So last time we tried this route, Stump Hugger busted his knees and contracted Hungarian body rot. With the kinks now worked out, we will head back to the scene of the crime and show it who’s boss. The hills on this section of road are great for the long grinding hills of the BRR.
The basic plan will be to start from the greenway parking lot at the corner of Rea Rd. and Bevington Place at 5:15 am. We will then head north on Rea Rd and cross over 51 until the 1 mile warmup is complete. Then it will be on like donkey kong.
(No relation to the creator of the A51 mudrun trophy or the GoRuck Heavy finisher. It is used here simply because it sounds good. This concludes the legal speak.)
For the duration of the 1 hour workout, the PAX will run north and south on Rea Rd. between 51 and Colony. For ~4 miles, it is once down and back. For ~6 miles, it is twice down and back. We then make our way back to the start ideally fully satisfied with the hills and valleys of this section of Rea Rd.
For descriptive and actually useful instructions, see SH’s original post for this route. Stumpy’s New Route Instructions
Go to http://runsmartproject.com/calculator to learn your marathon training pace. For this week’s Devil’s Turn, your challenge is to keep it near that number after the 1 mile warmup all the way to COT.
I figured most guys would go for the #TripNick at the Murderhorn. That’s a mighty fine hill and most guys running the BRR need hills. Or maybe they’d post at Anvil and watch Bushwood show off his young knees. I was thinking it would be me on Gloss, and maybe Radar if he could muster the energy in the midst of his pre-vacation, pre-BRR exercise-bulimic purge. Heck, after 4 days of solo runs on the TX moonscape, any companions were a welcome sight. 15 was gravy. (Were gravy? A conjugate visit would be greatly appreciated).
Since Gummy didn’t bring indenture any new guys this week, we trained our attention on Daisy, a former Metro pax who got sick of all the running and #MetroArms and moved down to A51 for embiggenment. Just not today. Today, we’d be running off campus. So we tucked our keys in your perineum, stowed all purses / European Carry Alls in the trunk and moseyed to Davie for a change of scenery. “Headlamps? We won’t need them….”
THE THANG
Spackler, Radar, Turkey Leg and some others led the way down the eponymous highway. Gummy was up there. Lost sight of the leaders while chatting with Semi Gloss about 777’s head covering. He’s clearly either an MMA fighter (mentioning a wool beanie in August not a good idea) or some kind of hipster (which opens wide the door for mocking, deriding). But absent the beard and flannel shirt, Gloss felt like MMA fighter was the probable explanation, and it was just about this time that we came around the dark corner and found Gummy doubled over in the shadows, like Honey Bee with chalk. Apparently, he (Gummy, not Honey Bee) got tangled up with a “pine cone” in the dark and almost bit it (“I weebled, I wobbled, but I didn’t fall down.” It’s not yet clear which Chevy Chase movie that’s from but we’re working on it). The alternative explanation, and the most likely, is that Gummy was giving 777 the business about the hat and 777 went the full Ronda Rousey on him. Gloss and I probably saved his life by rounding the corner when we did. Never saw any pine cones, either.
We eventually make our way down to the Street Lamp Street for a proper time killing warm up, then proceed to run up and down Street Lamp Street doing merkins, dry dogs, and various running combinations. Gummy seems to have recovered nicely, but is keeping his distance from Ronda. Lesson learned.
Over to the playground for a few rounds of alternating running and not running, then back on the highway to take it back home. No incidents reported, although I happened to be passing Daisy when, judging by the sounds of the resultant gagging and expectorating, he got a cicada caught in ye olde windpipe. He seemed to have rid himself of it by the time we assembled for backwards lunge walks up the ramp.
And that was it. Hopefully, the verbal bunting will have distracted the unobservant reader that we did the same workout I usually do that doesn’t involve plates or kettlebells. Turns out that my bland, humorless pre-tweet was a foreshadowing (adumbration anyone?) of a bland, humorless workout. But we did get some miles in, so there’s that.
Finis
COT
Moleskine: Read the THANG again, you greedy bastages.
Several Announcements from the Pax:
YHC usually doesn’t give pax any warning but took to twitter preblasting the Triple Nickel on the Murderhorn. Somehow 18 pax showed up in spite of this.
The Thang:
Quick COP next to movie theater:
SSH X 15
IW X 15
MC X 15
Mosey to the top of the Murderhorn
TRIPLE NICKEL
Run to the base of the Murderhorn and complete 5 merkins.
Run up to the top of the Murderhorn and complete 5 squats.
Repeato X 5.
Wait for the six to finish at the top while performing Mary: LBCs, Flutter, Dolly, Rosalita, etc.
Mosey behind the movie theater:
Hold people’s chair while pax complete wall walkers with a verkin at each crack.
2nd COP:
Chippy led alternate toe touches.
Hold plank while all pax run around the circle individually. Plank ring around the rosie.
Hold elbow plank until Outback’s watch hits 6:15.
COT
Naked Moleskine
The usual clown car duo of Lugee and Mic Check has been replaced with both pax arriving separately the last two days. Trouble in paradise?
It doesn’t look like we did much unless you’ve experienced the Murderhorn firsthand. One time up and you’ll want to head back to Stonecrest. 5 times up and the behemoth begins to crush you. #selfsmoker
The more YHC posts with Frazier, the more convinced YHC gets that he is some sort of fitness robot. Not only did the guy finish the Murderhorn Triple Nickel well before any of the other pax, he complete extra reps with the six. He must’ve completed 6 or 7 trips up and down.
FC has replaced his lime green towel with a purple one.
Chippy was critical of the pax Mary form post Murderhorn. We gave him an opportunity to lead one of his favorites before the plank Merry Go Round.
Several pax were vociferous during the plank ring around the rosie, calling out other pax plank form. #everycopisacriminal
First time YHC has remembered all pax in a group greater than 10.
YHC used to be able to Q on a much more regular basis prior to change job roles and traveling frequently. With the fluidity of this schedule, it is difficult to commit to Qing months in advance so whenever an opportunity does arise, I’m all the more appreciative of the challenge. As always, it was an honor to lead!
Announcements:
Bean, Outback, MT, Haggis and Co are planning a Mountain Getaway Friday afternoon-Saturday afternoon that will include running 3 of the BRR legs(~17 miles), sleeping in a cabin, and plenty of 2nd F. Reach out to one of those pax if interested in joining.
Plenty of open Q slots for The Maul as well as Dromedary in the coming weeks.
Seriously, don’t. You’ll have to tell your pastor, which will probably lead to church discipline. I made that mistake this morning. Why do we use that name? Anyways.
Proper Disclaimer: “Let’s have some fun.”
Run out Calvary entrance 3. Left on Colony. Right on 51. Stop at Cary Ridge Rd. and 51.
–Wide Arm Merkins x 10IC
Run down Cary Ridge and stop at each side street and end (4 stops) for 20 merkins
–Planking (RH high, LH high, all the favorites)
–LBCs x 25IC #WhisperCount
Run back up Cary Ridge to 51 with 20 squats at each stop
–Planking Exercises (RH/LL High, LH/RL High, etc.)
Run down Cary Ridge with 20 Knee-ups at each stop (failed flying EH of neighborhood walker)
–Planking
–русский Твист x 20IC
Run back up Cary Ridge with 10 Monkey Humpers at each stop
–Planking
–Flutter x 25IC
Run down Cary Ridge to Alderman Lane for 5’s on Alderman (Diamonds at bottom and top of Alderman)
–Heals to Heaven x 26IC
–Freddy Mercury x 25IC
Run back to Calvary entrance 3 with stops for squats x 10IC and planking.
Run up entrance 3 stopping at 4 light poles for 10 peter parker merkins at each pole.
11’s of Dips/Derkins (#Dipkin) on curb.
Done!
NM
Was looking at the internets last night for some off-campus spots and I think found the secret sauce. Cary Ridge is 1/4 mile long. Long enough for the fast guys to stretch it out a little but also short enough that the group doesn’t get too spread out. Add some exercise stops and boom, good little mix of running and exercises. Plus, its only 0.3 miles from Calvary’s entrance 3.
According to my satellites, we ran 3.1 miles with 215 merkins (don’t Google it). The Monkey Humpers were a crowd favorite. Squats start to hurt after you do 40. My arms were shot after the 11’s of Dips/Derkins.
We tried to EH a walker during the Knee-up set after he blinded us all with his head lamp. He was impressed with our Knee-up form. Apparently, Cary Ridge doesn’t get much action at 5:45 in the morning.
Knight Rider, Lobsta Roll, and Simba slaughtered the runs up and down Cary Ridge (#LoveThisSentence). Lots of guys pushing hard out there. We kept the pace up and the group stayed together #TClaps. Brushback got some extra milage by running to the workout (almost an entire mile #CSAUP). Young Love wishes spiderman would show up for the Peter Parker merkins #BigKid #Nerd #MeToo. Mermaid has perfect merkin form. I promise I was not staring at him when he was doing merkins.
I did not have an encounter with a security guard or #AngryWhiteSedan. And no one got hit by a car crossing Colony #OnYourRight! Also, good to see some of my friends show up.
Announcements
Mud Run is coming up in October. Sign-up soon.
This was my first Q duty since recovering from a stress fracture in my foot. After nearly two months of limited exercise, I had begun to get back into some of the more cardio heavy workouts recently. It’s been tough, so I was hopeful I had enough in the tank to lead the men to a good workout this morning. Hope it didn’t disappoint. Here is what we did…
After planting our brand new shovel flag in the ground at PDS, we mosey’d down to the track to take a warm-up lap, then circled up in field for…
COP
Jog over to the goal line on the football field and get into groups for 3-man grinders.
Mosey to the stadium with a stop for people’s chair (left leg up, right leg up, air presses x20 IC)
Bleacher grinders
MoM
NMS
The heat may be taking its toll. We had a small group this morning, but we had some great fellowship. It has been a little while since I’ve Q’d, so it was great to return to action. Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
Great to see you this morning Joker. That is the first time I’ve seen someone do peoples chair while facing the wall. As usual you were ridiculously fast on those bear crawls…great work. I enjoyed knocking out those grinders with you and Tesla.
Arena rightly called me out on the bleacher work…definitely looked better on paper. Nevertheless, you, Chowda and Ray Charles were killing it. Nice work guys!
Ray Charles….enjoyed the PDS history lesson from our local alum this morning. Still wish they would have installed some fans or something on that field. Does the wind ever even blow in that bowl?? Man the air is thick down there!
Again…thank you men for the honor of leading this morning. Please come out again next week! Thanks Ray Charles for taking us out!
Announcements:
Pre-run 5am
Only two fool hardy souls for the 30 min 5am pre-run, which happened to be the two Q’s.
Main event 5:30 am
Gathered the troops and disclaimer provided. PAX counts off into two groups. First group went with Mr Bean and headed for the “Ring of Fire”. Second group went with Outback and headed for the “Decks of Death”.
“Ring of Fire” (Mr Bean)
SSH X15
MC X15
IW X15
Mosey to start of the bullring for a “ring of fire. There are 20 entrances to the ring, the ring itself is 800m +/- at each entrance 10 merkins, complete circuit =200 merkins.
Round 2: Partner up for another “ring of fire” 10 handslap merkins at each entrance, complete circuit=200 merkins. PAX instructed to modify as needed.
