Prelude
This morning was another Saturday like any other, except that it’s the first one of the month. That means at Whiplash it’s the old 90 minutes of investment in your fitness. I was excited at the opportunity to Q and with BRR around the corner I knew I had to deliver for the PAX. So I posted on twitter that we were going to be running, we weren’t going to pick any 06:00 PAX, and I was going to help their BRR preparation. The tweet may have scared the faint of heart away, but I didn’t want people to be unprepared and the best hills around the AO require you to go off campus. The stage was set…
In case you didn’t know we have a hurricane on its way to the NC coast so when I left the house this morning it was premium swamp conditions, hot and humid. I was thankful to have my water pack and other people I knew would meet me in the gloom. Why and how could anyone do this alone??
PreRun
The prerun at Whiplash is always the standard loop but is always the best time to connect with people. You know Michelob and the Carpex crazies will be there. Today Chanticleer joined us and so did Keeper. Michelob needed no convincing, he’s the faithful site Q who can’t run enough. I had to EH Keeper during interval training on Thursday and convince him that bootcamps are a good idea. He was hesitant, but he made it. Chanticleer I happened to catch on the way out of the office on Thursday. He seemed hesitant, but it was hard to read his face we have to wear masks at work. 30 minutes later and we were done, simple as that.
The Main Event
I am always torn about what to do during a Main Event. I have my highlight event in mind, the one that everyone hates, but comes to love. Then I had a loose plan of more than we could possibly achieve. My primary goal was to not stop moving for 90 minutes and return to the shovel flag before our ending time. As we waited for the clock to strike 5:30 I had the chance to meet some Carpexians, Mayflower and Francois. They had water for the journey ahead so I knew they saw the tweet or the Carpex Slack either way, locked and loaded fully informed and prepared.
Some young girl stopped and asked us for directions to the trails. I’m not sure if she ever made it, but TCLAPS to her for being awake at 5:30 on a Saturday.
Ben Johnson knew he didn’t want to carry water and stowed it away at the corner of Horton Rd and Ridge Rd, which is 2.5 miles from where we currently stood (yeah we were trying to do that kinda mileage everyone there at 5:30 knew what they signed up for). Man Ram denied himself and decided against taking water, which was fine but maybe not wise. Water packs on we were ready to roll.
Warm-arama
It was the standard get loose kinda deal:
10 Good Mornings (In Cadence = IC)
10 Windmills IC
About this time I think My Precious showed up, not sure if he had water, but he’s salty enough he doesn’t need it.
10 Merkins IC
10 Mountain Climber IC
The Thang
Split the groups up into two teams of five. Did a Native People’s run to the bottom of Reedy Creek Trail before the hill to the 440 Pedestrian bridge. Chanticleer made the astute observation that it was very quiet. I quipped back that it was likely people were doing the math and figuring if they should head back. No one peeled left and abandoned the planned, so on we went.
Bottom of the hill:
5 Burpees
10 Jump Squats IC (Pretty akward, don’t suggest it)
Trip to the bridge:
Run halfway up (at the billboard), turn around and run to the top backwards.
Trip across the bridge:
Pay the trolls their taxes, 5 Pull-ups or burpees at the start middle and end.
Once across the bridge, a little Copperhead BLIMP Partner work:
Partner 1 ran down to the wood bridge.
Partner 2 AMRAP BLIMPS.
BLIMP = Burpees, Lunges, Imperial Walker, Merkins, Plank Jacks, Squats
Halfway through Wide Right joined us and we were up to 11 PAX.
Trip to the bottom, intersection of Horseshoe Creek and Horton Rd:
Native Peoples run, didn’t work we fell all apart… my bad guys not very clear instructions.
Trip to the top of Horton Rd and Ridge Rd intersection:
Partner chase, 5 squats then chase down your partner and swap.
Water break, a few ten counts and we were rolling.
Ran down to Lewis Farm Rd and I explained the next exercise and we were off. This turned into the 1.5 mile equalizer. Everyone was smoked and it was time to go home.
Lewis Farm Rd Backward suicide:
Starting at Ridge Rd, there are four intersections on Lewis Farm Rd before you reach Dixie Trail.
Run down to an intersection, run backwards one block, then turn around and run the normal way back up to Ridge Rd.
At this point we had 30 minutes to travel 2.5 miles so I made quick work of the return voyage.
Mosey to Horton Rd and Ridge Rd intersection.
Native People’s down to bottom of Horton Rd.
Mosey up Horseshoe Creek (Copperhead to F3 folk) to the 440 Bridge.
Paid the trolls their taxes, 5 Pull-ups or burpees at the start middle and end.
Mosey to the bottom of the hill.
Plank for the 6 and then 10 single count Merkins.
Run to the water fountain on Reedy Creek Trail.
Plank for the 6 and then 10 single count Merkins.
Return to the shovel flag and PUT6 when you got back.
Five minutes left, I couldn’t let them leave without a little more work:
5 Burpees
10 Lunges Each Leg
15 Imperial Walkers
20 Merkins
20 Plank Jacks IC
30 Squats IC
