9 PAX for this week’s episode of The Big House, logging 2.5 miles and a few other exercises…
#Disclaimer
Yes. Very Brief (vet crowd)
#WarmUp
Mosey to Main Street and loop back around baseball field #1, circle up and run through the following exercises IC:
#TheThang
Station #1: 4-Corners Around Concrete Planters
Run a box always facing the football field (forward run, shuffle to the left, backward run, shuffle to the right) – stopping at each corner for the following exercises:
Various plank positions in between each round – no rest
Station #2: The Dugout
Grab a seat against against the dugout wall – get low enough so your fingertips touch the ground for a 20 second hold. From this seated position, it was explained that we will BearCrawl to the first planter, CrawlBear back to the Dugout wall and move right into a Balls-to-the-Wall position for another 20 second hold – this was repeated 4 times and it HURT.
Station #3: Planter Boxes
4 Exercises were given and 10 reps of each were requested – once complete, run a double leg suicide in the parking lot and plank for the six.
End with a brief set of Mary to catch our breath
Sub 15 minutes remaining: Divide into two lines and Burpee Indian-Run (last guy completes a Burpee and sprints to the front – repeat) the long lap around all of the baseball fields (2 laps here) – with speed.
Quick Mary rotation at launch and time is called.
Overall, we logged a few steps over 2.5 miles.
I used to have The Big House on my regular schedule and miss seeing a lot of these guys (splitting morning workout schedules with your wife isnt always easy!). But obviously a great AO and a better group of regulars here – Private Benjamin and D-Fire run a consistent AO with a loyal following – well done fellas and thanks for the invite!
As expected, Chunder was up front for most of the workout, and then chundered. Happy Meal was too far ahead of me so I didn’t catch much of him, but did hear a lot of complaining out of either him or Hops (probably Hops) on the Balls to The Wall exercises – grunting means you are trying harder. Tool Bag was my sleeper pick this morning as he was barefoot 5 minutes into the workout. Apparently peeing next a tree while standing in a ant hill requires you to dance around and amke weird noises while taking off your socks and shoes. Just when things were not looking great for his morning, he impressively ran the entire workout barefoot with minimal complaining – acorn covered sidewalks and all! ShrinkWrap was at a disadvantage given the fact he didnt wear his wrist guard for an injury that he’s been nursing for close to a year. But he did successfully modify an impressive 90% of the exercises into half lunges and pulsating merkins. SideCar has been putting in some solid Monday work – definitely a BH regular. Solid work this morning my man and looking forward to seeing you around SOB/A51 more and more. Chopper was our only respect this morning and much respect is deserved! Not only did he find us 5 minutes into the workout after a solo pre-run, but the man is a machine.
Thin Mint on Q next week! Should be an easy one…
#CountORama / #NameORama
9 PAX & zero FNG
Announcements:
– Tagalong
The 1st week is in the books. We have already seen a bunch of guys shed a whole lot of clothes weight resulting in some impressive week 1 numbers.
Commentary:
Below are the preliminary standings.
| Week 1 Standings | Total Loss | |||
| Name | Neighborhood | Lbs. | % | |
| 1 | Doughboy | Lawson | -18.5 | 6.6% |
| 2 | Fuse Box | Briarcrest | -14.5 | 5.7% |
| 3 | Zinfandel | Briarcrest | -14.0 | 5.5% |
| 4 | Breadbowl | Lawson | -6.4 | 4.4% |
| 5 | Dana | Briarcrest | -7.1 | 2.8% |
| 6 | Chicken Little | Briarcrest | -6.2 | 2.7% |
| 7 | Posse | Lawson | -4.6 | 2.0% |
| 8 | Maple syrup | Lawson | -3.6 | 1.6% |
| 9 | Southern Belle | Briarcrest | -2.7 | 1.4% |
| 10 | Run Flat | Chimneys | -3.4 | 1.4% |
| 11 | Wedding Singer | Millbridge | -3.6 | 1.3% |
| 12 | Jingles | Millbridge | -3.0 | 1.2% |
| 13 | Damascus | Wesley Oaks | -2.6 | 1.1% |
| 14 | Foundation | Lawson | -2.3 | 1.0% |
| 15 | Tupperware | Lawson | -2.0 | 1.0% |
| 16 | Schneider | Briarcrest | -0.3 | 0.1% |
| 17 | Rubbermaid | Lawson | 0 | 0.0% |
| 18 | Dancing Bear | Briarcrest | 0 | 0.0% |
| 19 | Eli | Briarcrest | 0 | 0.0% |
| 20 | Banjo | Briarcrest | 0 | 0.0% |
| 21 | Shop Dog | Lawson | 0 | 0.0% |
| 22 | Wrong Turn | 0 | 0.0% | |
| 23 | Shake & Bake | 0 | 0.0% | |
Truth be told, this is not a backblast in the purest sense, yet YHC hopes these words fulfill the intent of the ‘blast in conveying the actions, the emotions and the motivations of a merry few PAX. The following words share but one perspective of an event witnessed by hundreds of PAX from across the nation, yet the words in this heart need be shared, so here goes…
To provide full context of this past race weekend and the impact it had on YHC, we have to go back nearly 4 months. 2018 has been less than kind to YHC, especially in the 3rd quarter. Much of the travails would be non-sequitur and have more business in a 3rd F event than in these pages, yet suffice it to say I went into the weekend at emotional, spiritual, and physical low points. This year was supposed to be the year of the 3:30 marathon, the 1:30 half and the sub 30 BRR. 2018 was to be the year of personal and professional successes unmatched by prior pinnacles. YHC had decided to make this 18th year of the century an unprecedented confluence of prowess and success, yet the big man had different thoughts…
The dominoes began to fall ~6 months ago and have been falling ever since. Motivation has evaded me with mornings becoming chores left undone, then changes at the office resulting in long days and labors often going unnoticed. Ten weeks ago my right achilles tendon started plaguing me, tightening during runs and often hobbling me the day after. The following week the left calf started to misbehave as well. Mileage flagged, and motivation sunk even deeper. YHC told his team he couldn’t take on a Mtn. Goat position and stepped into the #2 spot… still high miles but without the extreme challenges presented by Grandfather and “The Nipple.” Then six weeks ago the hardest challenge I’ve ever had as a father and husband began, sleepless nights and emotional challenges abounded. As if all this wasn’t enough a chest cold set in 4 weeks back which has yet to abate. More than once I considered dropping from the team, giving in to the pile of troubles… yet for some reason I didn’t.
Entering this weekend I was undertrained, under the weather, and wholly depleted of spirit. Yet I arrived ready to bring what I could to the mountains, a gasp of defiance daring the world to keep me down. I was joined by eight men of indomitable spirits and questionable decision making. Together we would take on the highways and byways of southern Virginia and western North Carolina with the long standing bogey of a sub 30 hour BRR in our sights. In the back of my mind I knew how much of a challenge that would be, even if I ran the race of my life… for that is one hell of an achievement (talking to you Minions, great job!). Yet we believed if we willed it, we could rise to the challenge and so we set forth.
Over the next day and a half I watched those men stretch themselves mentally in physically in an event designed to break you. The lack of sleep, the exhausted muscles, the questionable nutrition and many other factors which strain the mind and body were same as ever, but for YHC something was different. I began to realize the support, the camaraderie, and the common belief that spirit and brotherhood can overcome the worst of obstacles was filling a void in my soul. Where there was heartache and suffering before, the shield lock of my team and the drive to defeat the mountains together where a healing salve on so many open wounds.
This weekend I had genuine laughter (both with and at the expense of myself and my team mates). In the middle of the night I had conversations of deep moral standing, and insignificant banter. In the heat and the bugs I experience solidarity and profound peace. I didn’t realize how depleted I was, until I wrung myself out upon that course and was replenished by the strength of others.
At the end of it all, we came in to Asheville at 31 hours, almost to the minute. We missed our target again, but at least for YHC, the completion of the task was a profound victory. I am so grateful for my brothers from both this year’s Up ‘N Over squad and the years before. I cannot say how moved I am writing these words, how appreciative I am for their love and support. As I wipe some dust out of the corner of my eye, I swear thats what it is, I am humbled by their acceptance and by the opportunity I’ve had to be part of this team.
For the PAX who swear they’ll never run, YHC encourages you to consider my story. Its not about the miles, or the hills, or the vans or the pancakes. Its about what each man brings into the weekend, and the wealth which can be brought away. The Blue Ridge Relay is what F3 is all about. Its about strength, its about community, its about fellowship and the faith in each other and something which is beyond all of us. This is why we post, this is why we labor, this is why we CSAUP and this is why we are all F3rd.
To the start Gentlemen, See You In The Gloom…
6 veterans and 1 FNG (Jimmy Dean, more on that later) showed up to RockZero to test their themselves on this seasonably warm September morning. Here’s is what happened between 7AM – 8AM.
The Thing:
Slow mosey over to Rea Rd library and circle up for IW, arm circles and plank jacks.
Next, we jogged to Davie Park for the main event….Two lampposts forward, one lamppost back. Run forward to the second lamppost and do called exercise (10 merkins). Once complete, run backward one lamppost and perform the called exercise (20 parker peters). Repeat pattern until no further lamppost remain. Next we knocked out three quick sets of dips and step ups, 20 each. Following this, we repeated two lampposts forward and one lamppost back with 5 double merkin burpees and 10 (each side) cumberland county viaducts. At this point YHC was fading so we grabbed some wall until the Pax successfully stated the ABC’s both forward and backwards (harder than it sounds). With 15 minutes remaining it was time to head back to RockZero with stops along the way for some core work and a few sprints.
Moleskin:
Pax pushed themselves hard this morning, and the FNG held his own as well. And speaking of the FNG, he was 8. Jimmy Dean is Boerwors’ son, so we thought it best to keep the ‘sausage’ theme in the family. Welcome Jimmy Dean. We covered just about 4 miles as everyone kept moving at a brisk pace. Great work by all and thanks to Sprockets for taking us out.
Got to the school after a brief detour at @HighTideNC ’s house to load up on KBs, and unloaded in back. Had just enough time to trot back to the parking lot to round up the Pax before we got going.
Theme for the day (inspired by Grandpa Jacks) is
Head, shoulders, knees and toes.
Warm up
Lug your bell to the back of the school and oval up for:
IW 10 In Cadence (IC)
Peter Parker 10IC
Grandpa Jacks 10IC
Parker Peter 10IC
Happy-appy (Sideways IW) 10IC
Merkins 10IC
Mosey to pile of bells and load to playground for the main Thang. Review list of activities and let the fun begin: (go in the order you want, repeat if finished early)
Head: 30 head raises on each: front, back, left, right
Shoulders: 20@50% max then 10@75% max OR 5-10@90%max to failure
Shrugs
Single-arm press
Overhead press
Upright row
Lawn mower
Face-down fly
Triceps extension
2X Knees: 20@50% max then 10@75% max OR <10@90%max to failure
KB swing
KB Squat
KB Lunge
2X Toes: Calf raises 20 together then 10 each foot solo
Eyes+Ears+Mouth+Nose = Chin-up 5X5X5 – up, hold 5. Decent 5 count. Repeat 5X
6 Minutes of Mary
Flutter -15IC
Bicycle -15IC
Dolly -15IC
American Hammer -15IC
LBC -20IC
Plank Wave (lost count)
Mosey back to parking lot for COT
Announcements:
Prayer Request for Cooter’s name-twin.
Moleskin
Hope y’all got your money’s worth. We managed to get a 60-minute workout into about 55 minutes. Dang! That’s strong!! Guess this is the regular Olympus group, because there was nothing Moderate (#F3Ascent) about it.
YHC was relieved to see that all the metal wasn’t going to be going to waste, and happy to see that most of the guys had brought a bell or two (or 3, Kostanza #overachiever)
Due to technical glitch (read “user error”), I didn’t capture all PAX names as intended, so please comment with who I missed or if I gave credit to someone who wasn’t actually there. I know there were 8 of us.
