Rewind back to February 2020. YHC has posted three times, each at Da Vinci. The gloom is daunting and getting the best of me. I nearly puke and pass out during my first workout (Heartbreaker Q on 2/22/2020) and the early start times. I’m challenged, curious, but still on the fence about this whole F3 cult community. During coffeeteria at Chick-Fil-A (remember when we could do this?) a strange moniker is mentioned – #CSAUP
CSPAN? Surf’s up? Sippy cup? I’m lost. What is this strange term and foreign acronym? Why are so many acronyms part of the daily F3 experience? Did Flipper really get his name at a CSAUP by tossing himself over a wheelbarrow? Why is Tuck involved in every single F3 CSAUP ever held?
While my mind is still spinning, I am informed about a completely unofficial, yet highly organized trip to the mountains for a run. Free. Only cost is sacrificing to show up, experience discomfort and the risk of failure. I’m hooked.
Looking back over a year ago, CSAUP is what really sealed the deal for me to dive deeper into this eclectic community. It captures to me the essence of what High Impact Men are all about. Understanding that at times we need to push ourselves beyond the daily confines, the comforts of our regular existence to new heights. New places of existence that we can only experience when arms are locked with another accelerating man.
Gentlemen, I bring you the South Mountain CSAUP. Your opportunity to find a new resilience, a new strength within you. The chance to experience the beauty of creation and be inspired by the Creator. The taste of no-bake cookies, packaged pickles and cool gatorade served up in the back of a pickup truck before ascending for another lap.
“Into the mountains we go, to lose our minds and find our souls”
What: Hike/Run/Ruck 10/20/30 miles at South Mountains State Park in Connelly Springs (1.5 hours from South Charlotte)
Route: Create your own adventure between 3 different loops (11.7 miles, 10 miles, 9.5 miles – details below) covering a total of ~5900 feet of elevation gain. Each loop starts and ends at the parking lot where someone’s pickup truck will have water and snacks (see below, bring a snack) for refueling before your next loop.
When: Saturday, April 17th. Gates to the park open at 7. We will chat a little, stretch, name any FNG’s and then start running promptly at 0715
Where: South Mountains State Park, High Shoals Parking Area (https://goo.gl/maps/DrA4wHzbuYrRdXE89)
Cutoff: There’s no official cutoff as this is not an official run but the guy with the pickup truck has to leave by 3:00 so if you’re not done by then the snacks/water will be gone. Otherwise, you are responsible for getting yourself home anyway so nothing else changes.
Who: PAX and 2.0’s from wherever. This is going to be a fun day of running/hiking in the mountains with friends both new and old.
Cost: If you haven’t been paying attention, this is unorganized and unofficial and therefore FREE. Please bring a snack to put in the backup of the pickup truck for your friends to try.
Interested? #southmountaincsaup on Slack for friendly banter. Add your name, etc. to this sheet so we can all have an idea of who’s coming: https://rebrand.ly/south_mountain_contact_list
***DISCLAIMER: To be clear, this is not an organized or official run/race/event. If you come, you are on your own and entirely responsible for your own safety and well-being. If you choose to run the same loops in the same order as us, awesome! But, as with all things F3, you are encouraged to modify as necessary to avoid personal injury and overall make good decisions with your life.
The loops/routes will NOT be marked. There will be GPX files available for those with fancy watches as well as printed maps and cue sheets available in some guys truck in the parking lot at South Mountain. Most carriers will have cell service out there so it is highly recommended that you carry your phone with you and common sense thoroughly suggests that you stick with a buddy.
Bottom Line: This is going to be a blast. If you haven’t been to South Mountains State Park before, you are really missing out. We will cover almost all of the trails there, including all the big views overlooking Jacob Fork Gorge, the 80-foot High Shoals waterfall, and the beautiful mountains of Western NC. Make up a route of your own, or just come eat snacks and high five your friends when they stop at the pickup truck.
Tentative Route Maps (to be finalized soon):
Full Route: www.plotaroute.com/route/993852 (31.2 miles / ~5,900 ft elevation gain)
First Loop: www.plotaroute.com/route/993743 (11.7 miles / ~2,100 ft elevation gain)
Second Loop: www.plotaroute.com/route/993851 (9.5 miles / ~1,700 ft elevation gain)
Third Loop: www.plotaroute.com/route/993748 (10 miles / ~2,100 ft elevation gain)
After weeks of pushing off this Q for various reasons, I felt the need to give the Pax something different. So with an idea, now time to unload the garage and setup the extravaganza. Eventually 10 Pax showed up at 5:30 we began.
Warm Up
Very simple as we ran around the pain stations for a quick tutorial and a rundown of the next 45 mins. Unsure of the number of Pax, there was plenty for everyone and if you felt the need to skip any of the exercises (Covid protocols) I would not judge. Yes, Clorox wipes and trash cans aplenty.
