Men of Area 51,
As many of you know, F3 has a longstanding relationship with Alexander Youth Network [AYN]. AYN is a non-profit organization that provides professional treatment to children with serious emotional and behavioral problems. There are up to 36 kids [boys and girls, ranging from 8-14 years old] that live at AYN, receiving daily treatment over a number of months. Many of these kids have come from rough circumstances, including physical and emotional violence. F3 has had a partnership with AYN for over a year. We’ve done about 15 workouts with the kids; we hosted a cookout for the kids, and the F3 Foundation has purchased outdoor sporting equipment for AYN.
With Christmas right around the corner, we’ve decided to embark on a “Christmas toy drive” to buy NEW toys for the boys and girls at AYN. We have assembled a group of Toy Qs that will get the word out and coordinate the toy collection efforts across Area 51 during the next few weeks. The Toy Drive will end on the morning of December 19th. See below for a list of the Toy Qs, and also for the wish list items that have been provided by kids at AYN.
Toy Qs
Alexander Youth Network 2015 Holiday Wish List
During this busy holiday season, Alexander Youth Network is honored that you would consider donating new toys for our children. Below is a list of their greatest holiday needs this year, based on wish lists collected from their children.
16 Men arrived at South Charlotte Middle eager to get to work. There were only veterans in this crew so with a quick disclaimer away we went.
Run it to the Child development center parking lot for burpee/merkin mixer
SSH x20IC (just because)
5 burpees
Merkin x10 IC
5 Burpees
Close Grip Merkin x10IC
5 Burpees
Widearm Merkin x10 IC
Run it to Davey Park and Plankarama
From the bottom gate, alternate forwards run and backwards run with 20 Merkins at each LightPole – continue until we reach the park office parking lot at top.
Flutter on the curb until we all finish
Return flight to bottom gate alternating forwards run and backwards run with 20 Squats at each LightPole – continue until back at gate.
Run it playground and grab a partner.
P1 Runs to Bottom Gate and Back
P2 Completes Called Exercises (flapjack)
3 rounds of the following – 10 pullups, 10 Hanging knees to elbows, 10 DryDocks, 10 Squats
2 ronds of the following – 10 LBC, 10 Flutter Each Leg, 10 Heels to heaven, 10 Tricep dips
Gather your partner and run it back to Charlotte Middle School
Right at 6:15 – Cirlce up for Namarama
Moleskin- 100 percent humidity, light mist and fog awaited the pax this morning. As did a running intensive upper body beatdown. The pax met the challenge head on w/only a few moans and groans during the warmup and during the last few sets of merkins at the lightpoles. Not sure about anyone else, but the last few reps proved pretty challenging during the merkin round. Can’t recall how many lightpoles there were but i’d say somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 (that’s 200 merkins during that round). Lots of guys running hard between the poles with Buttermaker, Good Hands and Header leading the charge. Floor slapper and Semi Gloss were pushing hard during the partner work as it seemed everyone was getting after it. Not too much chatter out there this morning, but if anything happened to catch anyones eyes or ears, please post in the comments.
Announcements:
Holiday Party 12/12 at Sardis Swim and Racquet Club – Sign up by 12/4
Joe Davis Run 1/9/16 (see weekly email for preblast and sign up link)
12 Pax parted the fog and mist and did some parking lot work. If there was a shovel flag I missed it, or could have been lost in the gloom. My shoes couldn’t handle another wet workout, so only parking lots this time around. And with an AO like this one, that wasn’t a problem.
Scabby and Margo ran in with a solid 3.5+ showing before the workout.
No FNGs so a quick disclaimer and welcome were given, then off.
Thang
Mosey around the 3 parking lots on the 51 side, around the circle at the front to the new courtyard for COP.
COP
SSH x 30
IW x 30
MC x 30
Mosey to the small turnaround circle close to the church.
Anvil Parking Lot Tour 2015
The turnaround was home base, every time we returned it was 10 burpees. From each of the 6 parking lots running away from the church in a south/southwest direction, the pax ran to the end and performed the following escalator and then returned to home base for burpees before running the next lot.
Mermaid led us in some plank work while we regrouped, then to hit the last 3 lots.
Mosey to the rock pile
Mary 1-2-3
Pax partnered up with each pair combining for the following.
Returned rocks and gave it all you got to the cars for COT.
Moleskin
Strong showing by all in attendance today. YHC stayed up too late watching the Tar Heels and paid dearly, I felt my own pain, bled my own blood. But can check Anvil parking lots off the bucket list. Lobster Roll and Mermaid led the charge to the front, but everyone stayed pretty close together. Garmin (not the kids Angry Birds watch) had us at 2.25, I would have thought more, Margo must have laid back after that prerun, I kid. Young Love took us out with a great reminder for the week and prayer, good to have you back. Appreciate the opportunity to lead.
Sign up by Friday for the Christmas Party on the 12th. Canned goods will be collected for the Calvary food pantry.
Hey when its time for me to Q the Maul expect Abs, at least that was the mumble chatter the night before and who was I to disappoint.
Forget side straddle hop and imperial walkers, this warm up was focused on the abs (200 reps in all).
Mosey over to the speed bumps. At each of the six speed bumps:
Plank for the Six
Partner up. P1 does 25 full sit ups while P2 plans on P1s feet. Flap Jack and rinse and repeat until everyone has 50 full sit ups under their belt.
Dips and Chairs
Wind Down
Plankorama. 30-60 seconds (sorry Outback’s watch does not have a seconds hand) of the following planks:
Through in some Dollys sorry Rosalettas and 10 very slow merkins and time is up.
Moleskin
Solid effort this morning. Frehley’s led somewhat of a rebellion on running up the hills with the merkins, which is allowed under the heading of modify as needed. Tuck, Teddy and Squid leading the pack with Haggis focused on good form. Rip Curl and Freon pushed and solid effort lads. Wing Man poked the bear at the end and hence the planks.
Appreciated the opportunity to lead.
Announcements
Toy drive to begin shortly – more to come on the types of toys to bring shortly. Follow up with Wing Man if you have questions.
New Saturday bootcamp workout to begin Jan 2nd @ 7am in Blackney called da Vinci. Follow up with Tuck if you have questions.
“Don’t let fatiuge make a coward out of you.”
— Steve Prefontaine
The Thang:
Warm-up jogfest (karaoke, high-knees, siftBootyButtWhappers, backwards and the like).
*Thigh-high wall jump-ups (x20)
COP
• SSH x 20 IC
• Imperial Walker x 20 IC
• Monkey Humpers x 15 IC
• Peter Parker x 15 IC
• Mtn Climber x 15 IC
• Parker Peter x 15 IC
Run to the haunted rock quarry, fetch a stone:
Russian Twists x 20 IC, WWII sit-ups (10), Knee-ups x 20 IC, WWII sit-ups (10), Russian Twists x 20 IC. Fling the rock back into the haunted abyss of boulders (there is much fitness in flinging …this is oft an overlooked aspect of these exercises).
Run to where we point the balls to the wall (B2W for 1 min.), 20 incline merkins, 20 B2W Mtn Climbers, followed by dips (x20 IC).
Run to the Chargers track …3 BURLAPS (5 burpees every 100 meters – – – comes out to a total 60 burpees).
People’s chair w/ lifted leggies and air-presses.
Mary & Done.
Moleskin:
• I think this is the first time I’ve ever been to The Charge w/o John Deere being present.
• Ichabod has retired I think.
*über enjoyed working out with you brothers this morning! I am always asked, “How do you feel about these dudes you’re hanging-out with at 5:30 in the morning?” And this is how I always reply, “The world is full of people who want to play it safe, people who have tremendous potential but never use it. Somewhere deep inside them, they know that they could do more in life, be more, and have more — if only they were willing to take a few risks.” [George Foreman]
Motivated by Bratwurst’s aggressive training regimen for the Joe Davis 5k/10k Run in January, Thursday’s Devil’s Turn will feature an interval challenge as well as the standard 4 and 6 mile options. The route will be simple to allow for more focus on holding a steady pace for the intervals.
We will start from the greenway parking lot at the corner of Rea Rd. and Bevington Place promptly at 5:15 am. From there we will head North on Rea Rd. until we reach 51, this will conclude the warm-up. (Pro Tip: Wear a headlamp! The sidewalks on this section of Rea Rd. are gnarly which by the way is how this route got its name)
Once across 51 (still on Rea Rd.), we will begin the intervals. They are as follows:
Blue Pill (4 miles): Run from 51 to where Colony Rd starts at Threshold Pace (calculate that in link below). Rest 2 min. Run back to 51 at Threshold Pace. Rest 2 min. Proceed back to parking lot at whatever pace you can muster. (for watch programming this is 1 mile at T-pace with 2 min rest x2)
Red Pill (6 miles): Run from 51 to Colony Rd (stop light) and back to 51 at Threshold Pace (~2 miles). Rest 2 min. Repeat out to Colony Rd and back to 51 at Threshold Pace (~2 miles). Rest 2 min. Run out 1/2 mile North from 51 and return to 51 proceeding across 51 South to the parking lot (2 mi total). (for watch programming this is 2 mi at T-pace with 2 min rest x3)
So there you go. That’s the plan. Go to the following links or download the app to get your appropriate Threshold pace for this workout.
Find your Interval training pace here: http://runsmartproject.com/calculator or also available via the app VDOT Running Calculator by The Run SMART Project, LLC. Here are downloadable links:
The shovel flag was planted in the soft earth of South Charlotte Middle School. The men of #FastTwitch gathered in the parking lot, awaiting the Best Worst Hour in Area51, and barely avoiding certain death at the hands of Prohibtion’s out of control Expedition.
The Thang
13 of us took off into the dark morning, heading out Strawberry to 51. Hanging a right onto 51, we ran towards Raintree Lane. Lex Luthor was to my left, dressed like it was 27* instead of 47*, looking like Rocky from one of his epic Rocky IV runs in the Russian mountains, hoodie pulled up and all.
After hanging a right onto Raintree Lane, then a left onto Willow Point Drive, we settled into the Raintree soccer field parking lot for COP, that was really all C, very little P.
Mosey onto Willow Point for an explanation of the Beast. Everyone claimed to know how to do the Beast…but round 1 was a disaster. Perhaps a Q fail…but most likely a lack of attention to detail from the Pax. Still, we did the six rounds, with 3 stops coming and going at each side street sign along the quarter mile long Willow Point Drive, which runs behind the Arbo, among the slums of South Charlotte, per @GummyF3. I guess everyone is beneath you when your team is #1.
From Willow Point, we turned left on Raintree Lane, then right on Rounding Run, headed for base. But first a stop at Rising Meadow for some 3 man team hill sprint grinders. This was fun.
From there, we broke tradition…no Indian Run back…just a go at your own pace until we arrived back at the school for COT.
Moleskine
Prohibition almost killed 3 pax with his wreckless driving in the parking lot. Why do guys with big trucks/SUVs think they need to back into every pace? At least he spared us and wasn’t blaring Air Supply’s greatest hits this time.
A lot of complaints about showing up for a running workout and getting a bootcamp. Not so much a bootcamp…but more a track tempo workout in disguise. #NoTrackTuesday is trending so I had to think of another way to get the work in. All in all, we covered 5.25 miles at a pretty legit pace for most of it.
Soul Glow’s burpee form was awful…almost Chelms-like. But at least he attempted them, after refusniking everything else in the Beast, except the squats round, as he did squats every round.
It is scary at the dead end of the road, right there behind the Arbo Walmart.
Announcements
There were six of us standing around in a circle (no rain – thanks, #Cantorre), waiting for the clock to move three more minutes to 0530 when Brushback rolled in and completely ruined the even numbers. Guess there would be a group of 3 today for 2-man grinders.
Thang:
Mosey down Swan’s Run, take a left, go around the “we don’t want to be a cut through street” barricade, take a right, step into a deep puddle, jump a fence, squish around the green, and stop on the cart path.
P1 does exercise, P2 runs to almost the pond. Flapjack repeatedly.
Partners combined to complete 100 burpees, 200 merkins, 300 squats, bunch ‘o knee ups (no group quite finished 400).
Run back.
Moleskine
Very simple workout that hopefully delivered a little bit of everything. The group clocked about 3.6 miles, and apparently when you run back, there is a hill on Swan’s Run. Must have missed it on the way out.
Workout like this is as much a mental grind as physical. The run was probably 250-300 yards, if the 100 yard marker was right, which was just quick enough to get some exercise reps in and barely enough time for the heart rate to drop before it was time to run again. This was not the easy welcome back that I wanted after a weekend away. Definitely struggled today.
Noteworthy performance from #camoshirt. Couldn’t see him, but you could hear his words, and bodily functions, from near and far. I managed to make it the entire workout without saying a word about Saturday to Brushback. Curd brought the light today. He’s figured out the alarm clock, but couldn’t turn off his interior light…then provided the only headlamp for navigating across the fence. #TetanusFTW! Daisy was there. Didn’t hear him utter a word…just kept his head down and worked. I think he was the only one of the triumvirate with SG and Curd that counted reps. I’m still unsure how SG manages to sweat so much while doing so little. One Eye seemed like he barely broke a sweat as he carried the heavy lifting of our team reps. Good times out there today, boys. We’ll be back at it next week.
Kirk
COP
Disclaimer
Wild Turkey – 10 burpees OYO
Tuck – 11 burpees OYO
Mosey to Costigan Park (adjacent the Ballantyne Village parking garage). The postage stamp sized park has everything you need for a complete workout, open space, benches and a fountain wall. Plus, Tuck brought a stack of pavers to increase the misery quotient. The session included seven rounds, following each round the PAX exited the park via the nearest exit with a prescribed ark loader. Circle the park and return to your position in plank to await the next round.
Round 1/Tuck – Merkin-O-Rama: plyo, wide, diamond, offset left, incline, offset right, decline, left leg up and right leg up, bear crawl
Round 2/Wild Turkey – Alternating partner squats with kick (Kid-N-Play), crab walk
Round 3/Tuck – Tri-O-Rama: hands together, hands apart, dips, bunny hops
Round 4/Wild Turkey – Bulgarian split squats x 20 each leg, Teabag squats, duck walk
Round 5/Tuck – Curl-O-Rama: stacked center, 1 hand each, hammer, reverse grip, half curl (bottom to middle and middle to top) and 8-counts x 10 each, bear crawl
Round 6/Wild Turkey – In/Out Jump Squats , Calf raises, Lunge with pulse, crab walk
Round 7/Tuck – Shoulder-O-Rama: should press (together and apart), upright row, deltoid raises, lateral raises, arms out circles, bunny hops
Moleskin
Tuck asked me to join him on the Q and I jumped at the chance. Tuck is standout Q because he puts in the work. We organized this Weinke over the last few days and every detail including the site, the pavers, each exercise was orchestrated in advance to deliver a fun, full-body beat down.
It was great to see a big group today. Thank you all for coming out. Kotters to Market Timer who’s been away, but had no trouble keeping up with us.
Announcements:
New F3 SOB Saturday at 7 AM workout coming soon.
7 strong men showed up to feel the Tuesday morning post-holiday pain. Here is how it went down.
Disclaimer given and recognition given to being on a public road (although not 1 car passed during the workout)
The Thang- (conducted on public streets)
Mosey from the parking lot for an extended HB mile around soccer fields, circle up in the street next to Carolina Courts for warm-up.
SSH x 50
Use light posts as station markers, 4 stations. Run back to first light post at end of round.
Round 1:
Partner Squerkin x5 , Partner Thrown Downs x5 Partner Derkins x 5, Partner Curl Ups x5, running from station to station.
Round 2:
Partner Squerkin x10, Partner Thrown Downs x10, Partner Derkins x 10, Partner Curl Ups x10 running from station to station.
Round 3
Partner Squerkin x15 , Partner Thrown Downs x15, Partner Derkins x 15, Partner Curl Ups x15 (with improvised alternating backwards run/karaoke between stations)
Bonus Round:
Because we all earned it, continue backwards run/karaoke between stations
10 Merkin/10 LS squats, Partner Thrown Downs x10, Merkins x 10, Partner Curl Ups x10 (continue alternating backwards run/karaoke between stations)
Not so slow Indian Run back to lot for Mary
LBCx50
Dollyx30
LBCx50
Rosalita x20? (no hablo espanol)
Good workout this AM and thanks all for showing up to support my (Hoodie) first end to end Q. Strong effort by all men especially Turnpike who was fighting thru some shoulder pain but still kept it going. Glass Joe nice job keeping me honest on last set of Partner Derkins. Was wondering why they seemed a little less awful.