11 Men disregarded all normal thought processes as they drove to Matthews Elementary at 5:15 and it poured rain from the heavens, not knowing that in 15 more minutes, there would be stars in the sky! It looked like it would be a wet, soaking workout… but turned out to be only wet! Quickly 3 of us turned to 11, including FNG Al (who came with Dora). We disclaimed and took off into the damp but dry(ing) morning. Here’s how it went down:
The Thang:
We started with a slow mosey tour of the campus…just to make sure everything was still in place!
Circle-up back in the church parking lot for COP:
SSH x 20
Low Slow Squat x 20
Merkins x 10
Imperial Walker x 20
Mountain Climber x 20
Mosey to bottom of parking lot for YHC’s favorite Suicide Runs.
1. 3 lines of suicide touches, then sprint to top of parking lot; 10 Merkins OYO; Rinse and Repeat coming back (including 10 Merkins OYO)
2. 3 lines of suicide touches, then backwards run to top of parking lot; 10 Merkins OYO; Rinse and Repeat coming back (includinding 10 Merkins OYO)
3. 3 lines of suicide touches, then lunge walk to top of parking lot; 10 Merkins OYO; Rinse and Repeate coming back (including 10 merkins OYO)
Mosey over to Stumptown Park amphitheater… which is our wet weather contingency. Despite the drying skies, YHC still wanted to use the facility… kind of a Disaster Recovery test so to speak!
Grouped in 3’s:
1. P1 bear-crawl across the stage while P2 and P3 do squats… flap jack until stop.
2 P1 crab-walk across the stage while P2 and P3 do LBC’s… flap jack until stop.
Circle up for Tabata circuit. Starting with PAX we called the exercises for :40 seconds, then :20 second rest.
1. Flutter Kicks
2. SSH
3. Plank
4. Toe Squat (ask Booyah)
5. Wide Arm Merkins (smoker)
6. Burpees (fake last exercise)
7. CDD’s (are you kidding?)
Mosey back to parking lot…DONE!!
Moleskine:
Excellent work out there this morning! A special welcome to FNG – Snoopy (Al Pardo) who came with Dora. To claim to be an acquaintance of Dora is brave enough… but to hop in a car with him at 5:10 and head to a dark parking lot in the middle of the pouring rain is, well… enough said!! But seriously, welcome!! Great job out there for your first tme… looking forward to many more to come!
Also a hearty welcome to Body Bag, Grape Juice (Jelly Roll/Jelly Fish), and Lex Luther! I think you guys might have been to Peak before, but regardles… welcome and join us any time! Of course, all 3 were consistently at the head of the group for the exercises… especially the suicides. We will try to challenge you more the next time!!! 🙂
Thanks as always to the regulars that continue to get stronger… Geraldo, Booyah, Lamont, Swiss Miss, The Count… you guys keep the site going strong each week!
It is always an honor to lead such a great group of men!
Announcements:
1. Keep The Count (Jason Clark) and his family in prayers. Jason’s Mom, Dad and Mother-In-Law are all experiencing health issues, and just asking for God’s guidance and healing.
2. Dora mentioned the Red Light and Blue May 13th War Stories. May 14th is Go Ruck Light. Or consider sponsoring a vet to participate at www.vetsau.com
3. Let Slim Fast know if you are interested in running in the Blue Ridge Relay in September.
10 Goats took a break from Easter Egg painting, tying bows in their hair (if they have any), and pressing their Easter outfits to come out and further develop their running stamina and form. It was an AWESOME morning for running… and that we did! After a heartfelt disclosure for NO ONE… off we went (80% that is… Nuke and Mr. Brady made their usual late entrances!)
The Thang
1. Warm-up for 1 mile + some stretching
2. Head to Devil’s Turn (Starbucks at The Greenway), with repeating iterations of 2:00 I-pace, 1:00 recovery, 1:00 I-pace, :30 recovery, :30 I-pace, :30 recovery… repeat for 4-miles out and back.
3. Cool Down and quick stretching.. DONE!
5 to 5.5 miles covered depending on your pace.
Moleskine
Excellent job out there this morning. I was a bit relay-inspired from Palmetto, so I wanted us to start experiencing some different terrain and hills. The beauty of this program over a 4-mile course is that you can’t predict where you will be when a segment comes up. Which is much like a race where you will be hitting hills when you are feeling strong, and hitting them when you want to quit! We’ll keep doing these type of runs and I KNOW you guys will continue to crush it as you did this morning!
Special welcome to Thin Mint who came for his sophomore post after his V-post at Anvil! Brave man to tackle an unknown running workout, but Thin Mint quickly proved he can handle it! Great to have you out!
