Posted on behalf of Long Haul for his VQ:
Well, 5:15am came and went and there was no sign of YHC on his Virgin Q. Apparently YHC doesn’t keep track of road closure announcements as he learned the hard way that the 485 outer loop ramps at both Johnson Road and Rea Road were closed this morning. So, after being forced onto the inner loop to Pineville, then taking the outer loop to Providence Road and then back on the inner loop to Rea Road, he finally made it to Devils Turn at 5:21!! #Cantgettherefromhere! Thanks to whomever got the PAX started.
Anyway, YHC was able to fall in with the PAX as they came back around from the apartment warm up loop and all was right with the world again. It was a large group and there was a fair amount of chatter as we had some quality second F on the way to Piper Glen. Once the PAX turned into the neighborhood the real work began as everyone kicked into their threshold paces.
It was a large group today, but hopefully everyone was able to get a good workout in. Due to a wrong turn here or there in the gloom, a few people may have gotten a bit more mileage in than planned, but that only makes you stronger.
We welcomed two new brothers to the fold today and hope that they become regulars in the gloom. Mike Griffin was given the nickname of Buttermaker (You’ll have to check out the Bad News Bears to get this reference) and Steven Cory was nicknamed Kingpin.
So, while it wasn’t the ideal VQ for YHC, I thoroughly enjoyed it nonetheless and loved the opportunity to lead such a great group of men. Thanks for all of the support.
Announcements:
Joe Davis Run
Unbroken Movie
Various Convergences for Christmas week next week
11 men eschewed more sleep and gathered in the parking lot of Charlotte Christian. More cars than people at launch time. Did we miss the rapture? Surely not. Onward.
Mosey down to the track, halfish of a lap, and gather for warmup.
SSH, IW, Mountain Climber, Slow Squat.
Mosey to the track in front of the bleachers.
Unnamed as yet routine where we do 20 of called exercise, half lap, 15, half lap, 10, half lap, 5, half lap. Good times. Repeat through the course of the morning with Hand Release Merkins, Jump Squats, CDDs and Lunges. What it lacked in creativity, it made up for with terribleness.
Between those sets, we did some mary and some feats of strength (Indian wrestling, plank wrestling and finger jousting). Mixed reviews of that portion of the program.
Finish with a fairly swift yog back up to the parking lot. 2.5+ miles. Not bad.
Moleskin
Good times. Good times. I guess 6 miles on the track at Fast Twitch wasn’t enough for me. I just hate to pass up the chance to take advantage of the nice padded track. Good work by the guys this morning. I saw Prohibition at the beginning of the workout, then about midway through I thought he’d taken off. I realized that he was just always way ahead of me. The boy has gotten fast – he’s probably ready to give The Rock a try.
It’s hard to tell what happens in the dark on that track, but apparently during one of the wrestling matches, Mr. Brady took out Uncle Leo. Leo emerged from the darkness with a nice cut on his forehead. Good thing I properly disclaimed the PAX before we got started.
We were all surprised in the COT to find out that the guy who kicked our butts on the track and the wrestling was a 16 year old kid from Covenant Day. Welcome to FNG Babel (or Babble?) – apparently he speaks three languages. And he kicked our butts. The future is in good hands.
Announcements
Sign up to see Unbroken on 1/10. Details on the website.
Joe Davis Run is that morning. Details on the website.
While all the sites are doing there 12 days day of Christmas dose of pain, I planned something a little different. How about the 8 Holy nights of Channukah beatdown. The stories tell us that there was only enough oil to keep the Menorah lit for 1 night and instead it lasted 8 nights. So 19 Macabees gathered at the AO and entrusted that YHC would lead them to victory. The disclaimer was presented and here is where we began:
SSH x 25 IC
IW x 25 IC
10 Burpees OYO
MC x 25 IC
Mosey over to the speed bumps for directions:
20 merkins 1st bump. Run to 2nd bump. 50 LBC. Continue switching until last bump
Peoples chair until pax done
Bear crawl up and down hill
People chair 90 sec
Speed bumps in other direction, same format
20 CDD; 50 Leg lifts
People Chair on the large metal crate
Speed bump in other direction, same format
20 merkins; 50 full crunch, audibled to 25 after 1st bump
People chair until pax done.
Bear crawl up/down hill
People chair 60 sec
Mosey to side of target for leg workout
20 squates, run backwards across lot 20 side lunges (10 each leg), run backwards to start
Same foramt with 20 squates 20 reverse lunges(10 each leg)
20 squates; 20 forward lunges(10 each leg)
Head to the front of Target and on the way back perform set exercises.
20 diamond merkins in front of Target
20 military merkins in front of Harris teeter
20 wide arm merkins in front of Harris Teeter
50 LBC by Theater
Run back to Home.
