So here’s the deal. The A51 Board has talked about spicing things up a bit on the workouts with some special events. At the same time, there was rumblings from the PAX of repeating a little excursion we tried last winter at Day Zero. Enter the Mini-CSAUP. The basic gist is this:
The first Mini-CSAUP will launch from McAlpine Elementary School at 0700 on Saturday January 28. We will complete this Mini-CSAUP in 60 minutes. It will more or less be a repeat of this: http://f3nation.com/2016/01/16/youwerewarned/ (BTW, It was awful, which is why we should do it again) There may be a few modifications, but it will be basically the same. Why deviate from something already awesome? I can’t guarantee that Mittens the Cat will be there in person, but certainly in spirit.
Who’s man enough to step up to this, knowing what is going to happen ahead of time? Who among the original 16 will give it a second go?
Please HC below if you are in. It will help gauge the quantity of gear to bring.
If you have ideas for a future Mini-CSAUP, let me know and lets plan it.
-Alf
So Friday One-Eye emails me to remind me of my Monday Q at DMZ. With Snowpocolypse only hours away I took a look at the weather. Morning temps on Monday slated to be 7 degrees. Seven. As in you can count on one hand – Seven. I believe my coldest F3 post was 8 or 9 at Kevlar a few years back and it was not that fun.
But Alas this morning was about 17 degrees at the start. More than double the warmth we were supposed to have! (You engineering and science nerds may claim this is incorrect so you can leave Kelvin out of this)
7 mean of steely resolve set out to get the week started right. The pre-tweet mentioned we were going to be run heavy to keep warm and thats what we did. Planking and wall-sits seemed like a bad idea today.
The Thang –
Mosey north on Carmel to Sharon View. Hang a right and do a little COP with IW and Low Slow Squats in the Redeemer Presby Church lot. Cross the street onto Harrison Rd.
Partner up. P1 Runs down Harrison with a left on Howland. P2 heads down Gorham. Meet in the middle for 30 Handclap merkins. Come back the way you came. Flutter until the 6 is in.
Repeat in opposite directions – 30 2-hands on the ground jump squats.
Repeat first route – 30 plank jacks
Repeat opposite direction. No exercise, just meet and return the way you came.
Back out to Sharon View, hang a left and run to Hartmill. 2 rounds of run to the bottom, 10 8-count body builders, run to top.
Mosey back to launch with 2 stops of 5 x 8-count body builders at each stop.
Hit the parking lot right at 6:15
Frozen skin:
The PAX started out with a thoroughly improper disclaimer where I did say something about ice and don’t die or sue. On the warm up run I was pretty sure my face was about to freeze off. But after 2 miles all was good. One Eye claims the 4.4 miles was a DMZ record. I claim returning 100% of the PAX without frostbite was mission accomplished. I also brought my headlamp to try and scout the ice, but either it was frozen or the batteries were dead, because it was dim and about as helpful as a single christmas bulb. I need some help with Exterior Illumination.
I don’t come to DMZ enough so don’t know the area that well so I plan the route with Google Maps. Pretty pleased with the hills over there in Pellyn Woods. They kind of sucked. But all the PAX were crushing it. Pothole and One-eye, who both ran in were moving well and Rock was leading the pack on our side of the course. Doogie was tackling the hills hard as well. Pretty sure Margo lost 4 pounds coughing up phlegm out there but t-claps to him for continuing to post through this cold he is fighting off. What was the excuse for the rest of you who didn’t post? Good to see Jamboree out there. An original Mercury’s Minion BRR runner. I think I see him once a year now! Always posting on opposite sides of town.
Thanks to One Eye for the takeout.
-Alf
Read the Fast Twitch back blast yesterday and between that and Margo’s Strava update it appeared he was in no shape to be Q’ing Anvil today. After reaching out, he was more than happy to postpone the Q in favor of some fartsacking and recovery. Get well Margo. My condolences to the rest who endured my Anvil Subusti-Q
10 Men posted on a great December morning for a workout. Mosey to front parking lot for COT:
IW, SSH, Low Slow Squats, Mountain Climbers.
Move over to the hot box for: 3 rounds of 15 split leg squats (each leg), 15 Derkins, 15 Flutters. Head right over to the other side of the box for wall sits, low wall sits and arm raises.
Off to the playground and partner up. P1 does 10 pull-ups or to failure. P2 does 10 Burpees. Flap-jack and repeat 5 times through. That’s 50 burpees for McGee who didn’t show.
Move out of the playground to the waiting sandbags.
P1 Carry sandbag out to light-pole, P2 does 10 merkins and chases down P1, swap sand-bag and return. P2 Does 10 merkins when they get back. Repeat for 4 trips.
P1 run down around light pole while P2 does Good Mornings with bag. Flap Jack then repeat.
P1 run down around light pole while P2 does Chest Press with bag. Flap Jack then repeat.
Catch me if you can. P1 carry sandbag, P2 does 5 jump squats and chases down P1. Flapjack and repeat until we get to cars.
Mary – Freddy Mercury, Heels to Heaven, and Cumberland County Viaducts or whatever those side raise things are called.
Done.
Moleskine:
A great morning to be out in some perfect December weather. 2 Respects and 2 teenagers rounded out the group of 10. Mash, in on a break from the Air Force Academy, and Nemo were crushing it all morning, but Big League Chew and Marlin were right behind, ready to teach those whipper snappers a thing or two. O’Tannebaum snuck out of the darkness a few minutes into the workout like usual. Fault Line likes the sand bags so much he made his own. Be on the lookout. Turkey Leg brought his Brother-In-Law Bulls-eye in from Wisconsin. He made quick work of the sandbags. Apparently that’s the same size as a small block of cheese out there. My partner Abba made the sand bag carry’s look easy. I’m pretty sure his pace didn’t change much if he had the bag or not.
Thanks to Abba for the takeout.
-Alf
Announcements –
Sign up for Joe Davis Run next weekend. Looking like 200+ F3 PAX.
Matrix/DMZ convergence on Monday – 7AM at McKee Road Elementary.
16 men gathered this morning for F3 Kevlar. A little unpredictable with the temps. Monday started out in the 30’s followed by a few days in the 50s and 60’s. Today was back to just above freezing. Welcome to December.
5:30 and still some stragglers rolling in. A quick disclaimer and we were off. Fletch coming in hot, but we kept going. Safely assuming he would be able to catch up. Head down for a little COP beside the cemetery. SSH, IW, Dry Docks (Dry Dogs, CDD, whatever you feel like calling them), and some Mountain Climbers.
Head across 51 to the micro-neighborhood across the street. Partner up.
P1 goes this way, does 15 jump squats. P2 goes that way does 15 Jump Lunges. Meet in the middle for 15 handslap Merkins. flap jack and repeat. 4 total trips out and back.
Head to where the sidewalk ends and onto the fields. There may or may not have be a sign stating the fields were closed, but it was too dark to see.
Same Partners
Line up along side line. P1 Run to opposite sideline and back, P2 does called exercise.
100 Combined Heels to Heaven
150 Combined Merkins
200 Combined box cutters. Audibled to 150ish because the PAX whined. Why does my hip pop like this? It’s too many? Is this a Kegal exercise?
Head out for home, stopping along the way for a set of lifts with rocks.
2 quick rounds of curls, tricep extensions, and overhead press.
Finish with 15 burpees on your own.
Moleskine:
Not enough Operation Sweet Tooth contributions this morning for my liking. Hope to see more at the party this evening. There was however enough mumble chatter to go around. Certainly requires a little extra concentration on the cadence count. Thanks to Young Love, pretty sure he was the only guy to count out COP and keep things on track. He also provided timely legal advice yesterday letting me know breaking the rules in fine, if you don’t get caught. Too dark for the field usage police to find us out there this AM.
