16 SOB’s showed up on a glorious, sunny, dry, 65 degree morning…wait…never mind. 16 bada**es showed up in rainy, cold, disgusting conditions to see YHC’s VQ at The Brave. The Brave is the elite…the best of the best…where grown men (and Tolkien) come to find pain only to make themselves better. YHC was offered the chance to lead these fine men into the gloom and eagerly accepted (was told by Mario I had no choice) the challenge.
The Thang:
Last week The Brave suffered a beatdown from Mr. Bean…who coincidentally did half my planned workout. At first I was deflated…then I quickly realized that Mr. Bean was just brilliant in copying my workout one week ahead of time. It’s like he was from the future and then went back in TIME. #michaeljfoxrules
Here’s what we did…gather the PAX at 0515 and make a beeline towards the parking deck since it’s raining. 4 seconds into the workout make a hard right and start moseying towards the Bull Ring which was turned into a clock today.
Arrive at the Bull Ring/Clock for an AMRAP of the following:
Odd laps – sprint the straightaway, recover around putting green, sprint the straightaway. Then complete one lap around the Clock stopping at the 12, 9, 6, and 3 o’clock positions for 12 merkins at each stop (48 total per lap)
Even laps – Bear Panda Crawl the straightaway, recover around the putting green, bear Panda Crawl the straightaway. Then complete one lap around the clock swapping the merkins for burpees
Round and round we go until 0610
Head back to The Vine
Congratulate Bunker on awesome Q
Moleskine:
The weather was nasty this morning. Before we even got to the Ring, Gumbo was crying (or was that rain on his face) about how much he loved us all. Everyone had 5 lbs of water in their shoes before we did our first merkin. Nipple chafing began quickly….some went shirtless, some tried to go pantless (stop it Tolkien). All of this within 5 minutes…it was going to be a good morning.
No confusion this morning from the PAX…probably because directions were so clear. The chalk was used at 4:45 and by 5:15 it was gone….YHC still gets an A for effort. Maybe if I had borrowed Frasier’s Murderhorn Championship chalk it would have been visible…or perhaps it would have disappeared just as fast as that dude can run. Seriously…he’s already done with next week’s Swift workout.
The PAX was strong this morning. Right out of the gate Mario, Panda, General, Tuck took off like madmen. YHC thought surely he would catch them later while he “rested” on the running portion. You guys were strong this morning…couldn’t catch you guys today.
Outback was a beast AGAIN. He showed up early, ran 72 miles, did 500 burpees, and then ate my workout for a snack. #checkhisbagforhgh
Madame Tussauds was awesome leading up to my VQ. Offering advice, videos, moral support, twitter updates, and I even think he had a plane flying overhead with directions in case I got lost in the Q. Thanks for the support brother.
Speaking of Overhead…welcome FNG Overhead. Nice to have you out there…your first post at The Brave was awesome. Glad to have you out and look forward to more.
Flint was running in galoshes…or at least that’s what he thought he needed. No one told you that you need a life preserver for The Brave did they.
I heard Mic Check once this morning….I heard him say (or at least thought I did so I’m sticking with it), “man…is this a Black Diamond workout?” #boom (I know, I know…I haven’t posted to BD yet. Chill out).
One-niner showed up late and still crushed it. He told me it was horrible….perfect.
Soft Pretzel and Argonaut stayed with YHC for pretty much the entire workout…awesome to have you guys out there pushing me and each other. Softie and I had the countdown going on the last lap. #sub6minmilepacers
Kudos to you for your comment Wingman….had a great point about hearing the rain and choosing between a Fartsack and a workout with the PAX #dontleaveQhanging
But the best part of the day was learning Tolkien HATES bear Panda Crawls….I’m sure we’ll see a lot of those in the future. It helps us keep up with him. Of course I’m sure he’ll come after me and make me do 700 lb bucket carries, push me to have my heart explode trying to go sub-20 on a 5k, or some other insane strength exercise that he crushes and I can’t do. #muchrespect
Not bad for a day’s work. #bunkermorethanjustarunner
Thanks for the opportunity to lead today.
