Go your own way…

Go your own way…

11 men decided against their better judgement to follow YHC out into the dark cool swamp that is the 4-mile Creek Greenway.  2 others forged a different (and arguably more difficult) path out to the SCMS track and back.  So there were 13 F3 affiliates in the general area of Devil’s Turn this morning.  PAX got between 4.5 and 6 miles at the pace of their choosing.

First off, cotters to O’Tannenbaum who has come out of hibernation since the temperatures are now rising again.  In COT, YHC cut him off before he could state his name(s) and age.  Cobains my brother.

Mall Cop and Wolfman were the lone wolves this morning and did a quick 4.5 out to SCMS and back.  Unfortunately, MC’s knee seemed to be flaring up at the end.  Ice that thing, roll your butt tendons, and come back stronger than ever.

Welcome to FNG (Trade-In) who was EH’ed by Bratwurst (in absentia).  The man has been running for 39 yrs and has more than 100,000 miles on those wheels. Great to have such an experienced runner in our midst.  Welcome and we will see you again soon.

The rest of the PAX ran in several packs and the 2nd F seemed good.  The progression run back from Johnston Rd. was painful but satisfying.  The PAX even put up with a couple dynamic stretches in the parking lot although many seemed self conscious in front of all the tomatoes coming in from the Greenway.  Don’t worry, real men do calf stretches.

Announcements:

– Sign up for golf – almost full

Gives me some spinach

12 Pax received 2 brick coupons before embarking on 45 minutes of forearm annihilation. Today none will have grip strength, but don’t shake hands with them tomorrow.

The Thang:
Pax grab 2 bricks each. Get to know them; they will be with you the entire time.

Circle:
– SSH with bricks x ~ 4-5? Epic Fail
– Merkins with bricks x 20;
– LBC with bricks x 20 —-see a pattern?
– Diamond Merkins (brick vertical) x 10
– Diamond Merkins (brick horizontal) x 10.
– Flutter x 20

– Partner up – Catch me if you can. 4 bricks one partner; 5 hand release merkins the other – run @ outside to the right to 3rd set of stairs at top of lot. Plank

– Right arm high-leg; Left and leg —–with the rock Bananas!

– Wheel of Merkin at curb. 5,4,3,2,1

– Mosey with bricks in hand around right side all the way up to 5 ft. wall – up and over to plank.

– Bear crawl up to flagpole. —–much more fun with bricks.

– Mosey to staggered brick wall. Discharge bricks gently – Wall walk all the way to end; run to next wall and wall walk to end of that section. Exercise OYO until 6 completes. Sprint back for bricks.

– Per Bratwurst ~ ½ mile back to cars. We’ve got 15 minutes though – plenty of time!

– Fast jog around front of middle school.

– Partner back up – Catch me if you can. 4 bricks one partner; 5 hand release merkins the other – run @ outside to the right down to top entrance to the bottom lot.

– Partner wheelbarrow with merkins every 5 steps. Flapjack intermittent.

– Hold for Abacus to move car for student who’s spot we took. #earlybird

– Heels to heaven x 20
TIME

Forearm skin:
– YHC scoped out the AO Tuesday – what a huge area. Limitless possibilities – It’s a haul but worth the drive. SOB brothers need to post the dirty south more often.
– YHC didn’t pre-run every exercise with bricks to test whether we can actually do them. SSH didn’t work out too well.
– Several Pax complained that the wall walk was boring. Next time as a harder variant – don’t hold onto the top. Slide down 100% vertical and practice rock climbing. OR as I recommended – burpees.
– Some smart Q is going to find a truly terrible exercise with that staggered brick wall. I’ll post when you do.
– Tclaps for the one (Bratwurst I believe) who realized bricks can be used for hair-burners. Not sure Marvin Creek schools like our sidewalk chalk skid marks though. #graffiti
– Running with those bricks is not easy!
– Partner wheelbarrow’s are a personal favorite – with bricks it’s a whole new ballgame. YHC has 14 sets. So I can bring it to most all AO and handle up to 28 PAX partnered up. Hmmm. When is my next Q?
– Thank you men for letting me lead your AO. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for the great takeout Brat. We all need God’s helping hand.

