Murderhorn and the Mark of the Beast
I guess there’s no room in Spackler’s truck for the #F3RebelYell shovel flag…so the VSF was planted and, after the disclaimer and a motivational speech reminiscent of Knute Rockne, 12 men launched in the gloom.
The Thang
Short jog to an open area in the parking lot for COP:
- IWs x 20 IC
- Merkins x 25 IC (that’s 50 for those doing the #10K merkin challenge)
Run from the parking lot across Elm to the Rosebriar Circle. Find a partner.
- Run in opposite directions around the circle. Meet in the back for 20 jump squats. Keep running your direction back to the beginning.
- Plank. 10 merkins on the Q’s count (total count = 60)
- Flapjack directions. Meet in the back for 20 jump squats. Keep running your direction back to the beginning.
- Plank. RAH, RLH, LAH, LLH. Mission Impossible…hold for 10 count.
Run to the top of the Murderhorn for the Beast. 3 light poles. Stop at each one for 6 reps of called exercise. Run to the bottom. Then start back up the hill, stop at the 3 light poles for 6 reps of the exercise. Wait at the top. Do this 6 times. Called exercises:
- Merkins (total count = 96)
- Squats
- Flutter kicks
- CDDs
- LBCs
- Burpees
We did LBCs, Dollies, etc while waiting at the top for the Pax to gather.
Mosey back to base. COT.
Moleskine
Solid group of men that post each week at #F3RebelYell. It’s always a pleasure to work out with them and an honor to lead them. Thanks for the opportunity men.
Not a lot of chatter out there this morning, as everyone beared down on the running. Even the Rosebriar Circle has some hill work and it sucks more one way than it does the other, which is why we flapjacked with our partners…give everyone a chance to feel the pain.
Boomer Sooner called me out, saying I tweeted no 10 counts. That’s true…but I don’t think a 10 count while holding a Mission Impossible quite counts as a 10 count.
Murderhorn is a nasty hill that conveniently has 3 light posts between the top and the bottom…perfect for The Beast. It took a great effort by all for us to finish it in the time allotted. O2 deprivation all around after the burpees on the uphill climb at the end. A nice way to finish.
So, the non-BRR pax got some running and some bootcamp. And the BRR guys got some hill work. But unlike the guys at DevilsTurn, we also got ripped this morning…so we’ll be garnering all the attention of the ladies’ teams this year. Sorry Tiger Rag.
Announcements
MudRun – sign up. If you can run Murderhorn and do the Beast for 45 minutes, you can do the MudRun. Plus, the 2ndF is off the charts.
Bear With Me
10 men ventured out into the cool, fall-like, gloom to endure a Bear Crawlorama for .97 miles…followed by lots of fun.
The Thang
Take a lap around the small track
COP
SSH X20
Arm Circles x10ea
Low Slow Squat x15
Imperial Walkers x 15
10 Burpees OYO
Indian Run to Football Field
Partner up on Goal line
P1 does 20 Freddie Mercuries (Bicycles)
P2 Bear Crawls.
P1 Sprints to catch P2
Flapjack
Repeato for 5 min
Plank
Partner up on Goal line
P1 does 10 Burpees
P2 REVERSE Bear Crawls.
P1 Sprints to catch P2
Flapjack
Repeato for 5 min
Plank
Partner up on Goal line
P1 does 20 Merkins
P2 SIDEWAYS Bear Crawls with hand cross-overs.
P1 Sprints to catch P2
Flapjack
Repeato for 5min
Mosey to Pavillion
P1 does railroad ties or bleacher alternating foot taps
P2 does 20 DERKINS (Decline Merkins)
Flapjack
Repeato for 5min
Indian Run to Playground
P1 does supines or pull ups while P2 does 5 wall jumps (over & back)
Flapjack
Repeato 5 min
Mosey to Soccer Field
LBC’s x 30
Cumberland County Viaducts x10 ea
Plank alternating arms and legs high 2min
Jack Webb to 4 & 16 Ascending then Descending
COT
Announcements: F3 Greensboro Oct 11th. Already have 55 signed up. Email Greensboro@F3nation.com if interested in supporting this new launch by Posting on Thursday, October 11th.
