The Mud Run is Finally Here!
17 men launched at 0515 from the Vine Restaurant at the Ballantyne AO to fine tune for this week’s Mud Run on Saturday in Columbia, SC.
Here’s what we did:
The Thang:
The PAX launched at 0515 from the Vine Restaurant at the Ballantyne AO and headed down Ballantyne commons parkway, took a left onto Ballantyne Corporate Pl, then followed the path behind the soccer field to 2 new ponds. Pain stations along the way included uphill frog jumps, a snake hill run, and merkins in Cadence.
We ran back onto Ballantyne Corporate Pl and crossed back over the Johnston Road bridge. We turned off Ballantyne Corporate Pl and followed the sidewalk towards Pond #1. Along the way, we partner up (size important) for Firemen Carry’s, then flapjack. The PAX continued towards pond #1 and slalomed around small trees for a little agility work and gathered on the Dock for Merkins X 15 and Squats X 15.
We then followed the trail through the woods to Pond #2. We climbed up and over the stone wall three times and circled the lake and headed to the 5.5 foot stone wall and climbed up and down X 4.
We then crossed Ballantyne Corporate Pl towards the fitness trail. Once we arrived at the fitness trail, we split into 4 groups. Group 1 did rope climbs; Group 2 alternated between sets of Pull-ups X 10, squats X 30; Group 3 did arm walks across the parallel bars and SSH while you wait; Group 4 ran a lap around pond #5 and merkins until Q yells to rotate (approx. 4-5 minutes at each station). The group headed towards the short wall beside Pond #5 for 6MOM – Flutter X 20, Dips X 20, Dolly’s X 20 (awkward for outback), Durkins X 15, LBCs X 20, Bicycles X 20 (My cadence couldn’t hold a candle to Puppy Love) We then headed back to the COT.
Moleskin:
Mud Run Week is finally here! The goal today was less running to rest up for the race, but we focused on fine tuning our Fireman’s carry and wall climbing techniques. We also practiced our rope climbing techniques, which we all need quite a bit of practice (Let me know if anyone would like to borrow the ropes for some practice or future Q’s). There aren’t any rope climbing obstacles in the Mud Run in Columbia, but there are 2 rope swinging obstacles. There are however rope climbs in the Spartan Race on October 26th. Regardless, it’s never a bad idea to get your hands used to the ropes. T-Claps for Cain, Mermaid and Fried Okra for making it up the Rope without using their feet.
Great work by all the PAX this morning. As always, it was a pleasure leading the men in the Gloom.
Announcements:
Mud run training is extended for atleast 3 more weeks. Join us next Tuesday 10/7, same time, same place.
Email Madame Tussauds at dgoldberg1838@yahoo.com if you are interest in running with your South Charlotte Brothers in the Spartan Sprint on 10/26. The run is 8 miles with 20 obstacles. All PAX get a 30% discount through F3.
Strange noises in the brush
It might have been my imagination, but while doing a little bit of Mary in the parking lot in deepest Ballantyne, I was almost sure that I could hear Madame Tussaud bellowing in the undergrowth.
Either way, 31 SoBs showed up for the Bagpipe / Swift / Mudrun beatdown. 11 at Bagpipe, 17 at Mudrun training, and 3 at Swift. This is the Bagpipe Backblast. All pax listed below.
The Thang:
Mosey to parking lot for warm up: 25 SSH, 10 Imperial Walker, 15 Merkins
Mosey to lake wall: plankerama, then 15 Durkins, 15 dips
Continue to next wall: plankerama, then 15 Durkins, 15 dips
Mosey to parking lot for some Mary: 20 flutter, 20 dolly, 20 heels to heaven
Mosey to bottom of hill: 10 6-count burpees, sprint to top of hill. Plankerama, then 5 6-count burpees, 5 merkins.
Mosey to bottom of hill: 10 6-count burpees, sprint to top of hill. Plankerama, then 3 x 5 merkins.
Mosey to bottom of hill: 10 6-count burpees, sprint to top of hill. Plankerama, then 5 merkins.
Mosey to parking lot: plankerama
Mosey to next parking lot: 20 rosalitas, 20 mason twists
Return for COT
Moleskin:
– Strong group today with really impressive showing for Mud Run training.
– Bootcamp pax stayed at it though and did not run as much as usual. Upper body took a beating.
– Frehleys complained, but less than usual.
– Next week Wingman is on Q.
