It’s officially humid…
I appreciate the opportunity to lead the men of Base Camp this morning. YHC hadn’t been out to South Charlotte in a few months due to another Monday morning AO starting up right by my neighborhood. It was great to get back out and see what’s changed. Thankfully nothing had. Still a great group of guys and a really great AO as there are so many options…
Not much discussion early on as 10 PAX looked forward to another Monday morning boot camp in 98% humidity. Felt cooler until we actually started moving. Extended disclaimer provided to allow OT to get out of his car and off we went.
Here’s what went down.
The Thang
Quick lap around the bus lot and circle up at the front of the school.
Warm-Up Exercises in cadence:
- SSH x 15
- Imperial Walkers x 15
- Mountain Climbers x 10
- Merkins x 10
- Leg Stretches
Mosey pace down to Rosecliff Dr. (Burpess x5 at each speed hump)
WAVE 1: Triple Nickel on Rosecliff Dr.
- @ Bottom do 5 CDDs
- @ Top do 5 Jump Squats
WAVE 2: Merkin Clock Set
- Everyone gets into the Merkin position on the Rosecliff hill (Head represents the ‘hour’ hand)
- Starting @ 12 o’clock, 10 Merkins in cadence
- Repeat @ 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, 9 o’clock
Mosey back up to Fairway Downs Ct.
WAVE 3: Partner Up
- P1 completes called exercise while P2 runs to the cul-de-sac and back
- When P2 returns, flapjack
- Exercise 1: LBCs
- Exercise 2: Flutter Kicks
- Exercise 3: Heels to Heaven
Indian Run (Merkins x3) back to school and circle up @ the rock pile. Pick your poison.
WAVE 4: Rock Set
- 10 Curls, 10 Thrusters, 10 Tricep Extensions
- Run down to the ball fields and complete 10 pull-ups
- Repeato
Mosey back to Launch Point
Mary until time is called
- Big Boy Sit-Ups x 10
- Dollies x 20
Called time and COT.
Moleskin
- Mumble chatter was light throughout the workout but for whatever reason, I can’t remember a thing that was discussed.
- We did get to share a brief overlap with a few runners who, without a Q in charge, drafted in for about 10 LBCs before deciding they were really just a running AO.
- So much versatility at Base Camp. Appreciate Magoo & Thunder for having me out.
Announcements
- Prayer requests for Thunder Road and his wife Jane. Pray that the Lord places his arms around you both and leads you through the next few weeks.
18 Holes around the Horn
Quick write up…
Mosey to warmup with SSH/IW/MC 18 IC
Thang:
there were 9 stations strategically placed around the Front nine lot. Each station had 3 exercises labeled. Partner up with a Pax, grab a batton Golf Ball from the bucket. One Pax ran a lap while hte other performed the initial frst exercise on the sheet. Need to Pass the batton Ball other pax to run their respective lap. When you both finish the first exercise, you both run tot the next station Hole. For each hole you complete you get a par. If you somehow drop the Batton, you get an extra stroke added.
After completing the first 9 holes, go to the second exercise on the list and repeat through the back 9. nearly everyone seemed to finish at least 18 holes with a few heading to the bar for the 19th..
Finish up with the Bushwood Staple Fijian Fast Feet!
MOLESKIN:
While it didn’t seem like much, YHC remembers that we hit above 3 miles on what was like Short-Track racing.
The site continues to gain attention in Marvin with new and old faces showing up weekly. If you haven’t made it out, take the extra time to do so..
A Really Bad Idea
2 minutes before start time is when the DiCCS is given. By the Q. Usually. But that requires the Q to post. At the correct site. No worries, we got this.
3 pax at The Lycan got to explore the hills I’d been planning to visit the next time I Qed. Turns out that was this morning. Woohoo!
Warmup
Mosey to the back of the school, hit the handicap ramp then back up the stairs. Shine your headlamp in the parked car to freak out whoever was sitting in it. SSHs, calf stretches, Glidah stretches, mountain climbers, Merkins.
