5 Years of F3
Thursday: 2pm.
Oh crap, I have the Q. Its my 5 year anniversary of starting F3. Better look for plan…
Original plan had something to do with the presidential fitness challenge. I found the patch in my drawer.
After googling a bit and realizing this wasn’t a thing anymore. Apparently shame inducing. Plan scrapped. Original was something like: 1 mile run, pull-ups, sit-ups, sit-and-reach, 30 yard shuffle… idk.
However, this is The Brave, obstacle heavy, at least 4 miles… Google spartan race. How many obstacles are in a sprint. Answer: ~20+
Plan is forming. I know a four-mile loop. Divide 4 miles approximately into 400m you get ~16 “obstacles” or pain-stations. How many intersections are there on said loop? About the same, skipping unimportant or heavy traffic areas. Stopping for the smell of donuts not at an intersection. 5 years, we need 5 miles today. Will run to deck, up the ramps and down stairs back home.
Make weinke. Print. Several of them.
Backup plan based on crowd-size and speed would have been to divide into groups of unimportant size. Not needed today. Disclaimer approximately given, we clipped off at a fast-rate to the first stop.
The Thang:
20 merkins (Briarwick)
30 crunch (paradise Ridge Rd)
20 high knees (bryant farms Rd)
30 american hammers (ymca)
20 burpees (hawk ridge)
30s plank (houston ridge)
20 Flutter (Kingston Forest)
30 Merkins (Sugar Donuts)
20 Dolly (Millwright Lane)
30 Wide Arm Merkins (Camfield)
20 Regular Situps (williams pond)
30 diamond merkins (Ballantyne Commons), announced as 15 DM twice to trick the pax
20 heels to Heaven (Ballantyne Trace)
30 squats (Stone Briar)
20 mountain climbers (Meadow Run Lane)
30 jump Lunge (Dowington Dr)
At Ballantyne Commons and Community House. OYO run to Wells Deck, up to top, down the steps, meet back at Brazwells.
10 Perfect form Merkins to finish it off.
The Route:
19 today counting YHC. Grateful. 5 years of anything is tough. Moved to Charlotte about 5.5 years ago. Didn’t know anyone besides family. Met markettimer. He tried to convince me to come out to the start of Stonehenge. I was a three month EH. Glad to have a great group of guys to hang with.
My First Post:
Cool to see quite a few familiar names in there for other PAX that are still coming out today as well.
Announcements
- Cheese Curd and Cheddar are looking for runners for the smokey mountain relay
- Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser for Waxhaw Fire Department benefiting family of Michael Starnes.
- Saturday March 3rd 5-7pm, 3500 Waxhaw Pkwy, Waxhaw, NC
- Cant make the dinner? Consider donating. https://www.gofundme.com/the-starnes-family-medical-fund
- Richard Sheltra 10k, 5k, 1mile fun run in Pineville on April 28th
- See Soft Pretzel about new opportunity to give back to the community. First opportunity coming up soon doing yard work for a local family.
- Preblast: https://f3southcharlotte.com/2018/03/02/the-sandbox-is-here/
- Slack: #the_sandbox
The Sandbox is Here
F3 Service Opportunities: The Sandbox
What: A partnership formed between two great organizations to give the men of F3 the opportunity to serve and make an impact in the lives of families in need.
When: An ongoing opportunity for at least 12 months where PAX can volunteer as they are able for various tasks and projects.
How: Sign up for new Slack Channel – The Sandbox – to indicate an interest and respond to opportunities as they are presented.
Mission of The Sandbox
When a child is diagnosed with cancer, life-altering, rare or terminal illness, it is our mission is to lock arms with people in our community to meet the practical, social and emotional needs of families at the time of diagnosis or referral. We want to create opportunities for families that encourage friendships, create lasting memories, produce joyful experiences and most importantly, restore hope.
