Friday Fun Day

Monday we meet at 7AM. Please invite friends, family, neighbors, friends, friends at the office, children, friends of children, strangers (but not too strange), people at the pool, people at the cookout, people at the park, at the bar, sitting next to you at the braves game, stopped next to you at a red light, at church, at the grocery store, at the zoo, at the gas station...

Friday fun day was fun. Jeffrey always keeps us smiling. The horses got kicked off the golf course. Why were they on the golf course? Oh well, no one threatened to break their legs.

today's participants:

Kaffee - 15
John S. - 15
Prancy - 14
Kerry - 14
Gary - 13
Marc - 12
Matty - 12
Caroline - 11
Lucy - 11
Mary Anne - 12
Shana - 11
John Oneil - 9
Irene - 10
Dave D - 9
Dave B - 9
Harriott - 8
Allison - 7
Charles - 8
Jimmy S. - 8
Katie H. - 8
Jennifer - 5
Sally - 6
Lisa - 6
Michael - 5
Cassie - 3
Amy - 2
Susie Mac - 3
Emi - 2

BriX

In a more uncivilized time, PRUMC Boot Camp used bricks to exercise upper body muscles. These days, we use 5 pound hand weights. We make up for our pampering by doubling up weight (holding ten pounds in one hand) on a few exercises.

We started a little different today. We gathered at the top of the front stretch next to the children's playground. We took turns doing pull ups and a little stretching. Then we ran all the way up the back stairs to Peachtree Battle and lined up. We staggered the start of the Muscogee Mile. We gave the foxes a decent head start before we let the horses chase them. It was quite a finish. The pack was together for the home stretch.

We made our way down to the track and grabbed some weight. The ladies made a group and the gentlemen made a group. We took turns doing upper body exercise while the other group ran strides. Everyone took it medium. After about a half hour of wearing out our shoulders, back and arms, we took off our shoes and ran about a half mile of strides on the grass. Barefoot running is a little bit of a craze. We did talk about running form and foot strike in between 120 meter barefoot strides.

Who showed today:

Kaffee - 14
John S. - 14
Prancy - 13
Kerry - 13
Holly - 13
Gary - 12
Mary Anne - 11
Carolyn - 10
John Mears - 10
John O - 10
Shana - 10
Wendy - 10
David B. - 8
Mary Blythe - 8
Charles - 7
Jimmy S. - 7
Katie H. - 7
Stephanie - 6
Lisa - 5
Michael - 4
Steef - 4

Church Run

We ran up Peachtree St., Down Lake View, past the Duck Pond and up the back driveway into the Christ the King Courtyard. Then we crossed over to the Baptist back yard, ran down the hill toward Garden Hills Pool, then left and up the hill back to and across Peachtree St. We crossed Peachtree twice on our way back home.

Along the way we stopped on any wall or grass or AstroTurf we could find and worked core muscles. In all, we did 700 repetitions. Including warm up we ran 4 miles.

Attendance:

Kaffee - 13
John S. - 13

Prancy - 12
Kerry - 12
Holly - 12

Gary - 11
Jim - 11
Marc - 11
Matty - 11
Michael G. - 11

Caroline - 10
Lucy - 10
Mary Anne - 10

Carolyn - 9
Chip - 9
Cleve - 9
David G. - 9
John Mears - 9
John O - 9
Niki - 9
Shana - 9
Wendy - 9

John Oneil - 8
Irene - 8
Dave D - 8
Dave B - 8

David B. - 7
Harriott - 7
Mary Blythe - 7

Allison - 6
Charles - 6
Jimmy S. - 6
Katie H. - 6

Jennifer - 5
Katie - 5
Sally - 5
Slawek - 5
Stephanie - 5

Lisa - 4

Michael - 3
Cassie - 3
Steef - 3

Sean - 2

Amy - 1
Casey - 1

Diagonal

There are no slow people in Boot Camp. Starting sometime last winter, in the teeth of cold spell that seemed to never end, we laid down a base that has given us power and endourance. Now, we are building speed on top of the base. Easy, medium and hard strides activate fast twitch muscles that enable us to traverse the earth with primal speed.