The Thang
Mosey down the gravel road past the baseball fields and find the little trail that leads to Hermitage Place neighborhood. They were nice enough to install some light posts around the roughly half mile loop. I needed to figure out what the hills looked like for the next set of exercises so for the first loop alternate 5 Merkins and 10 Squats at the lights. Turns out there’s a few hills in this neighborhood and I found a perfect one right near the entrance. After completing a bit more than one full loop we’re now at the bottom of the newly named Really Bad Idea hill, so we did some 7s: Mike Tysons at the top and Big Bois at the bottom. Yuck.
I promised Dunkin we wouldn’t do that hill again so we took the long way around with a few Merkins, Flutters (2=1, duh), and Walking Lunges thrown in for fun. Back out of the neighborhood and to the bleachers between the ball fields. Dips and Step-Ups. 30/20, then 20/10, then 15/5. Over to the playground. I used the excuse that the monkey bars were too wet so we could avoid doing pull-ups. Instead we headed to the swings to do some Swerkins. 10 OYO. Up the grass hill to the wall of the school for some “Chastain’s a Jackass”. 10 Donkey Kicks with a 10 second hold at the top. We worked our way down to 5 DKs and a 5 second hold before tapping out and moseying to the front of the school. With a few minutes left, some nicely numbered parking spots, and some suggestions from Gerber and Dunkin we did (in cadence) 9 Heels to Heaven, 8 Box Cutters, 7 American Hammers, 6 somethings, 5 Burpees, 4 Bomb Jacks, 3 of another thing, 2 things I don’t remember, and 1 Mike Tyson.
A final mosey back to COT and 30 seconds of Squats to finish us out.
Moleskin
The Lycan is a good site. Plenty of options with parking lots, playground equipment, neighborhoods, hills, and easy access to the offerings of the Floater. If you haven’t checked it out you definitely should. Get out of your normal routine and try something new. It won’t hurt (much).
Balls to the…
- blood drive
- Dad camp signup link drops today at 5, don’t miss out
Your humble correspondent,
Speed in your time of need.
Endurance running is a study in passion, in perseverance, in grit, and in determination. When we race, we ask our bodies to operate at the limit of their capacity for significantly extended periods of time. By the final third of every race our legs are heavy, our lungs are burning, our minds are exhausted, and we just want to be done. However, it is often in this final third where the race is won or lost. Whether we’re running for a personal best, trying to beat the guy we signed up with, or finally capture that elusive age group podium, our last chance to hit our goals come in the final third.
The next 5 weeks of swift will be focused on helping us maximize our potential and perform with strength in the final third of our races. It will feel a little different for long standing Swift veterans, but the goal is the same, making better runners through targeted training. In addition to training the body, this program is about training the mind. We will be building the power, but also the restraint, necessary to peak at the right time, and finish the race with excellence.
I will be updating this pre-blast weekly to share the next stage of the training, so that home or abroad you are able to work through the program and realize the benefits.
Week 1: tale of two 1600s
-Warmup to the bull ring via direct route and complete Swift-Staple dynamic stretching
-At the top of the bull ring, commence the following ladder:
-1600 w/ 800 recovery
-800 w/ 400 recovery
-400 w/ 200 recovery
-200 w/ 200 recovery
-400 w/200 recovery
-800 w/400 recovery
-1600 w/ 800 recovery
-Each and every one of us will run this ladder at different paces, however the idea here is to get fast in the second rep at each distance. Additionally recovery should be in the neighborhood of our usual “steady state run”. So, for me, I’m going to go for my first 1600 at 10k pace w/ recovery around 8:30/mile, my 800 around 5k pace and same recovery pace, my 400 around mile pace, and my 200 around an 800 race pace. When climbing back up the ladder I’m going to aim to take about 15-20 seconds a mile off the prior rep. So, if I run my first 1600 in ~6:50, my last should be around 6:30. (In order to develop your recommended paces, check out https://runsmartproject.com/calculator/ and use a recent time trial or near race performance to gauge your equivalent paces.)
Week 2: Ben for the win
-Warmup to Harney & Rushmore intersection for dynamic Stretches
-3X 8 Minutes at 5k-10k pace, 2 minutes recovery at 10k-90 seconds per mile
-Mosey to the base of Ben Nevis
-30, 60, 90 seconds up Ben Nevis (if you summit in 90 seconds, head back down) 30 seconds rest once the 6 is in, then go again. The effort on these should feel harder than your 1 miler by a good margin. Not giving a pace target here, but you should be thoroughly gassed by the end of 90 seconds. Repeato till 6:10.
-Mosey to launch
Week 3: You want me to run how long?
-Warmup to Community house
-4X1200 w/ 2 minutes recovery. First 1200 should be around 10k pace, then plan to progress 10-15 seconds per mile from there. So if your first 1200 is at 7:30/mile, your 4th should be down around 6:30/mile. If you finish early, run a 5th 1200 half way out and back, or sweep the six but stay above a recovery pace. Keep in mind, with the temperatures and humidity we’re seeing, you’re likely to be 3-6% off what pace you’d be running in the spring or fall.
-Progression Run Back to launch, starting around 10k pace and progressing 10-15 seconds per mile every .25 miles. If you arrive back near the launch early, extra credit all the way down to Rushmore and loop back around. The idea here is to finish your progression at or below the pace of your fastest 1200. If get to Rushmore and loop back at the last parking lot pass through before Harney, you’ll hit 2 miles half way back up the hill to the launch point.
Week 4:
-Warm up to the top of Ben Nevis
-Through BCC, 1 Mile at 10k + 30sec/mile, recover to the six for 2:00, 3 minutes at 1 mile race pace + 30 sec/mile, recover for 2:00 to the six.
-Each cycle, cut 5-10 seconds per mile for the 1 mile interval, keep 3 minutes at the same pace.
-Run all the way to Ballantyne Commons.
-Regroup with the six and run back to launch.
Week 5:
This week sees us returning back to to bull ring, and to the program from Week 1. Same 1600, 800, 400, 200, 400,800,1600 with half recovery format as we did a month ago. The only thing which we’ll shift is target paces. We will hold our first set of reps to the same 10k, 5k, mile race and .5 mile race paces. On the way back up, last time, we clipped 15-20 seconds per mile from the prior rep of that distance, and this week we should look to clip a little more. Check your times from last go around and plan to out-run them!
SYITG
-Flipper
F3 Dads Camp Ticket Release Update and Info
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The Inaugural (and likely valedictory) Horsehead Adventure Race
11 curious and most certainly uninformed men arrived at the Cathedral of the Patron Saint Mary Kay to subject themselves to the whims of an unqualified and unprofessional authority this morning. 1 additional lonely Meat Puppet was convinced into joining the party, as his Meat Puppet friends were home recovering from neck tattoo complications.
This was a non-traditional workout, with 3 teams of 4 each competing for a grand prize of both fame and infamy that would make El Guapo himself jealous. Team Captains were selected by age, who then participated in a moderately embarrassing playground style kickball team draft of which the selection order will remain on the field and in our hearts, but not on the internet. The final results were as follows:
Team Frehley (T 2nd):
- Frehley
- Horsehead
- Flipper
- Hoover
Team BLC (T 2nd):
- BLC
- Geraldo
- O Tannenbaum
- Jet Fuel
Team Runstopper (winner and supreme champions):
- Runstopper
- Proehl
- McGee
- Boerewors
Instructions were fairly simple, select one of the 9 numbered slips of paper from the discarded box of Kirkland’s Signature somethings in the hotbox and complete a task that earns your team an impressive 10 points. Return for another task, and keep it going until we run out of time. The team with the most points wins.
Tasks:
- Kettlebells w/ the Olympians – 50 swings, 25 flutter press, 12 squat thrusters
- 3 trips around the North Face loop– 25 LBC at the top of each loop
- Lap around the perimeter of the big soccer field w/ 40 merkins, 40 squats & 10 burpees
- Triple Nickel across the Parking Lot of Pain
- Jack Webb to 8 in the astroturf.
- 10 reps of a different exercise at each tree down the Avenue of Trees.
- Leg workout near the playground . 25 squats, 25 lunges, 15 Apollo Ohno, 15 monkey humpers.
- Bear crawl around the traffic circle near the rock pile.
- 7s on the hill near the big soccer field.
The total gamut of challenges was just over a 4 mile experience, and took our victorious Team C up to the final few mins to complete. The other two teams enjoyed a hard fought battle, but decided to call it quits after 7/9 tasks.
