21 men struck out for their Tuesday run around Raintree. 70 degrees and 100% humidity – fantastic conditions. Runstopper was the only one that realized wearing a shirt was basically pointless, so why do it? Just holds onto all that sweat.
With a busy week at work and little time to right this backblast, it was time to keep the weinke simple.
The Thang:
Head out of school and run to 4-mile creek with a stop on the way for some Imperial Walker’s for a warm up.
For the next ~32 minutes or so, run down 4-mile creek from Raintree Ln. At Whitethorn Ln do 20 flutters each leg. Run back to Raintree Ln and do 20 dollies. Repeat until 6:02. PAX got between 2 and 4 cycles in.
Mosey to bottom of Raintree. 2 line Indian Run up Raintree. All you got up the hill on Rounding Run and all you got the length of Woodfox to Strawberry Ln.
Somewhere between 5 and 7 miles for the PAX with most likely in the low 6’s.
Done.
Moleskine:
I hate that hill on 4-mile creek, but I know Haze hates it more. Only way to get better at it is to keep doing it. It sucks.
Tried to drive a workout where everyone could get out of it more than they wanted. I hope it worked for most, but I don’t think it’s possible to tire Fraiser out in just one hour. The dude spent most of the run up and down the solid double yellow lines, because not even the cars could catch him.
Solid effort by everyone out there, guys were really pushing up and down those hills. Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
Thanks to Header for the send off.
-Alf
Announcements
– Collect food for Calvary pantry
– See Turkey Leg Pre-Blast to help Blue Hen move this weekend
– Semi-convergence with Swift next week in Ballantyne to run 800m laps or something fun like that. Header will still Q Fast Twitch if you choose that pill.
– Ghostrunner Thursday’s 7:30
– F3 Dad’s Saturday at 9am Beatty Park
2 weeks in a row and we had 15 men out for Ghost Runner for the easiest Q of the week.
Confirm route knowledge, check for emergency phones, synchronize GPS watches, head out of Arbo for 4-6 miles of hills. A couple of hits of rain on the route as the summer “scattered showers” made their way through.
Moleskine:
A solid group for week 2, many of the same, but a few new ones as well. A pretty even split between the 4 and 6 mile groups. Second week in a row one of the lead PAX stopped for a bathroom break on the route and still beat me to the end. This is getting old, but the flowers and trees in Raintree have never looked so great with all this added fertilizer.
We may have looked a bit awkward starting the Ball of Man, half of us shirtless, when a car stopped and asked for directions. TR let them know we were just doing group back rubs in the parking lot.
Thanks to TR for the send off.
About a dozen or so made it over to stink up Vinter’s for the next 90 minutes. I wonder when they will start automatically reserving a table for us outside on Thursday nights.
Standard announcements. See your morning workout Back Blast’s for details.
-Alf
Yeah so this is way late. Had to make sure we had the posting Tag up and ready and then some other things came up so I forgot.
15 men showed up for the first night of the 2015 Ghost Runner.
The Thang:
Run 4 or 6 miles. Or whatever distance you want.
Moleskine:
About 9 guys made the quick left on Raintree for the 4 mile option while the remaining 6 headed out to SCMS for the few extra loops that make this a full six miles. I can’t speak much to the pace on the 4 mile crowd, but the 6 mile group was pushing the pace and is looking to be fairly strong come BRR time. Brady had to make a pit stop among the trees and still beat me up the hill on Raintree after giving me a few 100 yards lead.
-Alf
Quick disclaimer, which included a comment by QIC that there would be no burpees, and we were off. No burpees! At least you all now know that Lobsta Roll keeps his word….
Light jog around the lower parking lot with a quick pass back to the launch to of course grab floor slapper and finish at the parking lot in front of the school for the warm up
All in cadence
25x SSH
25x Mtn Climber
25x IW
25x Peter Parker
25x Squat
25x Merkins
Mosey to the track from a few laps and merkins
Each ½ lap 25 Merkins
Lap 1 – Merkin
Lap 2 – Wide-arm merkin
Lap 3 – Left-arm forward merkin
Lap 4 – Right-arm forward merkin
Mosey to the walk for some People’s Chair
4 sets of 1 min PC and 25 merkins
1- Decline merkin
2- Incline merkin
3- Decline Merkin
4- Incline Merkin
Mosey to back play area
Quick set of mary
Each exercise = 10x IC
LBCs, Flutter, Dolly, Back scratcher & Mason Twist
3 Rounds on the Stumps and Tires
25 Merkins & 25 Tire Hops
Mosey to lower parking lot
Lunge walk across and back with 25 merkins at each end
Mosey to launch for Merkin/Mary
Round 1 – 25 Merkins & 50 LBCs
Round 2 – 25 Merkins & 50 Flutters (each leg)
Round 3 – 25 Merkins & 25 Dollys
Announcements:
F3 Dads starts Saturday at Beatty Park – 9AM
Bring canned Fruit to The Matrix next week for Calvary pantry donations.
