Recovery?

I’m no Broke, or Dr. Suess, or Sister Act…or any other past Iron Skillet winners. But I have an internal goal for 29 or more workouts in February. I mentioned in my last Q (about a month ago – Midoriyama) the rough start I had to begin the year with illness. Unfortunately others have felt suffered from the nasty flu and other junk going around. So I set the bar for February to make up some ground. Not all are F3 because I had to get some running done in preparation for the Dam to Dam relay that I did this past weekend. And as life would have it, I tweaked my knee a little which doesn’t hurt to run, but doesn’t feel great when it comes to any jumping. Modify as needed, right? With the Q this morning at The Sandlot, I designed some stations that could build strength, core, and elevate the cardio. This disclaimer was brief – “we’re all stupid for being here but let’s get started…” We knocked out the pledge and the warm-up was:

Warm-up:

• Inch-worm Merkins:, crawl out to plank and start with 1, building incrementally to 5 reps
• Knee Pulls – until I felt my hamstrings and glutes were activated
• Toy Soldiers IC x 10
• Imperial Walkers IC x 10

I said to the PAX it would be light on running, so we did a gentle mosey across the street to the bank to the parking lot nearest the road for the first part: the Baby Dora. What is that? Glad you inquired. No partners needed – each PAX begins on one side of the lot with 10 merkins, runs to the opposite side for 20 squats, returns back to start for 30 lbc’s. We went a total of 5 rounds. Gastone coming off the flu eagerly pushed the rock followed by the young-gun Stinky Bird. Let’s move on to the main event.

Another mosey down the road to the old doctors office (not sure if it still is – it’s dark so hard to tell) and we went to the back of the parking lot where the coupon fairy had been busy with 10 stations. As fate would have it, we had 10 PAX, though Stroganoff worked his own Weinke (that sounds bad but you know what I mean). Strog is coming off a bout of illness and having run the D2D this weekend, working to get his body into shape – so he modified to his own workout but was sweating along with us. The stations were:

• Big Boy w/ half block overhead (arms stay extended as your head pokes through) x 10
• 180 Sumo Squat Jumps x 15
• American Hammer w/ Medicine Ball x 15 (count 1 side)
• Kettlebell Swings x 20
• Curtsy Lunge w/ weighted PVC pipe extension x 20
• Goofballs w/ bricks x 20
• Block press, then leg lifts x 10
• 2 Plank Jacks + 2 Donkey Kicks x 10
• Peter Parker (R/L) + 4 Mtn Climbers x 10
• 4 Hand Release Merkins + 4 Mtn Climbers x 5

In order to spread the PAX out, after each station, PAX run to opposite end of the parking lot, perform 5 burpees and return to choose an open station. I didn’t practice all of these beforehand. Thankfully my first was the Hand Release Merkin/Mtn Climber station which required 4 of each to be 1 rep – originally set at 10, it was ambitious and I lost my count after 7 from delirium, so Omahaed that to 5. Some of the others could have been higher reps and I’ll adjust if I break these out again. But it was quiet for the most part and the PAX complained about various exercises and that usually means an adequate challenge was provided. I noted the quiet which was highly unusual given JK2’s presence – his mumble chatter may be Top 5 – he said he was working back into form both physically and chatterree.

With a few minutes to spare, we hustled back to the AO with time for a bit of Mary which I suggested the PAX perform 10 dips then 5 Crunchy Frogs. JK2 then suggested the dips on flat ground are really just practice for pelvic thrusts. Some chatter began and apparently he has a white board over his bed that he keeps score of each opportunity – maybe he can explain more on that another time. TIME!

COT – Dry Rub asked for prayers for the Harper & Stokes family that lost a child and struggling. JK2’s uncle passed and the family needs prayers. Easy Rider asked for prayers for all families. Upcoming events: Rooster on 2/29, P200 in March, and our 5th year anniversary CSAUP 3/21.

It’s a challenge not only to get into shape but to stay in shape. Trying to avoid injury and illness can be as challenging as completing an F3 workout. Seems counterintuitive but we have to focus on our body and know when to push and when to pull back. Hopefully our goals can be attained. As long as we’re accelerating, that’s the direction to go.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.