Mr. Brady and Thin Mint were leading the way for most of the morning. Retread was looking exceptionally strong after his exceptionally strong V-Q at Peak 51 on Thursday. Great stuff!
Kotters to Icicle, who got some extra credit with Huggy Bear… they both were at Devil’s Turn on Thursday, then MG on Friday…. #runningstrong!
Geraldo, Booyah and Strange Brew were consistent all morning, which is the name of the game!
Special shout to Nuke! He keeps getting stronger… he gave it all today! Runs like this morning are what pushes all of us to be ready for a variety of running challenges/eventst!
Again, excellent job to everyone who came out this morning!
Mr. Brady took us out in a strong Good Friday prayer!
Announcements (stolen shamelessly from Retread’s BB yesterday because they are that good!)
We will plan to be off-campus on Friday morning to do some 2-1-30 running on the open road. Here is how it will go down:
1. Warm-up/Stretching
2. We will head out for a sample relay-like run where we run at I-pace for 2:00, recover for 1:00, then I-pace for 1:00, recover for :30, and finally I-pace for :30 recover for :30.
3. Continue to repeat until we’re done on our “leg”.
4. Cool-down/stretching
Bring your headlamps if you have one. If you’re programming a watch, just repeat the 2-1-30 circuit 8 times… that should be enough for our time together.
See you in the morning! SF
I’ve written, re-written, and re-written this Back Blast 4-5 times now… and this is the version I’m going with! Unfortunately, a Back Blast doesn’t do justice to what our F3 Sixth Sense Palmetto 200 Ultra Team just accomplished… but it will have to do until the movie comes out!
The Thang:
Pretty simple… get 6 runners together, pile into a van on a Friday morning, head to Columbia/Lexington, run 205.4 miles, then come home… right??
Moleskine:
To say I’m extremely proud of what our team accomplished, and thankful for the men I got to share this experience with over this past weekend is an understatement. I will try to capture more thoughts later to share with others, but I want to get this out sooner than later!! I’ll keep this short and sweet… This was an INCREDIBLE team effort!
For the numbers, we completed the course in just over 27-hours, so I think the math turns out to be right at/or just under 8:00 min/mile.
205.4 miles isn’t easy with 9 guys, 12 guys… heck with 36 guys!! We chose the challenge of running with 6 runners: Sensei/Slim Fast, Dory, Cheese Curd, Sacagawea, Mr. Brady and Gerber. Mermaid was an original runner, but through an untimely injury, he served the team as driver.
Anyone that has run in a relay like this, including BRR, knows that injuries, jobs, family… life…. require pluses and minuses from the team. Ours was no exception. We had team changes in November, December, January, February, and as late as 10-days before the run.
On paper, our strength as a team was noted by several fast runners… Mr. Brady, Sacagawea, Gerber, Dory… those of you that do running workouts with these guys know how fast and strong they are.
But our true strength showed in how we overcame many obstacles before and during the race. This is what I wanted to recap in the Back Blast.
I know these guys didn’t make any of these physical and personal sacrifices for recognition… they made these sacrifices because that is what Brothers do for each other in good times… and in times of adversity!
I wanted the PAX of Area 51 to know what these men did over this last weekend! Everyone contributed to the team effort! They did more than just run a relay… they exemplified the true spirit of F3!
I was honored to be part of their team, and I’m honored to call them my Brothers! Aye!
Slim Fast
15 men enjoyed a beautiful Spring morning to work their legs and lungs for some interval training at Mountain Goat. With 12 checked in, we disclaimed and headed out to Strawberry Ln. As we left the SCMS parking lot, we were encountered by Nuke and Insomniac pulling in. They joined us during the warm-up run… but Insomniac wasn’t the last… that trophy was passed to The Mouth for the morning!
NOW we’re ready!!
1. Warm-up down Strawberry and back for 1-mile; Dynamic stretching
2. Starting at road hump… run at I-pace for 5 mins (2:30 out, 2:30 back), then 4 mins recovery x2
3. Run I-pace for 4 mins (2:00 out, 2:00 back), then 3 mins recovery x2
4. Run I-pace for 3 mins (1:30 out, 1:30 back), then 2 mins recovery… only once as we ran out of time
5. Cool down… return to SCMS parking lot.
DONE! 5.5-6/5 miles depending on pace.
Moleskine
This week’s program didn’t have too many moving parts… but the 5:00 min segments are tough! I could tell everyone was starting to dial in their pace through the workout as we started arriving back to the start point at about the same time. You guys did great!
Welcome to Band-Aid and Gomer Pyle as site FNG’s! You guys are welcome back ANYTIME!
Kotters to Icky and Booyah… great to have you boys back! It doesn’t look like you’ve lost too many steps!
