Tag: Carpool

  • Krazy Ivan 2018

    The events depicted in this Backblast are completely stupid and utterly pointless.  Any similarity to events which are neither stupid nor pointless is purely coincidental.  

    No animals were harmed in the running of the Krazy Ivan.

    The Inagural Northshore Krazy Ivan CSAUP went off as planned, sort of.  The Northshore won, the Southshore whined, and it was….warm??!!??  The lack of frigid conditions made for a slightly less stupid but still rather pointless event.  Next year, we will aim higher.  Without further ado…

    Twenty men gathered at the gazebo on the Mandeville lakefront on a beautiful, starry, breezy Saturday evening: 15 Northshore PAX, 1 Northshore Scorekeeper, and 4 Southshore PAX.  Lots of mumble chatter, a bit of trash talk, and some ogling at the Freedom Hammer ensued.  Somewhere around 2100, as the PAX waited for Triple Shift to open the needle valve to bleed some pressure (a little oilfield lingo, there), THE Manny rung the bovine bell.  Some quick instructions from YHC, including a warning of low visibility, potentially questionable footing, an offer of flashlights (offer summarily rejected), and the PAX gathered at the starting line.  Hawg mumbled something about the Gnarly Nutria always beginning on time.  Uh huh.

     

    With another ringing of the bovine bell, THE Manny released the hounds.  Turbo, Backdraft, Steve and all the other skinny dudes went out guns blazing.  Out and back to the west end seawall x 3 was the course.  The easterly breeze made for a nice tailwind on the way out that was as appreciated as was the equal and opposite headwind was loathed on the way back.  That is, unless you were Triple Shift.  You see, Triple Shift had a strategy, folks: get right on the heals of a really good looking, husky PAX and run in his ample slipstream the entire race, save for the last 50 yards when you turn on the reserves and blast past him.  So if you think about it, Triple owes YHC one of his points.  But more on the (contested) scoring later.

     

    The course was dark, sometimes nearly pitch black.  Although Orian’s belt and the waxing crescent were quite visible, the running path was at times not.  As 19 PAX trekked and traversed back and forth, forth and back, we passed those both ahead and behind us, those who lapped and those who got lapped.  This afforded the PAX opportunity to root for, hiss at, tease, encourage, or mock those we were passing.  I can speak for Triple, as he was behind me the entire time benefitting from all my hard work I mean seriously did I mention that already I mean it’s not a big deal that he got one more point than I did but really when you think about it I should at least be added to his Christmas card list but whatever I’m not bitter or anything.  Particular attentiveness and night vision skills were needed to navigate the last two tenths of the west end.  YHC had specifically warned the PAX about this risky, questionable section of the course.  So it’s a good thing that YHC himself did not take a tumble and nearly bust his ass on the exact part of the course on which the warning was issued.  That would be ironic.  Dontcha think.

    At the finish line, the PAX again gathered and coalesced.  Fracsac volunteered for Safety Caboose, finishing up the race and also ensuring that no man was left behind, injured, abducted, or absconded with.  Thanks Frac.  THE Manny tallied up the score and announced a 176-31 Northshore victory; looks of mistrust appeared on a few faces.  Perhaps that was because they were expecting a 177-31 loss.  But, abiding by the only rule of the Krazy Ivan – run the race in a tank top – THE Manny exercised legislative, judicial, and executive powers and stripped Turtle of his single point for finishing the race in a hooded sweatshirt.  Coutoramma, Nameorama, BOM, and off to The Barley Oak for some F2.

    At the BO, drinks were had an all was merry.  Tomatoes tested the neck twisting and head turning capabilities of Captain Sparkles (ok, his were not the only capabilities tested…hellLLOOO black dress).  An impromptu yet formal meeting of the F3 Rules Committee adjudicated on the ability to move an AO once it is established.  Verdict: negative ghost rider, pattern’s full brah.  At this point, Hawg petitioned the Rules Committee for a formal, third party review and calculation of the night’s score.  THE Manny’s honour in question, YHC immediately began the process.  Third party results are in, proving that you should sometimes watch what you ask for.  The final, certified, verified, bonafied count is 190-35.

     

    Excellent CSAUP, PAX.  T-Claps to the Southshore guys who posted.  We will see you at the 2018 Gnarley Nutria.  A pleasure to be amongst you.