Today we warmed up easy with a set of suisides. We split into 4 groups at each corner. The first group started on the 3rd turn, the second group on the first turn, the 3rd group on the Fourth turn and the most important group on the second turn. Then the second group ran diagonally to the 3rd turn passing the first group on their way to the first turn. Apon reaching our respective turns, we commenced to exercise lower body muscles. While 1 & 2 were exercising, The Most Important Group (MIG) ran from the second turn to the fourth turn passing the third group leaving the fourth turn arriving at the second turn. Apon reaching each respective turn, we exercised lower body muscles while 1&2 ran. There are always two groups running while two groups exercise. This routine is dead medium. The miles are fewer but the exercises are greater.

We estimate 3 miles, 750 repetitions.

We were reminded today how important it is to make visitors feel welcome at our house. Individually, we are the kindest most charming types you may every meet. Collectively, we are a wild pack of beast that intimidate and strike fear into all of those outside the pack.

Crazy 8s

Big, Fast.

We had our usually large Monday morning gathering. It seems that penance is due at the end of every weekend. We are grateful for everyone showing up this morning and working hard. Okay, school is out. Yet, we still have a decent crowd. So the mass exodus to the oil slick hasn't begun. Great. Since we are all in town, lets keep this group together for the entire week. What "the entire week" means is we get up and work out every morning (rain too). Imagine what this group would look like on the 4th of July if we all show up and work together for the next 5 weeks. Simply put; the finest group of people every assembled anywhere in the history of all man kind. Over the top?

We have this little routine we do where we run on the infield. We run fast diagonally across the field, then jog slowly across the "end zone" and run fast for the opposite diagonal. We start slow and turn up the speed just a little bit every diagonal. The pace increase is so slight that we hardly notice. In the end it looks like a jail break; Crazy leg running.

This morning we stopped every 2 1/2 passes for exercise. We did all core work this morning.
5 miles, 500 repetitions.

FROM LEFT: Hot Mom Holly, Mighty Mary Blythe, Marc, Wonderful Wendy, Michael, The Fabulous Jeffrey holding The Cute Kaffee, Cleve, Carolyn "legs"

FRONT: John S., David G., Prancy, Matty

BACK: Boss, Jim, G , Chip H., Dave D.

Almost Heaven

The concept of heaven in Islam differs in many respects to the concept in Judaism and Christianity. Heaven is described primarily in physical terms as a place where every wish is immediately fulfilled when asked.

We Asked for quite a lot this morning and got it. It was a thing of beauty. Gracious and lovely maidens gaily prancing about with the finest of gentlemen accompanying them in their strides. The air was clean and crisp. The geese and other fowl flew. The earth was compassionate and forgiving.

We hammered 5 miles and reeled off 500 repetitions of various core exercises. It was no joke.

Muscogee Mile + weights

The Muscogee Mile is an old boot camp favorite. Favorite to hate that is. From Peachtree Battle, we take a right on Rivers, right on Muscogee (up), right on Peachtree (down), then right on Peachtree Battle. We finish exactly where we started. Imagine our joy when we discovered this city block = one mile.

After posting impressive times (no slow people in boot camp), we returned to the field behind E Rivers. We picked up a 5 pound weight for each hand and began exercise. We tried to concentrate on shoulders, back, and arms. The ladies worked in a group and the gentlemen worked separately. While the robo babes did military presses, back rows, bicep and triceps curls and the like, the fellas ran an easy 120 meters to the far end of the field, then turned around and ran a medium 120 back. When the guys ran through the line of women (like red rover red rover), the chicks dropped the weight (if only it were that easy to lose 10 lbs...) and ran. The boys (and Prancy) then exercised and waited for the Honies to return. The hotties (no, we are not talking about Matty) liked the girlie tunes playing in the background.

We figure it was a total of 3, with 600 repetitions of upper body exercise.

Diagonals

Attendance by groups:

Wind:
Gary - 5
Prancy - 6
Matty - 5
Dave D. - 5
David Bruce - 5
Michael G. - 5
Jim - 7

Fire:
John Mears - 5
John O. K. - 5
Charles - 3
Shana - 5
Kerry - 7
Cleve - 6
David G. - 4

Water:
Niki - 6
Katie H. - 6
Caroline - 6
John S. - 7
Marc - 6
Jennifer - 2

Earth:
Mary Anne - 5
Mary Blythe - 2
Cassie - 1
Kaffee - 7
Wendy - 3
Holly - 7

Church Run

We had a Big crowd this morning. In order of Sign In, starting with the left side of the sign in sheet; Chip, Gary, Marc, Mary Anne, Jimmy, Kaffee, Irene, Holly, Jim, John S., Kerry, Jennifer, Niki, Mary Blythe, Carolyn Nancy, Sally, Dave D., David G., Wendy.

On the right side of the sign in sheet (aka late comers); David B., Katie H., Allison, Katie L., Shana, John Oneil, Michael g., Lucy, Harriott, Caroline, Cleve.

We went straight out through the parking lot and headed West on PTree Battle. We turned North and lunged our way onto Rivers. We stopped along Rivers for stair step aerobics before continuing to Muschogee. We did a set of squats before running East up hill toward Ptree. Upon reaching the top of the hill, we Lunged North again before crossing Ptree and Descending Eastward in a sharp sloping Lakeview. We ran a set of hills there then visited the Duck Pond. We did a set of 8 count body builders (ouch) then ran North to Catholic Courtyard. We did a ton of stuff on the Catholic AstroTurf then ascended up the stairway (to heaven?) to Ptree. We short hopped it to the Baptist front steps before much more in the Baptist Courtyard. We basically did an about face and ran Back to Duck Pond for one final set of 8 C.B.B. before West up Lake View and South down Ptree to our cars.

3 miles, 830 repetitions of various leg exercises.

Old School Platoon / Modern Fitness Fun

There really needs to be some FUN in Friday Fun Day. The word on the street is "Jeffrey" can make fitness fun. We have even heard that he instructs pole dancing at Cheetah.

We started the day warming up with slow laps around the track in the dark. Folks have been showing up a few minutes earlier this week. That's great. Long warm ups not only "pad the book" but they also help PREVENT INJURY. Injury prevention is half the battle. We work out every day. Working out every day requires discipline and maintenance. Warming up is part of it. Get up, lace up and warm up.

We completed a set of suicides and split in two. We didn't actually split in two but we separated the large group into two less large groups. The Horses (and a couple of Phillie's) went straight to "the club"(the stump garden gets converted into a club on Friday) and the Foxes went straight into platoon style old school basic training. Today's ritual was mostly dedicated to abdomen. legs, hips, thighs and of course, cardio. We love hearing people talk about "cardio workouts" they do in a gym. Come on out to the Track and we will show you a "cardio workout".

The group decided that the Foxes will get V.I.P. treatment at The Club next Friday. The consensus is that we had a "good week."

3 miles, 700 reps.

BriX

We no longer use bricks. We use weights.

it was hard. people were tired. The running was easy but arms and shoulders and back are worn out.

We did hand stands at the end of the workout.

Church Run

At 6:02 AM, as usual, we gathered together along the wall on the front stretch of track behind E Rivers Elementary. Some of us had been there for twenty minutes. No one has arrived before Chip H. this week. I suspect he gets two miles of warm up prior to the workout. Kaffee gets a mile warm up every day. Matty and Gary get a mile. Michael gets a mile. Jimmy, Jimmy S. and Mary Anne get half to three quarters. Irene gets a half.

If we get to the track at 555AM, We can get a minimum of a half mile a morning. If we do that 5 days a week, that's another 2 and a half miles a week. Over a seven week program, that's an extra 17.5 miles. This is what we call "padding the book." We pad our weekly and monthly numbers by doing long warm ups and or cool downs.

Did y'all know Charles is gunna be the Big Dawg Preacher at a Church Downtown?

