4 Spartans come across 15 Meatheads (A Spartan 5×5 and 4 AOs)
E ala ‘oe!! e holo ana nā kānaka
Sparta has to be one of the easiest AOs to Q of all the ones YHC has been given the opportunity to lead. The rules are easy.. WAKE UP!! Go run as hard as you can and add in some quick exercises along the way to ensure the PAX is staying together and/or catching your breath. The hardest part is making sure you don’t run further away from the AO than you can make it back in the 60 mins. Good rule of thumb is cover 60% of your distance on the 1st 30 mins and 40% of your distance on the 2nd. Today’s Spartan beat down was a classic 5×5. Meaning we will cover 5 miles and add in 5 pain stations along the way. This break down helps the non-runners like YHC from getting so bored that you start wondering why you started running in the 1st place. Personally I would rather watch paint dry than go run more than 5 miles non-stop.
The Thang:
Start AO: Sparta Launch
- Turn right onto South Trade Street (.07 miles)
- Turn right onto Fullwood Lane (.57 miles)
- Turn right into Covenant day (1.25 miles)
- 1st Exercise: 15 Hand release Merkins (OYO)
- 2nd Exercise: 15 Low Slow Squat (IC)
- 3rd Exercise: 15 Bonnie Blair (Sister Mary Catherine) OYO
- Mosey back to Fullwood Lane
- Turn left onto Matthews Township Parkway, NC 51 (1.6 miles)
- Turn into Cross and Crown Church parking lot (2.0 miles)
- 1st exercise: 20 each leg calf raises (OYO)
- 2nd exercise: 25 WW2 sit-ups
- Mosey back to NC 51
- Turn left onto Elizabeth Lane (2.64 miles)
- Turn Left into AO: Meathead (3.0 miles)
- 1st Exercise: People’s chair for 50 air presses OYO
- 2nd Exercise: 15 Hand-release Derkins
- Fly-by the Meathead crew (making sure Horsehead was where he said he would be) that was standing around in a circle… when Voodoo said 0.0 I thought he meant no running, but what we Spartans saw was 0.0 was actually F2 fellowship standing in big circle like a 45 minute COT. 🙂
- Turn Right onto Elizabeth Lane (3.2 miles)
- Turn Right onto NC 51 (3.3 miles)
- Stop across the street from Cross and Crown Church (3.5 miles)
- 1st Exercise: 40 Reverse crunch
- Turn right onto Covenant Church Lane (4.3 miles)
- Turn left into Kevlar AO (4.5 miles)
- 1st Exercise: 50 J-Los
- 2nd Exercise: 50 LBC
- 3rd Exercise: One lap around track
- Rinse & Repeat 2 more times
- Turn right onto West John Street (4.7 miles)
- Turn Right onto Trade (5 miles)
- Turn left onto McDowell Street (5.12 miles)
- FINISH at AO Peak 51 COT (5.26 miles)
MoleSkin:
2 Weinkes are always prepared when I Q. It may sound like over kill, but depending on the PAX for any given morning I feel I owe it to ALL the guys to be prepared and not just some of them.
That being said; although today’s PAX was small, we consisted of 4 AO site Qs in which YHC has personally been handed 3 of the toughest beat-downs I will ever remember.
- Fault Line was the Q on my FNG day (enough said on that)
- Orange Whip had me debating if I could come back to F3 after the Tour De’ Matthews
- Madison pushed me to a PR in running distance during a Matthews monsoon.
So I threw out the 5K option and brought in the 5 mile one. (The 5k one was running the Let Them Soar route and take note where potential bottle necks would occur for the SFN racing chariots.) The 5 mile options was originally set up as a capture the flag situation as we did a Fly-by on Meat Head. But honestly, there was wayyyyyy more guys at Meat Head than I was expecting and I saw more than one runner in the group. After 3 miles to get there and those guys all rested from standing around doing nothing but staring at KBs sitting on the ground, YHC did what every “Not a professional” would do and modified the weinke. I for one did not think I could out run that mob of angry meat heads on this day.. Soooooo needless say, we will mark today up as a dry run on the eventual occurrence one chilly gloomy morning.
Announcements:
- A51 will be handing out flyers at Matthews Alive with many of the work outs listed for A51. Flyers will be given out next Thursday at Peak 51 for PAX to hand out
- Collecting names for the planning committee regarding the ONLY Matthews SFN race “Let Them Soar”. Contact Gypsy for more information.
SYITG!!
Respectfully,
Gypsy
Ghost Writing a VQ
I was asked in advance by Southern Belle if I could ghost write his first Back Blast due to an early morning trip to Wilmington. I warned him that as I’ve said in the past, if I have to ghost write it….I’m bringing the pain as to deter others from not writing the BB. He agreed and said go do it because otherwise the BB wouldn’t come at all. So here goes….
17 Pax showed up to see if an old man could make it through his own workout. Many were disappointed to find out he could. Southern Belle stepped out of the car with a determined look on his face and a head band that looked similar to what the ski bunnies (or maybe honeys?) wear on the slopes. As with most VQ’s, it started with some questionable counting and flubbed exercise names. Well – actually he got the exercise name right….I think the pax just didn’t want to do it so they pretended to question the name.
WARM UP
Mosey to the….wait…..what, no mosey? Has this guy lost his mind. We always start with a mosey. Even Big Ten did a 10 foot mosey. This Q has lost his mind. Is he going to skip Side Straddle Hops too?????
- 10 Side Straddle Hops (I saw the tip of the hat Southern Belle gave Big 10)
- 10 Potato Pickers. We almost lost Frack. The yoga comments started flying.
- 10 Imperial Squawkers. Wait what? An imperial what? Many of the pax appeared to be confused – or just put on a really good show. Q actually had this exercise right though.
- 10 Merkins (I think. Remembering the counts when you didn’t develop the workout is surprisingly tough)
- 10 Mountain climbers
- Calf Stretch
THE THANG
Mosey to Main Street area. Not sure the road name but its the one Mary O’Neil’s is on. Q called out a light post workout. 5 Burpees at the first 5 light posts, 10 Q Jacks at next 5 light posts, 10 Mountain climbers at last 5 light posts. Q was near the front….q juice was strong this morning.
Lunge Walk past dream chasers then alternating 10 merkins and 10 squats at the lights. Go to end of the road and then bring it back. This was a variation of a transporter workout in which we did 10 merkins at each light. I initially thanked Southern Belle for adding squats in as it didn’t make it feel as bad….though now as I’m writing this I am realizing the doubling back part means we did just as many Merkins as transporter….but also that many squats. You ole’ sneaky B****** (Insert what ever B word you wish there, I for one like the 7 letter one). Q doubled back past me way faster than I was expecting. Mary waiting on me the 6…..they appeared to be waiting awhile. Probably because most of the Clydesdales were talking about how we could Q jack the workout and do keg stands at dream chasers instead.
Light post work again. 10 Plank Rotations at first 5 lights, 5 jump squats at next 5 lights, followed by 5 hand release merkins with a bear crawl in between the lights. For me, the plank rotations are a deceptive ab workout. I could feel my obliques tightening up towards the end. Made some ground up on the jump squats….probably because I had bad form and not because I was faster. Got to the hand release merkins and decided the heck with this to modify most of the bear crawls. By this time there was lots of complaining from the pax about hands hurting and rough asphalt. Southern Belle seemed to have a gleeful smile listening to the whining, or perhaps he was just glad that someone finally through out rubber maids gloves (by the way, mad love to the person that did that. We all owe you one). Southern Belle called out dips and step ups to mary as we waited on the 6 (which for once wasn’t me).
5 minutes left….what to do, what to do. Southern Belle decided we would mosey back to start for abs. Frack took an early lead and never looked back.
- Southern Belle started us off with flutters…25 maybe?
- He then passed the baton to Shake N Bake which I believe we can all now agree was a mistake. I think we did 40 dollies? I
blacked outlost count. - Someone did Freddy Mercuries…I forgot who.
- Rubber Maid did protractor and threw it to me… I was confused as to if he wanted me to continue counting protractors or do a new exercise….either way I kept doing protractors for a sneaky 10 count down then up.
- Southern Belle attempted to shorten his own Q by 30 seconds but I wasn’t having it. The newest Pax Eli closed us out with an attempted 10 back scratchers. Southern Belle rudely interrupted him at 8, though I must admit they felt more like back scrapers that scratchers on that asphalt.
MOLE SKIN
- Great first Q for Southern Belle. He had a plan and stuck to it. Nice work.
- Eli staying strong for only his second post. Good meeting you today.
- Chicken Little and Zinfandel stayed ahead of me most of the day which is depressing for me. I thought I’d enjoy not being the 6 for a little while longer. Good work.
- Dana battled through a back injury….or apparently was floating that as an excuse to modify today.
- Lawson vs Briarcrest battle was a tie today by my count….4 vs 4. We would of had you beat but Dancing Bear decided to fart sack claiming he had an injury.
- I think all the pax were in agreement that they paved downtown Waxhaw with a mixture of asphalt, rocks, and glass.
- I really tried hitting Southern Belle in this bb….but its hard to. He’s too nice of a guy and I have relatively little dirt on him. His Dawgs are coming off one of their best seasons in years, kids are well behaved, no embarrassing stories. Other than the fact that he is old, only slightly taller than Goodfella, and occasionally wears head bands; I don’t have any other ammo.
- Frack continues to show he has turned over a new leaf. I lobbed a couple softballs his way today and he didn’t hit back. Stayed strong during stretching exercises, and even cracked a
beerdrink during announcements. I kinda miss being called fat and slow by the new joyful Frack. (Yeah, i’m kidding – thank god Frack has turned over a new leaf) - Rubbermaid and Shake N Bake on a 3 mile pre run. Both sheding some weight recently and looking cut. Good work.
- Damascus was abcent….I guess he is still
drinkingcleaning up the spilled wine on the dog.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
- Sandbox looking for volunteers to mow the Commodores grass in Indian Land. They have someone for this weekend but still need help through the fall.
- No takers on the Hope Challenge.
Bagpipe Tuesday
If you didn’t know YHC plays catcher in an adult baseball league and had a game Monday night. Legs were hurting big time on Tuesday and had to adjust on the fly, need to coordinate calendars better next season. Had to modify the planned work out on the fly since if you can’t do it don’t Q it.
The Thang
Mosey to parking lot by the up and over walls, various COP exercises including 30 seconds of stretching on your own which Frelehy’s Comet expressed his displeasure at.
People’s Chair on the wall with 20 airpresses and then up and over the wall. Do this 3 times.
Mosey again across Ballentyne Commons (Not 521) up to the little park with the fountain.
Dips in cadence then partner up for 100 merkins – 200 LBC – 300 squats.
Partner 1 works on exercises
Partner 2 runs around the perimeter of the park
When done mosey again to the top of the parking deck.
Partner 1 flutter
Partner 2 AYG to the end of the deck, jog back
Had enough time to do that twice and then mosey back to the launch for COT
Moleskine
Better late than never on the backblast, no poops in sewer grates as far as I can recall.
The revised version of the workout came out to around 2.5 miles. Strong effort from the PAX.
If it wasn’t for the scheduled Q I would have stayed in bed, thank all of you for the days where I don’t want to get out of bed the camaraderie keeps me going.
Honored to lead and count off 47 strong at COT.
Broga for the PAX
Not sure what this 0545 workout time is all about but I’m not complaining. Extra few minutes of shut-eye, extra few minutes checking reading news.
8 Pax showed up for YHCs lead of the Pokey.
Childs Pose
Hands to Right
Hands to Left
Table Top – Cats/Cows
Downward Dog/Walk the Dog
3-Point – Right Leg Series / Repeat with Left Leg
Rotate Ankle, Bend Knee
Downward Dog
Walk/Step/Jump to top of mat
Root To Rise/Fold/Halfway Up
Hands to Elbows | Hang/Yes/No/Rotate Head
Palm to met
Vinyasa
Downward Dog
3-Point – Right Leg Series / Repeat with Left Leg
Warrior I
Warrior II
Reverse Warrior
Modified Side Angle
Grounded Warrior III
Stork
Big Toe Hold
Chair Pose
Vinyasa
3-Point – Right Leg Series / Repeat with Left Leg
Crescent Lunge
Knee Dips
Low Lunge
Half Splits
Warrior III Grounded or Regular
Standing Splits
Eagle
Dancer
Chair Pose
Vinyasa
Plank
Cheetah
Twist Cheetah
Mt Climber Prep
Vinyasa
Downward Dog
Roll To Back
Boat/Canoe with Flutters
3-Point – Right Leg Series / Repeat with Left Leg
Warrior I
Side Angle
Bind
Crescent Lunge
Prayer Twist
Crescent Lunge
Full Moon
Chair Pose
Crow
Half-Pigeon on Right / Repeat with Left
Seated Spinal Twist
Lay on Back
Bridge/Wheel
Feet Together/Knees Out
Honor To Lead You all today. Keep up the good work. Balance poses help with core strength and stretch with intention and purpose!
MoleSkine:
The door maybe open, It may be calling you, but don’t go in. Find a grate.
I don’t want to
Yesterday, I woke up at 4 AM got on a plane to Atlanta. There I presented on a brand new work project and took some difficult questions. It was stressful. I flew back and was back home are around 8 PM. I was exhausted. I glanced at my calendar and noticed I had the Q at Gumby. Ugh!
This is not because I don’t like the site or site Qs. In fact, when I was hurt earlier this year, Gumby was essential to my recovery. I was tired. I had just Q’d Monday. I don’t regularly do yoga and I’m nervous about leading it. Plus, I really hadn’t prepared anything. Not good.
Truth be told, I was being selfish. F3 is not about yourself. F3 is about others. I couldn’t let those who would set alarms and show up down. Gumby was there for me, I would be there for them.
I can’t remember the exact sequence of movements, but we did a segment of active movement, standing stretches of neck, spine, shoulders and hips and legs. We spent time on wrists, downward dog and plank. We covered pigeon, downward dog and cobra. We finished with a stretch that resembled a burpee. It was all pretty basic. That said, I believe all got a thorough stretch. Plus, I got to play the Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse, The Strokes and Arcade Fire.
Moleskine
We all have a responsibility to each other. F3 is built on accountability. We show up on time, we lead each others sites, we help the guys struggling in the back. It’s not always convenient, it’s not easy. It’s better that way.
Why did I call that?
YHC had the privilege to Q daVinci due to an IOU (not of my own) transfer multiple times and since “IOUs are even better than money” it was cashed in. Before the PAX gathered I disclosed to Bucky that I would be using a couple exercises I picked up from my post at #F3Chicago. The PAX were all gathered (or so we thought), disclaimer given, and we were off.
As we moseyed to the Best Buy parking lot Fredo made a last minute arrival. Circled up for warmups:
15 side straddle hops; 15 imperial walkers; keeping arms up for all 4 – 15 forward Abe Vigoda, 15 seal claps, 15 reverse Abe’s, 15 overhead claps (Chicago shoutout here); 15 mountain climber
The Thang
Mosey to guardrail at far end of parking lot – 20dips and 10 derkins
Mosey across Rea Rd to stairs by the yoga studio – up left flight of stairs, 20 LBCs, down right flight of stairs, 10 jump squats (5 laps)
Mosey around buildings to the fountains at front – 10 stepups each leg, 10 incline merkins
Mosey across Audrey Kell to parking lot – AMRAP for 25 minutes in triangle parking lot:
* bear crawl to each island (4) on right, 10 merkins at each island
* every 2 parking spots 10 squats
* lunge walk to each island (4) back to start, 10 CDDs at each island
increase reps by 10 each lap completed
***SHOUT OUT to Transporter for finishing 3 full laps, strong work by all the other PAXs as well and even more credit for not committing bodily harm to YHC for calling such a thing
with 10 minutes to go circle up for Ring of Fire (now named the Abe Froman – Chicago shoutout)…
all PAX get in plank position, each PAX is successive order does 1 merkin (counting off in increasing fashion) around the circle, all PAX must hold plank as it goes around. Last man standing ‘competition’ and how many merkins collectively the group can get. When you drop you do burpees (# of PAX left). *** SHOUT OUT to Mic Check for winning and a total of 224 merkins done
Moleskin
back story to me getting the Q was a Q swap between Mary Kay and Teddy (then co-site Q guilt)… well Teddy had to back out because of a ‘procedure’. That ‘procedure’ was divulged as the workout progressed… I am confident in say that, during the AMRAP portion of the workout,t there was more snip/peas/testicle chatter than during any other F3 workout ever. I take full blame in not remembering any specific quotes due to my procrastination of getting the backblast out but some were gems (please post in comments if PAX remember)
Good morning, Hawk’s Nest
Sixteen men met up at Charlotte Latin this morning for a little workout. All were disclaimed and off we went.
COP
IW, LSS x 15, Merkin x 10 and LS Merkin x10
THANG
Mosey to the soccer field for a four corner workout. First lap was 10 merkins at each corner, Second lap was drydocks, third was LSS and the last lap was LBC’s. By the way, the astro turf is really great to run on. You can notice a huge difference in your knees. Utah concurs. I guess these are the kind of things 45 picks up on; 35 will have to wait a few years. Somewhere in this circuit, Mermaid started having concerns about the lack of burpees. QIC advised that his workouts are generally burpee free events. Even it the gloom, you could see the disappointment on his face.
Next stop is the bathroom pavilion by the soccer field where partners were chosen. Partner 1 does the wall sit while partner 2 runs to the end of the bleachers and does 10 drydocks. Partners flip flopped. The second round, air presses were added to the wall sit.
The PAX ran to the top pavilion which I believe is a concession stand. The tables were moved out of the way which made it great for a core workout. Partners reconvened. Partner 1 stayed under the pavilion and did 15 reps of the following: Freddy Mercury, Flutter and WWII situps while partner 2 ran to the bottom of the hill and did 15 dips on the bridge. This circuit was completed 3 times.
By now, it’s time to mosey on back to the launch site but not before we threw in about 20 yards of lunge walk on the way there.
Most of the Fast Twitch guys were already there but we had a few minutes left for some Mary and a handful of burpees, which made Mermaid smile!
It was a very humid morning which can take it out of you real quick. Everyone fought through it hard and hopefully got something good out of it. Announcements were pretty thin – something about a Christmas party, BRR is coming up and see Pop Tart is you are interested in a paint ball showdown.
Big thanks to Laronda for taking us out.
SubstiQ Especial
15 regulars showed for a late called substitute Q beatdown. I kept is unoriginal as usual but we did get a lot of work in.
Warmup: Run around John St. to 51 back down the road to the lot, almost a mile.
The Thang:
In the field at small dirt track.