This is where F3 Steps up
Practical Support
Mowing the lawn
Picking up groceries
Help with a simple home project (s)
ETC…
Social Support
Inviting a Dad to a AO
Inviting their 2.0’s to a AO
Taking a family to a 2NDF Event
Helping at the “Prom Event”
Emotional Support
Be there for them
Listen
Just hang out
For individual PAX, the involvement will be very flexible. If a family has a practical need that has been posted on slack you can meet, reply via Slack and take it on. This may be your only involvement. Or, you may see an opportunity to lead further, to form a deeper relationship, and otherwise participate in a family’s life.
This is NOT a “Family Sponsorship” request, Sandbox will continue to “own” these family relationships as they are sourced from hospitals and social workers. The Sandbox will enlist F3 when they need the “horsepower” to meet certain needs and it will be our opportunity to step up in each case with no longer term commitment and generally with flexibility on timing of delivery.
Men, we did our homework, we are a good fit for this organization and it will give you an opportunity to serve a variety of different ways. Life is more important than work, golf, or working out, our lives need to be bigger than us as individuals. What better way to lead by example then to see a need and fill a need as we get our 2.0’s and our M’s involved in what we are doing to serve the community. This partnership will give us that flexibility and opportunity to do just that. Please step up, step out and grab the opportunities as they come, as we know you will.
F3 Q Contacts
Soft Pretzel- Cell 704-534-6411
Transporter- Cell 414-731-3035
Flipper- Cell 704-724-6948
Sandbox History
In 2010, a group of friends saw a need – helping families during Christmas at Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, NC. After the holidays, this group wanted to continue to provide support for families. In March of 2011, a social worker at the hospital asked if they could host a prom for patients who would miss their own prom due to treatment or the eventual impact of their illness. They answered “Yes!” and, The Sandbox’s signature event, An Evening of Believing Prom was born.
Today, The Sandbox serves families through the CARRE program – Caring About Real Relationships Empathetically. This phrase is an umbrella to all of the support they offer families whose children suffer from severe illness. The Sandbox has humbly served more than 5,000 families in the greater Charlotte region as well as some parts of South Carolina through a variety of programs and events.
For more, go to: https://gotsandbox.org/
Rain? What Rain Peak51 backblast
Set Up
In the days leading up today I often looked at the Weather app for Thursday morning and was greeted with predictions of rain. Not 10% or 20% chances, mind you. More like 80% plus. Harkening back to the great American philosopher, Alfred E. Nueman, I thought, “What? Me worry?” No way was I going to worry…I KNEW Peak51 was safe from rain. Because I have access to a far greater weather predictor than Weather.com. Way better than the Farmer’s Almanac. Better than NOAA or even the National Weather Service. I had learned from the master himself – Slim Fast! He has said on many occasions (in your best redneck Texas accent) “I don’t know what it is. I can’t explain it…but every time its raining in Matthews before Peak51 it stops just in time.” I’ve seen it happen several times myself. No matter how dire the predictions are for a total washout. Explaining the Bermuda Triangle or Nessie would be easier than this phenomenon.
I dutifully arrived at 0445 in a substantial downpour for the pre-run and spent the next several minutes praying no one else would show up. 5 minutes later two things became abundantly clear: 1. My prayers were answered, and 2. Every other F3 participant in the area is smarter than me. At 5:10 the rain grew in intensity and I was about to part ways with Mr. Nueman and start worrying. Cars began to roll in and 5:27 the rain dwindled to an occasional sprinkle. Slim Fast had waved his magic wand again.
Introductions made and disclaimer given – we set off to mosey around Matthews Elementary.
The THANG
Circle up on the bus lot for COP:
SSH X 20
IW X 20
LSS X 17
Mosey to bottom of hill behind the church. Partner up for suicides/called exercise. Partner 1 does suicides uphill (texas drawl: shorten ur stride, shorten ur stride, lean in to the hill) while partner 2 does mountain climbers. Flap jack. Round 2 substitute bomb jacks for mountain climbers. Round 3: squats.
