Com’in Back from Cali…

My family vacation this summer was a trip to the west coast, starting in LA and finishing in San Diego, checking out the left coast for a change of scenery. It was beautiful, well parts were at least. LA is a zoo and you can keep the traffic. Imagine Franklin Street during Christmas, 8 lanes wide all going at least 60 to 90 miles an hour. Then throw in a few Evil Knievals weaving in and out and splitting the lanes when they have to. I enjoyed seeing Mike Love’s current tour of the Beach Boys live, some good food, and a few other things, but it is good to be home. Where I thankfully checked the Q schedule as I was doing my month end Weasel Shaker duties to learn Turtle Man had me listed as Q of The Black Knight this morning. Actually it didn’t bother me – kind of got me excited to design a new workout.

I decided to use my sandbags and bricks for a portion so that required me to get up early. That wasn’t a problem as my body clock is all to heck at the moment. I woke up about 0200 for some reason and doubt I slept much until the alarm at 0500. Good news is I arrived early to the AO for a change; second one in the parking lot behind the freshly shaved Island. If he didn’t have the purple Hornets shirt on, I’d have thought we had an 20 year old FNG. Don’t worry, Island said “the beard” will return one day. Whoopee and Stone Cold declare they were going to run instead of attend my boot camp. I was a little hurt because Whoopee and I already traded barbs via twitter – not over our musical interest but over the workout. But he’s got the BRR upcoming that requires dedicated miles. Now – my man Gastone – he got up early for EC to log his miles and then posted for the extra pain. He had the sweaty knuckles to prove it. Others began to roll in and it was time to clock in. Veterans abound so only the brief disclaimer was stated: “modify as necessary.”

Warm-up:

• 4×4 (4 merkins, 4 mtn climbers) x 5
• Butt Kickers IC x 10
• Squat Jack Twits IC x 10
• Burpees 5 OYO

Pledge

Mosey via the gravel road to the first picnic shelter at Martha Rivers, careful to avoid the large dumpster truck. Upon arrival I explained Round 1: mini Insanity. The circuit had 4 exercises at 30 seconds each with no rest until after all had been completed. We did 3 rounds of AMRAP during each 30 set:

• Knee crunches (rest back of calves on picnic bench)
• Dips
• Box Jumps
• Decline Peter Parkers

This was a grueling set that immediately brought the sweat, except for Gastone – he was already moist. Odd word “moist:” but guys find it funny while women seem to hate it unless it is mentioned in baking – is it time to digress? On the knee crunches I reiterated to give yourself some headroom between the picnic benches and quickly referenced the fabled Michael Scott joke “that’s what she said…” It took a second before the chuckles occurred. It was dark and I think it was Pedal that nearly broke the table on one of the moves – he said he was fine. Gastone tried to bring the mumble chatter but he seemed to be the only one. A peanut gallery of one is tough; time to mosey to Phase II – along the upper track and through the back entrance to Riverwood we ran until reaching the entrance. We dropped for LBC’s for a period of time until the 6 arrived and all had done at least 30 seconds of crunches. Let’s get to the office building for 11’s. I’ve not done these in a while but recalled Island doing an entire workout of this exercise and it being tough. My version was to begin with 10 merkins on the south end, run to the opposite side near the wall for 1 flying squirrel. You know the drill from there. All the guys pushed hard through that one. Other than the huffs for breath, it was quiet.

The final Thang only required a fellowship mosey to the front of the old HT. I did this a Midoriyama a few weeks ago and it was a crowd pleaser. Learning from that lesson we divided into groups of 3. P1 would remain at the parking line and perform Moroccan Night Clubs with bricks in each hand. P2 would lunge walk to the next parking line with sand bags in each hand or over their shoulder. P3 was waiting while performing flutter kicks. P2 set the timer for the exchange meaning P1 and P3 had +/- a minute of the exercises. Most of the time MNC’s are docile but do them for a minute with resistance and the shoulders will burn. More time was needed as we only made it two rounds before a sprint was required back to the AO.

COT: The announcements have been posted in other BB’s so take  a look. Throw some school supplies in your car as Hush Puppy and Squirt are collecting for Least of These kids. We lifted prayers for the newest AO Mt. Hollywood, all the guys traveling, and all the thoughts in our hearts and minds.

Today was a grinder but one that everyone pushed through. We really could have used two more really strong men to make the teams of three work, oh that’s right, they were running. I’ll still count them since they did break a sweat during their 5 mile mosey. To the others, it was good to see TimeFrame back along with many of the regulars. Thanks to our fearless leader Turtle Man that put me as the Q. Even though he was spooning this morning and missed his ride to the workout, he made sure his PAX were taken care of – you’re welcome. Until the next one, thanks for the opportunity to lead.