After weeks of dealing with back issues as a result of the mud run, OK they were as a result of falling before and during the mud run, I finally was back at Ascent to Q. I had actually called off a Q back on May 2 because of the back issues.
My physical therapist told me not to run much, so what did we do this morning? We ran! That being said, we stayed close to the start point and didn’t stray too far from there.
COP (Not sure the exact numbers of each, but ya know, only Hops is really reading this far).
SSH
Imperial Walkers
Merkins
Squats
LBC
Merkin-pa-looza!
There was much smack talking and poking of this bear on Twitter on Friday by The Mouth, who of course didn’t post, but no matter, time to take out my aggression on the poor souls that showed.
Partner Up
Partner 1 – Runs to the end of the parking lot, performs 2 merkins, runs back, does 4 merkins, etc. until 8 are finished. At 8, you flapjack and your partner takes off.
Partner 2 – While partner 1 is running, you are doing a core exercises as called by the evil mind of the Q.
Repeat this insanity three times, or until one of us passes out.
Bear Crawl Suicides
Sort of the same principle, but this time we’re all bear crawling to the first island, run back, bear crawl to the second island, you get the point.
By end of this round we were all getting a little smoked and Q took a minute or two for a breather stretching segment to allow for some hydration (thanks Slim Fast for thinking ahead and having the keg, I mean water ready).
People’s Chair and BTTW were thrown in to give us a bit of a breather. I don’t think they were much favored over the running.
Suicides
Just your typical, run of the mill suicides using the same islands.
Mary
Flutter
Dolly
Russian Twists
Freddie Mercury
Protractor
Z Health and Stretching
What? We aren’t finished? But we did Mary!
So I took the PAX through a few easy stretches, yoga moves, etc. to help loosen us up after all that running, and hopefully give us all something to do on our own as well. Many of these things I learned from Byron, and others I’ve just picked up along the way.
Figure Eights (Hold your arm parallel with your thumb pointing up, and draw a figure eight, easier to do than describe. Do the same but at a 45 degree angle).
Bended Knee Squats
Cross legged stretch
Heal Stretches off the curb
Ankle work
Cobra (yoga)
Child’s Pose (yoga)
Hopefully I shared some good stuff there that can help you to avoid injury and recover as needed too. I love that no one really complained about the stretching, if you had I’d have made you do penalty burpees. As you noticed I didn’t do any burpees this morning, as I really can’t do them myself right now. Don’t Q it if you can’t do it!
There’s more time left?! Yep, two more core exercises and we’re…. done!
Yogi Mole Skin (Ohm, Ohm)
Couldn’t help but laugh and stand in awe of Spidey’s energy. I don’t think I ever had that much energy at his age.
Thank you Pele and all the guys that showed up this morning for enduring my crazy workout in the heat. It wasn’t an easy one. These things always look better on paper than in reality.
Stay hydrated out there this summer, even if it’s dark you can still overheat as we were reminded this week at Peak 51.
I have good weeks and bad weeks with the diet and weight loss, and this week seemed like a struggle every day, but you guys got me back in the right frame of mind this morning to tackle next week. Thank you and thank you for posting.
It sounds cliche but it truly is an honor to lead such strong men, blessings to you and yours.
Yes, the humidity is high. Yes, it is a little warm even at 0700 hours these days. That did not prevent 6 PAX from deciding to post at Area 51 this morning. We gathered around the SF prior to the launch and wondered if Floor Slapper would join us at his customary 0701 hours. With the clock showing it to be 0700 and no sign of FS coming in hot, we headed out for a warm-up run around the soccer field while mixing in some high knees, butt kickers and backwards run and then circled up for COP:
With everyone having now broken a sweat, we headed over to side field for the Devil’s Work-out/Beast. Line up at the end line and then instructions were given to run to first tree/marker, complete 6 reps of called exercise, run to 2nd tree/marker, 6 reps, 3rd tree/marker, 6 reps, and then bring it back with 3 additional stops for 6 reps at each stop/marker. This was repeated 5 times for total of 6 rounds. Called exercises were:
Planked between each round to wait for the 6 and keep us all together.
Circle up for 6 MOM:
Having caught our breath after a hot start, we headed over to the NC Landmark play area behind the school. Plan was for a little circuit work, but we would be completing circuits at 2 locations, as follows:
Time for a little People’s Chair, so we relocated just slightly south to end of school wall:
Time to get moving again, but with the sun out and the humidity high YHC had us stay in the area behind the school to at least get the benefit of the shade. Line up on one end for 7s
4 minutes left, so we circled up for final 4 MOM:
Head back to launch point for COT
NMM:
Announcements:
9 Strong grabbed their bell in one hand and raised a fist of defiance with the other.
Thang:
Warm-up: SSH (20), IW (20), Scorpion Merkins (10), Low, slow squat (15), KB swings (20), Thread-the- needle merkins (10)
Partner up and mosey to track about 40 yards away from pull-up bars. Accumulate 200 swings with your partner while the other partner runs to bars for 5 pull-ups and back.
