Late pre-blast, but oh well…Labor Day – convergence, golf, family, neighborhood cookout.
Yes, BRR is this week, and the temptation is to rest up just to avoid injury. For those so inclined, enjoy the fartsack. For those that miss the camaraderie, or just think it’s ridiculous to start tapering so early, tomorrow’s SoFa WIB will be light on running but heavy on track work.
Run the block – choose your own adventure (L or R out of OP), just be sure to hit Abbotswood, Windyrush, and Summerlin.
Partner up at the OP Park track – roughly 1/8 of a mile.
P1 – run a lap
P2 – alternates 20 flutters, 20 LBCs until partner returns
Flapjack
P1 – backward run a lap
P2 – alternates 20 knee ups, 20 Russian twists until partner returns
Flapjack
Partner lap – partner wheelbarrow the straight aways (switch as needed), burpee broadjump the turns.
Lather, rinse, and repeat until 6:15.
Total mileage should be +/- 3 miles with a lot of core (quicker recovery muscles) and minimal leg work. Amazingly – no pull ups this week.
At 0515 on Tuesday, the PAX will launch from the Vine Restaurant for a Speed workout that has a BRR-taper friendly component.
The THANG:
Variety: Steady, prolonged or tempo runs or intermittent runs, also called cruise intervals.
Intensity: Generally in the range of 83-88% of VO2max or 88-92% of HRmax. Threshold pace is comfortably hard running for either a steady 3-4 miles (or 5 to 6km) or repeated runs of 5 to 15 minutes each, with 1 to 3 minutes of rest between the runs.
Purpose: To improve endurance.
The rain moved out and cooler temps moved in, and with the BRR less than a week away (or so I’ve heard), YHC promised a workout that would appeal to the masses. The smell of college football was in the air and it was a perfect morning for a full body beatdown.
The Thang
Warm Up
SSH X 25
IW X 20
Low Slow Squat X 15
Merkins X 10
Burpees X 5
Line up on curb for walking lunges (focus on form) to opposite side of visitor lot. Run up the hill & perform called exercise x 20 reps.
1st set – lean to side of lunge to work the obliques. 20 Merkins. Jog back to start
2nd set – hands out in front & twist (at the core) over lunge leg. 20 Carolin Dry Docks. Jog back to start (this exercise is now officially named Charlie’s Angel by Horse Head)
3rd set – 3 merkins after each lunge. 20 Carolina Tri Docks. Jog back to start
4th set – Lt Dan. 20 Merkins at top. Jog back to start
5th set – 1 leap frog after each lunge. 20 CDD. Jog back to start
6th set – 1 burpee after each lunge. 20 CTD. Jog back to start
Hair Band Mile for Recovery Lap
Line up on wall
Balls to Wall for 2 X 10 count
Calf raises with toes pointed out X 50
Balls to Wall for 1 X 10 count
Calf raises with toes pointed straight X 50
Balls to Wall for 1 X 10 count
Calf raises with toes pointed in X 50
Donkey Kick X 10
Line jump side to side X 100
Donkey Kick X 10
Line jump front to back X 100
Donkey Kick X 10
Ski jump L-F-R X 100
Mosey to hand rails
Supine pull up X 20
Incline push up X 20
Supine chin up X 20
Decline push up X 20
Inverted pull up X 20
Step Up X 20
Inverted chin up X 20
Squat X 20
Mary
LBC x 20
Flutter X 20
Rosalita (en Espanol) X 20
Freddie Mercury X 20
Back Scratchers X 20
Plank – 40 seconds
Plank right hand high 20 seconds
Plank left hand high 20 seconds
Plank regular 10 seconds
The Moleskin
It was my 2nd Q of the week and I wanted to make sure that the PAX paid for the poor planning on my part. It’s always good to see the UC faithful setting a proper example for the next generation by EH’ing their 2.0s for the Saturday AM beat down also know as Outland. Horsehead really stepped up his game by not only having his compression socks match his shirt, but he also matched Boondock (HH’s 2.0). You other guys need to take note & step up your game. The disclaimer was barely finshed before Horesehead and Glass Joe reminded everyone that they were likely to modify any exercises that may impact their performance in the BRR. From that point on, they could be seen doing various exercises that closely resembled what the rest of the PAX (even the FNG) was doing.
