When Hops put in the call for me to queue at my alma mater (class of 1991), I knew that I could not and would not refuse. I also knew that it was my chance to take the PAX on a journey to relive my glory years and teach them a little about the school.
The Thang, with some of the Moleskin baked in
I built a workout that would take us around the various part of the “old” campus that many, based on the PAX comments, had not been seen before.
We had one FNG (see below), and so a thorough disclaimer was in order (whether or not anyone was listening is another story). With F3, Latin, and most importantly me in the clear, we were off.
Mosey from the parking lot, up the sneaky big hill, to where the carpool line used to be for warm-up. I say “used to be,” because there is a big ole building there now that wasn’t there before. I have no idea what they do in there. It may be the latest secret bunker built by the US Government (YHC went to The Greenbrier this weekend – that place is cool, but I digress).
When we were warm, clearly noted by the level of conversation not ceasing and even possibly increasing, it was time to move. Mosey to the entrance to the 400 building (Middle School) for a circuit of alternating bear crawl and lunge walk, with a merkin set at each corner. The circuit would take us from the 6th/7th grade hallway where my career at Latin began back in 1985, over to the 9th grade building, and then over to one of the two primary upper school buildings. This was a critical component of the workout, as it paid tribute to the academic excellence of Charlotte Latin.
At 10:00 every morning, we had a fifteen minute break from our rigorous academic curriculum. On many days, I wondered over to the gazebo right in the middle of this academic quad to sit at the picnic benches with my friends and a snack. It was only appropriate to bring my newer friends back to this same spot, especially for our break following the previous set.
Not only is Latin a top notch academic institution, the Hawks are often dominant on the fields, pitches, gyms, and pools. Time to venture to the extracurricular (not those, Spack). The first sports team I made (yes, we had cuts) was the JV tennis team in 7th grade. I took the boys down to the tennis courts for some suicides. We only ran two four-court suicides each, and despite being plenty, it was significantly easier in the 50 degree gloom vs. the 90 degree heat that feels 7 degrees hotter even on hard courts that comes with a Charlotte late spring.
We then moved down to the track, where I told them of my senior cross country season where 100% of the training was done on the track, most of it 400s. Talk about nasty. Had I known that our new coach at the time had that in mind, I’m not sure I would have committed. Nonetheless, our team of scabs managed to put this approach to work and we finished 2nd in the state. YHC even made all-conference. Interval training does work.
But a trip down memory lane wouldn’t be complete without a stop by the gym. While we were outside the “new” gym, and I had played in the “old” gym (Belk Gym – which felt a little like Carmichael Auditorium, Reynolds Coliseum, or even Cameron Indoor Stadium – think small, hot and loud), I had to bring basketball into this equation, despite being short on time.
Back to launch. Done with 15 seconds to spare.
Additional Commentary
Big and quality group of guys out this morning, and also plenty of chatter. Horsehead made a nice appearance, and it was great to see Kirk at Hawk’s Nest. Pretty ironic that when the harassing of the Q and his private school heritage started during warm-ups, it was predominantly coming from a group standing on the sidewalk refusing to get their shoes wet in the dew covered grass.
Spackler and Semi-Gloss provided plenty of their own commentary for the Q. As usual, Sprockets was way out in front, especially on the 400s. Hops is getting some wheels, too, I might add. There was plenty of huffing and puffing, but he pushed through, leaving YHC well behind. Good to see Bugeater out there this morning, despite apparently being left behind by Scratch-n-win’s chauffeur service.
Welcome to FNG Nathan, now named Kobayashi.
Announcements:
I’m a big fan of the Watchtower site but I’m not feeling as “energetic” in the mornings due to new levels of soreness. Back pain, stiff neck, 6 miles with Gerber yesterday and we are on day 9 of 42 for this pull-up challenge.
I have plugged the Murph enough at this point but if you haven’t tried an overhand pull-up since you were a small boy, be prepared to laugh out loud. Obviously our personal weight has a lot to do with our ability to do a pull-up but you probably don’t use those muscles all that often. New found respect for those in CrossFit that knock out those and the freaking muscle-ups. Yikes.
Any who….decent weather, sore as hell and no excuses…let’s get it!
DiCCS given. No man left behind reminder and that we would do as much together as possible while circling back to finish as a unit.
THE THANG
Mosey to doctor’s office or bank that has the small circle. Let’s circle up:
Mosey to sidewalk and up to CVS and over to BB&T for Compass. Learned this beauty from the boys in Augusta. Hard to explain but combine a plank with a bear crawl that only uses arms to go left or right but you never move your feet. Hence the compass nickname and now I get to holler out degrees, which direction and then IC push-ups. No breaks…
Mosey to Neighborhood. 10 burpees at caldesac
OYO. Every light 10 Speedskaters. Mosey back for the 6. Regroup at stop sign.
OYO. Every light 10 audible to 5 x Bobby Hurley’s. Mosey back for the 6. Wait in the caldesac.
OYO. Every other light alternate between 10 x LBCs and 10 x Carolina Dry Docks. Mosey back for the 6. Regroup at stop sign.
OYO. Every light alternate between 10 x Big Boy Sit-ups and Monkey Humpers. Mosey back for the 6. Stop at the top. Mosey all the way up the hill stopping for no exercises because we are running short on time.
Mosey to the bottom of the hill as a group. 20 x Heals to Heaven.
Jail break to Pet Smart the gate entrance. Balls to the Wall Plank jacks x 20. Jump Lunges x 20. 3 rounds. Mosey back to the finish. Yikes.
MOLESKIN
Like Farva said to Foster in 2001’s sleeper hit comedy Super Trooper, “Sing it again rookie bi-otch!!” I mean what was I thinking? I mean I’m no Rand McNally but I couldn’t do a little recon beforehand to find out how long that 2nd stretch of road was? Lock it up Zin.
The workout went overall as planned and outside of my own critiques I think everyone was fine with the overall idea – 3.25 miles and pain stations. But I just had so many more tricks in my wizard’s sleeve I wanted to show you guys.
I have been teasing the Compass since Dana and I posted in Augusta. It’s as terrible as I described above and that last 10 count was brutal. Cheers to everyone that pushed through.
The rest of the workout reads just like I shared above. A few audibles due to pain and time but I like the way Damascus describes the boringness. “There is a mental component when you have a long stretch like you did that beats people down!” He’s not wrong as I was fighting with my mind to walk several times.
Great to see everyone out this morning and I appreciate the opportunity to lead. Deadwood rocked a 20lb vest. Damascus was rocking 10lb vest and a chiseled jawline. Those two, Dancing Bear, Banjo and Gerber prerun – hitting up over 6 miles. Great to see the frequency that Gatorcub and Dasher are posting lately. Maybe GC posts that often but it’s felt like more lately to me. Wedding Singer continues to crush it. Toto hasn’t been completely scared off since the Jack Webb marathon that he did a few weeks ago. Hollywood and Bottlecap consistently pushing the pace to a level I don’t understand. I hope to see Loafer out more often and love that Mad Dog is out there always pushing himself hard. On a plus note, Fusebox and I didn’t get into fisticuffs – he even complemented the Compass and so I guess what I’m saying is that the Briarcrest Crew is coming back with pool bodies only Lawson could dream of!!
I had higher expectations for my 17th Q but now it’s time for a beer in Nashville. I got no worries now and all of Spring Break to recover. Really I got until Monday when I Q Ignition though….see you all then!
Thanks to Mad Dog for taking us out!
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
This morning, YHC woke up with an extra creak in his knees … an extra pang or two of discomfort … it’s almost as if YHC turned over his odometer. Strange. Well, no rest for the weary, time to put in some Works with Skunks.
A large crowd gathered at Covenant Day. Here’s what they experienced.
COP
It appears that we did 40 swings in total as part of the warmup. This was less confusing to the group than the 40 SSH. But, prescient nonetheless.
Anyway, partner up for some Catch Me If You Can (10 merkin chaser) — head from launch to the lacrosse field over at Christ Covenant proper.
THANG
Line up on the line and stay with your partner.
Round 1:
Round 2:
Round 3:
Another round of CMIYC, heading from the LAX field to the courtyard where we run staircases — which, we did not do today.
LBCs while we wait for the 6.
This time, starting at the courtyard, do 40 seconds of called exercises AMRAP. After that, mosey to the next church entrance, 40s of same exercise, AMRAP, mosey to next church entrance, blah blah etc.
Mosey with your bell back to launch.
Time called.
COT
-30-
ANNOUNCEMENTS
None.
SKINE of the MOLE
Yes, as it came out during the course of the workout, today was my 40th birthday. It was also the first time in my F3 lifetime that my birthday fell on a day with my regularly scheduled workout. So, I thought, might as well lead.
Thinking of ways to incorporate the milestone birthday was harder than I originally thought, because, well, I was happy to make everyone else do this mess, I wasn’t looking forward to it. As I told Tulip, Funky, Tweetsie and Soprano (kotters) afterward: “This looked bad on paper. It was worse in practice.”
The field was a little damp, so, the backpedaling was originally supposed to be inchworm-ing, but, given the curls and presses ahead, I figured that having soaked hands/gloves would not be conducive to getting that done … well, safely anyway.