In the spirit of #GhostRunner, comes a new Spring/Summer option in the Ballantyne area for an evening run at 7pm on Wednesdays. Yet to be named (and we may adjust the time eventually to 7:30pm depending on the PAX), we will launch from the parking lot at Brazwell’s at . Various routes (4, 6, or 8mi options each week) will take advantage of Ballantyne Country Club, the Murderhorn, Piper Glen, 4MileCreekGreenway and the plentiful options to start training for BRR via a challenging 2nd Run / workout in your day. Of course, with it being Wednesdays, it still leaves the option open for:
Eventually, we’ll even have some “lecture sessions” certain weeks afterwards at Brazwells on run topics for BRR Training, Kiawah 13.1/26.2 training, etc.
Starts on Wednesday, May 25th! 7pm. Stay tuned to this PreBlast for any updates.
Last Friday Pop Tart reached out looking for a replacement Q for Monday. I accepted thinking, this will get me off the hook for my double Q week in early June when I was slated for Kevlar and The Matrix in one week. Well, then Brown didn’t show. No note, no text, no call, no “it’s not you, it’s me” story, nothing about how we’d “really be better off without him” or “I’m holding you back.” He just disappeared. Sort of like the fathers of every great serial killer and lady of the night.
So at 5:29, with Horsey McHorsesArse blasting 80’s rock ballads on his Bluetooth speaker, we all sat looking at each other figuring who was going to step up. So I looked around at the options:
– Horse Head – He and his Outland crew ran an entire workout, like 5K backwards. – I don’t want him leading.
– Tiger Rag – He’s had 5 months off to prepare a weinke that would contain nothing but squats and modifications. – Nope.
– Pop Tart – I really want him and Haze to swap one all yellow shoe with one all black shoe. Like Bumble Bees – The BUZZ is Back in Charlotte! – Yeah, no.
– Puddin’ Pop – He was wearing his blue shirt today. Made me sort of nervous to not see him in grey. Plus he might grab Horse Head’s Bluetooth and jam Rush Chronicles the entire workout – No Chance.
– Turkey Leg and Fletch – I didn’t feel like running that far or that fast – Not today.
– Harley – I don’t think I have ever seen him Q without a KB. – Fat chance
– Fault Line – He’s been swimming a lot and I didn’t want the rain to give him any ideas on that new drainage pond on the Fullwood side. – No life guard – so out.
– Cotton Tail, Tackling Dummy, and Blazing Saddles – I don’t think I have been at one of your Q’s, looking forward to it, but not prepared for the unknown – Next time.
So at 5:30 and out of options, I grabbed reigns, tossed out the disclaimer, and 12 men moseyed off.
Now for the part no one actually reads: The Workout.
Run in circles to collect all PAX with lunges, butt kickers and high knees while I think of something.
COP – Merkins, Wide Merkins, Diamond Merkins, SSH, IW, more lunges, and squats.
Run to dark front of school and grab a rock from the big rock pile.
Round 1 – 40 OH Presses, run to other side of church and back.
Round 2 – 30 OH Presses, 40 Curls, run to other side of church and back.
Round 3 – 20 OH Presses, 30 Curls, 40 Good Mornings, run to other side of church and back.
Round 4 – 10 OH Presses, 20 Curls, 30 Good Mornings, 40 Louganis, run to other side of church and back.
Return rocks and go over to other side of church on benches.
Partner up.
P1 Run around lot. P2 Dips. Flapjack to 200.
Repeat with 200 Little Haze step ups
Back to launch for flutter, Freddie Mercury, and Protractor.
Done
Moleskine:
Brown no showed. TR modified. Fletch was late and just barely able to pick up the speed and catch up to the group. HH modified. Puddin’ Pop was leading all PAX on the rock/running combos. Puddin’ Pop slowed down considerably on the Partner exercises when I was stuck back at the bench doing dips. No one knew the rock pile was there. Surprise! Turkey Leg won the rock size to body weight ratio award. It rained. I proofread none of this for grammar. I expect Gummy to cover me there. Puddin’ Pop claimed that I was Brown. If Brown was there the workout would have been lower mileage and funnier. I have to get back to my day job. The one that pays.
Thanks to Harley for the takeout. Thanks to Horsehead for not attempting to stop my coup.
Announcements:
June 4 – F3 Dads and F3 Q School – look for Pre-Blast.
-Alf
Charlotte Running Co calls it Mount Charlotte (Charlotte could not be reached for comment) and, as the legend goes, uses it to train for BRR hills.
The A51 brain trust mocked their simple names, yet couldn’t come up with one of its own: Puke’s Peak, Hillbilly, an obligatory Zombie reference, Bug Light (a nod to the green LED flag pole at the top of Blue Ridge)–but no name could be decided. There were, however, plenty of names to be had for the unibrowed snot-licker that suggested the stupid route in the first place, so the workout is named in his honor: Saddle up for Horsey McHorseArse.
WHEN: Mondays–0515 – 0615. Rotating Qs.
WHERE: Old Bell Road and Sardis (Greenway Parking Lot)
WHAT: Strava segment (more or less) is here: https://www.strava.com/segments/6431126. More info to be given on site.
WHAT ELSE: Headlamps and blinkies. It’s a dark place–physically, emotionally, spiritually.
NOTE: No overpriced quiche or designer monkey bread awaits you when it’s done. When you mount up on McHorseArse, you get double baked; not the croissants.
Giddy up.
We’ll head to the streets in the morning for the following:
Yes, it was raining, but we had been challenged by Devil’s Turn. The plan was to warm up quickly, then lie in wait in the shadows for the runners to show up. Unfortunately, they were early (tricky runners), and they caught us in the open. We had no choice but to join them on The Murderhorn.
The Thing
Quick jog past the movie theater, where we were intercepted by DT. Turn around and jog to and down the MH. Fast COP there. One trip back up to try to beat the course record. Enough of that, back to Stonecrest.
Hairburner circuit around a square of cones. Hair burn from one corner to your partner on the next corner. Then perform the corner exercise while you wait for the plates to get back to you. One corner was burpees, one was kettle bell swings, one Merkins. Since we had 8, the last corner was “keep hair burning around the corner back to the first corner.” Collect $200 as you pass Go.
People’s chair with air presses, followed by Balls To The Wall (MT request), and then a little more wall. Adobe called presses at double-time, which apparently means quadruple time.
Then to the big hill by the Stonecrest sign. Partner up. Each team runs the hill and completes 100 Merkins and 200 LBC’s.
Back to the starting lot with a quick partner push-pull (my favorite exercise). Then Mary around the horn. Time.
Moleskin
Hairburners in the rain are fun, but Inseriously misjudged how long they would take had to add lib for a lot of the workout.
Thanks to some long-time vets for coming out to support me in the rain. Glad to have newer guys Adobe and Flint, also. I think they’ll be leading very soon.
Announcements
F3 Dads starts May 28. Read More
9 men saw the forecast and still showed up to Devil’s Turn today. It is well known there are no parking decks or shelter at this AO. So those who showed are some hard SOB’s (however not in the Ballantyne sense because we all know DT is a tweener).
One draw for todays DT was the opportunity to go head to head (virtually) with the Strava record on the Murderhorn. A full piece of sidewalk chalk was even wagered if someone could beat the respectable time set during a fateful lunch hour some time back by one of our own. Was the record broken? Read on to find out.
Since we did not move the starting point of DT, there was a 2.2 mile warmup prior to reaching the base of the Murderhorn. On the way, we met up with Rebel Yell and they joined in so we could rumble on the Murderhorn. Loogie’s secret is now out, he really is a #runner.
After a bit of COP to let the Rebel Yell folks warm up, it was time to get to business. We lined up and were off. Many got on it the first time up including sub-1 min times by Bunker, Tuck, and Wingman. But wait, Frasier is here today. What is going on here?
The second time up, Frasier came alive and knocked out a 47 second segment time to take the lead in the Strava-sphere. This means a pastel piece of chalk of his choosing along with the respect of those present. With this feat, he did not stop either. He continued to run up and down the Murderhorn 5 times. Finally, we just left him there running up and down the hill. He can catch us.
Wild Turkey chose quite a day to post for the first time at DT. While we never take it easy, today was difficult in the rain and intensity. If you can dodge a wrench, you can run DT.
All put in some great work on the hill today which made the 2.2 mile return difficult to maintain a solid pace. We did it though and are now better for it.
Thanks for joining in on this adventure in Stonecrest! Next week, Bunker (the other bald guy) is Q. New blood.
6 men ignored the warm, dry, comforts of home to brave the rain and post at Meathead this morning. Well, 2 tried to impress with a pre-workout #meatrunner, then disappeared on an errand off campus, only to return on the downside of the KB pyramid (#slacker). Here’s how they all got stronger:
THANG:
For his VQ YHC was ready to work-out in the rain until the experienced pax rolled in and suggested the dry covered sidewalk. Cars and bells and music were duly moved. Exercise therefore commenced at 5:32 am.