Little time left for Mary
Flutter x 30 IC
While the enemy was stong and outnumbered us many to few, the 19 Macabees are even stronger and faught as a unit. Brotheres is arms understand how to watch each otheres back, so the Macabees prevailed in there battle. Great job. It was an honor to lead you into battle.
Moleskin:
A lot of chatter at the beginning, but as we started, that seemed to die down. At one point, radar was talking about his hour spent sitting on the pot. More info than we needed at 5:30 but I’m sure Harris Teeter feels better about what you left them.
For maybe the second time since we started Rebel Yell, I saw the actual flag. Thanks Spackler for bringing it out or should I thank Big, Black and Country. Either way, it was nice to see.
Sign up for the Joe Davis 5k run.
Sign up to see Unbroken, January 10. Sign up by Jan 7th.
Nine men stuffed a banana in their pants and took a beating at the hands of a marauding band of feral monkeys. It wasn’t pretty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIJ3jhgvPHo
WARM UP
THANG, Pt.1
Secret Service Snatch: AMRAP snatches for 10 minutes with a 24 kg bell (53 lbs). Switch hands as needed. Don’t quit. More explanation HERE
THANG, Pt. 2
FINISHER
COT
MOLESKINE
ANNOUNCEMENT
Get get a gear shirt: http://f3.mudgear.com/collections/nc-clt-south-area51/products/the-area-51-gear-shirt
12 pax posted at Hydra, not for 12 Days of Christmas (that’s way too mentally challenging for our Q) but for a lump of coal. YHC unfurled his sack and unleashed his shortest, simplest #weinke ever. Turns out, he walked away with the largest lump of coal.
The Thang
COP
Coal Mining:
1 MOM
Done.
COT
Announcements:
Iced Moleskin:
As YHC has made known to some already, he is signed up for his first ever race, the Joe Davis 5k (sign up here), and while some mileage is a good idea, nothing as crazy as Swift, Fast Twitch, or Devi’s Turn is on tap for this committed 0.0 pax. Therefore, the #weinke was made to cover 1/2 mile loops of the Hydra AO, working in some basic exercises along the way. Assuming the #six would run a 10:00 pace (YHC included), each lap should take about 5 min, plus 5 min for the exercise, meaning we’d complete 4+ loops in the 40 minutes allotted, post-COP, for 2.0 miles. T-claps to all as we completed 5+ loops, for 2.5 miles, completing each lap in about 7-8 minutes!
After COP, YHC planned to lead the pax on a tour of the prescribed layout for the first lap, and then turn the thoroughbreds loose at their own pace. Beginning with situps, no issues. On to the fence derkins, again, no problem. On the way to the concession area for jump-ups, YHC decided to take a route he never, ever takes. Guess what? There is a little rain washout area at the bottom of the berm behind the dugout. Perfect for twisting an ankle and tossing you to the ground. After calling out the next exercise for the pax, YHC sat this one out to collect his thoughts and assess the damage. What started as a lot of pain, quickly subsided to a moderate level. YHC stood, found that it didn’t hurt to walk on, and continued on with the workout. It may turn out not to have been a good idea (YHC is not wise to this sort of stuff), but it didn’t really hurt to complete the 2.5 miles with the pax. As I write this, however, it is a little sore, so I’ll continue icing it periodically and see what happens. Thanks for all your support, and offers of a partner carry.
Aside from all that, great 2nd F out there today. Really enjoyed chatting with and getting to know my partner, Floor Slapper. Great to meet some new folks, like Butter and Starfish. Good to see BOG, Chico, Lost Weekend, & Gecko again, as well as the more familiar faces of Pudding Pop, Joker, DK, and Zipadee. Hydra used to be a staple of YHC’s F3 diet, so it was great to get back out here today.
Thanks as always for the opportunity to lead, guys. It’s always an honor.
Aye.
15 hearty souls arrived at The Maul this morning for a healthy beatdown. Here’s what we did.
The thang:
Mosey to center parking lot for warm up: 20 SSH, 15 merkins, 20 mountain climbers, 20 slow squats. (All IC)
Mosey to fountains for: 15 derkins IC, set of 11’s – dips + step ups, 1 lap around both buildings, 15 derkins IC, 10 burpees OYO.
Back to parking lot and get in groups of three. Line up ~20 yds across from one another. For every group, one man bear crawls from one side to the other, and the group relays back and forth while the two on the outside do dollies and LBCs. Keep going for 5 min. This was somewhat challenging but not terrible. Good for the abs and core. 10 burpees OYO.
Mosey to back hill behind movie theater. Nice and steep. Set of 11’s with donkey kicks at the bottom and merkins at the top. Judging by the reactions of the PAX, this was the low point of several peoples’ week… and a borderline bad idea.
Parking lot of Mary: 15 Russian Twists, 20 flutters, 15 heels to heaven, protractor.
Finish with another hill exercise. In groups of three, take turns running up and down while the 2 waiting do “in and out” merkins, i.e. one regular, one wide, one regular, one narrow, one regular, etc.
Announcements:
Convergences in Area 51: next Wednesday 12/24 at Anvil and Wednesday 12/31 at the Maul
Movie Night: “Unbroken” January 10 at Stonecrest. Details on weekly e-mail with link.
Moleskin: For YHC, my first time back at The Maul since Dromedary started a few weeks back. Wanted to deliver an old-fashioned beatdown to honor the site where so many great ones have been handed down. Thanks to MT and the PAX for the opportunity to lead.
YHC is in the frozen tundra of Canada this week so Long Haul is taking the driver’s seat of this bullet train they call Devil’s Turn. Prepare…
The PAX will be launching at 0515 on Thursday from the traditional 4 Mile Creek Greenway parking area on Bevington & Rea Rd. The course is the standard Piper Glen hill course with the following twist:
Incorporate a 20-40min Threshold run – Threshold pace is defined as “Comfortably Hard”. Find yours here at the Pace Calculator at http://runsmartproject.com/calculator (instructions for the calculator at http://runsmartproject.com/calculator/instructions/).
The Piper Glen Hill Route can be found in the original post here: http://f3nation.com/2014/06/18/devils-turn-preblast-time-to-hit-the-hills/
Suggestion – warm-up 2+ miles (apartment loop + 1.25 miles). Do some strides if needed. Begin Threshold Pace run and hold it for 20 minutes or hold it longer to get back to COT at 0610. If more distance is needed, head out and back on Bevington Place.
Alternative – do 3 to 4×1 mile at Threshold pace with 1 min rest in between.
The Overall Objective – We are in the middle of a 6 week 5K/10K training schedule that targets the Joe Davis Run. The only difference between our 5K and 10K training will be the number of sets / repeats recommended. All training is done at your personal pace that should be based on any recent race entered into the Pace Calculator at http://runsmartproject.com/calculator (instructions for the calculator at http://runsmartproject.com/calculator/instructions/).
You will find the complete Training Plans at the link http://goo.gl/0rSSfQ and Bratwurst can explain them more tomorrow morning during 2nd F warmup/cooldown/COT. On the tab “5K (Daniels reduced)” there is a plan that you can use if you are a Beginner to Intermediate runner and just targeting the 5K. If you are an Intermediate to Advanced runner targeting the 10K or 5K, follow the schedule on tab “5K to 15K (Daniels)” that will take you through Joe Davis run and on to the Spring Mud Run. Save the spreadsheet, download it, whatever, use it as your own.
During this time of year, things can get a little stressful. Everyone has a deal that needs to get done before year-end, a client that needs to be reached before the holidays, an errand they have to run while on the way home from work and three Christmas parties to attend this weekend with all your best friends (and their friends who you see once a year, only at these very same parties). This morning Anvil shattered those frustrations, providing 45+ minutes of workout specifically designed to distract you from those pressures and prepare you for the day to come. Who am I kidding, I only planned the workout part. The rest of it came from the PAX:
Quick disclaimer then little baby warm-up run around 1/10 of the parking lot with a treacherous version of backwards/forwards run and a little stop/start action mixed in for fun.
COP
Fast mosey to soccer fields – Line up on field, facing hill for The Triple Triple Nickel (aka. The TripTripNick) (copyright pending)
Triple Nickel #1 – 5 jump squats at top of hill, 5 hand-release merkins at bottom. Repeato 5x. Run around entire field when done. Plankorama while waiting for the six.
Intermission – Tunnel of Love x2
Triple Nickel #2 – 5 CDDs at top of hill, 5 sister mary catherines at bottom. Repeato 5x. Run around entire field when done. Plankorama while waiting for the six.
Intermission – Seek and find — line up shoulder-to-shoulder, bear crawl forward until 4 cones are found (approx. 60 yds)
Triple Nickel #3 – 5 Burpees at top of hill, 5 turkish getups at bottom. Repeato 5x. Run around entire field when done. Plankorama while waiting for the six.
Mosey home for a 0616 COT
COT
NMM
Announcements
8 PAX took up the call on Hump Day to visit the Marvin Ridge High School campus for a little #F3Dromedary’s #12DaysofChristmas

8 PAX-a-milking
The Thang:
Moleskin:
Announcements:
7 PAX did not heed the #3Puppets warning in the Pre-blast and posted at #F3Swift anyway on Tuesday morning at 0515.
The Thang:
The Moleskin:
Announcements: