The Irony

The Irony

25ish pax rolled into the OrthoCarolina lot for the weekly workout known as Bagpipe. The irony is, I have parked here several times during the daylight hours for various ailments. They ought to leave coupons under our windshields. Big group got disclaimed and off we went.

Thang

Mosey up the road with no name over to Conlan to pick up a straggler. Down Conlan to Brixham Hill. Left and cross over the lot in front of Ballantyne 1. Circle up.

SSH x 20 IC

IW x 15 IC

Mountain Climber x 15 IC

Merkin x 15 IC

Peter Parker x 15 IC

Mosey down to Loch Ness and around to Ballantyne 2.

5 Hand-Release Box Jump Burpees/10 Derkin/15 Dips

Run around Loch Ness with 3 stops. Do the above set at the patios for 1 and 2. Stop at Exercise Trail corner for 20 Heels to Heaven/20 Jump Squat. Ran through that twice with Mary to regroup after each loop.

Mosey over to Lance building lot. AYG to the bridge. Burp-n-Merk at the top. Burpee 1 with 1 merkin. Burpee 2 with 2 merkin. Up to 10. Mosey back down to Lance lot.

Plank-o-rama: RAH/RLH/Swap/6 inches/RLH/LLH/Plank Jack x 10 IC/Low plank alternating leg lifts x 10 IC

Mosey down Ballantyne Corporate. Left onto exercise trail. Continue back to Loch Ness loop.

People’s Chair. Air press x 30 IC

Mosey back up to Conlan and past the old launch lot. Right onto the street with no name and back to new launch lot.

Rosalita x 15 IC/Civilian Count Merkin Sets to 10: Regular/Wide/Diamond. Flutter x 20 IC. Done.

COT

Moleskin

Thanks to Cooter 2 for the invite to Q at Bagpipe. Big group of about 25 with 1 FNG, brought out by Rubbermaid, who is a UCo F3er, primarily. QIC had to leave before COT. Early meeting this morning and kids to get to school. Wondering what name our FNG received. Strong crew out this morning ready to lay down some work. Well done men. My apologies for no pax list.

Vagabond 2019 CSAUP info Pre-blast

What?

VAGABOND returns again for its 4th annual South Charlotte CSAUP event. PAX from all over South Charlotte and surrounding areas will run a ~13 mile loop course through the Area 51 and SOB F3 regions, stopping for six 15-minute pain stations along the way.  Those looking for a modified version can start at any one of the AO’s along the way (more info below).  For those nursing injuries or in need of less miles on foot, cyclists are welcome.

When?

Saturday, November 9th.  Launches @ 0630 sharp, arrive early -ends around 1100.

Where?

Start/end is at Hickory Tavern on Providence Rd. in Charlotte (11504 Providence Rd.) across the street from the Waverly shopping center. Parking will be the Hickory Tavern side lot.

Why?

It’s Veteran’s Day weekend, and we will be running the streets of Charlotte carrying shovel flags while raising money for our Veteran’s. We have badass shirts.  Plus, free beer and apps.  Need I say more?

After Party :

Join us for food and drinks at Hickory Tavern immediately following the event @ 1100.  1 beer and apps provided at no cost, courtesy of Kid Rock. Anything beyond that is up to you.

Donations:

We are teaming up with a charity Partner- The Independence Fund. The Independence Fund is a Charlotte based Charity that provides all-terrain wheelchairs to wounded veterans. These guys are Pretty amazing, and Kid Rock has gotten the opportunity to witness some of the wounded vets in action while assisting them through Spartan race courses. Extremely inspiring, and a great cause for our Veteran’s Day Weekend event. Visit https://www.independencefund.org/ for more info.