Come join Dredd on Q at Centurion ( Charlotte Catholic) Friday, August 15th (TOMORROW)!
BOM Hopper. Thank you for taking us out in great prayer!
MOLESKINE
In honor of YHC’s new puppy, Bear, the Pax Bear Crawled roughly 1 mile today. Strong performances were noted by ALL…especially Puddin’ Pop who must have been bored with a basic Indian Run and decided to throw-in a few plyometric jumps while the Pax wandered thru the bleacher Lane in the dark. Nonetheless, YHC was glad he was ok as he ended up partnering with him throughout. Crawling for roughly 15 minutes was…awesome. Thank you, Kirk, for taking the distance. Following crawls, and numerous other unsavory activities, the entire Pax executed fence hops flawlessly even toward the end of the beatdown. Maybe next time the Pax would have more time to go higher, in count, during Jack W., a Pax favorite by the expressions on a few faces. Keep pushing yourselves and TELL ONE SAD CLOWN A DAY about what your experience has been since participating in F3.
Thank you you for the chance to lead this morning. Thank you, all, for posting at HYDRA!! Please come back and EH an FNG or two as “fair weather warriors” are easy pickin’ when the gloom temps drop.
Pre-Blast: Devil’s Turn – Hill Week
Two words: Piper Glen. For some, this may cause rejoicing and for others, trepidation. Regardless of your persuasion, it is hill week again and we are headed there for Devil’s Turn.
Meet at the greenway parking lot at the corner of Rea Rd. and Bevington Place to leave for the 4 and 6 mile routes at 5:15 am. We will head out together for a 0.75 mi “apartment loop” and then proceed for the main event through Piper Glen. YHC will have chalk to mark the way for both the 4 mile and 6 mile options.
For those that return to the greenway parking lot earlier than 6:10, feel free to add a little extra distance by turning right down Bevington place for an out and back. Time it properly to return for COT at 6:15 am.
If you would like a little extra running, show up at 5:00 am. We can launch simultaneously with the RFYL folks for a little warmup run down Bevington Place.
If you are into knowing where you are going, see the following post for some pertinent info.
http://f3nation.com/2014/06/18/devils-turn-preblast-time-to-hit-the-hills/
See you in the AM!
Seeing Double Q’s
The shovel flag was planted and 27 pax started their mid-week workout. Jog around the parking lot to warm-up. Be sure to circle Floor Slapper’s car as he came in late. Mix in some high knees, butt kickers and backwards run for good measure.
COP:
- 1 legged burpees (RL)
- SSH x 25
- IW x 26
- Slerkins x 15
- Slow Squats x 15
- 1 legged burpees (LL)
- Firkins x 10
Mosey over to the adjacent parking lot.
Triple Nickel:
- 5 HR Merkins
- Run to other side of parking lot
- 5 Jump Squats
- Run back to starting point
- Repeat 5 times
Head down to the bleachers near baseball fields.
Group 1 performs supine pull-ups until group 2 completes upper body circuit. Flapjacks and continue through 4 rounds. Circuit exercises:
- Round 1: Derkins/Dips/Incline Merkins x 20 each
- Round 2: Derkins/Dips/Incline Merkins x 15 each
- Round 3: Derkins/Dips/Incline Merkins x 10 each
- Round 4: Derkins/Dips/Incline Merkins x 5 each
Jog down to the track. Partner up in groups of 3.
Partner 1 completes home exercise, partner 2 completes away exercise, partner 2 runs from home to away. Switch each time your partner gets to you.
Home:
- Wide Arm Merkins
- Alternating lunges
Away:
- Diamond Merkins
- Bear squats
Jog back up to the parking lot for a few minutes of Mary.
- Flutters x 25
- Dying Cockroach x 15 (Led by @F3Columbia’s Stagecoach)
- Protractor
COT
Moleskin:
- Great crowd this morning. We had wily veterans, relatively new guys, thoroughbreds, meatheads.
- Also, welcome @F3Columbia’s Stagecoach to Death Valley. It was great to have you join us today. For those that missed his post-workout tweet, he said “A51’s Death Valley is definitely tougher than the one in Clemson! (6peat?)” I am neutral in that rivalry, but BOOM, that ought to get the comments flowing!
- Bulldog, Header and I met for some pre-KB work. Header led that and put a serious beat down on us for 25 minutes. Semi-Gloss showed up half way thru, so I told him he would not get full credit for pre-KB. I will hand it to SG though…he grabbed the 50 lb. KB.
- Ok, that was a lot of supine pull-ups while waiting for the other group to complete their circuit. I guess that looked better on paper.
- The bear squats were comical. If you’ve done them before, you know they hurt…and you can imagine all the colorful commentary. #Spacklerswheelhouse
- For those participating in the #10Kmerkins challenge, I counted 197 toward my daily count. For the record, that does not count the 1 legged burpees. For those not doing the challenge, hope you enjoyed anyway.
- Thanks Lazyboy for the send-off.
- Sound off in the comments if you have any other amusing things to share.
Announcements:
- Threshold will not meet today, but will resume next Wednesday
- HDHH tonight at The Lodge 6:00-7:30.
#F3Swift – Back on the Bull Ring
F3-Swift launched at 0515 with several*** PAX in tow. The Q was en-route. Despite lacking the “assigned” Q, the PAX followed pre-blast instructions and headed to the Bull Ring.
The THANG:
- Warm-up – Follow stand-in Q Honey Bee with a Warm-up 1 mile to the Bull Ring. Do two dynamic warm-up exercises from the RunCoach.com set . “Scheduled” Q arrives by parking at the warm-up site. Follow “sheduled” (Haggis accent) Q through 4 more of the RunCoach.com set. Finish with 2 Strides – for a “Stride” explanation of the benefit – watch video here
- 8×400 at I-pace (see Preblast for I-pace guide) with a 200m jog recovery. Run through some puddles and over some speed humps along the way, turn around a few times, but generally try to finish strong and together in a group.
- Cool-down 1mile back to AO
- Planking – HoneyBee leads the PAX through 1minute Elbow planks, 1 minute Left Side plank (check benefit video here), and 1 minute Right Side plank.
- COT with Bagpipe
The Moleskin:
- #qfail – waking up on time via your Smartphone alarm clock, but then waking up 30minutes later with your smartphone still grasped in your hand. Remind yourself that your preblast gave enough info to set the PAX off in the right direction.
- The workout today combined with the strength of Frehly’s Foxhole workout yesterday left many of us just a tad sore. 400s at this speed are actually a tad shorter than most ran last week with the 2/1/30 workout, but the short rest and consistently long interval left many PAX out of breath and getting the full benefit. Great BRR training, for most PAX will feel soreness on every BRR leg after their 1st. Can’t let the soreness slow you down.
- Kotters to Soft Pretzel and Boomer Sooner. Welcome to you guys making the “crossover” from Bagpipe every once in a while.
- “Runner up”, “clear the way for Rock Thrill” – he was doing his own thing out there today, but as a PAX who may do that often at workouts, YHC has no problem with anyone joining Swift or DevilsTurn for the group accountability to get up and get in the 1st F and get the 2nd F on the warm-up and cool-down. Most of us would have wanted no part of his 800s today. Looked strong.
- Cool to find out that Boomer Sooner and YHC share Nebraska as a past home. With places like Omaha and Bellevue, we all no why Charlotte is so much more pleasant. Boomer Sooner could probably lead the charge for that Wagon that barrells into every OU game, but since he’s actually from Nebraska, that’s like a UGA bulldog leading the Rambling Wreck out before a GT game.
- Pretty flat today, but we’ll get back to the hills next week. After all, it’s not like the entire #BRR is a roller coaster. Sometimes you just gotta roll.