107 Days until the BRR and time to start the double down training!
Starting this Thursday Ghost Runner will launch from the Arbo ABC at 7:30 PM.
The goal for this workout is to simulate the BRR and get used to training on short recovery times by running Thursday morning at Devils Turn on your own, run Thursday night, and workout again Friday morning. It will also help train at hotter temperatures than we normally get during the 5am hour.
There are links below to set 6 mile and 4 mile routes which cover the hilliest portions of Raintree. You may choose to modify with more or less mileage, but this is not designed to be your long slow distance run of the week. The average BRR leg is just under 6 miles and this is planned to mimic a BRR scenario.
6 Mile route – http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/723568587
4 Mile route – http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/723571175
You don’t have to be running the BRR to join us. Maybe you missed the morning workout and want to make it up, come on out. #Radar. Maybe your morning was busy at Meathead and you just really wanted to run, come on out. #Brown #HighTide. Maybe you hit HDHH too hard and couldn’t get out of bed in the morning #DoIReallyNeedToListTheObvious
As added incentive we will discuss the merits of double down training over a well earned draught or two at Vintner’s in the Arboretum immediately following (call it 8:30 to 8:40 for those of you who can’t make the running portion of the event.) Bring a towel, dry clothes, and maybe some deodorant to make yourselves somewhat tolerable to the other patrons at Vintner’s.
The post workout at Vintner’s is a not so subtle ploy to drive attendance at the workout. I don’t see any of the workouts ending at 0615 offering such and opportunity.
(Using the Swift and FT tags to hit the most likely attendees and until the Ghost Runner tag is live.)
-Alf
17 men made their way to the parking area on the other side of the church to avoid the construction. They were hoping to spend Cinco de Mayo smacking on Piñata’s for candy, eating chips and salsa, and drinking cervezas. I hope you get to do that on your own time, but this is Skunk Works and we have work to do #Varsity
Partner up in groups of 3 or 4. Groups of 3 grab one plate, groups of 4 grab 2 plates and mosey down to the back door of the church.
COP:
2-handed swings – 25 OYO
SSH (because people complained about not starting with SSH) – 25 IC
Peter Parker, Parker Peter, Mountain Climber combo.
The Thang:
Round 1: Hairburner Grinders: P1 does 2-handed swings, P2 does hair burners ~25 yards, P3 does goblet squats. Rotate through until team does 200 2-handed swings
(Teams of 4 used the extra plate and 2 guys stayed together on the exercises, I think it sort of worked)
Round 2: Farmer’s Carry up the stairs: P1 does Snatch, P2 farmer’s carry with one plate and one KB up the emergency exit stairs and back to start, P3 does lap around church. Rotate through until team does 150 Snatchs
Round 3: Hairburner Grinders: P1 does High Pulls, P2 does hair burners ~25 yards, P3 does teabag squats. Rotate through until team does 150 High Pulls
Round 4: Hairburner Grinders: P1 does KB Double Swings, P2 does hair burners ~25 yards, P3 does Romanian deadlifts. Rotate through until team does 100 KB Double Swings
Back to cars for Flutter with Press x 25 IC
Done
Moleskine:
You know when you get a few drops of gas on your hand at the pump and no matter how many times you wash your hands that day you just can’t seem to get rid of the smell? Hairburners are kind of like that. I don’t know if it just burns the nostrils or scars the memory, but it stays with you all day. The gift that keeps on giving!
Glad to get to use the plates I picked up on Craig’s List, look for them to show up some more.
I’ve been spending more time at Fast Twitch and less at Skunk recently (why can’t they be on different days?) My forearms reminded me of that. That farmer carry up the stairs was a smoker and going right to snatch after that was not fun. Great to have Les Mis and Pop Tart on my team to muscle it through this AM.
3 Strong Respect’s out there this morning and impressive to see Sussudio, Freedom and Tommy Boy brining it hard. Then Freedom packed up his gorilla bell and rucked it back home.
The grinders were constant noise and movement making it difficult to single out anyone for a strong performance, but everyone was working and the sweat was boring off the PAX during Ball of Man. Thanks to Les Mis for the send off.
-Alf
Announcements:
F3 Dads workout in Harrisburg, Thursday from 7-9
Kevlar and Joust continue the year long convergence at Charlotte Christian on Fridays
Posted on behalf of Floor Slapper:
Excellent turnout – obviously in anticipation of my creative leadership. No late Pax, likely out of respect for the Q
Warm up: 20 SS hop, jog to soccer field, 15 Imp Walker, 20 merkins, 20 squats, 20 mtn climbers
Edge of the parking lot for mini “Soul Crusher”
1 burpee – midway – 10 merkins – playgroud 5 pull ups – jog back to start
burpee ladder up to 10, merkins down to one, 5 pull ups each leg.
plank
peoples chair : 1 minute with shoulder press, lunge walk and back, peoples chair – 1 min
catch me if you can around school and soccer field: partner 10 merkins, catch up, then switch.
playground for 10 knee ups, 20 derkins, 20 dips
4 min of Mary
Thanks for the turnout! I’m taking it personal, straight to my ego
Thanks to Dolphin for the send off.
Announcements:
Look out for the #CSAUP activity The Death March on 5/29. Something about ultra running, the booty loop, and night time. Details to come.
Posted on behalf of Pop Tart:
17 PAX posted for my VQ, whether they did it on purpose or not, I will never know. I wanted to pay homage to the Qs of my first post as one of the PAX and my first post at the Matrix, so I brought out some exercises that I discovered during those workouts, and added some of my own. Below is what we endured.
The Thang:
Mosey around school with a quick trip down the hill through the woods.
Circle up and provide disclaimer.
25 SSH
15 IW
20 Merkins
Count off in 4s.
Mosey over to the front of the school for some track work and Four Corners. Tribute to Bridges for my first ever post.
Corner 1: 10 Burpees
Corner 2: 15 Lunges (Bear Crawl to Corner 3)
Corner 3: 20 Squats
Corner 4: 25 Monkey Humpers (OT’s favorites)
As a tribute to the Q for my first post at The Matrix, Alf, partner up and perform wheelbarrows in parking lot, flapjack halfway point.
Repeat back to other end.
Since we didn’t get enough running in nor any upper body work, we headed over to front parking lot for some Dora. Partner 1 runs a lap, Partner 2 exercises.
200 Merkins
200 Dips
MOM:
30 LBCs OYO
10 Can Openers on each leg IC
30 seconds of recovery on your back
COT
Moleskine:
Total of 2.1 miles.
I really enjoyed my VQ, and the cadence is much harder than it looks. Who would have thought counting to 25 doing SSHs was so hard. I went ahead and showed my card early by announcing the reps before we started to ease the PAX into the workout. I then realized my mistake, and kept the rep count to myself while trying to breathe. Decided to stop at 15 IW to catch my breath. Was great to have some of the original PAXs come out to support me. Bridges, Big Tuna, and Hopper. They were there for my first post back in December and drove all the way out close to the county line to partake in the fun. Really enjoyed leading the PAX and I already have my ideas for the next one.
Announcements: Sign up for golf. Almost full and proceeds benefit the Leap. Prohibition said there will be Jack and NoDa on the first hole, and maybe a little golf.
YHC rolled in this morning to see only Uncle Leo firmly planting the shovel flag into The Matrix AO. With 4 minutes left it was just the two of us, but the lot quickly filled with 13 PAX who know how to start the week off right.
5:30 and off we went, around the backside of the school and out into he front parking lot. YHC heard a little grumbling from Uncle Leo. Apparently starting off running counter clockwise around the school was not the standard direction. Usually we head to the street and run clockwise. Decided to take a walk on the wild side this morning.
COP:
SSH x 30 IC
IW x 25 IC
Merkins x 20 IC
Mountain Climbers x 20 IC
The Thang:
Mosey around the school with 4 stops for pain stations. Each exercise was 10x reps.
At the stumps: Single leg split squats on stumps (10 each leg) & Derkins
At the back playground: Jump Squats & Upside down shoulder presses with feet on top of fence (modify to Carolina Dry Docks as needed)
Front wall of school: Donkey Kicks & Flutters
Front playground: Dips & Toes to Bar (modify to hanging knee raises as needed)
First lap was done as a group. After that add 5 reps to each exercise each lap and go on your own pace. I think all completed laps with 15, 20, and 25 reps. The leaders ran a final lap with no exercises to pick up the six.
