He hated all this, and somehow he couldn’t get away.
-Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness (also TAF, who seems to be Chester’s favorite)
15 pax met up this morning at the greenway parking lot at Sardis Road and Old Bell Road, prepared for their weekly trip into the heart of darkness to kick the bully (Mount Yucca) in the shins.
After a brief disclaimer, 12 of us set off at precisely 5:15 (Federalist, Hoover, and Mr. Brady) met us on the course. As a veteran leader, well aware of his own weaknesses (namely, Oreos, IPAs, and running), I had devised a plan that required absolutely zero leadership. After all, this site basically Qs itself.
The plan was simple: start at the cul de sac at the top of Old Bell Road. Run down and make a right on Wilby and follow it all the way out to Sardis Road. Turn around and return to the top via Mountainview. That’s one lap, run as many as you can, then meet at the flagpole at 6:08 (that’s 6:08AM Eastern time, Cheese Curd!) for the pledge, then mosey it back to the launch. Everyone got in at least 2.5 laps. The leaders were somewhere on their 4th when time ran out.
Chester’s Moleskine:
We all know that no one comes to a Horsey backblast for details of the workout, so #cobains for the above recap. This morning’s fever dream started like all of the others, with a bunch of men standing around, looking at each other in a parking lot. Some of the visitors had already dispensed with their shirts, their semi-chiseled flesh glistening in the light of the moon, like a bunch of backup dancers from an off-brand Chippendale’s show at a motel near the airport. The others remained shirted, mostly in non-performance shirts sure to shear their nipples off by the end of today’s journey. On the run in on Old Bell, you hear a lot of strange noises from the darkened woods. Shining your headlamp into the bushes, it’s not uncommon to see glowing eyes staring back at you. Deer? Coyote? Man? Chester? Just keep running. Despite the other pax on the course, there is inevitably some time out there where you’re utterly alone in the darkness with nothing but your thoughts to keep you company. “Why am I doing this again?” “Why do my friends invite me to these workouts? Do they secretly hate me?” “Why did I eat that burrito for dinner last night?” “Why are my shoes so squishy?” [Those last two are not related, I swear.]
Horsey is as much a battle of emotions as it is hills. Keep the legs moving, tune out the weird noises, and ignore the possible sexual predators. Thanks to the pax for coming out this morning and helping push each other.
Random observations:
Checkpoint, the sole representative of #TeamRifty, was at the front the entire time. Mr. Brady was in second place from a speed perspective, but might have been first if the competition was volume of sweat wrung from his shirt post-workout. TAF has possibly the most impressive beard I’ve ever seen on a non-millenial. Part of me wonders if he has any small rodents living under there, like the brown wizard from the Hobbit. Despite all of his complaining post-workout, Gypsy is getting strong and is going to crush his marathon later this year. We might need to change his nickname to Waterboy if he keeps hiding water bottles everywhere. Cheese Curd is usually my speed, but he stayed just out of my reach today. You know he’s feeling good if you don’t hear any moaning noises while he’s running hills.
Alright, I need to get to bed. Sound off in the comments if you have any more observations or feedback. I’ll be sure to pass along any suggestions to management.
Station workout in the grass and dew…sorry for anyone sensitive to grass.
Warm up – Mosey down the sidewalk until we were next to the soccer field.
10 Side Straddle Hops
10 Merkins
Calf Stretch
Good enough, lets get to it.
The Thang – Stations in the grass with lights to lead the way.
There were 4 stations in the corners that we did 20 reps at each:
There was one station in the middle:
Rocks between each corner and middle stations
30 min. timer
Some modified and added a lap to the routine . I had that and removed it…I should have kept it in.
Seemed like alot of info. before beginning, but everyone caught on quickly once they got going. Alot of up and down, so more comfortable for us old guys in the grass. Guarantee everyone needed a longer shower this morning to get all the grass off. It could have been worse…I could have brought out hay bales to toss around. If that sounds fun, let me know and the next load I get, I will give you a call. Thanks for everyone coming out and supporting me on my 1st Q in a long time!!!
Announcements:
Gerber – Dad/Kids F3 – Saturdays, 9AM, Need Q’s to step up.
Legal Zoom – Tent Meeting – Revival/Southern Culture – kid friendly – Contact Legal Zoom for details.
Cobbler – 9-12 year olds football – Lancaster/Indian Land (you can signup even if not from there) – meeting tonight at 6:30 at high school
We had a great Q school led by Posse & Goodfella yesterday at Cutherbertson Middle School. We started talking about how to do a disclaimer and talk safety at the beginning of each workout following the DiCCS format. 1. I am not a professional. 2. Modify as needed. 3. Don’t sue me, F3, or the location. 4. You’re here at your own risk. 5. Safety: make sure someone has a cell phone on their person. Make sure someone knows CPR. Assume cars and buses don’t see you, etc.