Mall Cop was War Baby
Cooter earned the most respect as War Daddy
Thanks for following along with the suggestions, guys. Have a great weekend!
-SM
AYE. As I ran up Ardrey Kell with Waverly in sight, deep in the pre-dawn Gloom, I was thinking about how much it would suck to be the only person at WAMRAP again. I didn’t mind it once. It was kind of annoying the second time. And the third time would probably cause me to throw in the towel. But, fortunately, that was not to be. As I was holding the plank position at exactly 5:30, Joker rolled up and just about ran over me. A few seconds later, Marlin pulled in. We had a quorum.
THE THANG
I’ve been asked many times about what WAMRAP is and how it works, so I’m going to take this opportunity to explain it – because it is ridiculously simple. 5 minutes of warm up. 5 minutes to commute and explain the workout. 30 minutes of As Many Rounds as Possible (AMRAP) on a specified circuit. 5 minutes to commute back to the launch site and cool down. That’s it, fellas. The Wednesday AMRAP = WAMRAP. Here’s what we did last Wednesday:
Warm up : 5 minutes of Plank
Commute : To the little traffic circle just south of the apartment complex
AMRAP : Run to the end of each road and back to the circle. +1 burpee each time you touch the circle. 25 Exploding Merkins at the end of road 1, 25 Jump Squats at the end of road 2, 25 Heels to Heaven at the end of road 3, 25 Freddie Mercurites at the end of road 4. All completed 3 full cycles = 78 total Burpees and 75 of each exercise
Cool down : Head back to launch, knock out the last 22 Burpees and Plank until the clock runs out.
WHY AMRAP
When I first started posting at F3 back in 2011, most workouts were predominately circuit-driven, AMRAP workouts. Why? Because AMRAP has two extremely attractive advantages that align with the F3 mantra. First, they are you-against-you. Second, they leave no man behind. The fittest guys in F3 Nation can smoke their own asses at an AMRAP workout right next to an FNG who hasn’t exercised in 5 years. We all give 30 strong minutes of everything we can give. Fit guys do 5 circuits and the FNG does 3. But all are #smoked and all end at 6:10AM.
That’s all I got. I hope this clears up what WAMRAP is and why you should post. I’m not trying to take away anything from the other Wednesday workouts, particularly the one where I used to be a Site Q, but there needs to be an AMRAP option at least once a week for the A Listers and the Clydesdales alike. Hence, the WAMRAP.
See you in the Gloom.
7 men skipped the BRR so they could kick ass at the The Brave.
Thang
Mosey 1.2 miles to the Rougemont neighborhood off of Endhaven.
Start at intersection of Rougemont and Endhaven. Run down hill to Rougemont and Joliette (0.2 mi). 10 burpees, then back to the start for 10 burpees. 2 rounds total. Mary for the 6.
Mosey East on Endhaven to Orchid Hill neighborhool. Start at intersection of Orchid Hill and Red Maple. Run down hill to Red Maple and Golden leaf (0.1 mi) 10 burpees, then back to the start for 10 burpees. 3 rounds total. Mary for the 6.
Mosey to new parking deck near Endhaven and Comm House. Run up stairs to top level and back down.
Mosey back to launch for 6 minutes of mary:
Molelsine
This was a sweaty affair. YHC got the prize for the biggest puddles. We had a strong group out there and moved around pretty quickly. Enron led the way on the hill work but the rest of the team wasn’t far behind. All in all we covered 4.5 miles with some serious hills and got in 100 burpees and lots of core work.
Congrats Cheddar! And good luck to all the BRR teams out there.
We welcomed back the return of Impromptu’s Monthly AMRAP challenge after a long summer hiatus. A new but similar designed course awaited the PAX, and judging by the 24 PAX that showed up, they were eager to test themselves and take their shot at the best of what Cuthbertson MS has to offer. After a quick lap around the course to explain the exercises, off we went.
