5 PAX were not afraid of a cold Saturday after Thanksgiving and posted da Vinci.
We did alot of arms, alot of abs and not alot of running.
We discovered a new exercise called the Mongolian Ab Chopper. If you want to know what it is you could ask the guys who showed up or have JRR Tolkien demonstrate.
Thank you for the take out Cul-De-Sac, y’all enjoy the rest of your weekend.
16.2 PAX from SOB, Area 51 and UC gathered at the fountains of Blakeney Shopping Center on a chilly Thanksgiving morning in anticipation of Devil’s Jam. A disclaimer was given and we were off. Mosey to the back parking lot near 131 Main for:
COP:
SSH x 10, 5 merkings OYO, IW x 10, 10 merkins OYO, LSS x 10
MOLESKIN:
Mosey to the corner of Fieldcroft Drive and Blakeney Heath Rd. This was our base for the boot camp portion of the workout. At base, diamond merkins (6 reps), run up Blakeney Health to the rock pile, grab a lifting rock for curls (16 reps) then run to the playground on the corner of Blakeney Dr for pull ups (6 reps). One way back to base stop to for set of rock curls (16 reps). At base, 6 more diamond merkins. Repeat for 3 rounds.
After the lifting stuff was done, it was time to get in some miles. Run down Blakeney Heath Rd, to Ardrey Kell, left on Ardrey Kell to Rea Rd, make a left and go up Rea Rd. and try and make it to Parks Farm Lane. At each street corner stop and do 6 merkins.
At 7:15 everyone turn around and return to the fountains for mary. Exercises chosen by various PAX. Haggis (heels to heaven) Crab Cakes (American hammer), Wingman (dolly), Bratwurst (side plank leg lift) and then someone chose some merkin type activity (I had to run to get my phone) and we were done.
MOLESKIN
As promised we would lift things, and run at least 3 miles. We made it to 4.5 miles. Everyone pushed hard. It was great to see 2.0s: Messi (Bunker) and Howie (Bratwurst). I was able to keep up with Howie for a short while but there was no way I could hang with Messi. The next generation of F3 looks strong.
There was a cross section of SOBs, UCs and Area 51 guys. It was good to see Crab Cake again, I forgot how much he complains about running. The UC was well represented and as always the SOB guys were in force.
The .2 were calculated as Haggis and Frasier. Apparently they had their own “track” workout that started at 6am and Haggis joined us for mary and the COT.
We ended the morning with each PAX expressing what they were thankful for: God’s faithfulness, a new set of twins on the horizon, F3 fellowship, and family topped the list.
As always, it is a humbling privilege to lead a great group of men. Happy Thanksgiving y’all. I am ready to eat!!!
As YHC arrived at the AO 10 minutes before the workout began, he found the parking lot empty. YHC thought, could it be that:
1. YHC has beaten everyone else to the workout? NO WAY!
2. That YHC might be the only one to show up?
Surely, with today being a normal workday, the PAX would treat it as such…
YHC’s illusions of a one man AO were soon thwarted as Woody and then Hairband showed up in short succession.
5:30 arrived and soon 3 PAX took off on a light mosey around the parking lot
As the 3 made it to the front of the school, another vehicle arrived, a minivan. Considering it was not a school day, I found it odd that a parent would be this absent minded, oh wait that’s not a parent of a Stallings kid, it was another PAX
COP:
Leg Stretches ( Right, Center, Left)
Arm Stretches (Each Arm, 10 count)
Sun Gods (10 forward, 10 Back)
15 x Windmills IC
Oh look it’s Radar
15 x SSH IC
15 x Imperial Walkers IC
Since we had a late arrival, the penalty would be 5 burpees but this being a moderate AO, we tried something different:
5 x Squat Complex OYO (Squat down come up, squat again slowly sprawl out and do a push up,come up)
Mosey to the playground
The Thang:
Running Plus Stations. 3 Stations
Station 1: Alabama Ass Kickers On Swings
Station 2 : Step Ups On Tables
Station 3: Supine Pull Ups
Timer: PAX That Runs AYG to front of the lot and back and then to side and back After all 4 pax have finished, Stations change
Station 1: Inverted Rows On Swings
Station 2: Dips On Tables
Station 3: Decline Merkins
Timer remains the same
Jack Webb count to 8 in grass area next to playground
Line up against the wall
People’s chair, people’s arm raises x 50
Grumble chatter about arms not being able to drive after this getting louder by the minute
Balls to the wall 15 count
People’s Chair, people’s arm raises x 100
Balls to the wall, 15 count
Mosey to the front of the lot
Deconstructed Burpees countdown from 7
However by the time the PAX got down to 5, it appeared we were all out of gas and, apparently time.
Quick Mosey to parking lot for quick 2 minute Mary
COT
Announcements:
Lamont on Q @ Overdrive on Friday
Thursday AO @ Socrates is closed , plenty of turkey trots in A51 and a football game @ Elon Park with SOB
Madison on Q @ Outland
Glass Joe? @ ShutesPond (Monroe)
Moleskine:
I am thankful, on this holiday for F3 and having the opportunity to come out of into the gloom with other PAX and workout and share in the pain. I also honored to lead when the opportunity is had. Good effort out by everyone who showed up. Kotters to Woody who showed up and fought through his recovering foot injury. May everyone have a happy thanksgiving and I look forward to start again next week,finishing the year off in the gloom
My long awaited VQ at Meathead finally arrived. Just so happened to be on Thanksgiving. And with that said, I had a slower than normal work day on Wednesday to research and come up with a creative strategy for the kettlebell intensive workout. Well it turns out, there’s not a whole lot of room for creativity or variations on the classic movements. I considered filling the time with rogue hot laps around the school parking lot; but didn’t want to upset Voodoo or Witch Doctor. So after a thorough disclaimer, here’s what we did:
Warmup: SSH x 10, IW x 10, Merkins x 10
The Plan: Three rounds, do each exercise in order, follow the rep count posted (modify as needed to keep good form). If you finish all three rounds, ladder back down or start over with round one.
Swings – 20, 30, 40
Upright Rows – 20, 30, 40
Goblet Squats – 10, 15, 20
Shoulder Press (each arm) – 10, 15, 20
Lawnmower Pull (each arm) – 10, 20, 30
Snatch (each arm) – 10, 15, 20
LBC – 50, 50, 50
Slosh Pipe – 40 yard carry – Rotate turns throughout workout
Moleskin: Voodoo, Rachel and High Tide joined me for a 3 mile pre-run to get the blood flowing. We re-entered the parking lot with a minute to spare to find 8 others anxiously waiting with their KB’s ready to go. A dozen PAX is a perfect size group, enough idle chatter yet focused enough to get the job done. I didn’t recognize Witch Doctor with his Holiday Beard in full effect. TL brought his brother-in-law Bulls Eye from MN for his annual holiday beatdown. Mad was sporting the rucksack to man up the workout a bit. And while I thought having the workout in writing on a nice sign was cool, I still failed with no workout music. Fortunately, Voodoo earned Site Q points and was prepared with his mini- speaker. It was a rough start with GNR November Rain but picked up with Korn, Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins and more. Of course, the 10 foot Slosh Pipe was my way of mixing things up. Always fun to watch PAX weaving and struggling…and it’s good exercise (core, back, arms, etc.). Soul Glow carried the pipe like a boss. Thanks to Witch Doctor and Voodoo for letting me lead. Thank you Young Love for the takeout prayer.
Announcements: Tomorrow, 7am Kevlar (Convergence with Joust), Covenant Day. You know you want to. Joe Davis run in early January, sign up, it’s a great event. F3 Area 51 Christmas Party, Friday December 8th, sign up link below…
25 PAX braved the cold and rain warm fog of a Dromedary November to make room in their pie pants for poultry and pie.
Warm-up:
Mosey to the COP
The THANG:
Black Snake Mosey to the Middle School lunch room for 4 Stations. PAX split into four groups and moved through the 3 static stations while one group ran around the Team Time field. Three rounds of the fun.
