🍦🍦🍦🍦 x 400

🍦🍦🍦🍦 x 400

Date: 2026-01-27 AO: Swift Q: bratwurst , PAX: bunker, bratwurst, Gump, gumbo, jrr_tolkien, midriff, tagalong, citgo, shrinkwrap, Patches, Brisket, frasier FNGs: None COUNT: 12 WARMUP: Head on down to Rushmore on “the course”, exercises along Harney & Rushmore
THE THANG: 3 sets of 4×400 with 200m recovery after each. 1st set at 10k pace (same effort as prior 3 weeks), 2nd set at 5k pace (3-4 sec faster per 400 that the first set), 3rd set at 2mi pace (3-4 sec faster per 400 that the second set). Make sure you start each 400m with someone, so it may take a little more or less (or slower) rest than 200m. #nomanleftbehind
Quite a turnout for a chilly run in the teens. Only South Charlotte running workout for the day after FastTwitch bailed, so it’s very fortunate that we have lit streets to spot the ice and private snowplows (though they did run right past us a couple of times).
Cones were set at each 100m along the 400m course with engineering precision to the nearest +/- 1m. For some reason, the recovery seems so much further with cones.
That wraps up the January Half-marathon Prep! Hoping :crossed_fingers: that flipper is still on for February.

Grinds & ballistics

Date: 2026-01-28 AO: Meathead Q: high_tide , PAX: Emoji, Pepsi, Toto, Uncle Leo, high_tide, The Worm, MARTA, Blanks, Unplugged FNGs: None COUNT: 9 There are colds, and there are colds. This morning was the former, and I have the latter. No matter – we had a solid warmup to warm up, and I had a backup Q in case I couldn’t escape the fart sack. Thanks to our executive coach, the weinke went off without a hitch.
WARMUP: – SSH = 30 IC – IW = 15 IC – LSS = 10 IC – Prying Squats = 2
THE THANG:
Grinds: – 10 double bent over rows – Rest – 10 double military presses – Rest – 10 double front squats – Rest – Repeato 4x total
Ballistics: – 10 snatches EMOM for 10 minutes – Alternate sides/hands each minute – Minutes 5 & 6 performed as half-snatches
MARY:
– Ab wheel (or inchworm if no ab wheel) – Suitcase carry – Left – to far curb – Inchworm – Suitcase carry – Right – back to start – Ab wheel / inchworm
ANNOUNCEMENTS: (There were some but YHC missed them – please sound off in the comments) Several prayer requests amongst the pax. Takeout by Thunder Road.
COT: 10 pax, including a DR pax, Grappler, from Charlottesville, who is also Blanks’ executive coach. He also provided guidance by osmosis to the pax & Q for a smooth workout. Even Emoji followed along today.
YHC returned from PA a bit under the weather and had Unplugged on standby, just in case, with the weinke provided the night before. However, backup plans were not needed, and only 1/2 a box of tissues were sacrificed.
No Flipper today, so the pax had ample fodder for discussion. Is his truck 4×4? Is his driveway uphill both ways? With 1,000 lbs of kettlebells and sandbags in the back, isn’t his traction incredible? How close to Oxford, MS does he live, where the ice storm was quite devastating? Are these grinds we’re doing complexes or chains or something else sinister altogether? Regardless, we all hope he is doing well and thaws out soon. And, in his honor, unnecessary complexity was introduced in the snatches by performing sets 5 & 6 as half-snatches.
Also discussed was the global donation of Voodoo. Is he in Dublin? Denmark? Detroit? Something else with a D? And what’s he doing there, anyway? We have theories and probable answers, but we won’t list them here, just in case AI is using this backblast for training purposes.
Otherwise, for the workout itself, I think everyone got their money’s worth. Emoji kept up for the most part. Pepsi redirected him when he tried to wander off. Marta’s form was only inadvertently called out once. Unplugged either smoked himself or was just soooo excited to get to the snatches, that he completely skipped over his formerly favorite exercise, the front squat – but we got him back on track, so all is right with the world. Toto leveled up to a 24kg for the snatches – strong! Blanks let out his signature grunts and shouts, so we know he was engaged. His coach, Grappler, approved, while effectively engaging his own bells. Uncle Leo stood ready to provided any needed guidance, but the weinke was simple enough and the counts were low enough that, surprisingly, we kept up. The Worm and YHC were models of both form and proper pacing. #promoves
Thanks for the opportunity, gents! Always an honor.
Aye. HT