Huddle up by front school entrance and jail break to cars.
6MOM:
LBC’s x 30 IC
Dolly x 25 IC
Protractor
Done.
The Moleskine:
The NSA officially tracked Pop Tart and his watch for 2.1 miles this morning. That plus the pain stations and high humidity left everyone plenty smoked and sweaty. Good work by all. YHC ran this workout once before with a few adjustments and the six was much further back by the end. Great to see everyone getting stronger and little separation between the front of the pack and the rear.
Lobster Roll and Joker led most of the way (Although Joker may have been modifying more than he needed to.) Joker made sure to give credit to Lobster Roll for brining “Toes to Ba” to The Matrix. It sucked the first time and continues to suck. Arena made a strong challenge to the leaders on the final lap to keep them honest. Solid work by Pop Tart and Floor Slapper for chasing down the lead pack on the last loop to regroup. Pop Tart wanted to make sure he ticked off the full 2 miles.
Turkey Leg was a little off his usual lighting pace, but we’ll cut him some slack after putting down 30+ miles on the Palmetto 200 Friday and Saturday. Impressed he even showed up and could walk straight.
O’T was smoking through the toes to bar. I think I still have the mulch in my eye that he kicked up each time as he was motoring through them.
Thanks Young Love for the solid send off.
Always and honor to lead. The Matrix Pax is becoming a solid group of 13-15 each week, great numbers for a workout.
-Alf
Announcements
Sign up for golf, still just one spot left so get it quick.
At Ickey’s personal request YHC threw down the 2nd edition of the mud run training at Olympus. It’s always a good time to lead the strong men of Olympus down the path less travelled on a Saturday morning.
Warm up:
Bring KB’s to main lot, run to sidewalk and back to knock the frost off the legs. Circle up for: 25x SSH IC, 20x IW IC, and 25 2-handed KB Swings OYO.
The Thang:
Partner up, size and speed does not matter.
Catch me if you can. 10 Merkins and chase the P1 farmer carrying the KB’s out to light on 51. Drop the KB’s and run down to Carmel Baptist, south end of the baseball field.
Well – what do we have here…. A retaining wall and some monster tractor tires someone left behind.
Everyone does 10 climb ups on the retaining wall and head to tires.
First team carries 2 small tires each to the woods and back (60 yards)
Other 3 teams pick one of the 3 large tires and rotate flipping them.
Rotate through so each team hits all tire stations.
10 more climb ups on the retaining wall. Head back to KB’s with a little weave up and down the hill next to the baseball field.
CMIYC KB’s with 10 Merkins to school’s 2nd entrance. Drop KB’s and keep running. From this road sign to that intersection – bear crawl. It didn’t look that far standing up, but way to far on the bear crawl. Solid job by the PAX grinding it out and Fletch flying through it. Keep running on down the road and take a left down the hill to the walking path.
Down the path – stopping for Burpees because the Marine said we failed an obstacle. Do the weave through the split rail fence and shuffle across the bridges with feet on one railing and hands on the opposite railing.
At the park teams did the following:
Team 1 – climb up and over the monkey bars (the side way) 2x per PAX.
Teams 2-4 – Derkins with feet on the swing.
Rotate and change to raised split squats – left leg on swing.
(This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaARD5KdSqQ but without the weight)
Rotate and change to raised split squats – right leg on swing.
Rotate and complete whichever exercise your team has not already done.
Return the way we came, except this time the Marine made us do 8-count body builders instead of burpees.
At Laurel Fork Drive run half way up, back to trail, then all the way up.
Run back to KB’s at school entrance and carry them back locked out overhead.
In the middle of all the running we planked, LBC’ed, squated, calf raised, and other various activities while waiting on the six.
Out of time.
Moleskine:
Always fun to lead the “follow me” themed workouts you get to make up on the run based on how the PAX are feeling, and the Olympus PAX were feeling strong today. The tires at Carmel Baptist were a great find. One of them, I’ll call Gargantuan is the biggest tire I have seen in Area 51, certainly a solid challenge for a one man flip.
Laurel Fork Drive also rates up their as one of the worst hills in Area 51 and used way to little due to both Elizabeth Ln workouts being gear focused. It really needs it’s own nickname if it doesn’t already have it.
It was a great crew out there this morning. A lot of craziness and all just followed along like any other day at F3 – brothers always up for the challenge.
Thanks for the send off by Young Love.
-Alf
Announcements – now mostly posted to the right of the Back Blasts page.