Upon learning of my upcoming Q the night before (thanks Alf), I knew I had to stick to what I enjoy and knew best. Despite the new AO, I wanted to go old school FT and hit some Raintree hills. So that’s what we did. After admiring everyone’s winter wear, gloves and hats required at 32 degrees, I gave the disclaimer and off we went, here’s what we did…
Mosey out of the parking lot and turned left to enjoy the brief slight decline followed by the uphill to the 4 way intersection on Raintree Ln and 4 Mile Creek. Circled up for COP: SSH, IW x 20 followed by 10 merkins OYO. Mosey down Raintree to the top of Windbluff. Instructions were to run down Windbluff to Providence and back x2, with 10 merkins on Providence side and 10 jump squats on Raintree side. Be sure to get the six meet back here….go!
Upon completion we moseys back up Raintree to the 4 Mile intersection. Did a quick sprint down to bottom of 4 Mile Creek (500 yards) for 10 merkins then back up. Mosey back toward AO but wait, there’s more. Quick run backwards up Whitethorn Rd. Then AYG back to Latin lot.
MOLESKIN:
Pretty simple yet effective workout. Since I’m lacking any speed, I wanted to stretch the group out, let the gazelles do their thing while the rest of us can tempo the distance. 6.2 miles, not bad. Strong group today. The handful of merkins were enough to please Pop Tart. We learned Purple Haze MUST wear gloves due to his “sensitive fingers”. We were pleased to see Astro daunting his red beanie. I hadn’t seen Uncle Rico in awhile…and only saw him a little on the course, he’s fast! Margo kept me company down the stretch with a strong pace. Good to see Cheese Curd again, but he ditched us early to see if he could be the lucky caller on his favorite morning radio show. Duct Work, One Eye and Retread worked hard, kept the merkins legit. Purell led the squad with Rachel a close second, only because of his unplanned “pit stop” behind the Arbo pond #eww.
Back at the lot we met up with Hawk’s Nest led by Header, another great turnout for that post.
Thoughts and prayers go out to Jennings, Bout’ Time’s 3 year old son, who’s scheduled for his marrow transplant (from his sister) this Thursday. Hug your kids, kiss your spouse, call a family member, be thankful for everything, take nothing for granted.
6 PAX refused to fartsack on a frozen spring morning at Thrive at Carolina Courts: Bernanke, Thurston, Hoffa, Glass Joe, Shepherd, Bonhoeffer
The Warmup
34 sidestraddle hops to kick things off. Took a lap around the parking lot doing 34 sidestraddle hops at each parking median (34=17 x 2).
The Thang (all workouts taken from page 17 of the Lexicon because it’s the 17th)
Moleskine
Apparently, spring means it can still be freezing cold, and apparently, that means lots of PAX enjoy breathing in their own fartsacks.
It became apparent that Page 17 of the Lexicon gives too many PAX prison flashbacks.
Glass Joe was in rare quiet form. Except when he was complaining about forgetting his long-sleeve shirt. #Irony #SomePeopleAren’tVerySmart
Shepherd confessed that he purposefully avoids Qing workouts, but he’s going to make it up by doing one a month for the rest of 2018.
El fin.
Announcements:
4 SOBs ignored the high winds, cold weather, and running in the Boston Marathon to post at Blakovery. With Bunker at the helm, we launched towards Ardrey Kell to cover new ground. In case you don’t have a fancy watch, this is where we went:
THE THANG:
Run up Ardrey Kell Rd until reaching Lorenzo’s Pizza and make a sharp left turn onto Longstone Lane. Then a left on Sedgemoor Lane, then make a left to cross over Marvin Rd. Go into a different neighborhood and Southhampton Drive. Run for awhile and then make a right onto Highlands Crossing Drive, right onto Commons Crossing Drive, left on Wade Ardrey Rd then right into another neighborhood onto Woodland Watch Ct. Keep on Woodland and make a left on Tamarron Drive, left onto North Community House and right onto Ardrey Kell and back to launch for a quick 5 minutes of stretching.
MOLESKIN:
Bunker executed a PR Q-Jack from Bratwurst the night before. It was either his legendary running ability or his new route that found every long hill in Blakeney that scared off the regular crowd but Strawberry made his Blakovery debut.
Good thing Bunker thought ahead and wore his red blinkie lights so Strawberry and I could still track them 50 yards or so ahead of us.
I can see this being added to our Monday repertoire.
It is tough enough keeping up with the likes of Bunker and Wingman on flat ground let alone hills and valleys. At one point I thought it was Thursday and I was at Devil’s Turn. I’m just glad I looked up in time to avoid the 10,000 pound back hoe that was parked on the sidewalk.
COT:
This morning instead of the traditional prayer, each PAX said one thing he was grateful for. Then, in order to help change our perspective, we thought about something challenging we are facing and silently meditated about how we can be grateful for that rough spot in our life.
I am forever grateful for the Monday runs but more importantly the things I learn each week from the men that post.
man after the storm last night I was purposely looking for a low lying area at the Matrix to get the PAX nice and muddy. Anyway that was my plan, which never goes the way you plan it.
Start with a quick disclaimer, informed the PAX that I just finished splitting wood all weekend so was not very excited about the lead th8s morning. But we headed around the parking lot and onto the soccer field, up the enpmbankment to the rock quarry.
Select a respectable liftin’ rock- line up on the field for some non traditional F3 action.
The Thang’ called out exercise and sprint 40 yards and back
Rinse and repeat – last set x20
return rocks
head to play set
Partner up 3 sets of following:
x10 burpee pull up
x15 leg push (left/center/right 1,2,3 =1)
x50 squats
Reverse COT
elbow plank (raise right leg 6 inches, switch leg) 1 min.
flutter x15 in cadence
circle up- tight shoulder to shoulder plank hold
Runner leads PAX mirken: 1 mirken- run around and next PAX 2 mirkens, 3 mirkens, 4 mirkens etc.
done.
6 PAX, posted for what has to be the greatest comeback and basketball game in F3 boot camp history. More on that in a bit.
When Beaker and I pulled in at 5:25 am we were worried it might just be us. We drove around to see how affected the lay of the land was from the overnight rain… Not bad. Pretty dry. When we made it back to launch 4 more PAX had shown up to get after it. After some hugs and high-fives… We were off…
The Thang:
SSH (Side Straddle Hop) x 23
Jogged to the corner of Main St and Joshnston – Low Slow Squats x 10
Jogged to the corner of Johnston and Lowry – 14 Imperial Walkers
Jogged to the Pineville Elementary school bus lot basketball goals – We played a 5 minute game of the most epic 3 on 3 basketball game in F3 boot camp history. More below…
After the 5 minute game we each shot a foul shot. If the shot was made we did 20 LCBs (or LBCs). If the shot was missed we did 50 yard wind sprints.
We headed back to launch stopping at each of the locations we stopped at earlier for 20 LCBs.
When we made it back to launch we did an indian run to the baseball field entrance.
At the entrance area we did some Plankers Delight. PAX planked shoulder to shoulder, while 1 went down the line doing two hand slap merkins with each man. We did two rounds.
Jogged to some rocks for some curls and overhead tricep reps.
Finished up with one last sprint to launch.
Done
Cheddar had our mileage right at 3.0.
The Moleskin:
Excellent effort by everybody. Lots of good Monday morning comradery… At least until we played the basketball game. Teams were me, Costanza, and Cheddar vs Beaker, No Show, and Council Fire. Now on paper you’d think Beaker, No Show and Council Fire would dominate this game. What happened for the next 5 minutes though was really a testament to the saying… “Never judge a book by its cover”.
30 seconds into the game Council Fire tripped Costanza for an early intentional foul. This definitely got the juices flowing… At least mine anyway. Nobody likes seeing a teammate get pushed to the ground. Costanza took it like a champ though. He didn’t even call a foul. When he stood up with bloody hands and wiped the blood on his sweatshirt, it’s like you could see the transformation in his face of going from Costanza to Lebron.
For the first two minutes of the game it was as most would have expected. No Show and Beaker were just too much to handle inside. They were just bigger and stronger than Cheddar and I could handle. I’m of the Roy Williams school of thought that you just play through… Catch the other team off guard but the reality is we’d only been playing with each other for two minutes. So, we called a quick timeout to regroup. We decided to go zone with the two big guys and let Costanza follow Council Fire at the point. We’d force these big guys to have to shoot outside shots. It was as if the basketball fairys listened and for every clanked shot they had, Cheddar was there to tear down the rebound and outlet the pass to me.
From there, I had the easiest job on the court. I kinda felt like Phil Jackson back when he had MJ with the Bulls. Remember back when you’d watch those games on TV? There would be like 5 seconds left in the game. Phil would call timeout. You knew what he was saying. The same thing the greatest coach of all time would say when MJ was at Carolina. The 23,000 fans that went to the game knew what he was saying. The refs knew… the other team knew. The 20 million people watching the game on TV knew. Get the ball to Michael and get out of his way. And over and over and over and over again he displayed his brilliance on the court. We lived it. We saw it time and time again. MJ is the greatest basketball player of all time. Anybody that saw him play would understand there is no questioning it. Not to take anything away from the other greats he played with or came after him. He’s just simply the greatest.
All of that, to get back to what I was saying… I had the easiest job on the court. Get Costanza the ball, and get out of his way. The guy turned into a Larry Bird/MJ McDonalds commercial. You couldn’t stop him, you could only hope to contain him. His range started when he walked on the court. It was rainin’, it was pourin’, Costanza was the one that was scorin’. Needless to say, the good guys won.
Now, I don’t know how many people have played on that court. But, I bet you there are not many who have lit it up light Costanza did… Dominant. Simply Dominiant. I’d also imagine there aren’t many people that have been carried off on shoulders like Castanza was. It was just his day.
Constanza… Cheddar… I’d pick the two of you over anybody… anytime… anywhere. It was a blast!!
The rest of the workout was nice as well. Kinda epic. You never know when you’re going to miss history or the greatest F3 Big House workout ever. Thank you to my dear friend, Council Fire, for giving me the opportunity to lead this morning and thank you for taking us out. Well done!
Announcements:
Richard Sheltra 5k/10k and Fun Run – Saturday, April 28.
Been a while since we’ve been uptown. A few references to Hoffa along the way since neither he nor our sleeping buddy were present.
The Thang
Mosey to the end of the parking lot at the bottom of the hill near the entrace.
COP (Only had to move aside for a car once which doesn’t seem very smart at this point)
SSH IC x20
IW IC x20
Low, Slow Squats IC x15
Windmills Abe Vigoda style IC x10
Backwards run up the hill to the entrance. Mosey along the sidewalk to the bottom of railroad hill.
Lunge to the first light pole
Backwards Lunge to the second light pole
Backwards Run to the third light pole
Buttkickers to the fourth light pole.
Mosey across the railroad tracks and across the street into uptown Monroe and head to the rails
Railslides down the rails.
Railslides up the rails.
Rail Holds Indian Bear Crawl down the rails
Mosey over to the three steps area.
Keep in a plank position the entire time through this.
Feet on the first step and then shoulder taps x10
Move feet up to the next step, shoulder taps x10
3rd step, shoulder taps x10
Back down to 2nd step, shoulder taps x10
Back to 1st step, shoulder taps x10
Mosey up to the water fountain
Choose your pain: 20 step ups on the water fountain wall or 10 jump ups on the higher wall across from the water fountain.
Mosey over to the parking lot
Run 2 spaces forward, 1 space backwards across the parking lot.
Now we must go back: 2 spaces backwards, 1 space forwards.
Mosey to the tables
Derkins x10
Dips x10
Incline Merkins x10
20 step ups
Repeato no thanks to Kiefer
Mosey to the side of the building
Sit on the wall, Air Presses x50
Recover over to the railing, calf raises x25
Back to the wall, Air Presses x100
Calf Raises x50
Air Presses x150
Calf Raises x75
Back to the wall.
Balls to the Wall w/ Inverted Mountain Climbers IC x10. Recover
Balls to the Wall with a slow 10 count (apologies on forgetting where I was at – sure it was a mistake)
Mosey over to walkway
Crab walk to each crepe myrtle tree.
LBCs x20 at each crepe myrtle tree.
There were 5 trees in all though Canary tried to imagine a 6th tree. We just let him go for a while and then told him he was done. #merciful
Mosey to the parking lot beside the railroad lined with trees.
Suicides starting at the top running to each tree. Bombjacks x5. Backwards run back up to the top, 10 squats.
There were 8 trees in all and the grumbling started getting really loud here. Some debate who is the real idiot: The Q calling this or the PAX following this. I think the answer is yes.
I have to admit that seeing the flagpole in the park separated only by railroad tracks had me considering if we should run the tracks and go straight back into the park. I don’t know if that’s legal or not. Still I considered. Then I decided I wanted to spend the night with my hot wife and not some guy named Bubba. #followthelaw
Mosey to the parking lot between the train station and street. Got to get to the end of the lot.
Bear Crawl half the lot to the stairs.
At the stairs, do the Swan Walk (One foot forward and then with balance, reach with opposite hand and touch your foot – balance was laughable after the suicides)
And the end of the lot, run up the hill to the sidewalk and mosey up the rest of the hill and then across the railroad tracks (the sure legal method)
Since I’m merciful….and running out of time.
At a faster than normal pace for you, run down railroad hill, to the entrance of the park, and down the hill at the entrance.
Recovery pace across the parking lot.
2 Minutes of Mary
Rosalita IC x25
Feet six inches high, hold your hands in front of you till time is called.
COT
Prayers for my FIL with his pancreatic surgery on Monday
Canary is involved with Run for Your Life. May need some guys to volunteer and run with some boys.
Moleskine
– Sort of interesting that we got almost 3 miles in while never really being more than a quarter mile from the flagpole in the park.
– We worked a lot of stuff into my ADD Q.
– Great having Kiefer back with us. Hope the schedule allows for more.
– Canary wore a yellow shirt. He claims this was unintentional. Riiiiiight.
– Those tree suicides had the effect of not being able to feel your legs during the squats after the backwards run up the hill. Unanticipated but appreciated by all. Well, almost all. Think Gwyneth thought about cussing me out but Hoffa wasn’t there so this was a pure Q.
– Kiefer appreciated the BTWs. Who needs arms anyways, right Kiefer?
– Glad EE was able to join us afterwards at Judd’s.
– Appreciate you letting me lead you guys. Always a pleasure to lead men like you.
Glass Joe
7 pax came out for some of my original work. 5+ years ago
Mosey to davie
15 – IW Cad
15 – MC cad
10 – Merkin – cad
20 – slow squats
Mosey to davie Park
Partner work – hot lap
Dips – first round
Derkins – second round
LBC’s – third round
Other partner does hot lap
7’s on hill.
Merkins at the bottom
Jump squats at the top
Mosey back to launch
People’s chair
150 air presses
Rock work
Curls
Air press
Tricep extension
Mary
20 Freddy Mercury’s cad
20 Boone crunch cad
10 Merkins cad
15 dolly cad
20 lbc’s cad
10 merkins oyo
Fin.
Moleskin – Good group out there today, on a chilly Monday morning. Saw some people I haven’t seen in many years and some guys that I have not had the chance to meet. It has probably been 2 years since I have been at that site, the Davie run was long but good. Not a ton of mumblechatter nor really anyone chatting at all. It might have been the wind or the fact that it’s April and still cold. Nevertheless we pushed through and the men are all better for it. Mall Cop called for the semi-gloss near the bathrooms and it took me back to old times. I miss the site, I miss the guys that I started with and have fallen out of touch with. It’s also great to see new guys coming out and pushing themselves.
Nothing much to report.
I came in hot and fast listing to some drake and wondering why I signed up to lead when Im still feeling the need to recover and rest my arm after as my dr said too much use (that’s code for too many burpees, yard work and chopping wood). Anyway, we headed to the hotbox to get at it- then I decided to take the PAX to the sandbox, a once feared, nasty little place where we lost a number of PAX in the past (I mean we literally lost them, I think they ran away)
COT
SSH x20
LBC x20
FREDDY MERCURY x20
LOW SLOW Squat x20
Line up along the sand pit 2 deep
– Lunges down and back
– Bear crawl
– Wounded bear crawl – right leg up
– Wounded bear crawl – left leg up
Head to hotbox/ 3 sets x10 increase by 10 each set.
– Squats
– Step up
– Lunges
Mosey to William R Davies park
– x10 – 3 sets
– Pull ups
– Swing reverse crunch
– Squats
Grab a big rock and a a buddy- head to the upper soccer field.
3 sets intertwine legs sit up and hold rock above head pass to partner x10, x15, x20
Turn over partner merkins x10, x15, x20
Return rocks and wall sit 100 arm raises in cadence. Head back at a painfully slow pace (that’s because we were all a little jelly-legged).
Circle back up for LBC and Mary
So in my head I knew the sand pit would be a winner, and reaffirmed after all when grumbling started and swiper didn’t want to get his shoes sandy.
Firman ed kept trying to strong arm me into more upper body, but I held strong. It was a leg day and I wanted to make a statement that I’m not a one trick pony show.
Rachel, Purelle, Swiper decided they would head out like a bunch of runners to William R Davies park, leaving the rest of us in the dust- that’s okay I got them back with the rock work and the wall sits.
In all seriousness, great work this morning. I love leading workouts and am always humbled by the PAX that keep coming back.