Mosey up to the covered stage at Stumptown Park. Keeping with same partners…partners 1 on end of stage and partners 2 on other end. Partners 1 bear crawls to their partners as a relay race. Once tagged, partner 2 crab walks to other end. Taking advantage of the dry floor YHC moved Mary up to this point in the workout: Dollys, Freddie Mercury’s, American Hammers, LBCs each X 20. Two rounds of protractor with each pax calling out an angle. Merkins X 20 just because. The Q being the observant one that he is, noticed the PAX really enjoyed the bear crawl/crab walk relay race and were disappointed we only did it once. So…round two! And there was much rejoicing.
Mosey back to the AO to the entrance of the city building for circuit work on the benches and stairs. Step-ups X 20, dips X 20 and derkins X 10. Rinse and repeat. Mosey to the big church wall for two rounds of sitting in the people’s chair with 50 and then 100 air presses.
Snake mosey back through the ‘suicide’ parking lot and then back to our cars. One or more of our directionally-gifted PAX noted in a somewhat frustrated tone that the mosey was the ‘wrong’ direction to get us back to the beginning. He/they were correct so YHC rewarded them by picking up the pace of the mosey. Garmin says we did 1.95 miles (Q honestly expected that to be higher. Guess we will have to run more next time to make up). Time = 6:15 Done!
MOLESKIN
Great to have 3 returning PAX from days gone by: Triple D, Blue Hen and Blender. Hope you all make Peak51 a regular part of your week going forward. Great effort from all the PAX which has become the norm for Peak51. The dynamic duo Sensei and Slim Fast were strong as always; the ‘other’ dynamic duo/Siamese twins Tweetsie and Lois again added sweat and humor to the workout; Lumberjack again performed at a high level belieing his ‘respect’ status. T-claps to Sensei and Lois for their excellent leadership of Peak51 and for giving YHC the opportunity to lead these awesome men. Hearing the ‘wrong way’ comment mentioned earlier and a PAX comment that he won’t be able to lift his arms later in the day was almost enough to bring a tear to the eye of YHC. BTW – as we broke the circle of trust…you guessed it. Rain slowly started picking up and wipers were required for the drive home. Unreal.
T-claps to Tweetsie for taking us out by giving thanks to our Heavenly Father and encouraging us to be salt and light to a hurting and dark world. Additional T-claps to Tweetsie for being here this morning – with the passing of Billy Graham I’m sure work for him this week has been off the charts.
Do what with the Sandbags
The Thang…
Two fine men posted for a double pre-run the first of which was in the rain and on a flat course. Two more showed up for the single pre-run and one man who forgot to set his alarm was waiting on them for the Boot Camp.
The clock hit 5:30 and we were off.
We headed back to the Basketball court for some COP exercises were all done IC:
10 LSS
10 Merkins
10 Windmills
10 6 count Burpees
Next we moseyed over to the playground with the “track” around it. It was flooded so over to the covered benches. 10 6 count burpees and off we go as it was ankle breaking slippery.
Dodge the deepest puddles over to the pull -up and dip Bars.
1st round – 10 Squats, 5 dips, 2 pullups
2nd round – 20 Squats, 10 dips, 4 pullups
3rd round – 10 Squats, 5 dips, 2 pullups
Next over to the Big Boy dip bars:
3 rounds of 10 dips and 5 pullups
Next head toward the covered walkway.
Split into a 2 man and 3 man group. One team does merkins while the other does a long suicide set. then Flapjack.
Then we headed over to the Gym doors for a little peoples chair with alternating legs up.
Then one last sprint all the way down the covered walkway with some flutter to recover.
Head back over to YHC’s pick-em-up Truck to grab some sandbags. There were some 50’s, a 40 and a 60.
Pick the one you want and head to the walls.
First the sandbag goes over the wall and then the Pax follow behind. Repeat for all 11 walls.
Do some more burpees and head back to the launch.
Just enough time was left for a few rounds of curls and bent over rows.
Mole Skin…
It was a hard day to get up for the early rainy pre-prerun, but I knew if I didn’t show up either Erector at General would have to run it alone. So I did what all of us do. I got my lazy ass out of the fartsack so that I didn’t let another man down. Fortunately, Erector did the exact same thing. YHC did convince Erector that we should go with the flat route so that I could investigate how wet is was in all of our normal hangouts. It was ridiculously wet on the hill, fields and parking lots. Luckily YHC had some contingency plans in mind. We circled back around at 5:00 for the pre-run pax. Chedda and Ringer were waiting there for us. So we headed off for the Hilly normal prerun route. For the record NO ONE told Ched that we were interested in the Smoky Mountain relay. Luckily Ringer had his 3 belt mounted lights so that he could lead Chedda, as he did not bring his headlamp.
We made it back to the Launch where Soft Pretzel was waiting for us yelling into the dark about an alarm that was not set correctly and he had already counted for those miles in his training plan.
It was great to have Chedda out today. I believe that this was his first post at The Arsenal. If not it was at least his first pre-run there. Everyone pushed hard today and there was great 2nd F.
Thanks men for giving me a chance to lead.
The Snatch Free Zone
The forecast wasn’t looking good, but 6 men came anyway for YHC’s Meathead VQ. Despite what Cantore said, the rain stopped at 5:30 and we proceeded to get our kettle bell on. And as promised there were no snatches to be found.
The Thang
-The warm up included the following:
15 SSH in cadence. 10 single hand swings each side. 15 two hand swings.
15 Merkins in cadence. 10 single hand swings each side. 15 two hand swings.
15 Low Slow Squats in cadence. 10 single hand swings each side. 15 two hand swings.
10 Halos each direction. 20 two hand swings. 10 Burpees mixed with an American swing.
-Now to the main event:
10 Merkins with right hand on kettle bell. 10 Merkins with left hand on kettle bell. 20 upright rows. Repeat 4 times.
10 Lawn Mowers right hand. 10 Lawn Mowers left hand. 20 Flutter Presses. Repeat 4 times.
10 Tricep Extensions. 10 Curls. 10 Goblet Squats. Repeat 4 times.
Grab the kettle bell with your right hand and walk down to the playground.
10 Pull-Ups. 10 Shoulder Presses. 5 Burpees with American swing. Repeat 4 times.
Grab the kettle bell with your left hand and walk back to the parking lot.
5 Single Arm Thrusters right. 5 Single Arm Thrusters left. 10 two hand Thrusters. 10 Louganis. Repeat 4 Times
10 High Pulls right. 10 High Pulls left. 10 Shoulder Presses right. 10 Shoulder Presses left. 10 American Hammers.
A little bit of Mary was thrown in between a couple of the sets.
Done
Moleskin
Great group of guys todays. Everyone working hard and getting after it. YHC enjoyed the chance to finally lead Meathead. That was…fun. Thanks gentlemen and a special thanks to High Tide for the take out.
P.S. YHC is not as angry as the music may have suggested.
Announcements
A couple of runs coming up.
Run Jen Run is this weekend, https://runjenrun.racesonline.com/register
Get Your Rear in Gear, http://join.coloncancercoalition.org/site/TR/GYRIG/GYRIGEvents-2018?pg=entry&fr_id=3616
Tabata Workout in the dry Copy Room!
In preparation for the rain, the plan was to have our Tabata workout under the shelter of the covered Copy Room where we could stay dry. But with the weather over 55 degrees we were soaked when we finished! 9 guys made it out to our Tabata workout at The Floater with a 5:30 am start.
Warm Up: A quick mosey to a gas station across from the Waxhaw Water Tower that had protective cover for our men. Disclaiimer given (they cant’t sew the gas station). 20 SSH, 20 potato pickers, Imperial Walkers, Michael Phelps (small circles, wider, real big circles).
