17 PAX posted in the gloom for glorious
The work went like this:
COP
40 SSH IC
30 Mountain Climbers IC
15 Merkens IC
30 Imperial Walkers IC
20 Squats IC
Mosey around the left side of the school stopped at one of the lights did 5 Merkens, sprint to second light did 10 Merkens, sprint to next light and did 15 Merkens, plank it out waiting on the PAX, did it on reverse, starting with 15, 10 and 5 Merkens at each light, repeated again this time doing 5 diamond merkens at first light, 10 diamond merkens at second light and 15 diamond merkens at the third light.
Mosey to the back of the school, started at first light did 5 wide arm merkens, sprinted to second light 10 wide arm merkens, sprinted to the third light and did 15 wide arm merkens, planked it out waiting on the PAX.
Mosey to the alley on the back of the school and did some wall work:
Planked it out with head close to wall for a 5 position move: 1 hand on the wall, 2 other hand on the wall, 3 bring first hand down back to the ground, 4 other hand to the ground and 5 do a merken, we did this IC x 10.
Then we turned around with feet facing the wall and did 10 donkey kicks each of the followed by a merken IC x 10
Peoples Chair for air presses 30 IC.
Mosey to the cafeteria of the middle school, grabbed a bench and did:
20 Step ups, 20 Derkens and 20 dips on your own then ran a lap around the track.
Did some SSH while waiting on the PAX.
15 Step Ups, 15 Derkens and 15 Dips on your own then ran a lap around the track.
Did some more SSH while waiting on the PAX.
Then we did some Mary and Mosey to the parking lot for COT.
The Moleskin:
Thank you again for the opportunity to lead this group and I look forward to meet you again in the gloom. I am sorry we have some casualties on the stairs leading to the first part of the workout but I am glad was nothing serious.
9 started but 10 finished the most recent installment of daVinci. We were very active today – visiting every retail establishment. But no one was buying; we were only window shopping.
The Workout:
Blakeney has retail in 3 of the 4 quandrants at Rea Rd. and Ardrey Kell Rd. We will do 5 LBC at EVERY door to EVERY store and/or storefront (Including Vacant) starting at Chik-Fil-A; traversing to BofA and that quadrant; then traversing over to main Blakeney and tackling every door that we can find there. Group is to stick together, and not get to far out ahead of anyone so YHC will call single cadence at every stop.
Total is over 700 LBC and around 3 miles.
Moleskinny (after so many LBC’s):
– This workout was loosely detailed and planned together which ended up be a great thing because we kept making adjustments from Pax suggestions. Each added a great deal to the workout and YHC really appreciated it. Some of the highlights were Tuck’s suggestions for Bear Crawls between doors. Another was Stumphuggers help in counting doors and how many we should do at garage doors.
– Adobe was out taking a stroll in jeans and a pocket knife. #protectionfrombadguys We picked him up a little over half way in and he finished strong with us; so no one will question why he wasn’t there in workout gear. Statement of the day was from Heartbreaker = Adobe: “I don’t know guys, I’m starting late.” Heartbreaker: “Why should that matter Adobe – you always roll in late!” #burn
– A lot of great chatter today. The title says it all!
– Coffeeteria had 7 in attendance. YHC believes that’s a record for this site. It was really enjoyable, and something that everyone should commit to on Saturdays. Each man has a great story, and it’s nice to find out more about your F3 Brothers. I enjoyed conversing with Bucky. He’s a pretty dynamic guy so I recommend hitting him up for coffee soon.
– I know I forgot a lot great BB material. Sound off in comments to fill in my blanks.
– Thanks for letting me try something different. I hope that you enjoyed it as much as me (the fellowship more than the workout; which wasn’t bad).
The Thang:
Start off with a warm up down strawberry lane, after waiting for Poptart to tie his shoes.