Stations
No one grabbed a rock, but various sandbags were borrowed incase you did not want to share any of the other items
Somewhere around the mid way point we took a brief break to run to the baseball field. Perform 10 box cutters and 10 reverse box cutters and then head back for more circuts
DONE
YHC for the takeout prayer
Announcements
Ye Old Mole skinny
Spring is here and the weather was perfect.
Leave from OrthoCarolina
Travel north for a 1 mile warm-up to corner of Ballantyne Corp and Ballantyne Commons Pkwy and around the parking deck. Traditional dynamic stretches.
The Workout – Acceleration Runs up Ballantyne Commons Hill to Johnston Rd. Starting with a mosey gradually increase your speed finishing with a full sprint. (It’s about .4 mile to the top.)Recovery jog back to the start. Rinse and repeat until 6:05.
Moleskine
This workout is a test of endurance, speed and mental grit! All the things that make Swift great. Most got 5 laps, Soft Pretzel and Bratwurst got 6. The new guy Right Turn had no trouble cruising past me for his final lap. Wingman got straight after it and Kirby and Atlas chugged along from start to finish. Even Citgo figure out where we were! Great work all!
Lots of fun challenges coming up –
Waxhaw Trail Fest
RuckBreaker
Functional fitness
DCCs
Warm-up mile with some stretching
The Thang
Roundabout slingshots
5 rounds 5k pace or faster down and recover jog back. Hurry and Gerber got in an extra round
Run from roundabout up the outside lot hill to main entrance at 5k pace and recover job back.
4 rounds of slingshots
Run from roundabout up the outside lot hill to main entrance
3 rounds
Run from roundabout up the outside lot hill to main entrance
2 rounds
Head back to COT. Had about 4 minutes left to run some loops around the lot.
Moleskin
So I pull into the parking lot at 5:05 and Popeye is already there. Was he doing a pre-run? Nope, just excited for another Express train ride. As you all know he’s been riding the train for about 2 months now and has improved a ton.
The goal of today was to keep moving with very little stopping or resting. Everything was an active recovery.
Was trying to help Gerber beat Hurry and a couple of the Slingshot rounds with a head start. The problem was the Hurry’s recovery jog back was the same pace his 5k+ pace was. Both of those guys got 8+ miles.
Chastain is ready to run with the big DOGS, he’s just not ready to commit to that yet. He also out ran Hurry up the yellow brick road at the end. He also showed up late and had to come find us. Good thing we stayed on campus.
Chicken was getting jealous of all of us jumping the fence today. He thought it might be a secret “runners” only thing so he had to check it out for himself. Chicken, your not allow to talk about what you saw.
Fusebox kept it moving today. All the running makes the bootcamps easier.
Easy Button’s calf was bothering him today so he was taking it easy sharing Pinterest recipes in the back.
Pre-mature had a blast at the Rooster and wants more running.
Announcements
CPR – see Surge
WTF – May 1st
Let everyone know that there will be running for the people who would like to run and then …. well you know
DiCCS given
Mosey around the parking lot to front of the school
15 SSH
15 MC
Calf Stretch
15 Plank Jacks
Mosey to bus lot
Variation of a workout that Flanders did a few weeks back.
Start at spot 13 and do 13 Bobby Hurleys
Run to curb and do a burpee
Run back to spot 12 and do 12 BH
Back to curb and do a burpee
11, 10, 9…. you get the picture
Once finished we all circled back and finished the one last together (this was where people that wanted to run a bit less could have stayed but I thought it better for everyone to continue to stay together)
Finish and walk the 15 steps to beginning light post for Paula Abdul
Up 2 lights and 10 do Merkins
Back 1 light and do 1 burpee. Add 1 burpee every time until 5.
Circle back and finish together
Next up 4 corners. Run to first corner do exercise then come back and do 1 burpee at start. Don’t repeat exercises on the way to the next corner.
10 Big Bois
15 Heels to Heaven
20 American Hammer 2 is 1
25 V-ups
Circle back and finish set up V-ups together
Few minutes left partner up with opposite speed. First partner holds a plank while second runs around small car island. 2 times each.
Time
Great group of guys today of all speeds. We hit a little over 3 miles which I think is a good push for people who aren’t usually runners but still not a 4 mile Flash (you know who you are). Everyone stayed together which kept some good mumble chatter. Great push on the last corners lap with the front sprinting to the end. Some guys are hidden gazelles out there (looking at you Rockwell!) Thank you guys for a great workout and Schneider letting me lead!
CPR next Monday Sign up!
