Hush your Rooster

Hush your Rooster

10 Men and one aggressively loud rooster posted for The Matrix this week. There was a lot of smack talk out there, but the cock was the loudest. He’d be dinner if that was my neighborhood. Mmmm, chicken mini’s.

Anyways – we moseyed, circled, COP’ed per usual. Slow merkins for good form aka “Squid’s normal pace and form.” IW’s, SSH, other stuff.

5 Pull-ups here. 30 LBC’s there. 5 times.

Go to rocks. Grab a partner and a large rock. Something that would impress a date if you were a caveman. The men did good today, no pebbles chosen.

Line up on field for P1 run with 3 burpees. P2 Lift. Flapjack. Did OH Press, Bench Press, Good Morning, Tea Bags, Curls etc. Then hold rock overhead while partner runs. Finally haul ass around field with partner and rock and drop it back where it started.

Some ab work by committee. And by committee I mean McGee and Squid.

Done.

Good to see No Regerts back out. It’s been a while. I’m pretty sure he spent the time off as an extra on Duck Dynasty. Solid beard game. McGee showed up on two wheels and squeaky brakes. Despite the wide open parking deck he crammed his way into a spot not meant for a bicycle. After he hoped out through the back hatch, we were good to go. Squid may have the strongest core in South Charlotte but his good form makes him a tough partner on the cumulative rep partner work. He’s slow and steady while the rest of us look like rabbits in heat.

F3 Dad’s is rolling at Beatty Park Saturday’s at 9am. Reach out to Lex Luthor for details.

Thanks to Squid for the takout

-Alf

Victoria

Lois, Tulip, Funky Cole, Stone Cold, Bush, Arena

Disclaimer

Funky Cole asked for music and it ticked me off….

SSH x 20

EW x 20

Partner up for farmer carry with a 10 merkin chaser to the front of the church [short way].  

And there was the music:

Song 1:  SALLY to Merkins

Song 2:  SALLY to Louganis

Song 3:  SALLY to Goblet Squat

Funky Cole didn’t want any more music J

Suicides to berm1, berm 2, berm 3, and then road…. Every time you came back to the start you completed called exercise

Suicide 1: 25 x LBCs

Suicide 2: 25 x Swings

Suicide 3: 10 x Rows (each arm)

Suicide 4: 10 x Curls

And then there was music:

Song 1:  Roxane to Merkinds

Song 2:  Roxane to Atomic Burps

Mosey back to launch.

That’s a wrap.

Funky Cole brought an FNG. A minister type. J  Welcome Victoria {Olesteen}

Let’s get it started

If you read the preblast you were prepared and if you didn’t then shame on you.

We started with the outline of the plan for the month. A strong encouragement was given to put on a reflective vest and head lamp all month since we will running on the roads. Some obliged but most did not. A strong disclaimer was given since there were so many delinquents. Side note, almost all of us have a reflective vest and head lamp so please put it on.

We headed over to N. Community House via Ballantyne Hotel. Dodge a few cars since we did not get the pedestrian light, we did press it. Do the standard twinkle toes, butt kickers, high knees and Frankensteins to warm up.

Instructions were given again that we are running 1200m down N. Community House to almost the corner of Elm and N. Community House at your 10k pace. The goal was to do four total and leave by 6:05 to get home. I would say that this was accomplished by all on the first part and there were a few that took a wrong turn coming home that were late.

Great effort by the whole group. We had perfect weather considering how hot it has been. Valderama and Gold Digger were leading the charge with Citgo on their heels. Not sure if that was their 10k pace because it would crush their stated finish time goal. Everyone else followed in line and pushed it hard.

Great to see Frehley’s out to Swift again. The Crane Relay has inspired him to become a runner.

The plan for next week is one mile race pace at your 10k pace. Running up and down Ballantyne Corporate Pl. This will be the site of some of the actual 10k race so it will be good practice. Citgo is leading next week since I will be away on vacation. I will do the work out though at the beach.

