Hey, That Was Uphill Both Ways!
23 Men gathered this morning for a morning full of hills and hard work. Goal was to design a workout that would let me lead from behind and let the boys run while keeping the group together with some camaraderie . I think everyone got a good workout and most covered 5-6 miles with some good body work mixed in, too.
Disclaimer was made and approved by our Nantan.
Warmup–
All in cadence ( rusty)
SSH x 15
Windmills x 15
Imperial Walker x 15
Mountain Climber x 15-h0ld high plank, hold plank, honey-mooner
Butt-kickers x 25 yards
High knees x 25 yards
The Thang
Line up in 2 lines at Woodfox for Native American Run. Goal is to keep warming up some more, so run 75% effort to the front.
Go Right on Rounding Run and stay left towards Woods End.
Transition to group mosey when Rounding Run comes in on the right, but continue forward another .25 miles to “Home Base,” which is at the top of Woods End. There is a board there with 3 sets of exercises. They are-
Round 1
Merkins x 20, Squats x 20, LBC x 20
Round 2
Wide Arm Merkins x 20, Reverse Lunge x 10 each leg, Freddy Mercuries x 20
Round 3
Diamond Merkins x 20, Calf Raises x 20, American hammers x 20
Partner Up with someone of like speed.
Instructions were given to run a 1 mile loop consisting of Woods End, Old Spice and Autumn Leaf. Each guy goes opposite ways, both UP HILL around the loop. Meet up at the mid point, do 5 burpees and head back the way you came. Follow the chalk. At the bottom of the loop, run together UP HILL back to Home Base and complete a round of exercises. Regroup and run loop again. This time, go opposite way you went before to change it up. Repeat as many rounds with your partner as you can by 6:05. Goal is complete at least 3 rounds.
Head back- Mosey as a group back the way we came till we go left on Woodside. Then All You Got home.
Time’s Up.
Moleskin–
Awesome to be back out for the second week in a row at Fast Twitch and honored to be asked to lead. I was a little rusty, but it was a blessing to Q. I ran the Chicago Marathon a few weeks ago and it was a long day. I spent a lot of time reflecting and I realized how much I miss the Iron Sharpens Iron aspect F3. It really cannot be duplicated. Hopefully everyone felt the accountability I did today, working with my partner and not wanting to let them down, trying to get further up and around the hill each time before we met. I appreciate each of you being out there today. Awesome to see everyone working hard. I think most got 4-5 rounds in and covered 5-6 miles.
Utah and I also were able to EH our co-worker, Kyle Kichhoff, now known as Astro! He crushed it and I think I held him back as his partner! Welcome, Astro! A great #HIM to have amongst us!
Announcements–
Benny announced that he is Qing “The Mermaid” next week at FT, so eat your Wheaton’s! Who can make it to CCHS and back by COT?
I owe 50 burpees due to 5 men signing up last Tuesday for the Joe Davis Run! Thanks Mermaid, Utah, Alf, Turkey Leg and Tolkien! Maybe before and after next week!
Area 51 Holiday Party-see Alf
Turkey Drive-see Mermaid
Charlotte Marathon with Speed for Need-this Saturday, several FT guys running the relay and pushing
Joe Davis Run for Recovery-01/06/18-see Rock Thrill. Pre-blast coming.
www.joedavisrun.com
Thanks for the opportunity to lead,
RT
Thrive Challenge 2.0… Well, maybe 1.1
Thrive means to grow, develop, flourish.
Well how do we know if we are thriving? We need to have a baseline to measure from and since I am a flawed human being at times I lost the original baseline #Cobains. So what to do… Do it again and this time put the results in the backblast!
This was a different F3 workout, no cadence, no COP, no Mary. This is you vs you to set a (new) baseline to compare back to at a future challenge.
It went something like this…
Perform exercise 1 using whatever time you need to still have the best form you can muster. Once complete you will run, walk or crawl a predefined lap around the perimeter of the parking lot which is about 1/3 of a mile.
Get back and complete exercise 2, do lap, etc.
Get through as much as you can until time is called. If you cheat or cut corners you are only hurting yourself and your baseline. I don’t care if it takes the whole time to get through one or two things, that will be the baseline you will work towards crushing the next time. For example, bend those elbows on a merkin, at the same time do the full rep, don’t race and “bounce” the merkins, etc.
