2nd F

2nd F

After all of the running for BRR I figured a little lifting would be in order. So I decided to bring out my home…made gym. Low numbers of pax this time, but it didn’t matter because the 2nd F was priceless.

What we did:
SSH x 10

Partner up for pain stations:
– Hammer curls w/4×6 x 30
– Overhead press with 12 ft post x 20
– Bent row w/ rock x 30
– Reverse fly w/bricks x 30
– Man-maker merkins w/bricks x 20
– Thrusters with rock x 30
– Lap @ track with post
~ 2 times through stations.

Run Bevington loop.

Another round of pain stations.

Circle for Flutter x 35; LBC X 30

Moleskin:
I’m not sure I have laughed so hard at the mubblechatter. When you get F3 brothers together – especially prior DZ site Q’s; just sit back, stay out of the way, and watch the magic happen. The workout was very much secondary. We worked hard (somewhat); but laughed harder. We witnessed a full moon and a ghost at the same time. We had short jokes, shoe jokes, music ridicule, refusenik, exercise ridicule, car jokes, and beard jokes. I laughed from beginning to end – we even had 2nd F overtime. I am blessed to be a part of F3; blessed to be amongst such great brothers; blessed to have been given the opportunity to lead. Thanks to the guys who built Day Zero, and thanks to the new site Q’s who continue to draw such a great collection of characters to a great site. If you missed today I’m sorry because you missed out.

Rogue Bus And Jack Reacher

15 PAX made the right choice and posted at #F3Death Valley for their #DRP here’s how it went down.

The Thang:

Completel 2 #HairBandMiles while the remaining PAX come in on two wheels. Mosey down to the track and take a warm up lap, circle up on the football field.

COP:

  • SSH x 25 IC
  • Merkins x 15 IC
  • Imperial Walkers x 20 IC
  • 8 Count Body Builders x 10 IC
  • Squats x 20 IC

Arkloader:

Line up at the goal line and perform 5 reps of each called exercise every 10 yards up to the 50 yard line with each movement.

  • Bear Crawl- Merkins
  • Lunge Walk- LBCs
  • Crab Walk- CCDs
  • Duck Walk (sort of)- Lunges

Bleacher Work:

Head over to the bleachers between the baseball fields, staying with your partner, P1 does called exercise AMRAP while P2 runs up stair case and returns down the sidewalk. Flapjack.

  • Derkins
  • Dips
  • Step ups
  • LBCs

Mary:

Return to the star point  for some Mary.

  • Flutters x 20 IC
  • LBCs x 20 IC
  • Rosalita x 20 IC
  • Dolly’s x 10

Moleskin:

  • Great effort by the PAX truly an honor to lead the group today.
  • YHC arrived early to setup some cones on the field in case there weren’t any yard lines only to encounter a runner on the track. Naturally YHC thought it might be a rogue RFYL’er and had BRR flashbacks from hearing footsteps in the dark. Turns out it was Joker working off some DQ      Calories from the night before.
  • It was apparently too cold for Dollywood as he sat in his truck with the engine running waiting fir the workout to start.
  • Dollywood called it when he said we’d know when all the PAX had arrived once Smokey and Floor Slapper came in hot.
  • Some grumblings about the 8 count bodybuilders . You’re welcome.
  • Good to see Slim Fast at DV today, said he needs some more dips after all that running. I thought he may have mixed up his days and meant to post to MTN Goat. He also did a pre-run in Matthews and still made it to DV.
  • Wouldn’t be a workout without some unearthly noise emanating from Puddin Pop’s six, He assured us the wind was blowing the other way.
  • Ark Loader was a change of pace. YHC apparently needs to work on my duck walk form, not getting low enough as per SF. Looked more like a prison squat walk.
  • Joker wants an AKA Jack Reacer, not sure the source there.
  • Heads up to the Qs at SCMS, a bus has come through the parking lot at Base Camp and Death Valley right around Mary, must be new with the school year.
  • Has Semi Gloss retired?
  • Thanks for taking us out Puddin Pop.
  • Thanks to Dollywood and Semi Gloss for opportunity to lead and please sound off with any mumble chatter.

Announcements:

  • Southern Discomfort Saturday 10/22 Pre-blast here: http://f3nation.com/2016/09/18/2016-southern-discomfort-preblast/
  • F3 South Charlotte Christmas Party Saturday 12/2, Firethorn CC.  Mr. Bean is the Q and more details coming soon.

Preblast: Devil’s Turn – How much can you take?

With Kiawah now 12 weeks out and many other events on the proverbial doorstep, some among you are looking for more miles. Well at Devil’s Turn, we aim to please.

For your pleasure, there will be 3 options to pound the pavement this week. All meet at the greenway parking lot at the corner of Rea Rd. and Bevington Pl.

Option 1 (4:45 am): Run a 15 min out and back going west on Bevington Pl.
Option 2 (5:00 am): Run a 15 min out and back going east on Bevington Pl.
Option 3 (5:15 am): Run north on Rea Rd, across 51 and cycle between Colony and 51 on Rea Rd returning to the start by 6:13 am (standard Danger Zone route)

Obviously, these options can be combined as desired to create a lasting mark on your fitness level.

Note that Medtronic will be at Swift AO at 6:15 am to capture the story of BOG and Hardhat. Some PAX will be needed to recreate that event.

Fix the glitch

Two wrongs, don’t make a right.

That’s an important lesson, and one that YHC, and several others, learned (again) this morning.  As shown here and mentioned here, there were no merkins at DMZ yesterday.  Bushwood was angrily texting me, accusing me of turning DMZ into Fast Twitch.  We had rocks out, trust me that was not the intention (parenthetical:  I am encouraged that today Frasier tried to inject a modicum of legitimacy  to the “slash” #running/bootcamp).  But I digress….the plan today was to “fix the glitch” of yesterday’s omission with a focus on upper body without forgetting the core:

Thang

Run the Chadwyck Chaser “mile” (technically only 0.9 per Strava).

Behind the school, three stations:

  1. Playground – 10 pull ups
  2. Concession stand – Cornucopia of merkins™:  10 incline, 10 decline, 10 wide arms, 10 diamonds
  3. Football field – 20 knee ups, 20 Russian Twists (each side)

Continue running from station to station, stopping at each for exercises (roughly 0.25 mi RT).  Repeat until 6:06, and run the Chadwyck Chaser “mile” again.

Announcements

  • Ragnar – couple teams still looking for a final runner for great event on 10/7
  • Southern Discomfort coming up on 10/22 – finishing at Olde Providence
  • Church on the Street – great chance to serve the Charlotte’s homeless population

Moleskine

First sentence sums it up.  That was a bad idea (FYI the included awful youtube clip is the top result on google – awful enough to share).  Incline merkins, generally considered the easiest of the lot, hurt.  Several conveniently misunderstood that the concession area was like “GO” in Monopoly, don’t pass it without paying the toll (merkins today).  By the way, Lee apparently applied for all trademarks of “Cornucopia” followed by an exercise name yesterday, and yes, I checked – even Monkey Humpers.

Believe that most folks completed 3-5 sets, though I would venture a guess that the merkin total for all was +/- 250 with 3+ miles.  Swiper and Cold Cuts began deliberately skipping them, opting for pull ups…and they never actually reached the football field (demarcated by white lines, quite visible in the moonlight).  Sundancer made a surprise appearance, lamented not milking the initial mile for more time, skipped the final mile, and used post-COT to show off what was described as his “mangina” #MereFleshWound.  He tended to stay in a corner of the concession area, doing his own thing #freeplay.  No tunes, but nonetheless, he livened up the discussion.

Deep Dish was quiet but took his time and focused on form #TWSS.  Kind of the anti-Gummy, if you will.  Hammer and Jamboree were likewise knocking it out with no complaints.  One Eye, Talkbox, and YHC complained about yesterday’s rock squats, though only YHC seemed to be moving a little slower today as a result.  Still, 6:52 on the initial run, so not terrible.  Almost forgot, had a Bugeater sighting on the initial mile.  Think he read the pre-blast.

Back at it next week as Cold Cuts takes the reigns.  Will there be pull ups?

  • Kirk

Merkin 8k

We circled up and the disclaimer was given.  No FNGs today.

We did a quick warm up lap around the parking lot just in case there were stragglers.  There was one but we found him later.  Stop at the stop sign on Strawberry and the AO for the instructions.  The goal was an 8k with merkin stops.  Trying to get back to the roots of #F3FastTwitch.  Haze immediately doubted that we could do it.  There were a few others that complained about the merkins at a running workout.  The course was running through the neighborhood towards Bevington, cross Rea, turn right at Elm and then head back to the AO.  At every turn, stop sign or stop light we stopped and did merkins until the six arrived.  At times we ran back for the six on the longer segments.  There were 14 merkin stops between the start and finish.  Along the way we picked up Fireman Ed.  He was running a little behind due to the toilet calling his name.  Needing to get some miles in for the Ragnar he set out on a solo run.  We picked him up at the corner of Elm and 51.

We got back to the AO with plenty of time to spare.  Take that Haze.  Doubting the running prowess of this stocked running group.  Not everyone took the BRR off.  These men are still in great shape.

With time to spare we continued with the run/merkin theme.  Although there were some @tigerragf3 out there with merkin refusal.  We ran down Strawberry stopping at each speed bump and the gravel road to do merkins.  If my math is right we stopped a total of 19 times.  19 x 5 = 95 with some guys doing more or less.

We had exactly six minutes left.  A lot of push/lobbying for six minutes of mary.  We did four since a bus interrupted our circle.  We did American Hammer x 20, Poptart can opener each leg x 12 and Marvel with flutter.

Done!

Moleskin:  This was my first post since the BRR.  Taking a week off and developing an awesome cold while in Montana did not help the performance.  Turkey Leg and Slim Fast were out front most of the morning.  Both have entertained doing the Kiawah with Turkey Leg deciding to make Kiawah his first marathon.  He needs to find a roommate.

Great form on the merkins by several out there today.  Most of the rest either did the Chelms/Head bob or protested.  We all did the last five #positivepeerpressure.  Gummy was form police because he had a good view standing over people.  Just because beach season is over doesn’t mean we can’t get swole.

Hannibal was back from a Ireland vacation.  He must have still had some leftover Guinness because he had to stop for a pee break.  He was very inconspicuous by peeing at the corner of Hwy 51 and Rea.  I’m sure no one noticed that.  Speaking of peeing Spackler also had to make a stop shortly after leaving the AO.  It always does feel better peeing in the woods.

Cheese Curd continues to keep up his tradition of not being a runner by constantly training for the next event.  Keep up the good work of not being a runner.

Even thought Spackler maintains he is not a runner he was consistently fourth every segment.  #Kiawahready.

Personally I would like to thank all of the guys that have asked about, volunteered and sent out well wishes/prayers about my father.  It is humbling and powerful.  I know we rally all the time around others but you don’t know how strong it feels until you are on the other side of that energy. I told my father about all of the people asking about him and praying for him and he was overwhelmed.   Thank you.

Announcements: Ragner has two spots.  A fast team and a chill team.  Turkey Leg immediately volunteered with Cheese Curd rebuking.  Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me or however George W. Bush said it.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ux3DKxxFoM

Palmetto Relay discount ends at the end of the month.  Great race for those of you looking to two relays a year.  I think it is better than the BRR because of the finish.  It will sell out.  Here is the link. http://www.palmetto200.com/palmetto200/palmetto200-registration

Check the newsletter for the gold tournament for Olive and the Christmas party sign up.

Have a great day!

Breaking Bad

No one volunteered so you have no one to blame but yourself. It’s Union County which means the strange starts even before the workout. Hairband used the women’s bathroom before we even started which led to some calls for a rename to HB2. He was adamantly opposed which means it will likely stick at some point. Some guys saw the tweet and brought their headlamp. Well done. You’ll need it for this adventure. Let’s go!

Mosey to the lot beside Carolina Courts for a COP.

Disclaimer given and needed for this one.

SSH IC x20
IW IC x20
Windmills IC x10

The Thang
Mosey over to the playground where there is light for some station work followed by a run.

