Author Archive BoutTime

Too Soon for Tights?

Maybe according to Mermaid, but not to the majority of the Centurion PAX posting in the mid-30s gloom. Nine men, most with warm legs, headed out for some pre-Thanksgiving work to get the weekend started. Continuing Sable’s theme from last week, YHC planned a merkin-heavy workout. We’ll see if we can call it a streak next week with Mermaid’s Black Friday impromptu convergence.

The Thang:

Mosey to Charlotte Catholic and circle up for COP at the bottom of the deck:

SSH x 15 IC

Imperial Walker x 15 IC

Low Slow Squats x 15 IC

Mountain Climbers x 15 IC

Peter Parker x 10 IC

Gather at the bottom of the first ramp and stare up (or down?) the Merkin Ladder. Up the ramps for the ladder, stopping at each turn for merkins, start at 20 and step down by 1. Three+ times up the ramp and 210 merkins for those scoring at home.

Re-group at the bottom of the ramp for some Mary: LBCs x 25 IC, Flutter x 25 IC, Rosalita x 20 IC

Mosey over to the aquatics center parking lot, admiring some freshly laid asphalt in the former Centurion AO lot. Three rounds up the hill: Round 1 = bear crawl, Round 2 = lunge walk, Round 3 = burpee broad jump.

Mosey back over to the former launch spot and lay down on the still warm asphalt. Thought about ending it right there, but felt a tinge of sympathy for those cold-legged tights mockers. Instead, more Mary: Boone LBC x 12 each side IC, Freddie Mercury x 20 IC, Heels to Heaven x 20 IC.

Mosey over to the brick benches: step-ups each leg, dips, derkins. Round 1 = 12 reps each, Round 2 = 10 reps each, Round 3 = 8 reps each.

Back to launch and finish out with some Mary – old school sit-ups OYO, dolly IC, flutter IC.

Done.

Moleskin:

Thanks to Mermaid and Margo for the opportunity. Mermaid gave me an encouraging honk while driving by my usual run in on Carmel. Pretty sure the 3 yoga-pant clad ladies tailing me not too far behind were blushing behind their headlamps thinking the honk was intended for them. #notsofastmyfriend Good to see Limey out in sub-40 weather, though I bet he (along with Mermaid) wishes he had gone with the tights. Missed Lorax, something about a plantars injury. No bueno, heal up soon brother. Missed Margo as well, but sounds like he had a hall pass preparing for the annual Centurion festival of lights workout sure to be scheduled in about 4 weeks. Wonder if that qualifies for its own passport stamp? Thanks to Mermaid for taking us out.

Announcements:

Q School tomorrow at Arboretum.

Black Friday workout at Centurion, 7am, Amelie’s lot, Mermaid on Q. Rumor has it as an hour workout, so have an extra slice of pie.

A Math Exercise

…or an exercise with math? I’m not sure. A lucky 13 of us launched into the gloom with no real intentions of figuring it out. The mumblechatter started early with rumors of a half-asleep Q after a rousing disclaimer. In reality, YHC was still trying to catch my breath after running in. The wet blanket morning was not doing any favors.

The Thang

Mosey around Carmel Commons to the office parking lot in the shadow of Palentine for COP:

SSH x 25 IC

Imperial Walker x 15 IC

Mountain Climbers x 15 IC

Peter Parker x 10 IC

Head over to the base of Palentine for the main event: run up the hill, 25 merkins at the top, run the triangle route to the outdoor tables, 10 diamonds, run the next leg of the triangle to the stop sign, 25 wide-arms, run back to base of Palentine. 5 total rounds.

Round 1 – 25, 10, 25 followed by LBCs to regroup

Round 2 – 20, 8, 20 followed by flutter

Round 3 – say it with me, class (math is fun!) 15, 6, 15 followed by dolly

Round 4 – 10, 4, 10 followed by rosalita

Roudn 5 – 5, 2, 5 followed by American Hammer Russian Twist (the infiltration is complete)

Mosey back over to the outdoor tables and partner up, no sweat swapping. Partner 1 does 30 dips, Partner 2 does 30 squats, run opposite ways around the triangle route with 10 merkins where you meet. Back to the outdoor tables for some Freddie Mercury to regroup. Flapjack partner exercises and repeat. Boone LBCs to regroup.

Mosey back to launch, stopping at each speed hump for 10 squats.

Done.

