14 men gathered in a middle school parking lot at 5:30 on a Wednesday, then did this:
Yog around the parking lot a bit, then circle up for the warmup.
SSH, IW, Slow Squats, HR merkins.
Run to Davie Park entrance, plank to wait for the six.
15x jump squats, 15x HR merkins, 15x lunges, run to the gate and back.
15x monkey humpers, 15x CDDs, 15x squats, run to the gate.
Bear crawl, lunge walk and jog up to the playground. Partner up.
Partner 1 runs hot lap, partner 2 does exercise. Flapjack. 2x through for each exercise.
Derkins, Step Ups, Dips.
Back to park entrance for Mary.
AYG to the traffic light at the daycare. Mosey back to the cars. More Mary to finish off the time.
Moleskine:
Friendly group this morning for the usual sweatfest. Semi Gloss came out of his office with plenty of time to complain about a mysterious arm “injury” that appeared to flair up throughout the morning when we were running. Go figure. Dollywood and Square Root crushed the run back to the daycare. They had to be under 5:00 minute pace. Our peaceful morning at the park was disturbed by a garbage truck that somehow took 30 minutes to empty two trash cans – there may be something else going on there. Nice work this morning, guys. Good way to start the day.
Announcements:
– Area 51 pool party
– The Rock is converging with several Metro workouts at Randolph Middle School this Saturday for a Campus Cleanup. Workout at 7:00, Coffeeteria on-site at 8:00, Campus Cleanup done by 9:30 or 10:00.
I rolled in at 6:57 – I’m not proud of it – and was immediately greeted by Hammer, our scheduled Q, who told me he forgot about a work commitment he had made, and he was leaving. Alright. Etrade rolled in at 6:59. Just the two of us, so we quickly decided to go visit our friends at Day Zero. Etrade is a legit runner, so the “warm up” run to DZ was pretty quick. After a little hunting around the school, shopping center (RIP Tuesday Morning) and the loop, we found six sweaty dudes standing in the middle of the road. That must be them.
Alf led us through a terrible hill repeat set for the whole workout – see his backblast for details. I was glad to see the clock hit 7:45 so we could leave for our 15-minute mile back to The Rock. We got it done in 12 minutes. Boom. Etrade was dragging me at the end. Tiger Rag heckled us as we walked around the corner at Starbucks, storing up energy for the climb up to Calvary. #leadership
Announcements
The Rock is converging at Randolph Middle School next week, 8/13. The Metro guys are hosting a Convergence, Coffeeteria and Campus Cleanup. Join us – workout at 7:00, coffee, bagels and fruit at 8:00, should be done working by 9:30.
Nine men gathered in a church parking lot this morning. I was coming off my own version of the Griswold vacation, so I needed a tough workout. Check.
Yog over to the grassy field, mixing in a little carioca and backwards running. Apparently Calvary is trying to turn the soccer field into a swamp, so we relocated to the top of the little hill for an old school COP.
10 burpees, SSH
9 burpees, IW, etc. all the way down to 1 burpee and lunges. Good times.
Convene for People’s Chair on the wall of the hotbox. On my signal, run over and touch the church, then come back here for more PC (about .25 miles round trip). PC for a minute, then run to the church again but PC there. Then run back to the hotbox.
Gather in the hotbox. Oh look, a water fountain. Select a bench. Right leg step ups, left leg.
10x incline merkins, run and touch the first trash can on the ramp there.
10x decline merkins, run and touch the second trash can. Continue for all six trash cans.
Recover with more leg work – step ups, lunges, calf raises (that’s right, but no arm circles).
Slow mosey over to the rock pile. Select a rock you’d be proud to show off. 15x curls then run to that sign over there and back. 15x overhead press and touch the sign. Audible so we can move on to..
Partner up for Catch Me If You Can. Partner 1 takes off with the rock counter-clockwise around the church. Partner 2 does 10 merkins and then chases down Partner 1. Flapjack around the church and back to the rockpile. Ugh. Collapse in the shade for five minutes of mary. AYG (which wasn’t much) back to the cars. Done.
That seemed terrible. I was dripping sweat after the first round of burpees. Nemo (15) was killing it all morning, making ETrade work to try to stay in front. Great work by all the guys to grind out a tough workout on a tough morning.
Announcements:
Convergence on Monday, 7/4 at South Charlotte Middle School at 7:00 am.
In honor of Hops, who surely has The Three Amigos DVD queued up for this weekend, and after breaking out of El Guapo’s fortress, 22 men got after it thusly…
After being properly disclaimed, slow yog down the road into the church parking lot. Circle up in the parking lot, close to the church building. Perform exercise, then “sprint” to the road at the top of the hill and back. Fast guys should be near the sidewalk so they have farther to run (Tackling Dummy refused to follow my instructions on this). Repeat with SSH, Mountain Climbers, IW, Squat Jumps, HR Merkins,and a couple of others.
From the entrance at the top of the hill, AYG to the entrance at ring road (.18 miles, apparently). Gather ourselves with an LBC or two, then back to where we started.
Mosey over to the lovely tennis court pavilion. Partner up. Partner 1 runs around the median over there and back while partner 2 does dips. Flapjack. Repeat with step ups and derkins. Recover with some Mary (1st attempted Q-jack by TR successfully ignored).
Back to the starting line for our AYG run – back up this time to make it closer to .25 miles, and make the fast guys back up even further. AYG down to the ring road. Mosey across the street to the grassy field. Mary for a few minutes. Then sprints back and forth on the grass (with 10 count between) for the last 4 minutes. 2nd and 3rd attempted Q-jacks by TR ignored, although on the last one he ran out in the middle of the field on his own like a streaker at a futbol match).
Moleskine:
I was surprised to be treated so gently by the men of Kevlar – nothing (that I heard) from Pop Tart (in his usual schmedium shirt), Simba or TR. Probably because I was so good. Even Donkey Kong didn’t try to insert his call 100 burpees. I haven’t posted much this week, so I needed to run. It’s BRR season, so good luck to those of you who don’t want to run at workouts this summer. Choose your Qs wisely.
Annoucements:
F3 Dads Saturday at Beatty Park in Matthews. 9:00 am at the baseball fields. Mr. Brady on Q.
F3 Golf is coming up in July. Watch for more details soon.
Posted on behalf of Boerewors (look it up).
My second time Q at the Rock, luckily the rain stayed away but there was a good amount of moisture all around, especially after some hand free merkins on the soccer fields.
The Thang
Warmup: Disclaimer and run to the far side of Calvary for some SSH (30 count managed to wake up a couple of people), merkins and rock climbers.
Run to northface over the soaking grass almost losing part of the pax in some hidden puddles.
3x Northface partner loops consisted of some lbcs, jump squats and Russian twists, plus it also added a couple more pounds of water weight to our shoes.
Decided to take the shortcut to pick up some rocks, which lead to some confusion and debate over the optimal route, but in the end the route we took was clearly superior (and included the most puddles), while somehow avoiding a full loop around the church.
Grabbed a lifting rock, and some more partner loops around the outside of the baseball field:
Mosey over to the Soccer field and found the driest field, before doing some sideline to sideline sprints from the plank position.
Sideline stops included:
Quick visit to the Hotbox for a couple of trashcan loops:
Was planning some mary, but ran out of time.
The Moleskin:
Weather called for rain, but the skies remained dry, which is more than can be said for the pax. We got the worst out of the way early with northface, and could enjoy some nice chatting loops for the rest of the workout. Flipper got back to his inner kid by jumping in the puddles, and adding some hand claps to his ‘merkins.
Total distance of 3.5 miles, all with heavy shoes.
Thanks for the Q guys, looking forward to my next one!
Announcements:
Convergence next week at day zero on Saturday.
Convergence at South Park on Monday.
6 men gathered in an elementary school parking lot at 5:30 in the morning. Vacant police escort car was ready to go, so off we went.
Warmup
Surprise early jaunt across the street to the church parking lot for the warmup (SSH, IW, MC, Squats).
Partner up and pick a rock. Partner 1 runs a hot lap around the medians while partner 2 does the exercise (curls, overhead press, tricep extension, curl and press). Flapjacks throughout.
Mosey to the rarely used, but quite lovely, circle of benches around the tree near the road. Partner 1 runs and touches that light post over there while partner 2 does the exercise on a bench (Step-ups, Incline Merkins, Right leg on bench stand up (what’s that called), Derkins, Left leg on bench stand up).
Mosey to the dugouts for alternating People’s Chair and BTW (3 of each).
Continue to the back field and, after a quick scan for that coyote we just heard, on to Grinders. Groups of 3 – on one end do 100 of the called exercise, Mary on the other side, one guy running in between. Alternate until 100. Hand release merkins/LBC, Jump squats/Flutter, Lunges/Dolly.
To the front field for three quick “sprints”. Done.
Moleskine
Small but mighty crowd this morning. Thanks to Puddin’ Pop for the call to Q. Marge and I definitely heard a coyote, and it wasn’t very far away. Nuke scanned the area with his headlamp, and we didn’t see anything, so we continued. Remember, you don’t have to outrun the coyote, just your friend. Good to see Wolfman out this morning – he says he’s getting back to 3 posts a week, so be on the lookout. Puddin’ Pop disappeared into Lake Hydra on one of the runs – deepest “puddle” I’ve seen. We thought we lost him.
Announcements:
Turkey Leg is looking for a sub for a Palmetto 200 team this weekend, just in case you’re free and want to run 30+ miles on no sleep.
Signups are ongoing for the Spring Mud Run.
Deadline for Area 51 tourney bracket is noon today.
If he wanted a better title, he would’ve posted his own backblast!
12 men gathered on a colder morning than seemed necessary. We did some of the following:
Gentle warmup mosey to the normal warmup parking lot.
SSH, IW, MC, the usual – with 5, 10, 15, 10, 5 burpees mixed in. Seemed a little excessive for a warmup, so we’ll call it a COP.
Mosey (We may have walked. Runstopper is hurt.) over to the hotbox wall.
Hand slap merkins, lots of People’s Chair, some BTW. Runstopper tried to ruin us with a 5 minute People’s Chair, including 150 (in cadence) arm raises. Some exercised their right to modify as necessary.
Back to the scene of the COP. Runstopper unveiled weight plates, and off we went for hairburners. It was still partner based, and he wanted the non-hairburning partner to do something. I saw a guy doing squats, but many of us, again, exercised our right to modify as necessary. Hairburners are terrible.
Back to the hotbox for what was clearly a time killing exercise. 20 step ups, 20 dips, 20 derkins. Three cycles.
Slow mosey back to the cars (in our new and improved, break-in proof location).
Like Wally World, SCMS is closed today, but that didn’t stop 17 men from riding the rides. We went from 0-17 PAX in 3 minutes, were properly (and thoroughly because of the icy sidewalks) disclaimed, and took off into the wilds of South Charlotte.
[Feel free to dispute interval distances – I didn’t go back and verify on Strava afterwards]
Warm up jog to Davie Park (.75)
Interval 1 – gate to circle in front of building (.25)
Interval 2 – back to gate (.25)
Interval 3 – park entrance to Cary Ridge and Coburn intersection (.50)
Interval 4 – Bevington to Rea intersection (.75)
Interval 5 – Back to Coburn (.75)
Interval 6 – To Brownes Pond, up the big hill (.50)
Interval 7 — Back down the hill and up the half pipe, then back up the hill to Brownes Pond (.50)
Interval 8 – Down Brownes Pond and Pineland and back (.50 – although sold as .25 at the start. Oops.)
Interval 9 – Rosecliff to Strawberry Lane (.25)
Interval 10 – To school entrance (.25+)
About 6 miles – a little more maybe for the gazelles who would run back for the six. Aside from a plank or two, and some IWs for Baracus, we mostly stood around and looked tough between the intervals (not tough enough for Haze who was worried about what the ladies might thing). On a track, we would’ve slow jogged it for a lap, but standing is fine too. It let us get our heart rates back down so we could go faster during the intervals.
Good work out there today. Intervals suck, but at least this wasn’t on a track. I’ve done similar workouts on a track, and they are terrible. One good thing about interval workouts is that I get to do my favorite part of the run, being done and standing, over and over again. And I get to run at a faster pace during the intervals than I would be able to in a steady pace run. Good times.
Moleskine
I didn’t hear much chatter this morning. I tried my best to heckle and cajole guys as they passed me, but the threshold pace doesn’t leave much extra oxygen for talking. The usual suspects were out front (Gerber, Brady, Hairball, Turkey Leg, Alf, etc.), but the middle group was solid and fast too. I’m pretty sure I beat Pro on several of the intervals. I appreciated Haze holding me accountable for stopping 10 feet before the finish line. His perseverance allowed him to finish 4th overall on the final interval. Inspirational. T-Claps to Ickey for getting it done out there. Strong work, brother!
Announcements
We are looking for mentors/tutors for guys at SCMS. 30-45 minutes 2-4 times per month. Mermaid is organizing it, but looking for someone at Fast Twitch to help. Contact Mermaid if you’re interested.
8 men showed up in Middle School parking lot at 5:30 (well, most of us) and got after it thusly….
Warmup jog around the light posts because it’s a Base Camp rule.
COP
SSH, 10 burpees
IW, 9 burpees
Etc. on down to 1 burpee.
(Let the record show that Sony showed up at about 5:45 – apparently he was in Nashville last week and that when they start workouts).
Over to the wall for alternating People’s Chair and BTW (with appropriate modifications offered).
Line up near the basketball goals for The Beast. Six counts of each exercise at three poles on the way down and three poles on the way back. Repeat for six exercises total (Merkins, Lunges, CDDs, Jump Squats, LBCs, Burpees – only 2 of us did burpees, the rest “modified).
Mary – Flutter, Dolly, Freddie Mercury, Peter Parker, Parker Peter, etc.
Line up abreast at one end of the parking lot, divided into two groups. Group one AYG to second basketball goal and back, then group two. Repeat with that goal two more times, then last goal twice, then the end of the lot once.
Moleskine
Sony rolled in around 5:45 – that may be the latest arrival that I’ve seen. I would’ve stayed home at that point, but Sony got after it once he got there. That was after Uncle Si came in hot at about 5:35 with his headlights off. Good call. They still both did twice as many exercises as Spackler.
I tried to limit the running this morning after a long run on Sunday, late night last night (Go Panthers) and Fast Twitch looming tomorrow. So I had to resort to burpees – ugh. Good work by the guys this morning. Also, I scouted the track and football field on Sunday afternoon – that would’ve been a bad idea this morning. So we stayed in the parking lot – Fridge managed to find the only icy spot and went down once though.
Lots of hot laps around campus this morning as we tried to cover at least as much ground as our Joe Davis running brothers. Good crowd this morning – guys from lots of different sites, so I designed a workout that everyone could enjoy (or not).
Warmup yog to the front of the church for the usual warmup circle – SSH, IW, Slow Squats, Mountain Climbers. Continue the lap around the church, heading for the rock pile near the baseball field.
Partner up – partner 1 runs to that pole over there with the sign and back, partner 2 does the exercise. Flapjack to 150 total reps. Start with curls. Repeat with overhead press and tricep extensions.
Mosey to the wall on the hotbox. AYG race lap around the church back to the wall – about half mile. Rachel and McGee crushed it. I was close enough to see them finish, so that’s a win for me.
Find your partner, report to the tables in the hotbox. Partner 1 runs to that thing over there and back while partner 2 does the exercise. Two sets each of jump ups and incline merkins (good form).
Everybody over to the hill for sevens – Jump Squats and the bottom, hand release merkins at the top. Finish with three man grinders – sprints of about 50-75 yards for five minutes. Back to the cars.
Mary and plank between most of the sets.
Moleskine
Good times. Welcome to FNG Dingo (born in Australia), who unfortunately rolled his ankle early in the workout but stuck it out. Good to see Wolfman and Philmont – haven’t worked out with them in a while. My goal was to get at 5k in since our brothers were doing the Joe Davis – we ended up around 3.2 miles. Nice work fellas. Thanks to the men from Day Zero, Olympus and Ascent for joining us.
Big downer after the workout when we found that three cars had been broken into during the workout. One smashed window. Three missing wallets. We’re not sure when it happened, but we were never far away, so maybe while we were up front warming up. We’re fortunate that it doesn’t happen more often, but it sucks when it does. Don’t leave anything valuable in your car, and definitely not in plain sight.
Thanks to Mall Cop for the BOM sendoff, and to all the guys for being there.