Stations:
Decline Merkins, Swing Donkey Kicks, Steps ups
Run: Here is where it gets weird. Two run options: 1) Around the Block or 2) Through the trail in the woods. Watch out for clowns, needles and that camper behind the house. *At your own risk*

Three times through with reps of 1) 20, 2) 25, 3) 30. First run had most of the guys going to the woods. Nothing says strange like a bunch of grown men running on a trail at 5:45 AM through woods at a park near playground equipment with Horsehead laughing hysterically the whole time. The next two runs were around the block. Had to normalize this thing somehow.

Till everyone gets back: 1) Planks then 2) 3 count down squats IC x35

Let’s get weird again. Indian Run/Lunge Walk through the woods. We ran near the camper for safety purposes.

Back to near the bathrooms where HB commented that there is a smell. This is after he and HH had used the bathroom before the workout. Ya think?

Stations/Run combo:
Dips, Incline Merkins, Step Ups x20
Run to gym and back
Repeato

Gather in parking lot for 3MOM:
Flutters IC x10
Rosalita IC En Espanol x20
LBCs IC x10

Done!

COT:
Prayers for HB/DT job search
For my wife
For Happy’s Dad
Thanks to the Count for taking us out

Moleskine:
It’s UC so it was weird. We’ve mostly avoided the Breaking Bad trail due to a unhealthy fear of clowns, drugs and twisted ankles. Really believe now that we’ve missed out on opportunities for weirdness. Needs to become a regular addition.
There was complaining about running which I largely ignored while giggling over my plan to #makeUCweirdagain
Shepherd got lost in the woods first time through. He came out a disturbing palish color. Think Blair Witch.
After the first run through the woods, I see HB standing around in the light. His fear overcame him apparently.
This is no doubt a crowning jewel of a Q. No thanks necessary.

Glass Joe

The Blocks Were Lonely

(posted on behalf of OT who lives in the 90s)

The highlight had to be the flag from Squid. I wasn’t sure if he was protesting or not….He said he missed the hand off from Pop Tart.

WARM UP
Mosey to lower lot and onto soccer field, gaze at cinder blocks, run past them and then return and include them in our workout!
Move the blocks to lower lot.
5 burpees and 25 SSH (in cadence)
5 burpees and 20 IW
5 Burpees and 20 sqauts
5 Burbees and 10 merkins

BLOCKS
Three sets of Three Overhead press/Triceps/Curls with runs in between and plank to keep group together. Slow mosey with blocks held overhead, return to storage.

FIELD
Mosey to end of field
Suicide runs from light to goal (and back), then to light (and back), then whole length (and back)

PULL UPS
10 Regular with karaoke to end of pkg lot X 3
10 Knee ups (Toes to bah for Lobsta and Orange Whip, and a few others) with backward run in middle lot X 3

SMALL FIELD WORK
Partner in middle split and run to track for Mary–LBCs x 25 then plank in middle with different poses and Naktar Jy x 10,

COP
Mosey back to start with various mary on the way back. Can opener, Dolly on the curb, finish with one minute plank.

DiVinci- new location, new time… Or so we thought

Less than two weeks prior, the powers that be, decided to throw a fresh coat of paint on the DiVinci facade, hoping for prettier, more appealing surroundings to order your cup of Saturday morning beat downs. YHC got the call to lead the revamp. I went straight to my Twitter posts for dummies pamphlet, courtesy of the genius marketing mind of one J.R.R.Tolkien. Needless to say we got the word out, or perhaps it’s the appeal of a post beat down Chicken Biscuit from the new starting location that would peak the interests of additional PAX.

Finally 6:30 rolls around, and the hopes of that big turnout started to fade, when only 7 eager bodies joined YHC at the starting zone. Somewhere in the distance, however, under the glistening street lamps the reflection of F3 logos danced into sight. “Are we starting here today”, one voice shouts…”Everybody is waiting across the street!” Apparently 12 others didn’t get the memo, or perhaps YHC’s marketing game isn’t as good as previously thought! Either way we found a starting point and 23 men took off onto the battlefield.

The Thang

Mosey to bank parking lot for COP

leg bend toe touch things- X 10 each way

slow easy Merkins x 10

slow easy squats x 10

mosey to alley for circuit stations

60 sec stations X 3 rotations

Sandbag Step-ups

Sand Bag Squats

Burpees

Dragon Walk/Spider-Man Crawl

Merkin Jacks

finish up the circuit with wall sits with alternating leg raise- added air presses for fun X2

mosey across the street to stumble upon the Board of Pain “Core Edition” w/ partner

100 -Low Plank Obliques

200 -LBC’s

200 -Flutters

100 -Russian Twists

200 -Mountain Climbers

bonus diamond push-ups until the six is finished

mosey to parking lot for lunge walk, sprint, backwards run, lunge walk, sprint

mosey across the street to the apartments

jog to stop sign- Merkins until joined by the six

running out of time, we just mosey’d the remaining distance to the correct start location to wrap up with name-o-rama. We were joined by 3 FNG’s. Welcome Heisenburg… Strong name, for a strong new member! Wazzzup had to take off, but grabbed himself a name first. Tea Party stumbled into the mix a bit late into the workout, but held on to the end. Welcome new guys!

Pretty successful relaunch of an underutilized Sat AO. Let’s hope the new and improved changes can keep the attendance numbers up. Reminder for next week… 6:30am start at Chick Fil-a at Blkeney. YHC really enjoyed his second Q ever, and writing my V-BB. Rumor had it, Ghost flag made an appearance somewhere, but was never seen. No outside claimers…. So it stays in A51.Nothing of note from announcements.

PB: Fix the Glitch

Quite the miscue with zero merkins at DMZ today, add to that a lot of squats with low mileage plus a lot of cadence, and it’s a pretty simple plan to “fix the glitch” tomorrow.

Plan:

Run the Chadwyck Chaser mile (cross Rea, Summerlin – right on Windyrush, right on Chadwyck Farms, right on Rea back to OPE).

Behind the school, three stations:

  1. Playground – 10 pull ups
  2. Concession stand – Cornucopia of merkins:  10 incline, 10 decline, 10 wide arms, 10 diamonds
  3. Football field – 20 knee ups, 20 Russian Twists (each side)

Continue running from station to station, stopping at each for exercises (roughly 0.25 mi from / back to playground).  Repeat until 6:05, and run the Chadwyck Chaser mile again.

More Monday Musings

I love the whimsy of the word cornucopia #hornofplenty.  Great fall word, which coincidentally starts this week (Thursday 9/22 aka your Autumnal Equinox).  It evokes images of that first Thanksgiving with pilgrims and native americans coming together.  Cornucopia – it’s nice, somewhat rustic Americana, but I have a feeling I’m probably going to have a change of heart by the end of it.  Stretch goal of 6 complete trips, which would be +/- 4 miles total, 60 pull ups, 120 knee ups, 120 Russian twists, and a crap ton ‘o merkins (don’t do the math, it won’t help).

Gummy promises to call out bad form while art imitates life in the most ironic kind of way (not really).  Also not posting – retired site Q Sundancer, who is recovering from being shot in the leg by a rogue pellet while running down Colony Rd (somewhere near Amyington).  He heard squirrels laughing as he languished on the sidewalk.  Doubtful to appear – Semi Gloss, who apparently took an alarm clock class from Cheese Curd, and Chico – who lives across the street but cannot find the parking lot.

Goose March

The parking lot at Elon Park Elementary filled gradually this muggy, swampy morning. Thin Mint woke early and couldn’t go back to sleep (so excited for Foxhole), I couldn’t go back to sleep after a 4:15 wake up (also excited for the Foxhole today). We both made the HIM choice of getting up and getting after a Foxhole pre-run. Key note of distinction here, Thin Mint breezed through 5 miles at a sub-7:30 pace; YHC and One Niner (who joined me at the announced pre-run) did a little under 2 miles at a 9-minute pace. One Niner was getting over being sick, I’m just slow. The parking lot was buzzing when we returned from the run, 10 strong were gathered around the flag. Disclosure was given. Here is what happened next:

Swamp Thang


Warmup

  • Lap
  • Merkins X 10
  • SealJacks X 20
  • Goblet Squats X 10 (Low and Slow, hold the last one for instructions)