     

    EiEi

  • Global Warming at the Gipper

    Could not ask for a better morning with 9 bad ..ss F3 Warriors. Cold stopped no one this morning. Simply made for a great experience with the friendship thanks to F3.

     

    Warmup–we shot through 13 exercises with highlighted Side Straddle Hops where as 1 man at a time bounced to the center and back like a one man show during a wedding reception party. I think Bushwacker took that one as the best SSH dancer!  Other exercises included high knees, butt kicks, lunges, Merkins, side lunges, sumo squats-that was fun too, especially with the added arm gestures. Some of the exercises were repeated for a total of 13.

    The Thang–mosey to the courthouse (and a cyclist) for a little fun with merkins and Derkins… 5/20 rotation till it was 20/5 for a total of 100 merk/derks!

    Mosey to the parking lot for 3 more activities. 1- Four laps of a combination of lunges, bear hops, and bunny hops 2- circle around the imaginary flag pole. To the center and back with 12/3/6/9 rotation followed by crab crawl… Oh, when we got to the center it required a hand slap or twinkle toe touches.. Have to have been there to get the picture.3–Fifteen merkins with 2 runs blended in. Great for the cardio.

    Mosey back to the Gipper for some warm down exercises. Some discussion about the race this Saturday at 9 pm.. Be there, we are ready! And don’t forget Tough Mudder on the horizon.

    Hero of the day–Shooter–why you ask– no gloves!

    Closeout prayer by Bushwacker..reminded us how blessed we are.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Getting Dirty at Grandmother’s House

    A little late-night rain and some warmer temperatures (in the 50’s!) made things a little sloppy over at Grandma’s house this morning.  Sloppy enough that Pelican requested a move onto the concrete for our warm-up.  Sure, why not.  We were gonna get dirty in other ways… (namely, by kicking the thang off with a Dirty McDeuce).  But first:

    Warm Up: Seal Jacks, Windmills, SSH’s, IW’s, Good Mornings, High Knees, Butt Kicks, all 20x IC.  Mosey over to the stage for…

    The Thang:

    Dirty McDeuce:

    Merkins, Lunges, Flutter Kicks, x12 IC.  Run a lap around the small amphitheater.

    Catalina Wine Mixers, Squats, Freddie Mercs, 12x IC.  Run a lap.

    Werkins, Squat Jumps, LBC’s, 12x IC.  Run a lap.

    Burpees (12 OYO), Sister Mary Katherine’s, Sit-Ups, 12x IC.  Then mosey to the corridor for:

    Partner Sprints: P1 performs shoulder taps while P2 sprints there and back.  Flapjack.  Next up, P1 does plank jacks while P2 sprints, flapjack, and finally, merkins/sprints.

    A couple of 10 counts later, and the PAX is ready to lunge walk the length of that same corridor.  Upon completion, everyone attempts to pick the most stable of the rotting benches for a set of Freak Nasties, 20x IC.  Then back to the corridor for Lt. Dans across, with an ascending squat count.

    Lastly, Animals on Parade: Duck Walk, Bear Crawl, and Bunny Hops down the corridor.

    Circle up for an extended (8 minutes of) Mary: Flutter Kicks, Freddie Mercs, LBC’s, Putins (Hammers), Leg Raises, all 20x IC, with Big Boy Sit-Ups (20 OYO) to bring it home.

    Countdown, nameorama, naming of FNG Penguin, welcome… oh wait, that’s just Pelican, he forgot his name… and Shooter prayed us out.

    Thank you gentlemen, had fun this morning.

  • Field of Dreams

    “Shoeless” Joe Jackson:  “Is this Heaven?”

    Ray Kinsella:  “No, it’s Iowa.”

    YHC has never been to Iowa.  He has, however, been to Baton Rouge….Saturday morning as a matter of fact…and has to admit that Highland Park is beatdown heaven.  If we build it in Baton Rouge, they will come…just like Charlotte, just like NOLA, and yes just like the Northshore…that is a certainty.