So we did some stair step aerobics, then ran and lunged to Rivers. We did more stair step aerobics and squats before hauling up Muscogee. More lunges along Peachtree preceded the descent to the Duck Pond. We worked hips and but-tox in the goose poop then ran to the Catholic courtyard. Yet more stair step aerobics followed by leg presses. We circled up and worked inner thigh, then boogied over for stair repeats at the Baptist back lot. We did some ballet in the front courtyard before rising up to Peachtree and crossing. We finished at St Phillips then ran back to our cars.

3miles (with a half warm up), 600 repetitions of various lower body exercise.

Day 2 Diagonals/abdomin - core work

We had another big crowd of fast legs. Even the folks who have just joined us are right in the mix.

We started with an easy set of suicides with push ups. Then a quick circuit around the back yard. We split up at the end of the warm up and began the workout. We had four groups. While two caddy corner groups exercised, the other two passed each other running to the opposite diagonal turn. Once the runners arrived, they began exercise while the exercisers got up and became runners. This way, there were always runners and always exercisers, yet the runners didn't run over each other. It works.

So the average distance was 3 miles and each group did an average of 600 repetitions of various exercise. The idea is to stay on the grass (soft surface) and keep the heart rate elevated for an hour.

At the end, we lined up and circled the track twice. 90 seconds for the first lap, 90 seconds for the second. This final act is part of the race simulation we often do. When we are tired at the end of a race, the challenge is to keep it together. Today when we were tired, we kept together for a half mile. It is not how fast you run thats important, its how good you look at the finish.

P.T. Test

Name---------Time-----------Last Time--------------Push ups----Sit ups

Dave D--------12:20-----------12:50------------------71-----------82

Prancy--------12:20-----------------------------------70-----------85

Dave B--------12:40-----------------------------------45-----------70

John Oneil----12:46------------------------------------96-----------81

John S.-------12:48------------14:17-------------------72-----------68

Gary---------12:55------------13:17-------------------91-----------67

John Mears--12:56------------13:37-------------------61-----------72

Jim----------13:00------------------------------------50-----------61

David B.------13:17-------------13:48-----------------65-----------55

Slawek-------13:18------------------------------------47-----------66

Chip H.--------13:25-----------------------------------25-----------54

David G.-------13:30-----------------------------------50----------67

Charles--------14:32-----------15:28-------------------30----------40

John O.--------14:33-----------16:10-------------------59----------71

Jimmy S.-------14:37------------------------------------85---------58

Matty----------14:37------------------------------------80---------75

Cleve-----------14:59------------------------------------35---------50

Niki------------16:16------------------------------------44----------48

Marc-----------16:54------------------------------------40---------40

Allison----------17:37--------------18:23

Kaffee----------17:53--------------18:23------------------76--

Holly-----------18:17-------------------------------------------------57

Mary Anne-----18:25--------------19:48-----------------57---------60

Lucy-----------18:41--------------------------------------47--------34

Sally-----------18:46---------------19:01-----------------78--------32

Everyone is Faster than last time. We were missing a few studs this morning. When they show up, we can throw them on the stud pile. This is the manly man testosterone, big swinging richard boot camp. LETS WORK TOGETHER. NO RACING.

We who are about to cry, salute you!

It has been a great privilege to set the pace for PRUMC Boot Camp. We are very grateful for everyone who shows up and hammers. It takes people to create a group. It is the group that provides the energy that we all can feed off of. This is a we program. We gather together every morning with a common purpose. We hold each other to a standard that we would not likely behold onto ourselves alone.

Show up Monday for more insane training.

Session attendance:

Carolyn 29
Charles 27
Mary Anne 26
Nicole 25
Stephanie 25
John S. 24
Kaffee 23
John O. 23
Gary 22
Shana 22
Emi 22
Kerry 21
Michael 20
Mary Blythe 20
Marc 19
Matty 19
Molly 19
Harriott 18
Jimmy S. 18
Lisa 18
Katie L. 18
David Bruce 16
Dave D 16
Jimmy 16
J. Mears 15
Wendy 14
Jennifer 13
Dave Baker 13
Allison 13
Julie 13
Mary Beth 12
Amy 12
Sally 12
Irene 12
Randy 11
Lisa M. 10
Steef 10
Katie Hunt 9
Rosetta 8
Jamie 8
Rachael 7
Elizabeth 4

Church Run

Big group. We had a few missing but, not many. Most folk had planned on a P.T. (Physical Training) exam this morning. It was to our relief that we were to leave campus for our favorite field trip. We headed north on Peachtree and stopped on the front steps of every church we came across. We blended a few leg exercises with core work. We stopped short of PRUMC and turned around. We finished with a tempo false flat (down hill) mile. we came in between 6:14 and 9 minutes. We imagined the Peachtree Road Race as we glided down the sacred thoroughfare. Race simulation has always been part of PRUMC Boot Camp. If we felt good this morning, imagine how good we will feel on race day having not done all the dog gone exercises.

We are going to give everyone a chance to take a P.T. test next Monday. Even if we have no current plan to register and pay for another session (no one has this plan, in fact we are all coming back AND bringing a friend), we are welcome to join in Mondays ritual evaluation.

Tomorrow is Friday Fun Day. Great Fun, Fitness and fellowship will be had by all. Please don't forget to invite a Friend.

5 Millas, 500 repeticiones para Cinco de Mayo

Crazy 8s. Abdomin/core. We got after it pretty good this morning. We are getting progressively faster and stronger. It seems that we are having more trouble getting the squirrelier folks to take it easy than keeping the pack together at the back. The pack is strong.

We talked about starting easy, staying together and bearing down a bit in the middle and then stringing it out at the end. We had a big crowd. It stayed together really well.

Keep inviting people to attend. No workout in ATL can pack more into an hour.

5 miles, 500 reps.

Limbs

Arms & Legs in diagonal format.

We started with a big crowd lined up against the retaining wall at the top of the front stretch of track at E Rivers Elementary. We ran 40 yards, turned around and touched our toes, leaned froward and walked our hands out until we were in push up position. Then 5 push ups and we walked our hands back to our toes, stayed there for a 5 count so we could stretch our hamstrings, then ran another 40 until we were right back where we started. Then we turned around and repeated the routine again at 45 yards, 50 yards, 55 yards and 60 yards. Then we ran up the center set of stairs at E Rivers (about half a grand stand), took a left at the top, ran hard across the top ridge, easy down the far stairs then a hard lap run around the track.

That concludes the WARM UP. By this time, we are somewhere between 1 and 2 miles into the workout. We are already exceeding the average candy ass boot camp total for the day.

Then we split into four groups. On one side of the field, groups exercised lower body. On the other side of the field, we exercised upper body. We ran strides between sets of exercise at either end of the field. We will work core tomorrow.

We are inviting our friends to boot camp for the remaining days this week. It is one thing to brag about how tough we are, it another to SHOW IT!

The schedule is set for the next session. We are having a 7 week session that will end the week before 4TH of July week. We are taking June 28th - July 4th off. Most of us are running PTRR on Sunday the 4TH.

THIS IS THE BEST group PEACHTREE ROAD RACE TRAINING IN ATLANTA! WE WILL STACK OUR BEST 25 AGAINST ALL COMERS. WE WILL TAKE ANY BET.

Day 26, 4 days left in current session.

This is the final week of the current session. We would like to have everyone in town attend the last four days of this week. We would also like to brag a little bit about how awesome our boot camp is. We usually share our workout experience with anyone who will listen. When we pour 65% of our daily physical output in one hour, its a big deal. Sharing the joy we get from our daily meetings give others the opportunity to feel the joy. We are all about sharing the joy. So lets Text, email, phone and personally share the joy that is PRUMC Boot Camp.

Marc, Mary Blythe, Carolyn, Michael and Dave D braved the wet conditions. They ran the old 4 and a half loop. Michael and Dave D added two Grandview hills at race pace. Carolyn joined them for the second one. There is a difference between working out and training. The folks who tackled the allotted hour this morning are TRAINING. The rest of us will get together for tomorrows workout.

The word is JOY. Please spread the word.