Good to see Brown out 2 days in a row. He ran in a bit late during the Partner Selection period. Felt like he was the last guy to get picked for a team in gym class. We partnered up. He was not enthused with all the running, but kept it moving.
Looking forward to our one-armed co-site Q to rejoin us soon. Not as weird without you.
Thanks to Squid for the takeout. He might actually provide more prayers than Simba on a weekly basis #wheelhouse
Announcements – Bring toys for Alexander Youth Network to Christmas Party tonight. Lots of them.
Sign up for Joe Davis 5k/10k and get your family and friends to sign up too.
-Alf
11 men posted this morning for a cool crisp edition of Fast Twitch. A fairly basic weinke today. Go run.
The Thang:
Run the mile out of the school and to the bottom of Raintree Ln for a brief warm up of squats and imperial walkers (crowd favorite). We completed this on time since it was too chilly for Joker to step off course and fertilize the front lawn of the Country Club.
Partner up, preferably with someone with differing speed than you. P1 runs Raintree Ln to 51 and back. P2 runs Raintree Ln to Providence in back. 15 hand slap merkins when you meet and then alternate sides and repeat. Speedy guys meet up with 6 an mosey back to the bottom of Raintree.
Mosey up to Providence Crossing (lots of complaints about going the wrong way) – I realized this may be the one street in Raintree I have never run on, but have passed at least 591,195,028 times. Run to end, 15 jump squats, return to Raintree for 15 jump squats. Nothing really impressive about the street. Moderate hill and townhomes. Meh.
Indian Run up the hill to Rounding Run. Three sets of AYG’s back to the school each 200m to 400m long.
Finish with 3 minutes of parking lot sprints.
Moleskine
Ahh – the old Raintree 5K in disguise. You still got the whole course, but this time got to start uphill no matter which way you went. Running the length of that road is just terrible. Doing it back and forth is just silly. Hope you enjoyed it. A strong morning by the PAX. There really was no six as they group stayed fairly tight.
-Alf
Announcements:
Sing up for Joe Davis run.
Bring toys for Operation Sweet Tooth to any workout or the Christmas Party.
I haven’t checked for grammar and spelling – that’s what Gummy is for. #Accountants
12 Men posted at Anvil this morning and got what was advertised. Strength plus high intensity cardio. The pre-blast Tweet even scared off the 2 site Q’s.
The Thang –
Disclaimer.
Run from cars over to front of Church for COT on the patio. SSH, IW, Very slow squats, and Merkins.
Mosey to Rock pile near 51. That’s where the good rocks are. Grab a lifting rock.
Note – Impressive crowd today as everyone picked a respectable lifting rock.
All rock exercises in Civilian Count to 15. Overhead squat, Curls, & Good Mornings. Repeat all three. Then plank.
While planking instructions were given. You were to run hard to given location. If you could have a conversation during your run, it wasn’t hard enough. Your pace and heartrate should reduce you to small grunts and fighting back the Merlot spills.
From the front of the church head back around the church, past the cars, out to Rea, left on Rea and stopping at 51. Mosey back to Rocks. Just over .5 miles at high pace.
Back to the rocks.
All rock exercises in Civilian Count to 15. Sots Press (Courtesy of Icky), Tricep Extensions, & Bent over Rows Repeat all three. Then plank. Repeat throw up run.
Back to the rocks.
All rock exercises in Civilian Count to 15. Thrusters, Front Raises, Louganis. Repeat all three. Then plank. Half the throw up run, stopping at tables by the cars.
A few rounds of 15 split squats each leg with 15 derkins followed by some Mary: Flutters and Dolly.
Circle up by cars for Burp and Merk – Starting at 1 merkin for burpee increasing 1 each time to 11. Freddy Mercury and Protractor to kill the time.
The Moleskine:
I learned something this week. From Joker. I was as surprised as you are. On Monday Joker jumped out of his car, 30 seconds late for his Matrix Q and just took off. Ran about a 6:30 pace for a half a mile. Did COP. Then did the same course in reverse at a similar pace. We did it one more time. It sucked. But I came to the realization that sometimes we all get into a bit of the standard rut of workouts. We do distance, but we settle into a comfortable 10K pace. We do wind sprints, but they only last for about 75 meters at a time (even though we claim they were 100m in the backblast). Sometimes we will recovery run to the light pole or tree and back, but that’s usually a fast mosey with too much chatter. All of these are good maintenance, but none stretch us outside of our comfort zone to improve.
Enter the hard pace middle distance. Short enough not to settle into the 10K pace, but far longer than a 15s sprint. And it’s straight awful.
Lots of strong workout there. Mermaid and his repaired knee was leading the pack. Followed closely by Depth Charge. I was suspect if Depth Charge was really worthy of such a handle, but he deserves it. Crushed the workout all while carrying, what sounded like, 15 pounds of keys in his pocket and in hot pursuit whoever was leading the run. Not sure what he was worried about. No one ever gets there car robbed at Calvary?
Red Rocks pulled a great Austin Powers impression on the way in this AM. I am pretty sure that was a 34 point turn to settle into a parking space. Right in the middle of a completely open lot.
Icky – big props for giving it all you got. And for feeding the birds.
Welcome to Puffs from Roanoke who is in town this week. Keep on coming out. Go Hokies!
O’Tannenbaum, was almost on time.
Really awesome job as everyone really gave it their all. I appreciate the effort.
Sign ups for Christmas Party and Joe Davis run. Lot’s of F3 PAX planning to attend both.
Thanks to Mermaid for the takeout.
-Alf
Rolled into Death Valley this morning with about 8 minutes to spare. 6 cars were already in the parking lot not a one man was outside his car ready to greet the PAX. What, now 48 degrees is too cold? As soon as I got out a familiar face was making his way. Flutie Flakes, in town from the great northeast, and the only man who can handle the weather. He talked of a soft launch of F3 New Hampshire coming up. Bring your snowshoes.
Then Semi-Gloss popped out. No, not out of his car, out of his home away from home, the SCMS throne. By this time the whole crew started to show up and by launch time we were at 19 strong.
Mosey down to the track for a little wandering COP. 4 laps around the track stopping regularly for some very slow squats, slow merkins, protractor, Carolina dry dock, burpees and maybe some other things.
Mosey back up towards the stairs by the toilets and Partner up. P1 runs down to railing for 20 supine pull ups. P2 does 10 Merkins then 10 jump squats; repeat in perpetuity. Flapjack for 2 rounds each.
About this time Dollywood mumble something like he expected my Q to be harder. Harsh.
Moseyed down to the baseball bleachers for some single leg step ups and single leg squats to get the legs warm then back to the track. Timed mile on tired legs. Go.
Turkey leg ran off into darkness by the middle of lap 2. Dollywood wasn’t far behind. Spackler came coming in hot as well. You would have thought I was giving out cocktails for finishing fast.
Back up to the lot and finish with some slow squats.
I think we did some planking sprinkled through all that.
Moleskine:
Did we miss the 50+ degree mornings? Seems like it went right from 75 degrees to sub 50. A lot of work put in today by all. A solid mix of running and work to try to keep the heart rate elevated for most of the workout. The track is so darn dark it’s really hard to tell who was crushing it and who may have been just leaning on the fence the whole time, but most looked fairly gassed from the timed mile.
The day started with Flutie and Stage Coach posting at the same workout. Little miracles like that make the day go better. And don’t let Stage Coach complain about his bum shoulder either. He did fine out there this AM and should be out there more.
Thanks to Skywalker for the takeout and prayers to Spackler and family.