    So seven Northshore PAX arrived in the Highland Park Gloom, appearing seemingly out of the mist like Shoeless Joe Jackson and his teammates, ready to play ball.  It went like this after a thorough and legally binding Disclaimer:

    The Warmup

    Determined to deliver knowledge, each Northshore PAX led one of our standard warmup exercises then picked out one of the Baton Rouge PAX to repeat it.  YHC kicked things off with Seal Jacks 10x IC, kicked it to Worms for a repeat, EiEi picked it up for Hillbillies 10x IC,  kicked it to Rocket for a repeat, and so on working through High Knees, Butt Kicks, Side Saddle Hops, Copperhead Squats, Good Mornings, and Imperial Walkers.  False starts, mental lapses, and counting errors a plenty but, hey, the School of Q was in session and the Northshore PAX could have stayed in their fartsacks instead of piling in the Clown Car for the road trip  if the BR PAX already knew the drill.

    The Thang

    Shooter took over for a Tabata set with Merkins and Plank Jacks as the featured exercises.  30 seconds on, 10 seconds rest, repeat 3 rounds.  Professor Shooter then explained to our Baton Rouge brothers the versatility of the Tabata format for delivering pain through a variety of featured exercises, dropping a big pearl of wisdom on the BR men.

    Mosey to the Sundial where Steve unleashed his trademarked Bulgarian Squats on the PAX.  Sprinkling in Freak Nasties, Step Ups and Derkins had the BR PAX thinking that they were no longer in the minor league.

    And if that didn’t do it, the Mosey over to the top of Mount Highland Park for Burpback Mountain definitely signaled the arrival to the Big League.   Partnering up, teams of PAX performed 100 burpees…one partner running down the mountain to the stream and then back up while his partners performed as many burpees as possible on the way to 100.  Is it worth crawling out of the fartsack for an easy beatdown?  Negative.

    Mosey back towards the Shovel Flags where THE Manny set the PAX up for a plank slalom.  16 PAX planked up while the last man sprinted/backpedaled through the others, planking up himself when he reached the end and signaling the next man to get busy.  Once the last PAX completed his sprint/backpedal slalom, it was time for a 10 count refresher course before the PAX moved on to Mary.

    Carpool educated the Baton Rouge PAX on LBCs and then EiEi delivered the final pitch of the morning with his legendary Jane Fonda sequence.

    Countorama, nameorama, and THE Manny prayed us out on our way to the coffeeteria.

    The Northshore PAX was honored to lead.  Thanks for having us.

     

     

     

     

  • Is it really warmer away from the water?

    Three above average men converged on Captain’s Cove in search of some warmer conditions on this 10k journey. Started with a COT and off we went. Traveled north on Jackson hooking a left on the Trailhead. QIC was in search of a warm street without the wind as he realized his bare knuckles were not warming up as quickly as expected. Enjoyed a 9 min pace and some great mumble chatter along the way… Completed the trek in just under 57 min, clearly a pace that will be improved upon in the upcoming Krazy Ivan as the Northshore intends on taking home yet another trophy for the case..

    Appreciate the opportunity to lead gentleman.

  • Foundations

    Performing fundamentals is necessary for mastery. We’re not trying to do it until we do it right, we do it until we can’t get it wrong. Furthermore, you will perform how you train and we want to train to win. Building from this, the routine the PAX performed today is a simple one: no warm up mozy from start to finish straight through no stopping – going from town hall to sunset point and back again, with front runners circling back for their brothers behind until we arrived back at the start. Once back at the start, PAX performed a series of sprint races as follows:

    RACE 1: free for all – sprint to 20 yds then about face and back peddle sprint another 20 yds. mozy to the next location

    RACE 2: paired up team relay race – sprint 30 yds and return to slap team mate’s hand who repeated the run. mozy to next location

    RACE 3: paired up team relay race – runner 1 sprints 15 yds, runner 2 runs the same to meet runner 1, then runner 1 sprints 15 more yds and returns to slap runner 2’s hand and runner 2 runs the same and returns to slap runner 1’s hand, then runner 1 sprints back to start line which signals runner 2 to sprint back to start line.

    Cool down was leg stretches in a squatted crouch pushing knees out with elbows, straight leg streches left and right, straddle leg stretch in the middle, lunge step stretch right and left, neck rolls 3x each direction slowly, shoulder rotations big and small backwards and forwards.

    countarama, nameorama, ball of man

     

    “He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.”
    Proverbs 15:32 (NIV)