WARM UP:
SSH x 15 IC
Burpees X 5 OYO
Mountain Climbers X 10 IC
Burpees X 5 OYO
Low Slow Squat with KB
Good Mornings X 10
COP:
MAIN EVENT:
Pyramid with the following rep counts: 5 – 10 – 15 – 7 (for time)
These were the exercises that made them stronger:
Alternating 1 handed swings – each side
High Pull – each side
Goblet Squat and 2 handed press
Clean and Press – each side
Lawn Mower – each side
Lunges – each side
BONUS ROUND:
6 minute Swing-O-Rama
EXTRA CREDIT:
Waiter Carry or Farmer Carry (or stand around) to the end of the side walk and back #notquite0.0today
COT
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Whetstone Mentoring Program Returns– see link http://f3nation.com/2015/11/06/isi-in-action-the-whetstone/
MOLESKINE:
YHC arrived early for his VQ in order to figure out how to blast the tunes in the rain without a waterproof speaker (and was pleased to have finally figured it out) when Tiger Rag and Spackler returned from their pre-run in the rain and gleefully informed YHC that we usually make use of the (very obvious) covered sidewalk when it rains. Somehow after 6+ months of posting, YHC has never had more than a drizzle, prior to the brief down pour today.
After scrambling to move all bells and such to the side walk and finally settle in for the warm-up, Spackler announced that he’d just locked his keys in his car. Those 2 were off again, this time to wake up his wife and get another set of keys. YHC suspected they were having breakfast somewhere (away from the rain) but the unconfirmed report was that it just took a long time to wake up Spackler’s family.
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew were crushing the KB pyramid work out. YHC didn’t allow much time for recovery in between exercises and the HR was pounding for nearly 45 minutes.
Great to see Paper Jam try a new AO today and post at Meathead for the first time. He was keeping up with the reps while improving his form. Keep coming back, brother.
Brown was impressing as usual. Although his back requested some modifications at times, he more than compensated with extra upper body work.
High Tide was crushing the reps with his usual collection of heavy bells and wouldn’t modify his reps even if we all quit before he did.
YHC took the sage advice from several experienced pax and went down on KB size today for the VQ and found the work out much easier. Great mark of progress comparing oneself to oneself prior. However, YHC was surprisingly sore after the post this morning.
Tiger Rag and Spackler returned just in time for the back side (down slide) of the pyramid. Both went straight to work trying to make up for lost time. And Tiger Rag went bare foot #akaPavelstyle.
The experimental 6 minute swing-a-thon didn’t go quite as smoothly as YHC imagined. The idea was to keep the KB off the ground and in continuous motion for the duration of the 6 minute “Sultans of Swing” song by Dire Straits. Modifications were made to allow 2 pax to have “active recovery” with merkins while the other 4 swinged and swanged and further modifications were made to allow for rest in the rack position or use alternate KB exercises. After 5-10 merkins the 2 guys would jump up and swing their KBs and 2 more would drop for merkins, etc. Instead of the synchronized team building 2 handed swing along YHC dreamt of it was a little more individualized #chaotic, but it worked and it was fun.
Instead of called exercise of plank o rama, the pax decided to follow the lead of High Tide (or was it Tiger Rag?) and head off for a waiter carry. Worked out well.
There was a decent amount of mumblechatter today, although YHC couldn’t hear all of it due to the rain and the music. Topics included lying, trash collectors, kids’ aspirations, soccer, benefits of government employment, 6 minute abs, and short stamina in the bed room, at least I think that’s what I heard – I was a little pre-occupied trying not to get too far off of my work out plan. Feel free to add your recollections in the comments.
All in all everyone worked hard to bang out the exercises and I suspect I won’t be the only one sore after this one. It was great to be with Paper Jam as well as the loyal Meatheads #51counts.
‘Twas an honor and a pleasure to lead today gentlemen.
Thanks to High Tide and Brown for the opportunity.
Thanks to Tiger Rag for the take out.
Aye!
MAD
22 men woke up and decided Dromedary was the place to post.
Disclaimer was given for the FNG (apparently the other AO did not have any creative juices going so they waited until he posted someplace else for a name)
Warm up:
SSH x 25
Windmills x 10
IW x 10
MC x 10
That Thang:
There was so much damn mumble chatter coming from one of the pax that YHC forgot what all we did!! That’s right…Bananas nicknamed a new idea YHC had called “Plank Off” and the pax seemed to enjoy it so that means it will come back in rotation. Pax forms 2 rows facing your partner. Each in an elbow plank and hold it until 5 pax fail. Those who fail start doing burpees. Then the group takes off running. Rocks were involved in the mix, and yet I still here that mumble chatter questioning this and that!! We did some SEAL situps and round robin Mary.
Moleskinnedknee:
Bratwurst are bad for your health. Bananas are a healthier choice. FNG 2nd post named Cowabunga. Doc McStuffins is the brave one always excited to do something new as long as it involves a beat down, Land Shark these 2.0’s remind us how much fun hard work is, Good to see Long Haul out at a Bootcamp after his return to F3, looks like his running is come full circle. Flipper another 2.0, Nice to see Shampoodle and Turtle getting after those rocks plus I noticed Turtle keeping the language PG with the 2.0’s present, More food facts Soft Pretzel, OG Grease Monkey was representing along with a rehab knee and getting on my case about being in the six. Bananas liked to call out the expressions from Joy when Bratwurst called OYO Burpees at the end, I cannot help but think of this Rockwell when I think it’s this Rockwell, Shop Dawg in my opinion is the hardest working pax I have ever seen because he never complains. He just does the work and modifies when needed Respect!, Hollywood no Doc I guess, Hoops 2.0’s on a week day this early? After listening to the recording is sounds like either Gator Club or Gator Cub and still I’m not sure. Wildcat 2.0 again with the younguns, Short Circuit named the FNG, Enron asked me if we needed gloves. I needed them because I could only find one this morning and after only posting running events my hands hurt, Old McDonald looks nothing like his name sake. Bratwurst took us out. YHC always enjoys the challenge of leading and coming up with Q-fails!
Sound off if I missed anything!
11 faithful men escaped the lure of the fartsack and posted at Peak 51 despite the conditions this morning. We were soaked before we left the parking lot, but had fun nonetheless.
Short loop around the lot and back to start point to see if there were any latecomers to pick up, there were not, so a quick mosey to Stumptown Park for:
COP:
SSH IC x 20
x 5 Spartan Burpees OYO
IW IC x 20
x 4 Spartan Burpees OYO
Arm Circles-x10 forward/x10 backwards
x 3 Spartan Burpees OYO
Move to the picnic tables for circuits:
3 Rounds of x10/leg step ups, x 10 Incline Merkins, x 15 Leg Raises, plank when done.
Mosey back the Playground area behind the school for a
Shortened version of Cindy:
x5 Pullups/x10 Merkins/x15 Squats-AMRAP-We went about 8 minutes total. Work for 4 minutes, 1 lap around the track, then return to finish the remaining 4 minutes.
Head to the bus lot for some 7’s:
Line up next to tree facing end of the lot. Mtn.Climber x1, bear crawl to end of lot, curb step ups x 6, jog back to start point. Keep performing rotation until x 6 Mtn. Climbers and x 1 curb step ups completed.
Mosey to parking lot behind church, partner up and line up facing rear of church:
Rnd1. P1 runs to top of lot for x10 CDD’s/P2 stays behind for LBC’s. P1 returns/P2 runs, flapjack until combined 100 LBC’s completed.
Rnd2. P1 runs to top of lot for x10 diamond merkins/P2 does Heels to Heaven. P1 returns/P2 runs, flapjack until 100 combined H2H completed.
Rnd3. P1 runs to top of lot for Wide Arm Merkins/P2 does flutters. Supposed to flapjack for 100 flutters, but time ran short so only completed one cycle.
Uh oh, it’s 6:15, jail break back to launch point and we’re done.
Moleskin:
Great showing today considering the weather conditions. YHC wondered if it would just be me, Booyah, Sensei and his partner in crime, Freedom as site Q’s tend to show up no matter what. We really got dumped on the first half so great job hanging in there even if conditions weren’t the best. Whitesnake made an appearance after no posts in 11 months, but had to leave after our time at Stumptown due to injuring his back-hope you can make it back out soon! Was also great having BLC out there as this was just his second post in over a year. T-claps also to Pong, a relatively new pax member and a 19 year old who could have just stayed in bed, for coming out. We’ll get your dad out there one day soon. Great job by all this morning. Thanks to Booyah and Sensei for allowing me to step in! Thanks also to Smokey for the prayer to take us out.
Announcements:
Look for info. re: the Whetstone mentoring program that will be launching soon.
Several convergences are planned for the upcoming Memorial Day holiday.
Gullah