Turn around at the end of strawberry and head to the track for the following:
3 lap warm up
400 m T-pace x2 with 200 m rest between
800 m T-pace x2 with 400 m rest between
1200 m T-pace x2 with 600 m rest between
Depending on timing 2-4 laps cool down then head up to Woodfox drive turning around at rounding run for cool down.
COT
Thanks to Madison for the great take out.
Great push by everyone this morning!
Good luck to all the guys running Kiawah this saturday.
There was a constant drizzle that covered the landscape this morning. With no cover to be found or more realistically no cover sought, 15 of Area 51’s soggiest souls got up and got after it.
The Thang
Although I have a pretty good idea of what we covered my backblast is subject to some poetic license as we may have covered these items in a different order.
Warm up
Quick lap around the field followed by:
SSH, Mtn Climbers, Imperial Walker and Merkins
Welcome to the tires
The crew split into two teams of 7 and 8 a piece. Each responsible for a tractor tire.
Round 1 – Race around the field doing tire flips
KB Swings – 25x
Round 2 – Carry the tire in teams of two men to one of the four corners, pass off to second set of team member, etc.
5 Burpees when each team of two reached a corner – total of 20 Burpees
Lawn Mowers – 15x each side
Round 3 – Bear Crawl
Burpees with kb – 10x
Flutter Press – 10x
Shoulder Press – 25x
Lawn Mower Row – 20x
Jog the field one more time
Burpee kb press – 10x
Moleskin –
Thank you for letting me lead the crew out there this morning. I always enjoy getting out there and find that I wake up about an hour early because of the excitement of leading a workout. Great job out working hard and encouraging the other guys. A real spirited effort which will pay off with numb hands and sore back later in the day. Special shout out to Tweetsie and Lois as they are getting out there consistently and it shows – both of them manhandled the tires out there this morning. Excellent work.
Let’s all make an effort to be positive impacts on our family and co-workers as we go out there today.
Forecast called for rain and mid-40s. A bit of wind as well. Spot on. Bagpipe men sat in cars until 0528. In the final 2-minutes, there was talk of driving over to the parking deck. Frehley’s asked, in all seriousness, if this was OK. Sure, we will meet you there. Abba was ready to drive as well. They both sucked it up and ran with the group. Yes, it was raining. Yes, it was a little windy. Felt pretty good out there once we got moving. Disclaimer given with a special note on safety, given the wet conditions.
Thang
Mosey up Conlan Circle. Across B’tyne Commons Pkwy. Up Costigan into the parking deck. Up ramps to highest possible covered point.
COP
SSH x 10 IC
IW x 10 IC
Merkin x 15 IC
MC x 10 IC
Plank Jack x 10 IC
Up to top level. Enter north stairwell and descend to subterranean level. Partner up. Similar speed recommended.
Catch Me If You Can
Basement to top floor north stairwell and back down to basement.
3 rounds: 1 Double-Merkin Burpee
Plank series after round 1. Several moves and holds.
Mary after round 2. Flutter x 25 IC/Hold/Dolly x 15 IC/Hold/6 inches to 45 degree flapjacks
Reverse plank series after round 3. LLH-10 count/RLH-10 count.
Mosey up stairs to one of the middle levels.
Triple Nickel
Run to top of full ramp. 5 Burpees. Run to bottom. 5 Jump Squat. 5 Repetitions.
Plank series to wait for six. Low plank alternating leg lifts x 10 IC.
Mosey back across B’tyne Commons Pkwy and down Conlan Circle.
Crazy Ivan down the lane leading to Ortho Urgent Care. Merkin x 15 IC. AYG back up hill to launch lot. Finished with Swift.
COT
Moleskin
We haven’t seen rain in like 35 days. Clearly, some of our group did not know how to react to it. Once at the workout, the only thing a car is good for is pushing it as part of the workout. Maybe we should have put Frehley’s and Abba into a car and pushed it up to the deck. Next time. Admittedly, it was slightly uncomfortable just standing there in the rain and wind. We quickly took care of that.
Hard to accurately gauge the mileage today. Margo had us at 3.8. Utah at 2.4. Thin Mint put us at 2.2 before the Nickel and run back. I am going with right around 3 miles. YHC’s watch turned off on it’s own.
The duo of Thin Mint and Nard Dog was out front for the CMIYC repeats. Margo, Soft Pretzel, YHC and Abba/Cheddar not far behind. Rest of the crew bunched up tightly. Thin Mint put some distance between himself and the group on the Triple Nickel. He is faster than most. Solid work. T-claps to Abba for his 3rd post after a 6-month hiatus. Glad to see you back out. Solid work. Not sure exactly when Kirby joined us. YHC saw him running down as we were running up during CMIYC. Anyways, good work out there. Utah pushing hard while dealing with some shoulder pain that may be related to the Soccer Arms Cup. Now you know where Ortho Urgent Care is located. They open at 5:00. T-claps to Paper Jam for the takeout prayer. Thankful for the opportunity to lead this group of men today. Good luck to all of the men running the Kiawah 1/2 and full marathon this weekend.
Announcements
Joe Davis Run for Recovery. 01/07/2017. Register HERE
COTS volunteers need for 01/01/2017. Strawberry is your man on that.
Nice Saturday morning for weekly edition of Area 51 on the grounds of McKee Rd Elementary. Started off with 5 PAX and eventually ended up with 6 after Floor Slapper made his customary tardy appearance as we were beginning the COP. Quick, short disclaimer provided for this veteran bunch and we headed over to the lower parking lot by the soccer fields.
Quick jog around the lot and we circled up for COP:
After an extended warm-up, we headed over to side of parking lot and lined up for the next round
Properly stretched and having warmed up the legs a bit we made our way to corner of the parking lot. Here the instructions were provided for a round of Four Corners:
Then it was off to the playground and the pull-up bars for a little circuit work:
Completed 2 circuits and then we were on the move again. Made our way down to the recently paved track for another round of 4 Corners:
After completing 2nd round of Four Corners, made our way over to the wall at front of school and completed the following:
Enough break time, we headed back to launch parking lot for Round 3 of Four Corners. This time we completed the following:
PAX were pushing it pretty good and we quickly worked our way through our 3rd round of 4 Corners. Still a decent amount of time on the clock, so YHC led the crew to the logs at the NC Landmark playground area for another round of circuit work:
After completion of the 3rd round, circled up for a few Minutes of Mary (Pax choice):
With the PAX getting so much enjoyment out of the Four Corners, time for one more round. We made our way down to the soccer fields for a final round. Original call was to run to light pole at mid-field but after a little prodding from Lobster Roll the decision was made run to the light pole at other end of the soccer field. Ran to each corner of the soccer field and completed 5 Merkins, 5 Prisoner Squats, 5 LBCs.
Time to head back to the launch point. Back in time to knock out one final round of Circuit Work with 10 Pull-ups, 20 Dips, 20 Calf Raises.
COT
NMM:
Announcements:
7 hearts posted at 1230 today to deliver 200-300 toys and various gift cards to the Alexander Youth Network (“AYN”). No COP to be found today (Read the Pre-Blast, as well as the why behind what brought us together today…and read all of it). After some slight misdirection (as well as the undoing of what YHC thought was a perfect parking job of his vehicle) we were off and running.
The Sun was shining on us today when we arrived at AYN. More on that in a minute.
The Thang
OYO toy and hygiene supply carries – PAX unload three vehicles’ worth of toys and hygiene supplies – most that made it to the South CLT Christmas Party along with those that did not – place in the first AYN cottage on the right. AYN informed us that they were slowing transforming their cottages into a “Santa’s Workshop” of sorts…our toys would fit right in. While they were early in the process of transformation, the toys and gifts (not to mention the heartfelt gratitude from AYN’s President and their Chief Volunteer Coordinator) made it very Christmas-like indeed.
Fin
Moleskin
Today’s drop was the culmination of several months’ effort in terms of selecting the charity that OST wanted to support as well as coordinating the PAX efforts in donations. Families from all over our City and State have given to AYN in support of OST and the weight of the gesture was felt by us today.
YHC had never met Olive or Jager before, but was humbled to finally meet them in person – amid the jokes about how Just in Time and Good Times had posted this morning and that they felt fine and just you wait for it in the morning – I personally felt that I had more to say but didn’t know how to say it, because what could anyone say that would be appropriate or adequate for what brought us together. This BB could be pages long and it would still fall far short.
Olive/Jager – Your courage as parents, as volunteers, as two skyscrapers holding strong against the winds…I break into a thousand pieces at the thought of trying to begin to understand the journey you’ve gone through and how you can still stand on your two feet. Yet, as I see Olive’s example living through Operation Sweet Tooth (his stoking the fire of Sweet Tooth’s memory to burn higher, hotter, and brighter through OST…through his encouragement of others, his strength for his Family, and his God-given resolve), I think I know what I see…and YHC believes this passage defines it:
“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.” – 1 Corinthians 13:7-8
Thank you, Olive & Jager, for leading all of us by your example.
13 of South Charlotte’s finest chose to start their day with a serious down painment at DMZ. Here’s what we did:
4 x 1 mile run starting at intersection of Carmel and Camilla, run down Camilla following it to the right and continue on Lori till it dead ends then turn around and run back.
First mile 10 merkins at each speed hump and each turn = 10 stop and 100 total merkins
Second mile 10 squats at each speed hump and each turn = 10 stop and 100 total squats
Thirds mile 10 LBCs at each speed hump and each turn = 10 stop and 100 total LBCs
Fourth mile AYG with not stops.
Assorted mary while waiting for the six.
Mosey to COC parking lot for 3 sets of Peoples Chair for 1 minute followed by 10 burpees OYO.
COT
Moleskin:
Strong group out there today. YHC could really feel the enthusiasm from the PAX as he gave the instructions. There was a lot of concern about the 9 driveways on the right. Not sure why. Not much opportunity for mumble chatter. Swiper, Rachel, Cold Cuts and Agony were the Larry Birds today. Always a pleasure to lead the DMZ PAX.
Aye. One Eye
This weeks Area 51 running workout will consist of some track work. If you are tapering for Kiawah you can stick to your own plan if needed. Otherwise the crew will be working on some speed, yes on the track. Should be a nice, wet one!
14 PAX, including 2 FNGs, posted on a wet Monday morning to partake in YHC’s VQ. As I walked up from checking out the rain damage on the AO, I was both energized and the slightest bit intimidated by the great group of guys that showed up to get their week off to a good start. Right off the bat I noticed an original Red Wood. That simply means he was at the very first F3 workout. More on MMOB in a bit. The pressure was on to deliver.
With the disclaimer duly given, we were off…
Warm up jog down Strawberry Ln and back to the school for COP
SSH (Side Straddle Hop) x 10
IW (Imperial Walker) x 10
Low Slow (or fast) Squats x 10
The Thang:
Suicides using the basketball goals as markers, then run over to the rocks.
10 Curls and 10 overhead triceps using the rock, then run down to the bleachers.
10 step ups for each leg, 20 dips, then run back to the rock area.
Partner peoples chair tunnel of love style – I totally thought this is where the workout could go sideways. There was some serious grumbling and displeasure but in the end everybody knocked it out like a champ. MMOB taught me this one. Then run down to the track.
1 loop around the track with 5 merkins at each corner.
Return to the start for round two – Very similar to round 1 but a very distinct difference.
Suicides using the basketball goals as markers , then run over to the rocks.
10 Curls and 10 overhead triceps using the rock, then run down to the bleachers.
10 step ups for each leg, 20 dips, then run to the track.
