Preblast: Devil’s Turn Track Day

Better Late Than Never

(Posted by PopTart on behalf of Back Office)
From the best of my recollection:

Warm-up lap around MRE
CoP, IC:
SSH @ 25
IW @ 25
Merkin @ 20
Mt.Climbers@ 20

Mosey to the east end of MRE for the thang:

Station One. – MRE dumpsters, 50 LBC, 20 Fluttah, 20 Mason Twist (aka Russian Hammers)

Run to NC playground (station two) for 20 burpees, 20 step-ups.

Run to west end playground (station three) for 10 pull-ups and 20 diamond merkins.

Rinse and repeat for 3 laps.

Mosey back over to the LZ for partner called exercise / run lap combo.
Partner one – merkins; partner two runs a lap – flapjack.

Partner one – LBC’s; partner two runs a lap – flapjack.

There was something else but I can’t remember.

Circle up for some Mary:
Da Fluttah
LBC’s

Call it.

We had a sizable group show up at about 5:45 – floor slapper (of course), but he brought with him O’Tannenbaum and Joker.

Swift like Eagles

9 PAX ignored the weather report of the day and posted anyway at #F3Swift to find out what a Fast Finish feels like.

The THANG:

  • 0500 – Several PAX post and head off for 1.3mi of easy running.  Fireman Ed apparently thought all SoB workouts started at 0500 and got suckered joined in.
  • 0515 – Rest of the PAX show, the OCR crew took a detour, and we set out on our way towards North Community House via the Ballantyne Hotel & Spa. Fireman Ed didn’t want to wait for Bagpipe, so he joined anyway.
  • After 1 mile, commence with the usual dynamic warmup of heels, toes, high knees, butt kicks, done.
  • Heading down NCH, run 200m at 1-mile race pace, jog to recover 200m
  • Again, run 200m at 1-mile race pace, jog to recover 200m
  • Now, run 6 minutes at Threshold pace (effort level of “comfortably hard”, calculate at http://runsmartproject.com/calculator, or just estimate as between 10K and Half-marathon pace).  Turn-around after 3 minutes.
  • ASAP after the 6min T-pace, run the 200m at FASTER than 1mi race pace to simulate the goal of the morning – the “Fast Finish”.
  • Recovery jog for about 5min
  • Do it all over again starting with 2x200m at 1mile pace (recover 200m after each), 6minutes at T-pace, 200m F-pace
  • Head home
  • total miles around 6 without pre-run included

Moleskin:

  • Mission accomplished on the 6minutes of T-pace (just about 1 mile for some PAX, but a good distance run for all) and then right into a Sprint.  Had PAX gasping for air and some PAX trying to exhume cups of Scottish goo and pollen from their lungs.
  • Though the recovery was a bit long between sets, we still managed to get in 2 sets.  Would have been nice to get in one more set, and though it would have been painful, surely would bear fruit later.
  • Fireman Ed (#runner) was a little lost without Strange Brew, especially when Strange Brew and Cheddar ran off on the way home to find some bonus miles on the streets of the Ballantyne Corporate Park.  Fortunately, Fireman Ed’s internal GPS was working and he made it home.
  • Soft Pretzel is already planning to be “ready” this year for the BRR.  Sounds like there needs to be some general training strategery planned amongst the PAX.  An evening at Brazwells could do the trick – do they have a whiteboard or overhead projector so Dr. Jack Daniels can make an appearance and explain training methodologies?
  • Stump Hugger thought he was going back to find a Marathon – ala HB last week, but instead must have found a bush and taken care of whatever business getting in his gut or mind.  He ended up staying and pushing through the whole workout.
  • Cheddar didn’t lose the jingle pocket!  He still has every key to his house in his shorts while running.  Didn’t seem to slow him, but only served to tell Soft Pretzel to speed up as he was getting too close.
  • Strange Brew will always be the one in the Swift circle to raise his hand when the MC asks, “who came the farthest this morning?”  Sounds like there are plans to at least move one zip code closer. Don’t worry, CHMS is closer for next week, or is it?  Extra drive will help get you in the zone.
  • Frasier toyed with the PAX on the 6minute out & back.  Apparently he only needed to stay close until we turned around, then he faded to black (or did we fade) on the 2nd half.
  • HoneyBee gearing up for a scenic destination Marathon this morning by tapering on anything but the 200s.  Apparently the taper was getting to him and he decided to blow out a 200.
  • Get Well Haggis!  Pushing hard for half the workout this morning on 1/4 a lung was a noble feat.
  • Partial credit to Bunker for a solo-Swift workout before a work flight this morning.  Though we didn’t see him, apparently the results on Strava are there to prove it.

