Monthly Archive February 2016

Saved by the Truck

The PAQ could have taken on an 18 wheeler which was in our path near the grass hill but we decided that was not a good idea. Hence the silly name of this workout.

Warmup:  SSH X 20, Imperial Walker X 20, Merkins X 15, Mountain Climber X 20.

Workout: Mosey to church across Ballantyne Commons Parkway for some speedbump fun. Run around the church stopping at each speedbump for merkins. 1 at the 1st, 2 at the 2nd…to finish at 10 burpees at the 10th speedbump.  55 burpees total.   LBCs while waiting on the PAQ.

Mosey to fountains and the knee wall. Partnered up – 1 partner runs a loop around both buildings while other partner completes minimum reps of 25-50 depending on the exercise. Repeated until both partners completed exercises. Step-ups (25), Dips (50), Pistol Squats (25), Incline merkins (25).

Mosey back to parking lot and counted off into 4 groups for some 4-corners. 10 merkins in the middle and run to 1 corner (about 50 yards) and complete exercise of 20 reps. Return to middle for 10 more merkins and then to next corner Repeat for all 4 corners. Corner exercises x 20: Jump squats, heels to heaven, LBC, burpees.

Finished with Mary: LBC, Dolly, Flutter, Russian Twist, Bicycle. Hard run back to start and avoided the grass hill finish due to time constraints (and the truck).

 

Preblast – 2016 Kiawah Marathon

**BOM starting at 7:00 in the Town Center Market, about .20 miles from the start line – the race starts at 8:00.  The early BOM should give ample time for everyone to get warmed up after. Please refer to this image.


**UPDATE**

Due to the race starting to fill up, I’m having to close the doors on registering with me this Sunday night, 9/18.  Below are some things to keep in mind:

  • Registering with me, DOES NOT secure your spot in the race
  • Once registered with me, I’ll send you a code that allows you to register on the site (this secures your spot) – I’m trying to do this as quickly as possible so that everyone can get registered with the race, but please be patient
  • Any changes go through me and me only – please do not contact the race directly

If you have yet to pay me, below is the basic workflow:

  1. You pay me
  2. I pay race director
  3. She sends me a code
  4. I give you the code to sign up
  5. Show up and run

Here is the link to pay me the $55 – the price is the same for the half and the full –

https://www.paypal.me/KiawahMarathon/55.

If you have already paid me and I haven’t sent you a code, please let me know and we’ll get it sorted; if you paid me in the last week or so, I probably haven’t sent you a code yet, so don’t fret.

Lastly, please help me get this word out to everyone.  Tweet it, FWD the email, put it on your Slack channel, etc.  I want to make sure everyone is notified so that everyone who wants the discount gets a chance to take advantage of it.

One more thing – I’ll be out of town camping all weekend this weekend, so if you’re trying to email me and I’m not responding, don’t freak out – I’ll catch up with everyone Sunday night.

Thanks everyone for your help with this!

 


  • Race takes place on December 10th; event website HERE
  • The Half and Full marathon are the same price($55)
  • Will need full payment of at least 50 runners before the end of May
  • DO NOT register on the Kiawah site yet(those charges are nonrefundable)
  • Process will look like this: you pay me > I pay race > I get code > I give you code > you use code to register and it’ll show you as already paid.
  • “I can’t run that far” is not a valid excuse. You have until December to train. Just do it.

If you’re interested, please fill out THIS FORM so that you can be kept up to date.  It will also give me your email address so that I can contact you in reference to the race.  If you’ve already told me you were interested and have been receiving emails from me, you don’t need to sign up again.

That’s it; pretty simple.  Talk to everyone soon.

Hot-4-Teacher

PreBlast – Phase III – Mile Prep training

At 0515 on Tuesdays from the Vine Restaurant in Ballantyne, we’ve been building for workouts geared to set PRs in the Mile / 1600m race.  While we’ve done familiar workouts in the past, this week will be a new workout in Phase III (that’s “3”) in training, and it will likely represent the most challenging yet.

The Plan:

  • 0500 – come early for some extra easy running
  • 0515 – head out with the full group of PAX for a warm-up of easy running and dynamic drills.  Head towards Rushmore Dr.
  • 0530 – Start the main workout.  Each interval has equal distance jog recovery.
    • 2 x 600m at 1-mile Race Pace + 3 sec (i.e. if your 1-mile target is 6:00, then your 600m target is 2:15.  Run this 600 at 2:18). Don’t make this too fast.
    • 3 x 400 at 1-mile Race Pace
    • 4 x 300 at 1-mile Race Pace – 1 sec (i.e. if your 1-mile target is 6:00, then your 300m target is 1:08.  Run this 300 at 1:07). Feel like you are pushing slightly.
    • 6 x 200 at “F”-pace.  New pace target that equates to your 800m race pace, or about 4 seconds faster per 200m than your 1-mile race pace.

Week of Murderhorn

11 PAX shrugged off forecasts of turbulent winds, driving rain, flooding, and the PREBLAST to post at Ballantyne’s weekly SPEED workout known as F3-Swift.

The THANG:

  • 0500 – several PAX left on time off on a pre-run.  Not new news here, but Bratwurst and Gumbo were late and began to follow at 0501.  All PAX back to the lot at 0512 or so.
  • 0515 – pick up the rest of the PAX to head out to the planned route (check PREBLAST) for the workout of the day – 2/1/30.  At about 1 mile, do some dynamic stretching and drills along the route.  Then, start:
    • run 2 minutes hard, 1 minute recovery to regroup to the six, 1 minute hard, 30 seconds regroup to the six, 30 seconds hard, 30 seconds recovery.
    • continue to finish 5 rounds along the route.
  • Timecheck at 0600 shows we have time for a long 2nd F run home.  Head home the long way past Premier to Ballantyne Corporate and Brixham Hill.  Along the way, pass the Bagpipe crew near the bridge to high five, blow snot, motivate, denigrate, and other general acknowledgements.
  • Regroup once to the six along the way before pulling back into the lot.

Moleskin:

  • This Backblast has been sitting in the Drafts folder for almost a week now, and am just discovering it now in preparation to write the PreBlast for tomorrow.  In lieu of the PAX list and the workout, there will unfortunately be no recalling of the shenanigans of last week.  Come write a new Chapter in Swift lore tomorrow…

The Murderhorn, walls, hills and hair burners

6 men showed up for the 3rd installment of the Black Diamond workout. YHC volunteered to Q and wanted to bring our talents to Stonecrest. Here’s what we did.

The Thang:

COP:

Windmills X 10

IW X 10

Merkin X 10

Mosey to the top of the Murderhorn. The SOBs ran to the bottom, Burpees X 10, run to the top burpees X 10, ran to the bottom burpees X 10, meet up with the six.

Run over to the club house parking lot and split into 2 groups. Group 1 headed over to the picnic tables and did 25 dips and Group 2 went over to the playground for 10 pull-ups, flapjack once your 2 sets are complete do 50 merkins to wait for the six.

From the plank position, bear crawl across the parking lot and run up the murderhorn to the wall behind the movie theater.

Partner up. Partner 1 runs up the hill, does 10 merkins and back, Partner 2 does the does the called wall exercises, then flapjack – Wall exercises included, Donkey Kicks, People Chair with press, Balls to the wall press. Rinse and repeat.

Mosey over to the parking lot for hair burners with the same partner. Partner 1 hair burners partner 2 merkins, flap jack. Continue workout for 3 total sets alternating merkins with LBCs. Run one recovery lap around the Movie Theater and back to hair burners. Partner 1 hair burners partner 2 merkins, flap jack. Continue workout for another 3 sets alternating merkins with LBCs.

Mosey over to the hill for partner wheel barrows, flap jack. Backward bear crawl up the hill.

Mosey to the top of the Murderhorn. The SOBs ran to the bottom, burpees X 10 and return to the launch.

COT

Moleskin:

It hurt so good! I’ve always wanted to hit the murderhorn twice in one workout, so I had it on the weinkie this morning. The mumble chatter always picks up when we head in the direction of the murderhorn and for good reason, it hurts. We hit it and we hit it hard first thing with 2 climbs and burpees, then we moved on to walls, hills and hair burners. With 9 minutes to spare we left the movie theater parking lot for one more climb with burpees.

Speaking of hair burners…. 6 sets may have crossed the line. YHC almost spilled merlot half way through the 3rd set. In between sets, the PAX was instructed to do Merkins or LBCs, Outback decided to just lay on the pavement face down or curled up in the fetal position to recover.

It was an honor to lead the men in the gloom.

Announcements:

Usual stuff…. See the weekly email.

 

2016 Area 51/SOB/UC Mud Run Preblast

Please read the whole Pre-Blast, but here is the gist of it all:

1.     Sign up here as an individual:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/f3-spring-mud-run-2016-f3-only-tickets-22178583741  Choose Charlotte, NC South as your region

2.     Email Fire Hazard with: Team Name and the F3 Name, Hospital Name and the Email Address of each man on the team here: Chip.testerman@gmail.com

This preblast contains all the Area 51/SOB/ UC PAX need to know about the 2016 Spring Mud Run.

What: The Ultimate Challenge Mud Run is the F3 Nation “Super Bowl,” only better because it happens twice a year. The course is around 6 miles with 30 some obstacles. Obstacles are pretty evenly spread out throughout the course with obstacles about every 1/5th of a mile.

When: Saturday, 30th April, 2016 at the Leatherneck course near Columbia, SC.

How: 1. Go to the main eventbrite to register https://f3mudrunspring2016.eventbrite.com to register. Individuals register on your own – not as a team. Register by March 1, 2015. Select South Charlotte as your region. Registration is $55. Strawberry will handle transportation. It normally runs $35- $40 per person. Sundries and drinks for the bus ride are on your own (no hard liquor please). The F3 Beer Boat will be at the race.

Registration is considered a “hard commit” with no guarantee of refund should you be unable to compete, even if your slot is filled by a free agent (see below). If you register and cannot meet your commitment, it’s your responsibility to your team and your Region to find a replacement.

  1. Once you have registered, send YHC an email at chip.testerman@gmail.com letting me know if you are part of a full four-man team already or if you need help forming a team. The email should include your Team Name and the F3 Name, Hospital Name and the Email Address of each man on the team. Note: If your team has an FNG, use the F3 name “FNG”.

YHC will be maintaining a Free Agents list to assist will building 4 man teams.

F3 South Charlotte Mud Run Teams and Free Agents: HERE

Why: Because it’s Completely Stupid And Utterly Pointless (CSAUP) and most of your other Area 51/SOB/UC brothers will be participating. The 2nd F component is even more fun than the race. If you can post to an hour long workout you can complete this race.

Helpful Info

Start by posting at The Brave on Friday mornings at 0515 @ The Vine Restaurant in Ballantyne. The Brave is an hour long running and obstacle training workout designed specifically for training the PAX for the Mud Run.

Other running workouts to consider:

Fast Twitch – Tuesday @ South Charlotte Middle School

Swift – Tuesday @ The Vine Restaurant in Ballantyne

Devils Turn – Thursday @ Four Mile Creek Greenway

Short Sweet and to the Pain

After a short mosey down the dirt road behind school to tires for warm up COP and back up to the front of SVES…

The Thang

Stations and Tires

  • Kettle Bell Swings x30
  • Weighted Lunge Walk with ~ 40 lb Pack
  • Battle Rope (firehose) alternating x 40
  • Clock Merkins x30
  • Jump Rope x100
  • Punch Out x50
  • Thrusters x15
  • Run to Tires
  • Burpees with Tire Jump up x10
  • Pistol Squats on Tire x20
  • Run back to Stations

3 Minutes of Mary: 4 count Kettle Bell Sweepers x 6

Moleskin: This morning’s beat down was simple and designed for maximum strength work.  Each man of Overdrive pushed himself.  Great work by all.  Aside from some grumbling about certain song selections each man was decided committed to paying the price of pain this morning. GJ had some issues with Sheb Wooley following Black Sabbath but really who doesn’t like the classic “Purple People Eater”…

The Bearded Duo’s Pain-list

*Posted by Glass Joe (who wasn’t even there)

The Bearded Duo’s Play Pain-list

Pre-Thang – Kiefer and EE put in 11 miles prior to the thang – that should warm the legs up! Nice job!

A little grace was given to Hairband as he rolled in just as the clock struck 7 – after checking his hair in the mirror, we were off!

Mosey up sidewalk hill past buses with a little High Knees, Butt-kickers and backwards run thrown in for good measure.

COP

No FNGs but ‘The Count’ reassures the group – he is not a professional, and to be honest doesn’t even know what he’s doing, but we will get through this!

5 Burpees on your own to get the blood pumping
29 SSH
Ring of Fire Merkins – 5x around the circle of pain
29 Imperial Walkers
Ring of Fire Merkins – 5x around the circle of pain
20 Mountain Climbers
Ring of Fire Merkins – 5x around the circle of pain

That Thang

Start off with a little starfish of exercises:
10 Squats in the middle for starters and between each corner of exercises
1 Corner – 10 Merkins
1 Corner – 10 CDDs
1 Corner – 20 Squats
1 Corner – 10 LBCs

Everyone on their own and at their own pace. Plank up in the middle once completed. HB to amend for his last-minute arrival leads the Pax in some plank work. Back to QIC.