Bad music, boring workout and it was cold

Date: 2026-01-28 AO: SACS Q: wildturkey , PAX: Cheese Curd, wildturkey, Roulette FNGs: None COUNT: 3 Three of the most dedicated dudes for a morning a lots of repetition
WOD1 5 ROUNDS: 10m Bear Crawl with Sandbag Drag 10 Sandbag Lunges (EACH LEG) 10 Sandbag Power Cleans
WOD2 12 ROUNDS: *wear your ruck 3 Burpee to Sandbag Press 6 Sandbag Back Squats 9 Sandbag Deadlifts 120 Meter Sand Jerry Can Carry (Switch Hands as Needed)
We made some adjustments to keep us together, plus a little recovery lap.
TBH, it was pretty miserable. :man-shrugging:
However, life isn’t all :unicorn_face: and :rainbow:
Also, a bad day in the gloom is better than being a :clown_face:.

Site Audit

Date: 2026-01-28 AO: WAMRAP Q: Alf , PAX: hoover, O’Tannenbaum, Hot_Yoga, poptart, lex_luthor, Orange Whip, Alf FNGs: None COUNT: 7 Management showed up today in 23 degrees for a site audit. Pretty sure we failed at all the stuff that doesn’t really matter. No disclaimer :white_check_mark: Failure to assign Q before the workout. :white_check_mark: Failure to properly clear or mark all icy locations :white_check_mark: Having Lex Luthor attend and not letting him take the open Q slot :white_check_mark:
On the plus side the stairwells weren’t too bad this morning.
Anyway. We did WAMRAP stuff. A bit disjointed in the route as we tried to avoid the worst of the ice. As usual, started off thinking it was too easy and finished up thinking it was friggin awful.
Thanks to O’T for the takeout.
Announcements: Beer drinking with a smidge of activity. Maybe a Ruck, maybe a walk, maybe just 12 ounce curls.

Mary? Oh yeah she was there

Date: 2026-01-28 AO: The Maul Q: war_eagle , PAX: Smash, war_eagle, SweetWater, Adobe FNGs: None COUNT: 4 WARMUP: Mosey lap around the theater parking lot. Standard warmup with exercises and stretches. THE THANG: Start with The Motivator to warm up the legs. Speed bump work with 10 merkins and 10 squats at each bump. Deconstructed speed bump suicides with core work called by the Pax after each round of suicides. Mosey to fountain beside Flying Biscuit for chair work including squats, split leg lunges and dips. MARY: Lots ANNOUNCEMENTS: – 3/7 SOB Brew Run and Ruck – Craft Half Marathon COT: YHC took us out.

Denny’s alternative

Date: 2026-01-27 AO: Bagpipe Q: kirby , PAX: Starch, Pilgrim, kirby, Roulette FNGs: COUNT: 4 WARMUP: is there such a thing at 13 degrees THE THANG: hit parking deck to stay warm. Go do stupid things in stair well. Find new amazing things in parking deck. Do some sprints and find more scary things in parking deck. Extra support. In all 4 bad hombres braved the temps and didn’t go to Denny’s. Next time maybe a moon overmyhanmi or however it is spelled.
MARY: yep on top of deck ANNOUNCEMENTS: March 7th beer run ruck. March 28th Craft Half. COT: YHC took us out

Falcon Crest – Mt Rea Summitt

Date: 2026-01-27 AO: Falcon Crest Q: MARTA , PAX: Snuka, MARTA FNGs: COUNT: 2 2 for a frigid climb to Mt Rea and back. Yhc enjoyed coffee on the walk home. No sight of Grits or ICE.