Set 1

  • Perfect Push-ups (Slow Civilian Count) X 20
  • 7 Pullups
  • 40 KB Swings

Set 2

  • Bent Over Row (Slow Civilian Count) X 20
  • 7 Pullups
  • 40 Alternating Hand Swings

Set 3

  • Squat Thruster (Slow Civilian Count) X 10
  • 7 Pullups
  • 40 Alternating Hand Swings

Kettlebell Goose March

  • All PAX hold the KB in racked position on right side.
  • Pax line-up Indian Run style.
  • All PAX long striding walk, maintaining racked KB.
  • Last guy Runs with KB.
  • Q calls presses (civilian count), PAX count.
  • then next guy runs.

One lap around the road circling the upper playground field area

Set 1

  • Perfect Push-ups (Slow Civilian Count) X 15
  • 7 Pullups
  • 20 Snatch

Set 2

  • Bent Over Row (Slow Civilian Count) X 30
  • 7 Pullups
  • 20 Snatch

Set 3

  • Squat Thruster (Slow Civilian Count) X 10
  • 7 Pullups
  • 20 Snatch

5MOM

  • 50 LBC In Cadence
  • 10 Plank Jack In Cadence (of course)
  • 10 Flutter In Cadence
  • 10 Low Flutter In Cadence
  • 10 High Flutter in Cadence
  • 15 Plank Jack In Cadence

And Done !

Soggy Moleskine


The weatherman sent some aggressive humidity this morning for it being late September, it felt oddly Julyish. Most of the regular crew was out there, with the exception of a few notable absences: Voodoo is DR for work and will be for a few weeks (Missed ya buddy), JRR Tolkien, stirred up the good ole twitter about posting last night, but then flintsacked. YHC will surprisingly give him a pass though, as he did run a solid 18+ miles yesterday at a ridiculous pace and his posting obligation is to Voodoo not the AO, and Pebbles, who hasn’t missed a Foxhole in 8 weeks was notably absent (hope all is well). Great work by all in what proved to be a challenging workout that kept the PAX together for most of the workout; people were feeding off the energy. Couple notables:

  • Neon Freon was full of spirit and a bright lemon-lime dryfit shirt today and was locked in a “who can generate the largest sweat puddle” battle with Freshly Needled Frehley’s Comet, who recently underwent some sort of cryogenic needling treatment and tarot reading that has rolled back the age clock. Well done gents. Call it a draw.

  • Heisenberg, a 2NG, put out a solid effort with the KBs. The man is freakishly strong and kept pace with the group throughout the workout. Keep posting man, well done.

  • We had a surprise visit from A51 celebrity Alf. YHC had never met him or Heisenberg before, thus the more stern and full disclosure. Alf was flying out there, which took me by surprise because YHC didn’t know this was an experienced F3 leader doing a surprise visit at the ole Foxhole.

  • Flint was sporting another new pair of shoes, and clearly ready to get some strength gains after all the BRR atrophy. Solid work out there Flint, especially volunteering to trade up for a heavier bell a few times; swapping with One Niner.

  • Speaking of One Niner the dude is a beast. even after recovering from the plague this weekend, still showed up to the pre-run and crushed the regularly scheduled program.

  • Marlin posts at Foxhole consistently and with aggression. He is on Site Q radar for a Q-opportunity soon.

  • Soft Pretzel elected for the larger bell today, well done on the upsize. We’ll pretend you didn’t fetch the smaller one much later in the effort.

  • Thin Mint is a freak of nature, not sure how he got named for a cookie. If you want to challenge yourself, Thin Mint has the Q at the ‘Hole next week. Make plans.

Announcements were made, but I don’t remember them.

P.S The name “Goose March/Run/Sprints” I’ve come to prefer instead the potentially troublesome term “Indian March/Run/Sprints”. Somehow I ended up on some page about how Geese teach us about team work at this page (http://lenwilson.us/5-thing-geese-can-teach-us-about-teamwork/). I do not recommend it, it is not a great read, but at least I found a name for the BB, take it or leave it.

Argonaut Out.