We have begun a PayPal Charity Pool. Can you pledge $2/mile? Maybe a flat amount?

https://paypal.me/pools/c/8iSnSKuy3G

Cash donations on the day of the event are always welcomed

What to bring:

  • Shovel flags (we’ll be carrying them for the duration to show support for Veteran’s Day and F3)!
  • Fuel (GU, Nuun, chews, etc.) *this is important*
  • Hydration will be provided at each pain station, but feel free to bring your own
  • Gloves if you would like
  • Blinkies, reflective vest, etc. (headlamps shouldn’t be needed)
  • Change of clothes for after party

Course:

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/21324552

Turn by turn directions:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MXP_TL0ZMy76JCsUNeWS7F0pjQvx02XvzZQBU_5A5_s/edit?usp=sharing

Here is the list of AO’s we’ll be stopping at for pain stations, and an estimated range of when we’ll be arriving at each one:

  1. Waverly: 0630
  2. Charlotte Latin: 0700 – 0720
  3. South Charlotte Middle School: 0735 – 0805
  4. Calvary Church: 0805 – 0845
  5. Stonecrest: 0845 – 0925
  6. Blakeney: 0920 – 1000

Bring your slightly worn coats to a workout

We are collecting used coats/jackets for West Blvd Ministry’s coat drive with delivery on 11/2 (men’s, women’s, and kids). Several guys helping collect (Hops, Mermaid, Lorax) or contact me at pchepul@gmail.com for pick up.

We have several more weeks so let’s amp up the chatter and knock it out. Shoe is in the lead with 6 (3 delivered and 3 on back-order) and I can tell you it will not be pretty if he wins the most coats delivered competition (for which the winner will get a 6 pack of beer) so help a brother out.

Wait, I have the Q?

Eleven men gathered on what has become a pretty normal, balmy July October morning in the well-lit confines known as the South Charlotte Middle parking lot to start the week off right.. Veteran crew, and so after a brief disclaimer where I gave the PAX my heartfelt empathy for their safety but that they could in fact sue the site Q’s (Thunder Road and Jello, though they’d be unlikely to win), we were off.

The Thang

Mosey to the parking lot on the other side of campus for the first part of the warm-up:

  • SSH x25
  • IW x15
  • LSS x15

Mosey down Strawberry to the next parking lot for second part of the warm-up:

  • Merkins x10
  • MC x20
  • Peter Parker x10

Follow me, hanging a left of Hwy 51 to the entrance to Davey Park. In a well lit area of the entrance, but safely away from the road, we paused for some recovery and did a little Mary (LBCs, Dollies, Rosalitas). Then over to the turf field, forming 3-man teams for grinders, first with LBCs and Merkins, switching midway to Heels to Heaven and Carolina Dry Docks.

We then gathered at midfield for a plank ring of fire, followed by a jaunt over to the playground Partner up again, this time two-man teams. Partner 1 runs a hot lap in the parking lot, while Partner B does step-ups, dips, and derkins.

Finally, back across the grass field, mustering on the 51 sidewalk for 10 merkins. Open it up for the journey home, as you wish. 20 LBCs at 51 & Strawberry. Back through the parking lot for People’s Chair exercises. And we’re done.

Moleskin

As I climbed into bed last night, I was still undecided which workout I would hit in the morning. I thought it might be a good idea to check the Q Schedule, as that might influence my decision (really didn’t want any part of Spackler’s Knoll or Chelm’s coupons). Low and behold, who’s name is beside Base Camp? YHC’s! Wait, I’m pretty sure I have the Q on 10/21, not 10/7. So, I quickly texted site Q Thunder Road for clarification/confirmation, only to get no response (evidently, he went to bed early knowing he’d need his sleep before a Hannibal Q). Decided that I’d better show up to Base Camp, if in fact, I did have the Q.

So, the plan came together on the way to the workout at about 0520. Upon arrival, TR was waiting in the well-lit parking lot, and confirmed that his assistant had gotten the dates wrong (hard to find good help these days). Anyway, no worries as 10/21 really doesn’t work for me anyway, so I’ll take today.

Gummy rolled in at 5:29:30, as usual, right on time. I’ve also figured out why he can cut it so close. Since most workouts start with SSHs, and he refusiniks them, he knows he can get his stretching in then. #veteran Hopper was espousing something about Ohio State and their black uni’s from Saturday. Told him I’d pick one up for him at the Campus Store later today. #friend

Sardine thought I had returned to the Davie Park turf field to relive the Merkin Ladder he did during his virgin BC Q. Nope. Never, and my FNG still hasn’t come back, thank you. Jello was performing his site Q duties well, not heckling the Q but making sure all of the chicks were taken care of and accounted for. We thought Hammer made it the entire workout without a pit stop, but then we saw his monster truck head out of the parking lot on two wheels at 0612.

Nice to meet Dig Dug. Revlon, Mr. Magoo, Clover, and Marvel were all putting in the work. Not a ton of mumble chatter out of these men – they were too busy getting their money’s worth and working on their Summer 2020 beach bodies.

A pleasure to lead this morning. Thanks to Thunder Road and Jello for the reins (though, admittedly, felt a bit like a hot potato). We got ‘er done. And thanks to Hopper for the takeout. Have a great week, all.

Announcements:

  • Baracus is having surgery this afternoon for a sports hernia.
  • Coat drive is underway. Bring gently-used coats to your next workout and the site Q’s will get them to Chelms. Goal is 1,000.

Get Tight, Get Strong

Pickle jars be warned: the six week Total Tension Kettlebell Complex has officially kicked off. It’s not too late for rest of you sluggards to join in–just pick up a couple of kettlebells (or dumbbells, if you must) and go OYO. The group aspect is helpful to pair up on bells and make the time go by but for traveling sales guys and late sleepers, there’s no excuse to miss it. You only get two backblasts for the six weeks: first press pyramid (today), and first squat pyramid (Thursday, Lord help us). So let’s get at it.

With one workout under the belt, this is a good time to review the program objective:

I built the following complex to give you “a-ha” moments in total body linkage and tension. And build some serious muscle mass in the process.

Pavel

Linkage and tension are the objectives. Muscle, mass, and strength are the results.

In retrospect, we should have spent some time practicing linkage and tension before the workout–check these out and practice them at home. We will also review briefly on Thursday.

Looking ahead…Thursday’s workout will pyramid the double front squats. Go to 4:00 mark for the squat standard. The press standard is at the 3:00 minute mark.

More reading on Tension:

Go back to the press standard video. Notice the balled fist in the free hand? Irradiation at work….

Later, men.

Creature Comforts

A few weeks back I was asked about being Q for today’s Flash. Once I saw that date, I knew this was the day after my first Spartan Race. Probably shouldn’t except, that would be stupid. Wait, isn’t all this a little stupid? I told Chicken Little that I would love to get out of my comfort zone. Stop being such a create of habit. Let’s get Stupid!

Cars kept rolling in until there was a total of 29 PAX doing Ignition or Flash. Glad I was up all morning worrying about my Weinke. Can’t let this group down.

Let’s get this DiCCs in and get started!

THE THANG

Circle up! Yep, Circle up

  • SSHs x 20 IC
  • Imp Walker x 15 IC

Count off. 1, 2, 1, 2…

Mosey down that standard path in 2 lines to start the fun.

Short little Mosey before we begin the Jack Web (crowd favorite)

  • Merkins and Air Presses

Get back into our 2 lines for an Indian Mosey to the Foot Ball Field.

Not sure what we call this, T Pain or Triple Nickel, but it was fun.

  • Cone 1 – 20 single count Ab exercises of your choice (LBC, Flutter, Heels to Heaven..)
  • Cone 2 – 10 Merkins
  • Cone 3 – 20 single count Ab exercises of your choice (LBC, Flutter, Heels to Heaven..)
  • Cone 2 again – 10 Merkins
  • Cone 4 – 20 single count Ab exercises of your choice (LBC, Flutter, Heels to Heaven..)
  • Cone 2 again!! – 10 Merkins
  • Back to Cone 1 to start a new round

3 Rounds in Total – Some guys started some American Hammers until the 6 came in. Thanks for that.

Get back into our 2 lines for an Indian Mosey to where we did the Jack Web.

  • Squats and Jabs this time (after all those Merkins, new crowd favorite)

Time to Mosey back, but let’s hit each light pole for a little something more.

  • 1st pole – 10 Speed Skaters
  • 2nd pole – 5 Burpees
  • 3rd pole – 10 Speed Skaters
  • 4th pole – 5 Burpees
  • You get the idea

Let’s Circle up now and do a few more exercises, since we’ve been having so much trouble with Counterama.

  • Low Slow Squat, Moroccan Night Club, American Hammers, and 5 more Merkins. (lost a lot of friends on that one) Mad Dog Threw in 20 more Heels to Heaven to get us to time.

MOLESKIN

This morning was a great time. I really wanted to get out of my comfort zone, and I hope I helped a few others accomplish that as well. Just when I thought the fun was about to end, we needed to meet and name our newest FNG. He did not disappoint. He came out the gates confident and fun. He was brought by Catfish and they are connected by some Deep South Family Marriage. Since Catfish brought him in, Mad Dog came with the name Noodler for Jeff Edwards. Jeff was so inspiring with his faith during his personal intro, he needed to be the one to take us out. Nailed It! Great Job Noodler.

When you have time, talk with Noodler. You can tell right away that he has a lot of great stories to share. Police Officer, Teacher, Football Coach. He’ll fit in great here.

150 Merkins today for those interested. Frack would have loved it.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

  • This Thursday October 10th, Dana will be heading over to Christ Closet at 5:30. Please join him and bring M and 2.0. Everyone is welcome to join in.
  • SFN is looking for some volunteers this weekend. Get with Rubbermaid for details.
  • Spartan is coming to our town April 4th-5th. No reason we can’t get a bunch of us messing around with this one. I’ve seen it, I’ve done it. There is not a single F3 Waxhaw member that couldn’t do this and have fun. Think

Preblast for Week 2 of MP-10

Swift will be leaving the new Ballantyne Corp launch point at 0515 on Tuesday for Round 2 of Marathon Pace-minus-10 (MP-10).

Here’s the plan:

  • 0445 – Early crew heads off for Warm-up and extra intervals
  • 0515 – MAIN PACK heads off from parking lot near Bagels+BrokenBones (aka OrthoCarolina Ballantyne) for a 10minute warm-up ending at Rushmore & Harney intersection. Will commence with 5 minutes of drills.
  • 0530 – everyone starts the next Interval of 10 minutes at Marathon-Pace-minus-10 (see notes at bottom for more on this pace), 3 minutes recovery on the Loop as follows: from Rushmore & Harney, head South on Rushmore, Left on Ballantyne Commons sidewalk, next Left on Ballantyne Corporate, Left into Bull Ring (aka Brixham Hill Ave) with a quick RIGHT onto the Bull Ring to ride it 3/4 of the way around, Right onto Rushmore. Map image will be posted to Slack #run channel.
  • 0540 – At End of Interval #1 – start 3 minutes recovery by regrouping using the OSPF principle – Open Shortest (and Safest) Path First – towards finishing the recovery at the Rushmore & Harney intersection. If you finished your interval on Rushmore, head back up towards the Bull Ring to pickup other PAX. If you finished your interval on the Bull Ring, cut through the parking lots over to Rushmore. If you finished on Ballantyne Corporate, cut back down Harney. The idea is to find a PAX to regroup with, catch your breath, and get in some 2nd F.
  • 0543 – Start Interval #2 for 10 minutes MP-10 from Rushmore & Harney. Recover 3:00 using same regroup ideas.
  • 0556 – Start Interval #3 for 10 minutes MP-10 from Rushmore & Harney.
  • 0606 – Finish the Work. Recover 3:00 until group is back at Rushmore & Harney.
  • 0609 – Option #1 – Continue recovery back to launch point
  • 0609 – Option #2 – More MP-10 for 6 minutes back to launch point
  • 0615 – COT with Bagpipe.

Notes on Marathon Pace minus 10:

These intervals will be run at “MP-10”. This means at your goal marathon pace, minus 10 seconds per mile. If your goal marathon pace is 8:00/mile then your goal pace for this workout would be 7:50 per mile.

Don’t have a goal marathon pace? Well then use this Race Calculator (click for link). Enter a recent race effort (Distance, Finishing Time), click Calculate, go to the Equivalent tab and look at Pace/Mi on the row for Marathon.

If you’ve been a Swift regular and recall Threshold Pace (aka T-pace, aka Comfortably Hard, aka Lactate Threshold), MP-10 ends up being slower than Threshold and somewhere near half the difference to Marathon goal pace.

Here are some other thoughts about the target effort for this MP-10 Strength workout, “So, usually through a combination of running too fast and not maximizing the recovery jog [during a Strength Workout], they get to the 3rd or 4th one and realize they’ve dug a hole they can’t get out of. Remember, Speed Work [which we are not doing this week] usually brings acute discomfort. It’s usually an eye opener from the get go. Strength workouts [that we are doing this week] should sneak up on you. The same effort for the last few should feel fairly hard compared to the first one or two. That’s when you’ve done it right- think slow cooker. You are slowly building that lactic feeling. Never fully recovering from the repeat prior and letting the discomfort slowly add to each successive repeat.“

We Ran, We Saw, We Conquered

PAX

Madison (Q), Gypsy, Christmas, Arena, Retread, Funky Cold, Full House, Box Truck, Turkey Leg, Cage

The Thang

Disclaimer given

Leave AO & turn left onto Trade St.  Follow Trade across new bridge & regroup on the other side.

YHC explained that the workout consisted of timed hill repeats until 6:05, and then we’d head back.

Run up the hill towards Squirrel Lake Park for 2 min and recover back down to the bridge.  Repeat until 6:05.

The Mole Skinny

8/10 Pax were thinking “Safety First” and wore reflective gear and/or headlamps. 

I’m sure somewhere on some obscure marathon training plan, it was either Hill Repeats or Timed Intervals Day. The guys who showed this AM are some of the toughest MF’ers out there.  There’s nothing we can throw at them that will knock them off their game.  We’ve tried The Board of Suck, tires, hill repeats, track intervals and even timed hill repeats.   

We should feel honored to be the first people in all of Matthews to travel across the “new” bridge on Pleasant Plains.  Just minutes after our workout ended, the barrels were moved and the “new” bridge was open to traffic.

I don’t know how many of the PAX listed above are training for Fall marathons (full or half), but they should be.  They are solid, strong & fast runners, and it was an honor to lead.

No tires were injured in the making of this workout

Announcements:

Let Them Soar 5K is Oct 12.  Speed for Need event.  Come support the race and make a Track Commander’s day.

Contact Gypsy to Q Sparta

Thanks to Slim Fast for taking us out.

Diesel Official Launch

View post on imgur.com

It’s official: Diesel is live and ready to pump you up. 8 PAX showed up ready to beast out, but first you gotta tell me your shirt size. That’s right, the official Diesel site has door prizes for the brave PAX who showed for our official launch and each lucky winner came away with a wifebeater sleeveless t-shirt the official uniform of Diesel.

DiCCS given and a quick warm-up with SSHs, Imperial Walkers, and some small, medium, and large arm circles then on to:

The Thang

Brutus and YHC (Your Humble Correspondent Chastain) invested weeks days about 30 minutes last night coming up with an evil intricate plan focused on building up that upper body with the following pain stations:

  • American Hammers
  • Tire Flips
  • Mike Tysons
  • Arnold Presses
  • Shoulder Presses
  • Ground Flys
  • Merkins
  • Lateral Raises
  • Moroccan Nightclubs with bricks
  • Heels to Heaven
  • Bear Crawl timer

Planning a gear workout is a bit different than your typical bootcamp style workout as you have to guesstimate how many people might show up so you have enough gear for everyone. With only 8 PAX on site we thought it’d be a good idea to take out a few stations to align with the number of PAX. Apparently we thought wrong. “Why would you do that?”, “I’ve never gotten to use the tire before!”, and “Don’t get rid of my very favorite exercise, the Mike Tyson!” were just a few of the shouts of anger/dismay. We’re so very proud of our little Diesel engines that could, so in they stayed, minus the Bear Crawl because we are benevolent Site Qs that both giveth and taketh away.

Moleskin:

All in all we got about 5 rounds of stations in with 60 seconds of pain in each. All PAX arrived as buff and manly men, but left a little more buff, a little more stalwart, and a little more manly. And probably a lot more sore.

Much appreciation to these 8 men for helping make the launch a success. A special shout out and many T Claps to Carb Load and Twinkle Toes for constructing the awesome shovel flag (complete with diesel truck on top) that you see in the picture at the top. Amazing work, guys!

We’re still learning and open to suggestions. If you’ve got ideas on how to make Diesel even better then reach out to Brutus or myself (Chastain) and give your feedback.

Cheers!

View post on imgur.com

Are you wearing your summer coat?

First time in years that YHC was first into the launch lot before any workout….think there was something in Q school about being first one there when Q’ing. Margo, dutiful & respectful site Q that he is, planted the shovel flag. The pax were disclaimed sort of…Mermaid not on hand to amend, rebut or remind but it was a veteran crew….so…. Nevertheless, all was well in the south Charlotte gloom…other than the putrid stench from the Pineville wastewater swamp emanating….hovering nose-level in the humid October air….or was that Bout Time’s emanations?

Anyhoo, off went 16 pax for another Friday morning downpainment at Centurion.

The Thang/Ye Olde Moleskine:

Run to top of Tartarus for COP consisting of 22 counts (let’s go Deacs!) of slow squat, h-r merkin, flutter, IW…maybe one other but can’t remember.

Brilleaux was yawning during COP…boredom or still waking up? Either way, his penalty was being partnered with YHC for the derkins…and dealing with the 50+ pound differential.

Run down stairs and over to practice field. Chelms was yelling from behind YHC that the practice field is locked. Drat. No real grass to be had for this bootcamp so we audibled over to the Hospice/Palliative Care parking lot for some partner work. Always feels a little strange in that lot…but even the Respect’s among the pax are a long way off from visiting that place during office hours.

Old school sit up’s with P2 in plank. Flapjack. x2 – 13 reps.

Partner derkins. Flapjack x2 – 13 reps.

Run next door to the little know south Charlotte natatorium for some paved hill work. P1 does Freddie Mercury while P2 bear crawls 1/2 way & lunge walks the other 1/2 then jogs back down. Flapjack. Then P1 does modified (regular plank rather than elbow plank) dancing Chilcutt’s while P2 does backwards bear crawl (crowd favorite) 1/2 way and backwards lunge walk the other 1/2. Run down. Flapjack.

Brushback was accused of cheating on this portion, which of course he was. Snuka (source for the backblast title) was not cheating but has to do 3 lunges for everyone of Brushback’s and other tall dude’s. I think it was Uncle Phil who noted that and said no wonder Snuka’s in such great shape as he does 3x the work. #oldmanstrong

At this point, the pax headed over to the rock valleys at the corner of Little & McMahan – we’ll call it LittleMac going forward. Each pax grabs a lifting rock. Some followed directions, some clearly did not. No matter, as YHC had us circled up and we rotated one rock to left for each exercise. We did thrusters, bicep curls (only when YHC had a really heavy rock) and tricep extensions…all x13, of course.

Passport took about 3 minutes to pick out a rock….if only he knew it wasn’t his to keep for long. Someone else was stumbling through the valley as well looking for the rock while increasing his odds of snakebite and/or fire ant attack. Please remember the disclaimer.

Now we ran back to campus and did some jump up’s x13 and dips x13 at the “Chepul Family Shrine”. Couldn’t find the brick with Chelms’ name on it, though.

Mosey back to launch lot for 5 1/2 minutes of Mary including slow flutter, American Hammer & 13 burpees OYO.

Finito.

  • So the title of the backblast stems from Snuka asking Chelms during his coat drive announcement – “what about summer coats?” WTH? The answer though, strangely enough, is “Yes: bring your summer coats, too. Said this Tuesday at Hawks Nest as well, but those of us in F3 have so much more than we need, you certainly have a coat or 4 that you could donate. This isn’t to elicit guilt – that’s a terrible motivator. Rather, it’s a call to recognize the abundance we have and share with others.
  • “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” Acts 20:35 (a dude named Paul talking to a bunch of church elders in a place called Ephesus)

Announcements:

West Blvd. Ministries Coat Drive at an AO near you in Area51. Bring coats – any size (adult/kids) – men’s, women’s, unisex…fill in some crazy identity label…whatever.

“The Question” – 3rd F every other Wednesday – this coming week at Middle James Brewing in Pineville (on Polk Street) from 5:30p to 6:30p. Wrestling with big questions of life, value, purpose. We have plenty of places to talk about news, weather, sports and politics (just check Chelms’ twitter feed for this); but most men have nowhere to go to talk about things of more depth and importance.

Q Source leadership material. check it it out. Good priniciples for leadership to employ in world starved for leaders…and you can apply them to your family, workplace and our community.

Thanks to Brushback for taking us out in prayer.

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