Here are everyone’s goals for the race. Vodoo 48:00, Atlas 48:00, Benny 48:00, Udder 48:00, Taco Stand 50:00, Madame 52:00, Frehley’s 52:00, Jello 53:00, Cobbler 61:20, Cheddar 45:00, Madison 45:00, Gypsy 45:03, Flipper 46:00, Das Boot 46:00, Rock Thrill 46:30, Gumbo 42:00, Bunker 42:00, Woodson 41:00, Polly 39:39, Hairball 39:39, Tua 39:59, Brat 38:59, Citgo 37:49, Frasier 37:00, Gold Digger 37:00, Valderama 36:59

There is plenty of opportunity to run together over the next three weeks depending on your pace. It is easier to run as a group than try to do it on your own.

If I missed anyone let me know your time so I can put it down.

Down Up Down Up Down Up

SUMMARY

  • Bunch of schweatty pale colored fellers, (mostly) followed a yeller-feller at 0515 at Fast Twitch. It was so awesome. YHC didn’t write the names down, but you know who you are.

THANG

  • 0515 and it’s Go Time!
  • AYG from Charlotte Latin launch to Berkeley. R on Alexa, all the way to the bottom of the hill (~1.5miles), L on Oak Pond Circle, and immediate L up Derry Hill Pl.
  • AMRAP that .2mi newly-named hill segment (50ft of elevation change) from crack in the road at the bottom to the curb at the top.
  • Head back to launch at 0600, getting bak later than 0615 invalidates your stats.
  • 35 Merkin ladder since we got back early (5 reg / 5 wide / 5 diamond / 5 offset right / 5 offset left / 5 R leg high / L leg high)
  • FINITO!

MOLESKINE

Well, you know it’s bad when you have to switch Q dates with Benny, that’s a 25 minute conversation for a 10 second ask. Threw out my back a few weeks ago, and have had some trouble getting limber enough to un-fartsack. Mr. Brady also threw out his back, but he’s turning 60, and he’s been used to letdown for some time #libido. Would have liked a more creative workout, but concerns over keeping up with the PAX were real. So we did some hill training, to totally hurt whoever ran Horsey yesterday, and to help all zero people training for BRR get some elevation work in… YHC had 860ft elevation over 11 laps. Hey, we could have ran around the track like a bunch of drunks at Swift over and over…. oh wait, that’s the beer mile Friday.

So we ran a hill AMRAP in Berkeley and tried not get lost, as Purple-Fletch mentioned always happens. Maybe it’s because home-boy took off with Astro for a little bonding detour before hitting the main event.

Rosie lapped me at least twice, before he got bored and showed off his Goodwill shorts and 6 goatee hairs to the neighbors. He still crushed all of us, and so this segment, Derry Hill Place, shall be known as “The Rosie OD” from now on. Why? just wanted a honorable name with the word Rosie in it for the champ… nevermind that it’s short, wide, nothing pretty to look at, makes you want to throw up, and to get there you need to go down on Alexa.

Gummy probably didn’t register any Strava segments this morning for stopping at the manhole cover each time. Hope that teaches you a lesson for not running 2.6feet further.

Oh, and paintball is cancelled #shocker . It will be rescheduled later on, so it can be cancelled once again due to lack of interest. Want to not sign-up again? Talk to Poptart.

So, if we ever do this again. you can try to beat the # of repeats you got today… or not. The record stands at 14 I think? Whatever Rosie did and what Alf didn’t. Tolkien Out.

YHC would say thanks for allowing me to lead, but that would be untrue. No-one else wanted the Q and Purell was freezing breast milk at home. Tolkien out.

TAP

  • On a serious note please keep Goonie, his sister, her baby and the whole family in your prayers, and even speak a minute to reach out to him to let him know you’re thinking about them. They are dealing with a tough medical situation at the moment.

#WHOPUSHESWHO ~ Tolkien

Let’s Get It Started

25-ish men were greeted with an awesome 65 degree morning to get the week started. YHC was coming off of a really impressive single-post week, so I really felt like I needed to kick it in right away and remind myself why it matters to keep getting up early and trekking out to the gloom to get beat down with you guys. I was greeted by a good sized crowd that kept growing right up until we started. 5:28 – good time for a quick DiCCs….and we’re off!

Warm-up:

  • Mosey to front of schoo; & Circle up
  • Potato pickers x10
  • Calf stretch
  • Mountain climbers x20
  • Merkins x15
  • Moroccan Night Club x20
  • SSH x 30

The Thang:

  • Mosey to start of path
  • Burpee Mile – 5 burpees at each end and in middle (down to transporter’s shed and back twice)
  • 1 trip down path – 5 squat jumps at every other light
  • Grab some wall
  • While in seated hold
    • Jabs x20
    • Air press x20
    • Jabs Air Press x15
    • Jabs x15
  • Mosey to tables – 30 dips together
  • Mosey over to alcove
  • Mike Webbs (Tyson’s 1-10/LBCs 4-40)
  • Mosey back to start
  • Get into groups of 3 for sprint races.
  • 5 sprints each person – Partners at each end do MC and Plank Jacks
  • Plank and 6″ for the last minunte
  • TIME!

Mole Skin:

Keeping my breath while counting this morning was a real struggle. Going in I really wanted to do as much in cadence as we could…but that was harder than I gave it credit for..bad idea. Speaking of bad ideas, I don’t think the Burpee mile to kick-start the week was everyone’s favorite…but I did see everyone busting their asses regardless. DW was right near the front of the pack, even with the 20lb vest, but even his drive was not match for youth, with a couple of the youngest PAX of the day way out in front.

This was by far the largest group I’ve had the opportunity to lead to date, and I hope I didn’t let the group down. From the look of Dancing Bear’s translucent shirt after the work out…I don’t think that was the case. Thanks for busting tail with me this morning guys.

Announcements:

  • Watchtower moving to New Town Elementary Tomorrow – Bottle Cap on Q
  • Rockwell Taking Q at The Arsenal in Indian Land this Thursday
  • Fixing it For Christ – June 19-22: Waxhaw UMC Looking for volunteers – Jingles has more details
  • Christ’s Closet: Friday June 7th load up at 6pm
  • 2nd F Opp – Jammin on the Trax @ 7pm. Kid and M friendly. Going away send-off for Moneyball

Bottle cap took up out.

What did he just call?

Pull up to the AO and many eager 13 PAX waiting on the plan of the day. A few wondering if there would be slosh tubes or sand pipes…not today. The plan was simple (sort of) and based on a workout that Thin Mint Q’d months ago. It killed me then, so with a few modifications, lets move.

The Thang

Head to the start line which is the backside of the 1st building. The first round we will stick together and then release the Dogs (Fraiser / Thin Mint) and the rest will try to keep up.