Please continue to pray for all who are hurting.

Annoucements:
– F3 Golf signup is pretty much over. Enjoy! Incredible amount of funds raised for LEAP.
– CSAUP events ramping up. Keep up on twitter.

Earth Day

Jumped in the TRuckster (the 2nd most gas efficient SUV of the TR Family Fleet) and met 21 other Eco-pillagers in the gloom.  Twenty two pax and 22 cars; the DV pax doing their part kill off the polar bears (which are the most vicious of the bear species–we’re doing the Eskimos a solid if you ask me).

WARM UP

  • Down the to the track for a lap
  • Back up to the lot for COMD (light on pain, heavy on Mild Discomfort)

DISCLAIM and WAIVE

COP

  • SSH x 20
  • IW x 15
  • One-legged burpees x 10 (A nod to the one-winged Site Q, Stage Coach)
  • Low Slow Squats x 10 or so.  Wasn’t paying attention during this part
  • Other-legged burpees x 10 (A reminder why we hope Stage Coach never comes back–those suck and I only did 8.  But that’s more than I do when he calls for them.)
  • Mosey back down the field

BIG BOY SUICIDES

  • Start on near goal line
  • Run to 50, perform called exercise
  • Back to near goal, perform exercise
  • Run to far goal line, perform exercise
  • Back to near goal line, perform exercise

Exercises were: Merkins x 10; Mt. Climbers x 10; Squat Jumps x 10 (with backwards run); Just plain running on last round.  Mosey to bleacher area for….

PARTNER LOOP

  • Partner 1 runs loop up stairs and back down ramp.
  • Partner 2 performs called exercise.
  • 2 rounds each

Exercises: Decline Merkins, aka Balls to the Bleachers; Heels to Heaven (look at that hole in the ozone–she’s a beaut….); Step Ups

COT

MOLESKINE

  • Didn’t get the memo on Earth Day until I got back to the house and read about it on a dead tree, all whilst sitting on a 5-gallon-flush black market commode.  You could flush a cat with that thing (so I have heard). ProTip:  Stand up before engaging the flushing lever.
  • Good seeing the old crew today.  Johnny Shore (World’s Toughest Pediatrician (R)) and Callaway (the only golf-named pax not participating in F3 Golf) took the #F3SeniorCenter activity bus over.  Didn’t hear a peep from Callaway the whole time.  The old man is definitely off his game.  Used to bring hard stuff on mumblechatter.
  • Didn’t observe much of note during the field work, mostly because it’s darker than the far side of the moon out there.  Header and Busch were out front most of the time, carrying on like a couple of mall walkers.  Yap, yap, yap.
  • I did happen to catch sight of Sussdio’s pink tights under his capri pants.  Then threw my headlamp into the woods.
  • Someone moved Haze’s cheese and somehow he posted with us today.
  • Puddin’ Plop laying down a thick cloud of methane during H2H.  Was also a little disappointed in his effort out there–there was a little spot on the side of his shirt that wasn’t saturated all the way through.  A little more effort next time, Plop.
  • Strong work by Uncle Si.  Couldn’t tell if that was a Breathe-Right or he cut his nose shaving, but it didn’t seem to slow him down regardless.

Last, I’d like to end on serious note.  If you are under 40,you may not be aware but Bruno Mars is not funk music.  Singing about funk doesn’t make you funky any more than putting on a powdered wig makes you Baroque. If you want the real deal, you need to go to Kannapolis’s own Dr. Funkenstein.

Word.

Hills, Merkins & Alf

YHC not being a good twitter user accidentally on purpose called out Alf to join us at The Maul, he changed his rotation of workouts and smoked us all. Dear Frehely’s Comet is still mad about dragging him thru Crowder’s Mountain Sunday and decided to complain most of the morning. Quick disclaimer given and off we went.

COP

SSH X 30

MC X 30

Flutter x 20 (Frehely complained “Already”)

Dolly x 20

LBC X 20

The Thang

Mosey over to Firebirds to the short wall.

10 Dips, Derkins, Jump/Step Ups lap of the island hold plank.

15 Dips, Derkins, Jump/Step Ups lap of island hold plank

20 Dips, Derkins Jump/Step Ups

Mosey over to large hill for the following:

Partner up, (bad call when you get see Alf & Mic Check as a team, show offs).

150 Merkins between partner, Partner #1 performs whil partner #2 runs hill and back, repeat until 150 complete, hold plank for 6

100 Burpees between partner, As above except Frehely Complaint #2 called an audible on the 100 as he was being smoked by Alf (again) & Mic Check, YHC reduced to 75 to keep him happy.

Merkin Slap Ladder

10 both partners run hill

20, both partners run hill

30 both partners run hill

20 both partners run hill 5 burpees at the top

10 both partners run hill 5 burpees at the top.

Mosey over to Hill #2 behind the movie theater

Partner up (Alf & Mic Check again not fair!!

Not sure what to call this but I will go with “Chairkin”

Partner #1 in peoples chair position overhead press while partner #2 assumes derkin position with legs on partner #1’s thighs (No inappropriate comments it was a very manly exercise.)

10 Chairkins run hill swap and repeat

15 Chairkins run hill swap and repeat

10 Donkey Kicks against the wall run hill 5 burpees OYO

20 donkey kicks against the wall run hill 5 burpees OYO

10 Chairkins run hill and repeat

20 Chairkins run hill 5 burpees and repeat.

30 Donkey Kicks (complaint #3 from Frehely and a soft slap on the head from Loogie)

and two times up the hill and back. Done!!!

 

Moleskin: first time for me to Q at The Maul great solid group out there today sitting here typing hurts. very solid work from everyone especially  Alf & Mic Check they really got after it today. Thanks Pop for the take out, as usual excellent.

Announcements: SOB Happy Hour tonight Duckworths Ballantyne 6-8pm. Golf is next week, SOB shirts available thru April 27th thru the mud gear website.

 

 

Bass Ackwards

Quick spin cycle around the lot to scoop up the late arrivals.

So last Saturday whilst several of Area 51’s finest were jogging to the bottom of a rock quarry, YHC split the Q at DZ. In an attempt to bring patriotism back to youth sports, YHC flew Old Glory with pride as the minivans and soccer moms rolled into McAlpine. Shortly thereafter an accusatory tweet went out from a “soccer dad” claiming the SF had been “left behind at Day Zero.” As a “punishment” it was suggested YHC carry the DZ SF when posting next. So, yeah.

The THANG-A-RANG:

SSH (w/ SF if you have one) x 15 IC
CDDs x 15 IC
Low Slow Squat x15 IC

Turbo mosey toward 4 Mile Creek Rd.
-Circle up at Rising Meadow. Merkins x20 IC. -Continue brisk pace to speed bump past clubhouse.
-Air chair until 6 arrives. Squats x15 IC.
Continue to 4-way stop at 4 mile creek Rd.
Partner up CMIYC (10 merkins) to flashing light. Plank until 6 arrives.

CMIYC back to the “bridge” at the bottom of 4MC Rd.

Backward (or Spackler’s) run AYG to the 4-way stop at Raintree Ln.

Hill repeats on 4 mile creek opposite side of Raintree Ln.
1- AYG backward to top, mosey down
2- partner 1 carry to top, mosey down
3- AYG backward to top

80% run back towards campus. When fastest pax reaches Rounding Run, begins lunge walking. Each pax continues 80% run until they reach the pax ahead of them lunge walking. Halt when the six begins lunge walking.

Two steps forward, one step back – suicides on Rising Meadow. Forward AYG to street light 2, backward run to street light 1, forward AYG to street light 3, backward run to street light 2.

Indian run to campus

Moleskin:
-Great group of guys out there this morning killing it. YHC led from the rear for a good portion of the workout. #nomanleftbehind. So as expected (or unexpected) carrying a shovel with a flag attached to it is legit. Lots of Lee Greenwood’s in the house today serenading YHC as we trekked through the Tree of Rain.
-Backward running was a hard. Next time we’ll run the full 5+ miles backward.
-A couple pax took a tumblerooksy on 4MC. YHC isn’t a headlamp guy, but it was dark over there. Hope you guys didn’t get too dinged up.
-Somehow we completely lost Dear Abby and his FNG Jeremy…for the entire workout. #QFail – still wrapping my brain around how it happened. Jeremy- come back again. Not sure if you’d consider DA a “friend” bringing you to FT as a FNG.
-YHC missed a lot of the chatter today. Sound off on the lowlights.
-Oh, and Radar posted.