- The Planking that YHC encouraged to lead at COT was a bad move. It hurt too bad…we’ll have to do it again if we ever get back to COT with more time. #neveragain
- ***the Q failed to capture the total list of the PAX. Memory and dim light only served him so well, so sound off in Comments if you “only” get credit for Bagpipe, which someone from Swift would never want.
It’s a Good Kinda Hurt
18 pax posted to salute the shovel flag (yes, a real one was planted! Thanks, F3Ascent!) and endure a never ending clock. Here’s how they passed the time:
The Thang:
Mosey to the lower parking lot
COP
- 20 SSH – in cadence (IC)
- 20 IW – IC
- 20 2-handed swings – IC
- 10 high pulls – right – IC
- 10 high pulls – left – IC
Sufficiently warm (and dripping)
Clock Work – Round 1
- 5 one-handed swings
- 5 clean & press
- 5 squats
- Right side, then left side.
- Rinse & repeat until the clock eventually runs out (10 minutes).
Slow mosey around the parking lot. #BRRtraining #F3Swift
Clock Work – Round 2
- 5 snatches
- 10 lawnmower rows
- 15 merkins
- Right side, then left side.
- Rinse & repeat until the clock runs out (audbile after about 7.5 min to save time for Round 3).
Walking mosey (No, really. Walking.) to the grassy field.
Clock Work – Round 3
- 3 Turkish Get Ups
- Right side, then left side.
- No repeato. No clock needed.
Mary
- 15 Russian Twist – IC
- 15 Situps (old school, touch behind head and touch feet) – IC
- 15 Flutter with Press – IC
- ~7 Slow-motion Freddie Mercury – IC
Lap around the field – #moreBRRmileage
Done
COT
Announcements:
- F3Meatheads – Thursday, 0530, Elizabeth Lane Elementary School (same AO as Olympus) – KB centric workout – The Hoff on Q this week, with a promise of no logwork, just KB pain!
- F3 Dads’ Camp – this weekend
Moleskin:
Wow. The humidity was just brutal today. We were all sweating like we were being paid for it within minutes of the COP. And by round 2 of the clock work, non-gloved pax were struggling to hang on to their bells. (maybe being in the center of the circle was not the safest place to be…)
The mumble chatter was in full effect on the initial mosey to the lower lot. That dried up shortly after we completed the first of our High Pulls. The lack of mumble chatter was so stark, it actually became the topic of mumble chatter! Once that began, we devolved into all manner of chatter: the supremacy of KB’s as the ultimate workout tool, shake weights being a close second, weinkes being the ultimate tool, the various definitions of shake weights and weinkes, on to Fast Twitch, and now the combination of weinkes, shake weights, and fast twitch. PG-13, parental guidance is suggested for those 13 & under.
The beauty of clock work is that you’re not focused so much on how quickly you can complete a rep, and you can focus on form. Additionally, stronger pax (or those with undersized bells) can complete reps faster and continue on to additional rounds, while those new to the movements or with larger bells can grind out reps at a slower pace. Everyone gets all they want and can handle.
The first round, the timer was set for 10 minutes, and it seemed much longer. YHC checked it several times, to pace himself, while the pax called for YHC to check the timer to ensure it was working! It was! Round 2 was shortened to about 7.5-8 minutes, to save time for Turkish Getups – not sure whether that was a fair trade or not, as we were ready for round 2 to end but not looking forward to the Turkish Get Ups (TGUs).
TGU’s are just hard, especially at the end of a rough workout, and because we don’t do them that much. They really push your entire body. Pax new to the TGU (or with a large bell) were encouraged to practice the move unweighted, if needed. YHC had forgone his usual bell for a medium one for just such an emergency. #goodcall
YHC had tweeted that this workout would be 0.25, as there was too much recovery moseying to get away with calling it 0.0. Nonetheless, by my estimate, we didn’t cover more than about 0.4 miles, including the walking mosey. Not bad.
T-claps to all for pushing it today. YHC was feeling it hours later, but it’s a good kinda hurt. (upon listening to the recording for the pax name-o-rama, YHC realized he was so tired that he didn’t even know his age! 45, not 44…)
Thanks for the opportunity to lead today. It’s always an honor.
Thanks, Busch, for taking us out and reminding us of the roles we’re called to play in our families and community.
Aye!
/HT
A little diversion from running – sort of
The virtual flag was planted and 18 of F3’s finest gathered for their weekly dose of Fast Twitch – one hour version (whose idea was that on a work day #bossmaycatchmenapping).
The Thang (X=Cadence):
Warm-up COP – SSH, Mtn Climbers, and Jumping Lunges all 20X
Run down Strawberry Lane to intersection with Rosecliff – 20 merkins OYO
Run Down Rosecliff, left on Brownes Pond and stop at Coburn Ct intersection – 20 merkins OYO
Run down to bottom of Coburn Ct and partner up for half pipe partner runs. Partner 1 runs up to intersection with Brownes Pond and does 5 burpees while Partner 2 runs up to intersection with Cabell View Ct and does 5 turksih get-ups. Run back to start and perform 10 partner hand shake (or slap) merkins before hitting the other half of the half pipe. Rinse and repeat 3 times (4 for Splinter and TL).
COP for squats (whisper mode) 20X
Jog up to intersection of Coburn Ct and Cary RIdge road – 20 merkins OYO. Jog up to Hwy51 for 20 merkins OYO. Jog/run back to school and meet at goal line with LBC’s while we wait for the 6.
Modifed beast (time limited us to three rounds) – 6 of called excercise at six stops as we run 110 yards down and back. Due to time limit we started in reverse order with Burpees (sucked)
- Burpees
- Jumping lunges
- Squats
Job back to starting point for COT.
Naked Moleskin:
Didn’t get to 5 miles today as we spent more time than usual doing burpees, merkins, and assorted other excercises. YHC ran a fairly long LSD on Sunday so figured there was no reason to try to set a Fast Twitch distance record. Purple Haze did ask that we stay away from Yassou’s and the Q obliged (for once, PH got his way but also my excuse as to why this was closer to boot camp than running workout).
The usual suspects (Splinter and TL) were killing it on the half pipe. However, no Larry Bird’s for them on the modified Beast so maybe they got their money’s worth early (or they prefer running to boot camp style exercises).
Pretty dark morning back in the hollow on Coburn Ct. We may need to add “watch out for cranky old biker riders” to our disclaimer but luckily no one was run over. His advice to wear lights was duly noted but I for one don’t like any extra weight. Don’t runners have the right of way? Isn’t Fast Twitch famous enough that any bike rider within 400 miles should know to watch out for us in the gloom? And why didn’t anyone give him a sticker and the #F3Gears hashtag?
As always, it was a privilege to lead such a great group of men, even if half of them smoked me on the run back to the school
Announcements – Contact Champagne or YHC if you can help us with the tutoring efforts in Charlotte and good luck to Hops on his job interview today.
Foxhole
Rain didn’t scare away this dedicated group and in fact the rain stopped just before the workout began. Very little running as the focus was a full body workout with the kettel bells. Mission accomplished!!
Warmup: SSH X 25, Squats X 20, Imperial Walker X 20, Merkins X 30, Mountain Climber X 20
Workout: Mosey to rear of parking lot by the school building. Series of Merkins, Swings, and Legs all with the Kettel Bells. Merkins included: “Tight Grip Merkins” X 10 (lay the KB down handle forward, in plank position grab and hold the sides of the KB and execute the merkin – great for inner chest and tri’s). Plank Row Merkins X 10 (10 plank rows each arm with a Merkin in between). Uneven Merkins X 10 each arm (right arm on KB while executing the Merkin; Switch and do left arm). Two-hand swings X 25. Legs included: Goblet Squats X 15, Reverse Lunge X 10 each leg, Squat curls X 15, Romainian Dead Lifts X 15. Kool down jog 100 yards and back. Repeat above for another round of each merkin and each leg exercise.
Mosey to benches in between school building. KB Dips X 20 (KB in lap for Dips). 4 Sets. 1 set Incline Merkins X 15. Mary on the Benches (all counts in cadence): LBC w/KB on Chest X 20; Dolly w/KB presss X 20; Flutter w/ KB press X 20, Bicycle X 20 (no KB), Heels to Heaven X 20 (no KB).
Mosey to school building in front of jungle gym for series of People’s Chair with Kettel Bell (approx 1 minute each set). Hold People’s Chair for 1 minute with KB between legs, upright rows X 15, 2-arm curls X 15, overhead press X 15. Finished with Clean/Curl/Press – 10 each arm.
Lacking in Creativity – Exceeding in Pain
13 of SOB’s finest denied the fartsack and threat of weather to do some stuff around the Ballantyne AO.
Disclaimer was given and off we went.
Little baby jog down to parking lot next to Lochness for COP.
SSH x 20 in cadence
IW x 15 in cadence
YHC then decided enough of COP and IW are boring anyway.
The main Thang.
Mosey to Lochness and directions were given.
First the pain stations:
First Station – first building – 25 derkins with feet on wall
Second Station – second building – 50 flutters from top of wall
Third Station – picnic tables – 15 step-ups per leg
Fourth Station – exercise trail – 10 dips
Fifth Station – execrcise trail – 10 pull ups.
Then the options (actually Frehley’s had some suggestions and helped with this)
Red Pill – Run a lap, complete station one, run another lap to station two, complete and rinse and repeat with a lap before the next pain station until time was called at 6:55.
Blue Pill – Run the first lap, then work from one pain station to the next, excluding the extra laps thrown in, and continue until time was called.
6:55 move it back to the launch point (YHC was the 6 – trying to get in one more lap)
COT.
Moleskin:
This one was a smoker. Great work by everyone. Thanks for allowing YHC to lead. This is a great AO with tons of options. This one got the pax a little spread out, so missed out on much of the mumble chatter – shout out below if anything interested happened.
There was a flyby from Honeybee, Bratwurst and Haggis – but they had places to go and people to see so no time to hangout and visit. Also Wingman pointed out to YHC what was probably the biggest moth YHC has ever seen. Luckily it was dead or it might have chased us off.
For the spread-sheeters – no matter the pill you chose, you were probaby between 3 and 5 miles today. Great work again by everyone.
There were also some beasts to did the Pre-KB – but it was too dark and YHC was doing the prerun with Fraiser and was more concerned with keeping up with him. Shout out below so you get credit.
Thanks again for the opportunity to lead this great group.
Announcements:
Mudrun signups still open – go ahead and sign up. F3 Nation already has over 600 and counting – lets show them what we can do.
Tutoring in Areaa51 – we are partnering with Christ Covenant this fall at Matthews Elementary and will be needing pax – who can help between 3:10 and 3:50 once or twice a month – looking to start Sept 16th and shooting to make Wed F3 day. They really need men to step up. They said they mainly have women who are volunteering to tutor and be buddies right now. If you are intereted and feel called, please reach out to me at bdbriggs@gmail.com
Champagne out
Bagpipe On the Fly
Forgetting that it’s your turn to Q is bad but showing up in time and coming up with a solid workout “on the fly” makes up for it!! 31 strong showed up for Swift and Bagpipe. Kudos goes to the PAX for coming out in numbers.
Warmup: SSH x 25, Squats X 20, Merkins X 40, Mountain Climber X 20, LBC X 20. Mosey about 1/2 mile to the lake with the grass hill.
Workout: 7’s on the Hill: Burpees at the top and Jump Squats at the bottom followed by 7 sets of Jack webbs (count up to 7 merkins and up to 28 overhead arm presses). Lap around the lake including running up the stairs to the parking lot and back to the bottom of the hill. Repeated twice. Planks and 6 inches merkins in between each lap. At top of the steps, mosey to parking lot for 6 sets of Mary and 4 sets of Merkins (10 reps each). Mary included Dolly, Flutter, Heels to Heaven, Protractor, Mason Twist, Bicycle. Finished with 5 man-maker Burpees. Mosey 1/2 mile back to the Vine parking lot.