Rumor was that there was going to be a lot of crying at Cuthbertson this morning. So to my delight there were 8 pax that were having none of that and wanted to man up and crush some miles at ignition. No costumes, no crying, just your’s truly and 8 pax going all out for an hour straight.
Warm up
Mosey front of the schools around to the back of the high school over to Transporters shed (although Dasher could not make it to the shed and bailed out somewhere near the football stadium). and circle up.
20 x SSH
15 x merkins
(Dasher shows up looking several pounds lighter)
15 x Mountain Climbers
Calf stretch
The Thang
Mosey behind middle school to trail that leads to Lawson. Start at Surveyor General drive and run to Papaw Drive. Run up 2 streetlights and 10 Bobby Hurley’s. Run back 1 street light for 10 hand release merkins. Continue the up 2, back 1 until you make it to Papaw Drive.
7’s on Papaw Drive. Start at the bottom of Papaw drive with 1 burpee and run to the top of Papaw drive and complete 6 merkins. Continue until you reach 6 Burpees and 1 merkin. (at this point Carb Load throws his back out and Bottlecap starts lathering on the chapstick!) Thankfully no CPR needed and Carb Load was able to stretch in out with the assistance of our in house yoga instructor (Goodfella). And we are back on track and mosey to the front of the neighborhood. At the front of the neighborhood 5 burpees OYO and then mosey over to the high school gym.
Once at the high school gym start a triple nickel. At wall one complete 10 mike Tysons then run down the stairs and hang a right on the path back up to the gym and on wall two complete 20 donkey kicks. Rinse and repeat 5 times.
Mosey over to middle school entrance grab some bench. 20 step ups + hot lap, 30 dips + hot lap, 20 Derkins +hot lap.
Finish with 30 dips and Mosey to COT right on time.
MOLESKIN: nothing mushy for me. I’m Irish and we like to bottle that sh*t up and store it deep down. Just keep showing up to post and be the best you can be.
It was beautiful summer morning with Halloween looming around the corner when I thought, “how can introduce some fun into my Qs and push my personal pain levels?” I’m not honestly sure when I came up with the idea but I immediately started texting each of the Site Qs.
Since none of the calendars communicate it was pretty easy and I only needed to bump one person, thanks Gerber! Next up was coming up with a costume and then planning a painful Q with the possibility of a theme.
Today was my 30th Q and the theme was the ever so famous Forrest Gump. I had Carson drop me off near the buses and then made my way down the long sidewalk for my entrance. “I was running….”. I started my sprint with the famous stiff upper body and a few of the PAX noticed my entrance. I should have had it filmed it would have made a great gif. Oh well….
DiCCS given. Let’s roll…
THE THANG
Mosey to the front of the high school. Circle up for….
1. 20 x SSH IC
2. 20 x Imperial Walker IC
3. 10 x Merkins IC
4. Jimmy Dugan
5. Calf Stretch
6. 20 x Deep Slow Squats IC
7. 20 x Mountain Climbers IC
Money to Alcove for some classic Merkin Air Press Webb. My momma always said life is like a box of chocolates and this is going to suck. 1 Merkin & 4 Air Presses up to 10 & 49.
Mosey to circle by track and find some light. ACTION:
So let’s lose the feelings in our legs together. This is called the Lt Dan. 1 deep squat & 4 jump lunges. Only half completed….for now
Mosey to large HS parking lot. 1st light, 10 x Speed Skaters and back. 2nd Light, 10 x Speed Skaters and back. Out to end of parking light, 10 x Speed Skaters and back. 10 x Monkey Humpers between each round.
Mosey towards stairs. 1 x Big boy sit-ups. 4 x LBCs. 2 x Carolina Dry Docks between each round. Half completed because my leather belt was hurting my spine. So let’s roll out…
Mosey to back of middle school picnic tables. Complete Lt Dans. Now find some bench. 30 x dips. 30 x In & Outs. Repeat but with only 15 x In & Outs.
Mosey back to COT with 2 minutes to spare. Complete the last few rounds of the previous Ab Webb. All done!
