Friday, February 26, 2010

Friday Fun Day

We enjoyed a nice morning. Day break is now around half way through the workout. There was an increase in foot traffic on Peachtree and in the neighborhoods. We had a big crowd. Folks have just decided to put on an extra layer and go out. Folks are getting cabin fever. Walking, running and exercising outdoors is becoming popular again despite the weather. Folks can stay in climate controlled only so long.

3 1/2 mile Church Run. 650 repetitions. The ladies controlled the paces today. Its always a pleasure.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Last week of cold weather

Gary, Dave Baker, Prancy, Carolyn, and Kerry went running. Holly, Kaffee and Harriott took a beating.

This should be the last week of below freezing cold. FYI, Kaffee and Gary have been the most consistent participants without struggling through injury. They are also on time every day. Working out is not "something they have to do" to get something they want (to get into a bathing suit). They do it because they like it.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Lenox Rd

Uniform of the day: two layers of dry fit, gloves. Weather: dry. Ground: soft. Traffic: light. Attendance: average. Intensity: Medium. Yapping: Above average.

The goal of today's workout was a) push ups b) core c) easy running d) all of the above?

Smiles and poker faces were abundant under Peachtree St. If this crowd was suffering, no one could tell. We have been practicing how to relax under intense physical stress. We like to relax our jaw, unfurl our brow and smile when the going gets tough. We breathe easy and concentrate on each repetition as we do them. We figure there is no reason to worry about the 50th rep when we hear "nineteen." Thinking is usually a waste of time and mental capacity. We keep our head and eyes forward and methodically work the numbers.

Three and a half easy miles, six hundred and fifty repetitions, one hundred and sixty five of which were push ups, the balance core. The answer to the above question is d).

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Brix + (2x800) = good times

Bricks have been used for thousands of years for building man made structures. We use them to build (man/woman). A little unconventional? Maybe. Effective? We think so. We run with 5 pound bricks in hand for a mile. We stop about every 300 meters and do shoulder, back, and arm exercises. Those little rascals start getting heavy after a couple few hundred repetitions. Later in the day, we may find simple tasks not so simple. That's the little reminder.

When we were finished wearing out our arms, we ran. The first 800 meters was 3:07. The second was 3:02. We had a crowd lined up (shoulder to shoulder) across the street at the finish. These work outs are running like a well oiled machine. Speed begets speed. Strength begets strength.

3 1/2 miles, lots of upper body. good paces.

Monday, February 22, 2010

Parking Deck

When we awoke, we heard rain, thunder, lightning, wind. We imagined folks all over Atlanta rolling over and going back to sleep. Not us. We sprang. We dressed. We drove. We assembled. We departed on foot. The rain had blown through. We high tailed it to One Buckhead plaza parking deck. We did two strides and stretched. Then we ran to the top, did standing one legged presses (also good for stretching) then rode the elevator down to one. We went up two more times stopping along the way doing squats, plies, lunges, plank leg curls, leg lifts, side kicks, calf raises, inner thigh thingies and hurdle thingies. In all, 600 thingies. The thingies was the easy part. Running up parking deck ramps (hard white concrete) at race pace is tough. The group did great. It was one of our best ever group efforts. Late in the workout, the back took the inside line while the front took the outside. The result was near perfect harmonious hill training. We likey.

4 miles, 600 reps lower body, zero rain. A day on the Medium side of Hard

Friday, February 19, 2010

Church Run Backwards/Friday Fun Day

We put out the sign "Frankie Allen." We didn't stay there long. Wouldn't that have been funny if someone late had joined up with the wrong boot camp. We ran out the back trail and down the Garden Hills to G.H. playground. We exercised and ran up the G.H. hills to the back lot at the Baptist Church. We spent some time at Baptist then Catholic before we lined up and raced back up Peachtree St to PRUMC. We did pull ups when we were done.

3 3/4 miles. a bunch of exercises.

If you are doing days in a row (also known as "no days off"), that means you run a minimum of 3 miles every day OR do a high cardio workout. "Days in a row" have a way of tempering the body to a constant stimuli. The body has an amazing ability to adapt to stress. If your brain tells your body to run every day, your body will eventually become lighter and stronger to accommodate your brains wishes. Sometimes, your body will try to trick your brain into taking a day off. It will wine, cry, scream, pout or throw a fit. If your brain acknowledges the body and assures the body that it will take it easy, then the body usually finds out that it wasn't as bad as it thought it would be. Sometime your brain gets confused and thinks that it cant. This is when the body takes over one step at a time and reminds the brain that it can. Getting in shape is simple. All you have to do is work out every day.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Buckhead Tour

Intimate crowd. Started South. Took a left at ESPN Zone and did stair step aerobics and leg presses at the Library. Then ran to the Big Fish front porch and did rocking chair leg curls. Then we ran to the front yard at A.I.S. and did "hello Buckheads." Then at the bottom of the hill we did swing set curls at G.H. Elem. We also did standing leg curls while leaning against the jungle gym. We took the foot path to G.H. park and did more stair steps then ran for a while until we were at the foot trail into Frankie Allen. We exercised at Buckhead Baseball for a few minutes before heading home. We were startled by a crowd of vagrants creeping around in the dark near the ball fields until we realized it was another "boot camp."

3 1/2 miles. 620 repetitions of mostly lower body.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Lenox Mall/ Push Ups

We had visitors today. Oh, how wonderful. We really like visitors. In fact, we regularly invite prospective participants to join us for a three day trial. If you have not invited a friend, neighbor, office dweller, wife, husband, brother, sister, son, daughter, perfect stranger (but not too strange), hair stylist, auto mechanic, preacher(I brought mine), boss, real estate agent (they got nothing else to do now) stock broker (sadistic masochist), teacher(you should give them boot camp as a gift) or Doctor (generally unhealthy people), then, get with it. We LOVE NEW BLOOD.

We ran North (seemed like North Pole) for a mile and a quarter. We disappeared under Peachtree for a minute or two and reappeared on the other side. We stopped along the way and exercised. Then we Ran East on Lenox Rd to E Paces Ferry. Again, more exercise along the way. We hit core about half as hard as yesterday. The running was slow. Intensity was low. Repetitions were on the hard side of medium. By the time we got half way to Peachtree St on E Paces, we were frozen. So we cut through the Sports Authority parking lot and returned to the warm fluffy carpet inside the Church (the House that Don built). We finished off our push ups there.

The Preacher gave us a preview of tonight's Ash Wednesday sermon. It was well received. You can get the Full Monte(what is under that robe?) tonight at The Methodome.

3 slow/cold miles. 595 reps.(200 of which were push ups)

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Church Run Down & Back

We walked out the door and started heading south. It was seven below freezing, windy and humid. Wind chill had to have been 9. A single digit midget. We ran and stopped, then ran and stopped then ran and stopped. We exercised on the stops. When we got down to the Churches, we ran around from Church to Church doing core exercises. Abdomen, oblique, glutes, lower back ect...

Hitting the deck was not too bad. The big surprise was the run back. We lined everyone up at the 2 mile mark facing North and said "go". The plan was to hold 6:30 pace up hill into the wind. Dave D was one second below the mark. He dropped the instructor with 150m to go. The Church Steeple had never looked so good. It pops into sight just as you cross W. Paces Ferry. Look up, there it is; "hold on just a little longer, almost there."

We all did a set of pull ups in the gym afterward and stretched. It was supposed to be a medium day.

3 miles, 475 repetitions of various core exercises.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Parking Deck

8 guys, 5 gals. Light rain. 43 degrees. Indoor/outdoor workout. We ran to the One Buckhead Plaza parking deck and up it 4 times. Then, we ran the long way back to the Church. We stopped every 3 ramps and did hip, thigh, calves, quads, and hams.

Today's workout was tough. It was hard getting up knowing the rest of the civilized word was in bed. Having gotten up, it was a struggle to leave the house. Having arrived at the warm and friendly confines of PRUMC gym, it was not easy walking out into the cold rain. We did not want to do it. We wanted to skip the whole thing and go get coffee. But... we went.

We went because that's what we do. We go. We hammer. You will know who we are this spring. It will be obvious.

4 miles (2 up hill), Lower body exercises

Friday, February 12, 2010

Lenox Road Out and Back plus 2X800

Lots of guys this morning. I do not know of a larger group of men in a workout in Atlanta. Most of the chatter was about the prospects for more winter weather. Everyone is primed and ready to race tomorrow. Only, we agreed that we are skipping it if winter wonderland visits.

We ran north on Peachtree road to Lenox road and back. We ran under Peachtree in the Buckhead Marta tunnel as usual. The V sit against the contoured wall is getting interesting. Folks are rocking out. I wonder if we could get some more poker faces. The idea is to look cool under pressure. Never let them see you sweat. Appear calm and relaxed. Act as if...

We mixed core, push ups, legs and hips. The idea today was to wear down our bodies and then hold it together for fast paces. This is "race simulation." We make ourselves feel the way we will feel at the end of a 5K, then practice good form and controlled breathing for repeat halves. We must be doing something right cause we ran 3.10, 3.10.

I would like to thank all the participants for their continued support of PRUMC Boot Camp. We hope that you will consider us for all of your future fitness needs. Please invite a friend to join us for a few days. Lets get some fresh meat for the wolf pack.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Church Run

Cold. Still. Slow. We stopped often and made the best of it. Heading south on Peachtree we stopped along the way and did core, core and more core. By the time we hit Church Turn (aka Jesus Junction) we had counted 500 repetitions of various exercise. We made our way out the back of Baptist to Garden Hills playground, then Garden Hills Elementary and straight back to PRUMC. In all, we did 777 reps(of which 117 were push ups). The running was slower. We kept the tempo down and the exercise up. This is the day before the day before so, we gave our legs a little break.

3 slow miles, 777 repetitions of various exercises.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Buckhead Village Idiots

There was a large group of people running around the streets of Buckhead this morning in the freezing cold dark laughing and carrying on. They were running in the middle of the street, talking loud gibberish and acting weird. I think they were trying to break into the Fish Market. They may have been hash hound harriers but I didn't think people drank that early in the morning. They ran through the Elbow Room parking lot. May be they had been up all night. They were definitely looking for something. They were constantly getting on the ground like they were looking for something. They must have lost it at a playground cause they kept running to different playgrounds. May be they were so drunk they forgot where they left their kids. Do you know where your children are? Anyway, I felt better when I saw them run into the Church. No earthly power could help these people.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Pace work on Valley

PRUMC boot camp is the toughest group training in Atlanta. If you don't believe it, come out and visit us this week. Please forward the http://www.atlantaelitebootcamp.com/ to folks who think they are in shape or think they would like to be in shape. This group is going to enter the spring strong enough to run with club runners and fit enough to match any other group in exercise repetitions.

This mornings group was fast. The back was a lot closer to the front. The front was chillin right below anaerobic threshold. The AT, also known as the lactate threshold, is the point where lactate (lactic acid) begins to accumulate in the bloodstream.


We ran from PRUMC out Alberta on to Roswell Rd past Ptree Pres., left on Lakeland, left on Habby right at The Gambler on Valley. We stretched, then ran a few strides and lined it up. This is what we will do Saturday before the gun. We ran down Valley to the 404 tree (one mile) in six minutes and twenty two seconds. Again, today was about race simulation. Then we turned around and ran half way back in 3.22 (a little long.) Then we stopped and talked, held hands and sang a song (not really), then lined up again and finished in 3.09 (a little short). Then we ran back to PRUMC.

1 mile warm , 1Xmile 6.22, 2X800 (3.22, 3.09), 2 cool. And I do mean too cool.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Lenox Mall

We had a nice crowd filled with fast legs for this mornings ritual. Good news from the weekend; Dave D. nearly broke 40 minutes in the Chattahoochee Nature 10K. He will be running through the police barricade and directly over the starting line when he lines up 7/4/2010. There are two types of runners, the runners on the outside of the fences and the runners on the inside of the fences. Dave will join us on the inside and will likely make the top 1000.

We were missing a few regulars this morning. We will be there tomorrow in case they show up. So, we headed North on Peachtree to the Buckhead Marta station. We ran under Peachtree Street and popped out on the other side. We continued North to Lenox Rd. where we took a right. We took another right at E Paces ferry and ran over 400 on the foot bridge behind Lenox Mall. We ran through Peachtree Park, further along E Paces Ferry and then cut through to Frankie Allen. We ran through Buckhead Baseball and out the back to Garden hills where we lined up and raced back up Grandview To Peachtree Rd and PRUMC.

We stopped about every 300 meters along this run and dropped. We accumulated 130 push ups during the run. The rest of the exercises were core related.

We are going to race on Saturday in the Hearts and Soles 5K. We will try and get another group qualified for the PTRR. 20:14 will do the trick. Everyone else who plans to enter the Peachtree Road Race needs to run a qualifier. The rest of the week will be a set up for Sat.

3.5 miles, 600 repetitions. Medium effort for these studs.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Parking Deck Ramps

We had a couple of Boot Camp babes make it 5 days this week. Folks, if you show up 4 days to PRUMC Boot Camp (the toughest dog gone workout in town), hang around and take a beating day after day, then wake up on Friday morning knowing that the crazy instructor is likely to take you out in the cold rain; THEN, make the decision to get up, suit up and show up, you are no longer working out. You are now training. Good job Lisa and Traci.

We ran to the 1st floor of the One Buckhead Plaza parking deck. It was not really raining too hard. We made it there relatively dry. Then we ran (3 ramps then leg exercise, then another 3 ramps with more exercise then another 2 ramps and more exercise, then an elevator ride back to one) X 4.

Then we ran the long way home in the cold rain. I figure we ran 2 1/2 miles UP HILL this morning. Today was a tough day.

4 miles, Quads, Hams, Calves, Hips, and cardio.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Brix/3X800

If you are reading this, you are probably sitting in a chair at a desk. Stop. Get up. Get a large cup. Fill it with water. Bring it back to your desk. Now... Drink it. Do it again after lunch.