Mosey to the back area, which is actually the front of the middle school, for some Paula Abdul. Run two light poles forward, then one light pole back. On the forward light PAX did 8 merkins or Carolina Dry Docks and then did 4 burpees on the back light. Five forward lights with accompanying back lights.
Mosey back to the start to finish with LBFC x 16.
Moleskin:
YHC wanted a truly festive theme for this edition of Dromedary, but the best he could come up with “Cranberry Pickers” in the COP in place of the usual Cotton or Potato Pickers. Those who have attended YHC’s Qs before expect some kind of odd exercises that require a bit explanation and may result in some confusion – dare we say, they want it? And the PAX will not be disappointed. The Goofball is a standard that elicits much mumblechatter and breaks down the wall of self-consciousness. The Black Snake brought some more confusion, but the element of danger by weaving through the run line reminded us of the danger faced by Pilgrims of many nationalities as they go to a foreign land. Two or three minutes of dips is quite the beast and may need improvement in the future. And because there’s no solid Thanksgiving music, we honored a national treasure, Paula Abdul, with an exercise routine she has probably never done. The 8 merkins/Dry Docks represented her tenure on American Idol and the 4 burpees celebrated her 4 albums. (While it may be doubted, YHC had to dig for that because his knowledge of Ms. Abdul tapered off around 1993.) And to finish off with one more explanatory exercise, the PAX enjoyed some LBFCs just like the Pilgrims did between their deep-fried turkey and Harris Teeter pecan pies.
Ice Nine added to YHC’s state of confusion by counting in German, perhaps falsely believing that YHC understands any German beyond “Berliner.” YHC requested Spanish – el lengua de Dios – but that was not offered. Dasher suggested that the 1-legged squats are “Doggie Leg Lifts” and that motion was seconded. The track was damp which provoked nearly as much whining as the Pilgrims would when if they had had cable and it had gone out during Thanksgiving football. But, like Superman, the PAX powered through. Or like Batman for some – the Ben Affleck Batman.
The turnout was surprisingly strong today. Big t-claps to Bolt for turning on the speed and shamelessly leaving behind his coach, Jingles. Bolt may have also been the one who most understood and enjoyed the Goofball. YHC expects a spike in Paula Abdul on the Spotify playlists today, especially among the younger set who didn’t quite get what the aged were talking about. Johnny Utah carried us out in a strong way.
Announcements:
Prayers for the Howison family on the loss of their son. Also, keep in mind others in the area that have been through similar tragedies recently, especially as they hit the holidays without loved ones for the first time. Hug your kids, your parents, everyone.
18 of F3’s finest (17 better than YHC) were ready to burn some calories for a guilt free Thanksgiving. Purple Haze lamely didn’t take Mermaids bait to Q (nor did 15 other PAX) and thus YHC agreed to spare the PAX from another beat down by Mermaid (it was a smart call). I did attempt to deliver a hard workout for the PAX since they expected a Mermaid Q.
The Thang:
Mosey a bit through parking lot then COP with SSH, Merkins, Stagger R and L, Diamonds, Wide Arms all X10. Purple Haze didn’t even heckle my form – guess he was scared to throw wood on the fire that early.
Four corners in the parking lot with squat jumps, knee ups (not sure what half the PAX heard but they didn’t start with knee ups), merkins, and burpees – all to 10 except burpees to 5
Over to Pavillion for dips x15, merkins x10, and dips x20
Down to ball field for some “base running”. Bear crawl to 1st, burpee broad jump to 2nd, lunge walk to 3rd, and crab walk home. Rinse and repeat.
Jog up to rock pile and grab a lifting rock. In the parking lot we did:
Mosey over to church for some peoples chair and Balls to the Wall push ups until failure. PH knew I was not Protestant and brought up some rule about not touching the church walls. No wanting to offend the pastor (or God), YHC called an audible (although we had less than 1 minute left). Mosey back to cars for COT.
Naked Moleskin:
Barely got out of the fart sack this am much less came prepared to Q. Had been thinking on the way over how it had been a while since I Q’d so God (with Mermaid’s help) made it happen. It really was for Van Pelt since I saw his tweet about not wanting more HR burpees (which I never do – even when called). I would suggest other guys that don’t Q often make a point to push yourself by finding workouts to Q as it does help develop leadership skills and assist in getting closer to 10,000 fails (at least it does for me).
The usual suspects were out front although Turkey Leg was holding back (or recovering from Fast
Twitch). Snooka, as usual, we keeping up with the young guys – he is a freak of nature (or testosterone supplements really work). I should have added partner carries to the sprints (will remember for next time).
Announcements
Sign up now (really, stop reading this drivel and sign up right now) for the Area 51 Christmas party. YHC will be down range so not in attendance but I highly recommend.
Several runs, including Joe Davis, coming up so sign up and work on hitting a PR. Highly successful people set goals and go after em. Also, find an opportunity to lock shields with other F3 men and get out in our community and serve. See me if you need help in finding something.
Pray for Abba as his family is heading out on a great adventure – mission work in Thailand (that will be a hot as ba$#s place to work out).
As always, it was an honor to lead the PAX this am. God has given YHC more blessings than I deserve and leading workouts is one of them (even if my form stinks).
On November 11, Four primary teams pushing three chariots and countless support PAX ran the Charlotte Marathon Relay. Each leg was 4.2 to 6.2 miles and together covered the entire course.
Strong effort was put in by Tolkien and a crew to identify 14 kids with special needs to join us on the journey. At each leg riders and runners were transitioned out (Except for Owen who got to double down on two legs!)
Team Fast Twitch: Pop Tart, Gummy, Turkey Leg, Rachel, Rock Thrill, Tootie, Mermaid, Utah, Mr. Brady & Alf. Riders: JJ, Devon, Luke, Amelia, and Lucas.
Team Swift: Nard Dog, Bratwurst, Depth Charge, Citgo, & Thin Mint. Riders: Jayson, Georgia, Kinzey, Sophie and Ava.
Team Metro: Subway, 20/20, Gitmo, Nash, & Scabby. Riders: Ray-Ray, Andrew, Owen, Myles.
Moleskine:
I was nervous heading into race day. The forecast a week out showed reasonably warm temps but as we got closer to race day it settled in to be low to mid 30 degrees for the entire race. I was worried that parents would hesitate and pull out of the race, but not a single one did. And 14 kids bundled up and smiled the entire race. Along the way we got nothing but huge cheers from the crowd. The kind of cheering I would expect to be normally reserved for those guys leading the marathon but, I don’t ever plan on being that close to the lead to hear it!
I also need to give a huge shout out to the parents of each of these kids. They were all awesome to be around. Such a positive and excited group of mom’s and dad’s who work so hard every day and night to raise these boys and girls. Not to mention the mom of Jayson, Ray-Ray and JJ who is raising THREE awesome boys who started the race on leg one in 3 chariots side by side.
My M and 2.0’s came to the finish line with cheering signs for Lucas. Randomly out of the crowd his mom comes up right beside my M and asks if we had seen the Chariot come through yet. My 2.0’s turned to show her the signs with Lucas’s name on them and asked if that is who she meant. Not only did they all get to see us arrive 10 minutes later, but Lucas’s sister was able to take the custom “Go Lucas” signs home with them.
T-Claps to Tolkien, Scabby and so many who came together to pull this off. Logistics weren’t easy but so many played a part to make this a huge success and the biggest SPEED FOR NEED day yet in terms of ridership and kids and families impacted. Not to mention the very fortunate honor it was for 20 PAX to push these kids.
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L1tI3UtqRg
Certainly there are plenty of other perspectives to share on the day. Comment below!
-Alf
So I rolled in right before the buzzer at about 5:14:30 this AM. While I was on two wheels coming into the lot I realized Run for Your Life was not done at SCMS for the season, they just took last week off. Darnit. I now had 30 seconds to throw out a disclaimer and come up with an alternative plan. It’s been a long time since we have done track work, which everyone is happy about, including me. The track is like brussel sprouts, no one likes it but it’s good for you. So now we have to find an alternative location for intervals.
The Brilliance:
5:15 and time to go so we start to mosey. Haze mentions something about my workouts and sketchy parts. I stop just short of a retort on said sketchy parts and headed on our way. Mosey to Rounding Run and to the lower end of the loop.
20x Imperial Walkers in Cadence to stretch the hammy’s and check off the “Bootcamp” part of this Running/Bootcamp workout.
Intervals:
Run Clockwise on Rounding Run to intersection at “Hot” speed. Much less technical term than Bratwurst uses, but we weren’t able to do the higher math at 5:15 to really do anything else. Hot was defined as 5K pace-ish. Once at the intersection, slow recovery mosey back to the lower end.
Repeat running counter clockwise.
Repeat running clockwise one full loop then half loop mosey back to intersection.
Repeat running counter clockwise one full loop then mosey back to lower end.
Repeat running clockwise one full loop, tag up at the speed hump and reverse course back over the hills for half a loop. Mosey back to lower end.
Leaders circled back for the six most times or did plank work, or just stood there with hands on hips.
When done mosey back to campus. 2 minutes left but we already covered well over 6 miles with 3+ at HOT pace. Time for stretching OYO until time called. You’re welcome. I let you out with only a 58 minute workout.
Moleskine:
Lots of hard running going on out there. Purell was up front smoking the laps all morning. Rachel, Bout Time, and Lorax were close behind. Astro was an FNG just a few weeks ago and is keeping a strong pace. He’s got the swish-swish sound coming up behind you with that windbreaker on. Gives you flashbacks of Fraiser cruising right by you. Good to see Laronda, future M.D. back out in the gloom. He’s been busy learning the doctor business. I suggest you make an appointment for your ailments with him today, he’ll charge much less now than after he actually goes to medical school. #HighDeductible. Mr. Brady’s posts seem to increase based on how injured he is. Time to rest up that Achilles. Utah and Mermaid provided some company to him and made sure we just didn’t leave him for dead on the 16th fairway there. Prohibition almost wiped out on dead smooth pavement. He claimed there was a hole or bump. I’m just happy a liquor salesman can stay upright for the full hour and not pass out drunk, so one little mishap isn’t too bad. Hairball rejoined us for the 2nd time maybe since having baby #2 5 months ago. He only posted because I promised no Bootcamp. Pretty sure he refusniked even the 30 seconds of plank work. Fault Line ran in a full hoody all morning. Pretty sure I would have dropped dead of heat exhaustion in that. Cabin Boy had no quit in him and was giving it his all through the last interval. Benny finished his 4th Fast Twitch in a row accident free but it was a bit dicey with some shoes touching with Prohibition or Haze as we finished up a lap.
Thanks to site Chaplain ‘Haze for the takeout.
Enjoy your Thanksgiving.
11 men kicked off Turkey Week by getting it done at The Matrix. With the temps in the low 30s, the virtual shovel flag was planted firmly in our minds, we set off for a warmup mosey around campus and back to the lower lot. Here’s how it went down:
COP:
Mosey over to the track and line up abreast on one end for some combo 11’s:
Mosey over to the wall and get comfy…on the wall:
Mosey back to launch for some mary:
All over!
Ye shrinked naked moleskin:
It was one of those mornings that YHC knew it was cold outside and contemplated even going to The Matrix. Lying in bed at 4:55am thinking that I didn’t even know who was Qing today. Hope it’s not anyone lame. Probably is and not worth going. Then I think…wait, am I Qing? Damn! So yes, someone lame and probably not worth going to see in on Q. I better get out of bed and start thinking about a weinke. Some of it I thought about on the way over, some of it was made up as we went. Hope it worked out.
A chilly one this morning. Finally got Rachel to bust out long sleeves and gloves. It’s about time! As we ran the warm up lap in reverse from normal, I spotted OT and McGee running through the parking lot. Glad they spotted us heading in the other direction. Also randomly spotted a sign welcoming Chubby Checker. If that’s for real, I’ve got to go see that. Otherwise, I was kinda hoping we had an FNG so we could name him that. I mean, there was already a sign welcoming him. What else could it be?
We were happy to see McGee do full extension merkins today with the slow risers. He said for some reason he could feel it in his chest which he’d never felt before when doing merkins. Also put in a request for some neck exercises. Solid group out there today. Alf & Turkey Leg were out front most of the time as always. Squid didn’t care what number we were on during the 11s. He just kept going AMRAP. Smokey, Rachel, Witch Doctor, Huggie and Orange Whip kept it between the lines all morning. O’Tannenbaum sweated profusely per usual.
Thanks to Pop Tart for asking me to lead one last time in 2017 before my reign of every Monday in 2018 begins. Thanks to Squid for the take out. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Be thankful for everything and everyone you have in your life.
Announcements:
Last night around 8:30 I logged into Slack for the first time of the day and saw a note from Tagalong and One Niner. I reacted like one of my kids when I tell them to take out the trash…wait what? I don’t remeber volunteering for that, where are the bags, when you say out do you mean outside? Like it was their first time…or mine. So a reminder of my Bagpipe Q was a good thing. Thanks guys! I sort of remember telling Bucky I would take the Thanksgiving Bagpipe Q.
Here’s what happened after writing a short Weinke last night.
Thang: Mosey from Vine to Med Specialist
Parking Lot Shuffle Suicide: Line up at curb facing Vine
Parking lot: plank-o-rama (6 inches, left arm, left leg, right arm, right leg, 6 inches)
Mosey over to the Indian Grill (grab some wall)
Mosey out and down steps to Ballantyne Commons, head straight accross to Durant. Mosey up Durant to fountain (Costigan Park)
Mary: Box cutters x 20, Flutter x 20, LBC x 20
Bear Crawl “ring of fire” around the fountain. – Dang, forgot about this…
Starfish (Split into 5 groups):
Mosey out over to parking deck lower level for ramp runs and more squats. Up 1st ramp, 5 jump squats, backwards up 2nd ramp, 5 jump squats. Rinse and repeat to top. Hops led some mary waiting on 6. Fun times, back the way we came, backwards, jump squats, forwards, etc etc…back to lower level. More Hops mary, thanks bro.
After a brief look at the grass hill in back of the parking garage, lowere level. “Anyone done this before?” Kirby or Mighty Mite or maybe Loogie said “Well there it is, we can go now” or something similar. We had plenty of time to get in 6’s. 1 merkin at the bottom, scale the wall, err I mean hill, 5 squats at top, repeat. Encourage everyone to get one last climb, so Bucky got an extra hill in. Head out of the Village and towards home from there.
Check Time…couple minutes remaining: Audible to BoFA, Partner up for Wheelbarrow races (sort of) 5 parking spots, flap jack, repeat.
Head Home – time!
Mole: 17 great guys showed up this morning, glad I put a little thought into this Q. Doc started the morning w calling me out about an accent comment I made (about Chicago folks). He expects only the best in a Q before and during the workout I suppose. Frehleys was not there so Fire Hazard decided to take up the designated chatter (the whole time) guess that means he likes me? There’s always guys you like to see come out to share the gloom, I don’t get to see Loogie and Pat Pending enough, Paper Jam and Teddy are crowd favorites and mine. Tagalong and Hops are strong out there staying in front and pushing always. You guys rock, thanks for keeping the pace up. Billy goat and War Eagle show up a lot now and the positive attitudes are infectious, maybe you guys can drop back and hang with Fire Hazard? Kirby is actually a pretty good comedian for that early in the morning. Mighty Mite too, but you have to be paying attention or you’ll miss his one liners. Cooter keep coming out my man, it’s good to see you each time. Can’t say enough for Madame T. and my friend Bucky always a positive, bright spots in the gloom, thanks for the encouragement.
It was a honor to lead you guys, really hope I didn’t leave anyone out. Thanks to Tagalong, One Niner (and Bucky) for having me.
Lots to be thankful for this week. Take the time today to tell someone. You’ll make their day and feel better too.
Fredo –