1 loop around the track with 5 merkins at each corner.
On the track we did Planker’s Delight – PAX planked shoulder to shoulder, while groups of 3 went down the line doing a hand slap merkin with each man. I have to give props to (Dumpster) Fire for teaching me this one. Did it at a workout he led 3-4 months ago… Loved it! Then run back to the parking lot.
With no time to waste, and in an effort to get more mileage in, we finished up with an Indian Run down Strawberry Ln to Rosecliff and back.
We had time for one more merkin and time was called.
The official mileage (according to Booyah and Grizzly) came in at 2.9.
The Moleskin:
Since you only get one VQ, I want to take this opportunity to thank the 14 guys that were able to make it. Hariball, if I haven’t thanked you today, thank you! I’m so grateful for you introducing me to the world of F3.
Excellent effort by everybody today. I had even more fun than I thought I would have. The time seemed to fly by. If I was aware how close we were to 3 miles, we would have taken our last half minute to spare to run around the parking lot a little more.
We had two FNGs – Both kept up as if they had been doing F3 for a while. I know them both well. Super guys. Danny and I have been best buds since we were 10 years old. Glad to finally get him out.
Brent (Choo Choo) is married and father of two. He is from Texas and graduated from Texas Tech with an engineering degree. He’s a business owner. His company works on imagining equipment.
Danny (Babe Ruth) is married and has a daughter. He went to grade and high school in Charlotte (CCHS). He graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in business. He works for B of A. When we were 10 my grandfather nicknamed him Babe Ruth. That is all he ever called Danny till the day he died. At 10, Danny could knock the living piss out of a baseball.
I was tickled to see 3 of metro’s finest make the journey to the south side to join us this morning. I’ve known these guys for a while and they don’t come any finer. I appreciate the three of you going out of your way to make it.
Gandalf is a stinkin’ beast!! He represented the metro area well by finishing first in everything we did. I shouldn’t expect any less. Gandalf’s work ethic is off the charts. Brilliant and a Tar Heel. Always has a positive attitude. It’s contagious. Did I mention he’s a Tar Heel.
Grizzly put in a solid workout. Not afraid to get dirty, as he kicked mud on me several times. He reminded me as we ran through the parking lot toward the rocks that I used to give him and my brother rides to basketball practice at South Charlotte Middle. Oh the memories… So many good ones. Look forward to making more with you brother.
MMOB (former candidate for Charlotte Mayor) was behind the inspiration to try partner peoples chair tunnel of love style. He gave me some last minute pointers this past Friday. He’s been to hundreds of F3 workouts. I’ve had the chance to get to know MMOB (aka MMCH) over the years. Super dude! Thank you for taking us out this morning. I could not have said it better myself.
Jelly, Mad, and Smash. You gave it the usual 100%. Jelly and Mad are gaining more endurance with every workout. Smash does everything gracefully. He never really looks tired.
Booyah, Goonie, and Heartbreaker. I appreciate you being there this morning. You are great examples of what F3 PAX are all about. You’ve always made me feel part of the club. Booyah, I know basecamp is not in your normal rotation. It means a lot that you went out of your way to be there. As always, you brought swag, you were as cool as the other side of the pillow.
Beaker (aka the Professor). You were and are a stud. I look forward to pushing each other to many more F3 workouts.
Hairball. THANK YOU!!!
It was an honor to lead you guys. I appreciate Simba and Goonie for giving me the opportunity. I look forward to posting with all of you again, soon.
Announcements:
Joe David Run is Jan 7. Get signed up.
Extreme Hike for Cystic Fibrosis – Sign ups start at the end of December. 30 mile Appalachian Trail hike in 1 day. The hike will be on April 22, 2017. Contact Grizzly for more info.
Fort Mill Custom Go Ruck at Alice Springs Greenway in April. Contact Mad for more info.