MOLESKIN
Big old group today! Lots of familiar faces and two FNGs. Thanks for following me across the campus today. Thank you to everyone that circled back for the 6! This is an essential step in our growing/building/“feel good about yourself for helping others” process. Get back to the circle first, break off and go back to the end when you can fellas.
Nearly zero mumble chatter. Maybe we had some but I missed it. Usually you at least hear Recalc comment on someone’s poor form but is didn’t do any Bobby Hurley’s so that could have been it. Maybe it was the slew of Webbs that kept the chatter low. Great push by everyone to close it out. Everyone got over 2 miles and pushed hard.
Lastly, I learned today that naming FNGs is not up to the Q and they MUST pick one of the awful names blurted out to them. For instance this morning an FNG says he works for Pepperidge Farm the company known best for its yummy breads and delicious freaking cookies. Bottlecap yells “sausage!” Then Goodfella yells “Tube Steak” and then I disappeared to my happy place where I would focus on the facts given to me. I went with Yeast, turns out that was taken so I went with a name that would enshrine the awkwardness that is BC and GF – Welcome Sausage Party!
Then Catfish brought his brother who I was unaware was an FNG because he made up a nickname for himself Stump. Nice try bud. He shared a little background about previous heart issues but I was more focused on the play with his brother’s name and I went with Noodler. Taken. WTF. I was afraid that GF and BC would yell something again about weiners so I quickly named him Mud Guppy.
Welcome fellas and thanks for taking us out Bottlecap.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
We will continue the tradition of the 5th Tuesday of the month as a Test Day. Since we’ve been using Marathon Pace as a guide for this month, you’ll have two options for this workout on Pace & Recovery, but both will utilize the same venue.
800m on the Bull Ring at “Interval Pace” (a.k.a. VO2Max). Find your target pace using the calculator here: http://runsmartproject.com/calculator . Recovery is 200m jog, which can be run down to the Putting Green and back. Optional if you run the next 800m in the opposite direction. Repeato until time schedule above.
800m on the Bull Ring using the Yasso 800m format. The workout is explained well HERE (click for link). The premise is that you pick a time goal for a Marathon, say 4hr:00min. You run a 800m at that target, but in minutes:seconds, so 4min:0sec. Recovery jog for the same amount of time, so 4min:0sec. Repeato until time schedule above.
11 (not 23) pax mustered prior to launch…and Pothole & Pepe rolled in after 5:30am. Area51’s resident gentleman aka Ductwork waited on our LIFO’s and ultimately 13 made it to COP down at Carmel MS.
Below is more or less what happened in this combined Moleskinny Thang for the October 28 edition of DMZ:
We ran from the launch lot down to Carmel MS and circled up.
COP consisted of IW’s, H-R merkins, staccato squats & American Hammers x 23 IC
We than ran back to the launch lot and over to New City Church where we would spend the remainder of the downpainment.
Here’s what we did…I think:
Find some wall. Walthar N’Djaiye x 23 IC. People’s Chair with overhead press x 23 IC. YHC did Titan no favors to his ailing elbow with the Walthar’s. #cobains
23 more Walthar N’Djaiye’s and then some more People’s Chair.
Mosey to the church courtyard and partner up. P1 Runs 0.2’ish miles around 2/3 of the church buildings while P2 did Flutters. Flapjack. Repeat with CDD’s and then with Step Ups/Jump Ups on the wall.
Make our way over to the deceptively painful & sloped parking lot for the following.
Burpee broad jump 50 yards. Mosey back down.
Lungewalk, Backwards lungewalk, Crab walk, Backwards crab walk, 2 AYG runs.
Run back to the launch lot for some Mary.
Freddy Mercury x 23 IC
10 Burpees oyo
Finito.
So the 23 counts were for 2 reasons…the lesser of which is Wake Forest’s #23 ranking. Any ranking for the gridiron Deacs is a rarity, thus, worthy of celebrating. The more important reason is that this week, YHC and M. Hops will celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary. While marriage is hard and sometimes really hard, I’m thankful to God for the gift of my wife. I often don’t treat M. Hops like the gift she is, but she chooses to love me, and I her. Love is a choice after all. Love can be defined as: the other’s best interest at your expense. Think about that in any relationship, and I think you’ll find it’s true.
And No Lorax – the 23 counts had nothing to do with Jordan. Not everything revolves around the baby blue Tarheels and their pretty argyle designer uniforms.
Here’s some other sundry observations from this morning’s proceedings:
Aquafresh is pushing himself to get back into top shape after a herniated disc. Good work.
Our WD Talkbox was getting after it this morning, as was Pothole once he found us at Carmel MS.
YHC forewarned Chalet that he wouldn’t get much mileage (2.2’ish I think today) at this bootcamp workout….he understood…I think.
Met a few pax for the first time this morning (might have something to do with the fact I rarely post at DMZ anymore — going to address that going forward): Gizzard – who’s name derivation is random and makes no sense but it’s awesome. Overdraft – who anyone could tell you, even in the morning gloom, is the spitting image of his brother Lorax. Pepe, who I’m guessing was similarly disappointed like Chalet in the lack of mileage logged. #cobains. Did I mention DMZ is a bootcamp workout? Let’s make them great again! Also met Sloppy Seconds for the first time…I think. There’s apparently a Sloppy, who I’ve met…I think. Mailman was pushing hard as well.
Good work men. Thanks to Aquafresh for asking this old site Q to dust off the Monday morning shoes. Always a privilege to Q the pax of F3.
In our little region of Waxhaw, YHC and several other pax really took to the IronPAX challenge in September. The idea of complaining about every detail of each workout, pushing yourself to just shy of Merlot spillage (or beyond for guys like Deadwood), or not being able to walk or raise your arms for several days following… Just seemed like something we were really gonna miss after it ended. Dasher and I got to talking and figured what the hell…. Let’s see if we can bring back the Black Diamond workout. We want this re-launch to be something the pax can look forward to, not get overwhelmed by. So we decided to change it up a bit- We decided to give it a name- Gladiator- Something that strikes fear into those that think they want to attend, and has good marketing value for those that like to promote. The biggest difference for now is that it will only be held once/mo. The dates will be posted 1 month in advance, however the location will not be revealed until 1 week prior to the workout.
Previous BD rules still apply:. Intend to push yourselves past what you think your body is capable of. This style of workout isn’t intended to pickup the Six, but to push the Six! The workout can be at any site chosen by the Q, either official F3 AO or not, Q’s choice. Q chooses his successor from someone who completes his workout. He then has around 4 weeks to plan a brutal beatdown… And there you have our Gladiator!
Today YHC chose Nesbit Park for the inaugural Gladiator beatdown:
Disclaimer given: High intensity- little down time- Fast paced moseys- stick together … Don’t sue anyone!
Warmup- SSH x15, Low Slow Squat x 12, Mountain Climbers x 12…
Mosey…err jailbreak to elementary for Up and down the river
Pull-ups x10
Mary Katherine’s x20
Dips x30
Donkey kicks x40 (Hold for 5 count every 10 reps)
LBC’s x50
(back down the river) 40/30/20/10
Long Mosey to neighborhood parking lot for Web:
1 Diamond Merkin/4 Side Straddle Squats- Progress to 10/40
Mosey to the playground hill for some coupon work-
Superset: tricep extension x5, shoulder press x10, curls x15, upright Rows x20, flat chest press x25
Repeato on your knees.
Carry coupon to top of the hill, and head back down to begin Jacob’s Ladder:
1 burpee- up the hill 10 coupon squats- down the hill- 2 burpees back up the hill 9 coupon squats… And so on to 10 burpees, hill climb 1 coupon squat
coupon carry mosey for 1/4 mile to soccer field-
Indian Tire Flip Team challenge:
Each team starts on opposite perimeter of the field- working the same direction each team has 1 pax flipping and the remainder of the team runs a lap- first runner to reach the tire, swap positions and continue on another lap. First team to get their tire around the soccer field wins!
Coupon carry to traffic circle to meet up with 2 other groups for finale of Green Sally! 3.5 minutes of pure awful.
A few announcements as a group…
Christ closet collection and event on Nov 9th. Same day as Vagabond- order your shirts now before deadline. Waxhaw Holiday party is coming up! Sign up now if you haven’t.
Welcome FNG- Hammered
YHC had a lot of fun planning this workout, and had so much more fun in store, however I drastically underestimated the amount of time some of these stations would take. Either way- looking forward to the next Gladiator on November 16th with Dasher on Q! Location to be released in a couple of weeks.
13 pax (including the Q) for an unlucky roll of the dice at Rock Zero. YHC had pre-slacked and pre-tweeted an 0600 Pyramid of Meat starter, but no one showed up to partake in the swole-ness. Actually, no one really showed up until 0645, when Boererwors decided to he’d had enough rugby at 0400. It should also be noted that he stayed up to watch the World Series the night before, a true American right there. At 0654 Dingo came in with the M4 revved up like he was in high school showing off to his bro’s from down under. Hopper and Skipper showed up shortly after. At 6:58:30 a caravan of uncoordinated pax came in hot to the parking lot including Geraldo, Hops, Bernanke, Lazy Boy, Man Tooth, and possibly Deep Dish. The call is still pending from the judges after the replay.
By 0700 YHC was delivering his thorough and well rehearsed disclaimer when Hops decided to get out of his truck, stretch like a cat waking up from a nap in the sun, and mosey over to see what the fuss was all about. Shortly after Deep Dish pops out of his car, hides his keys in Hop’s truck, and decided to join the party. At this point we were 11 pax, and YHC decided it was time to mosey.
Pax made it about 50 feet when O’Tannenbaum comes screaming in on 2 wheels, almost flattens Skipper, jumps out of his car and sheepishly grins before joining the group. Now we’re 12. Begin the mosey around the parking lot, the loooooong way around. At one point someone in the back called out the tradition of a COP. We’ll get there before 0800 fellas.
The Thang:
After a little mosey through the parking lot, stop at each speed bump and perform merkins and squats, totaling 5 reps. 1 squat and 4 merkins, 2 and 3, 3 and 2, you get the pattern. After the last speed bump head to the grassy knoll for your traditional COP. By now we were all warmed up.
IW x 20. Peter Parker and Parker Peter x 10 each. 5 burpees. Yeah, 5 bupees deal with it. Shoulder taps x 10. YHC then took the time to explain that we were going off campus, as YHC did promise some miles. Safety first, so we’ll go down Rea against the flow of traffic on the sidewalk and stick together. At one point on Rea (before 5 Knolls) YHC called a stop and had all pax plank up. As we did so someone called out that Donkey Kong had shown up late, figured out where we were, and had caught up to us. T-claps for that, brother.
Run down Rea, and as we approached 5 Knolls Geraldo prayed “please don;t turn left down 5 Knolls” over and over again. YHC heard his prayers and kept going … and made a left onto Summer Gate Dr. Pax groaned. Run to the intersection with 5 Knolls and partner up. At this point all were sweating profusely and the pax were regretting their decision to show up. Awesome sauce.
P1 runs to end of the cul-de-sac and back. P2 does exercise. Total count: 100 merkins, 100 lunges (each leg). YHC figured this would be a quiet Saturday morning in the Knolls, but apparently the neighborhood decided otherwise. Twice we had large groups of runners stroll past us going down 5 Knolls and of the 4 houses in the cul-de-sac, 3 had cars pull out while we were on the street. I guess next time I should phone ahead to confirm when the neighbors wake up.
Run down 5 Knolls to Whisperwood Pl. P1 runs to end of the cul-de-sac and back, P2 does exercise. 100 heels to heaven. 100 LBCs.
Run up the terrible hill to MacDara Hill Ct. One pax said something about BRR training being over, brother BRR training is never over. Pax were feeling smoked after that one. P1 runs to end of the cul-de-sac and back, P2 does exercise. 100 CDDs and 100 squats. There might have been a mutiny at some point, but then the pax realized they would have to mosey back to Calvary anyway so might as well see it through. Hops and Geraldo got a little behind on their squats, something about Hops doing squat for two days the day before. So the pax chipped in at the end to help them get the final 32 squats in. #LeaveNoManBehind
Run back to Calvary, go back to the cars. Circle up for some quick Mary and the introduction of a legit F3 Carpex exercise called the “Have a Nice Day” where the pax just lay on the ground and stare at the sky (yes this is a legit Carpex exercise) and then time was called.
Mole-skinny:
Strong effort out there by the pax today. We logged 4 miles over hilly terrain. Miles promised, miles delivered, and all were better for it. This was an easy workout to plan but a hard one to execute. Thanks to the pax for not calling a total mutiny after we headed off campus. Good mumble-chatter along the way and some encouragement from the Run for Your Life groups that passed us as we were laying in the street trying not to get run over.
On a personal note, it was nice to be out front leading. Often I drift towards the back to watch the 6 on these off-campus trips. According to Strava I ran at an 8:11 pace for the workout, and you know Strava is never wrong.
OK, YHC is 4 Simpler Times Pilsners deep ($4.00 a six pack at Trader Joes) and it’s time for the afternoon nap.
SYITG
Announcements:
Holiday Party. Hops is going to open with “I touch myself”, we’re all hoping it’s just a song.
Coat Drive. Get those old coats out of your closet and get them to Chelms or a local workout.
There might have been others but YHC can’t recall, please post i the comments section.
Thanks to Lazy-Boy for the takeout.
First I want to thank everyone who came out for my VQ – everyone pushed hard and we were able to have a few laughs while we were at it! Since a lot of people have been vulnerable in these BB lately, I felt it only right to honor them by putting something out there too.
But first:
WARM UP
20 SSH
15 Imperial Walker
10 Potato Picker
Calf Stretch
THE THANG
Everyone grab a Coupon:
10 bicep curl + 10 front raise, then 9+9, then 8+8, down to 1+1. (a little mumble chatter about “we may have chose the wrong site this morning”)
Partner Up: Today we focused on partner workouts which I feel helps everyone push harder and of course, mumble chatter more.
10 Stations x 1 min x 3
Most of you only know me from the brief time that I have been at F3 (a couple months now). While I wasn’t always the guy who consistently showed up to work out – I was ALWAYS the guy who gave up when I “reached my limit”.
You see, whether you believe it or not, I grew up an athlete. But school, then work, then this, then that…one day you wake up and your comfortable. Pushing 300 pounds…but comfortable. You wake up, you make the easy choices, you go about it cheerfully because you don’t have a bad life, in fact you have a pretty good life, but there’s something missing.
Accountability
Although 80s music makes for a great workout, I remember a picture of me at an 80s party not too long ago and boy did I look different. Around 2 years ago I saw myself going down the easy path and knew I needed to make a very big adjustment. I started getting to the gym. I found some external sources of motivation (if you need motivation and don’t follow David Goggins, Jocko, Cam Hanes, or just anybody who chooses not to be comfortable – its a good start). I began training Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which helped motivate me physically, but it wasn’t what I needed. I was going through the motions and still quitting when it wasn’t easy.
EMBRACE THE SUCK
It ALWAYS sucks. The waking up early. The running. The way too many reps when you were sooo close to sleeping in. The Floater (we all agree on that right?) *insert cliche about ‘if it was easy it wouldn’t be worth it’* but it’s true. My most satisfying days now aren’t even the hardest workout days. It’s the days where I’ve wanted so bad to give in to comfort but chose not to. Fast forward to even just 6 months ago and I was embracing the suck.
Waking up early to commute 2+ hours from NY to NJ just to get to the gym before work. I was down 40 lbs or so, but still only challenged by other common people who thought an easy gym routine was enough to feel good. Then I joined F3.
“Be uncommon amongst uncommon people” – Goggins
My next challenge: There’s a good amount of men in F3 who would be getting out of bed early and embracing the suck – with or without this group. These people are not common and they are the reason I show up and push way past what I used to consider my limits. It’s the reason I am motivated to post especially when others don’t – it’s my chance to gain ground. One day I will catch up with some of these gazelles AND be able to hang at the top of Diesel.
But the best of all is this group pushes people on a regular basis for no reason other than they truly want to see each other get better. It is much easier to get out and work harder with this group behind you. So the next time someone is getting on your case about not posting, just remember it’s because they care and want to see you be the best you.
Embrace it and challenge yourself.
Well if you’ve made it this far, I appreciate the turnout for the VQ and the support from everyone on a daily basis. Looking forward to many more!
Announcements
Christ closet Nov 9 – delivering toys, bring anything you can to commitment everyday up until then – Deadwood, Bottle Cap, and Dana are collecting.
Gladiator (black diamond) begins tomorrow, same place as commitment but will take separate paths.
Vagabond Nov 9 – 13 miles with bootcamp workouts
West Side Whoopin? Nov 9 – 6 miles with BBQ and the Christ closet giveaway
Holiday Party Nov 16 – help at Lawson beforehand if you can
Pax: Xmas, Fault Line, McRib, HH, Puddin, Poptart, Hoppa, Manziel, Spack
7 unsuspecting souls, a site FNG and a man bleeding profusely from the weenus, began the morning with a nice base of lunch combo numero tres. What could have gone wrong actually did go wrong. But nobody will know about that.
Was it Fun Friday? Unfortunately no, no it wasn’t. You owe thanks to the Oracle of the BB and also the now renowned, McRib of A51, for firing the Q up yesterday to turn this up a notch from a mileage perspective. I love me some Puddin but man I was hoping he would 86 Kevlar this week only bc I knew he wouldn’t be happy. And who doesn’t want to see a happy Puddin Pop?
I was greeted this morning to a wet and bloody McRib. All the Pyramid plowing with dudes 3 times a week has really taken a toll on his balance during his pre runs. Says he clipped a root and opened the scab on his weenus for the 3rd time in 18 weeks. Shortly thereafter comes in a high socked, hi vis blinking bumpkin from his pre run. No blood there. Evidently fellowship isn’t their pre run thing. At any rate, plans fell apart quickly today as my “Tour of Matthews” quickly seemed too dangerous due to the enormous popularity of the Burn BC race team and the lack of sidewalk visibility. El Valle was a must for the warm up though. Off we went.
BTW, I’m not sure if there are any pax of Mexican descent that can back me up but you know a good Mexican spot when…what? When you actually see Mexican customers. El Valle in Matthews. You are welcome. And oh BTW, when you see a young caucasian kid with broken Spanish working there in about 3 years – tell him you know Spackler. Free cheese dip and BOGOF Tecate’.
So we had to go back to campus because #1 – plans fell apart but more importantly #2 – we had a site FNG (Hopper) and thus, we’re required to show off the popularity of the Kevlar campus.
We did the whole partner up run the parking lot loop down the stairs thing. Lot’s of merkins, PopTarts “Dry Dogs” and a few others. It was excellent. Plan was forming.
We did the medians with exercises, up the hill and back a few times with different stuff. It too, was fantastic. Fault Line wouldn’t shut up about how great it was.
We ran around the church way too many times to get mileage whilst most pax focused on their abs in the quad (?). PopTart needed a break after winning a few laps and was caught doing kegels during a transition. That wasn’t even funny though. What is though is that this is where HH got to fill me in again on some of the Meathead commentary around Headers phone. “It seems that Header finally upgraded his Blackberry 47, to a limited edition Jerry Fallwell skinned Iphone 3 with the Teletubby case. A bonus is that somehow his 4:30AM texts to his best Bro Chin Music are actually going to Chin’s M. I can Only Imagine the awkwardness. #MercyMe. It was good to have them both back, however. When they didn’t show on Monday, I thought that they had gotten raptured on Sunday evening and we were all living in a Tim LaHaye book. Turns out they were in a dispute over whose role was supposed to be played by Kirk Cameron, which ended up in some heated texts between Header and Chin’s M. Nobody got any biscuits.” Utterly amazing. I hope this never happens to me bc I am certainly not Header and my cell phone does some real crazy stuff sometimes. Like “Not For Work” kinda stuff.
Lastly a little CMIYC, of which it seemed nobody wanted to participate. But, again, blame the Oracle of the BB and McRib of A51. We needed the mileage
Speaking of Tiger Rag, master of puppets, he’s back in full force. I think he is the McRib of A51. You don’t know how long the limited time offering will last, but it sure is good when it’s here. Let’s hope it sticks around for a while. I’m stocking up. I’m listenin…..
It’s Friday. Y’all know what that means? Yahtzee. Everyone should chime in with what they think Semi Gloss will be doing tonight around 10pm. I will be first in the comments.