Good to see a mix of regulars and legends this morning.
I would launch into a Horsehead-worthy existential fever dream surrounding a major milestone birthday, but, I’ll spare y’all that. What I will say — I’ve been waiting 12 years for this moment, because, well, let us not forget the wise words of one of my Spirit Coaches, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy, who famously barked in 2007: “I’M A MAN! I’M 40!“.
Thanks to Tulip and Funky Cold for the opportunity, and thanks to everyone who showed up. This workout is a backbreaker every week, but, it’s always fun because of the crowd.
Mosey lap around parking lot while LIFOs file in.
SSH x 20, Squat x 15, IW x 15.
Run out to Strawberry Lane, and down 51 to Davie Park.
10 Diamond Merkins IC.
Low Slow Squat x 15 IC.
Into playground; One Legged Burpees. 6 each leg.
10 Chin-Ups OYO.
10 Derkins IC.
Rinse and repeat, with decreasing Burpees second and third rounds.
Mosey out to main park road. 10 Merkins at each light post, AYG between lights. Repeat to back lot.
Coming back, 25 LBCs at each light post, AYG between lights.
Run back to AO for Mary.
Moleskin
Okay; so this was a little run-heavy for the day after Easter. Especially for Bug Eater, who ran in, and Jello, with a pre-run. Lorax and Spackler didn’t notice, from the front of the pack. And Magoo was a beast.
Good work by all! Thanks for letting me have the keys –
17 Men put in some serious work on their largest muscle group. Here’s how it went down.
Warm-up:
Quick lap around the cars and down the long path to Transporter’s Shed Rudy’s Refuge. Path is .25 miles long poles to poles. About 500 yards in YHC glanced back towards cars and saw three men running to catch up. 10 SSH upon their arrival…and mosey on. 100 yards more then 10 Squats. 100 yards more then 10 merkins. Mosey on to the Refuge.
Thang:
Time for a burpee mile, Flash style. .25 mile run back up the path and 12 burpees. .25 mile back and 12 burpees. Up and back 2x. 1 mile and 48 burpees. The minors speedsters (great work Sprinkles and Flipper) circled back for the six and were joined shortly thereafter by Dasher and Easy Button. Once the sixes began to arrive at the last stop, the “gazelles” were volunteered for burpee contributions. 5 or 6 of us did 5 more burpees to make up for whatever the pax had left.
Grab some wall. 1 minute wall sit with jabs then 30 monkey humpers. Then another minute with 30 jump squats after that. Let’s mosey. Quads are heating up. At this point we headed towards the stairs. Dasher thought the gate might be open at the football field and that we could get some bleachers in. Since Damascus wasn’t with us, it seemed like a safe audible. Pax got a bit spread out on this mosey, so YHC stopped for some Mary and Dasher went to check the fence situation. American Hammers and LBCs (10 and 20 I think). On your feet and mosey again towards far end zone. Met Dasher there, he said it was locked. Audible back the way we came to the cul-de-sac by the suppine rails (the place where Foundation likes people to grab the fence and do squats like they’re in a Janet Jackson music video).
7’s- Squats at the bottom and Monkey Humpers at the top. Then we moseyed back towards the Refuge to grab some more wall. 1 minute with 30 seconds jabs and 30 seconds air presses. 5 minutes left.
Back up the trail. 10 single count speed skaters at each light pole. Made it to the end at exactly 6:15 on my watch. From what we could gather, Gerber was on Hooch Standard Time as the Ignition boys rolled in about 3 minutes later. It seemed like Zin and Dancing Bear came running from a completely different area. I’m guessing they were replacing the bikes they’d stashed in the woods in preparation for chasing Gerber through Champion Forest for an hour! All jokes aside, if you need motivation, just talk to Zin. His transformation is remarkable. And Dancing Bear…Dude showed up 7 times all winter. Now he’s been to 7 consecutive workouts!? Welcome back man. One day I’ll let you catch me…at this rate, you’ll do it on your own in no time flat.
Skin:
Great work by the Flash crew. Dasher said he recorded 3.65 miles and other reports from pax sounded like everybody got at least 3.5. Thank you, Rockwell, for the opportunity to lead. Oh, and great job on the 7’s. You crushed that! Good seeing Finchy back out with us. He battled hard today. I love the “no quit” attitude. That workout sucked and you just kept coming back for more. Well done, man. The minors are like Lucky at the greyhound track. You run as fast as you can to catch them only to never actually catch them. Good job Sprinkles and Flipper. I do think Dasher got awfully close at one point, though. Easy Button- glad to have you as a running buddy. It seems like regardless of where we post, we wind up side by side. Thanks for the push to finish out those 7’s. Very limited mumblechatter from the pax today, though I did catch a “Let me guess…let’s mosey” from somebody. That was funny- and accurate as that’s exactly what we did a lot!