-Alf
It was good to be back at The Matrix after a bit of hiatus for the BRR. Spent too many Monday’s running up and down that McHorseArse hill off the greenway. Good to be back out today with an all regular crew. Steady as she goes at The Matrix.
By the time 5:30 rolled up on us, 19 PAX had arrived on a great cool morning. O’Tannenbaum was last – but there with 2 minutes to spare. Disclaimer butchered and off we moseyed to basketball goals with a little shuffle right and shuffle left on the way there.
COP: The usual suspects, SSH, IW, Merkins, Peter Parker, and low slow squats.
The meat of it:
Mosey to the track: 10 Merkins, 10 RDL’s (5 each leg), and 10 Heels to Heaven run the track. Repeat 3 more times with reps increasing to 20, 30 and 40.
Plank for six then mosey to the tires on the backside of school.
10 Sit ups, 10 squat jumps (jump over tire), and 10 Mountain Climbers run down the path to the railing and back. Repeat 3 more times with reps increasing to 20, 30 and 40.
Plank for six then mosey to the tires on the playground.
5 Toes to Bah, 10 derkins, and 10 dips run around far island and back. Repeat 3 more times with reps increasing to 20, 30 and 40. (5, 10, 15, and 20 for Toes to Bah)
Done.
Moleskine:
We busted tail from start to finish on this one today. Most PAX finished the 3rd round on the playground and were working on round 4 when we ran out of time. After all the prior core work most were happy to cut the toes to bar in half, and even that was pushing the luck, but Lobster seemed to be enjoying it.
Cold Cuts, Smokey, Witch Doctor, Lobster Roll, and Orange Whip were crushing it out there today. Turkey Leg let me know early that he came out to The Matrix as a “recovery day” from his long run yesterday. Way to prop up the Q’s ego. Surely back in the day you must have used pick up lines like: “You look way prettier with make-up”, “No, you’re not as fat as some girls,” and “Don’t worry, you should be smart enough to pass the GED.” Smooth for sure.
In an effort to actually get the PAX to jump as part of the jump squat I asked them to actually jump over the tire. It might be a whole 10″ high. It worked, except the squat part of the exercise soon was lost and it was mostly bunny hops over the tire. Next time burpee tire jumps should do the trick. (Lobster Roll just got interested).
Appreciate you all letting me lead and for Squid, Pop Tart and Witch Doctor continuing to do a great job with one of the oldest A51 workouts going.
Thanks to Squid for the takeout.
-Alf
Announcements – Sign up for Southern Discomfort.
19 Men showed up at Kevlar this morning looking for Fun Friday and got some work done instead. I had to arrive early for a bit of setup and got a few treats. Fault Line stretching solo in the parking lot. Legs spread uncomfortably wide for him or us. Horsehead’s empty truck while he was out on a 1.2 mile pre-run and Lex Luthor rolling up in a bright yellow shirt on his bike. Helmet 2 sizes too big. Then you had TR and his orange mid-life crisis posting up with the playlist of an unpopular middle school girl blaring.
Anywho, time to get down to business. No FNG’s so disclaimer was short and incomprehensible.
Mosey down to school parking lot for COP:
IW + 1 Burpee
Squats + 2 Burpees
Merkins + 3 Burpees
Mountain Climbers + 4 Burpees
Planked hip taps + 5 Burpees
Wide Arm merkins + 6 Burpees
Romanian Dead Lifts + 7 Burpees
Flutters + 8 Burpees
Carolina Dry Docks + 9 Burpees
Diamonds + 10 Burpees
Mosey back up to the field and grab a partner. Break out to circuit stations. One team is timer with lap around the track while everyone else does work, then rotate station (one team per station). We did too full rotations.
Sandbag goblet squat
Sandbag overhead press
KB Highpull
Parallel bar dips
Pull ups
Log or Tire flip
Tire broad jumps
Tire toe taps
Tire front raises
Single leg squats
Mary finisher with Dolly, Heels to Heaven, and LBC.