Hair Band and Double E were noticeably MIA. There’s a rumor that their pic will soon appear on the side of a milk carton. Glass Joe & Keefer double teamed a FNG that was quickly named Neck Vein during the name-o-rama.
It was an honor to lead such a strong group of men. TClaps to Hair Band, Double E, and Glass Joe for giving me the opportunity.
Announcements
Labor Day convergence @ 0700 (confirmed) at Stonecrest movie theater
Meet at the movie theater at Stonecrest (site of the Maul) at 7am. Poptart, Voodoo, and YHC take the reigns for a full hour. Voodoo wants people to bring kettlebells. Also, if you have any ankle weights, please bring those as well.
See everyone at 7am.
Better late than never (sorry for the delay PAX). 21 souls posted at the MRHS parking lot for another meeting with asphalt, hills, curbs and benches. Workout went like this:
Cotton pickers X 15
Imperial Walker x 15
Freddie Mercury x 20
Pistol Crunch x 20 (10 each side)
Mosey on down the parking lot hill, throw in some karaoke an stop for some ATMs: 3 exercises, back to back, from plank position with no rest in between: shoulder taps x 15; tempo merkins x 10, fast merkins x 10.
After that, mosey to the back side of the school while enjoying some school bus exhaust. After a set of 20 low slow squats, everyone stands on the curb for some ascending curb crawls: bear crawl back and forth to each curb, each time stopping to put your feet up on the curb and do ascending derkins (i.e. 1 derkin, crawl to opposite curb, 2 derkins, crawl back, 3 derkins, etc.) all the way to 10 derkins.
After that, kareoke around to the brink wall, 20 donkey kicks.
Next, partner up. Three rounds. Partner 1, 2 laps around the parking lot. Partner 2, do flutters until fail or partner returns. Then switch. (Round 2, squats. Round 3, hand release merkins).
After that, lunges to the basketball hoop and then a jog back to the cars with a short pit-stop for 8-count burpies in between. Finish it up with some Mary.
Moleskin:
Great effort put out by all the PAX on yet another muggy morning. Fall is so close we could taste it. It’s an honor to Q such a great group of guys. Thanks for letting me lead.
On a crisp, cool morning with the smell of college football in the air, 31 men from Day Zero, Olympus/Ascent, and The Rock all converged on the smoothest parking lot in all of Area 51 for a Saturday morning beatdown. With YHC having focused on running workouts for the last several months, I was a little nervous about leading an hour-long bootcamp. But then I remembered this was going to be at The Rock, so the bar was going to be pretty low (shots fired from the Day Zero camp). With the clock saying 0700 and the disclaimer claimed, this is how it went down:
The Thang:
Warm up mosey around the parking lot/exploring to make sure the bigger rock pile was still there, and back to the big lot to grab a few stragglers. Circle up for YHC’s extended COP:
Mosey over to the large rock pile closer to Hwy 51 and grab a friendly running rock. Mosey back to the parking lot while holding the rock above your head. Partner Up.
Return rocks to rock pile and head over to Hot Box.
Mosey back to parking lot next to where we park the cars and line up in 2 lines (harder than it sounds apparently). Since it is opening weekend in college football, what better way to commemorate than to do some traditional football camp up/downs. Of course we replaced the regular up and downs with burpees. High knees until YHC calls out a number. Then pax do that many burpees. Take a break with a jailbreak across the parking lot and back. Repeat for another few minutes. Another jailbreak, then back to the cars.
Circle up for a minute of Freddie Mercuries x 20. Abrupt stop right at 0800. That’s all.
Total # of burpees on the day: 75
Total Mileage: 2.9 without leaving campus
Ye Naked Moleskinnith:
I was scheduled to Q Day Zero this week when I was forwarded an email from Gummy begging us to join them and Ascent/Olympus for a convergence at The Rock. I figured that would be fine, I don’t mind passing the buck a week out from BRR. Then Gummy went on to say that he doesn’t have a Q, so being the nice person that I am volunteered to Q the convergence. It was later that I realized it has been a few months since I Q’d a bootcamp due to all the BRR running we’ve been doing. I normally just hide in the back at the bootcamps that I’ve been to and only do about half the merkins and burpees as called (that may be true for year round as well). There was no hiding today, so my horrendous merkin form was on full display today. Good news is I wasn’t alone. It’ll be back to merkin mania in 2 weeks for everyone.