100 Swings
Run Lap
100 Curls
Run Lap
100 two hand presses
Run Lap
100 Merkins
Run Lap
100 LBC’s
Run Lap
100 Tricep Extensions
Run Lap
100 Freddy Mercury’s
Run Lap
50 Teabag Squats
Run Lap
100 Good Mornings
Run Lap
Moleskine: You boys, some of you, worked hard for 45 minutes. This was not very enjoyable from the looks on some faces but I hope you got your money’s worth. Anytime you are crushing high reps and running the entire time it’s efficient and effective. Bulldog and Horsehead were a couple of the pre-runners which I think checked off their exercise for the day from seeing their in workout effort. Funky Cold, Chin Music and Tulip were getting after it over on my side of the circle. Busch did all of the reps that he could hear over his own talking which should account for about half. Smokey and Yeti had to have the most mileage under their belts for the workout as they were actually finishing a whole lap. Header left early because his wife told him to or something. Thanks for letting me lead and for not refusing to run as Bulldog tried to instruct you. Great to hear Tulip’s daughter is on the mend, let’s keep praying for her, and thank you to Smokey for taking us out with a reminder to be what we are called to be.
Double Down on the DMZ Mile
Unfortunately for them, 8 pax emerged from the gloom for the weekly cross-region pain exchange at DMZ. It was painful, but fun! Fortunately for Aquafresh, he did not appear.
We circled up for a token warm-up, a few squats, SSHs, and mountain climbers. Site FNG Wonton received the veteran DMZ disclaimer in stride. Here’s what we did:
DMZ Mile: run down camilla, around school and back to lot. Everyone loved this, it was fun.
Mary for a few minutes
Mosey to Church Lot
Suicide by Burpee up the lot (5x hand release burpees at each of 4 lights). Everyone loved this, it was fun.
Suicide by Squat up the lot (25x squats at each of 4 lights). Everyone loved this, it was fun.
Recovery pace catch-me-if-you-can around church with 5x squat delay. No one liked this, too slow!!!
Mosey Back to launch for low slow squats. No one was fooled for long.
DMZ Mile. Everyone especially loved this one, even though it wasn’t fun
Finish with 5 min of Mary, Merkins, and Squats
Moleskine
Kudos to Wonton for upping the ante to two posts a week, let’s all support him!
Bug Eater is getting fast, launched at the first mile with a vengeance
One Eye goes slow downhill and fast uphill, don’t know how he does it
Nice to cross paths with Orlando again, with my BRR fear inspired focus on running and his biking, it had been awhile.
Runstopper is posting all over the place, good to sweat with him again
Hammer took over the lead post pitstop during the suicide by squats. Powerful legs or….?
Hannibal said he was smoked after burpees, but didn’t seem like it, nice work brother!
Always an honor and pleasure to take the helm of DMZ.
Cobbler and Mario’s Revenge
12 PAX chose to avoid the fartsack, witness Bartwurst arrive early and wonder about the status of Paper Jam at the most recent edition of Blakovery.
With a stern command and no disclaimer, we were off to run the Reverse Flat Branch Route.
THE THANG:
Just do this in reverse:
MOLESKIN:
Today I officially became a runner. How did this happen you may ask? A runner is born when that person is about 20 minutes into a run and gastrointestinal pain usually associated with too many tacos hits him hard. However, instead of checking to see if the Bi-Lo was open, he continues the run with optimism (sometimes called delusion) that he can make it to the woods, his house or back to Blakeney. He ventures into a neighborhood and finds himself in the middle of nowhere. Nowhere in SOB Land is defined as the middle of a neighborhood with only houses in sight. It is at that point he knows he is not making it more than 5 feet. He is clearly in a dilemma. What does he do? He takes the only option presented to him. A sewer grate next to the curb in a dark section of the street. He hopes no one drives or walks by since he is wearing a bright yellow shirt and long white socks. The movement is faster than a Frasier PR and he is back on track, stopping at McDonalds to make sure all is well and showing up in time for the last 90 seconds of stretching.
Thanks Fleetwood for leading the stretching and taking us out.
Never a dull moment at Blakovery.