The Thang:
AMRAP challenge. Consists of a .5 mile lap with 7 exercise stations along the route. 30 minutes to complete as many laps as possible. Stations included in the chart. 20 of each exercise (burpees were based on the # of laps completed). Results are included to track monthly progress. Example: 4.2 means 4 laps, plus completion of Bear Crawl
|
PAX |
Sept |
Stations |
|
|
Halfback |
5.0 |
1 |
Derkins |
|
Stub Hub |
4.2 |
2 |
Bear Crawl |
|
Easy Button |
4.0 |
3 |
Dips |
|
Moneyball |
4.0 |
4 |
Donkey Kicks |
|
Recalculating |
4.0 |
5 |
Rock Run |
|
Breadbowl |
3.0 |
6 |
Jump Squats |
|
Banjo |
4.0 |
7 |
Burpees |
|
Bottlecap |
3.5* |
||
|
Dancing Bear |
4.0 |
||
|
Damascus |
4.0 |
||
|
Zinfandel |
3.1 |
||
|
Dana |
3.1 |
||
|
Southern Belle |
4.0 |
||
|
Fusebox |
3.5 |
||
|
Posse |
3.4 |
||
|
Maddog |
4.0 |
||
|
Rockwell |
3.5 |
||
|
Jingles |
3.5 |
||
|
Joy |
3.4 |
||
|
Foley |
3.4 |
||
|
Doughboy |
3.5 |
||
|
Wedding Singer |
3.0 |
||
|
Hollywood |
4.5 |
||
Moleskin:
Everyone was working really hard. Good job as always. Unfortunately, the way too long Bear Crawl section will need to stay so we are all stuck with that part of the course. Until next month…
Announcements:
Open Door—-Sundays at Five Stones Church office 7-8am, Acts Ch. 10-11 this week
Dancing Bear and his 2.0 are starting a non-profit charity to assist the homeless/those in need–Please bring any unused travel soaps/shampoos/toiletries for drop off and he will be distributing to local shelters.
Commitment- **New location** Saturdays 6:30-7:30am–Now Meeting at Nesbit Park near Kensington Elementary, NOT Weddington HS.
Watchtower- **New Location** Tuesdays 5:30-6:15am–Now Meeting at Target/Brooklyn Pizza in Wesley Chapel, NOT Weddington HS.
Ignition-Beginning Monday 9/10 5:15-6:15am, Cuthbertson Middle
It was another humid day in September. The original plan was spend the whole workout at the parking deck, but plans were changed because of the high humidity, lack of air circulation and the need for fresh air so we went off campus.
The Thang
Mosey to end of stadium
• 15 Mountain Climbers (IC) Hold it.
• 15 Peter Parkers (IC) Hold it.
• 15 Man Maker Merkins
Mosey to back of Lowes
• Wall Sits with 60 Air Presses
• 20 Donkey Kicks
Mosey to Stairs by Bonchon at McMullen Creek Market and partner up
• Set 1: Each Partner Runs stairs and around upper courtyard X 3, Incline push-ups, Decline push-ups, Dips.
• Set 2: Repeat stair routine X 3, Squats, Step-ups, Lunges
• Set 3: Repeat Stair routine X 3, P2: Heels to Heaven, Bicycles, Flutter
Mosey to Back of Lowes again
• Wall Sit with 60 Air Presses
• 20 Donkey Kicks
Mosey to top left of parking deck going up the 3 flights of stairs
• Wall Sits with 60 Air Presses (IC)
• 10 Broad Jump Burpees
• 15 Jump Squats
• 20 LBCs (IC)
• 10 Burpees
• 15 Squats
• 20 Rosalitas (IC)
Mosey back to start
Naked Moleskin
Small crowd this AM – probably a combination of BRR, lack of marketing, and the comforts of the fartsack. Regardless, everyone who showed up worked hard as YHC tried to keep mileage down as part of the AO requirements. YHC is obviously missing out on the Korean BBQ at Bonchon which was a hot topic among the Pax because it was right beside the stair work. The Burpees at the end of the workout seemed to be crowd pleasers. YHC workouts have been very sporadic so it was wonderful to get out in the gloom with the Pax despite the humidity.