Stop at each of the outdoor pavilions 4 total and short runs in-between

Dips x25

Incline/ Decline merkins (alternate at each stop) x10

Jump ups / Step ups as the wall got taller x15

Run to the Deck – 10 burpees prior to entering

Run to the bottom floor

LBC’s x25

Run the stairs to the top deck

LBC’s x25

Backward’s run to the end

Bear crawl to the end

Backwards to the end

LBC’s x25 before you go down the stairs

LBC’s 25 at the bottom

Run out of the deck to the access road

At the access road, there are 4 pedestrian walkways and 2 speed bumps

Alternating merkins at each (standard, wide and diamond) x10

***REPTO*** until 06:15 back at launch

Thank you Fire Hazard for taking us out

Ye Old Mole Skinny

  • Thank you Mario for asking me to pick up the Q. I had to bargain with the M as she comes off IR, but always a solid crew
  • For many of you regulars at this site, this is a Backblast , it often follows a workout. This is a rare sighting for the regulars (avg 1 per month)
  • Thank you all for interpreting my demonstrations of each exercise vs what I was calling them….I am not awake mentally at this hour. I prefer to follow the Q and talk smack.
  • As I said, hat tip to Thin Mint for this one. Not a complete rip off, but similar route. It was REALLY hard then and still was REALLY hard
  • Each loop had 100 merkins / 100 dips / 100 LBC’s /60 jump or step ups and covered 1 mile
  • I think Fraiser was actually getting close to finishing round 3- Great Job
  • Lots of smack talk early on- Fire Hazard/ MT/ Fraleys/ Teddy and others- Do we need gloves; How are we going to remember this; the workout is almost over; that is one long loop; we can’t go in the deck; should we come in/go out a different level? At the end of the day, all questions were answered with huffing and puffing. Once we let the dogs go, I am not sure what other comments were said
  • I promptly took up the 6 on Friday. I choose this workout because it challenged me so bad last time. All of the up and down (blood flow) really messed with me and is exhausting. I realized I needed more of this after I completed the Savage Race. After all, this is (or was) supposed to be an OCR training workout
  • I was truly SMOKED after this on and rumor has it a few others were too (War Eagle- your M told mine at Fia). I hope you all felt it.

HR Zone 5

Do what you can with what you have

Teddy Roosevelt

Do what you can with what you have, unless you’re in the bathtub

Bill Watterson

I hate you.

Benny

Is this a running workout?

Gypsy

I read every backblast and I am even more confused about this site.

Maybe

I have no idea why I am here.

Prohibition

No.

Hairball (after the Q mentioned some optional exercises between the intervals)

I didn’t get to bed until 7:30PM, last night. This should be a 45min workout.

Chelms aka George Burns

9 went against their better judgement and posted at the season-opener of HorseyMcHorseArse, the workout that can only be underperformed by its name.

THANG:

Run to the lighted flagpost, give instructions (so Hairball doesn’t have to wait on the rest of us), and then take the long loop as a warmup.

After that, 3 out and back loops from the flag – repeato till 6:10. 15 merkins/15LBCs after each loop (optional)

  • Chester
  • Manhole
  • Top o’ the Mount

Run back

4.5-7.5 miles of badness, depending on speed and hand cleanliness.

SKIN:

I suppose the BRR may be headed the way of the Mud Run. Anyways, I still think that a weekly dose of horrible hills does the body good so we’ll keep Horsey going for another season and see what happens.

Missing a lot of the regulars from years past today. Perhaps the perfect 65deg conditions were too inviting. Don’t worry, 90% humidity will be upon us soon and this thing will get even better.

Hairball was pawing his foot during instructions and took off like the 3rd monkey in line for the ark as soon as we lifted the gate. He said something about “Adam” holding him back and not letting him run without a shirt. “Smothered” That was all I got before he faded away. Strava maps do show a strange entrance into the wooded area, so perhaps he was abducted by aliens and this was not the real Hairball talking.

Maybe seemed confused about a few things, which is not surprising given his confession of reading every single McHorse backblast for the past 3 years. We tried to get Chester to peek for him, but there were no confirmed sightings. We did smell a wisp of Pall Mall aroma and saw some lights turn on, so there is hope. Keep hope alive.

Benny seemed to be enjoying himself and took option C between the intervals, which was to roll around on the pavement and talk to the flagpole. I think they forged a friendship, but I’m not sure how deep it goes.

During the trip up to the Top O’ the Mount, my HR monitor turned purple and started flashing wildly something about Zone 5. I think that means that I reached a new fitness level and can enter some warp zones now. I’m hitting the pipes and going 1-2 to 4-2 to 8-1 next time.

My post-workout tweet was “liked” by somebody in Chester, England. With Chelms at the workout and Trump allegedly at Buckingham Palace today I’m thinking that there is some sort of connection here that may involve the Mona Lisa and the Resolute Desks (although I heard the 2nd one wasn’t in the palace anymore). Still digging here.

Hairball on Q next week. Gonna be easy.

Until next time – Horsehead

P.S. If you want to run a 5K race on any day of the week this summer, Gypsy can hook you up.