Moleskine:
Low mileage promised and low mileage delivered. Brown would have liked it, if he posted anymore. BRR is over, its more than time get back into the business of using muscles above the waist. Lots of chatter this morning making it hard to keep track of the cadence. Mostly came from the burpee refusniks, you know who you were. Props to my partner Squid who just can’t help himself with the perfect form. Makes us all look bad. It was dark out there, but everyone seemed to be making good use of the gear.
Announcements:
High T continues, Saturday 6 AM.
Thanks to Squid for the takeout.
-Alf
12 men, including 1 FNG started their Saturday way too early in the morning for my liking. 5:58 and PAX were given 2 disclaimers.
Disclaimer #1: I think leaving early to double down at another AO is blasphemous. So if anyone plans on it, the rest of the PAX is getting upgraded punishment. Oops – General is Qing DaVinci
Disclaimer #2: Standard, if you die you can’t sue anyone stuff.
6:00 and we were off.
Head to intersection of Johnston and B’tyne Commons. Low Slow Squats while we wait for the traffic light. Seriously? 6AM on a Saturday in the summer? Where are you people going?
Continue east down B’Tyne Commons. This is when Wild Turkey pipes in:
WT: You do know all the Premier Decks are off limits, right?
Me: Which ones are Premier?
WT: I think all of them.
Me: Well, too late now, the weinke is already done. Pretty sure its against policy to change it 5 minutes into a workout.
Cut into the office complex through some bushes, some of them roses. Clearly I don’t know where I am. Circle up in front of a couple of parking decks for IW, Merkins, Mountain Climbers and Plank-o-Rama.
1st Deck: 20 Merkins at bottom, Up stairs, 20 Merkins at top, down stairs, 20 merkins at bottom, up ramps, 20 merkins at top, down ramps. Glute Bridge’s while we wait on the six.
Mosey down walking path (not a golf cart path). Stop for 30 dips on bench.
Hit another set of parking decks, wander until we find stairwell. Locked. Audible.
2nd Deck: 20 Romanian Dead Lifts (10 each leg), run up ramps, 20 RDL’s at top. Open unlocked stairwell at the top, run down and back up, 20 RDL’s, run down ramps, 20 RDL’s at bottom. Plank-o-rama while the six finishes.
3rd Deck: Whoa, General rolls out (without even a goodbye) audible out of plan and go with Burpees. 15 at bottom, run up ramps, 15 at top, down ramps, 15 at bottom. Lunge walk up the ramp while we wait on six. I didn’t feel like wandering around to find the stairs on this one.
Head back down walking trail and stop for 30 dips on bench. LBC’s to gather the PAX.
Head back to Deck 1. 2 quick trips up and down the stair case. Flutters at the end.
Back to B’Tyne Commons. AYG to Johnston, a third of a mile-ish. Wait forever on traffic light. Listen to Tiger Rag nag about how we are now 30 seconds over time. Bolt across Johnston and the marginally aggressive morning drivers.
Back to launch 2:30 late. Sorry, but I am sure you appreciated the extra stair climbs that put us over time. And traffic is unpredictable.
Moleskine:
Thin Mint is fast. And he smiles a lot while he runs past you. Very Fraiser-esque of him. Now he needs the swish-swish shorts. The General was all moving quickly as well, but I guess you can put in a little extra effort when you are only doing half the workout. Probably just broke out the yoga mat’s at DaVinci and talked about their feelings. Fault Line claimed I was giving him Plantar Fasciitis with all the stairs. Probably not good for your BRR teammate. Lot’s of guys gutting it out and giving it all they had this morning. I appreciate the effort.
After the last deck a white OJ Simpson style SUV passed by. Wild Turkey claimed it was Security. We acted cool. Nothing to see here. They moved on, as they should have.
Thanks to TR for the take out.
-Alf
Announcements: Golf, next April. Pool Party in 2 hours. Curd still needs a runner for BRR.