Mixed Drinks at the Matrix
11 men thought they escaped all that Monday running tomfoolery by going to the Matrix instead. They were fooled anyway.
The Thang
Warm-up run around school property to south lot for COP:
- Burpees 5oyo
- SSH IC 20
- Merkins IC 15
- MC IC 20
- LSS IC 20
- Burpees 5oyo
Run to rockpile to grab a good rock, avoiding snakes where possible
Mosey to lot in front of school
Se7ens:
- Round 1: Overhead press, merkins
- Round 2: Squats, burpees
Mosey to wall for 50 arm raises, 10 donkey kicks
Mosey to track: 5 laps with merkins in each corner. Downward ladder: 5 on first lap, 4 on second, etc.
Mosey back to front lot to retrieve rocks, and carry back to rockpile
Line up on field for sprint to finish
Mileage: 3.0
COT
Moleskine and Announcements:
- Poor Younglove gets no love… very defensive about modifying? Just the Q looking out for a guy who’s been absent for a while. Kotters!
- Tried to mix it up today ala old-school “Fast Twitch” style, with boot camp exercise to be sure, but plenty of mileage throughout – seems like it worked out for most.
- Lot of pushing out there, especially on the sevens – was hoping to make it for a last round of 7s but the weinke was a bit optimistic
- Thanks to Younglove for the prayer
- Thanks for Pop Tart for allowing me to lead today, and for getting me out of Horsey (and for the reminder this time)
- Announcements:
- Cerberus convergence this Friday, Dredd on Q
- Speed for Need: Susan G Komen Race for the Cure, Oct 6, 7:30AM, contact Gypsy for HC pushing.
- https://speedforneed.org/
Proper Disclaimer: Don’t get hit by a car
10 were on-time. 1 came in on two wheels. 11 total showed up for this week’s episode of Base Camp, which featured the return of site-Q Benny from the 180-day Disabled List. Thankfully, F3 runs on guaranteed contracts, so his compensation as site Q was paid in full. Overly-CYA disclaimer was given, and we were off.
The Thang:
Mosey to David Park. En route, do 5 merkins at first street light along 51, 5 squats at the second, and alternate each streetlight down to the Park. When everyone arrives, turn right at the fork in the road toward the lesser-used part of David Park, heading toward the dog park. On the way down, 3 burpees and 8 merkins at each of the 7 street lights down to the back parking lot.
After a little Mary in the parking lot to rest the chesticles (Dolly, Rosalita, LBC’s), we proceeded with a little Paula Abdul along the parking spots. Bear crawl 2 parking lines, do a merkin. Back up one line, and repeat. There was about 20 lines, so we got the blood moving. More Mary to rest before we begin the long slog back to launch. 3 dry docks and 8 monkey humpers at each street light on the way back. Mary to wait for the six. Stopped for Mary a few more times on the mosey back to launch. Rolled in about two minutes early, so we ended with one minute of People’s Chair and one minute of plank. Done-ski.
Announcements:
Dredd is Qing Cerberus on Friday 8/17
Beer Run on Saturday, 8/18
Crane Relays on 10/26 – sign up in the next two weeks
A51 vs. SOB paintball match on 9/15
Kotters to Benny as he’s back at it. Good to see him back out in the gloom. His return brought out Mr. Brady, who didn’t remember how to do a merkin or burpee. If you missed it (as most of you did), I think Brady is next scheduled for a boot camp in 2026. YHC is glad he was around to explain the difference between a street light and stop light (Q fail).
Semi-gloss also made it out and was looking strong. Always great to have Strange Brew join us, as well.
Thumper was near the front, as usual. He’s got his VQ at Base Camp next week, so hopefully we can get a good crowd and heckle him properly.
Great work this morning by everyone. Probably wasn’t as “moderate” as Base camp is supposed to be, but it was a strong group and everyone got ‘er done.
Burpees make the best party favors
13 pax showed up to celebrate YHC’s birthday. Cake, ice cream, and candles were nowhere to be found. Here’s what the pax received as party favors:
The Thang:
Mosey west on Ardrey Kell to Blakeney Professional Dr. Turn into the office park for a quick COP. ISW x 10 IC, PP Merkins X 10 IC, Windmill x 12 IC. Mosey over to the fountain area and partner up for Burpee Partner Hell. It’s a horrible name, I know, but it hasn’t been properly named as far as I know. P1 starts doing one burpee in each parking spot along the line. P2 runs to the end of the line, turns around and relieves P1 when they meet up. Flapjack. Continue until you reach the end of the line. Line of parking spots was about 150 spots, 1/3 of a mile long. Comments heard included “that’s a lot of burpees” (Ocho Cinco), “Goonie’s officially gone crazy (Cheddar), and multiple pax had different versions of “Goonie, you suck” and “F$#! You, Goonie.” All were relevant and deserved.
After that tomfoolery, we headed back across Ardrey Kell to some coupons that were strategically placed behind the Old Navy. Each pax grabs a brick paver.
Round 1: 5 reps of curls, overhead presses, tri extensions, and bent-over rows. Run with the paver to the corner of the complex, behind the large shopping strip.
Round 2: 10 reps of each. Run to the end of the Target building. A few rounds of Mary with the paver held above us.
Round 3: 15 reps. Run back to the corner.
Round 4: 20 reps. Run back to behind Old Navy.
Round 5: 25 reps. Grab all coupons and start heading back to launch. Arrive at 7:30. Done.
Skinny:
Thanks to Bucky and Fredo for the marketing. Great group of pax showed up and got after it. The burpee thing sucked. Plain and simple. The legs were feeling it a good deal the next day. Pax don’t show up for an easy workout, though. When you’re Qing, make sure you bring it.
Ocho Cinco, Teddy, and Bucky were flying the whole time. Mighty Mite was right behind them, aided by some questionable form. Real strong work by everyone grinding out a bear of a workout.
The coffeeteria was second to none. That always gets YHC through the tough Saturday workouts.
Announcements:
Beer run on 8/18
Crane Relays on 10/26
Dredd is Qing Cerberus on 8/17
A51 vs. SOB Paintball on 9/15
Dads Camp & Pop Tarts Make a Miserable Monday
8 PAX launched from the fountains at Blakeney Shopping Center while another joined us about half way thru. All started their Monday off with a dose of #Blakovery.
THE THANG: Flat Branch Route. See it here:
Stretching by Paper Jam followed.
MOLESKIN:
After a weekend of keeping up with Paper Clip at F3 Dads camp, eating a box of Smores Pop Tarts (yes they are that good) and a bunch of other crap, I knew that Monday was going to be rough. It was miserable. But I made it.
Three predictions made Sunday night all came true. We would run 5 miles. I would be there early. Bratwurst would be late. This time he had to find us.
Tomorrow the hills of Swift and Fast Twitch beckon the runners.
See you on Tuesday.
8/14 Fast Twitch Pre-Blast
Since I rarely, if ever, venture over to Fast Twitch (co-site Q at Skunkworks), I spent some time on Saturday doing some reconnaissance work. One lesson learned is that when you’re mapping a running route, you are best served to do it from either a computer or vehicle. Otherwise, you may end up running MUCH further than anticipated! That being said, I’m looking forward to my BRR-friendly VQ on Tuesday.
I’d like for all the FT regulars and BRR trainees to use Tuesday morning as a chance to show off your skills! We will have a 4, 5, and 6 mile option and I’m recommending that you run it as close to race pace as possible. It’ll be a good test, but not so much that you can’t post a solid time.
Everyone will do a warm-up jog up Providence Rd to Raintree Rd, then over to the intersection of Four Mile Creek.
Below are the race 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 20 x 30 x 40 — merkins, squats, LBCs.
Looking forward to trying to keep up with you horses! See you in the gloom…
Hairspray with some ET and FAA
E.T returned using his special powers brining 2 FNG’s to the Valley. Boom!
Here is what we did:
– Cruise to Greenway
– 30 x sidestraddle hops
– 20 squats
– 10 merkins
– 20 mountain climbers
-10 windmills
– 10 imperial walkers
– 10 burpees OYO
Run 1/2 mile along Greenway
3 rounds
20 lbc
5 balls to wall
20 jump ups
when passing partner to 10 hand slap merkins
Run 1/4 mile to BurnMill Hill
Partner up for partner carries
Indian run back to school
20 dolly’s
20 rosalitas
COT
THE MOLESKIN: A solid 8 or 9 seems to be the average at THE Valley these days, we will take it. Strong core group with even better fellowship and Coffateria afterwards. Really nice to welcome FNG’s hairspray and FAA to the group and bring them into the nation right with Shovel flag and mission statement. And for good measure we through a disclaimer in there right before the partner carriers.
Peace on your week fellas. Always a pleasure to Q. Hope everyone had fun at F3 Dads camp!
GOP
This May Be A Bad Idea
14 men gathered this morning to get a little better.
The Thang
After a brief disclaimer, we headed to the fake grassy knoll for COP. COP consisted of 15 x Imperial Walkers, 15 x Plank Jacks, 15 x Low Slow Squats, 15 x Mountain Climbers, and 15 x Merkins. All in cadence. Next we would mosey off campus, across 51, and made our way to the bottom of LC in Five Knolls where YHC’s car was waiting with goodies. Pop the trunk and bring out 4 fire hoses. We broke into teams on each fire hose. We would do 7s as a team dragging the hose up and down the hill with Jump Squats at the top and Merkins at the bottom. In case anyone not there is reading this, it sucked. Bad. When done, we rolled up the hoses and put them back in the car. We did a little Mary before heading back. Mosey over to the rock pile near the baseball field. Grab a lifting rock and bring it to the light post in the middle of one of the parking lots. YHC had 5 cones set up for a starfish. We only had time for one full starfish. We did Lunges at the ends and Louganis with the rock in the center. When that was finished we did 20 Flutter Presses in cadence, and then returned the rocks. Mosey back to the launch. There was 1 minute remaining so we held plank. Done.
Naked Moleskin
Great work today men. Thanks for playing along with YHC’s seemingly crazy idea. The Rock Zero checkboxes were checked. Most had at least 4 miles today. There was teamwork and a few heavy things were involved. So there you go. Thanks to Flipper for the take out and to Marlin for the ride back to the car.
Announcements
BRR team upnover is looking for a runner. Contact Flipper is you are so inclined.
The beer run (not to be confused with the beer mile) is next weekend. See #beerrun Slack channel.
Rea Farms
11 pioneers gathered at Cerberus and explored a ginormous mixed-use development. No, not Waverly. Rea Farms bruh!
Thang
Cross Providence Rd. and mosey to road between the old Harris Teeter and the new Harris Teeter for some COP betwixt the ‘Teets.
- SSH x 20 IC
- IW x 20 IC
- MC x 20 IC
- Plank Jack x 20 IC
Mosey to a wall next to the new Harris Teeter parking lot for 10 Bulgarian split squats (each leg) and 20 hip slappers w/ feet on the wall OYO.
Mosey to what I’m just going to call Central Park… a large (easily 100 yards) rectangle-shaped plot of grass in the middle of Rea Farms, bordered by saplings and light posts. It is PERFECT for all kinds of F3 shenanigans. Such as:
- Partner up. Partner 1 bear crawls across the Park (sideline to sideline if you will) and runs backwards to the start while partner 2 performs squats. Flapjack.
- Partner 1 craw walks across the Park and runs backwards to the start while partner 2 performs American hammers. Flapjack.
- Partner 1 broad jumps across the Park and runs backwards to the start while partner 2 performs Makhtar N’Diayes. Flapjack.
- PAX line up and lunge walk roughly 50 yards to middle of Central Park.
- Suicides to 7 saplings bordering the Park, starting w/ 2 jump squats at each sapling and increasing by 2 at each subsequent tree, up to 14
Mosey to Golf Links Dr. (where Lifetime Fitness is). Head East back towards Waverly, stopping at each tree for 2 burpees. There were 32 or 33 trees, good for 64 or 66 burpees.
Cross Providence Rd. and head to the little park in Waverly behind Ted’s Montana Grill and Carolina Ale House. Grab some wall.
- 10 derkins OYO
- 10 incline merkins OYO
- 10 dips OYO
- 20 flutter IC (sitting on wall)
- 10 in-and-outs IC (sitting on wall)
Moleskine
This was my first Q in 6 months due to injury and rehab. It felt great to lead again. It was fun exploring Rea Farms for the first time. It is starting to take shape and has at least two fantastic bootcamp features: the large football field-sized patch of grass described above and the new Harris Teeter parking lot that is huge and lit up like a Christmas tree. But be warned: crossing Providence Rd. is not for the faint of heart, and not recommended until the crossing signals are up and running. It was dicey to say the least, especially on the way back when traffic had picked up. It was a strong group of PAX out there today. We stayed pretty close together throughout. Good work, men. And thanks for the invite, Argonaut.
Announcements
- Dredd is Q-ing Cerberus next week (8/17). The Brave is converging there. Don’t miss it.
- CLT Craft Course II is Sat, 8/18. 4 mile fun run in Southend, stopping at ~6 breweries. Launching from Unknown Brewing at noon. Contact Tuck for more info.
- Consider participating in the Hope Challenge. During COT, share a struggle you were able to overcome to instill hope in others that may be suffering silently. PreBlast
- Per Prohibition, keep Charlotte Robson and her family in your prayers. She is a SCLT 2-year old suffering from an incurable neurological disease There is a gofundme. Reach out to Prohibition for more information.
Bro Gym is Back!
18 of Charlotte’s finest joined together for a Friday fun day workout bringing back the old family favorite – The Bro Gym!
THE THANG
Jog to parking lot for a warm up and partner up:
Partner 1 sprints a lap – Partner 2 jump squats. 10 hand slap merkins and flapjack x 2.
Partner 1 sprints a lap – Partner 2 sister mary Catherine’s or alt lunges and flapjack x 2.
Mosey to bro gym area – 45 secs on and 15 off. Various exercises with equipment.
Medicine ball merkin circle.
Mary
COT
YE OLDE NAKED MOLESKINE
Today was the day to bring back the Bro Gym. In that little shed if you can get past the dust and the cobwebs and the smell of cat (hopefully) urine there is a treasure trove of fitness equipment. Stretchy bands with handles, medicine balls, shot puts, rusty weight bars and even an old wind bike all of which are ideal for putting together a fun Friday workout. Mix that with some Eminem, the headlights of a Hyandai Sonata, and 18 sweaty men you have a pretty intimidating looking group.
It began with a partner warm up which involved a little touching but not the Joker kind! Hand slap merkins then lead into partner burpees with a double high five or partner chest bump whatever the preference. The size of your partner helped decide on that one as pax like Turkey Leg and myself may have bumped into something less appealing than the chest of a middle aged man. Coordination was a huge factor on this one and some modified and I don’t blame them!
Nightcourt looked a little spent today within the first 11 minutes of the workout as he said he was on the verge of losing his breakfast. Witch Dr enjoyed leading the springs thanks to Rhapsody and Cage decided to go against the flow and run the opposite way to the rest of the group! Rachel and Purell were cruising after a 3 mile pre run where they came back hardly sweating!
Have a great weekend. Thanks for the privilege of leading.
Cheers,
BD