The Definition of Gloom
13 Men posted for this mornings edition of Fast Twitch. If you ever questioned what was meant by gloom this morning certainly clarified that for you. The fog was thick, visibility was limited, the grass was wet, the new track was spotted with puddles: a perfect morning for a workout.
The Q heard a little input for the weinke prior to the workout. “I am not a fan of the track.” “You may want to go light on the hills, we’ve had enough of that BRR training.”, “I’ve got new clean shoes on and don’t want to get them dirty.”
All requests were promptly ignored and off we went.
The Thang:
Down to the baseball outfield:
- SSH x 30 in cadence
- IW x 25 in cadence
- Romanian Deadlifts – x10 each leg OYO
Back off the field to the bleachers:
- 15 step ups left, 15 step ups right, run down path up stairs and back down to bleachers. Repeat for a 3x total.
Head to track:
- 4 corners around track: 1st – 50 calf raises, 2nd – 25 squats, 3rd – 25 merkins, 4th – 25 full sit-ups. Repeat for a 2nd lap.
- Run 1 timed mile, all out.
Circle back at parking lot.
- Run over to Rising Meadow, fast guys run up and around the cul-de-sac, the guys interested in taking their time and observing the Halloween decorations through Rain Tree can wait for the gazelles to return to the bottom of the hill.
- 5 sprints up and back from lamp post to lamp post (approx. 70m of hill)
- Indian Run back to SCMS
- People’s chair with some arm raises
- LBC’s x 25 IC
- Flutter x 15 IC immediately into Dolly x 15 IC
- A little protractor
- Time.
Moleskinny:
A good hard working crowd this morning and now 2 brothers from Winston Salem this morning (Starfish and Butter) welcome. A few, who we will not mention, were a little afraid their new kicks were going to get dirty this morning. My personal opinion is that as soon as you lace up for an F3 workout those shoes don’t make it in the house past the garage. They smell and are dirty, just as they should be. You want to keep your shoes clean, walk the mall before it opens early in the morning with the old ladies.
Lots of cheers of excitement when I called for the timed mile! Everyone killed it considering the track was dark, wet, and RFYL was slow moseying all over it. Not sure how everyone did on their time. I knocked it out in about 6:20, I know at least Fraiser, Turkey Leg, Brady, and Hairball were ahead of me as if I needed to state that. I also noticed there was not one watch between Brady, Fraiser and TL. Maybe that’s the secret to running fast. The air resistance on this Garmin is slowing me down. TL was behind me for the first 3 laps. The guy is built like deer and has the foot steps of a Clydesdale. Sounded like I was being tracked down by a Yetti. A Yetti that passed me and took off into the darkness on the final lap.
We may have made the one woman a bit self conscious as we surrounded the outside of the ladies room doing peoples chair with arm raises in cadence while she relieved herself. It’s really her fault for not using the woods or someone’s front yard as some Fast Twitch PAX have been known to do.
Great send off by Purple Haze.
Always an honor to be allowed among a great group of men, much less lead them.
-Alf
Announcements.
Mud Run bus – Meet at SCMS at 0515 Saturday. Wheels up at 0530.
#F3Swift – not so Short and too Long
- 0514 – 16 PAX standing around at the Ballantyne AO this Tuesday morning
- 0515 – 16 PAX still standing around
- 0516 – The PAX help M.Tussauds realize his watch is slow and the Mud Run Training crew take off. 3 PAX left standing for Swift.
- 0517 – Here comes one late PAX! Shoot, he’s looking for the Mud Run crew
- 0517 – Depart the AO into the Gloom
The THANG:
- Warm-up with 1 mile mosey to the Bull Ring. Minimal drills because we’re running late, so just High Knees, Butt Kicks, B-skip (stretch those hamstrings), and Strides.
- 4x200meters at 1 mile race pace with 200meter jog recovery
- Mosey out to Ballantyne Corporate for 15 minute Tempo run – try to run at your Marathon Pace (or about 1 minute per mile slower than your 5K pace). Go out for 7:30, then reverse course back to starting point.
- 4x200meters at 1 mile race pace with 200meter jog recovery
The Moleskin:
- With a small group, the 2nd F is always in full effect. Also, no way to hide on these workouts. We were very tight in the 200s, and Long Haul was showing no ill effects of not running for 6 weeks this summer. We were flying pretty fast.
- On the 15min Tempo, because YHC forgot his GPS watch, he realized that he has no internal Pace concept of Marathon Pace. Too much pushing close to the Red Line probably and without having to use “should be able to talk as a gauge”, was left shouting to HoneyBee to check pace. Too fast!
- The ending 200s weren’t as easy as the first. Surprised that the 15min Tempo would take that much out.
- Cool-down jog back to home by winding everywhere through the Ballantyne Corporate Park. Can’t arrive before 0610!
- Plank until Mud Run Crew arrives – Right Arm/Right Leg high, flapjack, elbows, Right hand/left foot high, flapjack
Announcements:
- Stonehenge is RELOCATED for this Saturday. Meet at 0600 at Calvary Church / the Rock. There will also be a 0700 workout at the same location.
Spanglish?
24 Men showed for Skunkworks, the hardest workout in the South.
The Thang:
20 swings in cadence
5 lawnmower rows each side (Warmup/stretch)
Head to entrance of church:
Partner up for Farmers Carry with 10 merkins chasers.
Back to front of church
5 rounds of:
25 Swings
10 lawn mower rows each arm
10 1 arm shoulder presses each arm
25 merkins
Run around the Church
Back to top lot
25 Goblet Squats
10 cleans each arm
10 one handed swings each arm
25 two handed chest press (on your 6)
20 Pullover extensions
15 LBC’s in cadence
50 Swings
Moleskin:
No mudrun training today. YHC had planned to mix it up this morning after the Farmers Carry so that we were switching bells to let guys work with different weights based on the movement. The spanglish delivery with the multitude led to plenty of chaos and confusion so the audible went to the simplified call of “just do the circuit 5 times” and use your own bell if you don’t understand. Either way, I hope it was effective. It seems like the shift is on for KB size to the heavier side, but there were a lot of strong guys in the 30’s space who would be well served in the 40+ range. Strawberry crushed it in his first KB workout and might be jumping to the big bells quickly. As always, it’s an honor to lead, and next time I will make it hard enough that Busch even quiets down and/or sweats. Also, hats off to TR, who nailed it again in the fashion department with the giant Tiger face shirt. That’s almost as cool as your F3 pool party Team America outfit, you should consider wearing the button up short sleeve shirt to the next patriotic convergence.
Gopher made a break for it!!!!!
When: 09/26/2014
QIC: Semi-Gloss
The pax: Baracus, Stone Cold (Pre-KB), Crab Cake (ruck), Voodoo (Ruck) (Pre-KB) Strange Brew, Mr. Brady, Lobster Roll, The Hoff (Ruck), Gullah, Stage Coach, Blue Rino, Les Miserables.
Mosey to the track.
1 lap. Butt kickers, Karaoke left and right.
Circle up
SSH X 25 Cad
Mountain Climbers X 25 Cad
Merkins – 15 OYO
Imperial Walker – 25 Cad
Next – Race your partner
Winner 10 merkins – Loser 10 Burpees
Rinse and repeat
Now for the main event……….Gopher time
One partner runs up Grandma Mountain 10 Derkins, 10 Pull ups, 15 LBC’sSecond partner runs a lap around the track. Meet up and do 30 Merkins total and then flap jack. Goal is to get as many in as possible.
Mary on the field – Lobster roll helped out
Mary in the parking lot – 20 Cad Freddy Mercury, Flutter (20), etc…..
Moleskin
Showed up early to work on the weinke but figured the gopher would work. Stone Cold and Voodoo were doing the Pre-KB so I thought I would join. 500 swings later and more people there we set off for what would be a fun filled morning of pain exercises.
At first the pax were very chatty and talkative through the first part………Then came the call for the Gopher. Stage coach and a few others were curious of how it was going to work with this AO but I figured the timing would be right for the run up the hill and track work together. The ruck boys were not happy with me at all mainly because of the hill. We were off. At first the track guys were leading more so than the guys up the mountain but believe it or not it ended up shaking out about the same. There were SEVERAL calls for quitting but I had none of it and kept calling for more. YHC was called out by the Hoff that I wasn’t wearing a ruck so I threw that one and did the last one. Regretted grabbing it because the mountain was terrible with it.
The run out to the parking lot was the final straw for most. We circled up and called out Mary, we started with some flutters and Baracus was upset with my lack of bench on exercises for Mary. I tried to salvage it but it was too late. I was at exhaustion, hence the delay in posting this.
Sound off if I am missing anything.
Tossing the ‘bee around Base Camp
12 Hippies showed up at Base Camp to toss around the frisbee.
Here is what went down:
Warm up:
Lap Around the parking lot…High Knees…Butt Kickers.