Winning strategy for Team Runstopper employed a combination of A) having Proehl on your team, B) tackling the North Face and Triple Nick tasks first, and C) dragging Boerewors around like a dog chained to a pickup truck bumper on I-77. Boerewors claims to have gone completely numb after the first trip up North Face.
I’m not sure what exactly happened on Team BLC, but they appeared to be getting after it. I think that they probably spent the entire time telling “getting after it” jokes about Jet Fuel and his recent honeymoon, but I’d frankly be disappointed if they didn’t. They appeared to be as disinterested in doing the North Face challenge at least as much as our team was, which I can respect.
Team Frehley hung in there, mostly trying to avoid sweating to death or making eye contact with that awful bloated Cat Tattoo that Hoover has right at human eye level. Seriously, that thing looks like someone buried one of my eyebrows in the Pet Sematary and it came back to life addicted to stale marshmallow peeps. The eyes follow you and everything.
That about sums up everything I experienced today. Saturday beckons, so I’ll end it here.
Your pal,
HH
Workout in the Cloud
Sounds like a virtual workout but it wasn’t. I assure you it was quite physical. “What could be more humid? How about if we workout inside a cloud?” Gerber was right. We had a foggy morning and it was nasty. The great part about these muggy mornings is you really feel like your money’s worth.
7 guys for Homecoming. DiCCS provided and were off. A nice warm up Mosey up the entrance road hill with some stretches and such at the top. Down to the bottom for a couple of hill repeats. 10 Merkins at the top and 10 Dry Docks at the bottom. Repeato.
Partner time. We don’t get enough ab work on the regular. I was aiming to fix that. 150 Big Bois, 150 Flutters (2=1), 150 and In and Outs. Partners alternate running the loop.
Mosey to the elementary school side. At each of the numbered columns, starting with 8, do burpees then run a loop, working your way down to 1. Instant whining from the pax. Apparently Chatterbox just did this on Tuesday. Yeah, but I’m nicer and we started at 8 and work our way DOWN so it gets easier as you go. More whining. Fine. Audible to only the even numbers.
Apparently not all the pax heard the audible so a few got some extra burpees. You’re welcome.
Mosey to the lot near the playground and grab a lifting rock. Take it to the curb.
- 10 curls
- Rifle carry to the opposite curb
- Sit your rock down and Sprint to the starting curb and back
- 10 Curls
- Rifle carry back to the start
- Repeato with 10 Shoulder Presses tenement again with 10 Tricep Extensions
It was here that I decided to rename Fuse Box to reFuse Box. It’s one thing to modify as needed or even Q Jack. You get a name change (unofficial) when you blatantly reFuse to follow instructions.
My first thought was to shame him into compliance but quickly realized he has no shame. Instead I decided we’d run more. I know he enjoys that. For unknown reasons the playground is now entirely fenced off. So instead we headed through the trails in a big loop that lead us right back out to the parking lot we started in. Oh well…
We still need to get to the other side of the playground so we made a big detour around the fences to the road. 5 Merkins at each light pole (4 total poles) until we’re at the basketball goals.
Mosey to the sidewalk for the last round of exercises.
- 15 American Hammers in cadence
- 15 LBCs in cadence
- Suicides to the center line and then the far curb. Sprint!
- Repeato
Mosey back to COT for a couple Box Cutters and then 30 seconds of Have a Nice Day.
Moleskin:
“I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member” – Groucho Marx reFuse Box
So reFuse Box knows what he’s doing with his reFusenik behavior. He knows that he can mess with me and I’ll put up with it. What he ALSO knows, and for the life of me I’m not sure why he’d choose MY Q to play this game, is that I have a compromising photo of him…
Announcements
F3 Dads – Every Saturday from 9:00-9:45 – Bring your kids, boys and girls, and have some good quality time with them
Blood Drive – Saturday June 19th at 5 Stones from 9:00-1:30. Sign up NOW
Homecoming is looking for Qs. Get off your butt and Q something
YHC took us out
We Need More Pulling Exercises – Lets Band Together
Discc
Warm Up
Before starting, each PAX grabs a resistance band (thickness doesn’t matter #twssNever). I notice the number of bands is exactly equal to the number of PAX (obviously I planned this incredibly well).