Paths and Pathways

Date: 2026-01-24 AO: Bowlderdash Q: soft_pretzel , PAX: frasier, Franky, Brisket, shrinkwrap, Chopper, Paper Jam, turkey_leg, Green Label, Rob Rosenthal – Drive By, midriff, Astro (Kyle Kirchhoff), Swedish Chef, Polly, soft_pretzel, bunker, tuck, C3P0, bratwurst, tagalong, citgo, hairball FNGs: None COUNT: 21 WARMUP: THE THANG: A Tuck Special creative new route. Hills in the beginning through BCC and some time on the Elon Park campus before finishing on the roads. Several of us got 15+ for our marathon training plans and great to have so many guys to grind it out with. MARY: ANNOUNCEMENTS: COT: I missed it to get extra miles but Coffeeteria seemed very well attended. Thanks to those who stuck around for me!

Olympus – Calm Before the Storm

Date: 2026-01-24 AO: Olympus Q: Krzyzewski , PAX: voodoo, Mountain Momma, Emoji, Krzyzewski, The Worm, Blanks, Pepsi, MARTA, Toto, Gapper FNGs: None COUNT: 10 ‘See you in the gloom,’ they say. Well, friend, today was as advertised. Under a foreboding, overcast sky, the pax gathered slowly…and then all at once. Schedule C and Gapper kicked off things with a pre-ruck. After that YHC and the usual suspects began to filter in, but shortly after 0700 several pax came in hot to round out an even 10 for the beatdown. The pax kept up a strong tempo today as we closed out the Clean ‘Em Up 2.0 program and did their best to stay ahead of the unforgiving wind flying through the blacktop tundra. Mumblechatter was disparate, but free flowing. YHC did his best to raise the general discourse of the group, but ended up only hitting new heights of nerdery with a grammar and usage themed playlist. This went about as well as you’d predict, but at least the music kept things moving. YHC continues to be impressed, humbled, and encouraged by the strong turn out in 2026. It’s definitely not the playlists pulling in folks, but rather the accountability and encouragement each man in the circle provides to the others. Interesting times lay ahead…well, at least for most of the pax, as Schedule C and Voodoo both made journeys to warmer (or at least less icy) destinations today. For the rest of you, stay safe and warm in the coming days, gentlemen. Let’s get into the recap WARMUP: Swings (10x), prying squats, hi-pulls (5x e/s), synovial circles, one-handed swings (5x e/s), slingshots (7x e/w) THE THANG: 1) The E-Z Complex (3 sets) – Single bell swings (3x) – Hi-pulls (2x) – Clean (1x) – Thruster (1x) – Switch hands and repeato – Last set did 2x times through 2) Clean ‘Em Up 2.0 (5 sets; variety of chains/complexes) – Double clean (6x) – Double squat (6x) – Double snatch (6x) – Double press (6x) – Double swing (6x) – Double renegade row (6x e/s) 3) Glutes & Hammies Complex (3 sets) – Overhead (or racked) reverse lunges (5x e/s) – Alternating swings (10x) – SLDL (5x e/s) 4) Carries! Carries! Carries! – Variety of racked and suitcase with a 5x lawnmower row finisher each time – joined mid-way through by the monkey-humping pax of The Rock! MARY: Not today, good sir ANNOUNCEMENTS: – :snowflake: Winter Storm Fern (1/25-1/26) – YHC really hopes you’re not looking at backblasts for weather updates, but do make sure to bundle up this weekend – THE PR:o:D – First Friday of the month – see Slack for details for February’s edition. – :pancakes: Second F Friday (2/13) – second Friday of the month at Stacks. See Slack for details. – :beers: SOB Brew Ruck (3/7) – see details on Slack. COT: YHC took out the joint groups in the COT

The Super Bowl

Date: 2026-01-24 AO: The Super Bowl Q: taggart , PAX: F3 Elsa, taggart, Roulette, Starch, wildturkey FNGs: COUNT: 5 WARMUP: typical stuff. Taggart needs to work on his counting THE THANG: circuit workout and running stairs at the garage. MARY: jogging to garage ANNOUNCEMENTS: stay warm and stay off the roads COT: