5:00 Pre-Run 1.3 mi loop w/ Fire Hazard, Bunker & Atlas
5:15 Main Event
Sprint Week
2 mi warm-up
Conlan to Ballantyne Commons to Ballantyne Corporate and down Harney to Rushmore
+ some of the usual form drills
Sweet Bessie @ Rushmore Dr.
400 m sprint, 400 m recovery
300 m sprint, 300 m recovery
200 m sprint, 200 m recovery
100 m sprint, 100 m recovery
Sprints speed = 1 mi race pace
x 3
not quite 1 mile run home and arrive to the Bagpipe pax writhing on the ground.
Moleskine
Thank you to Brat’s continued leadership and coaching. Please step up and offer to Q Swift. https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d4baeaf29a46-f3swift
Cars, bikes and water fowl, it’s more dangerous than ever running in South Charlotte. Wearing all black is no longer a responsible choice. Please invest in a high-visibility and lighted gear. Live to run another day.
Joe Davis Run Registration
https://joedavisrun.racesonline.com/
Speed for Need – check here for upcoming race calendar
https://speedforneed.org
Better late than never and unfortunately I waited to long and not sure If I named all 13 PAX correctly so chime in if I forgot you or if I said you were there and were not!
The thing began with a disclaimer as usual but since we had 2 FNGs I made sure I was a little more thorough and off we went for a quick #HairbandMile.
COP
Side Straddle Hops
Imperial Walkers
Low Slow Squats
Let’s mosey!
The Thang
Grabbed my newly unwrapped deck of F3 cards for a luck of the draw beatdown. Each PAX will pick a card and we will do what fate has told us to.
For reps, face cards are the number +10, royals are 25 and Aces are 100. (unless it was a distance based exercise then the number was the amount of times)
Since the cards were picked up by Bernanke they didn’t stay separated for me to be able to write them down. But I was getting FNG info so not busting chops (completely)
Here are some that I remember:
Bear Crawls about 30 yards 7 times
Ranger Merkins
Merkins
Carolina Dry Docs
Backward run 30 yards 6 times
a few #HairBandMiles thrown in for Glass Joe who wanted a break from all the Merkins
100 Calf raises. #CrowdPleaser and historical #GypsyKiller
LBCs
Unfortunately I can’t remember the rest, but we went around the circle twice. 26 cards plus a few laps made for a tough beatdown and was a good way to just do something different and also to show that not every time I Q at Thrive needs to be the #ThriveChallenge.
Welcome to Unplugged and Ike, hopefully we will continue to see them posting a bunch in the future.
Always an honor to lead!
Aye!
Hair Band
Warm-Up
20 Side Straddle-hops
10 Halos
10 Around-the-world
10 Figure eight
10 Low, slow squats with deep squat to loosed the hips
The Thang
Black Jack
20 2-handed swings / 1 ‘merican push-up
19 2-handed swings / 2 ‘merican push-ups
↓
1 2-handed swings / 20 ‘merican push-ups
Box Drill
↑ Backwards
← Shuffle
↓ SPRINT!
→ Shuffle
x 5
Drop 10 Drill
30 Snatches
30 Cleans
30 Upright row
20 Snatches
20 Cleans
20 Upright row
10 Snatches
10 Cleans
10 Upright row
Sprinting B.L.I.M.P.S
5 Burpees
backward wind-up, SPRINT
10 Lunges
backward wind-up, SPRINT
16 Imperial Walkers
backward wind-up, SPRINT
20 ‘Merican push-ups
backward wind-up, SPRINT
25 Plank-jacks
backward wind-up, SPRINT
30 Squats
Legs
20 Squats
10 suitcase deadlifts, each side
Rinse & repeat
CORE ‘round the horn
Udder – flutter press
Cotton mouth – American hammer
Loogie – Heels to heaven
Mighty Mite – Louganis
Argonaut – Sid the kid
Cheese Curd – American hammer (again)
Frehley’s Comet – Dying cockroach
High tide – Windshield wiper
Purell – Toe-tap crunch
Rachel – Freddy Mercury
Wild Turkey – Plank-O-Rama
Times up!
Moleskine
Thanks to all who came out. The AO is pretty vanilla – just plain parking lot,
but the more southernly location may have tempted a few more pax. Bells vs bags
may have been a selling point, too. I doubt the advertised an delivered sprints
were the reason anyone showed up, but sprints are the perfect compliment to
weight work – keep the heart rate up and fires up the fast twitch muscles.
Apologies for the awful music. Truth be told, it’s not my taste at all. I’m a
fan of early punk and garage rock, but I know it’s not super popular. (Check
out radiomutation.com for podcasts of my favorites.) The rap-rock this morning
was pretty dreadful, devoid of any soul. Cheese Curd probably regrets asking me
to turn it up.
Some random highlights
Purell & Argonaut really sprinted during the blimps
Cheese Curd wore a purple headband
Two respects – Cotton Mouth and Frehley pushed through all morning
It’s great to see Loogie at strength workout, I hope those shoulders stay on the
mend
Udder kept up the mumblechatter. I expect nothing less.
Stay tuned for Tweet & Meat for more opportunities to get swole.
Flash
The PAX (including the Ignition crew): Hollywood, Draper, Trojan, Halfback, Stub Hub, Das Boot, BoBerry, Dana, Tupperware, Wolverine, Gerber, Turtle, Foundation, Deflated, Chicken Little, Rubbermaid(R), Fuse Box, Mad Dog, Mayhem, Banjo, Posse, Old McDonald(R), Dough Boy, Gator Cub (R), Chainsaw(R), Bottlecap, Recalculating(R), Rockwell, Limestone(FNG).
16 PAX strong showed up for Flash on a crisp Monday morning with NO RAIN in the forecast! At the start line we stood in awe of Bottlecap as he graced our presence by skipping Ignition to graciously hang out with the Flash group. After some safety comments and some fist bumps with the FNG we were off!
Here’s what went down:
Warm Up Lap
Circle Up
SSHs x 20
Imperial Walkers x 20
Plank Jacks x 20
Mountain Climbers x 20
LBCs x 20
Repeat warm up exercises
Mosey to front of middle school benches
Step Ups x 20
Run to curb and back
Derkins x 20
Run to curb and back
Dips x 20
Run to curb and back
Mosey to the top of stairs at high school
Donkey Kicks x 20
Run to bottom of stairs and back
Mike Tysons x 20
Run to bottom of stairs and back
Shoulder Taps x 20
Mosey to shed
Wall sits
Air Presses x 40
Jabs x 40 (Thanks Mad Dog for counting!)
5 count hand to wall Merkins x 10
Working our way back to the start – 2nd light pole do 5 Merkins, come back 1 light pole do 1 Burpee, out 2 light poles for 5 Merkins, back 1 light pole for 1 Burpee… so on and so forth — all the way back.
Parking lot sprints x 4
Mary for the final 3 minutes.
As always everyone put in hard work! I always enjoy seeing guys push themselves and encouraging their brothers. It was great to see Turtle back! Cotters! Also, shout out to Limestone (FNG) who found us on Facebook and had the courage to show up not knowing anyone and not knowing what to expect. Awesome job pushing yourself! It’s an honor each time I get to lead this group of great men.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thank you, Mad Dog, for taking us out!
I wasn’t sure what today would bring with a Clydesdale leading the hardest workout in WUC (according to Ignition Site Q’s). Would the fact that a Clydesdale is leading get some of those that were on the fence to take the plunge? Or would a Clydesdale cause the gazelles to push out to find greener faster pastures?
I arrived a little early (5:07) to an empty parking lot. I was a little worried, but it was still early – wait, this thing starts at 5:15, its not THAT early. Soon there after Banjo came bouncing in (his air ride suspension is gone so its like riding in a rough roller coaster when you clown car with him). Noticed our meeting light was out so I jumped out to report it to Union Power. I turn around to find a line of cars streaming in. Hollywood proclaimed it was the largest ignition crowd ever. About the time I was getting the big chest he followed up with “I guess some of the slow guys think it won’t be as hard as usual”. Thanks for bringing me back down to earth Hollywood.
The plan today was for the Clydesdales to get at least the site minimum of 4 miles with the hope that the faster gazelles would get upwards of 5 miles in.
5:12 – DCCS given. 5:14 a second more abbreviated DCCS given for some last minute folks that showed. 5:15 Lets Mosey
WARM UP (Kind of)
Mosey to middle school entrance and grab a bench. 20 Up and overs. Side Straddle Hops when your done until the 6 is finished.
THE THANG
Mosey to side road that connects the middle and high schools. Dodge cars along the way – a great way to sure up the reflexes and fast twitch muscles (I’m kidding). Paula Abdul’s (2 up, 1 back). 20 Speed Skaters on the up, 10 jump squats on the back. 3/4 of the way through my legs were burning. It was around this time that Bottle Cap decided he had had enough and headed to Flash (actually he was kind enough to support me for 15 minutes having already committed to support Rockwell at Flash). I asked the Gazelles to come back for the 6 when they finished so that they would get additional distance in.
Mosey to bottom of entrance road (the one that connects the main entrance and the football field). 10 Incline Merkins at bottom of hill. 10 Decline Merkins at top of the hill. 3 rounds. Clydesdales go to the middle school side road. Gazelles continue on further to the top speed bump. I attempted to do Merkins the first round and was met with more pain that I had hoped for. Shoulder still giving me problems. I did find however that if I go all the way down (similar to a hand release merkin) it didn’t hurt as bad. There is something about that transition from down to up that gets me. I typically feel it more during burpees (thus why I usually modify the push up) and I’ve always assumed my shoulder just doesn’t like 230 lbs quickly changing directions. For some reason, Foundation decided to pull back the reins and run with me during this time. At first I thought it was because my breathing was so hard that he was scared I was about to drop dead. Instead he asked about the shoulder and we talked about how client dinners are a weight loss killer. I appreciate you checking in on me and the shoulder. There have been a few to ask and it means a lot, especially when typically all I hear is grief from the pax about modifying (I guess they think I’m faking it???).
Mosey to center light pole for deconstructed burpees. 1 burpee at center. Run to a corner for 20 squats (I asked the gazelles to do 25 to handicap them a bit). Run back to center for 2 burpees. Run to another corner for 20 Merkins. Back to center for 3 bupees. Run to another corner for 20 In/Outs. Back to Center for 4 burpees. Last corner for 20 Bobby Hurley’s. Return to center for 5 burpees. I modified the Merkins here as well as skipped the last round of 5 burpees all together. Shoulder had developed a dull ache (which has since gone away), but I didn’t think I should risk it. Alright – enough about my 14 year old girl shoulder.
Indian Run to the traffic circle. Gazelle partner up with a Clydesdale. 1 partner runs to the cul de sac while the other partner does an exercise. 300 Parker Peters, 150 fence hold deep jump squats, 50 supines. I had expected the supines to take longer, but many of the gazelles were knocking them out on their own before the clydesdales returned. Someone led marry while we waited on the six (I believe it was foundation, though it was dark – insert deflated/foundation joke here).
We had about 7 minutes left and by my watch we still had a half mile to go to reach 4 miles. Quick mosey to transporters shed. 20 donkey kicks on your own.
5 Carolina Wolfpack Dry Docks at each light heading back to start. Circe back for the six me.
Arrived back at the starting parking with 4 minutes to go and I still had 1/4 mile before I hit 4 miles. Several Gazelles spoke up (almost begging me not to call our a run) saying they were well over 4 miles. Too bad, the Q was not. Circle the parking lot. Got back to start and we still had a minute and a half and I still needed a tenth of a mile…..reverse it and run the parking lot again. Arrived back to COT’s just in time for the 6:15 call. Checked my watch and was thankful to see 4.01 miles. Glad I won’t have to get that verbal reprimand from Half back for not hitting the minimum.
MOLESKIN
Thankful for the guys that showed up today. It was a good group.
Thanks for allowing me to lead from the back and not giving me too much hell for my shoulder modifications (which are starting week 5 now). My first F3 shoulder injury took 2 weeks to heal. My second one took 4 weeks. So based on that, I’m hoping (fingers crossed), I will be back to doing merkins in another 2 weeks. I’m about 90% sure the bad shoulders (yes its both, just one is hurt currently) came from football. Was I just hitting with bad form, or do I have naturally week rotatory cuffs? On my first shoulder injury I went to the doctor (this was about 18 months ago), and found out I had a collar bone dislocation and relocation. Unbeknownst to me, my collar bone was broke at the shoulder joint and reattached about 2 inches lower than it should have. When the doctor told me this, I knew exactly when it happened – senior year LB intercepted the ball and I met him shoulder pad to shoulder pad at almost full speed in what was the second biggest hit I took (the hardest being my sophomore year on kick off return). I remember running off the field hurting, but not enough to tell the coach. I always wondered why when I did shoulder shrugs at the gym, my right trap was way bigger than my left. The doctor said it was because the reattached collar bone pushed my trap higher….and here all this time I though I had hulk hogan traps. Football was hell on my body. Would I do it again….years ago I would have said yes without hesitation. Today I say yes with hesitation. There may come a day when I say no. (sorry for using the backblast as my own therapy session)
Thanks for Hollywood for giving a Clydesdale an opportunity to lead a 4+ mile site. The plan was to keep it as much in the bootcamp style as possible, while still running. I think that was achieved. Not sure what they gazelles reached, but I’m hoping at least one of you touched 5 miles.
My legs are smoked. There was an audible grown when I called out 150 fence squats. I guess I wasn’t the only one hurting.
Wolverine giving Hollywood and Halfback a run for their money. Was at the front most of the day today.
Halfback and Stub Hub doing their best to hold the average WUC F3 age down into the high 30’s. Together they help to cancel out Chainsaw.
Dana continues to amaze with the drive and push he has.
Chicken Little was flapping his wings towards the front as well. In his words he “popped his ignition cherry today”. Nice job.
I asked deflated for a 10 count…he gave me 6. I would make a joke about the New England education system, but he would counter with the fact that he was simply counting championship rings.
“The nicest thing about the rain is that it always stops. Eventually.”
Eeyore
Eventually maybe, but not today. Regardless, 5 suckers brave men rolled out of the fartsack and frolicked in the puddles at Outland. YHC had prepared a workout for slightly dryer conditions, but out of spite or perhaps pure laziness wasn’t willing to modify it too much.
The Warmup:
The mumble chatter was strong from the start as we took a long mosey around the starting parking lot. Disclaimers were given and the dread set in as we realized how deep the waters were. Circle up and stretch those muscles:
The Thang:
Moleskin:
It was an honor leading these fine gentlemen through the cold and wet in the Valley formerly of the Sun. I’m sure in the not too distant future the AO will live up to it’s namesake, it’ll be hot and muggy, and we’ll be wishing it was cold and rainy again. For now, though, these guys were awesome and trudged through it with no (minimal) grumbling.
Today was my 4th year anniversary of F3, I started at Commitment. A site led by Snowflake and Ice Nine. What started it was Bourbon or Whiskey, I’m not sure, but our neighborhood was new and exciting, we had a little world all to ourselves, and while we were imbibing Derek says, “Hey! lets do a Spartan Race.” O.K., lets do it! everyone says as the brown juice was flowing. Then a week went by and then a another and the energy faded as quickly as the hangovers started the next morning. So, I decided to do it, I put together a power point and walked door to door to the neighbors that stood boastfully and said they wanted to do a spartan and presented the plan. So we did, we all committed and we had a blast. Back to F3, my brother Alvaro, wanted to start training for the spartan race and he googled “how to train for a spartan race,” you know what came up? F3, and Alvaro started to go. He came to me and said “Sean! you got to check this thing out, you will love it!” and the first couple times I said, “No, I’m good, got my Insane Asylum, P90X, I don’t need that F3 thing.” But he was persistent and finally I said yes. That was 4 years ago, Dasher kicked my ass, Snowflake modeled leadership and Ice well, he was just a beast as we all know. I WAS IN!
F1 today: We worked out, Bang and go boot camp, simple yet effective, Done.
Back to more to the more important discussion. I started F3 because it was physically challenging, it was a bit competitive and I was hooked. I STAYED at F3 because of the brotherhood. Furthermore, I’m here today because of the bonds of faith, trials and LIFE that will hit you. Yesterday, one of our F3 brothers and a dear friend to a number of the F3 pax lost his wife to a long, tough battle with cancer. She was an amazing woman, if you want to see her, she is in both of the Speed for need Susan G Komen video’s. She’s the spunky Italian lady with the thick New York accent, you can’t miss her. She meant a lot to a lot of people and whether you knew her for a short time or a long time she made a positive impact on your life. She was a true woman of impact, Lynnmarie will forever be missed.
So how does that relate to F3? LIFE, I believe life is a boxing ring, sometimes your in the ring and your dominating, you can handle everything coming your way, great! You may even get knocked down, but you get right back up, and in those times it’s “cool” to have a couple of brothers around you to say nice job, or you need help? You say, “nope, I’m good, I got this.” BUT, sometimes in the ring of life, a twenty year old Mike Tyson steps into the ring with you and he will knock you the hell out. In 30 seconds your whole world can change, you have a wayward kid, you have a marriage crumbling, you lose a job, your driving down the road in a race and your wife calls you to tell you she has cancer. Or, in our brothers case, you fight a tough battle side by side with your M and you watch her take her final breath.
That’s a tough blow! That’s why F3! That’s why you let men into your world, your insecurities, your stupidities, so when life hits you, and it will hit you, you have men around you that care about you, that will pick you up when your bleeding. Men to carry you out of that ring so you can come back to fight another day. I have screwed up more times then I can count in leadership, more times as a father, and more times as a friend, but I know I have brothers I can count on to help me. Brothers that love me in spite of my quirky personality. Brothers that will give you an ear when you don’t know which end is up. Brothers that will be there for you when you know they’re dead tired and would rather be in their beds sleeping. Brothers that will feed your family for a month after your wife had surgery. Like I said in the COT, I don’t have all the answers when it comes to Faith, but, I do know that that as we spin on this giant ball called earth there has got to be something more, I KNOW there is, I have seen it in the Men of F3
That is WHY I do F3
Thanks for being my Brothers~ Tranporter
Prayers to the Longo Family
6 posted in the rain this morning. 3 pre-runners began and finished. 1 peeled off due to a foot/gut issue and didn’t make the main event. 4 others joined YHC at 0530 to make a total count of 6 PAX.
What We Did:
Mosey to top of stadium steps near playground, carrying kettle bells and a sand bag. Parnter up.
P1 run steps down and back up.
P2 do called exercise: Merkins, Dips, KB curls, KB upright rows
Flap Jack
Repeato till 0610
For extra credit cary sand bag down and back up steps as desired
Ring the bell at the play ground after each flight
Why We Did It:
86 Firefighters lost their lives in 2018. We attempted to run 86 flights per team this morning in honor of their memory. Time did not permit anyone finishing. One team completed 70. The other two teams completed 53 each. Everyone was getting after it. Not much mumble chatter. So the PAX were encouraged to make up that deficit to hit 86 flights on their own next time they see some stairs – at work or wherever.
The idea was to ring the bell after each flight to honor one of the fallen.
The exercises were all upper body so that half time was spent running steps and half working on upper body.
As expected this seemed a little easy and/or boring at first but nobody cares what you can do fresh. It’s what you can do tired and wet that counts. Everyone kept at it till time was called and it definitely got harder. Good work men!
Rain mostly held off until we had returned to launch for a few minutes of COT. After 86 SSH, 10 low slow squats, 10 mountain climbers, etc., the rain came tumbling down and the others agreed to call it 2 minutes shy of 0615.
Thanks to Ductwork for the take out.
Thanks to the site Q’s for the opportunity to lead. Thanks to the men and women firefighters who protect us day and night. The quote for the day is from Stephen Covey: “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” Thanks to the 5 pax who joined me today. Thanks for making the hard decision to get up and get after it. Iron was sharpened and for that YHC is grateful. SYITG!