Moleskin

First post-COVID Q for YHC. Thanks to Mermaid for hitting me up, even if it was while I was on vacation. He really topped it off though by publicly shaming me into writing this backblast. A sly, veteran Site Q move. These humid mornings never seem to get any easier, but it was good to sweat out some of the damage done during a week of vacation. Great to see Donk back out for the second time in his first week and good to see Cain making the EH.

My lovely M, Lauren, is running for Woman of the Year for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. There are still 3 weeks left to give. She is running a great campaign and has raised a lot of money so far. Her goal is to finish at (or very near) the top both in the local Charlotte campaign and nationally. The idea is to raise enough for LLS that she has a platform with them to advocate for advancing pediatric research. You can donate through my fundraising page here: https://pages.lls.org/mwoy/nc/clt20/jpalmer and you can join us for the virtual finale on July 18th by registering here: Text MWOYCharlotte20 to 76278.  We are so grateful for F3’s support – both for this campaign and during our son’s battle with AML.

Thanks to Mermaid for taking us out.

 

3/4 of a Runstopper Special

A dirty dozen forsook the muggy, mountainous slog that is BRR and posted at Centurion instead. They may have dodged the miles, but not the suck.

The Thang

Mosey over to Tartarus for a warm-up climb. COP at top:

SSH x 15

Mountain Climber x 15

Peter Parker x 15

Parker Peter x 15

Low Slow Squats x 15

All IC.

Down the stairs and over to the bottom of the ramp for a merkin ladder. Up the ramps, stopping for merkins at each segment on the trip up. Start at 20, decrease by 1 each segment all the way down to 1. Take the stairs down – we don’t run downhill around here.

Gather up for some mary while the 6 comes in, then grab some wall. Runstopper looked so excited getting into his perfectly parallel wall sit that I couldn’t resist letting him take the reigns. The Runstopper Special spiraled out of control from there and YHC had to unceremoniously jerk them back after 75 overhead presses.

Mosey over to the smoothest parking lot in South Charlotte for a triple nickel up the lot. 5 burpees at the top, 5 jump squats at the bottom x 5 trips. Catch a little more mary, then bear crawl out of the lot.

Back on campus to grab a bench to finish out the work:

Dips x 12

Derkins x 12

Step-ups x 12 each leg

Repeat-o, decreasing reps to 9, 6, and 3.

Done.

Moleskin:

Thanks to Margo for the opportunity. Always a good time at Centurion. Glad he gave me the option of this week over last week when I had pulled into my driveway from the Clemson-Ga Tech game at 3:45am. Really wanted to get over to Palentine, but after the ladder it did not seem prudent to attempt such a trip. Maybe next time. Lot of Respects in the crowd today, and several of them setting the pace. Impressive. Glad to have Ben Gay up from Greenwood – thanks for seeking us out brother. Chelms chattering away as usual, but all you have to do is check out his form to get him back out of your head.

Announcements

  • Chelms is serving at Revolution tomorrow and most Saturdays. Reach out to him for details to get involved.
  • Champagne and Strawberry are starting a new 3rd F during HDHH…be on the lookout for details. One question, a couple beers, as many bad answers as you can bring.
  • Strawberry has a standing commitment for F3 for COTS…1st Sunday of every month. Great opportunity to serve with your 2.0’s.

Over the hills and through the woods, to Pellyn Woods we go

10 men gathered in the gloom to get the Advent season kicked off right. Despite Agony’s attire suggesting otherwise, temps were perfect. With the full on cammo pants and the only skin showing on his face, YHC does not recall seeing him the entire workout. Swiper joined us with a full 60 seconds to spare today, which resulted in one brief stretch (as opposed to exiting the car in a dead sprint). #nimble Properly disclaimed, minus enthusiasm, we were off.

The Thang:

Mosey down Carmel stopping at RTS for COP:

SSH x 25 IC

Mountain Climbers x 15 IC

Merkins x 15 IC

 

Mosey down Sharon View and into Pellyn Wood to the intersection at the top of the hill. Partner up.

P1 runs down Harbison and up hill on other side to the first driveway, perform the called exercise.

P2 runs down Howland and around the corner to the sharp curve sign, perform the called exercise.

Each partner return to intersection, 15 WWII style sit-ups with partner in plank.

Flapjack on the run route, repeating the above. That’s one round.

Round 1 called exercise = 25 merkins

Round 2 called exercise = 15 wide arms

Round 3 called exercise = 10 diamonds

Round 4 called exercise = 10 burpees

Mary while waiting on the six in between each round.

 

Mosey back to RTS and regroup for some Mary.

Bear crawl through back parking lot at RTS.

Mosey back to launch and round it out with 10 burpees.

Done.

NM:

Always a privilege to lead the PAX, especially at DMZ. The options abound and it had been awhile since YHC toured through Pellyn Woods. Apparently we should add it to the regular rotation to help Swiper and Agony save on the light bills. #canthidethemoney We got a little hill work in, a little mileage, a little core work, and a little chest work. Good enough for a Monday. Thanks to One Eye and Aquafresh for the opportunity. YHC had about 6 months to prepare for this Q due to One Eye’s impeccable Site Q organization. Looking forward to the assign-by-committee approach next year. The PAX have surely shown their ability to organize themselves with minimal supervision. Over under on Aqua’s imprompt-Q count next year?

Announcements:

Charity lunch on 12/21 at Charlotte CC. Free event, bring your checkbook for the charities represented. See website or twitter for details.

Before climbing ladder, ensure that both shoulders are not needed for rest of day

24 men gathered in the light-less parking lot of Charlotte Catholic. Brushback was not among them despite what YHC took yesterday as an HC. The call of the garage workout is a strong one. Here’s how the rest of us started the weekend:

The Thang

Mosey to top level of deck for COP:
– SSH x 25 IC
– Mountain Climbers x 15 IC
– Merkins x 10 IC

Mosey back to bottom of deck to start the climb.
Merkin ladder up the deck – run up 1st ramp then 20 merkins, up 2nd ramp 19 merkins, so on all the way down to 1 merkin. Only do up ramps, once at the top head down the stairs and start back up.

Regroup at top of deck for some Mary.
LBCs x 25 IC
Boone LBCs x 10 each side IC
Flutter x 30 IX
LBCs x 25 IC
Dolly x 20 IC

Mosey down 51 to entrance to greenway. Partner up for some circuit work.
P1 – 10 pullups, then squats until P2 returns
P2 – lunge walk parking lot, jog back to P1
Flapjack then Repeat-O.

Mosey back to launch for 5(ish)MOM including but not limited to LBCs, flutter, Rosalita, over unders, Russian twist.
Done.

NM:
Margo messaged late Sunday about YHC covering the Q. Considering YHC missed last week’s suckfest with nagging knee pain, there was some hesitation. Margo slyly offered to defer it to another week, which felt about like him suggesting that my M just cover. Game on Margo. The Q was mine. The good Lord blessed me with a pain-free knee, so hopefully everyone feels like we got some good work in. And apparently we covered 3 miles, which was accidental (sorry, knee). Magically, the pain seems to have shifted from knee to both shoulders. Who needs those anyway?
Thanks to Margo and Udder for the opportunity. One of the last workouts in the complete dark and also probably one of the last beanie free workouts of the season.

Announcements:
Converge at the Vine next Friday at 5:15am with The Brave.
Race tomorrow at Calvary to support program for disabled adults – sign-ups still open.
Joe Davis sign-up is live.
A veteran is doing 30 marathons in 30 cities in 30 days. Next Thursday is Charlotte in Freedom Park. Looking for co-running supporters. See Runstopper for details.
Pray for Margo’s dad who will have open heart surgery next Friday.

Showing up for Fast Twitch to Cool Down

Never thought I would see the day when I would be showing up at Fast Twitch in July for some cooler temps. With the upstairs at casa de BT reading a balmy 83, today was the day. Mid-seventies at 5am in SCMS parking lot felt great. But as 23 men launched into another episode of FT, the feeling did not last. Here’s why:

The Thang

Loop around parking lot, COP in staff lot

  • SSH x 20 IC
  • Mountain Climbers x 15 IC

Run out and down 51 to entrance to Davie Park

  • Run down park drive to lot at dog park, 15 jump squats, run back to entry
  • Repeat-o

Continue down 51 to Cary Ridge

Run the loop thru Carrington at a fellowship pace, but stop at each side street (7 total). Run the side street at AYG,  then recover mosey back to the main loop and perform the called exercise:

  • Street 1 – Dolly x20
  • Street 2 – Merkins x15
  • Street 3 – Heels2Heaven x20
  • Street 4 – Wide Arm Merkins x15
  • Street 5 – Rosalita x20
  • Street 6 – Diamond Merkins x10 or until Semi rejoins the PAX (he never met a porta-jon he didn’t like)
  • Street 7 – LBCs x25

Regroup with Mary and run OYO pace back to launch.

Finish with 2MOM:

  • Flutter x 20
  • Boone LBCs x 10

Wrap.

NM

Strong work by all today. Attempted to shake things up a bit with some shorter interval speed work while keeping the PAX together. We didn’t set any mileage records, but it seemed to get the blood flowing. YHC also managed to cheat you all out of 2 min of work…but considering about half skipped the 2MOM and went straight for the water bottles / towels at the launch, I don’t think it was missed. Thanks to Rachel and his ever-capable secretary Haze for the opportunity. Semi, for the sake of all Raintree area residents (and the chagrin of construction workers), my Q routes will always include a porta-jon passing. #yourwelcome

Announcements

  • F3 golf in October
  • Alexander Youth Network this Saturday afternoon, contact Joker for details
  • Shoutout to Ductwork for having an HVAC service rep at my house at a moment’s notice on a Monday morning to get one of our units back running after a lightning strike. Horne Heating & Air – look them up if you are ever in need. A testament to the fellowship and brotherhood shared among the PAX. Thanks brother!

The accidental 5k

Apologies for the late post…YHC and wordpress could not cooperate earlier.

28 of south Charlotte’s finest gathered in the gloom to set the tone for the weekend.
The Thang:
Mosey to top of deck
COP for SSH IC x 25
Merkins IC x 15
Mountain Climbers IC x 15
Mosey down stairs to the benches near the ticket office
Partner 1 does 30 dips while Partner 2 does 30 squat jumps
Flapjack
Partners take opposite routes around stadium, meet at opposite end of field for 20 handslap merkins (modify 20 count as needed)
Continue circuits decreasing exercises at ticket office by 5-count each round, total of 6 rounds
Regroup for some Mary
Runstopper led LBCs & Flutter, but YHC did not participate and neither can YHC count that high.
Dolly IC x 20
Rosalita IC x 15
Mosey to parking deck for Jacob’s ladder. Head up to 3rd ramp to avoid early bird parkers. Run up half ramp, 1 burpee, back down. Continue and increase burpees x 1 each time up to 7.
Regroup for plank at top of deck
AYG back to launch. Done.
NM:
Strong work by all today. Thanks to Margo, and occasionally in attendance Site Q Udder, for the opportunity to lead. The goal was to stay close to home today since YHC ran in…not sure what the point of staying close was with all the running that weinke called for #q-fail. There were reports of 3.1~3.3 mi. Goal 2 was plan a workout that upwards of 30+ can execute simultaneously. That has become no small feat at Centurion, the south’s most dominant AO.
Announcements:
Runstopper Q at Rockzero tomorrow. Follow up this amateur workout with a real one.
Cheddar Anniversary Q next week
See High Tide for upcoming shirt order
F3SPEEDFORNEED – reach out to JRRTolkien for ways to volunteer and give.

Soggy Bottom Boys

I am a man of constant sorrow…this applies most every Monday morning, but especially a rainy Monday. Only one way to get back in the right frame of mind. Join 4 other waterproof men in the gloom for some solid work at DMZ.

The Thang:
Mosey to C@C breezeway for COP:
20 SSH IC
15 Mountain Climbers IC
10 Merkins IC

Audible due to downpour and perform entire workout (almost) in breezeway.
Begin with 10 burpees.

Run lap around church doing your best to avoid the deep water.
Back to breezeway for exercises. Round #1 is 30 squats followed by 30 CCDs.
Continue rounds 2-6, changing up exercises as follows:
#2 – 15 jumping lunges, 15 wall-tar n’diayes (thanks to Hops and Centurion for the loaner)
#3 – 10 burpees, wall-sit w/ 25 overhead presses IC
#4 – 10 burpees, wall-sit w/ 25 overhead presses IC
#5 – 20 wide-arm merkins, 50 LBCs
#6 – 15 diamonds, 30 bicycles
Mixing in mary and plank in between rounds.

Brave the elements out from under the breezeway for:
30 dips
30 step-ups, one each leg
Another lap around church.
10 burpees OYO
On the six for some Mary:
20 dolly IC
20 rosalita IC
15 heels to heaven IC
Line up in breezeway. Lunge walk down and bear crawl back. 20 squats OYO.
Another lap. #outofweinke
miscellaneous mary
10 burpees in breezeway
Done.

Back to launch.

Naked Moleskin:
Traveling for work and time is scarce, so this will be brief. Great work by all this morning. Always an honor to lead the PAX at DMZ. Such a solid AO with plenty of territory and options for variety. #wastedallofit It seems we have traded cold weather for rain, and I for one, am not a fan. We may not have stayed dry, but my only goal was to keep mud out of the title of this backblast. Shout out to One Eye for the opportunity. Enjoyed it men.

Announcements:

A Working Man’s Start to the Week

Three day weekends. Holidays shared with Canada. Who needs them? Not the lucky 13 of DMZ’s finest who posted in the chilly gloom to get the full 5-day work week kicked off.

The Thang:
After a quick disclaimer and circle through the parking lot to pickup a late arrival, we headed up Carmel towards Sharon View. Stop at RTS back parking lot for COP:
SSH x 20 IC
Mountain Climbers x 20 IC
Merkins x 20 IC

Mosey out to Sharon View and head to Pellyn, where according to Hannibal, there is nothing good to be found. Having wounded the half-pipe with those remarks, we sought to make amends. Along the way, stop for 20 wide-arms IC followed by 20 flutters IC. Descend to bottom of half-pipe and commence the triple nickel: 5 burpees at the top, 5 jump squats at the bottom, 5 times. Gather for some Mary at the bottom and head back out of Pellyn.

Mosey back towards the park stopping at the same spots as the way in for CCD’s / Mary, followed by Diamonds / Mary. Cruise through the launch lot with about 15 minutes to go. No holiday half time workouts at DMZ. Continue to breezeway at C@C and grab some wall. 10 Derkins and 10 dips. Brief rest and repeat-o decreasing reps by 1. Take count down to 5 and call it. Anything less than 5 reps is only ok if there is a bench and 45 lb plates involved. #iwouldntknow

Regroup in C@C parking lot for a nice cool down of lunge walks from island to island, followed by bear crawl from island to island. Return leg featured partner wheelbarrows back to starting island. Finish with a little more Mary and head back to the park. Done.

Naked Moleskin:
Great work by the PAX today. Crowd was a little thin…possible due to the aforementioned cozy-job holiday. It’s getting cold men. Almost in the 40s this am. YHC joyfully pulled the dome cap out of the closet this morning. Thanks for noticing Hamlet #woolcap. Bushwood gets 1/2 credit for the ballcap, the other 11 of you are in serious danger of a mild head cold. Gear up. #youvebeenwarned Always fun to lead at DMZ – thanks to Bushwood for the opportunity.

Announcements:
A51 Southern Discomfort coming up on 10/21…advertised distance ~8-11mi. actual distance likely 15-20mi. Math is not our strong suit. Check website and twitter for details.

Dodged the rain, but Tartarus landed the gut-punch

YHC strolled into the parking lot a few minutes early to find a substantial assembly of some of south Charlotte’s finest. By the time we launched, we had full double deuce. For those keeping score at home, that is more than Tennessee put up against the Mountaineers and damn near double what South Carolina managed over perennial powerhouse Vandy. #secsec Impressive for a holiday weekend, but alas, there are no off days for the grizzled pax that frequent Centurion. Into the gloom we went.

The Thang:
Mosey to up to the top of Tartarus, the shelter from the storm that never came.
COP for SSHs x 25 IC followed by Mountain Climbers x 15 IC
Mosey down stairs to the base of the ladder.
Merkin ladder up and down Tartarus – 20 merkins at top of first ramp, 19 at second, and so on down to 1. Completed 2 trips up the deck, 1.5ish down.
Mary at the bottom: LBC’s x 30 IC, Flutter x 20 IC
Mosey to the office building parking deck south of Panera for some work between the light poles:
-Bear crawl from pole-pole, mosey back, plank w/ 10 count right arm high
-Lung walk from pole-pole, mosey back, plank w/ 10 count left arm high
-Repeat-o w/ 6″ plank and elbow plank.
Mosey to the picnic table in front of school:
-20 step ups each leg, then 20 dips
-15 jump ups, 15 dips
Mosey to Tartarus and partner up.
-P1 runs up stairs to top over to next stair and down back to P2 who is doing an assortment of Q-less or Q-jacked Mary exercises
-Flapjack
-Repeat-o
Done.

Moleskin:
Great work by all the PAX, no surprise with the group of regulars at Centurion. It’s been great to be back out with you fellas over the past month and was an honor to lead this morning. Thanks to Chelms and Margo for the opportunity. Not too much chatter out this AM, at least that YHC could hear over my exhausted breathing. Might have been a lot of day-dreaming about how much more fun they were having this morning than they will be one week from today. Chelms and Mermaid thirsting for more at the end engaged in a gentlemanly foot race duel. I could not discern the victor from 200 yds back.

Announcements:
Labor Day convergence Monday, check twitter & website
Convergence at Calvary tomorrow
Area51 5-year anniversary on 9/14
F3 is about leadership and that includes serving others – find a way to get involved.