Qrusade/SpartX--4-29-11.Captain Beefheart

Posted by Dredd

Aye, the Faithful gathered about the ShovelFlag in the Gloom:

SixMike

Mickey Thomas

Rook

Tango Delta (QIC)

Moniteur

Waco

Johnny Most

Red Warrior

DBrixx

Antonio Table

Silence

Dredd

Eutaw

The Rock

OBT

. . . and the Colonel (BHWTUP)

The Thang:  Tango Delta led us through a Classic MudX (originated by Mayo, the MudX QIC), as a good entre’ to Spartan training.  52 minutes long.  No Lurker!!  Surprise:  a MickeyMantleStretch (Johnny Most did not distinguish himself in his usual (ahem) manner).  Just saying  . . .

NakedMan Moleskin:

1.       FNGs:  All PAX actually, since this is an inaugural.  TClaps across the board.  Aye.

2.       Captain Beefheart:  There were quite a few Tomatoes In The Sun out on the Campos this AM Brothers, a fact that was not lost on Silence, the Hippy Developer who practices his own (softer) version of the Silence of the Lambs routine to keep the Campos (ahem) clean.  Remarking on the proliferate Tomatoes, Silence pointed out that he grows his tomatoes on a vine he calls the “Captain Beefheart” and only puts them in the sun when they’ve earned it.  Otherwise, the most they get is to watch old videos from Lilith Fair in the 90s.   Uh. . . just head scratchin. . .

3.       A Caring Voice in the Gloom:  As the Faithful descended into the dark and twisty path that is the Apocalypto, Johnny Most took special care to caution Rook repeatedly (I mean like a lot of times Brothers) to watch his ankles and be really careful on the dark and twisty path that is the Apocalypto.  Definitely a contrast from the usual gruff call of the Faithful in the Lypto to “get the heck out of the way.”  TClaps to Johnny for his tender concerns.  Just noticing . . .

4.       Request Denied: 

a.       Surprisingly, DBrixx tried to rename himself “Civilian” this AM.  Uh . . . no, Cobains Brother, but I don’t think that’s a good idea, even though I kinda want to call you Civilian now.  Something cool about that. 

b.      Inexplicably, Johnny Most (perhaps inspired by DBrixx/Civilian, perhaps not) then tried to rename HIMSELF  “OBT”.  That’s a definite no Brother—that name is already taken, and there can be only one, truly only one. 

5.       Today’s Chuck:  When the Boogeyman goes to sleep at night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris. 

6.       Today’s Goofy:  There is no plateau.  In all things, you are either climbing up or sliding back down. 

AYE!

GONADS--SweetSix.4-28-11.Return of the ShovelFlag

Posted by Dredd:

Aye, we planted the ShovelFlag in the Gloom and the Faithful gathered:

SixMike

PBo

Kit

Moniteur

Red Warrior

Pomfret

Collection Plate Jones

Dewey (FNG!)

Dredd

Famous Shoes

                Thang:  6.38 miles from CEC—48:03 (CP Jones) led the way, with Famous Shoes 10 seconds behind.

                NakedMan Moleskin:

1.       Kotters:

a.       ShovelFlag:  After a disgraceful absence, the ShovelFlag has returned in fact, Dredd having finally departed his Fourth Point of Contact and repaired it.

b.      Dredd:  After a disgraceful absence, Dredd finally returned to the SweetSix, and was Smokebooted by the entire field. 

2.       FNG:  Dewey emerged from the Gloom to put some FNG-SmokeBoots on The Faithful.  He claims Uptown Fred Brown as his sponsor.  TClaps.

3.       Sidewalk Adverse:  Pomfret advised The Faithful that no running should be done on the sidewalk, that the roadway is much safer.  Several of The Faithful could not help but wonder about the cars.  I mean, the cars, don’t they pretty much stay off the sidewalk.  Just saying . . .

4.       BlackSperm Six:  In the absence of the BlackSperm, CPJones and Famous Shoes put the Smokeboots on.  Nice work Brothers.  I hate you.

5.       Today’s Chuck:  Chuck Norris doesn’t lie—he makes up truth.  Aye.

6.       SweeperTee:   Less than a guaranteed download here then a musical trivia question:  what do Led Zeppelin’s “Fool in the Rain,” Toto’s “Rosanna” and Death Cab for Cutie’s “Grapevine Fires” all have in common? The drum beats are all based on the Purdie Shuffle – the groove developed by the great Bernard Purdie. He originally pulled it out on Steely Dan’s “Home at Last” and “Babylon Sisters.” Listen to all of these songs to hear. Bonham’s my favorite though Jeff Porcaro adds a little Bo Diddly to “Rosanna” (and admits to cribbing “Fool in the Rain”). Jason McGerr (DCFC) is just too complicated to explain. As the New York Times once explained: the Purdie Shuffle is the 7-10 split of drum beats.

Gamucci/Ramos--4/27/11--Spring Break is Over

Posted by Rock:

Aye, we planted the ShovelFlag in The Gloom and The Faithful Gathered:

SixMike

PBo

Ragman

Kit

TangoDelta
Davy
Moniteur
Waco
Achtung Baby (WarDaddy)
SuperDave
BoyMarlo
Red Warrior
Antonio Table
HitMan
Pfafftown
Spoons
74
BlackBird
MMOB
Haywood
Silence (WarBaby)
Dredd
RoboCop
Dark Warrior
Mizer
Gris

Eutaw (f/k/a Shak)

The Cougar
The Rock
OBT

The Colonel (BHWTU)

Thang:

Run to trophy circle
•       side-straddle hop
•       mountain climbers
Run to Selwyn playground for rotations x2
•       dips
•       pull-ups
•       donkey kicks
•       step ups
Run to Ramos’ Office
•       Mary
       the dolly
       high dolly
       flutter kick
       situps/plank w partner
       leg levers
•       Rando-rama
       people’s chair
       one-legged squats
       jumping lunge
       pushups with arm extensions
       10 burpees

NakedMan Moleskins:

Turnout – Despite a Happy Hour last night in honor of the LMS – Tclaps, by the way, to Dark Warrior --  the Gamucci drew a higher than usual 31 Qrusaders. Must be a sign that people enjoyed spring break.

FNG – Spoons, aye, a Q/AG regular but an FNG to the Box of Pain that is the Gamucci—Tclaps

Mary Routine – New twist of holding one guy’s feet while in the plank position prompted some smirks. Understandable. But when you have six-pack abs at the pool this summer, you’ll be grateful.

Fair warning – A version of the workout will be part of Saturday’s Q/AG workout. This time, though, I’ll remember to have people count off and divide into groups.

Today’s Chuck – Chuck Norris does not wear a condom. Because there is no such thing as protection from Chuck Norris.

GONADS/2FT--4-27-11.PBo Learns The Truth

Posted by PBo:

The Gathering in The Gloom:

Affirmation Jones

Dark Warrior

Red Warrior

Johnny Most

J. Elmo Fagg

K-Slide

Pomfret

Mizer

MMOB

PBo

The Thang:

Brisket

  4.27 mi

  30:33 duration

  7:09 min/mi

Wiggler

  3.32 mi

  26:57 duration

  8:07 min/mi

The Moleskin:

1.     Wiggler Surpassing the Brisket:Today’s Brisket pace was a comfortable (on paper) low 7 mins per mile while the Wiggler seems to be getting faster with a low 8 mins per mile pace. Are we going to have to eventually merge the 2 runs into 1? Maybe at some point in the distant future…

2.     Post-Run Orange Wedges: After the run Johnny Most broke out a big spread for the faithful complete with Evian water and Orange wedges. I felt like it was halftime at a soccer game from when I was 8 years old in Atlanta, GA. It was much appreciated.

3.     Westminster Kennel Club: I’m not sure what kind of dog MMOB has, but it certainly looks dog show worthy. The problem is that it couldn’t hang for the Brisket and was relegated to trunk of the Lexus for the first 30 minutes today. Luckily all was fine when it got the chance to stretch its legs during the Wiggler.

