15 men posted to Kevlar. Orange Whip (site Q) was a bit nervous that YHC over extended himself on other Q’s this week and wouldn’t have the energy to bring it today. Hopefully you weren’t disappointed.
The Thang:
At 5:29 a disclaimer and fair warning was given and off we went moseying towards the lacrosse field. Throw in some shuffle right/left to slow the pace for Floor Slapper coming in hot. Circle up in lacrosse field (thanks Horsehead, Tiger Rag, and others for your donations) for COP.
– SSH x 20
– Low Slow Squats x 15
– Alternating Lunges x 15 (with awkward moment as Horsehead lunged uncomfortably close to the Q.)
– Merkins x 15
– Plank Jack x 10
– Low Plank Jack x 10 (already lots of modifications going on)
Pick it up and mosey across 51 to the mini-neighborhood with the hill.
5 trips up the hill with escalating exercises 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 reps of Merkins at the top and Heels to Heaven at the bottom.
Back up the hill and line up on the guard rail (some concerns with drunk drivers and ladies putting on their makeup bouncing off the guardrail. We stayed on the inside.
3 Rounds of:
Mosey back to track by the school and circle up for some Mary. Freddy Mercury, flutter and plank work.
Break off into two teams for dodge ball.
Rules:
While dawn was breaking it still was difficult to see some of the balls but seemed to go over well. Likely only 1 or 2 Tommy John surgeries required in the throwing arms.
Moleskine:
It’s been tough to post on Friday’s due to the Thursday double down’s but was good to get back to Kevlar. A solid group out there looking to get some work done but still keeping the Fun Friday’s going. Credit to Horsehead, Pop Tart, and Fault Line who just finished Ghost Runner with me 9 hours early in 90 degree temps and 400% humidity with Code Yellow air pollution concerns. Speaking of pollution and Pop Tart – he singled handedly moved us from Yellow to Purple this morning. He might need to throw out those shorts.
Orange Whip and Drive By were out in front all morning. Tackling Dummy wasn’t far behind. Good to see Curd out after being on IR for the better part of 17. He was hanging in there and didn’t gain 100 pounds so he must have been doing something on IR or just eating well.
It’s BRR season so I don’t hit many boot camps these days but good to be back out with Cotton Tail, BLC, Young Love, Lex Luthor and Harley, who among others smartly avoid the BRR each year! Teams still need drivers so if you want all the 2F and sweaty van smells without the running, sign up to drive.
Ready Mix was pulling up early with calf cramps – hope that eases up on you today. Way to hang in there. The weather out there will dehydrate any of us quickly.
Thanks to Orange Whip and Fault Line for keeping Kevlar going strong.
Solid take out by Cotton Tail.
-Alf
Announcements:
You are reading this on the new F3SouthCharlotte.com web site which we are using now. F3Nation was getting crushed at scale so the regions have all broken off. T-Claps to Wingman for setting this one up for us.
F3 Golf–10/27/2017. All funds for F3 Leap expansion efforts. Olde Sycamore GC. Great time to give it away.
15 or so men showed up in the pitch black parking deck at Horsey. Some had read the pre-blast and showed up anyway. Some didn’t. It didn’t really matter as instructions were quickly re-hashed in the 20 seconds before the clock struck 5:15 and it was on. 1,100 feet of climb this AM! And that was a bit less than Rachel and Lee would have hit. Not sure how many other weekly F3 workouts can claim that kind of elevation gain in an hour.
The Thang:
The Triple Lindy Challenge:
Moleskine:
I pulled in 6 minutes early only to see a figure running down Old Bell. Apparently Swiper needed an early start to get an early finish to do something else early that was not likely that important. Or maybe it was. The point is, I never talked to him so who knows. I did see him on Round 1 coming up the Wilby hill for his 3rd run up and that was it. How much he did or didn’t do is on his own conscious, maybe he left to hang out with Chester.
Bad news for Lee was he was out in front all morning. From the gun he was gone. So any toxic clouds Swiper left behind him were going to hit Lee smack in the face. He powered through and still crushed the course.
We were spread out from there, so the details of everyone gets a little hazy. A few items of note.
Orlando pulled the wily veteran move at the bottom of Blue Ridge Dr, Stretching out his calves to take a break from running up and down this nonsense.
Thin Slice had a jersey on this morning with Pony written across the back. A few weeks back he Q’ed with a Horse jersey on. At the time it seemed kinda cool that he had that Horse jersey. Now combined with the Pony it’s a little bit weird. But hey – whatever you’re into.
Black Jack (recommended by PAX this AM to rename to Slim Jack) along with Hollins and Ann & Hope (recommend by me to change to pretty much anything but a sunken ship or defunct New England department store) were running well all morning and would have completed Round 2 with a few extra minutes added to the clock.
Fault Line and Duct Work seemed to partner up behind The Mouth and his High Viz Vest or they were drafting from him. Either way, no one got hit by a car so the High Viz worked.
Here’s where it get’s a little weird. Prohibition claims to have seen a friend of Chester (but not Chester) out and wearing nothing but a jock strap. Not sure if anyone can corroborate this story or if it was just in Pro’s dreams. He did smile a little smile when he said it, which made me uncomfortable.
This backblast is not going to win the annual backblast challenge at Horsey. I’d give it a C+ or B-. But if anything you got what you came for at Horsey this AM. Hills. And lots of Hills. Plus this Backblast is published on the same day, so I should get some credit for that.
Thanks for joining me this morning and thanks to Duct Work for the takeout.
-Alf
After a few weeks of shenanigans at Horsey, its time to get back to some meat and ‘taters style running up and down hills. There will be no sandbags. There will be no dark haunted trails. A headlamp may be recommended, but not required. There will be hills and the Triple Lindy Challenge.
The Triple Lindy Challenge:
According to the Google this will suck balls. Google also says 2 rounds including the run in/out to parking lot would get you somewhere around 7.25 miles and 18 nasty little climbs, plus a few extra climbs around the mountain view loop.
It will be You vs. You vs. that guy just ahead who you should be trying to track down and pass (as long as that guy isn’t Chester, then I suggest hanging far back. But, whatever you’re into.)
Modify if needed, but be at the flagpole for the Pledge of Allegiance at 6:10 AM. Don’t be early and don’t be late.
Any FNG’s tomorrow might get named Rodney.
SYITG
-Alf
17 men circled up at 0530 this morning ready to sweat out the beer and grilled meat from a Father’s Day weekend. I think we go some of it accomplished.
Disclaimer – don’t get hurt or it’s your fault.
Mosey down McKee towards fire house. Plank at first street and wait for six. Head down that street and plank again at the T intersection. Run through the back fields of McKee Rd Elementary and up onto the pavement.
COP – SSH (As requested), Low slow squats, IW, Merkins, Mountain Climbers.
Mosey to open field in back of school and partner up.
P1 runs to play ground does 10x Pull ups. P2 Runs to stumps and does 10x step ups.
Meet back in the middle for 10x hand slap merkins. flapjack.
Repeat x3
Next Round, same as the first except switch to Toes to Bar and Full Sit ups.
Mosey to rock pile and pick up rock for curls, Louganis, tricep extensions, and flutter with press. Drop rock and head towards fire station and stop at first road. Backwards run to next intersection and mosey to the T-intersection. All you got ~400M back to school. Choose your own direction.
Done.
Moleskine:
So at the conclusion of the first lap around the AO and back up to the fields Orange Whip and I came up on a group of deer at about 10′ away. Not sure who was more scared, the deer or me. I don’t think either one expected to see the other that close up in the dark. They took off and kept their distance the rest of the workout.
Didn’t recognize Chin Music this morning in the new stream lined hair cut. Bunker and Honey Bee would approve. Strong outing by the group, I’ve only posted with Body Bag and Square Root a few times and they kept it moving. I think it was my first post with Icing and LaRonda and they were killing it too. If anyone wondered Squid had perfect form on Toe’s to Bar. Arms locked at 90 degrees, knees locked out, smooth transition from top to bottom. Joker showed up late, I guess and somehow popped out of the woods after the first COP exercise. Great to have you.
Announcements:
UCo Happy Hour starting this week at Wesley Chapel, Hickory Tavern, Thursday night.
Kevlar converges with Joust this Friday at Joust!
Thanks to Squid for the take out.
-Alf
35 Dads and 2.0’s showed up to Beatty Park this morning for the first A51 Dad’s workout of the year. I wide range in ages and F3 Dad’s experience but we got right down to it.
A bit of a disclaimer upfront to watch out for Ant Mounds all over the field. There was a bunch of them but I didn’t see anyone get bit.
The Thing – Mosey from Left field to Right field and Circle Up for COP.
Coach the 2.0’s on cadence count and hit some SSH, Merkins, Squats and Mountain Climbers.
Mosey over to outfield fence to find a stretch of grass with no ant mounds. Dad’s plank up and kids go for 2 rounds of Tunnel of Love. Got to get this in early because the kids love it and the dads weren’t sweating too much yet.
Head over to the 2nd base line and line up for animal walks. Bear crawl, Unicorn Walk, Mountain Lion, Crab Walk and a few PAX picks – Penguin, Scorpion, and Bear Crawl with a push up every 3 steps (who teaches their kid this?)
Water break and set up for Hula Relay’s
5 teams.
Relay one – run to each hoop (3) pull them over your body and drop them down, turn around cone and come back through all 3 hoops the same way.
Relay two – Dad’s hold 3 hoops and kids crawl through each hoop, around cone, and back. Repeat with kids holding and dad’s running and repeat again with the kids running.
Relay three – Shuttle run – carry wiffle ball to opposite hoop, drop one ball, pick up the other and bring it back to 1st hoop.
Water Break
10 minutes of Hula Hoop Freeze tag. If you have the hoop you are a tagger. Ring the hoop over someones body and they are frozen. Someone else pulls hoop over them to unfreeze them. Now that person has the hoop and is a tagger.
Hand out all the Hula Hoops as door prizes – one to each family.
Done.
Moleskine:
Certainly looked like everyone was having a great time and got some exercise out there. Not too bad this morning but certainly going to get more muggy from here! Encourage fellow PAX to come out and spend time with their 2.0s. It’s a great way to spend a Saturday morning.
Now I have some chores to knock out!
Thanks to Lex Luthor for once again stepping up to lead F3 Dad’s this summer. Also thanks to Mermaid for the great takeout.
-Alf
106 Days until the BRR and time to start the double down training! Or at least carb loading with some local brews.
It’s the return of the original Stink and Drink, Thursday, June 1, Ghost Runner will launch from the Arbo ABC at 7:30 PM. This is your time to train AND ruin a few Girls Night Out evenings while we stench up Vintner.
The goal for this workout is to simulate the BRR and get used to training on short recovery times by running Thursday morning at Devils Turn on your own, run Thursday night, and workout again Friday morning. It will also help train at hotter temperatures than we normally get during the 5am hour.
There are links below to set 6 mile and 4 mile routes which cover the hilliest portions of Raintree. You may choose to modify with more or less mileage, but this is not designed to be your long slow distance run of the week. The average BRR leg is just under 6 miles and this is planned to mimic a BRR scenario.
6 Mile route – http://www.strava.com/segments/12183575
Turkey Leg holds the Strava Crown at just over 42 minutes – who’s going to take it from him this season?
4 Mile route – http://www.strava.com/routes/5221701
While these will be the primary routes this summer, stay tuned to twitter and pre-blast options for alternatives throughout the summer.
And as we learned last year, the real driver of PAX to this is the added incentive local craft beers at Vintner’s in the Arboretum immediately following (call it 8:30 to 8:40 for those of you who can’t make the running portion of the event.) Bring a towel, dry clothes, and maybe some deodorant to make yourselves somewhat tolerable to the ladies night out groups at Vintner’s.
-Alf
14 men showed up at The Big House to get the week started off right. It was good to be out with some guys on the West Side of South Charlotte. We don’t cross paths very often and its great to meet new guys and catch up with old ones.
5:30 Came, we hit the disclaimer and off for a mosey around the ball fields (mostly to see what was there as I have only been to this AO one other time) and settle up for COP in the far parking lots.
COP: SSH, lunges, merkins, plank jacks, low plank jacks, low slow squats. I skipped the imperial walkers and I know you all really wanted them!
Move over to the row of parking spaces. Each man plank along a parking space line.
Plank walk left one space, one merkin (single count cadence). Plank walk right one space, 2 merkins. Repeat up to 10 merkins. This was terrible and might have been the most challenging cadence call I’ve ever done. I think everyone felt that one.
Mosey over to the elevated planters and partner up.
P1 Does called exercise, P2 runs around island (audible to run over to trailer and back due to alternate bootcamp clogging up the works). Exercises were 100 total step ups Right Leg, 100 Left leg, 200 dips.
In the middle we did some Mary – Flutter, Heels to Heaven, Freddy Mercury, Planks, and Squid’s v-position single and double leg raises.
Mosey to bridge for 20 Derkins with feet on top rail. Mosey around ball fields toward home with a stop of LBC’s while the six caught up. Stop at cross walk for final 100m AYG to the street and back to cars. 60 seconds left for 10 burpees on your own.
Done
Moleskine:
Good group out there today and appreciate the invite from Dumpster Fire and Cheddar. And so you all know, those guys have done a great job planning and running that site. Its a little farther out than our usual comfort zone, but it is growing and encouraging new guys to step out, join F3 and become leaders. Not to mention they basically roll out the virtual welcome mat for guys coming into Q. T-Claps men! Get out there and try it.
Tried to mix it up a bit from my usual run heavy Q style. I think everyone got enough Merkins in and that was just the first 15 minutes.
Thanks to Dumpster Fire for the takout.
Alf
Announcements:
Lots of Memorial Day weekend convergences on Saturday and Monday. Pay attention to Slack and Twitter for the details.
FNG day, Wednesday at The Maul.
Give Money to Speed for Need – Great cause and ability to make a huge impact on some kids who need it most.
12 men posted for the now combined Saturday workout – Rock Zero. (2 others were across the lot at High T and joined us for the first 5 minutes and the last 5. Suckers for joining us on the last 5)
Full and complete disclaimer that would stand up in court was given and off we moseyed.
Head towards High T group and invite Hoover and Ickey to join us for COP:
SSH, IW, Merkins, Mountain Climbers, Low Slow Squats – the usual. I could tell Ickey and Hoover were looking forward to unloading more gear out of Hoover’s car, so we left them and headed out of Calvary and down 51. Stop at Elm to gather the PAX with a little planking then on to McAlpine Elementary.
Partner up.
P1 Run around school and do 10 pull-ups on pull-up bars and back. P2 stays at benches and does 15x Lil’ Haze Right leg, 15x Lil’ Haze Left leg, 15 dips and repeat until P1 returns. Flapjack, complete 3 rounds each. Finish with some planks.
Head up and over Caswell despite the groans from most except Rachel who thought he was getting an escort back to the house. Settle up a the bottom of Caswell.
Triple Nickel – Jump Squats with 2 hands touching the ground at the top, 8-count Body Builders at the bottom. All exercises 5x each and repeat up and down the hill 5 times.
If finished early backwards jog up hill.
Run back home via Bevington and Rea with stops for planks, held squats, and Derkins with feet on the top handrail.
Run back to Calvary, sucker High T to join, then go immediately to North Face for run up, 20 Flutters, back down and repeat.
Head back to launch, Flipper says we have 30 seconds left, so we did 5 burpees.
Moleskine:
Strong work by all out there today. I don’t think Big League Chew and Jet Fuel liked the longer distance but they were digging in the whole time. I really could’t do that many merkins due to BLC crushing them yesterday at Kevlar. Had to audible out and run instead.
Prohibition and Flipper thought it was wise to pre-run. It wasn’t.
Fault Line and Deep Dish were neck and neck behind me the whole morning as we all tried to catch Rachel. We did a little reminiscing about his FNG post. He came out because he saw a bunch of dudes running around his ‘hood on a Saturday morning and thought it looked like fun. He crushed it that day.
Purple Haze is cranking back up the workouts and was good to see. Prohibition cried about what shoes to wear and get dirty because they were new and fancy or something. In the end he left his purse in the car and came out with us.
Flipper maintained good site Q status watching the 6 more me and taking us out in the end.
Other stuff happened but I was too busy swatting the hordes of gnats that seemed to follow us around the whole morning.
-Alf
Announcements
Next week is Memorial Day (Saturday) convergence at Rock Zero on Saturday – Best workout of the year. Don’t miss it.
Memorial Day is convergence is at South CLT Middle
Donate to Tolkiens efforts to buy high end light weight wheel chairs for kids who can’t otherwise race.
18 men showed up at Anvil this AM. Only one man pre-requested an exercise. The rest got stuck with it. The men of Anvil are accustomed to highly difficult workouts and this would hopefully hit the mark. I felt bad for the 2 FNG’s he really didn’t know what they got themselves into.
5:30 the hammer drops. Let’s roll.
Mosey around the parking lot and to the astroturf entrance of the Church for COP of Merkins, Burpees, Squats, Peter Parker, Freddy Mercury, and something else I forgot.
Partner up. Exactly 9 pairings worked out nicely for the 9 pieces of gear I had.
Run over and grab a lifting rock, 1 per team and head over to the entrance near the soccer fields. There I had 8 weight plates and one speed sled with 50 lbs on it.
9 Rotations of the following: P1 does Hariburners, Speed Sled, or plate grip carry while P2 does: Merkins, Jump Squats, Curls, Triceps, OH press, Rockies, Good Mornings, Goblet Squats, and Lougainis. The timer for each round was the pair on the speed sled.
Go put the rocks back and a little CMIYC with the plates on the way back to the car. Most were right on time but Icky and Champagne dragged the speed sled all the way back to be a minute or so late. It still looked way easier than that Smokey Mountain Relay they ran.