Here was the list:
Mountain Climbers – 100 (count each leg as one)
Lap
Calf Raises – 150 (50 regular, 50 toes pointed in, 50 toes pointed out)
Lap
Merkins – 100 (25 wide, 25 regular, 25 narrow (elbows close also called “perfect”), 25 diamond)
Lap
Burpees – 50
Lap
Carolina Dry Docks – 100
Lap
LBCs – 100
Lap
Jump Squats – 100
Lap
Dollies – 200
Lap
Squats – 100
Lap
Rock Hoppers – 100
Lap
Russian Twists (American Hammer) – 100
Lap
Burpees – 100
Lap
Burpees – 200
This was tough, as a challenge should be, and this group of PAX did an awesome job! Seriously proud of this group of guys.
Here are the results for each guy:
Nomad- 150 dollys
Houdini- 50 jump squats
Hoffa- 100 dollys
Shake n Bake- finished jump squats
Bonhoeffer- 42 jump squats
Arsenal- finished jump squats
Christmas- 150 dollys
Gypsy- about to start dollys
Glass Joe- finished dollys
Winger- finished dollys
Shepherd- 2/3 lap after dolly
Orbit- 3/4 lap after dolly
Bullwinkle- 1/2 lap after dry docks
Killowatt- 70 dry docks
Hair Band- finished jump squats.
Awesome work guys!
Announcements:
Gypsy has his VQ tomorrow at Conviction
New running AO testing interest meeting at Socrates Academy on Weddington Rd at 0515 Thursday.
Which, I looked and is not in Union County, I submit for consideration Antioch Elementary Or Austin Village(Harris Teeter) if you want to keep the general area but be in UC. Even Sun Valley 14 shopping center could be good for a running AO, big empty parking lot at that time of the morning.
An honor to lead as always!
Aye!
Hair Band
Watchtower Hills and Calfs
12 Pax showed up at Watchtower for a few rounds around the concrete hill and some calf toning.
Warmup:
- Quick Mosey around Buses
- SSH
- Imperial Walkers
- Merkins
- Plank Jacks
Thang:
Mosey to start of bridge and partner up. P1 does called exercise (using Jack Webb count 1 and 4, 2 and 8, etc) at base while P2 does exercise to top at alcove and does 10 reps of called exercise and runs around back to base and flapjack. Do 2 sets of each
- Round 1:
- Base: Merkins/Air Press
- Hill: Backwards Run/Squats
- Round 2:
- Base: Heals to Heaven/Supines
- Hill: Crawl Bear/Squats
- Round 3:
- Base: Sumo Squat/Lunge Jumps
- Hill: Run/Merkins/Bear Crawl
- Round 4:
- Base: Toe Touch/Flutters
- Hill: Side Shuffle/Squats
Mosey to walkway in front of stairs and begin with doing a squat at each crack in concrete walkway up to the stairs. Complete calf raises on stairs 10/stair. Rotate between toes forward, in, out. Repeat 2nd round with 5/stair
Mosey back to rock pile each person grab a lifting rock and partner up. P1 runs to front doors of school and back. P2 does called exercise. Flapjack, Do 2 sets of each.
- Round 1: Lat Raises
- Round 2: Halos
- Round 3: Overhead Tricep Extensions
Mosey back to parking lot
Moleskin:
- Unfortunately for Beltway this was almost an identical weinke that I used when on Q at Commitment few weeks back at this AO. I was not going to include the reverse bear crawls today, but once I heard how much he enjoyed them last time, I figured it should be added again for all to enjoy today. Good work today 2nd time around on this workout.
- Good to see Daniel Son pushing hard as usual and working to the point of spilling
merlot…capri sun this morning - Calzone making back to back appearances at Flash/Watchtower this week. Keep up the good work and glad to have you out here in gloom with us misfits
- Mad Dog / Half Back have been welcome additions to the group as well and pushing hard each morning. Rarely does a workout happen now with out either in attendance
- Supposedly Stub Hub was to be in attendance today, but either forgot to set alarm clock or he was up early to buy tickets for next Wiggles concert
Announcements:
- Joe Davis Run 1/6/18 – https://joedavisrun.racesonline.com/
- Safe travels to all Pax this week
Bear Crawl Alley
Well better late than never….. 7 Braved 31 degrees of tropical style weather. As usual yhc had a plan for a workout and then changed it the moment I stepped outside of the house. We had to stay warm and cuddling was not an option for most of us. We moseyed on down passed the paid for work out which I almost sold as my own but no one bought the Idea that I came with that many cones and obnoxious music. We did some warm ups but as we were just really cooling down I made the call to jump right into the Grind. 1000 Merkins 2000 LBCS and 3000 Dips as a team. Keeping the guys warm the old fashioned way “they earned it”. As we learned having a CPA in the group did not help us keep track of the totals in the least. We ground out the exercises and when the guys looked lost we hit a lap around the lot. Even Cheddar pitched in and did some merkins. Thankfully Private Benjamin could keep the rest of us on count as Tool Bag was prone to rounding errors.
After we hit our goals as a team and were warmed up enough No Show led us on a longer run. Thankfully he has better eyesight because I would have gotten us lost in the dark. I can not take credit for the idea of bear crawling across the bridge back to the start but I will take credit for the first naming in the bighouse history. Bear Crawl Alley was born. To all who cross the bridge you will do so in the finest bear crawl you can so sayeth the Dumpsterfire. We did some mary and as 2 miles hit the watches and we rolled into COT
In closing I want to thank those brave souls for getting out of the fart sack and enjoying the first sub freezing gloom of the season. It is always a pleasure to go to the Bighouse and I will return. A special thanks to Rock thrill for making the long drive and reaching out to spread the good word of the Joe Davis race.
In other news vote for somebody in Pineville named Maxim or pedro I can’t remember
The Devil’s Driveway
Apologies for the late BB; too much going on these days.
Pre-Run
Solo. 5k, in a neighborhood of particularly sinister Halloween houses.
Thang
- Mosey lap to warm-up.
- SSH 40 IC
- Swings 20 OYO
- Merkins 10 (Low Slow)
- Squats 10 (Low Slow)
Bell Work
Partner-up with someone of like bell-size and head to the Playground. Each round was 3 sets of each exercise, partner switching on P1’s achievement of the called reps.
Round 1
- P1: Double Swings (20)
- P2: Pull-ups
Round 2
- P1: Double KB Squat (10)
- P2: Muscle-Ups
Round 3
- P1: Double KB Press (15)
- P2: Knees to Elbows
Round 4
- P1: Double Rows (15)
- P2: Merkin Ladder (feet ascending levels of height)
The Devil’s Driveway
There is a winding drive in the rear of Elon park that curves its way into the dark abyss; it’s roughly a 1/3rd of a mile long. And there are 4 randomly places speed bumps on it. It is hereafter known as, the Devil’s Driveway.
- Line up at the base of the driveway (top of the hill)
- At each speed bump do hand-release, military width merkins (i.e tight to your side)
- Starting with 2, add 2 as you it each bump. for a total of 56 of those guys.
- (looks lame on paper, but harder than it looks with all the runnin’)
Closing Time
Pull-ups as we wait on the six, then 8 minutes of windshield wiper mary that left the abdominals quivering.
Announcements
- Christmas party (not a joke this time)
- Joe David (already)
Jack Webb and 2.24 miles of running
Basecamp Q
18 strong pax made the decision to post at Basecamp today on a rather warm November morning. After a proper disclaimer was given the pax did a warm up lap to Strawberry Lane and back. Upon returning to launch Goonie told YHC that this isn’t Fast Twitch. This is where the fun all begins:
COT:
15 SSH IC
15 IW IC
3 Burpee’s on your own
10 LSS
Main Thang:
Upon telling the pax to line up, instructions were given for suicides. After reaching each basketball hoop. Upon returning to the starting point you would do 1 burpee, adding up all the way to 4 burpees. Following a 10 count we moseyed our way towards the rock pile where a good old favorite made its appearance. Pax were instructed to pick a rock up but to be wise as this would be there lifting rock.
Jack Webb Part 1
1 slow American
Followed up 4 Air Presses(with or without the rocks)
Pax went all the way up to 6 American’s and 24 air presses.
Following a 10 count, pax moseyed on down towards the track for some corner exercises on the track. Instructions were given to run the straightaway’s and then do exercise at each corner.
Round 1: 20 LBCs at each corner adding up to 80 LBCs
Cool Down Lap
Round 2: 5 Jump Squats each corner adding up to 20 Jump Squats
Down to track different exercise each corner(2-4 rounds pending how the pax is)
4 corners of track 20 LBCs at each corner
2nd time 10 Jump Squats
3rd time 5 burpees each corner
4th time americans
Mosey up towards Semi Gloss office, for some Peoples Chair.
Round 1: 60 Seconds: Q fail starting in cadence meant to say following the Q, nerves hit me on that one.
Round 2: 45 Seconds
Round 3: 30 Seconds
Round 4: 15 Seconds
Mosey up by the grass fields after suggestion from Goonie to finish the finish Jack Webb on the grass and not the concrete. Plan was to do it there since Fireman Ed asked for more, however smarter choice to finish on the grass.
Jack Webb Part 2
7 Slow Americans
**32 Air Presses, Pax instructed to stop at 28 but Q just got too excited for Jack Webb that we added on some extra Air Presses
8 Slow Americans
32 Air Presses
Mary:
15 Rosalitas IC
Compass/corrected to Protractor
Done.
Thanks for the takeout by Tweetsie.
Moleskin:
Upon getting a message from Drano about a q switch being needed for Basecamp by Strange Brew, I was happy to pick up the Q having wanting to Q at Basecamp for awhile. The pax got 2.24 solid miles of running in today. Not entirely knowing the setup of Basecamp as much, there was definitely quite a bit of Q fails on my part having some nerves out there. My apologies on that one pax. Strong work by everyone from Goonie and Fireman Ed, all the way down the line to Mall Cop and Pele.
Thank you Drano and Goonie for the opportunity to lead, you guys run a good group at Basecamp. Always a pleasure to lead when called upon.
Announcements:
Ballrog 2 November 11- 7:00-11:00 AM, 13 mile loop with different exercise stations. Starting at 7:00 AM at Hickory Tavern Ballantyne and ending at Hickory Tavern at 11:00 AM.
YHC has the Q at Fast Twitch, an announcement will be made tomorrow as to what YHC has planned.
Charlotte Marathon is on Saturday
Joe Davis Run January 6th-Not too early to sign up!
Christmas Party’s
Area 51 December 8th at 7:30 PM Seaboard Matthews
SOB December 16th at 5:00 PM Red Barn Events
See Alf and Thin Mint’s Back Blasts for information on how to sign up.
Tic Tic Boom!
On Sunday, I checked the handy-dandy f3southcharlotte.com website for a heads up on the Foxhole Q. Seeing nothing, I checked in with SiteQ Argonaut asking if he needed some assistance. Thus, I became your Foxhole Q. Lesson #1 – Don’t wait to be asked to do something, step up.
Warm-up
Short track jog around the school’s front parking lot.
Side straddle hops x 15
Halo x 10
Imperial walkers x 10
Around the world x 10
Low, slow squat x 10
Figure 8 x 10
The Clock
12 exercises (hours) 60 reps each (minutes). The only rule is that you can’t leave an hour until all the repetitions are complete. Rest as much as needed. If you finish, it’s 720 reps!
A half-sheet of paper marked the spot for PAX to complete the listed exercise.
Stagger ‘Mericans on bell (30 each side)
American swings
Alternating swings
Squat
Curl
Lunge (30 each side)
2-handed swing
Snatch (30 each side)
Skull crusher
Shoulder press (30 each side)
Burpee w/ bell swing
Row (30 each side)
Moleskine
First, bonus points to General, Argonaut and Cobbler for the pre-run. Plus, it was great to see Foxhole newcomer McGee and out-of-towner, but frequent poster, Yogi. (Both Yogi and McGee showed up sans bell, but Soft Pretzel and Frehley’s shared their extras. Thank you!!)
The workout is tough. I don’t think most finished. (General def did.) The burpee with bell-swing definitely caused the greatest delay. If I do this again, I’ll take that out. I originally had pull-ups but feared it would be too difficult. Lesson #2 Go with your gut!
Soft Pretzel seemed to be in his own world far from most pax. We could keep an eye on him and he was powering through. Argonaut lost his shirt 10 minutes in. Frehley was the first to complain about the music. (He’s not a fan of NIN.) McGee dispensed some music trivia and puzzled over Spotify’s algorithms.
More wisdom from the Clock –
We all get a day to complete our task, use your time wisely.
It’s ok to take a break, but not too long – there’s work to be done.
It’s better to work together than independently.
Music helps.
Swearing (a little) helps.
Time flies when you’re hard at work.
Announceements
Balrog II – this SATURDAY!!
SOB Christmas party
There Is A Light…..
YHC was all over an invite from Thin Mint to Q SOBland’s toughest workout, The Brave. In my eagerness to bolt out of the house before the baby stirred, YHC forgot the Garmin watch. Really bad move when the plan is to be a decent distance away from the launch point and when you have a minimum mileage target to hit. YHC made due and hit up the CVS for a non-numero dos transaction for the first time, in search of a timepiece. No digital in stock so I had to settle for the “Sport” edition which featured your standard clock hands and nothing else except the velcro band…I had never seen a watch with hands be referred to as the “Sport” edition, but it must have been the velcro band…Nonetheless, the watch was in the ballpark of the correct time and the plan was to run the piss outta the PAX so, achieving the 4 miles seemed like an easy assumption to make. 12 Pax assembled + 1 that took off for an hour long mosey in marathon prep and The Brave commenced.
Warm-Up
- short mosey over to the Tijuana Flats/Duckworths parking lot
- 25 SSH (General Pace)
- 20 MC
- 15 Squats
The Thang
Assemble the Pax at the first stop light down at the intersection of Ballantyne Commons and whatever the other road is, where YHC provided the instructions:
“There is a light, at the top of this hill. We are running up to that light. First one to arrive, start up some Mary until the 6 is in.
- Just shy of 1 mile up Ben Nevis to the end of Ballantyne Commons
- 2 rounds of Mary
- As promised, a chesticle beating:
- 10 Merkins
- 10 Wide-Arm Merkins
- 10 Diamond Merkins
- 10 Stagger Right Merkins
- 10 Stagger Left Merkins
- 10 Dive/Muff Bomber Merkins
PAX mosey back down the hill about .25 shy of where we initially launched
- 5 Merkins
- 5 Wide-Arm Merkins
- 5 Diamond Merkins
- 5 Stagger Right Merkins
- 5 Stagger Left Merkins
- 5 Dive/Muff Bomber Merkins
“There is a light, at the top of this hill. We are running up to that light. First one to arrive, start up some Mary until the 6 is in. Up the hill we went and for when we reached the top:
- 2 rounds of Mary
- As promised, a chesticle beating:
- 10 Merkins
- 10 Wide-Arm Merkins
- 10 Diamond Merkins
- 10 Stagger Right Merkins
- 10 Stagger Left Merkins
- 10 Dive/Muff Bomber Merkins
PAX mosey back down the hill to the Parkview Apartments entrance, about .15miles shy of previous round:
- 5 Merkins
- 5 Wide-Arm Merkins
- 5 Diamond Merkins
- 5 Stagger Right Merkins
- 5 Stagger Left Merkins
- 5 Dive/Muff Bomber Merkins
“There is a light, at the top of this hill. We are running up to that light. First one to arrive, start up some Mary until the 6 is in. Up the hill we went and for when we reached the top:
- 2 rounds of Mary
- As promised, a chesticle beating:
- 10 Merkins
- 10 Wide-Arm Merkins
- 10 Diamond Merkins
- 10 Stagger Right Merkins
- 10 Stagger Left Merkins
- 10 Dive/Muff Bomber Merkins
PAX mosey back down the hill to the Gateway Academy entrance, about .1miles shy of previous round:
- 5 Merkins
- 5 Wide-Arm Merkins
- 5 Diamond Merkins
- 5 Stagger Right Merkins
- 5 Stagger Left Merkins
- 5 Dive/Muff Bomber Merkins
“There is a light, at the top of this hill. We WILL NOT be running to that light, rather we will be running to the light at the bottom of the hill from where we launched initially.
Once the 6 is in, 5 Burpees OYO and continue mosey back to COT.
Arriving at COT, YHC received notification that there was still 1 minute remaining that his fancy CVS watch was unable to pick-up…basically leg and brain dead by this point, the creative juices called for 5 more burpess OYO….and then COT.
Moleskinner
A lot of speed out there this morning, providing a good push and solid pace both up and down Ben Nevis. Very limited time spent waiting for the 6, good push from that end as well. Appreciate the attendance from our Raleigh friend, Water Wings. Solid effort today and brave decision to spend your Friday morning with this group of characters. YHC was really surprised about the lack of complaining taking place during the Merkin sets. It appeared all of the PAX where getting after it and trying to push through the entire sets, thus limiting the chatter/complaining. We have an awesome group here in SOB and it’s always a good surprise to see who the participants will be each morning. Winter attendance tends to start falling off as we approach the holiday season. This is when we need it the most…atleast when my waistline needs it the most. Not only from the 1st F perspective but from the 2nd and 3rd as well. Continue to push our F3 brethren to come out whether it is at this site or any other. Definitely enjoyed the morning with you fellas.
Over & Out
-General
Shirts Gettin’ Real Up In Here
- 15 Merkins. Speedsters circle back and finish up with their TEAMMATES near the back of the pack on each of the B&As.
- 10/5/5 Burpees. Started as 10, I modified it to 5 for last two stations
- 20 Flutters
- 20 Squats
- 60 Dips. AYG around Bow and Arrow track
- 25 Curl to Press, drop rock and jail break down and back two light poles
- 25 Tricep Extensions, drop rock and jail break down and back two light poles.