‘Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood
When blackness was a virtue the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form
Come in, she said
I’ll give ya shelter from the storm
– Bob Dylan
(BB from Kevlar on Friday). Great song by Dylan. Cold, rainy and miserable is how the morning started. 4 guys had mistakenly pre-committed to come to my Q the day before, one (Big League Chew) just came on his own because he’s BA. Fortunately Kevlar has a lit shelter that we can use on days like this.
I thought I may be running solo and a few guys were texting on the way asking if I was going to cancel the workout. We ended up having an awesome morning.
The Thang
Run around church, warmup with various exercises ending in a “side bear crawl merkin circle” – I’ll use it next time but it was good group to test it on.
Benches – 10 derkins, 10 dips, run to rock and back 3x
Grab a lifting rock, a partner and head to the pavilion
P1 – Did exercise with Rock (timer)
P2 – Did exercise without rock
One guy was the counter (ex. P1 did 20 curls while P2 did SSH)
Basically 20 sets or so of this (step ups, chest presses, louganis’s, shoulder press, etc.) until we ran out of time. Total strength workout with lighted pavilion away from the rain. Somehow it even got a little hot in there.
Moleskine
Mile High came back out after a 6 month-ish hiatus. I met him on an airplane initially and he posted (hence his name) then after not seeing him for a long time I saw him on a cross country flight to Seattle last week. He knew he had to come back out. After that he posted on Saturday (A51) and today (Matrix), 3 times in 4 days!
Solid group of guys did not regret it!
-Out
8 Pax finally experienced the colloquial grandfather’s tale of trudging uphill both ways in the snow to school. We trudged uphill to and from school alright, but exchanged snow for dark. Here’s how:
Warm-up:
Ignition gets a 15 minute head start on Flash. We made the most of it. One loop to far entrance of High School and back to far entrance of Middle School. One hot lap around Middle School front parking lot and arrive just in time for Deflated’s VQ. Approximately 1.5 miles as appetizer. Quick sidebar:
From the past year we learned a couple things about Deflated:
One can only imagine the sweet nothings Foundation must have whispered in his ear to get him to take the plunge and Q today. It’s most likely not Backblast appropriate so we’ll have to be content to speculate.
Ignition crew did 24 SSH and perfectly cadence counted IWs. Once Deflated nailed the counting I decided it was time to go.
The Thang:
Proceed back up the school drive to the far Middle School entrance and on to Old Lawson. Dodged several cars (“might need to make headlamps and reflective apparel mandatory for Ignition” -great recommendation by Dasher…)
To the Mill House Stop Sign. Was to be a triple nickel, but YHC guessed wrong on timing and distance and Pax were beginning to grumble. Wound up with a 3×3. Mill House Stop Sign to next stop sign (Easy Button and Dasher confirmed it was uphill both ways). Dry Docks at the smaller uphill and Merkins at the larger uphill. This pushed us north of 4 miles.
Long mosey down Lawson. “Can we at least do 1 merkin?” -Dasher.
Let’s do 10 at each light pole (poles on the right). Did this all the way to back of Lawson and then moseyed on to the trail through cemetery that leads to Champion Forest.
Survived dangerous cut through and paused to gather our thoughts. From there we to the first stop sign for a 10 count. This had us over 5.25 miles. Home stretch! After the 10 count we ran all the way up the big Champion Forest hill to the stop light. We cut down Moneyball hill (was a risky move by the Q), and hustled back to the start. On the long school straight away we eclipsed 6 miles which was my goal all along.
We had 3 minutes to spare. Quick Jack Webb. “This is the only NON-RUNNING part of the workout.” -Bottle Cap. We made it to 8 as time expired and joined back up with Flash.
Moleskin:
Ignition crew absolutely killed it this morning. Great work by all. If memory serves, we climbed at least 5 hills numerous times. 6 miles was the goal and 6 miles with hills and a few upper body exercises was achieved. Hollywood is super human. Apparently 12 miles on an overnight CSAUP event this past Friday was what the doctor ordered to slow him down enough for the rest of us to see him. Bottlecap complained about his beer and pizza diet compliments of the Sox (did you hear, Boston won a title…again). All those carbs served as jet fuel as he was still out front. Chunder has a Legal Zoom quality about his stride in that he moves very quickly and you never have a doubt who’s fast approaching behind you. It’s possible Chunder was intended to be Thunder, but his naming group just decided to stick with it. Great effort, man! Oh to be 20 again!
Dasher, Easy Button, and I manned the middle with Hooch and Deadwood hot on our heels.
Circle Time:
Expect Deflated’s VBB later this afternoon.
Announcements:
Joe Davis Run – See Posse for more details
#Clyent Dinner – Thursday evening workout at Food Lion in Waxhaw. Bootcamp and Brews is the theme
Bible Study at 5 Stones – Wednesday mornings after Chiseled
Bone Fr…- just kidding
Earlier this week 11 pax showed up to Hydra a little bummed about not winning the $1.6M Mega Millions, but as promised, everyone’s a winner when YHC is on Q. In keeping with the tradition of always bringing some creative element to a workout, YHC would harken back to a piece of cinematic genius from 1992. Note: Entry of a new exercise in the Lexicon is needed. More on this later. Disclaimer given. Now shut up and skate.
The Thang:
2 laps around small track w/ high knees and butt kickers
Merkins 15x IC
IW 15x IC
Wide-arm Merkins 15x IC
LSS 15x IC
Diamond Merkins 10x (modified b/c it was brutal) IC
Mosey to back playground
Partner up
Partner 1: 5 pull ups; jog to concession stand for 20 step ups; 20 dips
Partner 2: 1 lap around OP Elem
Flap Jack; Rinse and Repeat 3x
Mosey to Wall
Wall sits for 10 count by each pax (110 seconds if my public school math is correct)
Back on the Wall for Air Presses IC 20x
Mosey to open field next to playground
Jack Webb Ladder: factor of 4 to 5/20; Back down ladder to 1/4
Mary:
Pamchenko twist (explanation and demonstration required) 20xIC. Russian twist on count “1-2”, extend legs and tap fists on ground back behind your head on count “3”. YHC’s 2.0 “Reader Frog” created this new exercise. YHC and Hydra pax were all fans. I think we’ll keep it.
Freddy Mercury 20x IC
Flutter 20x IC
Dolly 20x IC
Protractor
Mosey back to launch
COT
Moleskin:
YHC almost had to bail on his Q, but cleared the calendar and convinced himself that his only posting twice in the past 2.5 weeks wouldn’t stand in his way. Anticipating being in the back (even more than usual) YHC laid out an “on-campus” beatdown that would keep all pax together and not allow YHC’s poor fitness to affect the herd mentality. A consistent amount of mumble chatter throughout which culminated in the group bordering on mutiny during Jack Webb. In an effort to regain control (and because Gummy straight up called the Q out) YHC required a repeat of a few counts until all pax counted in unison and the balance of authority was restored. Highlights for YHC were actually finishing the workout and introducing some new Mary – the Pamchenko twist, the nearly impossible figure skating move proposed by the Russian coach of Kate Moseley and Doug Dorsey. After modifying the Russian Twist – this name seemed like an obvious go to. A nod to the brilliant sports/Rom-Com movie of the early 90’s, there were many calls of “Toe Pick” before and during the new exercise. YHC’s 2.0 Reader Frog gets credit for the modification and YHC for the naming rights.
Announcements:
Check Slack for Christmas party details in early December. PRAYER NEEDED: Revlon’s dad, David, underwent partial leg amputation and is recovering well. Pray for rehab and continued healing. Most of all David needs prayer that he maintains his joy and emotional, as well as physical, healing.
Low 40’s, steady light rain on a Friday morning. Both Site Q’s DR due to other commitments. Chelms out, per prior evening text, as he had to take his 2.1 to get her Driver’s Permit, or at least that was his excuse. Not sure what to expect as I headed to Charlotte Catholic to Q at Centurion. No worries, 9 other PAX arrived in time to join me for another weekly beatdown.
With Cheddar rolling in at 0528 hours after not finding anyone at The Brave, we had a total of 10 ready to roll. YHC gave a heartwarming disclaimer which did not seem to make Lorax feel all warm and fuzzy. Just wanted to remind everyone they were out here of their own choosing and that though I would be suggesting exercises for them, they were responsible for choosing to participate or not.
Here’s what we did:
Nice easy jog over to Tartarus and up the ramps to the top and then back down Stairwell 1 for COP on the ground floor of the parking deck.
COP
Head over to the bottom of the Ramp on the 1st Level for a little warm-up:
With everyone properly warmed up, time for a little deck work up all 4 levels. With a nice cool rain making conditions outside not the best, decided we would spend the morning making good use of Tartarus. 2 rounds up the deck as follows:
With everyone back at Level 1 after finishing R2, time for some wall work.
Time for a little Partner work up the stairs. With 10 PAX on hand we had 5 teams of 2. Instructions provided as follows:
Just enough time left for a variation of Jack Webb and a little Mary:
Back to launch for COT
NMM:
Announcements:
13 pax joined me for a Commitment work out that quickly turned into Ignition! Planning my Weinke for a few days, I knew I wanted to add in some running but honestly did not expect to clock this many miles and it came to my attention from other Pax that this AO has had a lot of “easy” workouts… Not today. In Q school they tell you to make the workout challenging for the fittest while still allowing slower Pax to keep up. Furthermore, I’m NOT going to be thrown into the category of Q’s that “go through the motions”. I also had to make sure I honored Fuse’s request earlier in the week to help him shed a few pounds for the final weigh in…
Warm up:
0.75 mile run from the park toward Kensington elementary school to Millbridge Clubhouse.
Circle up!
The Thang:
Remember, I have at least 7 solid Clydesdales in front of me but I wasn’t thinking about that. I was thinking of how much I could get Fuse to cuss me during and after the workout. Little did I know Rudy would throw a few 4 letter words my way!! Let’s do this!
Starting at clubhouse mosey toward first traffic circle (0.5m one way).
From clubhouse run to second traffic circle (0.9m one way).
Mosey from clubhouse down the trail (Jingles lead) that leads to the ball fields and circle up for some last minute Mary.
The workout was solid and pushed every single pax to their limit. Many of the Clydesdales have never hit the number of miles we did today. I was extremely impressed no one quit or jumped me! Double Stuffed and Banjo hung with me at the front most of the morning, nice job guys… Again, there were around 6-8 Clydesdales (I don’t classify you, you classify yourselves) and we ran 5+ miles with pain stations, I am still amazed!! We were all so exhausted that in COT we didn’t give South Belle respect… Respect Southern Belle!
Rudy and Fusebox were conspiring to kill me the entire time…at least I told myself that. I picked Fuse up a few times and he was as mad the last time as he was the first. Many times he said, If I knew we were doing this much cardio I would have went to the Y instead…comments to come on GroupMe I’m sure.
Rudy….my man Rudy, yes he was the 6 most of the morning but he did not stop. Did he cuss me to my face a few times…yes but I loved it. He was completely out of his comfort zone and improving the entire time. He probably would have never imagined he could run 5 miles. DO you think he or any other Cylesdale would post for Ignition or Pursuit? If they won’t come to Ignition I will bring Ignition to them!!
To Doughboy, Chainsaw, Jingles, Rockwell, Southern belle and the rest of the guys not mentioned…GREAT JOB!
Oh, and many of you made comments about me wearing a headlamp… How many of you hit that enormous puddle and soaked both feet? Not this guy… Knish for sure hit it.
Thanks, guys.
Announcements:
Banjo mentioned a pretty important announcement that I think we all really need to think about. bonefrog nov10.
Unofficial Workout: Thursday 6:30 Food Lion parking lot Waxhaw
F3er’s who can’t get up early, that have fallen off the wagon, or have missed a work out that day.
Shampoo Crew (Fartsackin for day two)
Collect any extra shampoo while traveling for Dancing Bear
With the Crane Relay and remnants of Willa raining down on us YHC sat in the Waverly parking lot at 5:10 coming up with back blast titles – One is the Loneliest Number, All by Myself, Me Myself and I – but alas 4 other cars pull in. All PAX jump out of their cars with 1 minute to spare and “Disclaimer given” was announced… we were off for the parking deck.
The Thang
Mosey to the deck and straight up the stairs to level 2 (some paid boot camp had already commandeered level 1)
Circle up and Warm Up – 15 SSH, 15 Imperial Walkers, 15 Mountain Climbers, 10 count Abe Vigoda (all in cadence)
4 Corners around the 2nd level – corner 1 = merkins, corner 2 = squats, corner 3 = CDDs, corner 4 = jump squats
1st lap 5 reps each, 2nd lap 10 reps each, 3rd lap 15 reps each, 4th lap 20 reps each
Circle up for round of Mary (each PAX called one) – LBCs, American Hammers, Heels to Heaven, Dollies, Chippy Cross, Freddie Mercury (all in cadence)
People’s Chair w/ 50 air presses in cadence
Start at top of ramp on level 2 run down ramp 1 burpee, backward run up ramp 2 burpees, down ramp 3 burpees, backward up ramp 4 burpees, etc until 10 burpees
Take stairs to top stopping at each level for exercise (1st 10 merkins, 2nd 10 squats, 3rd 10 CDDs)
Mosey back down to level 2. Circle up for Ring of Fire (aka Abe Froman)… 113 merkins completed with Astro and Job facing off in father/son duel (Job was a good son and yielded to pops)
Run ramps up to top level and take stairs down to level 1 for COT
Announcements
Stay safe all Crane Relay participants
Stonehenge converging w/ DaVinci tomorrow (6:30 @ Chic-fil-A Blakeney)
Runstopper requested a last minute substitute Q, hope you recovery quickly! I think half the pax volunteered to Q, so we just decided to share. I started us off, Nemo got the middle 20 and McGee brought it home.
Warmup
Short run to the middle of the parking lot to circle up for the warmup:
SSH, Mountain Climbers, IW and some sharon towers (windmills).
The Thang
Ran over to the far parking lot next to 51, did some ladders with merkins at the base and situps every island.
Ran over for some Wall Time:
People’s chair with arm raises, hip slappers, air punches, donkey kicks, “shoulders, knees and toes”, balls to the wall toe taps etc
Nemo took over with some partner work:
Partner one runs to the playground for pull-ups and merkins
Partner two does burpee broad jumps and lunges.
Flap jack and repeat, was brutal.
By popular demand Nemo sponsored rock time:
Lifting rocks in a circle, exercise and rotate all the way around.
overhead press, curls, tricep ext, rock lbcs and like 5 other variations.
McGee took over for the last 20 minutes…
Parking lot alternating exploding merkins and jump squats at every line.
Round two had diamonds and changed to every second line. There might have been a round 3, but my brain refuses to remember.
A couple of sprint runs, we had to keep going until Sprockets let McGee win one.
Triple speed mary to burn last 5 minutes, not sure anyone could understand the instructions since they were so fast.
Moleskine
Thanks for all the offers by the PAX to take part of the Q, it seemed as soon as McGee offered, everyone wanted to do it rather. Thanks to Nemo and McGee for completing the Triple Play.
Strong work by all the Pax, especially Dingo and Sprockets who were keeping McGee in check.
I received universal praise for my lifting rock choice, some (McGee) even calling it the most beautiful lifting rock they’ve ever seen, at least until McGee found one that had a shoulder notch.
Announcements (text stolen from Hoover)
Vagabond – November 10th, Hickory Tavern, 13 miles, 6 AOs, t-shirts are available. Check the pre-blast.
Christmas Party – Dec 1st, 6:00 PM, Seaboard in Matthews, food by Brown Bag
10 PAX came out for a very wet AMRAP Friday. With the inconsistency of the rain, it was decided a strenuous workout under the portico would be wise. Awesome way to kick off the Friday work day. Or to Police GroupMe if you are Deadwood.
Mosey (by car) I swear to the front of the school. Disclaimer given.
The Thang:
Moleskin:
I was really quite impressed with absolutely everyone first showing up for what could have been a much wetter surprise. There was limited mumblechatter, absolutely no complaining, everyone followed directions with no repeating of anything, and a little music. I and most everyone seemed to have a good time and really put forth all their effort.
With such a small group, everyone’s work ethic was on display and I want to think each and everyone of you for absolutely killing it.
Dasher, BC and Deadwood kind of led the way through the light rain. Dana and Wedding Singer have become Mr. Consistent hitting every workout in town and it is showing. (Comment does not allow bathroom selfies on groupme) Mad Dog and Doughboy pushed as always like there was no other choice. I don’t know Honeycomb but have never seen him ever move that fast but maybe I was missing it. The guy was crushing it. Lastly, Chainsaw, my partner today, at an extremely spree 59 impressed the hell out of me. Way to kill it like a 30 year old today stud today. It was good partnering with you.
Announcements:
Wrap up and Prayer:
Thanks to Mad Dog taking us out this morning.
Gotta love a crisp autumn morning and the old guy leading the way. After a bit of mumble chatter the PAX was off to the Matthews Library.
The Thang:
Shockingly the library was closed, so I suppose all you can do is run around it 3 times while doing a few Merkins and LBC’s.
Now lets take off to Crestdale Middle… what’s that Madison? You need to check out the construction site? Oh, Porta John!! Well meet us at 51 or Crestdale.
The PAX made it to the school and ran through suicides with 10 LSS at each line and 10 Dry Docks at the start.
Back to Hwy 51 and 10 diamond merkins when we see Madison… we never did those merkins.
Partner up at Jekyll and Hyde: one partner does LBC’s while the other does a backward run to the top of the hill… repeato.
Back to the libary: Pack runs to the back of the linrar, 10 diamond merkins then run to the Beer Temple for 10 flutters… Repeato.
Back the Matthews Middle for a total of 4.75 miles and Mary with Area51.
Moleskin:
Great work by all and some strong runners today. After a disappearance of a particular PAX, we learned a great deal about Gypsy’s mountain habitat and guests warming the seat!?!?
Enjoyed meeting a fellow App State Mountaineer… but not enjoying watching my boys lay and egg right now against Ga. Southern.
An honor to lead this group today!!