That’s right! WTF is back for a second year.
For those of you that did not make it out last year, or are unaware of what WTF is… Here are the basics:
Waxhaw Trail Fest will take place on Saturday April 30th. This is a team event, that will run relay style on 3 different trail legs setup at Walnut Creek Park in Indian Land SC. The loops all start and stop at the WTF village where you and your fellow PAX can relax and enjoy some 2nd F until your next leg. The race is complete when each member of your team runs each loop once, totaling approx 12 miles per runner. With a 6:30am starting line time, I would expect the final runners to be coming in around 12 noon, so plan accordingly. Arrive at least 30 min early! This may be the first time meeting your teammates, and you want to be prepared before the 6:30 start.
This year, we are able to go bigger! Thanks to Movement Mortgage, Waxhaw Taphouse, and John Cassidy Photography we have been able to provide every runner with even more! Registration is $10…. Included with every paid registration will be:
1 entry into the race; 1 WTF t-shirt, food and drinks in the village, and race photos
Awards given to top overall team
Each person will register as an individual. We just need your info, including best estimated 5k road pace. Race directors will assign all runners to evenly matched teams of 3. Join us at The Waxhaw Taphouse 2 days before the race, on Thursday 4/28 from 6-8pm for packet pickup and team assignments. Presence for packet pickup is suggested, however every registered runner will get an email with updated Team information, in addition to last minute packet pickup the morning of the event.
UPDATE: Registration date to be guaranteed a shirt has past. All shirts have been ordered. Any entries after this point will receive whatever sizes are remaining day of the event if there are any left. We have ordered extras, however they are in limited quantity.
In the village we will provide music, coffee, hydration, a BBQ grill setup with a selection of food, including sandwiches, chicken, burgers, and bacon and eggs. Please bring your own chairs and a team canopy if desired. Any team snacks or preferred drinks are up to each team.
Please send money to YHC via:
Venmo @TonyAmore
Paypal: tonyvamore@gmail.com
All extra money raised will be donated to F3 Waxhaw partner charities including Christ’s Closet and Rice N Beans.
Recap:
$10- Registration Fee
Thursday April 28- Waxhaw Taphouse 6p-8p for packet pickup/team assignments
Saturday April 30th-race be there at 6am (10521 Walnut Creek Pkwy– follow parking attendants to tennis courts)
Great 2nd F event with breakfast/lunch, snacks, music, games
Top overall team award
Revisit the badass event with race photos
Spread the word. Open to all. Last year was a great event, and this year is shaping up to be even better!
6 brave souls ventured into Ballantyne gloom
Low slow squats, merkins, LBC’s, burpees
Smooth blacktop, concrete decks, parking lots, sidewalks
Dark trails, tall fences, poisonous fumes and mysterious crossbones
“That’s why they call it the jungle, sweetheart”
Man – I was shocked on Thursday morning, when my reminder popped up that I have to Q Swarm the next day. I totally forgot that I signed up for it! And – as any good Site Q would do – Sugar Daddy sent me a message later that day if I am still in… Yes, of course! So: time to come up with a Weinky! Then I realized that this is the first hour-long workout I ever Q’s… what does it mean? will I struggle in the end to fill the time? It turned out that we were a nice group of 8 people, as some faster guys are going nuts on a 200mi relay… good luck to them!
Warmup
I gave the DICCS and off we went past Rudy’s (shit) shed to the big parking lot at the stadium. Circle up and: 15x SSH, 15x Moroccan Nightclubs, 15x Imperial Walker,15x Potato Picker, 15x Mountain Climber, calf stretch, runners stretch, downward dog, upward dog,… Done!
The Thang
Mosey to benches and Partner up. One is running the loop around Geep Jungle as a timer, the other is doing the exercise: Dips, Heels to Heaven, Inclined Merkins, Squats. Audible in the middle: instead of running around Geep Jungle, just run around the circle.
Mosey to the top at the main street, crossing into the neighborhood. Every Street light on the right alternating till cul-de-sac: 5x Merkins, 5x Sister Mary Catherine (2-1). Rainman made a concerning remark at that time: wow – that’s another mile just to the cul-de-sac… Well on google maps, it looked much closer. But hey – I have to fill the hour, right? Going back the same way, this time alternating at every street light to the left: 5x Big Boys, 3x Burpees. For the slower guys (including me!) there was an audible: just make it back to the street… either just keep on running or reduce the number of reps.
Going back the road towards the stadium, halting half-way there, partner up. One Partner runs to the next street entrance, the other one back to the island. 10 Peter Parkers at the end, meet in the middle, do 5 partner-hand-clap-merkins, go to the other side and back for the partner-hand-clap-merkins.
Mosey back to Rudy’s shed. Rainman said: we’ve done 4.7mi already! Wow – it feels more like a Ignition workout!
At the shed, we had to work our way around the Impromptu guys… 20x donkey kicks OYO, 20x air presses, 20x donkey kicks OYO.
Back to COT, 3 Merkins at every street light… and: Done! I got 5.2mi (granted, on the Apple Watch). What a surprise – not only to me!
Moleskin
I did it! I made the hour-long workout… and I did not even complete my entire weinky! Wow… I was not expecting that! But with a great group of people it is always easier. Time flies if you have fun!
Although everybody – including me! – was surprised about the high mileage, nobody was really complaining about it. At least not audible – or trying to Q-jack the workout! Thank you guys – very much appreciated!
Announcements
I’d like to refer to the Impromptu BB, if it is out there… 😉
Mad Dog (Impromptu Q) led us out – thank you!
Das Boot, in an effort to lure Abacus to Body Shop, invited YHC to Q. Alas, 30 days out from April 15 is not great timing for a tax guru and thus the attempt failed. We can try again after April 15.
8 men showed up for a workout with 2 sticking with gear work and the other 5 deciding to see what YHC could bring. In an effort so slow down the younger guys, I brought some sand bags and we had the perfect match with one bag for each set of 2 partners.
The Thang:
COP with SSH, Squats, Merkins, Mtn Climbers, Plank Jacks, and 5 burpees
Grab the sand bags and mosey to kiddy track for some partner work. Partner one runs the track while partner 2 does called exercise.
Round 1 and 2 – Squats with sand bag and run
Round 3 – Dolly with sand bag and run
Round 4 – Flutter with sand bag and run
Round 5 and 6 – LBC and sand bag carry over head across field and back
Round 7 – Boone’s and carry sand bag around the track
A few minutes of plank before taking sand bags back to the car and dropping them off.
Head over to parking lot on other side of school with bear crawl and side plank walk down the parking lot and back.
Line up at bottom of big hill for Jacobs Ladder – Run up the hill and back down and do 7 burpees. Run up the hill and back down and do 6 burpees. Repeat all the way down to 1 – I smoked myself here.
Back to parking lot for some back ward run, karaoke, and BTW sprints. Back to starting point for a few minutes of wall sit, mary, and then squat jumps to run out the clock.
Naked Moleskin
Great group this morning and YHC needed the invite to get me outside my comfort zone. Posse, who reminded me that we were once team mates on a Ragnar race, demonstrated pro skill mumble chatter. Das Boot (I think) got YHC with the old “when do we stop” question as I answered “when I say stop” and the Pax got a good laugh at my expense.
Great AO but it costs me $40 to drive this far south (thanks Putin/Biden) so I’ll have to ration how many times I visit. As I said earlier, it was good to get outside my comfort zone. That is also why I always tell guys they should do at least one grow ruck. It’s long but not that bad if you properly train and everyone at Body Shop this am can do it (believe me as I saw guys in much worse shape grind thru Growruck24).
As always, I am honored and blessed when I get to Q a workout.
Announcements
Blood drive coming up in a few weeks – our community needs us
Waxhaw trail race on April 30 so check it out
Trade Career Day on April 2 from 8am to 2pm. Over 25 companies will be demonstrating what they do and it’s a great event to expose youth in your Concentrica (kids, family, church, school, etc) to these career options.
The program we’re going to do at Swole/Meathead/Olympus for the next 8 weeks is the single bell version of the Kettlebell Only Muscle Gain (or KB OMG) program from Joe Daniels of Swing this Kettlebell Club. I had spent my spare time over the last few days trying to take his somewhat colorful spreadsheet and convert it into our usual format. With time running out before Meathead tomorrow, I decided to throw in the towel and just go with his sheet. It’s a little all over the place, but hopefully you can get the hang of it. In addition, there are helpful links embedded in a couple of places to walk you through different exercises and mobility work. He’s got some original exercises, so it might be worth watching some of the videos if you are unfamiliar with them. If you’re Qing a workout, please make sure you know how to properly perform the exercises!
Here’s the program.
This is an 8-week program with 4 workouts per week. Since we have more time at Olympus on Saturdays, I would suggest performing the 3rd and 4th workouts combined or cherry picking from the two to come up with 60 minutes of exercises, but it’s up to the Q. If you have extra time, please feel free to use some of the complexes we’ve been doing. They can be found on the Complexes tab in this spreadsheet.