-Always a pleasure leading (and following) the pax at #F3FastTwitch, a.k.a. “The Fastest Hour in Area 51.”

-I know I’ll be asked to “get a room”, but feel compelled to share anyways. Today marks my 1-year mark with F3. It’s truly been a life-changing experience and I’ve met some awesome guys that are an inspiration to me in all areas of life.

Announcements:
Fast Twitch converging with Swift and SIB at Community House Middle School next Tuesday at 0515 for mile time trials. Come show off your speed.

Sign up for F3 Golf on 4/30.

Pray for BOG

Skunkworks – Pay to Play (or Not Play)

24 men took on the Skunkworks challenge.

100 burpees erased in seconds by cold hard cash

Warm-Up
– Mosey to lower lot with bell(s)
– SSH
– Imperial walkers
– Merkins
– Warrior 3 yoga pose (we’re not just about slingin’ metal)
– 30 two-handed swings
– Warrior 3 flap jack

Hill Suicides
– Run to first curb and back then said KB exercise, run to second curb and back then said KB exercise, run to top of hill and back then said KB exercise
– Set #1: two handed swings – 50, 40, 30 reps
– Set #2: snatches – 30, 20, 10 reps (1/2 with each arm)
– Set #3: run, no KB
– Set #4: squats – 30, 20, 10
– Set #5: run, no KB
– Set #6: cleans x30, presses x20, tricep presses x10
– Mosey back to parking lot

For those not on the Twitterverse, we hosted a fundraiser for the F3 golf tourney to support F3 expansion in new cities. The offer was that I would match any fund for our hole sponsorship. Group will do 100 burpees less any money raised. We quickly raised $104, so no burpees today…and we raised $208 for the tourney. Well done. Clearly, there was not a big appetite for burpees. I collected $34 this am. Bring me the other $70 next week. Open on more donations as well.

Totally smoked. Nothing fancy, just sprints and lifting. Well done by guys going hard this am. It was an honor to lead and try to keep up with the group. Good to see some new faces to Skunkworks with Gold Member, White Snake and Liberace. Transformation of Horsehead appears complete, dude is a lean machine. If you have not moved up in KB size recently, time to step up. We will make announcements in near future on change in site for Skunkworks due to school/church construction. Fletch is on tap next week.

– Harley

Homage to the Q’s

Posted on behalf of Pop Tart:

17 PAX posted for my VQ, whether they did it on purpose or not, I will never know.  I wanted to pay homage to the Qs of my first post as one of the PAX and my first post at the Matrix, so I brought out some exercises that I discovered during those workouts, and added some of my own.  Below is what we endured.

The Thang:

Mosey around school with a quick trip down the hill through the woods.

Circle up and provide disclaimer.

25 SSH

15 IW

20 Merkins

 

Count off in 4s.

Mosey over to the front of the school for some track work and Four Corners. Tribute to Bridges for my first ever post.

Corner 1: 10 Burpees

Corner 2: 15 Lunges (Bear Crawl to Corner 3)

Corner 3: 20 Squats

Corner 4: 25 Monkey Humpers (OT’s favorites)

 

As a tribute to the Q for my first post at The Matrix, Alf, partner up and perform wheelbarrows in parking lot, flapjack halfway point.

Repeat back to other end.

Since we didn’t get enough running in nor any upper body work, we headed over to front parking lot for some  Dora.  Partner 1 runs a lap, Partner 2 exercises.

200 Merkins

200 Dips

 

MOM:

30 LBCs OYO

10 Can Openers on each leg IC

30 seconds of recovery on your back

COT

 

Moleskine:

Total of 2.1 miles.