Next we learned how to call out an exercise, start it, do the counting, and finish. I forgot how to count to 10 in my head and didn’t raise my voice on my 10th Mountain Climber even though that was going to be my last one. So I had to start over and do it again. This time I did Merkins and got it right. We went around the circle and everyone chose their own exercise and led the group the same way. I wasn’t the only one who had to repeat their turn. I think we all found out it’s a lot harder to count and think when you’re in front of a group of Pax.
Next Goodfella took off running like a bolt and we were trying to catch him. It was an example of how NOT to lead the group to a different location because we want to try to keep everyone together as much as possible. Lot’s of talk about circling back for the Six and never leaving anyone behind.
Then we learned about how to use the surroundings of the site to create exercise routines. We used light poles to stop and do Merkins while running around the parking lot. We discussed visiting the site before you Q to see what’s there, how far away areas are from each other, and planning your workout. A visit is much better than just looking online on Google maps.
We talked about partner exercises and how to use them. Some exercises require partners to be of equal fitness levels (like pushing each other, something like a horn lock drill). Some exercises require a faster and a slower person to be partnered up to keep the group together more and finishing at the same time.
We discussed other exercise structures like triple nickle, the Beast, and Jackpot. Triple nickle is where you pick three exercises and do 5 reps of each, 5 sets. The Beast would be 6 reps of each, 6 sets. Jackpot would be 7 reps of each, 7 sets. F3Nation.com has an Exicon, a list of tons of exercise ideas you can use, and formats/structures to do them in. It’s ok to make some notes for your workout as you plan it out to help you stay on track. It’s also good to plan more than you’ll have time for, much better than running out of things to do before time is up.
Finally we talked about how to end with the workout. Q gets in the middle of the COT, everyone counts off in the number-rama and the Q gets the names down on his phone since no one could remember all those names. Do announcements if there are any. Name the FNG’s. And then someone takes us out with either a thought, story, or a prayer.
I thought it was a great Q school training. Well done Posse and Goodfella!
Although I’ve already had the honor of Q’ing a couple gloomy mornings, it was still a great lesson that gave me some good takeaways this morning at Cuthbertson Middle. DiCCS were given and discussed in detail (heh).
Warmup
After a quick lap around the parking lot to get the blood flowing, PAX circled up and learned a core concept of Q’ing – how to count. One by one the PAX entered the circle to lead the rest in cadence. The next exercise is …, in position, move, in cadence, exercise, 1, 2, 3. If you didn’t get it right the first time, try again. It’s surprising how easy it is to forget such a simple routine when you’re out of breath and in front of a group of men. The actual exercises were unimportant because we were practicing the framework, but were mostly simple – side straddle hops, merkins, imperial walkers and YHC led some windmills. Stuff like that.
The Thang
A super quick takeoff from launch led to a game of pursuit of Goodfella to demonstrate the incorrect way to lead the PAX. After a sprint to the flagpole in front of the school we broke down exactly why Goodfellas lightning bolt across campus was incorrect Q behavior. Circle for the 6, try to keep everyone together, and/or plank it up. We then proceeded to learn a few different routines, by acting them out, that a Q could use for a good workout.
We wrapped up the last 10 minutes of the workout with a few examples of what you can do in the last 10 minutes of a workout and then actually doing one of those, a jack webb.
Everyone then met up at the local coffeeteria, a Chic-Fil-A, to go over some incredibly in-depth documentation put together by Posse. After a good overview of it all, we wrapped it up and committed to going out there and showing what we learned in a Q soon.
Moleskine
Cuthbertson High School was the site were ten Q wannabes were transformed into Q ready-to-bes through the terrific tutelage of Posse and Goodfella. Our fieldwork included discussing the disclaimer, working on cadence, running through some exercises (including triple nickel) and dissecting the various parts of the COT.
Upon concluding the post, Q School continued as we ventured over to Chick-Fil-A (no bagel boys in site) for additional tips, instructions, and insight. After we filled our bellies and brains, well-deserved thank yous were extended to Posse and Goodfella. We parted as better men and better leaders.
12 PAX showed up for the edjamaction of new Q’s. Free biscuits after. Thank you to Posse and Goodfella
The Warm-up:
-took a mosey around the parking lot, followed by some cadence tutorials (examples of good & bad)
The Thang:
-partner work followed by laps with incline merkins
-Triple Nickel (burpees, merkins, Rosalita)
Moleskine:
Learned a lot, thanks to the expertise of instructors Posse and Goodfella