Announcements:

  • 1 Mile Time Trial (and bonus fun) is NEXT WEEK.  Any PAX can come join us at Community House Middle School track at 0515.
  • Yes, this “Hot4Teacher” who is sending emails and tweeting about the $55 F3 discount for Kiawah 1/2 and Full Marathon is legit. Just pay him your money, and YHC promises you can show up to run at Kiawah in December.  Race bib optional.
  • Keep gathering your 2nd place teams for Fast 5k on 5/21.

Smell that Skunk burn

A baker’s dozen gather up in the misty morning air, two of which had already been on that early am jog to Elizabeth Lane and back. #extracredit  The Pax seemed ready to get to work.  So, YHC announced disclaimer and we proceeded.

The Thang:

Warm-Up

Good mornings x 20

KB squat-n-hold 30 sec

1 hand alternating swings x 20

SSH x 20

2 hand swing x 20

IW x 20

Merkins x 20

Mt. Climber x 20

Mosey with Bells:  Rack’em to end of lot

Plank, then merkins x 15

Mosey to lower lot where there were hidden treasures.

Main event:  Hairburner Relays In teams of 3; while one partner does hairburner the other 2 do said exercise (one guy with doubles if he wants); then teams move down the line to use different plates.

  1. Cleans
  2. Clean and squat
  3. Clean, squat, and press——- Take a lap to shake out the legs
  4. Swings
  5. Overhead press

Mosey back to lot…No, wait, some sort of Farmer carry chase with 5 burpees.  Figure it out, just get back.

Jack Abs with KB:  1 KB Louganis, then 4x KB press with Leg Lifts, up to 7 and 28

Finish with 1 minute of swings

COT

Ye Old Nake Moleskin:

A fine turnout this am, with Arena sliding in on two wheels in the box car.  It seems some of the “regulars” may have been a little afraid to get wet.

YHC loves the mumblechatter especially Gummy’s since YHC usually gives it to him at The Rock.

The warm-up seemed right and needed to be done to get the Pax ready for the main event.

If YHC can’t get TR out to Skunk, then I figure I can at least use his toys.  Those plates have seen allot of different AOs.  It was good to get them back out to Skunk. #crowdpleasers

Probably the best compliment was when Witch Dr. stood up after pushing the plates and groaned.  #missionaccomplished.  Oh and of course when YHC got pushed by Tackling Dummy saying how much he loved the ‘burners.

There was allot of extra credit going on out there this am, not sure by choice.  I think it was because of the poor instructions.  My fault and your welcome.

Legs may be a little stiff getting out of bed tomorrow, but post somewhere to work that out.

Fletch was a beast on the Jack Abs and pretty much lead the last couple of sets.  Something tells me Dollywood was solid on it too.  YHC just couldn’t see him.

Announcements:

Dollywood and the Charlotte Eagles are looking for 8 families to host some players from out of town this summer for 2 months.  Please see him and check the weekly email for more info.  Great opportunity to serve and have a good dude stay with you over the summer.  Perhaps babysit your kids and teach them some mad soccer skills.

 

 

 

“Are we allowed to be back here”?

14 showed up in a lite rain for what was advertised as a running workout with a handful of merkins.  It was a bit of a skeleton crew…not sure if the rain or threat of merkins at FT that kept a few people away.  Without naming names, there were a few regulars, such as Hairball, that were absent today. Looking back, I don’t believe there was a disclaimer.

The Thang:

Quick mosey out of the parking lot and up 51 and meeting up at the ARBO in front of that BBQ place that I have literally never seen anyone come in or out of.  Whatever.

Start with 10 merkins (insert grumbling from Mr. Brady) and do 10 at each speed bump through the parking lot until getting to Providence Rd. I believe it was 100 total.

Regroup and cross over Providence Rd.  This drew instant chatter from the group wondering if FT had ever been to that side of Providence.  From there we turned into Hempsted and that is when I heard a few wondering aloud if we were even “allowed” back there.

Mosey about 1/4 mile down Hempsted until coming to the grass median type thing.  Directions:  Run down and around and back up the median stopping for 5 merkins each time at the top.  Rinse and repeat for 7 minutes.

Head back towards Providence stopping for a quick AYG at the first street (down and back) with 10 merkins in between.

Back down Providence to Shallowood for a game of Catch Me if You Can (5 merkins when catching your partner).  I declared that from starting to end (C/O Raintree was 1/8 of a mile to which several (ie, Alf and Brady) strongly disagreed.  By the time I realized that it was actually 8/10 of a mile, Brady had disappeared into the gloom.

Quick stop at Rounding Run for a set of Suicides.

Indian Run down Rising Meadow and Woodfox.

Finish with 4 sprints the length of the parking lot at the school.

Moleskin:

The goal was to incorporate some new terrain into the workout and I think that was accomplished.  There is a lot of area around that we should tap into.  I recognize that I went a little bit off the grid with the merkins (I’d guess 200+) but wanted to mix it up.  Haze declared at the start that he had skipped “chest day” yesterday at Curves to make sure he was properly rested.  Now that’s dedication.  Alf and Brady seemed oddly concerned about my miscalculation in the distance of the Indian Run.  To the extent, that Alf declared that I clearly had a BA and not a BS.  This is ironically true.  At one point, I did hear Brady telling a story of how he thought he was about to get roughed up by some “White trash redneck” once at Myrtle Beach.  I didn’t catch the end, but I’m sure it is good.  See Brady for details.  Great to have Geraldo back.  Looking strong after a 3-4 month break from FT.

Great work from all today.  Thanks for Haze on the solid take out.

Total distance between 5.5 and 5.75 miles.

Announcements:

F3 Dads for the Knights game on 5/14

Maybe more of an observation that an announcement, but Joker might be the fastest guy around.  That dude has wheels.

I let Haze beat me….again #welcometoChilis

Turnpike brings the rain and some pain

With wanting to bring some new ideas into the fold at Thrive I decided to check out the workouts on the F3 website. And of course I decided to bring the rain as well!

Before we started 5 men discussed how it always seems to rain every time I am on Q. I think Glass Joe or Hairband made the comment I am better then the weather men and women when predicting when it was going to rain! With this being true they already knew it was only going to be a matter of time until they were lying in some kind of puddle.

There’s Hoodie the ultimate LIFO. Which means only one thing time to go!

Hairband Mile

COP:

SSH IC X 25

Here’s Nomad who had to fight the fartsack to make it out this morning glad he did even though a little late. 10 BOYO

Imperial Walkers IC X 25

The Thang!

Bear Crawl of Fire:

All PAX will bear crawl in a circle until I say stop. Upon stopping we will all stay planked. 1 member of the PAX will start with 10 Merkins and go around the circle until each PAX member completes 10 Merkins.

Once completed everyone on your six

25 LBC’S OYO

Rinse and Repeat X 3

The LBC’S was just so we can take in the wonderful site of rain drops!

Next up on my research was a little something called Dan Taylor’s:

Dan Taylor is a long lost cousin of Jack Webb I found out while reading through some exercises on the F3 website.

Start with 1 Squat and then 4 lunges alternating legs. Continue with the 1:4 ration up to ten.

Once completed 50 LBC’S OYO

Let’s mosey.

Time to make a stop on Route 66:

There are eleven light poles in the parking lot where we were. At each light pole Carolina Dry Docks will be performed. Start with 1 CDD at light pole 1 run to the next light pole and complete 2 CDD and so on ending with light pole 11 with 11 CDD. In all completing 66 CDD!

Hoodie with a 10 Count for us and let’s mosey!

Time to grab some Wall but not any ordinary wall it was time for a Wall of Fire!

While sitting in the people’s chair all the PAX will rotate completing 10 Merkins and 10 LBC’S. X 2

Round three was similar but this time if you weren’t completing the called exercise you were completing air presses while sitting in the people’s chair!

Let’s mosey

Partner up

This was completely put in just because again a Turnpike Q and we will not stay dry.

P1 runs to Carolina Courts and back while P2 starts with LBC’S. Each team needs to complete 250 combined LBC’S!

Glass Joe for some Flutter work while the PAX complete

2&1/2 MOM

Flutter IC X 20

Dolly IC X 20

Freddy Mercury IC X 20!

Done

It has been a while since I have been out to Thrive because of my work schedule but it was great to be back out there and I should have a schedule change to ensure I am at Thrive more frequently and start making it out to more workouts during the week as well.

Always a great time out in the rain as we discussed throughout the workout.

A lot of Forrest Gump quotes being thrown out while on the wall.

Glass Joe apparently while completing LBC’S sounds like an ultrasound thanks to Nomad for that one!

Always an Honor leading in the gloom!

Comment below if I missed anything a lot of mummblechatter this morning so not sure if I covered it all!

Change up

Well, the late night plan got thrown out when it was just One Eye and myself.  Barely raining at launch, and really didn’t rain much at all.  So for all you hydrophobic fartsackers out there, you missed a fairly humid but otherwise great morning to get after it.

We ran the HT mile (+/- 6:40 pace) then, not knowing when the heavy stuff was going to come, we headed for the overhang by the school nearest the cars.

10 merkins, 20 dips, 30 squats, 40 LBCs x2, then run a lap around the school.

I think we got in 4 sets & 3 laps around the school before running the final mile (slower pace).  Totals to 80 merkins, 160 dips, 240 squats, and 320 LBCs plus 3.2 miles per Strava.

Honestly, that’s better than I thought it would be considering neither of us really pushed it today.  Lot of 2nd F – kids, schools, non-medical back advice, effects of online shopping on retail real estate market, teens lack of brand preference, etc.  Just your normal stuff.

One Eye loved the idea, so next week, I’m bringing back the Dizzy Bat.

Sundancer – waterproof speaker is in the new car.  Bring the tunes.  It’s about to get Bat Guano crazy.

 

Who’s the Q?

If you’re looking around at a bunch of ugly mugs on a Monday morning wondering who the Q is, and they’re all staring at you with puppy dog eyes… you might be the Q.  Once my role was clearly established by the crew, and my mind was clearly blank, it was time for what else?  a run.

The Thang:

Run around the school long enough for the Q to develop a virtual weinke

Circle up in back lot for COP

  • SSHx20
  • IWx20
  • LSQx20
  • MCx20
  • Merkinsx10
  • Interspersed with burpees oyo 5×5

Mosey over to blocks; one block per team of 3

Grinders:  (2 cycles each, out to mid lightpost and back)

  • Presses x merkins
  • GMs x squats
  • Curls x flutters

AYG back to lot

Mosey to track, lap warmup

Races:  3 heats. Each team has one runner in each heat running sprint lap around track.  Winning team does dollies, while losing teams do 10 burpees oyo (each)

Mosey to wall.  Wall sit; 50 arm raises; 20 derkins oyo; wall sit; leg raises.

Mosey to cones; 10 merkins; AYG back to lot

Brief Mary: 25 FMs, 25 dollies

Mileage: 2.2

Moleskine:

  • New feature for The Matrix:  Last one to arrive before 5:30 is the defacto Q.  Makes the Site Qs’ job much easier.
  • Relatively smaller crowd today with 10 pax, but luckily we had just enough unbroken blocks left to pound out some grinders.  (maybe the new Site Q’s can make up for their lack of organizational skills with their site equipment maintenance skills?)
  • Solid performance out there by all the regulars; respect to CMD and Nomad who keep making it out every week – great consistency and solid endurance out there
  • Lobster Roll always seems to make it look easy
  • Special kudos to Alf for making it out there (and up front nonetheless) after pounding out a strong showing at the Spartan on Sunday
  • Thanks to Squid for the strong take-out
  • Always a pleasure to Q the Matrix, even when I’m uninformed

Announcements:

Open Q spots – contact Pop Tart or Squid if interested  (or just show up at 5:29)

 

Running at the Rock

7 men started their Saturday off right with some miles at The Rock. Here’s what we did.

Warm up on the smooth pavement
– SSH
– IW
– Merkins
– Low, slow squats

Islands in the Stream
– Suicide runs to each island and back, 2 merkins to start, +2 merkins for each island
– I think 12 islands in all

Rocks and Run
– Pick up a rock, do some lifting, run a lap
– Overhead press x10
– Goodmornings x10
– Squats x10

Run to Park, lunge walk along the way

Circuit work on playground
– 10 donkey kicks on swings
– 10 jump ups on bench
– 10 pullups
– Lap around parking lot
– Rinse, repeat

Dog Park Hill
– Start at bottom, run up and down, alternate 10 jump squats and 10 LBCs at each light pole

Run back to church, squats and plank along the way

Grass Field
– Various running activities across field, run around parking lot until watch reads 4 miles

When I pulled up, I thought I was in for a solo crowd as no one had showed by 7:02 am. However, a lap over to the backdoor of the church found 6 others already going with Hopper in the lead. Not gonna lie, I was headed home if no one showed. But thankfully we had a good crew and covered some ground. My goal was to work the legs, mission accomplished. Good work staying together across somoe distance. Always an honor to lead.

— Harley

Frogger anyone?

“If you can dodge a car you can dodge a ball”, said everyone today as we ventured forth into Raintree to do some fun hill work. But first a message from our COP sponsors.

In Cadence
SSH x 20
IW x 20
Low Slow Squat x 20
Mtn climber x 20

All the LIFO’s acquired, we head out to Rounding Run by way of Woodfox. Frogger round 1(stay to the left) Arriving at our AO YHC hits everyone with the 3 man BOMB. Partner up in threes starting at the bottom of Rounding Run halfpipe. Exercises are conducted at the tops of the natural halfpipe. 100 Merkins atop the Raintree Ln side with 100 CCD’s on the Rising Meadow side, 200 Lunges/Monkey Humpers, 300 Dollies/Freddie Mercury. Partners 1 and 2 run towards Raintree Ln, 3 goes towards Rising Meadow. Partner 2 leaves 1 at top and runs to 3 to relieve him. Rinse and repeat until all work is done. Frogger Round 2 (head on a swivel)

Plank at the bottom of the pipe till we get the 6.

Everyone done we head back to the start. Stop at woodfox to wait on the 6. Frogger round 3 (perfect storm at the three way) Everyone back safe to SCMS and lookie here, we got 1 minute left. Burpees AMRAP.

Moleskin:
YHC has been waiting to do a workout on this natural disaster for a while. I think some F3 all-stars forgot how to count lunges. (both legs = 1 rep) #speedsters Today was not moderate. Awesome work PAX. We also indoctrinated two new members. Cheerwine came out as a lone wolf. No EH needed. That’s what I like to see. Bo peep was led astray by Insomniac. Nice work. Kotters to Damn Gina after waking from a warm winters nap. Looking forward to seeing you in the gloom more this spring. T-Claps for Sledge, son of Hammer. He’s 12 and probably has to go to school before anyone goes to work. So what’s your excuse for not making it out this morning? ISI

Announcements:
Mudrun is just around the corner. 4/30. Plenty of room on some teams. Check out the weekly newsletter to learn more.

Udder out