The Mouth was fashionably 15 minutes late… great as always to have his unfiltered banter to pass the morning!
Brat and Joker led the pack as usual. Sensei was not far behind, and Voodoo was always close as well!
Geraldo, Retread, Insomniac, Nuke and Huggy Bear all continue to bring it strong every week!
Announcements
1. Red Ruck and Blue
2. Ballantyne Ballrog tomorrow on Saturday
3. Mud Run sign-ups
4. Blue Ridge Relay… start considering being on a team… Mountain Goat is PERFECT training!
Forgive the brevity… but we’re doing 5-5-4-4-3-3 Intervals at Mountain Goat tomorrow. It should go something like this:
1. Warm-up/Stretch
2. Run 5:00 at I-Pace, recover at 4:00 back to starting point x2
3. Run 4:00 at I-Pace, recover at 3:00 back to starting point x2
4. Run 3:00 at I-Pace, recover at 2:00 back to starting point x2
5. Cool-down/stretch
See you in the morning! Slim Fast
11 Goats decided to improve their stamina and running form instead of fart sacking on a Friday morning! Having disclaimed, we set off into the So. Charotte Mountains for something like this:
5.5-6.0 miles depending on pace.
Moleskine
I can’t ever say enough about how much you guys impress me week after week!! Everyone continues to get stronger and stronger… it is an honor to lead this group!
Insomniac is establishing himself as a regular, and getting stronger week to week! Kotters to Geraldo, who was tempted to put on Slim Fast as a ruck… but he resisted! Great to have him back after the Ruck Heavy.
Great to also see High Tide and Early Bird who have been away for a few weeks.
Huggy Bear, Strange Brew, Retread and Nuke were tearing it up as usual. Brady set the pace around the track. Nomad is nursing a hamstring, but great to have you out there working on getting healed!
Announcements:
1. F3 is 5… Saturday night
2. Let Slim Fast, Bratwurst or Turkey Leg know if you are interested in BRR… there will be opportunities… I promise!
3. Mud Run Sign-ups have started
4. Red Ruck and Blue kickoff tomorrow 4:00 at Little Sugar Creek
We’re pulling out what those in the running world would call a “golden oldie” called Yasso 800’s. The distance repetitions are ideal for where we are at collectively in our training regimen at Mountain Goat.
Here’s how it will go down:
1. Warm-up down Strawberry and back… head to track… stretching
2. Run 800m at I-pace followed by 400m recovery for the same time you ran the 800m (Example: You run the 800m in 4:00 mins, then run 400m in 4:00 min)
3. Rinse and repeat until we run out of time. We will regroup after 5 reps and then shoot for 2-3 more.
4. Cool down and stretching to end
Ahhh… nothing like classic Maiden to inspire classic O2 deprivation! It felt colder than YHC expected, but still 13 Mountain Goats woke up early on a Friday morning for a healthy dose of hill work in the beautiful neighborhood of Carrington. Never disappoints!
Here’s the Thang:
1. Warm-up jog down Strawberry into Carrington to the bottom of our favorite hill… 1 mi, plus some stretching.
2. Starting at the bottom, begin running up the hill at 50% for :30 seconds, then 75% for :20 seconds, then :10 seconds at 90%. Most of the PAX finished on the final incline of the hill… mission accomplished. Then jog back to the start line.
3. 5 repeats of that for 1 set. On the 5th repeat, 75% back to the start to do downhill training… which requires strong stabilizing muscles on tired legs.
4. Completed 2 sets, then started back… got 4 repeats done on the way back before ending in parking lot.
DONE!! 5 – 5.5 miles depending on speed during the repeats.
Moleskine:
Excellent job! As many are starting to think about running the Blue Ridge Relay, some for the first time, this type of training is essential to get you ready. We will plan to do more along the way to get us ready.
Frasier and Mr. Brady led the pack each repeat. Nomad, Voodoo and Sensei were never far behind. Glad The Mouth could make it by 5:20… did anyone go back to get him???
Insomniac keeps getting stronger each week! Freedom, Venus, Nuke, Strange Brew and Booyah… you guys are awesome!
Thanks to Booyah for the great prayer to send us off.
Based on the promise of warming temperatures, YHC was inspired for some Blue Ridge Relay early training… which means some hills!
After some warm-up, we will do the following:
1. Find the nearest hill that is uncomfortably steep
2. :30 seconds at moderate pace, then :20 seconds next harder pace, then :10 seconds near all you got… slow mosey back to start.
3. We will do that repeat 5 times, and then do a 2:00 recovery… that is 1 set.
4. We will plan to do 3 sets depending on the time.
Looking forward to seeing everyone Friday morning! 0500 for some early pre-warm-up warm-up. Main event at 0515.
See you at SCMS!