Group moseys to SVES.
The Pax spreads out for some slow-release pull-ups. In cadence, everyone up and slowly descends as QIC gives a five-count. Followed by 7 CDDs
Rinse-repeat sequence until finishing with 1 CDD

The Pax circles up for hand-off to 2nd QIC – The Late Show.

Indian Run with Hairband leading the way to the gravel drive behind the practice field.
Stop for a round of seal sit-ups.
Slow mosey towards the practice field stopping at the batting cage for a slightly awkward round of seal push-ups which brought to mind a 3 Stooges episode. (Where is Horsehead when you need him for heckling?) Oh, well, after a good chuckle all around.. over to the practice field. Grab a manly rock and line up for a repeat from a couple weeks back. Run to the tower and back (110-120 yards total?). Upon return 10 ground to overheads (G2O) followed by 10 each knee mountain climbers. Then run, 8 G2Os, 8 each knee mountain climbers… Repeato with 6, 4, 2 and deposit rocks.
Line up on the sideline and bear crawl 10 yards, sprint 20 yards, flapjack till you get to the other sideline. Take a couple deep breaths, sprint back across.
Repeat with walking lunges in place of bear crawl.
Mosey back to middle school and circle up.
Partner 1 does 12 squats, Partner 2 does jump squats till P1 done. Flapjack. Flapjack. Flapjack.
Next round…
P1 does 10 push-ups while P2 holds a plank (activate those quads to keep knees up, activate those glutes to keep your butt down). Flapjack. Flapjack. Flapjack.
Bookend with 5 burpees on your own.
Done.
Ran out of time for MOM, but a solid workout all around, good hustle!! Good to see Sweatshop back in the mix and couple that aren’t part of the regular Saturday Pax: Dream, Nomad – glad to see you guys out there as well!

Thanks to HB for closing us out in prayer and reminding us of our true-purpose – to be better men for God and God’s service! Aye!

Take The Leap

Udder firmly planted the shovel flag as 21 men gathered for a Leap Day edition of #F3BaseCamp.

The Thang

Mosey around the parking lot to pick up a few stragglers coming in late before circling up in the front parking lot for COP.

  • IWs x 15 IC
  • MCs x 15 IC
  • Merkins x 10 IC

Mosey down Woodfox. Stop at Rounding Run for SSHs x 15 IC. Mosey to the bottom of the hill at Rising Meadow.

  • 7s on the Rising Meadow hill – Jump Squats at the bottom; Merkins at the top.

Some plank work while the six wrapped up the 7s. Mosey back towards the school but along the way we did a couple of AYG sprints between light posts. Back at the school, we lined up along in the parking lot at the basketball goals. We did some work there between goal #1 and goal #3.

  • Broad Jump Burpees – active recovery with LBCs x 15 IC
  • Double Broad Jump Burpees – active recovery with Flutters x 15 IC
  • Broad Jump to the end then 5 burpees – active recovery with Dollies x 15 IC
  • Broad Jump to the end then 5 burpees – active recovery with Freddie Mercury x 20 IC (5 fast, 5 slow, 5 fast, 5 slow)

Then a little more sprint work from 1st goal to last goal.

  • 50% sprint down
  • 75% sprint back
  • AYG sprint down
  • AYG sprint back

Mosey to the outhouse for some Semi-Gloss.

  • Wall sit; wall sit lower
  • Wall sit; right leg up; left leg up; wall sit lower then Air Presses x 10 IC
  • Wall sit; right leg up; left leg up; wall sit lower then Air Presses x 20 IC

Lunge walk back to COT. American Hammer x 20 IC. Done.

Moleskine

Solid work this morning by a great group of men. Trust me, these guys are no BaseCampers. They are pros, right down to the mumblechatter. We were only about 20 yards down Woodfox and I was already being yelled at about this not being FastTwitch. I know…it’s just habit to take off into the Raintree darkness for some hill work on Rising Meadow. The 7s got the blood flowing.

Back at the school, figured I’d use the Leap Day theme to my advantage (and to the chagrin of the Pax) for some Broad Jump Burpees. Mall Cop was there so I was able to blame him. He introduced those to me on a cold, pouring rain morning a couple of years ago at The Rock. Hopefully the quads will feel that work later tonight or tomorrow.

Simba and Fireman Ed have a great site here…appreciate their giving me the keys this morning. Thanks to Insomniac for a solid sendoff into the day/week.

Announcements

  • F3 5 year Party this Friday
  • MudRun sign-ups are happening now