Moleskine:
Already late so I’ll be brief.
Hard to hear a lot of mumble chatter out there with a speed sled and 8 plates a burnin’ but lots of work being put in. The teams of Icky/Champagne and Lobsta/McGee picked some boulders for lifting rock. Sorry if you got those on your triceps or curl rotations. Some others were pretty light and you may want to reevaluate what you determine an appropriate lifting rock. Good to see Cane back out. Haven’t seen much of him since he became full time entrepreneur. Go see him at his garage, and advocate we re-name him to Cooter. Great work by the new guys Tri Delt who is McGee’s auditor and The Wall who apparently caught Purple Haze at the mailbox or the community pool, learned about F3 and rode his bike up from the apartments. (Haze usually drives the half mile to Anvil)
Thanks to McGee and Lobsta for the Q, Mermaid for the sendoff, and the PAX for digging deep to get through that one.
-Alf
So this backblast is later in the day than I wish it was, but work got in the way and work pays the bills. Maybe if F3 started paying the Q’s I could make more time in the day for this sort of shenanigans, but while F3 does a lot of great things, paying my bills is not currently one of them.
21 guys and very importantly, 5 of them Hokies posted at Fast Twitch. One of them (hint: it was me, wore a stylish v-neck running shirt.)
The Thang:
Whats there really to say. We ran. It’s Fast Twitch.
Mosey quickly down to gravel lot by the club house for some Squats and Imperial Gummy’s to stretch things out. Mosey up Raintree and down to the creek crossing on 4 mile creek. Partner up. P1 runs left and around townhouse loop and back. P2 runs right out to flashing red light and back. Meet for 20 Handclap merkins. Switch sides and repeat. Repeat again but next round do 20 decline merkins while partner planks. Switch sides again for the 4th round. Lead guys mosey back for the six. Run back to school with 3 sets of AYG intervals and maybe some planking and LBC’s.
Moleskine:
So I rolled in right at the buzzer this AM. Sometimes the morning bowel’s take a little longer than others mornings. We can’t all come early and crowd out Semi-Gloss from the SCMS crapper. Everyone was quick to admire my ever so stylish v-neck running shirt. Hater’s gonna hate is all I can say. It’s cool, comfortable, and visible at 200′ with high beams. #Jealous
Hairball was quite easily goaded into posting this morning as long as we let him take his shirt off in the spring time heat. And he did, even though it’s clearly against the Raintree HOA bylaws. #Scowflaw.
Was good to see my Hokie Brethren two days after the 10 year anniversary of the shooting on VT campus. Hairball, Turkey Leg, Baracus, and Joker were all out and running hard. #GoHokies
Prohibition and Duct Work seemed generally disappointed to have me as a partner. Well, not sure about Duct Work, but Pro was not thrilled. I used deodorant this AM? Haze ran steady all morning even though he hates 4-mile creek. Soul Glow, Utah and Ironside also keep the steady non-stop pace all morning. Semi Gloss runs hard for the first few miles then seems to get bored so he hangs back with the six. Brady is quickly making his way back to the front of the Pax which is great news for the Minions BRR team.
Chin Music, Rachel and Joker blew through the first AYG down Raintree Lane. Good news – they were the first PAX to the gravel lot. Bad news – they were still probably a minute off the average pace it would take to win the Boston Marathon. Need to go sub 5 minute pace the whole way!
Dishwashers. Ok this has nothing to do with the workout but I need to get it out there. And you all can ignore or comment. Either way it’s off my chest.
I take loading the dishwasher as a challenge. I’m pretty sure I can some how cram 4 days and 3 full cabinets full of dishes into one load of the dishwasher, with breathing room to clean in between. Not a single tine goes unused, it takes some shuffling but can be done. When done well it’s a site to behold.
My M however performs some other miracles with the dishwasher. Can she fit more dishes than me? Of course not, that’s a crazy thought. The miracle is that somehow she can take one small glass, a salad bowl, and a spoon and arrange them in such a way, right down the middle of the dishwasher so that nothing, not a plate, not a knife, not even a toothpick more will fit in the dishwasher. Somehow those 3 items consume all 15 cubic feet of space in the dishwasher and she is ready to run it. Drives me crazy.
Of course I am smart enough to never mention this trait to her, I just go about my nightly business of rearranging things to fit like it was meant to. Apparently M’s don’t like #Mansplaining.
I don’t know, maybe you know what I am talking about and maybe you don’t.
Announcements: Free spot on Smokey Mountain Relay team this weekend. Surely you can’t miss the tweets if you want details.
Thanks to Brady for the takeout.
-Alf