Tuesday morning…I think it marks 5 straight days of rain and YHC seriously dislikes those boot camps that end up being rolling around the mud or planking in the biggest puddle at the AO just because we are F3 and can. Knowing we were expecting heavy showers again overnight, YHC had a different idea. Keep the feet dry and no planking at all.
5:30: Disclaimer given and advanced warning about the above did bring in some mumbles that the wrong shoes were selected for a “Dry” workout. (Sorry HairBand)
7 Pax begin the Mosey to the Indian Trail town Hall.
Set of headlights coming around the corner hot.. We all know this vehicle so we modify the run to include a detour to collect the good Shepard… (We leave no man behind at Thrive) … and continue to the Town Hall.
Circle up from some COP
(But 1st we must honor the UC traditions: 5 burpees OYO as down painment for Shepard. ? )
Reverse Indian Run around the Town Hall front lot circle
Leaving the Town Hall with an F2 pace mosey to the steps overlooking the outdoor Volleyball courts
Short Mosey to the Tennis courts. (Side note… been attending Thrive for almost a year now fairly regular and have never seen the Tennis Courts used in a bootcamp so I was unsure if there was an unspoken rule against using them…Hope not)
DORA 1,2,3: Partner workout (pax one runs to the far line of 2nd tennis court, performs 2 Burpees and returns as pax two is performing set exercise. As a team completing the count. When your team completes final exercise you join in with a team not completed to help finish their sets.) #NOPLANKING
Short Mosey to “The Wall”
2 mins of Mary
MoleSkin
Solid Union County PAX today to help push YHC through the workout and I appreciate them allowing me to try out a few new things I have picked up on my gypsy style adventures to other F3 regions. (Reverse Indian run (A51), 1.5 Merkins (Hampton Roads), tennis court Dora (Lexington KY), LBC for 6 vs Planking (Birmingham AL), and slow flutter kicks (Lexington KY). I encourage all pax to get out and visit other areas to meet the members of F3 Nation that are beyond the confines of your regular AO. Listen to their stories and see what drives their region. Then bring it back and share it with us. If you need a ride to one I will pick you up. ?
Also: if you have not read Glass Joe’s BB from his Q on Saturday, you need to!!
I will help you find it: ( https://f3southcharlotte.com/2018/05/19/be-more/ )
T-Claps to Lumberjack for taking us out in the COT.
Announcements
As Always: Thank you for allowing me to lead today. Stay Strong!!!
Respectfully,
Gypsy
Still waiting on the Hawk’s Nest shovel flag….clowncar’d it with Lewinsky & Leprechaun, arrived on time which was nice. 21 pax, including one FNG – “Hightower”, mustered for a Tuesday downpainment at one of Area 51’s best AO’s; even if the Q/Site Q still isn’t familiar with all it has to offer. More on that later. A fairly weak disclaimer (#cobains Mermaid) was given, and the pax launched into the gloom.
the Thang & Ye Olde Moleskine:
We jogged through the Latin Labyrinth of porticoes, covered sidewalks, ill-placed walls, etc. and made our way in front of the gym for COT
Low Slow Squat x 15 IC (might have been 20 IC, but already can’t remember)
IW x 15 IC
Slow Flutter x 15 IC
H-R Merkin x 15 IC (pretty sure Gummy was already complaining at this point)
Rockhopper x 15 IC
There was some mumblechatter about no SSH’s. That was not an inadvertent omission men. They’re terrible for you.
Jog down to one of the front lots near Providence entrance.
Lunge walk 30 yards, Burpee Broad Jump 40 yards
Jog over to the new field hockey (I think?) turf field. Split into 5 groups.
One group runs perimeter of field with 5 Carolina Dry Docks at each corner while the other 4 groups do a smorgasbord of plankorama, Al Gore’s w/overhead press, Mary, etc. Much mumblechatter about this is going to be a lot of plank work. What they were really saying is: “Where is my 3+ mile bootcamp with way too many bad form merkins?!!! We got through that with Bulldog leading the final group while YHC ran the CDD circuit. By the way, be sure to wash all the carcinogenic astroturf pellets off fully.
At this point, we ran over to what I thought would be the high terraced wall & steps outside the auditorium. Despite my 2nd Q at Hawk’s Nest and the fact that I’m a site Q as well….I couldn’t find that particular building. Drat. So we found some walls and did Walthar N’Djaye’s x 13 IC. We then did some People’s Chair, except for Bulldog, Thunder Road and a few others who either were refuseniking fully or too lazy to find an adequate wall?
Dollywood & Hollywood. Just wanted to say both those nicknames in succession. Try it. It’s fun. And they were both part of the pax this morning…both in really good shape, too.
Another observation: the # of Clemson alums among the pax seems to be increasing or perhaps Hawk’s Nest is becoming somewhat of a fan club meeting every Tuesday morning. Not only do they seem to post as a group, they all seem to wear orange….a lot. Today’s Clempson orange-wearing pax were: Busch, Lewinsky, Revlon (full Tiger paw). Marge & Gummy were more understated in their allegiance. That’s a lot of Clemson “nowledge” in the gloom, some might say too much…
Ok, what else did we do? Did I mention the Q got lost? So we moseyed to the “middle school”/”recess” field for some work. Incidentally, I think this is the field where our hosts thought we would do all of our workouts, in their entirety. Negative.
We did some down & back AYG runs with H-R merkins, CDDs, Jump Squats & LBC’s at the far end. We then did 10’ish minutes of Mary, finishing with 13 6-count burpees in the parking lot.
We did a lot of plank work throughout the morning’s downpainment. Good form plank work is some of the best exercise you can do. You can thank me later.
Some other sundry obervations before I list a couple announcements and prayers lifted this morning:
Love Q’ing the pax. I’ll do better next time….but you loved the burpee broad jumps and Walthar N’Djaiye’s…plenty more where that came from.
Announcements & prayer concerns:
Sat., May 26th – 7am Area51 & SOB (DaVinci, for sure) Memorial Day convergence at RockZero (Calvary Church) — Q’ed by Purple Haze and Rachel (Marine veteran). Be there – the best convergence workout of the year.
Mon., May 28th – Patriots Day Festival in SouthPark. Charlotte F3 convergence workout (NoCoTope, Fort Mill/Rock Hill, Metro, A51, SOB, UC, Gastonia, etc, etc) followed by 5K with 8 SpeedForNeed chariots carrying veterans.
Continue to pray for: Utah’s father to heal & Jennings (Bout Time’s 3 year old son) battle with cancer
Thanks to Haze for taking us out in prayer and giving thanks for the friendship that exists among the pax. I’m thankful for you men. This fellowship is a gift that I didn’t even know I needed until it found me.
“Friendship arises out of mere Companionship when two or more of the companions discover that they have in common some insight or interest or even taste which the others do not share and which, till that moment, each believed to be his own unique treasure (or burden). The typical expression of opening Friendship would be something like, ‘What? You too? I thought I was the only one.’… It is when two such persons discover one another, when, whether with immense difficulties and semi-articulate fumblings or with what would seem to us amazing and elliptical speed, they share their vision it is then that Friendship is born. And instantly they stand together in an immense solitude.” – C.S. Lewis in “The Four Love”
It was a little after 5am and there was Bunker’s car faithfully parked in his traditional spot. As I began my dynamic warm up routine, a familiar face with white hair emerged. Nomad arrived to make his Blakovery debut. With the rest of the PAX in place, and 5:15 on the clock, Bratwurst jumps out and 10 of us were off and running.
THE THANG
Originally billed as the reverse Providence Country Club route, a premature left turn had us going in from the front instead of the back. This is how it started: leave Blakeney Shopping center and cross Rea Rd up Ardrey Kell going pass the Chic-Fil-A. Make a right turn on Tom Short Rd, left into the rich folks neighborhood, left on 3 Lakes Dr., right on Congressional Club Drive and right on Colonial Country Lane. At that point, it was clear that it was a very slow morning for me as the fast guys, injured guys and one guy who began the morning concerned that he was too slow raced ahead of me. Bratwurst circled back, found me and led me to the short cut back to Tom Short Rd while the others went the long way and we all arrived back at the AO for some much needed stretching.
MOLESKIN
It was a rough Monday. The body and mind were weak but the men of F3 gave me strength to show up and run.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
-F3 Dad’s weekend camping trip to Julian Price Park. Here is the link. https://www.recreation.gov/camping/julian-price-campground/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=NRSO&parkId=74043 Details July 20-22. $20 a night so $40 total. There are 10 foot pads at each site. Reach out to Fraiser by the end of May (next week) to reserve your spot.
-Memorial Day convergence on Saturday May 26 at Calvary Church. Launch at 7am, most sites closing down.
The AO at FIGHT CLUB / fox hole is loud and smelly. Kettlebells clang on the pavement, punches slam into leather mitts, pax groan and grunt through each HIIT cycle. It’s the sound of men getting after it.
COP
Opening school lap
Side-straddle hops x 10
Imperial walkers x 10
‘Mericans x 10
Mountain climbers x 10
Boxing Stations
Jump rope – jump until fail, then do 10 push-ups, repeat unil time
Gloves and pads
Heavy bag
Kettlebell Stations
Deadlift/2-handed swings
Single leg deadlift/cleans
American hammer/sit-up & press
High pulls/single-arm swings
Snatch/upright rows
Pull-ups/chin-ups/burpees
Runner is the timer. Each time a new runner returns from the school loop, find a new station.
We end the session with a Core/’Merican ladder
10 crunches
20 ‘Mericans
10 toe-tap crunches
18 ‘Mericans
10 LBC
16 ‘Mericans
10 knees R crunch
14 ‘Mericans
10 knees L crunch
12 ‘Mericans
10 Pistol R
10 ‘Mericans
10 Pistol L
8 ‘Mericans
10 Chippy cross
Moleskine
Variety – This is the place is you want to add some spice to your workouts. There’s really no AO that a similar format. Plus, you choose the stations, so you can box or lift as much or as little as you like. You’ll develop a new appreciation for boxers and their training after a few rounds. It’s exhausting, but worth it.
20 men (including one brave 2.0) went on a field trip to Davie Park for a Murph-style beatdown.
Workout started 30 seconds early because Goonie’s watch is on Lombardi Time. The Q almost didn’t make it due to misplaced car keys, but fortunately rolled into the parking lot in the M’s minivan at 5:29am. After a quick disclaimer we got going with the warmup…
Burpees 10x OYO
SSH 20x
IW 20x
Mountain Climbers 10x
Merkins 5x
We then moseyed to Davie Park, stopping at every few light poles to knock out some squats until the six caught up. Upon arrival at the playground we partnered up for some work…
Partner #1 – runs lap from playground down to main park gate at bottom of hill
Partner #2 – MiniMurph w/ 5x Pullups (or Dips or modified Rows on the swings); 10x Merkins; 20x Squats…repeat until Partner #1 shows up, then flapjack
After three rounds of this, we added in LBCs (50x) to give the PAX a breather, then knocked out two more rounds before moseying back to South Charlotte Middle for 60 seconds of Mary.
Moleskin
Extensive chatter / sass from the PAX upon the Q’s arrival this morning, but everyone seemed to fall in line after the burpee ambush during warmups. Was pretty bummed to find out the new Davie Park playground has removed all the monkey bars…pull-up opportunities were few and far between but the PAX adapted well. The woods between South Charlotte Middle and Davie gave off a foul odor at a few spots, hopefully that doesn’t get worse or we might need to take a break from field trips until whatever just died has completely decomposed. Great to see a 2.0 in the gloom, Spidey crushed it out there.
Announcements
Keep Transporter and his wife in your prayers
Pre-Memorial Day convergence on Saturday (5/26) at 7am at RockZero site
Memorial Day convergence on Monday (5/28) at Esplanade building in South Park: 630am workout followed by Patriot Festival 5k at 730am (M and 2.0 friendly), contact Little Mike for more details
5 hombres showed up at McKee Rd Elementary this weekend to find there would be a Q assigned to lead. YHC has made his way back from tax season coma and Huggie Bear and I are striving to return the original AO in Area 51 to its glory days. OK, maybe not its glory days but at least make it a viable workout PAX will want to show up for. Beaver (WD) is on the mend from his time on the IR and was the first PAX to join me, followed closely behind by Turkey Leg (nursing some knee tendinitis among other things which has him focused on bootcamp workouts) and O’Tannenbaum (pulled himself away from the Royal Wedding and tea and crumpets with his wife & 2.2). And last but not least, Prohibition (WB) made his way out just before our 0700 launch.
With all the formalities behind us, YHC led the crew for a short jog through the lower parking lot by the soccer fields and we circled up for COP in The Matrix parking lot where we completed the following:
Properly warmed up we headed up to the teacher’s parking lot in front of the school. Original plan was to head over to South Hall neighborhood and the nice little hill on Derbyshire. However, with Turkey Leg nursing some knee tendinitis and groin issues and Beaver working his way back into shape after some time on IR due to his hip surgery, YHC decided to alter his original plan. In the teacher’s parking lot we ran suicides in a descending ladder as follows:
Having broken a pretty good sweat, we made our way to the back playground for some circuit work:
Head back up to the front of the school and find a spot on the wall for PC w/ air presses followed by BTW wall walk, Lunge walk across bus parking lot and the 10 Incline Merkins. Rinse & repeat (w/ jabs instead of air presses during PC)
Next on the agenda was our old buddy Jack Webb. Circled up on the track infield and worked on shoulders and upper bodies with the following:
Once we wrapped up our visit with Jack, YHC led the PAX up to the front playground for another round of circuit work consisting of the following:
With 8 minutes left on the clock, we circled up on the lawn for a little Mary:
COT
NMM:
Announcements/Requests:
As I began my disclaimer Hula Girl announced that he had an FNG. It was 6:00 so a disclaimer was given and instructions to Hula Girl to meet at the parking deck at the Village. Muggy morning but welcome to summer in the Carolinas.
The warm up. IW x 10; Slow merkin with Q calling when to go down and when to go up. Repeato for the squat total of ten for each. Saunter over the deck. Instructions were given that we were doing sevens. Six merkins with the feet on the wall, run to the other end of the deck and do one CDD. Flip flop until you get all of them in. Line up according to your finish on the wall doing wall sits with some arm flutters.
Next thing: Partner up. The first place finisher from the sevens partners up with the last place and so on until everyone has a friend. Brew, Spidey and Frehleys were a trio. The instructions were stolen from Thin Mints Q yesterday. I liked it so much I wanted to do it again. Partner one runs the stairs to the top and then starts on the way down. Partner two runs the ramps. When they meet they do ten hand release hand slap merkins. Go back the way you came and do another ten hand release hand slap merkins. Flap jack and who just ran the stairs now runs the ramps. Do the same thing with the merkins in the middle.
Next we alternated one leg hops up the stairs to the top alternating between right leg, both legs and then left leg. Once at the top everyone grab a white column that is about three or four feet high. Twenty get ups and you had to stand all the way up. Did some mary while waiting on the finish.
Mosey down the ramps out towards the fountain that is no longer a fountain but a flower garden. We did a starfish rotating between merkin and Abs. Twenty dips to start in the middle. At each corner we did diamond, wide, regular and CDD x 10. Next we did ten step ups followed by twenty dollies, flutters, American Hammer and plank jack. Lastly we did ten squats after stepping up on the bench followed by the same merkins but x 15. We did elbow plank in between sets.
Mosey down towards Ballantyne Commons. Instructions were speed bump suicides. We did five merkins at each speed bump. There were three total. On the suicides everyone starts at the same time. When the first person reaches the speed bump everyone else stops where they are. The idea is that everyone gets back to the start at the same time. We came close.
Final push. Instructions were we had five minutes to make it back to the AO. Everyone pushed hard enough that we had a minute and a half of elbow plank in honor of Haggis. Done!
Moleskin: It has been crazy humid with the dew point and the tropical system hanging out with us the past four days. Everyone had a good sweet going early. I said yesterday it would be a fun idea to weigh in at the beginning and the end of the workout on these type of days to see how much water we lost.
