As the popularity of a 5 mile recovery run grows in SOB Land, 12 PAX eagerly awaited instructions from Bratwurst for the start Blakovery. At 5:15 the Flat Branch route was declared and we were off and this is where we went:
THE THANG:
Thru the parking lot to McDonalds, across Rea Rd. to Tolleson Ave, right on Bullock Greenway Blvd., left on James Blakeney Ave, right on Alexander Martin, right on Alma Blount Rd, right on Darcy Hopkins, (past Paper Jam’s street), left on Dennington Grove, right on to Bryant Farms, left onto Lacken and left onto Providencetown Dr all the way to Williams Pond. Cross Rea Rd, left on Elm, left on Blakeney Heath, left on Parks Farm Ln to Rea Rd and back to the AO for stretching led by Wingman.
MOLESKIN:
It was one of those mornings where everything in me wanted to fartsack. It is Monday, lingering cold and congestion, and #Imnotaruunerstill. I had already committed to picking up a chain saw from Bratwurst this morning, so there was no excuse. I knew it was going to be a slow morning and as I quickly surveyed the crowd, I figured another short cut was in order or I needed to bring a head set and listen to some music as I would be alone.
It was just about that time when the fast guys separate from the slow guys (and when I say slow guys I mean me) when I noticed Picasso to my left. He was sporting a fancy watch that one of the fast guys tricked him into getting, but he could see I was struggling and decided to run at my pace. So for the next 30 plus minutes a discussion about entrepreneurship ensued. For someone getting ready to take the leap, talking with someone who understood the fear that comes with the leap was truly God ordained. The discussion was filled with words of encouragement, wisdom and practical application to running. It it one of many Holy Spirit moments I have experienced at Blakovery just because I decided to show up instead of staying home and because someone else showed up too.
Thanks again Wingman for leading the stretching and Doc McStuffins for taking us out.
Never quit on the way up the hill, because once you get over the top, you won’t quit on the way down.
Enjoy the rest of the week and see you next Monday.
I was originally supposed to Q The Brave like 2 months ago. After the meanest calf injury of my life and asking Tuck and Thin Mint to push me back multiple times when it didn’t heal, I finally got it together and got it done. Really appreciate everyone’s patience and it was great to be back. Of course, after falling badly out of shape, I was scared to death to Q this workout. So disclaimer nervously given and here we go:
Mosey across the street to parking deck. Warm up with: 10 windmills, 10 low slow squats, 10 seal merkins, 10 Aquamans, 20 “2nd bases.” (if these last three are new to you, check out my instructional video YouTube. yeah right.)
Run the deck twice. At the top of ramp 1, do 20 seal merkins, ramp 2 20 Aquamans, ramp 3 50 2nd Bases. These exercises done together are good for core strength and shoulder mobility.
Long mosey all the way to the exercise trail. Couple of stops for LBCs, peoples’ chair on the bridge, and we slalomed the trees on one of the hills. Nice job by the PAX of staying together on a pretty long hike.
Pullup challenge: On the exercise trail, use both sets of bars and run from one to the other in between sets. Total of 3 laps/6 sets see how many you can get. If memory serves me, Rachel took it home with 43. Several PAX in the high 30s.
Mary until everyone is done. Then finish the workout with 20 CDDs, run Bagpipe Hill, 15 CDDs, run down, 10 CDDs, run up, 5 CDDs. Then run back to the launch. It was a tight squeeze to fet back by 6:15!
Moleskin: Total of 5.2 miles. Very little complaining. Pop Tart was a beast. He told me to write that though. Peace.
Announcements: Pool Party next Friday!!!!!!!! Cost is $40, bring the whole family and get pizza and beer. Great way to support The Sandbox and have some 2nd F. Here’s the link to paypal the $: http://paypal.me/f3sob.
8 men posted up at Area 51 this morning. The grounds were saturated and steam was rising from the fields. It wouldn’t take long to break a sweat.
At first it looked like a small crowd with just 3 of us at the starting point, then in the last 90 seconds a caravan of 5 more cars pulled in. A brief disclaimer for a bunch of vets and off we were heading out towards the firehouse, making the first left into the neighborhood.
Circle up for SSH, then mosey to the end of the street.
Circle up for some IW. I got distracted with the mumble chatter and forgot that I was the Q and had to call cadence. Lets just say we did some of these.
Mosey on through the back entrance to the fields and up onto the back lot. Circle up for merkins and mountain climbers.
Mosey to the field. Going the full distance for the beast. 6 merkins at the first light post, 6 merkins at the 2nd light post and 6 on the sidewalk on the other side. Repeat on the way back.
By this point I had heard enough of the nagging, talk back, plans for a coup, and downright mutiny because the shoes got a bit wet and muddy. So we moved the remainder of the beast over to the pavement. Jump Squats, Dry Docks, Lunges, Monkey Humpers, and the burpee finisher.
Mosey over to the track. Stop at the wall for some peoples chair and arm raises while we wait for a woman to finish her lap and move off the track. At the track partner up. P1 runs the loop and catches up to P2 who is broad jumping down the track. Repeat for 2 laps each. Again. More complaining about broad jumping.
Mosey over to the tires in the back of the school. 25 full sit-ups. run down to the railing on the path ~50 yards and dow 25 merkins. Come back for 20 sit-ups and back to 20 merkins. Repeat for 15, 10 and 5.
Back around the school so we didn’t get our feet wet. Plank with feet on the wall. A couple of rounds of 6″ with feet on the wall.
Over to the playground for the Joker special: 10 pull-ups, 20 jump squats and 30 dips. Two times through.
Circle up for Mary: Freddy Mercury, Dolly, Glue Bridge, LBC, LBC Right, LBC Left
Done.
Moleskine.
You know who complained? The fast guys Joker and McGee. Joker who wears a white shirt and new shoes to a muddy AO and then complains. McGee, at 32, is apparently too old to get dirty. You know who didn’t complain? The Respects, O’T and Beaver. In fact O’T smoked everyone on the burpee section of the Beast and Beaver was one of the only guys to do broad jumps his whole turn on the track – and he had his hip replaced last year.
Turkey Leg was hanging around and working hard, still working out 6 days a week while trying to recover from a pulled groin and knee issues. High Tide came out to McKee Road for his first time EVER. He had never been to Area 51 or The Matrix. Welcome out, you should come back again sometime. Huggie Bear held down the fort for the site Q’s as Abacus was out on some personal business this weekend.
All in all, a great workout and a lot of sweat was soaked into all our shirts this morning. Thanks for joining me this morning.
-Alf
It was Wednesday, so we kept it simple just grinded for 45, no need for anything special.
The Thang
COP in place
Mosey to Avenue of Trees
Run Avenue with 15 Merkins at the end 5x
Run Avenue with 20 squats at the end 5x
Pax was now 1 mile in
Paused here for a few minutes of Mary
Mosey to entrance near 51
AYG to big rock, 5 burpees
AYG back, 10 burpees
AYG to big rock, 15 burpees
Pax now at 2+ miles
Mosey to middle of lot, partnered up, P1 lunge walks while P2 10 merkins, jogs to catch up, swap. Continue out and back.
Mosey to launch with teaser fly by, gather for one last sprint to cars.
Pax finished with 3+ miles
Moleskine
The plan for this morning came to me after watching several of my 2.0’s middle school track meets. The kids were only allowed to participate in 3 events, so figured it would be a great idea for the Joust Pax to complet all of the track events w/30-60 seconds of plank as the rest/recovery. It was marvelous. After a disclaimer was issued, Kirk arrived from the Run In, and Gummy finished tying his shoes away we went. here is what went down under clear skies.
Warm up jog down to track – circle up for warm up (no SSH’s because we know Gummy doesn’t do them)
Iwx20
Merkins x20
Squatx15
Close grip merkin x15
1 lap warm up
W Regular, butt kicker, high knees and a little lunge walk back to start
Track work done at or near 5k pace
100 meters – regular plank
200 meters – elbow plank
400 meters – left arm high right arm high
800 meters – plank 6 inches (walk the curve to recover)
1600 meters -Plankarama
Partner up for upper body circuit at top of bleachers
P1 runs down stairs around bleacher and back up
P2 merkins flapjack
Rd 2 decline merkins
Rd 3 incline merkins
Rd 4 dips
Core circuit
P1 20 hanging knee raises
P2 lbc flapjack
Rd2 flutter
Run back to launch point for Freddie Mercury x20 IC. That was a wrap.
Announcements –
F3Dads starts this Saturday at Beatty Park –
Speed for need 4 miler on July 4th
Moleskin: Spending a good bit of time on the track this morning probably wasn’t what most wanted to do on Fun Friday, but you could tell Chinmusic was all over it. His quest for sub 5min miler is in full swing and a little track work certainly couldn’t hurt. He was flying on each of the distances. Great to meet Seaworld and Beaker, strong work by both. Hope everyone had a good time out there and thank you for letting me lead. Happy Early 30th bday to the site Q Yeti – and thank you for letting me lead. Till next time,
Fletch
13 Men of Area 51 posted at The Centurion, CCHS to see what a newly minted 55 year old man had to offer.
Warm-O-Rama:
The Thang: All single count and 55 at that…
Mary:
Mermaid suggested early on to double my age in burpees. That would just be wrong, so I deep six’d that thought. The thought of that did scare off Chelms though. I heard some chatter about all of my 55 counts, but I stuck with the plan. Guess I could have done 28 in cadence throughout, but it slipped my new 55 year old mind at 0530.
As said, the mumblechatter was not something I didn’t really hear this am as I was trying to keep this hardcore group moving. All were strong, Mermaid, Hops, Brilleau, Scabby out up front, Uncle Phil and Uncle Rico, smoking it. Purple Haze keeping us in check, ThunderRoad, Abba, Tagalong and No-Show also providing color and Snuka always keeps me running too, respect my man! Respect to all of you!
Speaking of age, some say it is only a number. Well, it appears to me that 55 is a big number and it has definitely snuck up on me. I honestly only feel 40 and running around with this great group down here is certainly challenging and rewarding. I have made some great friends in the 1 1/2 year that I have been here and I am truly grateful.
7 years strong with F3 and I am grateful to this brotherhood. We treat each and all with mutual respect, regard and honor.
Enjoy your weekend guys!
Shoe
With me going to the beach next week and I am sure others will follow as we head into summer we needed a good all around beatdown to get #Swole and impress the M. here is how it went…
Lets mosey for a quick #HairbandMile
COT:
SSH x 25
IW x 25
Little arm circles 10 forward, 10 backwards
big arm circles 10 forward, 10 backwards
Low Slow Squat x 15
Grab the bells and head to the curb closest to the school
The THANG:
ROUND 1
ROUND 2
ROUND 3
ROUND 4
ROUND 5
ROUND 6
5MOM
Flutters x 25
Rosalita x 20
Backscratchers x 20
DONE!
This is a tweaked/recycled version of an old Tiger Rag Q at Skunkworks, it was a solid beatdown and not much mileage but around 1.5 miles with the running we did do.
Great to see Playoffs back at it after an extended break due to job change etc.
Great work by all out there, and while we do bust chops at any workout, when I talk about form at Overdrive it is out of concern for safety. Gear is a different beast and I don’t want anyone getting hurt out there. If we need to do another KB 101 type thing we will.
Always an honor to lead, AYE!
Hair Band
Let’s cut to the chase…despite all the rainy weather lately including a Thursday night deluge, 22 PAX vowed to make the most of Fun Friday at Kevlar and were greeted with perfect weather…perfect for running around a big church and picking up heavy objects repeatedly. So here’s how it went down:
Mosey out of the lot clockwise into Covenant Day and around the entire campus where I pointed out 4 exercise stations identified with two orange cones (Walmart $5) and provided guidance what to do there. After one full lap, we circled up for SSH x 20, IW x 20, LS Squats x 20, Wide Arm merkin x 10, Diamond merkin x 10. From there we divided into two groups to spread out and began an AMRAP adventure.
Station #1: 25 Merkins
Station #2: 15 Thrusters with 40# sandbags
Station #3: 25 LBC’s
Station #4: 20 Curls and 20 Overhead extensions with Cinder Blocks ($1.72 each at Lowes)
(Meet back at launch, do some mary while you wait).
MOLESKIN:
So I’m pulling cinder blocks out of my car in the lower lot when a truck pulls up and asks me where the Kevlar start is…didn’t recognize the truck or the guy. I pointed him in the right direction and thought, “Cool, someone new.” I found out later is was Grave Dancer. Upon arriving at the official launch…whoa!…the cars kept coming in…22 PAX is a huge group for Kevlar…and lots of new faces (or maybe I just don’t remember them) like Godfather, Nuke, Minor League, Pickle, Pavarotti, Pleats, Ramen…thank you for showing up. Great age mix which has become the norm, 18 to 49. Lots of regulars and seasoned veterans out there also (Coldcuts, Busch, Bulldog, Harley, Turkey Leg, Puddin Pop and Luthor, et al…). Last week, Orange Whip told me to “bring it” so I wanted to push hard and I like the AMRAP format. And with a group that big…it works out to spread out that many PAX. I was a little iffy/vague on how many reps, didn’t want to wimp out but the sandbags get really heavy real fast. I was making sure we’re all coming when I was a little surprised to see OW leading half the group in perfect marching formation…not sure if they ever spread out or not, my half of the group dissolved after one station…or at least I fell back pretty quick. I think the group averaged three full laps maybe with an extra station or two for a few go-getters. Total mileage around 3 and change. Shoulders and hamstrings…check!
Announcements:
F3 Dads at Col. Francis Beatty park Saturday am…check Twitter or Slack for details.
Thanks to Squid for the takeout prayer.
6 guys showed up for the Madison themed AO that lets us visit the best sights, sounds and even smells of Downtown Matthews.
We encountered neighbors, bus stop people, pizza grease and even a hobo who we affectionately named “Homeless Guy”.
Very experienced, yet clever group so I did a disclaimer just to be sure I didn’t have to use my $1m umbrella policy on a Thursday. I’m saving it for something special – like a freak trampoline accident.
Headlamps up…
The Thang
Run to Brakeman’s coffee shop lot (corner one), and did a long lap over to W. Matthews St. and back up to downtown Matthews, ending back at Brakeman’s to show the route.
Round 1 – Corner 1 – Derkins (20), Corner 2 (Wide Arm), Corner 3 (Tight Grip), Corner 4 (Hand release or Diamond)
Round 2 – Corner 1 – Step ups (20), Corner 2 – Knee Tucks (20), Corner 3 – Sister MC (20), Corner 4 Cross Country Skier (20)
Pizza Peel
Took the PAX on a hot lap around our next route and had to motion to the “Homeless Guy” sleeping in the alleyway. I typically yell “car!”, “curb!”, but things get awkward when you have to let the PAX know not to step on somebody. We realized why he chose this spot, the smell of warm pizza grease from Pizza Peel could nurse anyone to sleep. Unfortunately I had to change my plan due to the infringement.
Partner up – 20 hand slap sit ups, both run stairs, 15 hand slap sit ups – both run stairs, 10 hand slap situps – both run stains
Old Town Matthews
Went to my house on Freemont St. where I had some coupons (pavers) lined up at the end of my driveway.
40 shoulder raises – run to the stop sign, 40 curls – run to the stop sign, 40 shoulder presses – run to stop sign
Greenway
Ran down roughly 1 mile – we had 11 minutes to get back so we scrapped most of my plans and ended back to the top lot at 5:14 to meet up with Peak 51.
Moleskine
PAX was strong here all morning with 5.25 miles in 60 minutes with a lot of stops included. Everyone kept pace with Madison leading the charge.
We got into a discussion about Arena’s name and how Wabbit was perfect. HH suggested Warena? This could be the very rare case where we let Arena decide what he wants to be called after 3 name changes. Apparently he was first called some dirty calculator name (?) which made my mind wander for the rest of the workout. TI-69? AlegeBras? Hard Division? XXX? BOOBS (ya know – 80085)?
What the heck was it!?!?
HH texted me the night before to make sure I had incorporated stops for “puke breaks”, he didn’t need it though
Wild Turkey was a Site FNG and pushed hard – especially up the hills – which seemed like most of the workout.
Wild Turkey also stepped on a pot hole that spewed out Pizza Grease – we could smell it the entire time we were running the stairs.
Madison has signed up for every race in the South if you’re looking to get more involved in races. Not sure if he does strength days anymore but he at least looks as strong as I’ve seen him.
Gypsy mentioned something like he wasn’t able to post on Sunday. Slacker. His last day after many years at Windstream is tomorrow – changing his life one event at a time – congrats!
This was my second 5:15am Q in the past two days so tomorrow is going to hurt.
Not only the fact that I can walk here from my house but this AO literally has endless opportunities. As much as I love Meathead, I think it’ll be my new Thursday since summer Meathead typically turns into my hands looking like rotting meat.
Fault Line has the Q at Kevlar tomorrow and he always brings the heat – make sure to come out tomorrow at 5:30 at Christ Covenant Church. Considering to re-start the 5:15 kettle bell warmup at Kevlar – any takers?
Out- Orange Whip