Sorry for the brief pre-blast, but I’ll be happy to answer any questions you have at a workout.
See you in the gloom,
Voodoo
Been a while since I had been out to the Basecamp AO, too long, however, when a new AO gets fired up 2 minutes from your house, well, you know how it goes. Regardless, happy to be out in the gloom this morning with the Basecamp faithful. Several requests for no/little running which were summarily dismissed. Horrible disclaimer delivered, and the running began…
The Thang
Quick lap in the bus lot and then over to the Preschool for CoP.
Light run down Hwy 51 to Davie Park and line up at the baseline of one end of the soccer field. Now it’s time to introduce the Welsh Dragon.
Starting on the end line of the soccer field
Not sure why, or how, but the soccer field seems to be artificially chilled. The ground was freezing as if there was an ice rink hidden underneath. Anyone have any details on this??
Now that the shoulders are completely smoked, let’s do some rock work. Mosey over to the rock pile and pick your rock. Limited selection so the PAX took their time. Maybe they were just recovering from the Welsh Dragons…
Mosey back to Launch Point.
Mary until time is called (Flutter, Dollies, Windshield Wipers)
Called time and COT.
Moleskin
Announcements
Lycan 03/14: Swinging’ with Stag
WARM-UP
Mosey around parking lot median
Mosey to back of school
The Thang
PUSH
PULL
Mosey back to COT
MOLESKINE
It was a dark and not-stormy morning as seven pax gathered in the Lycan parking lot under the eerie glow of the Palentine light (at least I think that’s what they called it). Confused school bus drivers stared in wonderment as the pax descended on the playground, put their feet into the swing-set swings, and proceeded to work out their abs and arms at an intensity they couldn’t fathom in their wildest dreams (or nightmares!). Everyone gave a great effort and hopefully felt the burn in some unusual places. Exercise circuits were punctuated by runs around the school and up the hill to the back wall. Beatdown completed, the pax gathered again to share announcements and prayers before vanishing like the early morning fog to take the fight to their jobs and families. Temps in the low 30’s, real-feel in the high 20’s.
PAX: Chainsaw, Ice-Nine, Doughboy, Fusebox, Dana, Posse, Stag (Q)
Quotes from the Gloom:
That’s pretty much how the mumblechatter went the rest of the time. But now onto…
The Thang
Moleskine (i.e., Spreadsheets from the Gloom)
It was a great time posting with these guys in SOB-land that I had met during my Passport Challenge travels. I’d crossed paths with Lex Luthor, Tagalong, and Rousey at least a couple of times and always enjoyed sweating alongside them. During the workout today, there was plenty of mumblechatter until everyone got too gassed to say much. =)
The 2nd F Coffeteeria afterwards at Einstein’s Bagel’s was equally awesome. I shared with the Pax there that, on the days when the weather is intense (i.e., heavy rain, low temperatures, high wind, snow, etc.) I always wake up and just smile, because I know it’s going to be one of those more “memorable” experiences. We rarely remember the sunny, 65 degree workouts as much as the beatdowns in the pouring rain. Deep thought for the day: One of the reasons why we men of F3 get up early to do hard, memorable, meaningful things while those we care about are still sleeping, is so that we can then go back home and do hard, memorable, meaningful things for and with those we care about. Life training happens in the gloom.
Announcements
YHC came in on two wheels, having hit every light in Ballantyne on the way to a fun morning at Stonehenge, and pulled a plastic create from the car to take along for the workout. That elicited questions of its purpose: milk crate? Are we picking up trash? Does he even have a purpose for it? Eventually it was abandoned on the ground near the rocks and that made even less sense. Time to get tired!
30-minute WARM-UP
60 merkins mixed in with running, SSH, squats, mountain climbers, something else
Mosey to the exercise equipment for mixing pull-ups with supines and squats
Head to the Lance/Campbell’s lot for 8 merkins at each of 5 lights and then 10 starfish crunches, followed by a 1-minute plank
THE THANG
Line up at the parking lot entrance to Bagpipe Hill for 4 round of a random number of squats or humpers then a sprint up the hill to a random marker.
To the back lot, grab rocks and the crate. Rock work while a guy pushed the crate with 2 rocks for makeshift hairburners.
Get back to COT.
MOLESKINE
It’s the first week of Flipper’s March Madness and YHC committed early Friday to knock out the 100 merkins, 10 pull-ups, 10 starfish crunches and minute plank during Stonehenge, but by the end of the day, the goal was to knock it all out before da Vinci even started. It was a challenge but we knocked it all out right at 0630 — good job, crew!
During the pull-ups there was a strange conversation about proper alignment etiquette when doing dips on the even bars. Apparently someone got too close to Rousey in the past and he felt a bit violated. With that, Lex explained that the only acceptable way to do dips on parallel bars:
“Either hole to hole or pole to pole.”
We were all educated that morning.
The sprints on Bagpipe were tough and Airwolf surprised everyone with a strong hustle on the first round. He said he laid out all out for that one, but when Tagalong wanted to win the next one, Airwolf wasn’t letting him have it easy.
With legs nice and tired, it was a great time to do hairburners. The PAX were excited to see how the crate would be used but quickly learned that is not any easier, especially 40 minutes into a workout. The push keeps the heart rate high and the grumbling constant.
Headed back to COT and may have arrived a minute late. YHC felt compelled to bring a good one considering the group who attend Stonehenge and at least one guy left exhausted. Great to see Spare Parts out, to see Airwolf in daylight and ahead of me in the sprints. Rousey always makes the workout a blast and Tagalong is never shirt on commentary. YHC could compliment Lex Luthor’s 100% at the workout but the wisdom he dropped trumps all. Never forget.
We had 15 for Hydra on what is hopefully winter’s last stand this morning. This damp, dreary, drizzly nonsense is a reminder that Charlotte, NC is the northernmost point that is fit for humans to inhabit. There was not much pre-workout chatter since I suppose everyone was tired from staying up to watch that UVA/Louisville game that ended up something like 39-36. I’ve seen 12U rec league games that are more action packed. Anyway, we set off to have ourselves a workout.
The warmup was a hodgepodge of the usual suspects with some Mary thrown in for good measure but omitting side straddle hops since roughly half the pax don’t bother to do them. After sufficiently warming ourselves we set off for the tables and bleachers near the concession stand at the back baseball fields. We took a bit of a meandering route because YHC wanted to appease the contingent that insists that every bootcamp should feature copious amounts of running. Actually, I just got disoriented because I’m typically only at OPE for 10U baseball in the daylight and momentarily forgot where the gate openings were. Once we reached our destination instructions were given to perform 100 dips and 100 split squats split evenly between both legs. These instructions were met with some slight pushback, but everyone acquiesced once they realized I was serious.
Next the plan was to go to the open field next to the launch lot, but it was still quite soggy so YHC accepted the group’s constructive criticism and not so subtle suggestions to adjust the location to the parking lot. Feedback is a gift they say. Whomever said that must not have ever been to Hydra. A variant of the Iron Horse merkin ladder was on tap, so we added squats to the merkins and ran back and forth several times across said parking lot, which looks downright silly when seen in print.
The third component of the workout was to take place at the church across Rea Road at the rock pile. Feeling generous, and since YHC runs slower than a three legged turtle crawling through maple syrup, I offered to let the pax run ahead and do burpees while they waited for me to arrive. Nobody accepted my benevolent offer however. I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed. At the rock pile it was time for some bodybuilding because summer bodies are built in the winter. We did some standard exercises; curls, extensions, presses, etc. and some not so standard ones. YHC introduced the group to the overhead weighted lunge walk, the Frankenstein rock walk, and the Sots press. Perhaps it was the fatigue setting in, but at this point it was difficult to tell if the chatter was fawning adulation or spiteful derision. It’s a fine line. Spackler and Marge decided to set off on their own, like Hermie and Rudolph because they wanted to get additional running in. Weirdos.
Back to the launch lot for some outsourced Mary, and a fair to middling takeout by YHC. Not many announcements save for a beer mile next Friday. One Site Q was in attendance today, but both made sure to text me several times throughout the week beginning on Monday afternoon. They needn’t have worried since I’m like a Lannister and always pay my debts, just without the blonde hair and incest. Not much mumblechatter during and after the workout, so you people didn’t give me a lot of material to work with for this backblast. Thursdays are a rarity for me since I bowl in a Wednesday night league, but it was good to see some faces I don’t run into nearly enough. Mostly it was good to catch up a bit with Geraldo, a/k/a The Peoples’ Champion. For those that would have preferred more running and less strength building, please see Jet Fuel for your refund once he returns from his stay at the luxurious Grove Park Inn. Besides, there’s always Devil’s Swift Twitch or whatever not too far away. Everyone should Q Hydra at some point, especially for introverts such as YHC. It requires a thick skin, a willingness to be assertive, and conviction to step outside your comfort zone. It’s good practice for life in general.