June Swift Preblast

Following up on the hills of Bratwurst and Citgo is hard. They have done a great job laying down the structure to build towards a timed event. This month will be no different in that it will culminate with a timed event that will take place on the last Tuesday of the month, June 25th.

This month we are going to be training for a 10K. There are a couple of events around the corner and a 10k is a good measure for fitness and durability. It is also not too long that we cannot complete one in under an hour after we have trained for the month.

We will be running the course through the Cooperate Park so that is where we will spend the majority of time training. This will allow for us to encourage one another along the route.

It is important that we test ourselves from time to time and not become complacent. Many of us have been doing F3 for many years and it is nature to become complacent. Swift is one place, thanks to Brat, we can push ourselves to find our limits. Expect to work hard and to be in pain. That lets you know you are finding the limit on that day. We routinely get over 20 out to Swift now so I expect no one to not show up for the race on June 25th unless you are out of town.

Calculate your 10k pace here. Basically take a minute off of your One mile race pace that we did back in April. This is your goal.
https://runsmartproject.com/calculator/?utm_source=VDOT%20website%20link&utm_medium=website&utm_content=VDOTO2%20Homepage&utm_campaign=VDOT%20website

The structure will be the same that you have come to expect. We will roll out at 5:15 to do a warm up mileish and then some drills to get the muscles primed.

First week, 6/4 we will head over to N. Community House rd to do 1200m at 10k pace. Rest two minutes and then get back after it. You should be able to get at least four in. Head back at 6:05 to get in on time. We will all take the Ballantyne Resort route to get there. Optional route on the way home depending on your time.

Second week, 6/11 we will do one mile repeats at 10k pace. We will run those along Ballantyne Cooperate Pl going from the Premier deck area to the corner of Ballantyne Cooperate Pl and Harney Dr just past the Bulls. Rest three minutes in between. Try to get four in.

Third week, 6/18 we will do Yasso 800 at 10k pace with the hope of squeezing in 8-10 depending on our time at the Bull Ring. 400m recovery.

Fourth week, 6/25 Race Week. Start a little earlier to get our warm up and stretching in. Start at 5:00 for 5:15 race start.

We will start off tomorrow taking down everyone’s 10k goal so think about it for the next twenty hours or so.

Results are in: Chicken is still better than bagels

17 men defied the Saturday morning urge to fart sack and were rewarded with a near perfect morning for a Blakney beatdown.

Quick disclaimer and a mosey over to the Best Buy parking lot for a short and sweet warm-up:

15 Imperial walkers

1, 2, 3, 4, then 5 burpees separated by 5 SSH between each

Noticed a few beads of sweat starting as we made our way across Rea Rd to the Blakney fountain for some partner fun:

Partner 1 ran across the parking lot and completed 5 Mike Tyson’s while partner 2 was working on group exercises consisting of

100 squats

100 step-ups

100 dips

100 merkins

100 heels to heaven

Mosey to the back of the parking lot for 10 wall jump ups to break up the jog to the what I’m now calling Goose Crap Pond. After sourcing a solid lifting rock and dodging the copious amount of goose droppings, we proceeded to knock out 20 curls, 20 overhead presses, 20 tricep extensions following by a lunge walk across the bridge and back. Completed the circuit 3 times before making our way back to Blakney

A final round of 11’s rounded off our hour and a light mosey across Rea rd to be rewarded with a hot Chick-Fil-A biscuit. The polls came back, the consensus is clear: chicken and biscuits make for a better post-work out meal than bagels.

Preblast: M*A*S*H Launches Tomorrow!

Whether you have a hang-nail or are recovering from major surgery, M*A*S*H is here for you! This is an IR structured workout for dudes who want to bath in some good ole 2nd F while stretching the legs. The satisfaction you can get from waking up and starting your day in the gloom is back, even though your entire body may not be! See you tomorrow at 5:30 at South Charlotte Middle School (Base Camp AO)! Aye!

Hopper