While waiting for the 6 a little Mary, Flutter in Cadence x20, Dolly in Cadence x20
Partner up for sprints: Partner 1 sprints a loop while partner 2 performs LBC’s until partner 1 returns. Rinse and repeat 3 times.
PAX together to head home pick up pace at each drive entrance, hold plank for the 6. Quick stop at Rocky River Grill for a merkin ladder. 6 sets of 5 merkins in cadence with short sprints, cadence count by Linus, Tuna, Crabcake, FNG (Ponzi) and YHC.
Jail break by most back to the AO. Great work men, Mermaid crushed the ring along with Fire Hazard and Mighty. Strong work by both FNG’S, I partnered up with Ponzi he pushed himself hard for the first time out. Thanks to Big Tuna, Loogie and Fire Hazard for keeping the 6 in check and bringing them home. Nice to see my Swift brothers strolling around the Bullring, good to see so many of us in the gloom. Thank you for the opportunity if you haven’t lead step up and take the challenge there is no better feeling.
Bean.
“Decks of Death” (Outback)
The Decks of Death featured a 440 rep beat down with no 10 count rests and went down something like this:
Run to the parking deck basement in Ballantyne Village.
First Up – Warm up (100 reps)
Second – Merkins (100 reps)
Third – Legs & Shoulders (100 reps)
Forth – Abs (100 reps)
Finished up with 20 dips and 20 more flutters.
Headed home in time for COT.
Moleskin:
Solid effort this morning with the PAX staying very close to each other. Mic Check and Escargot were pushing for the lead along with a few others. Also appreciate the clarification/demonstration by Market Timer and Frehleys on a true form Monkey Humpers, although there is still some confusion on inside or outside hold on the ankles.
Thanks for the lead gentleman.
Outback
10 SOBs prepared for the F3 Gladiator Games that are this Saturday 8/8 in Indian Land. Here’s what we did:
The Thang:
COP – SSH X 10, Good Mornings X 10, Halos X 8 each direction, around the worlds X 8 each direction, merkins X 15
High Intensity KB Ladders:
Q calls 2 exercises that are performed at your own pace starting with 10 each, then 9, 8, 7, down to 1.
Round 1 – KB Swings & Diamond merkins on your KB
Round 2 – Upright rows & Tricep Extensions
Round 3 – KB Press & Russian Twist
Gear Work:
Divide the PAX into 4 groups, place 3 KBs at the pain stations 2 & 4 and rotate through pain stations.
Pain Station 1 – Hair burners down and back
Pain Station 2 – 2 Handed Swings X 20, Clean X 20 (total), Tire Flips X 15
Pain Station 3 – Hair burners down and back
Pain Station 4 – Upright Rows X 20, One Arm Press X 20 (total), Tire Flips X 15
Moleskin
Kettlebells, Tractor Tires, and Hairburners….Can you start a week of any better? Heck No! Awesome work by the PAX this week. Welcome Don Q to the Foxhole. Hope to get you back out here.
Announcements:
Gladiator Games this Saturday 6-10 in Indian Land
We started with 5, had 3 run back together, and had 4 at COT. Yep…one of those mornings. This was a grind. Fairly spread out pax, dark streets, a random old guy in a bandana watching us out the window, an aggressive Prius circling the block, a potential kidnapping, an empty cop car, and the smell of a possible gas leak…pretty much all you could ask of a workout.
Thang:
Run a mile down Rea to Providence Lane West, continue down PLW with 5 stops totaling 100 jump squats, 100 merkins, 100 knee ups then run back of PLW (repeated), and finish with a mile run back up Rea.
War Daddy of the group, 49er, had to exit at 0600, so he showed up early for a pre-run, then made a strong showing with about 3 miles with us (1 full circuit). Per Strava, Voodoo got 1.4 rounds with 3.8 miles: Voodoo Strava
One Eye got in a full two rounds: +/- 4.3 miles, 200 jump squats, 200 merkins, 200 knee ups. Agony and YHC got in two complete plus a run back to pick up One Eye: I had it at 4.83 miles, while his watch had 5.0 miles plus 200 of each. I’ll edit to post the Strava link whenever I get it uploaded. https://www.strava.com/activities/361367418
I’ll also leave out the Friday gif of Smokey and Craig, but it’s on Twitter.
The three of us cruised in at 6:16 to find Voodoo sitting in the middle of the parking lot, in the midst of a solo C?OT, which turned into a rectangle of trust. Agony took us out.
Moleskine:
I love those days when everyone is so out of breath that it takes a few minutes for COT to form / begin. This was one of those days. Must say that I am proud of the guys that took on this challenge. It was a complete grind. There were 3 rolling hills on Providence Lane, and the middle one felt like a continual middle finger sticking up. No one completed three complete sets, but most got in a full two. Yet another week at SOFA WIB where the exercises were a welcome respite, though a lingering reminder now #smoked.
It was fairly dark on PLW. One Eye wore a headband (shocker), then managed to smoke YHC on the run back to OP. Agony got a little freaked out by some guy walking around his house wearing a bandana on his head. Who does that at 6AM? He, meaning Agony, also opted for the shirtless look, presumably so the random red Prius driver circling the block could better see him in the dark.
After a solid showing, 49er left early, and then it appeared that Voodoo went MIA. We were relieved to discover at COT that Voodoo had not been thrown into the back of the red Prius (trunk? Does a Prius even have a trunk?). I thought it would have been somewhat ironic (in the sense of rain on your wedding day) for a hybrid driver to kidnap a Tesla driver, like some Greenpeace jealous rage or something. These are the things that O2 deprivation can cause you to think.
During our overlapping moments of exercise, Agony wondered if either of us smelled absolutely awful or if there may be a natural gas leak. Others at COT confirmed to smelling natural gas, so may want to be careful grilling / smoking / shooting fireworks if you live over that way. We also discussed the meaning of placing oneself under the spiritual authority of another, and what that looks like in the context of the Acts 2 church model. Not really, but I do welcome your comments as it’s something I have been kicking around in my head.
Regrettably, YHC has the Q tomorrow at Bandit – Freedom Park at 0530 – for any that would like to venture north to heckle, laugh (at or with), and most likely see numerous Q fails.
– Kirk
Posted on behalf of Squid:
The Thang:
Circle Up
Side Straddle Hop (20)
Imperial Walker (20)
Fit to Fight (FTF) 15
Protractor (legs together 60 degrees to 10 degrees) (15)
Two Rounds Around the School (Run together, halt, then exercise)
Pull ups (10) Knee bends (10)
Run
Low slow squat (20)
Run
Low Slow Merkins (slow on the way down; three count, then up) (15)
Run
Ninja Squat (20)
Run
Low Slow Merkins (down, then three count on the way up (15)
Run
Circle Up for Abs:
Dolly (25)
Flat Crunch (15)
Freddy Mercury (changing pace) (25)
Right Side Bends (15)
Left Side Bends (15)
Decline plank walk around the curbs mixed with a merkin (first group)
Little Baby Crunches (second group)
Then switch
Wall Time:
People’s Chair (Passing the 20lb weight back and forth) 4 Rounds
Line up and planking it up (elbows to elbows; passing the soccer ball under the bridge) 5 Rounds
Lunge Walk out to the curb and back
20 Incline Merkins on the curb
Balls to the wall (20 seconds)
Donkey Kicks (20)
Sprint Time:
Two Groups
First Group (50 % half speed to the end of the black top, then 100% full sprint back)
Second Group (Merkins while first group sprints)
Switch back and forth for 3 Rounds
Finish with 5 Burpees all together
At 0515 on Tuesday, 12 PAX took to the Bull Ring at the Ballantyne Corporate Park for the weekly Speed workout known as Swift.
The THANG:
Moleskin:
Announcements: