7 guys showed up this morning for Sparta – head lamps up, A51 royalty – Joker made a rare appearance, Horse Head made a crack at me and Chin Music telling each other how great of a job we did on the Raintree hills on Tuesday (No, you hang up), disclaimer mumbled, and we were off…
My Thing
Total: 5.34 miles at a 9:19 pace with lots of stops in between.
Moleskine
Chin Music and Joker were at the top of the leader board and everyone else hung on close behind – lots of stops and starts which can put a lot on a man.
Horsehead has been recruiting hard for this site, and for good reason, it’s the balls. Seriously you can make it to Sportsplex, the Greenway, Crestdale Middle, Kevlar/Skunk site, downtown Matthews, etc. and it’s really well lit.
Lots of talking between sets, which Gypsy got pretty angry about. He doesn’t like idle time, but sometimes the girls just need to dish.
I brushed the pavers off last night before making them available to the PAX. I have a bad history with ants and termites in and on my coupons and I want to work on being more considerate.
We’ve been missing Madison who is the site Q, allegedly.
Announcements
Pease pray for Tulip’s daughter who is in the hospital with an infection and pneumonia. She’s been in for a while and hopes are that she won’t need surgery.
SFN in downtown Matthews the weekend of Nov 10th (need volunteers)
10 pax, a mix of familiar and unfamiliar (to YHC) faces, posted for the promised TGU-free beatdown. 1/2 the pax (5, for the division challenged) felt the workout would be insufficient and chose to prerun (Hoover, Voodoo, YHC) or preruck (Dora, Geraldo).
Disclosure – mediocre but hopefully sufficient
The Thang
COP
Leave your bells and recovery walk (#0.0) to the playground, dodging the fencing
Playground Math
Recovery walk back to bells in parking lot. Call for water break.
Snatch-fest
Finisher
Done
COT
Announcements:
Takeout by Hoover
Muscular Moleskinne:
Well, that wasn’t too bad for a light-moderate workout. At least, that’s what YHC had planned to deliver. Something to keep the pax moving and the HR up. #missionaccomplished on the movement & HR; not so sure about the light-moderate. As always, bell selection plays a role in the level of difficulty. (YHC used a 20kg and that seemed about right – moderately hard but doable – nice puddle of sweat)
200 swings, mixed with merkins, was a solid opener. Challenging but a good warmup, with the merkin breathers. Full disclosure, YHC had planned on longer breaks as the exhaustion built and the merkins decreased but forgot when the time came. #cobains Pax did a good job of modifying as needed, dropping reps here and there or switching bells. Nice work.
The playground complex was quickly recognized by Geraldo as a variation of Cindy. Righto. Pax were encouraged to modify as needed, esp with pullups. Again, well done.
Snatches were an aggressive call, but YHC felt the pax up to it. Quick demo by Voodoo for the newer meatheads, and then we were off. Again, good modifications by the pax, mixing in bells or swings as needed, and trying different bell sizes. 100 snatches. Boom.
Thanks, as always for the opportunity to lead. It’s an honor.
QIC: Queen
Pax: Clover, Gummy, HIPPA, Hopper, Tacking Dummy, Harley, Spackler, Puddin Pop, Schmedium, Polo (FNG), Hannibal, Jet Fuel, Marge, Queen, Fry Daddy, Floor Slapper, Semi Gloss, One-Eye
The Pax was 18 strong (actually about 10 strong esteemed gentlemen and about 8 clowns). The weather was great as it never rains at Hydra. Here’s how the work out went:
SSH: 25
IW: 20
Slow Squat: 10
Slow Merkin: 10
Mosey to the short field. Karaokee to one end and back then walking lung half way, run the other half and repeat back.
Mosey to the football field. Start at the goal line and go 60 yards and do 15 hand release merkins. Run back to the goal line and do 14 hand release merkins. Run back 60 yards and do 13. You get the rest, all the way down to 1. Then 25 Freddie Mercury’s.
Over to the playground. Partner up. Partner One runs around the school, partner two does pull-ups and air squats. Combine to do 200 air squats and 50 pull ups. Those that finished their second run and their partner had completed that number did 20 more of each. Then 20 LBC’s.
Mosey to the tree with the eight benches around it. 20 step ups each leg, 15 dips, 10 incline pushups.
Mosey back to the launch area. Russian twist X25, then Protractor.
Moleskin:
It was a lively group. The merkin ladder early on was a beast. That was meant to quiet some of the chatter (mission accomplished). There was a actually some very respectable effort. One-eye crushed the merkin ladder. Semi Gloss and Spackler appeared to complete it with proper form. Spackler has extra energy saved from never doing burpees.
I question how many partner teams truly made it to 50 pull ups. After having us do 120 hand release merkins, I’ll allow for a little slacking, there.
Welcome Polo, a new FNG. We were all disappointed at the end when we couldn’t come up with a better name. That used to be one of the strengths of this group. We’ve gone soft in that area. Seriously, welcome Polo, you did well for first or second time out.
I had the distance down at 2.5.
Announcements: BeerRun this Saturday. See Gummy or check slack for details.
Excited to lead my first “running” workout, I thought best to give the PAX some different options. At 0515, 19 men – many half-naked – were given a quick disclaimer (no warm-ups as the PAX pointed out) and we moseyed into Raintree at the Four Mile Creek intersection.
Still no warm-up there as we had already gotten in 3/4 mile. Instructions and run options were given and off went the PAX! Here were the options:
4 miler— South on Four Mile Creek, left on Fairway Ridge (1st time you come to it), right on Four Mile Creek, right on Whitehorn, end at intersection of Raintree Rd.
5 miler— Same as 4 mile course, but continue by turning left on Raintree Rd and going back to the intersection of Four Mile Creek, right on Four Mile Creek to bottom of hill at apartments, then back to intersection of Raintree Rd and Whitehorn.
6 miler— Same as 4 mile course, then continue by making a left on Raintree Rd., another left on Four Mile Creek (same as initial start), left on Whitehorn, then finish at intersection of Raintree Rd.
Upon completion of your chosen course, mosey back to launch via Raintree Rd and Providence Rd and complete the following exercises (time permitting):
5 sets of 10 x 20 x 30 — merkins, squats, LBCs.
Moeleskin:
Really fast group! YHC was hoping to keep some kind of pace with Purell by letting him blow by the first turn and then not tell him until he was at least 1/10 mile past it. Well, that lasted for 2/10 mile and then he aptly left us in the dust. BRR guys look strong and ready to take to the mountains! I can’t believe we didn’t hear a bunch of grumbling on Fairway Ridge — that incline just keeps going and going!
To not have been a “runner” for very long, Orange Whip is impressive out there. He’s going to be a nice addition to his BRR team. Mr. Brady was his usual self — leaving his pool of water at the end to signify that his work was done. Turkey Leg is getting back close to 100% – I know from experience as he also passed YHC! Was a pleasure meeting Astro, another sneaky fast runner.
One big challenge that I was not prepared for — how in the world do you recognize and take down the PAX’s names at the end? I was not ready for the massive 35-person circle with the group from Hawk’s Nest.
As site-Q for Skunkworks, it’s rare that I get over to Fast Twitch. However, I really enjoyed both the running and the group. Thank you to Purell for the opportunity to lead. I’ll definitely be back soon!
I was put in charge of the “hill” day for the latest installment of Swift. A mostly proper disclaimer was given since we had an FNG in the mix. Bunker, Tuck and Hairball were off holding hands at the bullring so we took off at 5:15 with instructions to meet at the Wells Fargo parking deck on N. Community House. Take the shorter version or the longer, scenic version.
Once everyone arrived we did some Brat style warm up things. Paper Jam did not participate in all of the hi-jinks. After some thorough warming up instructions were given that we would be running the deck. You were to run a climbing pace to the top, recover on the ramps down and run the flats at 5k pace all the way to the bottom. You were to leave the deck in time to get back by 6:15.
Moleskin: Pretty simple concept of running hard, recover, run hard for 100 meters and then do it all over again. The question was asked “what is climbing pace?” To be honest Woodson I am not sure. It is finding that point where your breathing is labored but you can keep going at that pace. It is meant to be hard and for those of us lucky enough to do the BRR it is required.
Everyone out there got in two rounds and some high achievers got in three rounds. The times going up were slightly faster than coming down which is a good sign that you were pushing hard on the up and doing good interval of recovering and sprinting on the down.
Thanks for Fire Hazard bringing out FNG Adios. I hope you keeping coming out to see us. It is always a great time, afterwards.
24 pax came out to partake in a 90’s rock party. The music was good, but the rocks sucked.
This was my first time Q’ing Dromedary and only my third time at this AO. Most of the workout was planned via googlemaps which made for some longer runs than I had expected.
WARM UP
Disclaimer given as a few pax rolled in on two wheels. Mosey up the hill towards the school and circle up for:
THE THANG
Beat the Q to the rocks with burpees on the line. I ended up beating 4 (by my count) so after getting a lifting rock we did 4 burpees on your own. Quick audible by Goodfella to go to upper parking lot to spare us a car scramble. Rock Exercises:
Partner Up. Partner 1 does inch worms (no push up) towards the Globe. Partner 2 runs to the globe and back. (Again, Q fail here as the globe was a lot farther than I had imagined). I attempted to modify by placing the speaker on the sidewalk but had Q fail number 2 when I ran back to my partner which was out of range of the speaker. Some very confused pax returned asking where the speaker was they were modifying to. My bad. After everyone got 2 rounds in, I audibled due to time and we mosey’ed past the globe for the next round of work.
Arrows were 5 jump squats. Crosswalks or speedbumps were 10 Merkins. Continue around the snake parking lot to middle school entrance. Dancing bear attempted to skip some merkins. I called him out (Bread Bowl would be proud). Another pax asked if it was double (20) merkins at the crosswalk/speed bump combo. Normally when I Q and get asked these questions I am a real dick and tell them to do the harder of the two….in this case I didn’t know the guy well so I was nice and told him only 10. As usual, Dasher was leading the charge and I and several Pax were struggling to stay within ear shot. I had everyone behind me modify to catch up then did a time check and realized we needed to speed up. I had everyone meet at the middle school just in time to watch Dasher and Nutter Butter finish. Nice work Gentleman. Next time I Q I will make sure to bring a 50 pound ruck sack to handicap you.
Goodfella lead us to the buses were we played a quick game of would you rather (insert your favorite inappropriate f3 joke here). Would you rather:
Surprisingly more people chose burpees. I would have though it would be the other way around…..or perhaps this AO just pushes hard and doesn’t take the easy way out. My partner shop dawg gagged on some diesel fumes, but other than that…no casualties.
Quick time check and it was time to go. Another beat the Q with burpees on the line. Rockwell attempted to channel foundation and hold me back but it was a weak attempt. Perhaps he felt how sweaty my shirt was and wised up. By my count I beat 7……7 burpees on your own. I heard a lot (I mean a lot) of groans at this point….I wonder why….Oh yeah!!!! 3/4 the group just finished doing a load of burpees….whoops.
2 minutes left for marry. Posse let us in dead cockroaches (I think he likes that exercise because it resembles his rivals Stadium – gamecocks). Jinles lead us in protractor…..and we’re done.
MOLE SKIN
ANNOUNCEMENTS
21 PAX gathered on this perfectly fine morning at the Vine for a Cheddar/Cooter combo Q (sounds like something you would order at Arby’s). YHC rolled in about 3 minutes before launch time to find Cheddar visibly worried that he would be flying solo for this one. All is good. Cheddar got us started off with a reasonable disclaimer and off we went.
Cheddar moseyed us over to a far and distant parking lot for some COP:
Windmills X 10
Mountain Climbers X 10
SSH X 10
Then like a flash, Cheddar was off again heading towards the bridge for some hill work (yikes). We stopped at the bottom of the hill for a brief demo by Cheddar of what would ensue. Kirby acted like he didn’t hear anything Cheddar said (blah, blah, blah), but it didn’t work. 5 burpees waited on us at station 1, 5 bomb jacks (WHAT THE WHAT??!!) at station 2 and then finally when we reached the bridge 5 jump squats at station 3. Repito por favor but this time with 10 at each station. Cheddar wrapped up his half by having us all do “Bear Walks” (you won’t find that one in the Exicon) and merkins at each parking lot line all. the. way. to. the. light. post. (felt like a long way). With that, Cheddar signed off and YHC signed on. Thank you, Cheddar.
Mosey to the pond and over to one of the big buildings for:
20 step ups (10 each leg)
20 derkins (those hurt)
Run to the picnic tables for 20 dips and then on to the next big building for some flutter and LBCs.
From there we ran pretty fast to the rock pile (watch out for snakes) to grab some lifting rocks. Now this is where the story takes a turn for the worst. YHC was day dreaming when he told the PAX that we’d do 10 curls, 10 overhead presses, and 10 tricep extensions with our heavy rocks in civilian count followed by repeated sets of 8, 6, 4, and 2. The PAX got a little bonus workout when we started in military count instead. Thank you, Madame Tussauds for bringing this to light. There may or may not have been some other mishaps as we wrapped up the rock work, but we don’t need to go there do we? Rocks back where they belong and off we went for some more fun.
Over the bridge and through the woods to the big parking lot for some partner work and 3 corners (demo was provided as Mic Check reminded us to not look up – good idea):
Corner 1: P1 planks while P2 does 10 derkins; Switch;
Corner 2: P1 planks while P2 does 10 old school sit ups; Switch
Corner 3: Same as Corner 1
Corner 4: Didn’t happen because time was short so we ran back to the launch for some brief Mary before we called it.
Announcements:
Frazier reminded us about the Crane Relay.
Soft Pretzel told us about the Sandbox prom event on 8/31 for sick kids who will have tuxedos and limos for the night to help forget about their troubles. They need PAX to sign up for security. It may or may not involve security shirts. See Slack channel for more details and to sign up.
Fire Hazard reminded us of the Isabella Santos run on 9/29. It’s the only Speed for Need event in our backyard this year and the PAX should come out and support even if you don’t run in the race. Thin Mint stressed that there will be a lot of good free food at the event.
Atlas announced the upcoming 4 year Indian Land anniversary coming up on Saturday 8/25 at Indian Land Elementary School start time is 6 am. So come on out and help celebrate 4 years down in Indian Land.
Paper Jam asked for volunteers to participate in the Hope Challenge. 10 seconds of awkward silence would be the price to pay if there are no takers. Thank you Delta for sharing your story and spreading the gift of hope.
YHC took us out.
On behalf of Cheddar and myself, it was a pleasure to lead you men today. There was a lot of hard work put in and I hope we can do it all again real soon. A special shout out to Benny for coming back strong after his accident. My man broke all 3 bones in his leg and is back in the gloom. You’re a beast.
22 PAX showed up to Watchtower for BreadBowl’s VQ. The question was how much running or rolling can a Bread Bowl do in 45 minutes and was his actual F3 name Red Bull? This VQ was a special since Bread Bowl is 11 years old and has wanted to Q for the past month. In life, a true leader is someone who can turn around and see others following. Follow if you dare!
LET’s MOSEY:
COP
The Thang
COT
I thought the work out was going to be hard for the guys. I mainly surprised them with my running but I said get ready for a rude awakening. I think everybody was surprised how fast I did my curls. I like hearing the banter about Zinfandel thinking I would be kind to my fellow Clydesdale. Thank you for the opportunity to run Q for a great group of men as an 11 year old .Welcome Tony Passavanti- Wedding Singer and Don Hayes- Chicken Little to the Pax.
Announcements