Taking it to the next level
11 men decided to build their stamina at a workout called Devil’s Turn. If you ran the Joe Davis 10k, 5k, or both, you are likely glad you have Devil’s Turn in your life. The tempo run is a great addition to any training program. As Bratwurst mentioned in his Swift backblast, Area 51 has a full suite of running workouts that will keep you in great shape and can be utilized to get you ready for any race you may target.
Here are your options for running workouts in Area 51.
- Tuesday – Swift = Speed Workout
- Tuesday – Fast Twitch = Running/Boot Camp
- Thursday – Devil’s Turn = Tempo Run
- Friday – The Brave = Obstacle Course Race Training
- Sunday (impromptu) – Rum Runner = Running
Well now back to the workout. Welcome to Cheddar (1st timer) and Exlax (2nd timer). It is great to get newcomers to Devil’s Turn.
We look forward to playing a part in Cheddar’s Blue Ridge Marathon training (known to be one of the harder marathons around). Keep coming brother!
Exlax put in some good miles out there (although some were not officially sanctioned due to Stone Cold leading him astray deep in the hills of Piper Glen). Keep coming out brother, this is a great place to put fitness in overdrive.
The rest of the PAX pounded out a great workout and looked satisfied at COT. The hills are hard but they are necessary for us to take it to the next level. Iron sharpens iron my friends. Let’s keep after it.
Announcement (forgotten during COT):
– Please welcome Long Haul as the Devil’s Turn co-site Q. He is a Devil’s Turn regular, a great runner, and has some great tips from his cross-country star son to impart upon us.
Keep It Moving
21 Brave men got up this morning to see if there would be a fun run challenge between Alf and Radar who boasted that he would stack his best time up to Alf’s any day. With Radar apparently having one too many Diet Cokes the Pax took off in disappointment.
The Thang: Mosey a short distance for the warm up in the parking beside the theatre.
SSH x 20
Merkins x 15
IW x 20
Hold plank for two minutes with good form.
Mosey over to the parking lot across the street where Wells Fargo is situated. The Pax was asked to line up facing the retaining wall and pick a size of the wall that was challenging.
First round: Wall jumps x 10; Squats x 15; Merkins x 20 run around Wells Fargo. Plank when you are done. Elbow plank, right leg high, left leg high, regular plank, right leg high, left leg high. Pax were asked for ten count after each leg.
Second round: Repto and plank at the end.
Mosey to the top of the Murderhorn. Plank until the six arrives with wide arm Merkins x 10 thrown in. Mosey to the bottom of the Murderhorn and then back up to the rock pile in front of the swim clubhouse. Pick a challenging rock. Directions were to do an exercise at each station with the first station being the rock pile, second station the bottom of the Murderhorn and the last station the first light post going up the Murderhorn. Return to base after you complete all three.
First round: curls x 25; LBC x 25; hand release Merkins x 25.
Second round: press ups x 25; flutter x 25; diamond merkins x 25.
Throw your rock back where you found #leaveitasyoufoundit.
AYG to the first lamp post going back to the AO. Plank until the six gets there. Dolly x 20
AYG to the second lamp post. Russian twist x 21
AYG to third lamp post. Heels to Heaven x 15
Mosey across the street to the AO for triple nickel on the hill by the movie theatre. Jump squats at the top and hand release merkins at the bottom.
Done.
Moleskin: There was a lot of dodging cars out there today. Almost a Frogger situation. It was certainly the busiest I have seen the Murderhorn with traffic. We covered a lot of ground outside the perimeter today. Everyone did great getting around and helping out one another.
Bulldog, Spackler, Alf and Teddy were always out front. I guess that new diet is paying off Spackler. #BRRready.
It is always great leading and trying to come up with challenging ways to push the Pax. It gets harder each time because we have so many great guys that are in shape and getting in shape.
Announcements:
Let Turkey Leg know if you are interested in the BRR.