The Thang: Mosey down the street to a church close by that had a covered area behind the parking lot. This structure was given the name, The Copy Room. The Tabata workout consisted of: Category 1- Cardio – 25 seconds on, 10 second break – 4 exercises per category A. SSH B. High knee kicks C: Side-to-side jumps D: Speed skaters – perform each exercise twice. 60 seconds between concentration.
Category 2 – Chest – Merkins, incline, wide and close hand.
Category 3 – Triceps and shoulders – Dips, Plank moves, plank jack, elbows and hold at 6 inches
Category 4 – Abs – Crunches, Flutter, Leg extensions, American hammers
Category 5 – Legs – Step-up’s, Low slow squat, front lunges, side lunges
Category 6 – Repeat Category 1 for Cardio
There was plenty of moaning and groaning as we learned the meaning of “no pain, no gain!”
Old School Swim Meet
The Thang:
SSH
IW
Merkin
LBC
Flutter
Rosa Lita
Jog to far football field avoiding mud puddles along the way.
Partner up
Partner 1 planks, partner 2 crawls under and jumps over legs of parter 2. flapjack 2x
Wheel barrow 50 yards flapjack and return 2x
OYO burpee broad jump 25 yards 2x
Mosey to benches
Step ups keep one leg planted on bench 10x switch legs 10x, dips 20x, Dirkens 20x repeat for 3 sets.
Surf to the entrance near the bus lot. Squeeze into well lit doorway for wall sits/arm raises in cadence to 100- 5 minute time sucker.
Mosey back to the field next to the
Playground for Jack Webb 1 Morley to 3 arm raises… continue until we reached 10 mirkens and 3O arm raises . yeah that sucked.
Make our way back to the front of the building find another doorway and repeat wall sits, aternsting crossing legs for 5 mins.
Done
Mole Skin
Yeah it was wet. Today was a good old school boot camp. I think Egypt clocked our mileage at 1.1 miles. Not bad for an old guy that likes to yell at people.
LT Training at Pursuit – Wk 1
5 men crushed week 1 of an 8-week Lactate Threshold training series at F3 Pursuit. 2 others arrived a few minutes late and missed out on the fun. And YHC had a mustache.
For more on this training series see the PreBlast.
The course was a fairly flat 1.6 mi road/path loop. We’ll be avoiding the Thread Trail during this series for obvious reasons. We may avoid paths as well going forward because it was challenging to maintain LT pace on some of the twists and turns.
We were relieved when the rain subsided a few minutes into our warm-up lap. After ~13 minutes of easy running we got to work on the assignment for week 1:
- 4 minutes @ LT pace with a 2 minute recovery x 6
We paired off by like speed due to a couple guys missing headlamps (always bring a headlamp to Pursuit). Table Slam and Wahoo (both Millbridge residents) joined forces and YHC and Transporter linked up. Frasier was where Frasier always is: out in front. We circled back for the 6 during the recoveries and stayed together throughout. After the intervals we cooled off for about 10 minutes with a slow mosey.
Lactate Threshold (LT) pace is typically somewhere between 10-mile and half marathon race pace. This first week of the plan was good for dialing in the pace. YHC’s intervals started off too slow and got progressively faster as we went along. Now YHC has a better idea of what pace to target for next week. The goal will be more consistent splits. That is always the goal when running intervals. They should be as consistent as possible.
Rock Thrill and Doc McStuffins posted but arrived a few minutes late, after the group had departed. Since the route was not published ahead of time they had no idea where we might be and never found us. Cobains, fellas. The course will be published from now on.
Tune in next time for week 2 of the LT series. We’ll be extending our intervals a bit as we gradually increase time spent at LT pace through the 8 week plan. We’ll do 5 minutes @ LT pace with 2 minutes of recovery x 6.
-TUCK