We ran a mile warm up and grabbed bricks. We ran a mile with bricks in hand, stopped 8 times(about every 200 meters) and did arm, shoulder and back exercises. Each brick weighs 5 pounds. It wears on you.

Then we dropped the bricks and lined up. We ran 3X800 with 2 minutes of exercise in between 1 and 2.

We have a few folks running a 5k next weekend. 20.14 gets you a 4 digit # for the PTRR. Let me tell you, It ain't how fast you run on the 4th of July; its how good you look that counts. People notice if you are in with the in crowd. Also, if you start at the front, you have a shot of winning the coveted PTRR top 1000 coffee cup and top finisher hat. Seriously, whats the point of living if you cant show out once in a while.

20.14 = 6:28 X 3.125 = 3:14 X 6. We were under 3:14 for 3 at the end of a workout today.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Lenox Mall

Nice crowd. From PRUMC: North on Peachtree to Piedmont(20 v crunches, 20 dips, 20 V crunches). 200 meters down the road, the divider that separates the sidewalk from Peachtree we did incline push ups with right and left plank side crunches.(10PU, 10RSC, 8PU, 10LSC, 6PU, 10RSC, 4PU, 10LSC, 20PU). Then we ran to the exercise platform just outside the Marta station. (25 bent knee leg lifts, 25 flutter kicks). Under Peachtree in the Marta tunnel we hung from the hand rail and did (5 back rows and 5 curls)X5. Then we ran to the patch of grass before Lenox Mall and did 25 push ups and 25 back bends. Then we did 25 R side crunches and 25LSC on the guard rail just before Lenox Rd. We hot footed to the Lenox Marta Piney woods for 25 push ups and 50 bicycles, then ran toward the foot bridge. Just before crossing, we did 25 right and left plank crunches then hauled it up to the Peachtree Park Playground. We put our feet in a swing and placed our hands on the ground and did a swing set crunch followed by a decline push up (this is as hard as frozen dog poop), we did 13. Then more running and push ups on the best grass in Atlanta (but you cant smoke it) and more running. We showed off in front of Mickey Mouse boot camp located in Frankie Allen with another 50 reps of abdomen exercises (synchronized) before we ran the long way home. We did stop off at the corner of Grandview and Pharr for pull ups. There is a pull up bar right there. The group is officially "in shape." Please invite anyone interested in authentic old school basic training to join us for a few days.

3.5 miles, 650 repetitions(158 of which were push ups), finished with pull ups.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Parking Deck Ramps/ Groundhod Day

We had another good crowd today. It was nice to see so many people decide to leave their warm dry homes to venture out into the dark, cold, wet morning. We were rewarded with an old PRUMC favorite. If you were to leave PRUMC, run south on Peachtree, take a left before the commercial real estate formerly known as ESPN Zone, run down the hill, go right into the parking deck and keep running until you are on the top, you would have run 1 mile. On our first ascent this morning, we stopped every 3rd ramp to exercise, catch our breath and loosen our muscles. We took the elevator down and prepared for the next ascent. We raced to the top(9 stories, about 700 meters). We did a few more leg exercises at the top(squats, plies, lunges, leg lifts, bridge, side kicks,ect...), then rode the elevator down and ran up again, stopping every 3rd ramp. The final ascent was all the way up without stops. We put a tail on the workout with a small tour of the remnants of a once vibrant Buckhead.

4miles, 4 ascents, butt, legs, thighs, calves

Monday, February 1, 2010

Church Run/ abs

Studs: David G., Jimmy, Gary, Michael, Dave D., Steef, John M., Slawek, Matty
Robo Babes: Amy, Holly, Kaffee, Traci, Lisa, Irene, Kerry, Harriott

And the Studs have it.

We started south on Peachtree. Buckhead park (a.k.a. Charlie Loudermilk memorial park) across from the Roxy has a nice grassy knoll where we started with 50 bicycles. The marble waterless fountain made for a great place to do 50 stair step aerobics. The bank on the Pharr Rd corner has some nice grass for 50 Marine Corps style sit ups. Brio grass was good for 50 flutter kicks. Backbends were chilly just past Publix and side plank crunches were warmer at St. Phillips. We took the long way around Christ the King to the courtyard where we continued with crunches, more backbends and toe ups (touching your toes in the air while flat on your back). We ran over to Baptist for a few stair laps and then 50 V crunches. At the Garden Hills Playground we did 50 side elbow crunches on the rubber baby buggy bumpers. Then we ran all the way around Garden Hills to the dead end of Grandview. After 50 V crunches we raced up the hill and all the way back to PRUMC. We went inside the the final side crunches and up stairs for pull ups.

In 60 minutes, we ran 3.5 miles and did 700 repetitions of various abs exercises. A medium day.