4.     Escape from Alcatraz Sans Wetsuit:The Heat Mizer mentioned something about forgoing a wetsuit for the 55 degree dip in the San Francisco Bay when he competes in the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon in June. I think a speedo will be a fine choice of attire for that day.

5.     Hanoi Jane: I knew that in 1972 Jane Fonda visited North Vietnam and had some odd pictures taken posing with North Vietnamese soldiers and military equipment, but I didn’t know that she also visited American POWs on that trip. Later when cases of torture began to emerge among POWs returning to the United States, Fonda called the returning POWs "hypocrites and liars." She added, "These were not men who had been tortured. These were not men who had been starved. These were not men who had been brainwashed." That is just crazy to me.

Qrusade/Campos--4-16-11.Talk On A Cereal Box

Posted By Black Angus

Gathered:

Gx, Hit man, Big Al

·         Above long time qrusaders waxed philosophic fondly recalling the nostalgia of small group workouts and camaraderie during the early formative days

·         Lucky on weather=> comforting light rain but no tornado, thunder or lightening

·         Receiving full credit DST posted with an early train wreck program

Workout:

Warm-up routine

·         Campos lap, stretching, side straddle hop

Bullpen (each drill 1 min) (repeat 3x)

·         Body-weight squat, judo/hindu push-up, sprinter sit-ups

·         Jumping lunges, burpees, plank

·         Mtn climbers, push-up (3 flavors), dolly/flutter combo

Lurker Lap (push the hill)

Light post drill (2 times)

·         Backwards, bear crawl, broad jumps, bounds

·         Took a minute to speak with Mr Mays (Gx, sp?)

Steps (3 times)

·         Preacher’s seat (30/60/30 seconds) at the top

·         Incline push-ups and dips at bottom (10 each)

Deviation

·         Authorized for Gx who re-tweaked his shoulder=>Hope it’s not bad, heal fast

N.B 1-4

·         This was my inaugural lead. Thanks for the honor brothers. Hope it was in qrusader-like quality

·         Big Cat, looking forward to joining forces in June

·         I have to claim the DA award for forgetting that I put my keys on the other side of my car. Big Al had the pleasure of laughingly bringing that to my attention. Regrettably, Gx saw this happen.

·         Hope the mudders rocked the race. Let us hear from you.

Qrusade/AG-4-16-11.Emotional Gillooly

Posted by Dark Warrior

We raised the flag (no shovel) high at Mustang Stadium where a dedicated group of The Faithful gathered in the falling liquid gloom. 

Dark Warrior

Davy

MMOB

Mickey Thomas

Moniteur

PBo

Senor Chips

Super Dave

Todd Brown (FNG)

Waco

Wichita Kid

Ok, wait, there were 12.  Who are we missing?   Apologies for our inability to remember 12 names when Dredd remembers 30. 

The Thang:

First half – lead by Waco:

Warmup lap around Mustang track

10 minutes of Zuzana:

-          20 lunges (10/leg)

-          10 Half burpees

-          10 Merkins

***TClaps to MMOB for completing 10.5 cycles

3x around Mustang track (400m), stopping every 100m for the following.

-          Start - 10 under-hand pullups

-          Stop #1 - 10 dips on the football benches

-          Stop #2 - 10 Carolina dry dockers

-          Stop #3 - 10 side-straddle hops

Planked for a couple of mins until Dark Warrior took over for the second half

Second half – lead by Dark Warrior:

Run to basketball court near AG track - along the way, 30 yds each of walking lunge, bear crawl, crab walk. 

Pusherama

-   Decline pushups

-   Merkins

-   Dips

-   Widearms

-   Dips

-   Diamonds

Run to Ramos

Wet Mary

-   Knee-ups

-   Dolly

-   Flutter

-   Knee-ups

-   LBC

Legorama

-   Jumping lunge

-   Squats

-   Peoples chair

-   Squats

-   One-leg squats

-   Peoples chair

Robert Plant x2

Run home to MPHS

Impromptu plankorama a la Moniteur. 

NakedMan Moleskin

-          The MudRun Qru was missed.  We're looking forward to the BackBlast.  But what is that we hear?  Crickets.

-          Although Gris was representing at the MudRun, a workout cardigan was spotted in the gloom nonetheless.  What’s French for Gris?

-          LMS update.  Dark Warrior and Moniteur for posted for their 16^th consecutive workout.  At this rate, it may take a Jeff Gillooly-style hit for one of them to win the competition.

-          No one claims to have seen Zuzana climb the chain link into Waco's Field of Pain, but she was there and she hurt me. 

-          After the workout Moniteur admitted to bringing Zuzana on the road to Raleigh this week.  Nice work Moniteur. 

-          Not sure who almost hit the deck, but MMOB gave some sage advice to one of the Faithful, noting that it would be inappropriate to do a face plant on the Robert Plant. 

-          My (dark warrior) son asked me when I got home if we do 100 pushups when we workout.  My quick response was, "no, we don't do that many."  Then I replayed the workout in my head.  For me, 9 sets of Zuzana + 70 in the pusherama (counting each in-cadence pushup as two), for a total of 160.  Never thought to count our pushups, but I agreed with my son when he said, "that's a lot of pushups."

Gamucci/StabCity--BackBlast.4-13-11

OBT Posts:


The virtual ShovelFlag was planted in the StabCity(FN1) Gloom at 0600.  Gathering for Gamucci in the margins of the Dealmaking Spreasheeter Conference were:

OBT
TopRope aka Kennebunkport
Shaggy

Also in sight and in range was TennisWhites (Scott Smith), who slipped the hotel lobby EH and, coffee and newspaper in hand, headed off to the hotel gym for his "workout," with vague promises to be there on Saturday morning.  I'm sure you and the ferns got a lot done, TennisWhites ...

What We Did (as best I can remember):

Run to faux-Gothic college campus.
Side-Straddle Hops warmup.
Run up hill to Athletic Complex.
Basketball court: 10 Merkins; run baseline to baseline; 10 burpees; run baseline to baseline; 10 4-count Mountain Climbers; run baseline to baseline.
Run to turf-covered soccer practice fields.
Randorama of sprints, Merkins, burpees, bearcrawls, Imperial Walkers, leapfrog, walking lunges, little baby crunches, squats, etc.
Run to soccer stadium, run to top of bleachers 5x.
Back to practice fields.
Six Minutes of Mary: Hello Dollies; Flutter Kicks; Little Baby Crunches; Rotisserie Plank.
5 x 20-yard shuttle sprints.
Back to soccer stadium -- 5x to the top of the bleachers, starting with 1 burpee at bottom of first section and building to 5 (modified Jacob's ladder).
Run to entrance to Business School.
People's Chair, 1:00.
Dozen wall jumps.
Run back to hotel.

47:00

Spreadsheets From The Gloom:

_ 3xclaps, first of all, to Shaggy and TopRope for joining, particularly in the face of general TennisWhites wussiness (he also warned that it was "really cold" outside -- yeah, really cold if you're not working hard enough to break a sweat ... just sayin' ...).  I got caught in a Spreadsheeting Crisis last night and was up working until after 1 a.m.  The only thing that kept it from being a Fartsack morning was my commitment to them to be downstairs at 0600.

_ For a short while we shared the practice field with a ROTC contingent.  3xclaps to the future officers' commitment to our country -- but I still think we were getting after it harder.

_ Did You Know: Cushioning for the FieldTurf at the Faux-Gothic College in StabCity is provided not by ground-up tire bits, but by the charred, blackened remains of the human sacrifices Coach K and Wojo consume each morning in the bowels of Cameron Indoor Stadium.  Absolutely true.

_______

(FN1) The year after I graduated from college, I lived in Galway in western Ireland.  The city of Limerick, in southwest Ireland, is commonly known as Stab City because, well, basically, all the really bad s--t happens in Limerick.  When I worked for the AP in Rhode Island as a cub reporter, all the really crazy crime stories -- Satan worshipping sacrifices, that sort of stuff -- came out of Pawtucket, just north of Providence.  So Pawtucket was Stab City.  In North Carolina, as I learned when I was the AP's news editor here for 18 months, Durham is Stab City. (The GasHouse is a second-tier StabCity, Piedmont-style.)

