Gran Torino has become one of my favorite AOs. It draws a wide variety of pax, and those that come are tough customers. Today was no exception.
As my first post there this year due to travel and work, I was eager to set a good example, especially as co-site Q’s @largemouth and @chanticleer were present. 5 for one EC run, a few others for another, and even more for EC PYPs, meant pretty much everyone was warmed up at go-time.
All assembled, bit of a disclaimer, no FNGs, join me for the Pledge of Allegiance, then follow me.
And, of course, I got a flat tire on the warmup lap.
Warmup
Follow me on a figure-8 tire scrub-in session. Get in some lefts, rights, high knees (hineys!), buttkickers, carioca left and right, backwards, you get the drift. Circle (amoeba?) up down yonder. Back off @chanticleer.
10 SSH
10 Windmills
10 copperhead merkins
10 mountain climbers
Limbered up, we moved on, and formed up into a parade lap heading for the short track.
Short Track Special
Short track racing around the bullring. Scout run 10 yards off the front, then form up at the rear of the field. Pax took to this one quickly, and seemed to be having fun with it.
Except @squatter. He was getting dizzy. So, after 10 world’s worst merkins on my down, we regrouped and headed the other direction. This time, the plan was for the pax to do a 3-car then 4-car draft pass around the group. You know, last 3 guys pop out of line once passed, and all go flying around the front 4, then last 4 around front 3, etc. Except that is NOT what we had. It was a catastrofu….a mess. YHC threw a red flag-we regrouped, tried to sputter on, and it failed. Terribly.
10 penalty burpees, more for me than y’all guys. Head on over here for some quick feet, then let’s hit the road.
Time to move on.
Road course and figure 8
The pax realigned into their two lanes, and we set off on a double applesauce up the gut. Didn’t take long and we hit our stride towards Rolling Stone circle. Odd, no ruckers out and about at GT today. Size up the guy in the next lane, he’ll be your partner for the next exercise.
Head for the gazebo, and stop short for instruction.
Figure 8 but around one circle. P1 and P2 run opposite directions. 1st meetup partderkins P1, 2nd partderkins P2, 3rd partner clap merkins, 4th bropees. Regroup, squat jumps and/or @biner hops for the six, then regroup into our 2 lanes.
Road course but with ess-curves thrown in (black snake up each lane all the way back to the school).
Regroup at the school entrance for a mosey towards the drag strip (with an autocross slalom thrown in for good measure). @ma bell couldn’t resist the kickball and sullied his kicks.
Hey, what’s that light in the field? Why, our destination of course. A few cones spaced about 30 yards apart.
Drag race
All pax line up in down dog, and bear crawl to the starting line in 2 lanes. Pax behind calls 3-2-1-GO and front pax sprint for the finish. Run it out and back in line. All pax got 2 runs.
Changeup to bear crawl sprints, 2 runs each
Shorten the dragstrip a little, then a Changeup to crab walk sprints 1-3 runs each (modify lunge walk, crab scurry, reverse lunge walk, whatever tripped your trigger)
Grab the cones fellas, let’s roll on.
Cooldown laps
We hit the shelter for some core work, kinda hurried like. 10 count irkins, derkins, dips, and ALRSUs, then off towards the flag. Q fail…I started my garmin late so thought we were woefully short on miles, and gave up. Only to hear @largemouth say “Only a tenth to go” so go we did. Might’ve come in a little later than @saban would’ve liked, but it was still roughly 6:15 at the finish. We weren’t going for distance records anyway today…we were going for fun.
Announcements
KKC. Sign yer butt up.
Keep an eye on slack for pop-up runs. Lots of ’em as running season is getting cranked up.
Prayers
Pickle’s M’s mom, pneumonia symptoms.
Theisman’s thoughtful comments about the stresses and issues our young ones are going through. You’re not alone, and just love on your kids. The imprints we are making now are lasting, and YHC for one needs to make some changes too.
NMS
Guys, it’s my goal to deliver a solid workout for you, and I did not today. It’s on me, and you only get better at something by practicing. So, I’m sorry but I’m going to have to sign up to Q more in order to get better at it. That said, I did have fun, and I think a few of today’s elements were fun to others. The drag race in the field was kinda fun. Maybe not the bear crawl part.
OM out.