Fight club starts this Saturday at the Vine at 8:00.
Preblast: The Brave – US Army Ranger Physical Fitness Test
Have big goals for 2015? Let me guess…. workout more, run faster, get stronger? Start your year off right with our first US Army Ranger Physical Fitness Test of 2015. We plan on running the test every 6 – 8 weeks so the PAX can measure their improvement throughout the year. The goal is to get a solid a base line tomorrow at The Brave and use the result as a measuring stick on your improvement as we head toward the Spring Mud Run and the BRR.
The Ranger PT test consists of the following:
– 2 minutes – max pushups
– 2 minutes – max situps with someone holding your ankles
– Max Pull-ups
– Timed 5 Mile Run.
We will launch at 0515 at the The Vine Restaurant in Ballantyne, come warmed up. We will mosey down to the workout trail for the push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups, then start our run near the fitness trail. See the route map above, we will make two laps.
See you in the Gloom.
Madame Tussauds
Meat Grinders
7 pax for the weekly #0.0 beatdown known as Meathead. Without further ado, here’s what they ground out:
The Thang:
COP:
- SSH – 18 IC
- Prying Squats – 3 IC
- Halo – Left – 5
- Prying Squats – 3 IC
- Halo – Right – 5
Mosey to playground. 2-hand swings while waiting for the music to start. #noads
Simple & Sinister
- 100 1-hand swings – 10 swings every 30 seconds (resting if you finish early), switching hands after each 10 swings – modify with 2-hand swings as needed
- 10 Turkish Getups – 5 per side – modify as needed #crowdpleaser
- 2-hand swings until all pax are completed
Active Recovery
- 5 pullups
- 10 merkins
- 15 teabag (sumo) squats
- Rinse & repeat for 10 minutes
The Finisher
- 10 Snatches – 5 per side
- 10 Clean & Press – 5 per side
- 10 Staggered Goblet Squats – 5 per side
- Rinse & repeat for 8 minutes
Mary
- Teapots – 5 per side
- Flutter w/ Press – 20 IC
- Superman Merkins – 10 IC
- Reverse Superman (aka the Banana) – hold for time x 2
- Russian Twist, touching bell to ground each side – 10 IC
Done
COT
Announcements:
Begin forming your teams and signing up for BRR & Spring Mud Run
Moleskin-e:
T-claps to all for pushing through the many grinding exercises today, as YHC sought to mix things up a little from our usual ballistic dosages.
Welcome to site FNG’s Hoser and Strange Brew. Glad to have you guys out today and look forward to seeing you again.
Acknowledged – the Turkish getups suck and are a real #crowdpleaser. However, it’s been said, and therefore must be true, that they are great for building shoulder strength. Paired with swings, the two exercises will provide 80% of the benefit you’ll receive from KB training. So I’ve read…So we did them… The particular pairing today of the 100 1-hand swings + 10 TGU’s is known as the Simple & Sinister routine, and I’ll agree with that one. The Simple part is building up to using a 32kg for each (not there yet), while the Sinister is reaching the 48kg Beast for each (not going there). Anyway, that’s the method behind today’s madness.
The early move to the playground was to provide a more suitable TGU surface than the rough parking lot. While the mulch was softer, it was somewhat unstable at times. Next time, perhaps we’ll try the smooth track, unless the grass is dry.
Well done, Hoser and Tiger Rag, working through your injuries on the Turkish getups, modifying as needed, as well as the other exercises. For those reading this who weren’t there, Hoser posted wearing an ankle boot! Needless to say, YHC was not prepared with a suggested modification for that! TR continues to mend his calf, which I understand may be on a road near you very soon.
Speaking of TR, he was again swinging doubles today on the Finisher portion, apparently not getting enough Thurs, Mon, & Tues. Strong!
Since no one commented, let it be know that YHC was sporting the Meathead/Gear sleeveless shirt today…albeit underneath the fleece outerlayer. A little bit cooler today than first thought and nearly caused a cold wardrobe fail. Thankfully, the fleece salvaged me.
Bananas brings the heat next week.
Thanks for coming out each week and for the opportunity to lead.
Aye.
Out of Time
13 strong on hand for a running merkinfest neighborhood invasion, with a few minutes of Mary scattered along the way. Here’s how it went:
Run to the super high quality parking lot on opposite side of school
CoP
Disclaimer and Whisper Cadence Warning for Neighborhood Invasion
Merkins x 15
SSH x 25
IW x 25 (20, 25, not sure)
Merkin Death Spiral #crowdpleaser
-10 single count merkins, hold six inches for 10 seconds
-9 single count merkins, hold six inches for 9 seconds
-And so on down to 1
-10 single count merkins for good measure
Neighborhood Invasion
Fast mosey to Bellmore Hall
Run single file through the gate #gateswhatgates
Fire pit 10s: Dips and Derkins
Mosey down the hill to the to cul de sac
LBC x 25
Bicycle x 15
Up the hill to the gate, 5 jump squats at each street light (7 of them maybe?)
Plank, wait for the Six
Bear Crawl to corner
Lunge walk to next corner
Gather in yard of my buddy Scott W who refuses to come to F3 after 2 years of attempted EH #sadclown #refusenik
Flutter x 15
Mosey to Casa de Chico
Rosalita x 20
Mosey back down the hill
On your belly, AYG to the top of the hill
Exit Bellmore Hall
Neighborhood #2
Fast mosey into Chadwick
Up the hill to the cul de sac
5 Burpees at the top; 10 jump squats at the bottom
Back up the hill to the intersection; 5 Burpees
Running out of time, AYG out of Chadwick and back to OPE
Naked Moleskin:
YHC rolled in hot with 30 seconds to game time. We kept it moving pretty good and kept warm. The merkin death spiral is always a crowd pleaser, especially the extra 10 merkins to finish. It takes so much out of me that everything else becomes more difficult. Not much mumble chatter until the pax began to realize I had us far from home with time expiring. Sorry about the extra credit (especially to those who ran in, like F3 Prius member Cheese Curd). Larry Bird arrivals at the school at 6:18, the Six arrived by 6:20 or so. Almost all standing and gasping for CoT. I hope this means y’all were as smoked as I was.
Workout was frontloaded with merkins and backloaded with running, but we got plenty of each. I had us at 140 merkins, lots of 6 inch planks and just over 3 miles with some hills. Our Mary was sprinkled in throughout, especially since time was tight and my shoulders were gonna quit working. OP is such a great AO that we rarely leave campus, but I couldn’t resist charting some new territory. I wanted to invade my buddy Scott’s house, and my 7 year old son requested we buzz the tower at Casa de Chico.
Plenty of Larry Birds. Chelms was a front runner all day. Bug Eater must have had a bug in his drawers or something because he flew up the Bellmore Hall hill when we did the AYG. That might have smoked him though. Glad to see 3 members of the newly minted F3 Prius team for Palmetto 200. #needonemoreguy. Thanks to Silent Bob for venturing down from Metro, and good work by Olaf in only his second workout.
Bugeater, thanks for the opportunity to lead the pax and for the great takeout.
Smoked on the Peak
Ten fierce warriors fought back the gloom and made it to the top of Peak51. Here’s the thang:
Mosey around front of church to back and over to school bus lot.
COP:
- SSH-15
- IW-15
- Merkins-15
- LSS-15
Mosey to playground equipment and find a pullup or supine pullup bar
Up & hold 5 count then 5-count descent
10 recovery Merkins OYO
REPEATO minus 1 Merkin each round until 1 Merkin,
Mosey to parking lot, partner up (opposite speed)
Partner 1: SSH while P2 moves to opposite side doing following exercise: (mosey back then flapjack)
- lunge walk
- bear crawl
- frog jump
- “speed skate”
- sprint
Plank when done
Repeat: Switch out SSH with Peter Parkers
Mosey to the tundra and circle up for some Mary.
Pax #1 calls ab exercise and takes recovery mosey around ring. Remaining Pax perform called exercise OYO. Repeato until all Pax have gone. (YHC recalls: Flutter, Merkins, IW, Mountain Climber, Protractor, Freddy Mercury (variable speed), Sid-the-Kid, Russian Twist, Rosalita, LBC)
Mosey to benches by side of theater: 15 dips, 15 decline/incline Merkins, 15 step-ups OYO. Wall-sit when done
Mosey to cars. Time’s up.
Moleskin
- DT, Sensei and SlimFast arrived early to knock out a few miles before the main show. #Respect
- Missing brother found: Insomniac made an appearance after almost 2 months hibernation. With all the gloom this morning I’m pretty sure he didn’t see his shadow, so expect to see him posting at many future A51 workouts.
- Geraldo pulled the ruck out of his car before we got started. I didn’t see it come off until it was time for Mary. #Strong
- DT was a real beast: not only did the pre run, but also crushed the workout.
- The continuous activity back and forth across the parking lot winded me and I’m guessing a few others, yet a few Pax kept up a continuous mumblechatter. Geraldo and Simba maybe? YHC salutes your O2 resilience.
- The band had a little trouble with the key signature when it came to circle of Mary, with several Pax calling questionable ab exercises. IW, okay I get it. Merkins? Also, thought Sid-the-Kid was trademarked by Strange Brew. Not a crowd favorite.
- Nice take out from DT.
- Thank you for the honor of leading, gentlemen. And for graciously applying some form of modify to spare me penalty burpees at the end.
Announcements
Sign up for the spring Mud Run
Start assembling your team for the Fall Blue Ridge Relay
#F3Dromedary – Ski Patrol for the Stuff that never came
@0530, 5 PAX launched into the gloom this morning at Marvin Ridge High School. Freezing rain was forecasted, but all we saw were some tiny puddles.
The Thang:
- Opening COP in Cadence: Side Straddle Hop x 20, Imperial Walker x 20, Low Slow Squat x 20, Mountain Climbers x 20, Merkins x 10
- Mosey to the rock pile while avoiding ankle breakers and shoe washers. Grab a rock, skirt the side of the hill and head to the Middle School Awning. Rocks over head for part of the way.
- At the tables, 11s with Derkins and Jump-ups w/ 5 thrusters with rock in between each 11
- Bring your rock and head to the middle school activity track for some ski patrol prep with 10 exercises at the four corners. Carry rock unless otherwise told.
- Cross Country skiing (jumping lunges)
- Rock Hoppers (no rock)
- The perfect Wedge (side lunges 10x side)
- Tighten those ski boots (dead lifts)
- Plank for the six
- Repeato sans rock
- Repeato with rock
- Bunny slope tunnel of love – line up in normal plank facing same direction. First PAX bunny hops with rock to the last man and resumes plank, next man, …. , all the way to the next corner.
- Mosey with the rock and deposit in a different pile (we’ll get them next time).
- Mosey back to COT and do some Mary x 20: LBC, Dolly, Mason Twists, Rosalita, J-Lo until time expires
Ye olde Moleskin
- YHC was the first to arrive at the parking lot. Noting the mild conditions and that the BIG track was open, the weinke was almost thrown out. Bananas and Hot Pants arrived, so sanity returned. Next time the track / stadium is open, YHC will have a back pocket weinke prepared.
- The path to the rocks isn’t bad, but YHC understands the PAX were apprehensive without proper lighting. One little headlamp doesn’t cut it, but the rocks are really nice to have. YHC’s forearms are having some difficulty typing up this backblast from carrying that rock around this morning.
- There wasn’t much planking today to catch up the PAX. Everyone is improving and notably Hot Pants’ run in showing a big improvement. He’s ready for the track.
- Dasher blew away the 11s on the derkins/jump-ups/thrusters. He was in constant movement and barely broke a sweat. He probably planked for a few minutes waiting for the rest of us to catch up.
- Chanel and Bananas (in battle for the War Baby designation today) were recorded in the Skunkworks backblast, so they were probably not big fans of the rock work. However, YHC knew they were probably still not up for the BIG track today. Still, no one could get mixed up with the size of the rocks those two were throwing around. And they would just sling the rock up on their shoulder and run around with them like it was a towel.
- Great fun to be had at Dromeday! Come explore the campus with us. If you’re ready to step up and lead a week, contact Bananas or Bratwurst.
Announcements:
- Blue Ridge Relay Signups have started. Let Turkey Leg know if you’re interested.
- Spring Mud run is on April 11, 2015. Sign-ups will be in the next week. Build your 4 man team for one of the best F3 events of the year.
- F3 Fight Club starts this Saturday at 0800 at the Vine in Ballantyne. Show up if you want more info about Fight Club.
Never Ending Hill Runs
13 brothers met at The Maul for some hump day hard work. Here’s what we did:
The Thang:
COP:
SSH X 20
Burpees X 5 OYO
IW X 20
Burpees X 5 OYO
Merkins X 15
Burpees X 5 OYO
Mountain Climbers X 15
Burpees X 5 OYO
Squats X 15
Burpees X 5 OYO
Line up at the bottom of the hill
Run up and down the hill wait at the bottom for the six X 10
Lap around the parking lot
Merkins X 15 IC
Run up and down the hill wait at the bottom for the six X 5
Merkins X 15 IC
Back towards the hill – Bear crawls across the parking lot and crabwalk back
Back towards the hill – Backwards Run up and down the hill wait at the bottom for the six X 5
LBCs X 20, Dollies X 20, Flutter X 10
Run up and down the hill wait at the bottom for the six X 10
6MOM – Heels to Heaven, LBCs, Merkins, J-Los, Mason Twist,
COT
Moleskin:
Mic Check was scheduled to Q today, but a late night text saying he had an early morning conflict allowed me the privilege of leading the guys in The Gloom this morning. With such short notice, I thought back to one of the top 5 hardest workouts I’ve done with F3 in my year long career. One 10 degree Friday morning at Centurion last winter, Purple Haze lined us up at the bottom of Palatine Hill and said “We are going to run up and down this hill until I’m sick of it”. It was intense, no breaks, just up and down that hill for 45 minutes straight. It was awful. So awful, that I thought I’d borrow that workout this morning. I didn’t use his format exactly, but 30 trips up and down a grassy hill (including 5 backwards runs) at The Maul is quite an accomplishment. I threw a few burpees, merkins and bear crawls at the guys just so their upper bodies could stay warm.
As always, it was an honor leading the PAX in the Gloom.
Announcements:
-BRR Signups have started. The SOBs would like to start a Ballantyne team. We need 9-12 Ballantyne guys to make a team. Let Madame Tussauds know if you’re interested.
-Spring Mud run is on April 11, 2015. Sign-ups will be in the next week. Build your 4 man team for one of the best F3 events of the year.
-YHC is on Q at Stonehenge at 0600 this Saturday for my 1 year F3 anniversary
-US Army Ranger test will be held at The Brave at 0515 this Friday.
– F3 Fight Club starts this Saturday at 0800 at the Vine in Ballantyne. Show up if you want more info about Fight Club
Death Valley and the Witch’s… er, um…
16 PAX disregarded the threat of catastrophic ice, wind, snow and polar cap shifts to endure a Slim Fast-delivered dose of pain. Of course, it is easy for YHC to say that since I had 2-3 layers on, but I am a self-proclaimed cold weather wuss, so no news there!
Anyway, with a heart-felt disclaimer, off we went…
The Thang:
Couple of laps around the parking lot for warm-up with butt-kickers and high knees. Circle up for COP:
SSH x 20
Mountain Climbers x 20
Imperial Walkers x 20
Squats x 20
Peter Parker x 20
Rock Hoppers x 20
Quick plank stuff…
Next is simple pyramid, ladder, or Witch’s ____ since it was as cold as one… !!!
This is how it looked:
<set> 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Burpees 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 = 45
Merkins 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 = 70
CDD’s 15 15 15 15 15 = 75
Jump Squats 20 20 20 = 60
Nippler Merkins 30 = 30
So the sets are vertical (down). We started at the Snack Shack for Set 1, then to track for sets 2-3, then to baseball field for set 4, back to track for sets 5-6, back to baseball field for 7, back to track for 8, then finish at snack shack for set 9. 2.25 miles total.
Grab some wall… 3 sets of people’s chair with arm presses x50.
Back to parking lot for Mary…
Dolly x 20
Flutter x 20
Protractor as administered by Geraldo
LBC x 25
Done…
Moleskin:
Always an honor to lead and/or workout with this group of men. Of course, the most cold weather averse guy gets to Q on one of the more extreme FORECASTED mornings, but which never materialized. I wasn’t sure which surface was going to be viable… grass, asphalt, both, NEITHER! The main thing was to keep us moving, so hopefully that was accomplished, and hopefully everyone was breathing as hard as I was!
Semi-Gloss, Header, Busch, Stagecoach, Hairball and YHC joined in for some pre-KB fellowship.
No new faces, but man, all of you guys are getting strong! Everyone stayed together pretty closely today, and no one was struggling with the exercises and repetitions, even with the running built-in as recovery. The Witch will be disappointed!
Sussudio took us out.
Announcements:
1. Continue to watch website for 3rd F/Community opportunities. There are a lot of neat ones out there, and they are all very worthwhile.
2. Strange Brew mentioned Fight Club… I thought the number one rule is to never talk about Fight Club… but…. starts Saturday night. Contact SB for more info.
Preblast: We head to the hills and new levels of fitness
New Years is behind us and PR’s are now securely documented for the Joe Davis run. It is now time to take our fitness to new levels and a tempo run through hills is a great way to do it. We are headed to our now standard Piper Glen route for this week’s Devil’s Turn.
We will launch from the 4 Mile Creek Greenway parking area http://goo.gl/maps/Whecl at the corner of Rea & Bevington on Thursday morning at 0515. There are 4, 6, and 7+ mile options available. See below for the options:
1) Standard Blue Pill (4 miles) – Run 0.75 mile apartment loop, out to Piper Glen, run the Old Course loop and back to lot (perhaps with a little makeup distance down Bevington Place). All this done at a comfortable pace.
2) Aggressive Blue Pill (4 miles) – Do all the above, but instead of a consistent pace, run 1.5 mile at “easy” pace, 1.5 miles at “marathon” pace, and 1 mile at “easy” pace.
3) Red Pill (6+ miles) – Run 1 mile at “easy” pace building to 2 mile at “marathon” pace, 1 mile at “threshold” pace, 1 mile at “marathon” pace, then cool down with 1 to 2 miles at “easy” pace.
Find your applicable paces at the following link: http://runsmartproject.com/calculator
The Piper Glen Hill Routes (both 4 and 6 mile) can be found in the original post here: http://f3nation.com/2014/06/18/devils-turn-preblast-time-to-hit-the-hills/
A quote is included below from www.halhigdon.com on the idea of tempo runs.
A Tempo Run of 30 to 40 minutes would begin with 10-15 minutes easy running, building to to peak pace for 10-20 minutes near the middle, then 5-10 minutes easy toward the end. The pace buildup should be gradual, not sudden, with peak speed coming about two-thirds into the workout. (You don’t need to maintain peak speed for more than a few minutes toward the middle of the workout.)