I really enjoyed my VQ, and the cadence is much harder than it looks.  Who would have thought counting to 25 doing SSHs was so hard.  I went ahead and showed my card early by announcing the reps before we started to ease the PAX into the workout.  I then realized my mistake, and kept the rep count to myself while trying to breathe.  Decided to stop at 15 IW to catch my breath.  Was great to have some of the original PAXs come out to support me.  Bridges, Big Tuna, and Hopper.  They were there for my first post back in December and drove all the way out close to the county line to partake in the fun.  Really enjoyed leading the PAX and I already have my ideas for the next one.

 

Announcements:  Sign up for golf.  Almost full and proceeds benefit the Leap.  Prohibition said there will be Jack and NoDa on the first hole, and maybe a little golf.

 

Hydro turns Hydra

A solid three headed monster fought the rain, puddles, lakes, dirt, mud, etc. for the weekly downPainment at Hydra.
Looking for the traditional late comers to OP who pull in on two wheels, none to be found, 5:30 calls, we’re off.
Mosey to field behind school for Warmup, nah, too wet, get back on pavement for:

SSH x 30 IC
IW x 30 IC
CDD x 20 IC
Low Slow Squat x 20 IC
Mtn. Climber x 20 IC

Solid three man group for the Main Event
Sussudio starts with exercise at track (20 squat, 15 CDD, 10 dive bomber merkin)
Puddin Pop starts with exercise at concession area (20 dips, 15 step ups, 10 derkin)
Horsehead starts with run in between as timer (+/- 150 yards)
Repeato x 2 cycles

Mosey over the rivers and through the woods to Foxworth for some hill work

LBC x 30 at bottom
Run to stop sign at top of the hill (75 yards)
Merkin x 15 at top
Repeato x 3 cycles

Hang around for a bit of Mary at bottom of Foxworth

Rosalita x 20? IC
Russian twist x 15 IC
Dolly x 20 IC
Freddy Mercury x 15 IC

Mosey back to main lot and grab some wall

Wall sit
Wall sit + air press x 30 IC
Wall sit + arm circles x 15 forward/15 backward

Minute plank
30 sec Chilcutt

Done

Moleskine
Good times this morning with this group of three. First time YHC has ever been able to actually write the names of the PAX performing exercises in a backblast without having to refer to them as P1, P2, P3, so that’s pretty cool.

I quickly learned that whatever field work was planned in the weinke would need to be quashed (#quagmire), but that didn’t stop us from going through the woods to Foxworth. On the way, HH murmured, “where in the heck are we going?” Thank goodness for the light beaming from Sussudio’s head, saved us from falling into puddles never to be found again.

Both of my fellow stallion PAX were Larry Bird’n it out there, made me feel like Moses Malone. #ISI

Thanks for joining me today fellas, always fun to carve out a weinke on this AO.

Skunkworks Preblast, Bring Your $$$

Skunkworks has generously offered to sponsor a hole at the F3 Golf Tourney for a total cost of $100. In order to spread the funding out, I am offering the following proposition.

I will match any cash donations either brought tomorrow or committed tomorrow (I will harass you).

We will start with 100 burpees and will reduce the amount by any funds donated. So, if we get $50 donated tomorrow, the group does 50 burpees.

My apologies if you have already signed up as a sponsor or a golf player. We typically have 25 guys, so bring a couple of dollars and we will get this covered with minimal burpee pain. This is a great cause to help fund F3 expansion to men in other cities.

Please send smoke signals to those not on the Twitter machine.

We will suicide until it hurts on the hills, so feel free to bring multiple bells. Initial mosey will be down to the entrance of the church.

Harley

#Preblast – More Mile Prep

Swift will launch at 0515 on Tuesday from the Vine Restaurant at the Ballantyne AO.  With the 1 mile time trial (ok, it’s really 1600m) coming up next week on 4/28, be prepared for a 1 mile race pace workout to get you in the mood.  Have a target 1 mile race pace in mind and know the 200m and 400m splits.  For example:

  • if your goal is a 6:00 mile, then your 200m split is 0:45 and your 400m split is 1:30.
  • if your goal is a 7:00 mile, then 200m = 0:52.5 and 400m = 1:45.

Here is a link to help you find your 1 mile race pace based on recent race performances – http://runsmartproject.com/calculator