Rain snow sleet or hail… it does not matter to BullWinkle or I.. in fact, for some crazy reason, BW typically comes out in the worst weather possible: so, I was surprised to see him this morning when the weather was so amazing for F3 standards, but glad he posted to hold me accountable today.
(52 degrees, low humidity, and cloudless morning allowing YHC to enjoy seeing the dawn stars)
Limited audience this morning for a partner workout made it really quick and easy to explain what was going to take place. Called out the Disclaimer and we took off on a Circuit workout geared to enable all fitness levels the ability to push themselves as well as partnering up to create accountability.
Together, Bullwinkle and YHC completed 5 laps of the below circuit around Stalling Elementary School for a total of 2.04 miles.
The Thang: (LBCs as the 6 hold exercise vs plank… I really dislike planks)
Station 1:
15 dips at the outside lunch room tables (Run to next station)
Station 2:
15 partner leg throws (doing you best to ensure your feet do not touch the ground through entire set) (Run to next station)
Station 3:
Catch your breath with a People’s chair up against back wall with 15 civilian count air presses (Run to next station)
Station 4:
15 WW2 sit-ups at front left corner of school (Run to next station)
Station 5:
Plank walk hand-over-hand down 2 curb sections straight into 10 burpees at front entry of school. (Run to next station)
Rinse and repeat until 6:10am
MoleSkin:
Like all other AOs I am sure the challenges at Conviction are the same. As the Q, creating a Boot Camp beat down ahead of time that can accommodate an unknown number of variables from weather, to PAX size, to PAX condition, to last minute AO modifications. Yet at the end of the Boot Camp, no matter what, as a Q or Site Q’s you make sure to have left no man behind, challenge leaders to push themselves just a little bit harder, strengthened our shield bonds, and always end with the COT. As an F3 gypsy, YHC has been to 6 different Regions this year and I can tell you that all the Regions have their own flavor of COT. However, I have recently seen some AOs that have decided to “Skip” this part and F1 until the last minute. After church this past Sunday, YHC had an excellent conversation with Dredd and Borland on the foundations of the COT to conclude the F3 workouts that I wish I could have recorded. (to sum it up for you) As leaders, we need to make sure we are not reinforcing this action. The foundation of Fellowship and Faith are part of the 3-legged stool that make up the 3 F’s for us. If you are allowing just F1 at your AO then you need to ask yourself why and it may be a good time to review the Foundations of F3. Here you go… I will help you with the link: https://f3nation.com/f3-foundation/
MAJOR T-CLAPs to BullWinkle today on pushing himself through the Leg throws. You killed it brother!!!
See you all in the Gloom real soon!!
Respectfully,
Gypsy
Glad to pull in and see Tagalong placing the actual shovel flag firmly in the terra firma. She was waving proudly. A few pre-runners. Bunker, Enron, Gumbo, Frasier, perhaps. Dark and difficult to see across lot as they came in. Rest of the crew arrived by vehicle. YHC disclaimed the group and we took off. YHC mentioned the real shovel flag, right? That should be a thing.
Mosey past the movie theatre front doors and into the lot in front of Jersey Mike’s in the general vicinity of where Smoke used to be. Last time YHC Q’d at Stonecrest, COP was completed with the sumptuous smell of BBQ wafting through the air. A thing of beauty that is no more.
COP
SSH x 10 IC
IW x 10 IC
Smurf Jack x 10 IC
Imperial Squat Walker x 10 IC
Mountain Climber x 10 IC
Merkin x 10 IC
Peter Parker x 10 IC
Mosey up to Elm. Hang a right, then a left on Elmstone, aka, Murderhorn. Continue mosey to Elmstone Park rock pile. Grab the biggest lifting rock you can handle.
Rock Set
Civilian cadence. Curl x 10/Overhead Press x 10/Tri Ext x 10/Curl x 10/Overhead Press x 10/Tri Ext x 10/Rockee x 10 OYO
AYG up Murderhorn to 2nd street light on the right. Mosey back.
Rock Set
Curl x 10/OH Press x 10/Tri Ext x 10/Repeat/10 Rockees OYO
AYG to 1st street light and back to rocks.
Rock Mary
Rock stays pressed above chest. Feet stay up.
Flutter x 10 IC/Dolly x 10 IC/LBC x 10 IC/Chest Press x 10 IC/Hold/5 Rockees OYO
Mosey up Murderhorn. Stop at each street light and complete 10 Merkin OYO. Stop at Thorncrest.
Plank-o-rama. RAH/RLH/10 Count/Flapjack/6 inches/RLH/10 Count/Flapjack/10 Count.
Rosebriar Loops
AYG Clockwise around Rosebriar. Stop at each of 3 islands.
Loop 1- 5 Hand-Release Burpees
Loop 2- 10 Heels to Heaven
Burpees to wait for the six.
Mosey across Elm to Launch Lot. Circle up.
Mary
Freddie Mercury x 10 IC. Hold 6 inches.
Flutter x 50 IC. Hold.
Dolly x 30 IC. Flip over to High Plank.
Merkin x 10 IC.
Alternating Shoulder Taps x 10
Alternating Rib Shots x 10
Alternating Hip Slaps x 10
COT
Moleskin
Right out of the gate in the initial mosey, Haze started providing motivating chatter (aka, Talking Smack) to Frasier. Haze was out in front of Frasier and seemed to think he could stay there throughout the workout. Very bold statement, IMO, but, Haze has been crushing the runs lately. He is in good shape and regularly out front. The head to head competition played out like this, to the best of my memory:
Mosey to COP: Frasier
1st AYG to 2nd Stop Light from Rocks and back: Haze
2nd AYG to 1st Stop Light from Rocks and back: Haze, by a horsehair with Frasier closing fast.
Merkin Mosey up Murderhorn: Tie
1st Rosebriar loop: Frasier
2nd Rosebriar Loop: Frasier
Mosey back to launch: Haze
Todays’s champ: Haze
YHC appreciates the motivating chatter this morning. This is why we get up in the morning, and, why we get better. You get faster by running with faster men. Encourage the guy next to you. Better yet, challenge him. Disclaimer: above results unofficial and subject to audit by any and all pax present.
Wingman showed some fast twitch on the AYG runs and up Murderhorn. No Show and Bunker as well. Group stayed together for the most part. Glad to meet Zekeface. He had to explain the name. Now I get it. Strong work out there today men. Thanks for the invitation to Q a fine group of hard-working men.
Announcements
Camping at Cane Creek. F3 Dads. Friday and Saturday nights this week. See camping channel in Slack or hit up Frasier for details. We have 3 campsites reserved.
Day Zero: Song, Scripture, and Prayer for Jennings Palmer. 04/19/2018 at 7:30 at RTS Charlotte Chapel. 2101 Carmel Road. All are welcome. Jennings is receiving a bone marrow transplant to help treat his leukemia.
7 PAX welcomed the 20+ degree weather shift and a Paper Jam Q at Anvil this morning. A Mermaid inspired disclaimer was provided and we were off. A short mosey over to the South Charlotte Library for:
COP:
SSH x 15, flutter x 15, IW x 15, flutter x 15, LSS x 15, flutter x 15
THE THANG:
(4) In the parking lot near the front entrance of the library, 4 corners using the traffic island. Diamond Merkins, Regular Merkins, Wide Arm Merkin, Hand Release Merkins. 3 rounds, increasing reps, 10x, 15x, 20x.
(3) Mosey back to Calvary Campus using the sidewalk down Rea Rd and up the driveway to find the rock pile. Divide into teams of 3 for a triangle grinder. Carry the rock a little way to form the triangle. Station 1: rock curls, Station 2, bench dips in the hot box, Station 3, pull ups at the playground. The group at the rock pile leads the way. Two rounds.
(2) Put the rocks back and mosey to the benches near the main church entrance to work on legs. 2 exercises. Split Squats on Q count (15 reps 2 sets) and Step Ups (10 reps then 15 reps each leg). Then 2 stretches for the hamstrings.
(1) Return to the launch site where each PAX calls 1 exercise of Mary. Finish with 1 round of elbow plank.
MOLESKIN:
This was my first appearance at Anvil in quite some time and may have been my first time Qing at this site.
Lorax fought off the fart sack and end of tax season to post and I “lapped” both Brilleaux and Rachel in a called exercise. The called exercise was a hamstring stretch. The rest of the morning they were ahead of me. Good to meet Hammer. Purell and Snooka killed it as usual.
Thank you Lorax for the take out and I appreciate the opportunity to lead.
Bear Crawl Bridge
Twelve pax braved the unseasonably cold morning to face Bear Crawl Bridge. While Watchtower isn’t a new AO, we’ve been discovering new pleasantries to entertain the Pax with. Today was no exception. Variety is the spice of life as they say.
Warm up:
Thang:
Today was about new beginnings. This is a tough crowd that demands fresh F3 experiences. I mean let’s face it, the Pax in this group fixate on discussions about “man touching” and insist that if it has nipples “it can be milked”. You don’t leave Pax like that idle to their own devices. Am I right or am I right? A good Q recognizes the peril in that and quickly seeks to begin the beat down. Taking a page from the AMRAP, we played with a trial run of an AMRAP”ish” solo course.
So, note to self at the conclusion of this experiment was that we should have repeated 4-5 times instead of 3. However, that left time to play.
Still some time left on the clock!
Finally, we burned up the remaining minutes and circled up for some brief Mary
Moleskin:
Announcements:
As this was a week old, and posted after the following week’s Backblast, it will be used as an attendance record for the most part. What was recalled is that the hills of Ballantyne Corp Place were used over intervals of:
The last 5min was skipped due to “time running out”.
Total time at VO2Max Pace was 23min. Total time the previous week over same pace intervals on flat ground was 20minutes (5 x 4min intervals). Progression – check!
Cobains if you aren’t on Strava or your name isn’t Paper Jam. Otherwise, your attendance will have to be recorded in the Comments and I can update list of PAX later.
12 PAX headed off from the Vine Parking lot at 0515 on Tuesday into a mosey over to the very familiar Bull Ring. 2 PAX surprised us there to round out our merry band this morning. 1 PAX was REALLY late.
The THANG:
The Moleskin:
Announcements:
Upon learning of my upcoming Q the night before (thanks Alf), I knew I had to stick to what I enjoy and knew best. Despite the new AO, I wanted to go old school FT and hit some Raintree hills. So that’s what we did. After admiring everyone’s winter wear, gloves and hats required at 32 degrees, I gave the disclaimer and off we went, here’s what we did…
Mosey out of the parking lot and turned left to enjoy the brief slight decline followed by the uphill to the 4 way intersection on Raintree Ln and 4 Mile Creek. Circled up for COP: SSH, IW x 20 followed by 10 merkins OYO. Mosey down Raintree to the top of Windbluff. Instructions were to run down Windbluff to Providence and back x2, with 10 merkins on Providence side and 10 jump squats on Raintree side. Be sure to get the six meet back here….go!
Upon completion we moseys back up Raintree to the 4 Mile intersection. Did a quick sprint down to bottom of 4 Mile Creek (500 yards) for 10 merkins then back up. Mosey back toward AO but wait, there’s more. Quick run backwards up Whitethorn Rd. Then AYG back to Latin lot.
MOLESKIN:
Pretty simple yet effective workout. Since I’m lacking any speed, I wanted to stretch the group out, let the gazelles do their thing while the rest of us can tempo the distance. 6.2 miles, not bad. Strong group today. The handful of merkins were enough to please Pop Tart. We learned Purple Haze MUST wear gloves due to his “sensitive fingers”. We were pleased to see Astro daunting his red beanie. I hadn’t seen Uncle Rico in awhile…and only saw him a little on the course, he’s fast! Margo kept me company down the stretch with a strong pace. Good to see Cheese Curd again, but he ditched us early to see if he could be the lucky caller on his favorite morning radio show. Duct Work, One Eye and Retread worked hard, kept the merkins legit. Purell led the squad with Rachel a close second, only because of his unplanned “pit stop” behind the Arbo pond #eww.
Back at the lot we met up with Hawk’s Nest led by Header, another great turnout for that post.
Thoughts and prayers go out to Jennings, Bout’ Time’s 3 year old son, who’s scheduled for his marrow transplant (from his sister) this Thursday. Hug your kids, kiss your spouse, call a family member, be thankful for everything, take nothing for granted.
6 PAX refused to fartsack on a frozen spring morning at Thrive at Carolina Courts: Bernanke, Thurston, Hoffa, Glass Joe, Shepherd, Bonhoeffer
The Warmup
34 sidestraddle hops to kick things off. Took a lap around the parking lot doing 34 sidestraddle hops at each parking median (34=17 x 2).
The Thang (all workouts taken from page 17 of the Lexicon because it’s the 17th)
Moleskine
Apparently, spring means it can still be freezing cold, and apparently, that means lots of PAX enjoy breathing in their own fartsacks.
It became apparent that Page 17 of the Lexicon gives too many PAX prison flashbacks.
Glass Joe was in rare quiet form. Except when he was complaining about forgetting his long-sleeve shirt. #Irony #SomePeopleAren’tVerySmart
Shepherd confessed that he purposefully avoids Qing workouts, but he’s going to make it up by doing one a month for the rest of 2018.
El fin.
Announcements:
Posted on behalf of Orlando
http://www.f3metro.com/2018/04/10/masters-of-the-streets/
4 SOBs ignored the high winds, cold weather, and running in the Boston Marathon to post at Blakovery. With Bunker at the helm, we launched towards Ardrey Kell to cover new ground. In case you don’t have a fancy watch, this is where we went:
THE THANG:
Run up Ardrey Kell Rd until reaching Lorenzo’s Pizza and make a sharp left turn onto Longstone Lane. Then a left on Sedgemoor Lane, then make a left to cross over Marvin Rd. Go into a different neighborhood and Southhampton Drive. Run for awhile and then make a right onto Highlands Crossing Drive, right onto Commons Crossing Drive, left on Wade Ardrey Rd then right into another neighborhood onto Woodland Watch Ct. Keep on Woodland and make a left on Tamarron Drive, left onto North Community House and right onto Ardrey Kell and back to launch for a quick 5 minutes of stretching.
MOLESKIN:
Bunker executed a PR Q-Jack from Bratwurst the night before. It was either his legendary running ability or his new route that found every long hill in Blakeney that scared off the regular crowd but Strawberry made his Blakovery debut.
Good thing Bunker thought ahead and wore his red blinkie lights so Strawberry and I could still track them 50 yards or so ahead of us.
I can see this being added to our Monday repertoire.
It is tough enough keeping up with the likes of Bunker and Wingman on flat ground let alone hills and valleys. At one point I thought it was Thursday and I was at Devil’s Turn. I’m just glad I looked up in time to avoid the 10,000 pound back hoe that was parked on the sidewalk.
COT:
This morning instead of the traditional prayer, each PAX said one thing he was grateful for. Then, in order to help change our perspective, we thought about something challenging we are facing and silently meditated about how we can be grateful for that rough spot in our life.
I am forever grateful for the Monday runs but more importantly the things I learn each week from the men that post.