Gamucci/Ramos-4-13-11.Rocking Some MuskRat

We planted the Emotional ShovelFlag in The Gloom and The Faithful gathered:

SixMike

TangoDelta

Waco

SuperDave

Antonio Table

Red Warrior

Black Angus (nickname change!!)

Black Bird

MMOB

Haywood

Sweeper Boy

Silence

Dredd

Black Warrior

Heat Mizer

Gris

Eutaw

The Cougar

The Rock

                The Thang:

                                Run to Trophy Circle

                                Randorama

                                Run to Brickyard

                                Pushup Ladder

                                Run to Ramos’ Office

                                The Mary

                                Run to BackForty

                                Ark Loader

                                Run to Ramos’ Office

                                Legorama

                                **the idea today was to go with absolutely no rest in between exercises

               

                NakedMan Moleskin:

1.       Emotional PieFace:  In the tradition of the Apostle GX (without his careful preparations however and unfortunately), we celebrated Heat Mizer’s 53^rd Birthday with an emotional pie in the face.  Triple Claps to the Mizer for sucking the Gloom on his birthday.  Aye.

2.       Nickname Change:  Q-nation has been referring (informally Brothers, informally) to Angrus as the Black Sperm since he broke out the skin-tight black head condom early this winter.  Today, accidently really, he just kinda morphed into Black Angus.  All due respect Brother.  Not trying to rile the beast within.

3.       Rejection:  MMOB tried to institute a new exercise—The Carbarro-Daisy-Lunge—this AM.  It’s kinda hard to describe and, well, inappropriate for The Gamucci, so (sorry ChickenHat), Exercise Rejected!

4.       WarBaby:  Silence:  36 years old and disgustingly handsome.  Hate you.

5.       WarDaddy:  Black Angus (T-Claps for saving Dredd from the dubious honor, by a mere year):  48 years old and devilishly handsome with (or without) the Black Skull Condom.  Aye.

6.       Today’s Chuck:  Chuck Norris goes bowling with his own head.

7.       Today’s Sweepertee:  Gomez’ cover of The Beatles Getting Better—been stuck in me cranium for two days now and cannot get it out.

8.       KindaGuy:  Gris, who could not figure out how to say his own name in the COT this AM, confessed he was still dazed and confused by his weekend at The Masters.  When queried, he conceded that he was the kindaguy who wore his golf shoes the whole time—as if one of the players might need his help off a tight lie, “uh hey you, yeah the guy with the Workout Cardigan and the golf shoes, why don’t you hit this one for me.  Yeah uh, good thing you got your soft spikes on Brother, or I might hadda hit this one myself.” 

9.       New Carrot:  TangoDelta announced he’s picking up the QIC on the Spartan Run this June.  Training to start next Friday, 0600 at the Campos.  OBT, get the shirt ready.  Let’s get some bodies out there.  Look for some PreBlasts from TDelt on the how, the why and the where.  Aye.

10.   Epstiens:

a)      Voice of Harold—Phoenix, beating up immigration/gun control advocates;

b)      OBT—Carrboro, scouting out new exercise routines for MMOB;

c)       HitMan—Florence (SC), following the Captain and Tenille (rocking some Muscrat Love baby);

d)      The Colonel—His Whereabouts is Unknown

Qrusade/AG--4-10-11.BlackBird Fly

Posted by TangoDelta:

The Qrüe...

SixMike

Mickey Thomas

PBO

Kit

Rook

TangoDelta

Beckham (FNG!)

Moniteur

Waco

Witchita

TopRope

Fortenberry

Expo

Red Warrior

Antonio Table

74

BlackBird (Name Change!!)

MMOB

Haywood

SweeperBoy

Dredd

Dark Warrior

The Colonel

Snap Fade

The Cougar

The Rock

Ann & Hope

Thang:

Bird...excuse me...BlackBird, now aptly renamed with reference and reverence to that dark streak hidden deep within, took half of the pack to AG track and went straight for the legs and lungs.

1) 1600m (Group I), 1200m (Group II...as BlackBird is a benevolent ruler) warm-up run at sub-nine min pace

2) 4 / 400m yasso's 90% pace

3) Modified Mary's between yasso intervals

4) 4 / Jacob's Ladder

5) Mosey to AG track meet-up with Group II having come down from 'the cage' on high. 

***TClaps to Dredd, Beckham, MMOB, TopRope, PBO, The Col and snap fade for pushing the pack and Dredd / MMOB each leading a round of Mary. 

TangoDelta...took half and went the cage on hollowed hill to work on core and beach muscles with a modified "300" strength pack cinder block gauntlet. 3 circuits.

1) 10 pull-ups

2) 10 Swings

3) 10 Cerkin's (one of Merkins many twisted cousins)

4) 10 Floor Wipers

5) 10 Clean and presses

6) Mosey to AG track to trade off with Group I. 

***TClaps to all. She burned. 

1) FNG / WarBaby:  Beckham-a rare double-bonus award winner getting intro'ed to 7MA serfdom properly at the ripe old age of 22. BlackBird owns older cardigans! Instructions were to follow silently shadow Dredd. Headlock came from yours truly when asked how to earn a desk phone. Rumor has it that the kid has potential.

2) Kotters: 74 (welcome back)

3) WarDaddy: Expo, 49 - Nice work brother! You make us pups look bad. 

4) Today's Chuck: When Chuck Norris does a push-up, he isn't pushing himself up, he's pushing the earth down.

5) Chalkboard: 400meters = 0.25miles = 1 lap around the track.

6) "300": The legendary warriors of Sparta provided inspiration for today's Qrusade and an upcoming obstacle race. I am building a team for the Spartan Race (Carolinas) on June 25 and challenge you to join us. This invitation applies to all of you...we have plenty of time to train...let's do it together. Please contact me directly if interested. Additional details may be found by referencing the following link (http://www.spartanrace.com/). 

GONADS/Ritchie--4-10-11.Kick Drum Heart

Posted by OBT:


We planted a virtual ShovelFlag in the Freedom Park Gloom and hit the RitchieRun.

The Faithful: OBT and the The Two Warriors: Dark and Red (both RitchieRun FNGs).

The Route: The MMOB Memorial "This Is My City" Route, through South End, West Morehead, Freedom Drive, Wesley Heights, Center City and Sugar Creek Greenway. 

The Distance: 12.2 miles.

The Time: 1:44:52

Spreadsheets From The Gloom:

_ A mere eight days after making his first Qrusade appearance at AG, Red Warrior is just a Twofer Tuesday and MudX/StrengthPack appearance from hitting for the Qrusade/GONADS cycle.  Also, he might look like a Clydesdale, but don't be fooled -- there's some real giddyup in those legs as I discovered when I picked up the pace for the stretch run along the greenway back to Freedom Park.  The guy already qualifies for High-Functioning Hybrid status.  3xclaps.

_ Another 3xclaps to DarkWarrior, who promised to belly up to the RitchieRun bar after RedWarrior said he would post.  DW only revealed after the run was over that it was a personal best.  Not for time, people, but for mileage -- a lifetime long run.  Nice work, DW.

_ Thanks to both the Warriors for posting, which required me to post as they were FNGs and don't know the route.  Kept me from overdoing it on Saturday night and got me out of the fartsack on Sunday morning.

_ The vaunted Sunrise view of the Charlotte skyline from State Street -- the one that causes MMOB to spread his arms wide and declare, "This is my city!" -- was unfortunately obscured by low clouds and general Gloom this AM.  Also absent was MMOB himself, who had last been seen around 2300 Saturday evening, exiting the Avett Brothers concert at Bojangles Coliseum, humming "Kickdrum Heart" and ducking questions about whether he would post for the Ritchie.  Regardless, 3xclaps to MMOB for scoring excellent seats to the concert.  Even if JohnnyMost seemed less than captivated by the proceedings, MMost, OBT, MOBT, MMOB and MMMOB all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.