SSH x 25
Mountain Climbers x 20
IW x 15
Mosey to the Track
Partner up, Size and speed does not matter. One partner runs left, the other runs right. When you meet up complete a total of the called exercise.
Lap 1: 50 Merkins, plankarama waiting for the 6.
Lap 2: 70 LBC’s, plankarama waiting for the 6.
Lap 3: 20 Burpees, plankarama waiting for the 6.
Ended with a little recovery Rosalita x 25.
Mosey to the Bleachers
Time for some circuit work. 4 stations: Step ups, Dips, Supine Pull ups, Derkins
Round 1: 15
Round 2: 10
Round 3: 5
Hustle back to the parking lot for some Frisbee.
The parking lot was separated into three sections, and the pax took turns, calling an exercise and tossing the bee, then the Pax would run to the frisbee and complete the called exercise. If it was a misfire and landed in the first section it was 15 reps, in the second section 10, and for a really good throw it was more running but only 5 reps. If anyone hit a car there was to be a 25 rep penalty (we didn’t but came close a couple of times).
Each pax took a turn, some were better than others, some could benefit from this. We did lots of exercises including: Merkins, Jump Squats, 8 count Man Maker Merkins, Jump lunges, LBCs, Flutter, SSH, Burpees etc.
Finish up with some Mary.
25 Freddie Mercury OYO (YHC was O2 Deprived)
Protractor
Dolly
Check watch…15 seconds left…push out 15 merkins.
DONE.
Ye Olde Moleskine:
-When I got out of the car the guys that were already there immediately noticed I once again had props. Geraldo even threatened changing my name to Carrot Top #downgrade …Fallon? Maybe.
-Good to have the support of Steinbrenner and Bushwood, two DMZ regulars.
-The group was really quiet…Until the frisbee. Definitely missed having Passport out there who claims it was an RFS (Repentant Fart Sack)…apparently he slept through two alarms.
-Geraldo, Bushwood and Spinner were flying out there this morning. Everyone in the Base Camp crew is definitely getting stronger and faster.
Some frisbee throws of note:
1. Udder’s toss was reminiscent of John Daly. Powerfully out of control, Skyed over the cars!
2. Classic Steinbrenner moment when it was his turn he said “enough with this running business” tossed the frisbee two feet and called for 15 Flutters.
3. Insomniac somehow parked the bee between two cars #NoHarmNoFoul.
4. On the second to last throw Dunder called for Side Shuffle Hops (for reference see here) which is why we ended with Burpees.
Good work men, always a pleasure to lead, see you next time.
Announcements:
New Friday Workout starting 10/10: Indian Trail, Sun Valley Middle School, for more information contact: Hair Band (ktackel@gmail.com) or Glass Joe (micah_tyson@hotmail.com).
Mud Run on Saturday: Pray for fun, fellowship, and safety.
CONVERGENCE on Saturday: Most of the A51 workouts are converging at the rock, check the schedule for particulars.
“I wasn’t like every other kid, you know, who dreams about [running The Wiggler]” ** Wiggler: 5:30 am Launch
“I wasn’t like every other kid, you know, who dreams about [running The Wiggler], I was always more interested in what bark was made out of on a tree. Richard Gere’s a real hero of mine. Sting. Sting would be another person who’s a hero. The music he’s created over the years, I don’t really listen to it, but the fact that he’s making it, I respect that. I care desperately about what I do. Do I know what product I’m selling? No. Do I know what I’m doing today? No. But I’m here, and I’m gonna [run The Wiggler].”
Don’t just dream about it – do it! Run The Wiggler– 5:30 am Tuesday – corner of Foxcroft and Rothwood – male model pace…
** Hansel: Zoolander
#F3Swift Preblast – The Short and Long of it
Swift will launch this Tuesday 0515 from the Ballantyne AO at the Vine Restaurant.
We will bring back a workout that has some short stuff, then goes long and steady, and then ends with short.
After warm-up, we will:
- 4×200 at 1-mile race pace with 200m jog recovery
- 15 minute Tempo at Marathon Pace or slower
- 4×200 at 1-mile race pace with 200m jog recovery
#F3 Mud Run Training Preblast – Mud Run Week!
Mud Run Training will launch at 0515 on Tuesday from the Vine Restaurant at the Ballantyne AO.
The goal this week will be slightly less running and a little more obstacle work. YHC did a little recon over the weekend. The route will be slightly different and the PAX will have an opportunity to practice climbing ropes.