There was a good bit of grunting but no real mumbling about all that we did. We covered just over 3.2 miles so just tell your family you ran the Run Ballantyne Run. Everyone gave great effort. Morning after was always up at the front. Frehleys was strong on the starfish. FNG said he was going to kill Hula Girl about forty minutes in. I am a mandated reporter so someone will be following up with you guys for a welfare check.
We did not have our first “That’s what she said” until thirty seven minutes in. One guess who that was.
I do not lead boot camps all that often but the change is nice. I appreciate Wild Turkey letting me Q. Nard Dog was a no show even though I saw him later at the Let Me Run 5k. If I am there cheering he could have made the workout. I figured he was just watching the wedding since he is part British now.
All of it was fun and hard. That is why we start F3 and end up staying because of the relationships and fun.
Announcements: F3 Dads starts June 9th and every Saturday at 9:00 in June. Wild Turkey is on Q first. Nothing but all stars coming at you this summer.
F3 Dads camping in the mountains July 20-22. HC by the end of the month to guarantee a space.
Sandbox fund raiser June 8th Lawson pool. $40 gets the family in for food, swimming and beer.
F3 Knights night June 9th.
Keep Transporter’s wife in your prayers this week.
I haven’t posted on a Saturday, or at Outland in a long time, but I was more than happy to join the Pax. Funny how Madison asks me to Q, but then he never shows up. At least EE was there. I will admit I had to pull a map up of the AO to refresh my memory of what I wanted to do.
The Thang
Mosey to parking lot between two elementary schools for our warm up.
20 x SSH
20 x IW
Line up abreast and merkin suicides using the bus parking spots. We went from J all the way down to A. We skipped K which offended Horshead. 5 merkins at each parking spot for a total of 50. Mosey over to picnic area/playground. 5 pull ups, 20 dips and run a lap around the track. 5 times. Wall sits for some recovery with 100 air presses.
Mosey over to parking lot next to SV elem. Lunge walk to the last handicap man (not HH) but the actual painted symbol on the pavement. Lunge walk back. Then we ran a few laps. First lap do 10 merkins at each light pole. Second lap 20 squats at each light pole. Last lap 20 LBCs at each light pole.
Mosey back to the cars for a little abs. 10 x canopener on each leg, 20 x Rosalitas. Time.
Moleskin
Great group of guys and really enjoyed leading. Horsehead is always entertaining with his banter, and Mimi came out for his first workout. He isn’t an FNG per se, but this was his virgin workout post. Since he didn’t throw up or pass out he said he would be back. Good to hear. Thanks for the take out Hairband.
Announcements
Pool party on June 8 at Lawson to raise money for Sandbox.
Memorial day convergence for WW2 veterans.
Thang
Moleskin
Ben Nevis is a beast of a hill and proved just right for this morning’s repeats. The idea was to run hard uphill for long enough, with a short enough break, that we built up some nice lactic acid in the legs and had to push through and keep our form in the final 15 second sprint. Worked out well enough although we probably went a little too hard on the 90 second efforts — par for the course at Swift. Saw some competition out there on the 15 second sprints — Haggis / Bratwurst showdown; Gumbo / Bunker duel; Woodson / Thin Mint drag race (Woodson by a mile).
Pleasantly surprised seeing One Niner out at Swift in spite of his tumble down a ravine a few days prior at PMBAR. Beast. Also good seeing Fire Hazard post somewhere other than the YMCA as he comes off his injury and great having Depth Charge back in the regular schedule (except for when he Qs mile repeats which YHC mysteriously did not attend). Awesome work by Magic Attic coming back to his 2nd Swift in 2 weeks. 5 minute T-pace intervals last week followed by Nevis this week is a strong start to a Swift career.
Near anarchy when lunge walking was called during the dynamic warmups. We survived. Such is the world of Swift in a post-Bratwurst era. New things will happen, mistakes will be made (although lunge walking was definitely not a mistake — if it’s good for the glutes, it’s good for the running). My only question is who’s running the pool on how long it will take before Bratwurst throws the amateurs out of the saddle and takes the reins back.
Announcements