New Thursday AO launching April 1 at Walnut Creek clubhouse at 6PM – Mountain Biking
Murph coming up soon, start training
Its been too long since YHC has regularly posted non-running workouts. After what feels like a year of focused run training, I was incredibly excited to be getting back to boot-camps. The Board-vergence on Saturday past only whetted my appetite and I was psyched to serve up a truly burly beatdown at Bagpipe as my first Q in nearly 6 months. Thus invigorated, I took to the slack waves with no small amount of snark in order to advertise the magnificent magnitude of my manly machinations. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised when my bluster was met with a tepid response as only Tagalong and myself were present in the lot at 0525. “Clearly you overdid it on slack man” was the quotation I believe. Thankfully timely arrivals from Midriff, Rousey, Frehley’s Comet and War Eagle prevented Taggy from having to endure my company solo for 45 minutes, and at the stroke of 0530 we were off!
The Thang:
Mosey down hill to one of the lots across B-tyne Corporate and circle up for COP. SSH, IW, LSS, Merkins, Mtn Climber, Parker Peter and Peter Parker were had in sequence.
Mosey to Loch Ness to the top to where the the sidewalk to the fitness trail diverges. Split into 3 groups of 2. 2 groups stay at the divergence for while 1 group runs as “the timer.” While group 1 ran around Loch Ness stopping at the porches and next to the picnic table for 3 sets of 20 squats and 5 burpees (wall jumps at the porches and standard by the table) the other two groups took turns between pull-ups and merkins. 1 partner ran down for 5 pull ups while the other completed max count merkins, flapjack, repeato. When the “timer” group returned, the 2nd set of two took off on the timer loop, etc. etc. etc.
By the end 2 groups ran the loop 2X and one group only 1X. Midriff and YHC are completing the MarchMadness challenge and thus paid attention to the counts. We were able to notch 40 pull-ups and 250+ merkins. #marchmadnesscompliant
Ye olde moleskinny:
The inspiration for todays workout came from reading a preblast out of the Waxhaw region (where else?!?) regarding an upcoming Murph CSAUP on Memorial Day (when else?). A murph structured workout was a ringer for MarchMadness completion AND who doesn’t love a good murph??? But that also got me thinking about the idea of what The Murph stands for, and why we do it. Lt. Murphy gave everything in support of his nation, and thusly is worthy of our remembrance… but there is more two it. As men, we raise up our heroes and celebrate their accomplishments because of the values they embody. The strength, the valor, the perseverance even in the face of innumerable odds. Today was a mental struggle as well as physical as the weinke did. not. let. up. There was no where to hide. As Midriff mentioned later, the burpees were the rest break. For YHC, I don’t aspire to stand in front of the bristling arms of the enemy, I wasn’t born to be that kind of warrior. But I take from the example of Lt. Murphy and thousands of other heroes like him the example of grit and fervor. The indomitable spirit defying the world to take from him what it would, but that he would not be beaten. What an amazing example of leading despite the cost being absolutely everything.
The PAX went along gamely of course, and I thank them for their willingness to put up with my musings and the corresponding down painment. I hope I was able to help them grow in their own personal struggle, even if just a little bit. To say they showed up strong would be the understatement of the decade, and I am proud to be of their number. That said, I have never heard sound effects which rival those of Rousey when he is getting after it. War Eagle and I could hear his burpees from across the pond. #doingworktheloudway.
Also, has anyone seen Tagalong recently? His beard showed up but no sign of the man anywhere, I hope he is ok.
WarEagle just showed up and got after it. I was opposite him in the Merkin/Pullup rotation and got to enjoy his company for a while. Great attitude despite the suffering, a true Nantan.
Frehly’s…. well the man just keeps doing work. He talks about the being “the old guy” and then throws down with the best of us during a truly challenging workout. I hope I look that good when I’m 60… I mean 57 of course.
And of course Midriff, the dude just straight up gets after it. Newish to F3 with a fire in his belly, SOB is lucky to have his leadership and energy. Maybe if he keeps working like today he’ll eventually earn the right to wear shirts matching his namesake…. but for the sake of the PAX I hope he choses not to. Keep your clothes on man!
In all seriousness, thank you for letting me lead today and I hope you’ll have me back despite my tendency to scare away half the regulars.
SYITG
Flipper.
Announcements:
-South Mountain CSAUP on 4/17 (See Midriff)
-Stonehenge/DaVinci CSAUP 4/24 (See War Eagle)
-Functional Fitness Challenge 5/22 (See High Tide)
-TheRutbreaker Challenge May-Sept (See Flipper, join #rutbreakerchallenge on slack)
-Timekeeper directly following Bagpipe/Swift every Tuesday 0630 at Einstein Bagels. Commencing a new book (12 somethings… see Brat)
-SOB Clothing order is open
-Welcome FNG Right Turn