I wanted to make today a solid workout for all since these are 3 very different groups. Some rock carrying for Ascent/Olympus, burpees for McGee of Day Zero, and running for The Rock. Great stuff from everyone out there today. It was fun being with a large group of guys that I don’t see very often. Some of you I hadn’t seen in a while and some I don’t think I’ve ever met. The opening COP took about 20 minutes and certainly allowed for plenty of mumblechatter. Gummy, per usual, did more talking than he did burpees. Lots of gripes about the J-Los and all forms of slow merkins. More calls for Imperial Walkers throughout the morning. The people’s chair with heels in the air got the legs shaking real early into it. I hope everyone was able to enjoy that as it was hard to see anyone as we were all wrapped around the hotbox.
I was so focused the entire hour of staying out front and alive, I really did not have much time for any observations. So feel free to chime in below on what you saw out there today…other than my merkin form or lack there of. Thanks to Alf for the takeout and to Gummy and Hopper for allowing me to lead today. Good luck to everyone this week at the BRR. See you all on the mountain!
Announcements:
Eleven men gathered on a dryer than expected morning. The disclaimer was tremendous. Trust me. It was great. Off we went:
Yog around the parking lot a bit to count medians, check on construction (gone), etc. Settle into the inner ring of the parking lot for warmups: SSH, IW (non-squat version, Mermaid), Mountain Climber, HR Merkins. Warm up lap around the church and back to the warmup area.
Triple Nickel from there with Jump Squats at the bottom, HR merkins at the top of the hill. A little Mary to recover afterwards.
Mosey up to the tennis pavilion. Partner up. Partner 1 runs around the median over there and back (maybe 150 yards) while partner 2 does an exercise. Flapjack. Step-ups, derkins, lunges, dips. Mary to recover a bit.
Mosey down to the second ring of the parking lot for the Beast – early indications that we, unfortunately, wouldn’t have time to get all the way to the burpees. What a surprise! We got through jump squats, merkins, full sit ups and CDDs.
Mosey back up to the start (during which Alf told me he was pleasantly surprised at the quality of my workout – thanks?). Finish up with Peter Parker and Parker Peter.
Moleskine
Good hard work by the gang this morning. I was glad to see it wasn’t raining when I got out there, but the humidity was rough. Not much longer until we’ll all complain about how cold it is. Alf reviewed his pre-workout hair styling routine with some of us before we got started. I’d put him on the good-hair-at-a-workout Mount Rushmore alongside Deep Dish, Cottonmouth (with the old hairstyle) and Purple Haze. I’m going to start a GoFundMe page to get Pop Tart a shirt that fits – his poor children must wonder why their shirts are always missing.
Announcements:
Labor Day (Monday) convergence at Stonecrest at 7:00. Park in front of the movie theatre.
Saturday (9/3) mini-convergence at The Rock with Day Zero and Ascent/Olympus. Q is Prohibition.
YHC wasn’t exactly sure what the weinke was going to be for today. Rolled up on time counted numbers and we were off.
The Thang
Disclaimer Given
IW x 25 In Cadence (IC)
SSH x 25 IC
Mountain Climbers x 25 IC
Mosey to the Fountains
Find a partner
Set 1 – Flapjack (FJ) – Two Times Each (no total count)
P1 – Jump-ups (box jumps) on to ledge
P2 – Lap around two buildings
Plank Waiting for the six.
Various arm movements and a round or two of 6 inches.
Set 2 – FJ – Two Times
P1 – Dips
p2 – Lap
Plank Waiting for the six.
Various arm movements and a round or two of 6 inches.
Set 3 – FJ – Two Times
P1 – Decline Merkins
P2 – Lap
Squats waiting for the six – get weight of toes. knees behind toes.
Mosey to the Lot
Burpee Broad Jump between the parking lot islands.
LBCs waiting for the six.
Mosey to Hamburger Hill
Find your partner again
P1 – Up/Down the Hill
P2 – Merkins (no total count)
FlapJack 5 times
Mosey to particular Spot in front of Theater
Mary Time!
Starting/Stopping position is 6 inches for all called
Dolly x 25 IC
Fluttah x 25 IC
Rosilita x 25 IC (was it rosey or LBCs #fog)
30s left, All You Got to the Stop Sign
Look out for the traffic, try to stop at the Sign.
Thine only Naked Moleskine
Yes, we’ve done this workout a million times, but you get out what you put in. YHC was smoked, and by the look of it, others were as well. Solid effort by everyone today. An assortment of a lot of familiar faces and a few new ones too. YHC met Hail Mary, Lochte and Messi today. All were working real hard and continue to show up. Keep at it guys. It doesn’t get easier, you just get stronger! Aye!
Went to bed mentally prepared for a deluge of rain and a very soggy workout. Perhaps it was all that Flint rain talk that made it seem like it was going to be really wet. YHC was looking forward to a grueling hour of wet, rain in the face, soggy shoe suckage. Clock struck 4:15 and I was awakened not by my alarm, but by the internal fear of being late to a workout I promised to lead. Whatever, I’m up. After a couple AO inspection stops along the way, arrived at the Vine at 4:45, just before Gumbo arrives for an unannounced pre-run. Off he goes for an extra 1.5 miles, leaving YHC alone to wait for the only 2 hard commits for the day: FireHazard and GoldDigger. Knew the numbers would be down due to opening of College Football and rain threats (see note below), but by 5:15 we had 9, which was great for the planned pull-ups at the stations. More on that later. Here’s what went down today at the Brave.
Mosey down to the lot near the gas station. Circle up for:
– Good Morning X 15 IC
– Merkins X 15 IC
– Seal Jacks X 15 IC
Run down the path around the lake counter-clockwise to the first building.
Zig, zag from the building, over the wall down to the water’s edge, back to the wall. 10 Box Jump Ups, over, touch the wall.
Repeat 5x
Mosey around the lake clockwise until you hit the other walls.
Zig, zag from the building, over the wall, down to the water’s edge, back over the wall, 10 derkins, touch the wall.
Repeat 5x
Mosey around the lake counter-clockwise Down to the fit trail.
Run down to the pull-up bars, 10 pull-ups, run back to the concrete
Path.Repeat 5x
Some tidy town Ballantynian that works for the corporate park got a call from Flint last night; He warned of torrential rain and the negative effects it could have on the safety of people trying to do pull-ups in the rain. This call of warning resulted in the dip bars and pull-up bars being aggressively wrapped in DO NOT CROSS tape. That or something a lot worse happened. We’ll never know (unless Flint confesses)
Mosey down the trail to the bottom of Bagpipe hill, back up a little to get a running start.
PAX instructed to run all out to the bridge. Recover and Plank for the 6.
Mosey down B-Corporate past aLoft to the Premier building. Past the parking deck (#rulefollower), to the Hell-a-pad . Pause for 20 Phelps merkins. (i.e enforced hand-release merkins). Mosey down to the Rock Ampitheatre
Mosey down through the Premier and Harris lots, to the Ballantyne commons entrance. Mosey down Ballantyne Commons, right on Johnston, down to the hotel, slight right and into the path that you to Ballantyne Corporate. Plank for the 6, Mosey down Bagpipe hill then right into the parking lot.
30 Burpees on your own. PAX were prodded to attempt to get 30 in a straight set.
Mosey back to launch to get all PAX assembled by roughly 5:16. #cobains for the tardy.
The goal today was to create a workout that would be helpful for both BRR and Spartan trainees and to cram it into an hour. Somewhat of a challenge. Challenge accepted. Hoped for 4 miles and got it. Tried to lead as much of the mosey today on the soggy grass to try to provide some trailish / soggy texture for our spartan folks, but didn’t enforce it as most of the BRR guys wanted road miles. Ballantyne isn’t very mountainish, but we did try to get some elevation in: Bagpipe Hill (Segment), the path between the Rocks and the Hell-a-pad, and Red Riding Hood (Segment). Overall, Strava says somewhere between 200 and 390 ft of Elevation for the 4 miles. Not a ton of time for “obstacles” with all the mosey here and there, so we stacked em all at the beginning so the running would be more laborious.
Great group today, lot of speed. You can tell that folks have been training for runs. No surprises in the individual efforts: Thin Mint killed it up Bagpipe hill on not-so-fresh legs after some obstacles, General has major ups, probably could have handled a wall twice as high, Wild Turkey is a beast and so fast during the hell-a-pad segment that his partner missed his arrival #theflash, Gumbo showed no signs of having run longer than everyone else, he is a picture of pace consistency, Fire Hazard committed, showed up early, followed instructions and beasted the workout; nothing makes a Q happier than a PAX that does those 4 things in that order. Madame T cruised through all the push-ups today (175 if you include the burpees) and led the mumblechatter. Fallout is impressive; showed freakish strength at the BlackDiamond last week, and wicked speed today at Brave. Who needs balance when you have both. Gold Digger is a 2NG who’s only other post in F3 was a well-attended 0.0 FightClub from a few weeks ago; not sure he was expecting all the running; he hung tough, performed well and got a second wind AFTER the burpees (#hatehate, #warbaby). YHC was mouth breathing pretty much the whole time.
One final note, there was some chatter on slack last night about the weather. Let me state it here if it isn’t already obvious: Weather should not be a factor on whether you post to a workout. Sometimes the conditions are ideal; sometimes they are not. It may not seem like there is a lot at stake when missing a workout for silly reasons like weather. Think on this. Just like the body, the mind is a muscle. Without “exercise” it can become a weak muscle. Posting to workouts whether the conditions are 63° and Clear, 45° and Rainy, or 9° and Icy is a great way to train your mind muscle, and get it in the habit of keeping promises, regardless of the weather or other obstacles.
Mario and MT, thanks for the opportunity to lead. Enjoyed it.
Argonaut Out.
10 hearty souls posted on this soggy Friday morning ready to have a #FunFriday in between the rain from last night and the emerging rain from Hermaine, Herman(?) A lil mumblechatter about the football from last night’s opening of college games with some App St. and Tennessee banter. YHC’s Wolfpack beat the famous William and Mary couple handily.
Some coupons (2 50lb sandbags, a 35 lb slamball, a 45 lb KB) were tossed out on the ground, disclaimer stated, and then we started the mosey to the green carpet gridiron.
The Thang:
Warmup: SSH x 20, Low Slow Squat x 20, IW x 20, Merkin x 20, CDD x 15
Teamwork (team of 3):
Lower body
#1 400m (timer)
#2 Sand bag squats or KB squats or slamball slams
#3 Your choice: Up/Down Gma Mt or 100yd gasers
Rotate through 2 times
Plankarama
Upper body- playground
#1 Merrkins x 20- good ones self policed (timer)
#2 Shoulder Presses w/ Sandbags or KB or Slam ball
#3 Full hang pullups
Rotate through 3 times
Back to field for MARY
LBC x 20
Heels to Heaven x 20
Dolly x 15
Field goals from the 15:
Make- elbow plank
Miss- 100 yd gaser up and back
Mosey back for COT
Naked Moleskine:
Semigloss and Buttermaker have a special relationship- I guess you could call it encouragement.
Uncle Leo and Chin music are easy to get mixed up as they round the 400 in the dark. #LongLimbs
Yeti wore his Friday’s best soccerr Polo with collar- #bestdressed
It was great to meet Starbucks today who loves telling everyone that he was just married. All smiles with his shiny ring…keep that attitude throughout your marriage brother!
Duct work is BRR ready and excited as he runs in to Joust each Friday, today was no exception.
Ok, so I think we were 6 for 10 on the Field goals today with lots of lefties (interesting) Not too shabby. Perhaps we move back to the 20 yd line next time.
Thanks for burdening the coupons this am fellas. Trying to get some variety in the boot-camp workouts. And thanks for allowing me to lead.
Announcements:
Convergences: This Sat at the Rock, Monday at Stonehenge, and 9/14 at Anvil (Calvary Church)
Have a great Labor Day weekend!