetting to include the mileage to/from the oval in my calculations, so the run was a bit long.

YHC, Marv and Copernicus ran together and averaged about 2 fartleks per lap, which was about all we could handle. YHC and Marv are all elbows and knees during the fast paced sections, but Copernicus doesn’t even look like he is running fast when he’s doing a sub 7 pace–the guy can glide!
Consensus was that this was a tough workout. Honeydo mentioned that the 1.5 mi lap had magically grown in distance with each successive circuit. Kind of like the 3rd or 4th leg of the BRR!

As expected there was almost no traffic, with only one car spotted during the circuit. Who knew that said driver would be looking for a fight! As the vehicle approached YHC, Marv, and Copernicus, we all slowed down and moved to the side of the street to let him pass. Unfortunately, the driver was not very happy about meeting runners on the road, and slowed down to engage with us. Marv eventually told the driver to move on. At this point he went from mad to furious, and stepped on the gas, screeching the tires. Seriously! Eventually he moved on, but not before more insults. It’s sad when conscientiousness is met with rage.

Great running by the PAX today. I always appreciate the fellowship and good attitudes we bring to each workout.

13 warriors posted for a morning run and bike workout at Mary Mumford. Weather was mid 70’s and sunny, 60% humidity. Much better weather than we have been experiencing.

The Thang

Right on Grove avenue, 4 milers turn at Malvern, 5 milers at Roseneath, and 6 milers at the Boulevard. Take Grove all the way to Three Chopt, turn around and head back to the shovel flag.

NMM

The route we did this morning was our original running route, that we did for the first 30 or so RAMM runs. The run is well know and well liked by the PAX (Marv did compliment my creativity on the route). It was good to be back on Grove and know all the ups and downs as well as the milestones for mileage. Always nice to rekindle a old familiar route.

Marv, Sippy and Saab were leading the PAX today as usual. They all make running look so easy and fun. Fudd, Swirly, Lab Rat, Trophy (Kotters), Circle K, Aisle 5 and TYA were in the group that took the five mile option. Lugnut ran to Roseneath (the 5 mile turn) and turned back somewhere on Grove (I think). One of the things I love about the Libbie loop is that you get to see all the PAX along the way. It always nice to get (and give) a little encouragement to the PAX members.

I missed all the mumble chatter post run, so chime in with any relevant details.

TYA Out.