Final disclaimer- please exercise caution when getting on and getting off toilet today and tomorrow morning. The handicap stall with handrails is a 100% acceptable choice!
Announcements:
Sanctuary tonight at 7:30 at Brooklyn Pizza
Thanks to Mad Dog for taking us out.
I changed up my Q style a bit today mainly because I had on a 20lb vest and wasn’t sure if mileage would kill me or not. I should have stuck to my guns and put in more mileage and less reps on the exercises!!
Warm up:
Arrived at 5:14, threw out a short DiCCS (Insert joke) and we were off. Lets mosey!
0.97 opeing mosey and circle for 6 which would soon be me!
Warm up:
10 SSH IC
10 IW IC
10 Merkins IC
Calf streatch – flap jack
10 Peter Parker IC
The Thang:
10 burpees a minute for 5 minutes
4 Corners around target- Increase reps x 5 each lap
1st lap:
10 WWII situps
10 Merkins
10 V toe touch
10 Peter Parkers
Circle burp – Increase merkin x 1 after each burpee
Circle of pain – Each pax calls out exercise while they run around the circle
Jail break back for COT
DONE !
I’m not going to lie, I felt like I was running with Shake and Bake 7 months ago and almost puked a few times. Running with a vest on is way easier than doing 25 merkins and 50 burpees! I will be taking Zinfandel’s and Damascus’s recommendations and will be dropping to 10lbs for a few weeks.
The pax killed it today! Damascus is a gazelle again and was up front all morning with Kid Rock, Smokey and Swimmers – way to push guys! Dana was moving along well but not his normal speed. I think the Easter ham slowed him down a bit! Loafer and Shop Dawg pushed hard and kept me company at the rear. Shop Dawg spilled a bit of Merlot on the last round, I was very close!! Well done today men!! Mileage was low today – 2.45 – 3.0
Thanks Shop for taking us out.
Announcements:
The Murph challenge continues – Loafer and Transporter are looking for partners…maybe they just partner up?
Help Damascus figure out a way to raise attendance at Asylum
Not everyone packed up their station wagon and headed out of town with their 15 kids like Rubbermaid and so 7 PAX showed up on a perfectly crisp 45 degree Monday morning of Spring Break week in WUC.
5:15 am DCCS reviewed. Time to move, lots of ground to cover
THE THANG
Mosey to front of high school and circle up for a quick warm up:
1. 15 x SSHs IC
2. 15 x Imperial Walkers IC
3. Calf Stretches each leg 15 second
4. 10 x Merkins IC
Mosey across Cuthbertson to entrance of Champion Forest.
Run down Waynewood to intersection with Dobson. At alternating stoplights…. stoplights in Champion Forest?!?…. maybe YHC meant streetlights…
• 10 x Merkins
• 10 x Squats
If you continue down Waynewood or Dobson they intersect again in about .51 miles. Pax pair up and one partner goes down Waynewood while the other goes down Dobson until they intersect. The idea was a hard steady pace that wasn’t a sprint but not a mosey either.
1. 10 hand slap Merkins with partner when you meet back up at the next intersection of Waynewood and Dobson
2. Mary and pick up the six so we can all start the next .51 repeat together.
3. Rinse and repeat opposite directions back up to the other intersection of Waynewood and Dobson.
4. Total of 6 x .51 miles repeats completed
Mosey back to entrance of Champion Forest to the actual stoplight. Pick up six and fast mosey back to AO. I think everyone got around 6 miles with some 6.5+
MOLESKIN
The goal of the day was to try to get everyone over 5 miles if not 6 while getting in some speed work that wasn’t on a track. Champion Forest is a practically perfect .51 miles from every intersection symmetrical neighborhood so perfect for this type of workout… and a not on a track.
Great to see Ice 9 post at Ignition, I think it was his first time posting at this AO and he was really pushing the pace. Hollywood out front as always and there is a reason why Legal has a “Zoom” after his name.
Fellow cresters Dancing Bear and Zinfandel are getting faster and leaner and I think both got in 6 miles. Cobbler back out for a second week in a row and really pushing himself, great job.
Thanks for the opportunity to lead this AM.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
SOB and Union County showed up and showed out with 42 Pax getting their Saturday started with some work.
Damascus’s portion:
Disclaimer given, FNG, Cell Phone, CPR identified
Warmup – Mosey to corner of Ballantyne Commons / 521- 15 SSH IC- 15 Mountain Climbers IC- Downward Dog- Calf StretchThe Thang
Moleskin- As expected, a lot of grumbling with the announcement of partner carries, but everyone who was capable pushed through.
Proud to have the opportunity to lead such a great group of men
War Eagle’s portion:
Moleskin – It was awesome having so many guys from SOB and WUC and really glad to meet a lot of the guys. Now I can put faces to names on Slack and Backblasts. YHC was pleasantly surprised by the turnout but seeing as the pond portion of the workout was already going to be tight because of the turf renovation, due to the large number the audible was made to break the Pax out among the cones. Lots of mumblechatter trying to figure out how to count off by 6 and go to a particular cone but once we got going the group naturally spread out and all laps were completed in a strong showing by all. There was too much time after the pond to head to launch. YHC knew the Bear Crawl Banjo with so many Pax was an aggressive bite to take but he knew everyone was up to the task and would thank him later (although I did watch my back at COT for a serious Loogie Smash). The Bear Crawl Banjo lead to a jail break back to launch and perhaps a minute or two over.
Welcome to our FNG’s, Vespa and Cartman. Vespa is Chopper’s nephew hence the name. Cartman is Chopper’s brother and if I connected the dots right he has a son named Timmy so he is now Cartman.
Announcements:
7 PAX toured the rarely visited east end of the site: Smokey, Lumberjack, Fuse Box, Chastain, Arsenal, Bonhoeffer, and welcome FNG Polo (Brandon Hunt).
The Warmup
Warmup run to the flux capacitor sidewalks by the tennis courts.
The Thang
Moleskine
FNG Polo crushed it for his first time out. Well done, Sir! You against you, and you won!
Smokey and Chastain led the constant mumblechatter over what the name of this backblast should be. Finalists were “Rubbing the Rock,” “Dips Facing the Sun,” and “His Wienke Is on Vibrate.”
Smokey is still working to understand what “modify as needed” means. I think he really just wants to Q some more workouts because he changes everything the Q plans and does his own thang. Sign him up, Chastain!
Some PAX seem very self-conscious about their manhood and feel uncomfortable rubbing their backs against a painted rock to do low squats. Note to self: Plan more rubbing of things for Smokey.
El fin.
Announcements:
18 strong pax avoided the fart sack this morning and attended one of the most hyped Mountain Goat Runs in Area 51 History. After a though disclaimer given the pax were off at 5:15, tackling a new challenge for Mountain Goat. This challenge has known back in the old days of Fast Twitch The Mermaid created by our past Area 51 Nantan Mermaid himself.
The Thang:
The objective was simple: make it to level 4 of the Charlotte Catholic Parking Deck and back in 60 minutes. Route, left on Strawberry, Left on 51, Cross at the Carmel 51 light down to Catholic, follow the path to level 4 of the parking deck and back to launch. Get as far as you can then turn around the 28ish minute mark back to launch. Today’s mileage ranged from 4.5 to 7.5 miles
Moleskin:
Although YHC chose to pick this route, this is Mermaids Brain Child. I’ve ran this route now 4 times, and have only made it to Level 4 of the Catholic Parking Deck once while doing a 9 mile tempo run from Ghost Runner Launch. This isn’t an easy challenge, its a you against you run with 60 minutes of solid work by everyone.
YHC took off right away, having already been warmed up for a pre run with Fleetwood. Purple Haze, Hairball, Tiger Rag and Rock Thrill came up about 3/4 of a mile later and weren’t found again till we returned to launch. Purple Haze and Hairball made it to Level 4 of Catholic and back in 60 minutes. Rumor has it Hairball and Haze were asked to do Merkins during Runstopper’s Centurion Q in the parking deck? Only they know if they did merkins. Tiger Rag and Rock Thrill made it in an Overtime Finish. All other primarily turned around the intersection off 51 and Carmel back to launch. Excellent work by every pax, hopefully The Mermaid will now become a Mountain Goat favorite going into BRR Season.
Thank you Slim Fast and Retread for allowing me to lead today, it isn’t often I’m able to make it to Mountain Goat. However, with transitioning out of my current job visits will begin to occur more often. Although I didn’t make it to my goal of making it to Catholic, I appreciate the support from all the pax since February 2018. Legs fully healed now it’s getting back into shape to be able to tackle the upcoming race schedule, as well as a potential 2nd installment of The Mermaid at Mountain Goat during BRR season.
Announcements:
-Mountain Goat has a backblast for the first time since December of 2018! Even in a running workout, backblasts are great to see following workouts. I’m one to occasionally forget to write a backblast.
-Thank you Tweetsie for the solid takeout