Mosey half the parking lot stopping in the middle for 15x: SSH, IW, LSS, LSS with band overhead, MC, merkin, can opener stretch
The Thang
Take a few steps to the row of handicap parking spaces in front of the theater, each with a parking sign. Each PAX attach their band to a pole, half at shoulder height, half at ground level. Two of the thinner bands are paired up so there are at total of 8 poles with bands. The routine is a circuit where each PAX pulls on the band while facing either toward the pole, away from the pole, or with the pole to his left or right (rotate 90 degrees each time you change poles). With the bands placed at high or low positions, and with the different band sizes, we are sure to hit every angle of pulling upward/downward for a complete shoulder workout with a few other muscle groups along the way.
The timer is the 9th man, who runs the half-lap around the parking lot while the 10th man just does burpees until relived by the timer. When the timer replaces the 10th man, he moves to the first pole and everyone moves to the next pole and moves their body position 90 degrees, except the 8th man who is the new timer. When the timer reaches half-way, those doing a one arm pulling switch arms (body stays in same position relative to the pole).
We got in two rounds of the circuit + one more lap just for Wingman because I forgot where I started I knew he wanted to push himself with an extra lap (you’re welcome).
Next two quick rounds of B.L.I.M.P.S. (5 burpees, 10 lunges 2-is-1, 15 IW, 20 merkins, 25 plank jacks, 30 squats), and leaving 3 minutes of Mary (flutter, LBC, heals to heaven).
Moleskin
Like Isaac Newton’s 3rd law of motion (every action has an equal and opposite reaction), there must be a corresponding law in fitness (every exercise motion, has an equal and opposite exercise motion). Ideally when we work one direction we will also work the opposite and develop strength equally in both directions.
While F3 is great in many ways (understatement of the year), with our limited resources (whatever the AO has to offer) too many bootcamp exercises challenge us in one direction (pushing) and do not have equal challenges to work the opposite direction (pulling). Expensive gyms have complex machines that get at these hard to expose muscle groups. But in F3, with our $0 cost of membership, we miss some areas and risk developing imbalances.
Consider the merkin and its opposite the row. How many reps of merkins are in a typical workout versus rows? Merkins are all but mandatory and come in the dozens. Rows, if any, are usually with a rock or coupon and nothing close to the weight you move doing merkins. Overhead presses and pull-ups are another pair of opposing exercises. I’ve been in many bootcamps pressing rocks or coupons overhead but far less with pull-ups. Not to mention pull-ups are too heavy for most PAX so we often skip these pulling muscles. Curls and tricep extensions are the only exercises we regularly perform together, with the same weight and reps, but this is the exception far more than the rule.
Resistance bands are often marketed to help assist with pull-ups (a weak area for the majority of PAX human beings) but they have much more potential. Bands are insanely versatile in where they can be attached and used. They are not as cheap as coupons (but what is) but they are affordable ($30 for a set of 4), and they don’t take up much space, weigh almost nothing, last for years and don’t break when dropped.
Across F3 we should add these to our toolbox and make them more common than coupons. They’ll add variations to our exercises and will help attack our lack of pulling and other exercises that will benefit us all. I won’t always run a complex circuit as I did in this workout, but I will bring resistance bands and I will challenge the PAX with some exercises I know they we all need.
I challenge all PAX to make the small investment in resistance bands (the cheap ones work as well for me as the high-end) and find some new exercises to share with the PAX the next time you Q.
(And as Midriff pointed out, if we include rocks, we’ll have a rock band workout.)
Announcements
June 12th – Saturday – 6:30AM Da Vinci Bucky Convergence & 3:30PM 2nd F at Bradshaws
June 19th – Waxhaw Blood Drive – 9am – 1:30pm @ Five Stones Church – there are 12 10 spots left to fill up for the blood drive. Sign up here if you haven’t and share on Facebook or wherever with friends, family, and neighbors : https://www.redcrossblood.org/give.html/drive-results?zipSponsor=f3
August 13th – Crane Relay (starts at 9PM?!) details/sign up here – https://forms.gle/PYo3XvwAhorvSEdN7