Tabata around the playground with 9 stations. 25 seconds of work, 15 seconds of rest:
Double KB swing or high pull with various weights
Personal KB option (swing, clean, etc.)40lb. MB Squat and Launch
Pull-up with band assist if needed
TRX merkins
Band Fireouts
65lb. Barbell option (press, curl, squat, whatever you need)
Renegade Rows 20lb. DBs
Battling Rope-a-dope
Grab bell and mosey to other parking lot for X Marks the Spot…15 sidewalk chalk X’s were waiting on us around the edge of the lot, 15-20 yards apart. We carried bells overhead, alternating from left side to right side between each X. 1st X – 10 swings, 2nd X – 10 merkins, 3rd X – 10 flutter kick dollies with KB press. Repeat for 5 total rounds through all of the X’s. We took a 2nd F 10 second break in the middle.
Back to main parking lot for Band-aid. Hand out blue bands and went through lower-body mobility time – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmqNCzPE8PI
COT – Chum was Holy Ghosting this morning! Great takeout.
NMM –
This looked good on paper, but hurt in person. Great job everyone! Original title of this BB was “It Doesn’t Have to be Hard to Make You Better,” but I knew that would lead to some inappropriate jokes. The point was YHC was smoked 47 minutes in and didn’t want to do Mary or even look at my bell anymore. We changed gears to something I think we all need more of…flexibility/mobility/recovery work. The response was very positive. It wasn’t hard, but might have revealed some areas that need addressing, and left us all better than we started. There is a quick recap video above and you can do the same drills with a beach towel or any band.
We tweaked the 10 second break to add in a fellowship component. Rather than just counting to 10, turn to your neighbor and find out the name(s) of their kid(s) (or nephews or neighbors if they don’t have kids). Now you have names to add to your prayer life later in the day and it connects the group a little more.
BLC and Baracus are on IR and still showed up! We were not a true 0.0 site today, but they adapted and chose fellowship over fart-sacking. Nice work men!
Fletch might be the new “pound for pound” stud of F3. I’ve got him by 40lbs. but he uses the same size bell and I have never seen him get tired. He might be the new T-1000.
Crawdad shared the War Daddy and Respect moniker with BLC. He brings a smile and amazing effort to every challenge.
Young Love just does everything well…that’s why I secretly hate him. Don’t tell him I said so.
Ickey Shuffle represented for 30 minutes then had to resume his life. Great to see you, even if it was brief.
Winter Place is another fast, lean dude that can just kill it all day! Great meeting you brother!
Chum brought water for the COT, power, integrity, solid prayer, and class to the group today. How do you do it, man?!
Thanks men for making better and the great camaraderie today!
An outstanding group of 24 showed up, some late, to Stonehenge and were pushed to their limit. YHC included. Here’s how things went down.
THE THANG
Mosey to Y field. Stop multiple times on the way mixing in various merkins and other.
Line up for Burpee gassers.
Short mosey to Brave Slalom course.
Short mosey back to field and partner up. Time to dig deep because we were exhausted at this point.
Let’s head back, time is ticking. Stop multiple times on the way back for merkins or Mary.
THINE OLE MOLESKINEY
Where do I start? The tweets and texts began the night before with many SOBS poking the bear. It continued when the PAX gathered in the gloom and remained loud during the first 15 mins of the workout. I think a collective UNCLE was called right around the 6 count burpee gasser. YHC enjoyed the lively and often funny chatter. We had quite a group today, I enjoyed every minute of it.
I could tell today that guys were going past their normal limits. That’s what it’s all about and I’m proud to see it.
Fellowship gathering following the workout was just as much fun. I think it was a record crowd. Too many stories and jokes to possibly summarize, but here’s my best recap:
Thanks for a great morning fellas. Seriously, it was an excellent group today.
.
8 PAX saved the best of their week for the last to explore this thing called “Moderate Running Workout”! With a healthy and eager crew in place, we set off at 0515 to the South Charlotte Middle School track for something like this:
3/4 mile warm-up at fellowship pace around the track
5-10 minutes of stretching
Head to parking lot for toe walks, heel walks, high knees, butt kickers and Skips A and B (by far crowd pleasers).
Slow jog to Strawberry Ln and right to 2nd speed hump for main event… 30-30-1:
1. Run 2-mi. race pace up Strawberry Ln towards school for :30 seconds. When Slim Fast calls “time”, stop and slow jog/recovery back to speed hump.
2. Rinse and repeat 2-mi. race pace for :30 seconds… slow jog/recovery back to speed hump.
3. 3rd time is same as 1-2 only for 1:00, with slow jog/recovery back to speed hump.
That is 1 round. We did 4 rounds total.
After final/fourth round, slow jog/mosey back to cars for cool down and final stretching.
Done! 4.75 miles total!
Moleskine
Excellent, excellent, excellent job out there today! I can’t say it enough! Everyone pushed themselves individually, then supported each other collectively!
Fillmont and Pele… AWESOME to have you guys out there! Many months ago you might have never expected to be doing speed interval training up a hill… but here you are… crushing it! Can’t wait to see you guys continue to get stronger and stronger at running!
Steinbrenner and Simba… equally awesome to have both of you out there this morning! Great job at pushing yourselves while dishing out the encouragement!
High Tide continues to get stronger at running… which continues to erase his 0.0 status!
Dolphin and Strange Brew provided the seniority and running experience! Thanks for jumping in on stretching and technique!
Once again we missed Stumphugger. He was/is instrumental in getting this workout off the ground. He and I have been talking, and he reluctantly needs to take a more advisory role while he continues to rehab a nagging case of Plantar Fasciitis. I know he’ll plug in when he can! Strange Brew is going to step in to co-Q.
We have landed on a name for the site: “Mountain Goat”.
I liked SH’s original name of “Endurance”, but unfortunately it is already taken by a 3rd F in Harrisburg. So to avoid a feud, we decided to come up with a first alternate name, “Mountain Goat”. It supports the “mountain theme” for A51 Moderate workouts, is descriptive of several of the PAX, and is aspirational from a BRR point of view. We will get the tag setup and start posting to it ASAP.
Thanks to Dolphin for the send off prayer.
Announcements:
1. BRR runners and drivers always needed!
At the Christmas party last year we collected food for the Calvary Church food pantry. There was quite a need at the time. They were very happy and thankful to receive our donations. The pantry is again in need of donations to continue the outreach of providing food to those in need in the Charlotte area. YHC is asking for participation of other A51 AO’s. The more participation, the more food we can get to those who need it. Each AO will focus on collecting one of the 7 items listed below. Site Q’s, please contact me at f3mermaid@yahoo.com or sound off below if your AO will participate in this effort AND indicate which food item your AO will collect.
1. Canned roast beef, canned salmon, canned ham (5-13 oz) 2. Canned vegetables (NO CORN/GREEN BEANS) 3. Grape jelly (plastic jar only) 4. Canned fruit 5. 100% fruit juice (not fruit drinks) 6. Cookies, granola bars, breakfast bars 7. 4-6 pack pudding packs (not refrigerated)
Please HC quickly so you can inform your pax of the need next week at your workout, issue challenges, and employ whatever creative methods you can think of to encourage a donation. Food will be brought to workouts the week of 06/08 to 06/13. Each site will need one pax to collect and store the items. YHC will be in contact for pickup or schedule a drop-off day/time. Pax who are not site-Q’s: consider stepping up and taking the Q for a site you frequent.
Thanks men
19 men were not court ordered to re-enter the world of competitive gymnastics. These men took on the challenge of sticking to a marathon training pace for 50 minutes at Devil’s Turn. This required somewhat less spandex, but equal amounts of intestinal fortitude.
It was track week so pace was easier to determine and hold. As said in COT, this workout can serve as a metric revisited every 3 weeks. If you are frequenting the other running workouts throughout the week, you will start noticing progress and that is good.
It was a fast week out on the track and everyone really pushed out there. Keep coming out and you men are going to manhandle the BRR or whatever running pursuit you may have in mind.
Announcements:
– #GhostRider started this week 19:30 on Thursdays.
– Tootie is helping someone move Saturday. If you want to double down, contact him. #Meathead types may also have interest “I pick things up and put them down”
Lazy Boy set off for his Virgin Q at Jevlar’s Virgin AO. As he inches closer to respect on his 47th bday today he nailed it!! Well done LB for sticking w the basics and leaving everyone in a pool of sweat gasping for O2.
The thang…
Circle up and count off in 2’s
Run to Soccer Field via McD entrance w some Merkins on the way
COP
SSH x 25
Mountain Climber X 25
Rosalita x 25
Carolina Dry Docks X 25
Imperial Walker X 25
Burpees OYO x 5
Starfish – 20 Merkins in middle
Merkins, CCD, squats, lbcs, in each corner
Run back to AO w Merkins on the way.
Partner Up! Size DM
*Runner does “Four Corners’- Burpees x 2 at each corner – (sprints on short side)
Act 1-Merkins x 200
Act 2- LBC’s x 200
COT
While LB did a stellar job on his VQ – we have to point out his one and only blunder. During COP – SSH in cadence and his count sounded something like this… 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,etc…ummm – that would be civilian count not in cadence but regardless he recovered well and his leadership was spot on for the rest of the morning. Note to self – don’t be within ear shot of Bananas when a Q screws up – no mercy!!
The Arbo proved to be a great site as the options are endless.
Some cries at the beginning of “is this fast twitch?” turned to “how many more Merkins can we possibly do?”
Great job everyone – see you next Fri!
Announcements- F3 Dads every sat in June. Beatty park 9am. Bring your 2.0!!
3rd F – Compass in Chickfila right after Jevlar. Same parking lot! No excuse!
Out of the trenches (bed) 12 brave men climbed, fixed bayonets (ok tied shoe laces) and charged. Despite the odds Ben Nevis was taken twice. It all went down something like this…
Basic Training (warm-up) – 5 exercises over one mile
Arrive at Ben Nevis base camp
With basic training complete the debrief began on the first ascent that included four targets (pain stations) of 10 diamond merkins and 15 hand release merkins (100 in all) that extended from the bottom of Ben Nevis to Lancaster Hwy. After a successful ascent the troops moseyed back down to base camp and sustained only one casualty. Brushback, a true broth of Outback, was taken down by a land mine (ok uneven side walk). No serious damage and we continued back to base camp.
At base camp hold peoples chair and wait for the six. Note of mention during the entire exercise there was that much of a six – good job lads!
Then the order came to take the hill again (repeato). This time replace the merkins with 5 burpess and 20 toe tap crunches at each target (again 100 in all). At the top assumed the plank position on Lancaster Hwy. Job done we headed back to base camp with an Indian run – no casualties reported this time.
At base camp performed 20 dips, hell there was a railing and why not.
Started to head back to AO.
Moseyed across the street and up a bit, then performed the infamous flutter maneuver – 20 count in cadence.
Next moseyed a few more yards closer to the AO, and then stoped to spend some R&R time with Dolly – actually 20 times in cadence.
Next moseyed to the traffic circle by CVS and all hell broke loose at the mention of a jail brake.
Arrived back at AO a few mins. a head of schedule so 20 Carolina dry docks, 20 Rosealetas and hold plank for approx one minute until time is up.
Moleskin
A lot was asked from the lads this morning and all delivered with interest. Not much mumble chatter although Champaign did mention something about me being an angry Q and pay back is coming, which I take that as a badge of honor given where the comment came from (you know what I mean). Also wanted to mention Fraiser, with one arm in a cast he had to chose a different path on a lot of the exercises, although would not put it past him to be doing one handed diamond merkins on the side.
Again thanks to all and a pleasure to lead.
You borhter in arms – Outback.
12 Adventurous studs rolled into Catholic for another edition of Centurion. This week YHC had a little field trip planned that went a little something like this:
Disclaimer and grab my phone!
Mosey to front of school and cut through back of Chipotle parking lot (watch out for that puddle…doh). Continue on the sidewalk along 51, cross over Johnston Rd and take a hard right onto McMullen Creek Pkwy. This is where YHC expected to lose some PAX to the sweet smells of the Waffle House but they heeded the temptation!
Place phone on top of leasing sign (Instruct PAX to remind me to pick it back up…) then circle up on this perfect square of grass for COP:
Partner up for some circuit work utilizing the 5 boulders at the far corner.
Time for some rock/strength work:
Grab a rock from the pile behind us (Q fail #3…most of the rocks required some excavating but not next time) *Civilian Cadence.
Return rocks and mosey through Lowes parking lot to hill entrance at farthest point from the store for Triple Nickel:
5 Merkins at bottom, 5 LBS’s at the top, repeat 5 times (Wheres my phone…?! Q fail #4, sorta).
Return to launch with just enough time for a little Mary: Dollies & Flutters x 15 IC.
Moleskine:
Icky Shuffle and I drove through this area on Wednesday on our way home from Anvil and identified the site of this week’s Centurion Field Trip – hope everyone enjoyed it and hope to visit again.
Q fails happen (a lot today apparently) In my defense, I did ask the PAX to remind me to grab my phone…Thanks guys!
The Triple Nickel was fueled by the sweet smell of bacon cooking at the Waffle House. Yum!
Shout out to Margo, Scabby and Mario for running to/from the workout!
Ghost Runner – Thursday nights, 7:30 Arboretum ABC Store. 4 & 6 mile options (Or run 5 with Radar)
The Bear in MECA is coming up at Highland Creek Elementary. Post if you dare!
Thanks to Chelms for the opportunity to lead Centurion Aye!