TURKEY DRIVE CHALLENGE
To: Men of AREA 51/SOB/UCo/And anyone else who wants to help
What: Helping to make sure neighbors in need have a hot turkey dinner on Thanksgiving
Who: Turkey Q is F3 Metro’s Carrier. Community partner is Charlotte Rescue Mission
How: Donate $10 (or more) HERE
From F3 Metro’s Carrier:
This year F3Metro (and any surrounding AOs that would like to chip in) are again helping Charlotte Rescue Mission collect and distribute turkey dinners to families in the Charlotte area. Last year F3 collected more than 500 turkeys to the cause, and we want to do that or more this year since the Mission actually distributes more than a 1000 dinners each year. The Mission takes care of the boxes and all the other fixings, so they really appreciate F3 pulling together to provide turkeys to go along with everything else.
In prior years, we promoted bringing a frozen turkey to workouts where they would be collected and taken to the Mission. Hauling hundreds of frozen turkeys is a CSAUP exercise by itself, so this year we are going straight to your pocketbooks by simply asking that you hit up the PayPal link below for whatever your heart feels good donating. We will work with the Mission to have the turkeys ordered through the food distributor they deal with to get the turkeys in time to distribute them the Monday before Thanksgiving.
Carrier has committed to doing a burpee for each turkey that is purchased with the funds raised – “Burpees for Turkeys”. So spread the word in your COTs and this PayPal link in your backblasts leading up to Thanksgiving. Blackjack refers to this as the Turkey $10er Drive, so if everyone would at least drop a $10 spot into Paypal, we will make a lot of families thankful this year. Challenge your fellow pax however you think works, and thank you in advance for your generosity.
Carrier
Link to donate is above. I challenge all of you who are able to make a donation to this worthy cause. Spread the word in COTs.
Thanks men
21 PAX came out on time and not an hour earlier for an unseasonably warm and foggy Monday morning. Disclaimer given and mosey down to lower parking lot and circle up.
SSH, 1 burpee, IW, 2 burpees, LSS, 3 burpees, MC, 4 burpees, and Cotton picker, 5 burpees
Mosey to rock pile, grab a lifting and/or running rock and mosey to center of field
Starfish x 5
Round 1 – center pole – curls x 10 with Rock
Starfish – 1) merkins x 20, 2) wide arm merkins x 20, 3) diamond merkins x 20, 4) hand release merkins x 20m, and 5) CDD x 20
Plank for 6
Overhead Press with Rock and Tricep extensions with Rock
Round 2 – center pole – squats x 10 with Rock
Starfish – 1) Jump squats x 20, 2) Sister Mary Catherines x 20, 3) Calf raises x 20, 4) Monkey humpers x 20, and 5) Heels to Heaven x 20
Plank for 6
Chest press with rock and flutter kick
Jack Webb with Rock…only up to 5 and back down
Mosey back to the rock pile to return the coupons
Mosey back to school and split in two groups, size, speed, etc. did not matter for circuit work.
Group 1 – lower playground – 1) Jump ups x 10, 2) one legged squats x 10 ea leg, and 3) donkey kicks x 30
Groups 2 – upper playground – 1) Pull ups x 10, 2) derkins x 20, and 3) dips x 30
Each group switches and rinse and repeat
Back to parking lot for two minutes of Mary – LBCs and Dolly…Done
Announcements –
Poptart and M involved in Kids with Possabilities – event on 11/11/17 from 6-9 @ Howl at the Moon uptown. Dress up as your favorite 80’s character and see Poptart for questions on Slack.
Matrix – need Q for Monday after Thanksgiving – check with Poptart or Squid
New moderate running workout – soft launch this Thursday @ 5:15 at Socrates Academy – check with Madison
Great to see so many out this morning. Thanks to Poptart and Squid for the opportunity to lead. Hope everyone has a great week.
Ten men enjoyed the beautiful (November?) weather, and took a trip to the home improvement store today.
The Thang:
Warmup run around front of school to east lot.
COP:
20x SSH
21x Merkins
20x LSS
20x IWs
10x Burpees
10x Man-Maker Merkins (T push ups)
Mosey to east playground
5 pull-ups
5 burpees
Repeat above 3X
Mosey to south lot
Man-Maker Merkin Ladder: line up at one end. Run to other end, 10 man-maker merkins. Return to other end, 9 man-maker merkins, etc. to 1
Plank-o-rama while waiting for others to finish
Start run to Promenade: out back field, up Spring St, up Tilley Morris, down McKee, across Providence, left into Promenade, back to the front entrance of Home Depot
20 merkins OYO
20 monkey humpers OYO
Return via same route to Tilley Morris, stay on McKee to rockpile at school. Grab a rock.
20 overhead press
Mosey to field, partner up for shuttle runs
Partner 1 runs with rock to mid-field, deposit rock on ground, return to base, Partner 2 then runs out to mid-field, retrieves rock, returns to base. Man at base does called exercise. Repeat 2X for each round. Change exercise each round:
Round 1: Merkins
Round 2: Jump squats
Round 3: Burpees
Round 4: Merkins (race)
20 overhead press, return rocks
Mosey back to main lot, 10 pull-ups, Mary: 20 jack-knife, 30 LBCs
Mileage 4.5
COT
Moleskine:
Announcements:
F3 Area 51 Christmas Party, Dec 8, 7:30pm, Seaboard. See pre-blast and sign-up.
11 PAX prepared their bodies for Daylight Savings Time by making the right choice and posting at Rock Zero. Pleasantries were exchanged, an abbreviated disclaimer was issued to the veteran PAX, and we were off into the gloom. Slow mosey to the Calvary courtyard (astroturf location; yes, YHC called it astroturf) for the downpainment.
COP
Main Event
Mosey to Davie Park for the Pain Relay. Partner up with like speed. P1 runs to 1st light pole, performs Merkins AMRAP. P2 runs to first light pole when P1 drops for Merkins. When P2 reaches P1, P1 ceases Merkins and moseys to next light pole. P2 commences Merkins AMRAP. Upon reaching the next light pole, P1 performs Jump Squats AMRAP, P2 ceases Merkins and moseys to 2nd light pole. Repeat until we reach the end near the dog park. Mary. Same sequence for return to park entrance. Dolly and Burpees were the exercises of choice. Mary at the end.
Mosey to the Rea Road library.
Grab a parking space line.
Mosey across Rea to the top of The North Face. 10 Merkins. Run long lap to bottom of North Face. Scale it. 10 Merkins at the top. Rinse and repeat 3x.
Mosey to parking lot for Planker’s Delight. Line up shoulder-to-shoulder in plank. YHC took the lead. Plank walk 180 degrees so to face next PAX. Hand Slap Merkins. Plank walk down the line, stopping at each PAX for HSM’s. Return to plank after reaching the Anchor PAX. Hold plank until all PAX have “slapped the line.” Hopper was the Anchor PAX, and crushed his turn. Impressive.
Mosey to light post for a variety of post-to-post sprints. AYG, High Knees, Butt Kickers, Karaoke left, Karaoke right, Bear Crawl-Crab Walk-Lunge Walk.
Mosey to launch. Finish with Burpees and Merkins. Done.
Observations
The traffic in Davie Park was ridiculous for 7:15 a.m. on a Saturday, when it was basically dark outside and the Dog Park was closed. For example, a beat-up minivan passed the PAX during our outbound leg of the Pain Relay, only to pass us again going the opposite direction towards the park entrance minutes later. Suspicious. This drew Cheese Curd’s attention as he theorized the minivan’s turnaround time was wholly inadequate for certain nefarious acts of passion to be performed in a secluded parking lot. Gummy and YHC were speechless. One can only postulate that Cheese Curd wears his Garmin EVERYWHERE and times EVERYTHING.
Planker’s Delight absolutely sucks. YHC includes this brutality with each Q for no justifiable reason, other than to spread pain and suffering in Area 51. You’re welcome.
Hopper was complaining after Shoulder Tap Merkins (exercise #2) in the COP, but quickly buried that negativity and led the PAX for the remainder of the workout. Solid effort.
Abba scaled the North Face like a Mongolian sherpa. Unreal.
Marge and Nemo crushed the running portions, per usual. Fast, real fast.
Marlin continues to spread the Hoka gospel to anyone who will listen. #thicksole
Blades of Glory was shining during the Speed Skater Lunges. YHC was worried that he would cross check the adjacent PAX.
Dingo and Boerewors did what they always do, silently crushing the workout. South Africa in the house…
Gummy was well, Gummy. Always in front, always delivering comic relief, always harassing the Q. Well done, sir.
16 = Alabama Football National Titles (yes, Clemson, you still have the belt, for God’s sake)
YHC was silently confident about Bama’s chances this year, but after losing 1/2 of our defense to injury last night against LSU, well, not so much.
Always an honor to post at Rock Zero, and an even greater honor to Q.
RTR
10 Pax were on time and ready for a beatdown with a bit of farm livin thrown in. We started with a lunge walk warm up to save Woody’s Hobbit foot.
COP: SSH, Hillbillies (natch), Merkins, Modified Squats (let’s just say they didn’t go exactly as the Q had planned so let’s just awkwardly transition to The Thang)
The Thang: 10 Stations (first 5 using farming materials, last 5 KBs)
Not enough time for another round so head to covered tables for:
Mary: Dolly, Backscratchers, Rosalita w/whip, 6 inches till time called
Moleskin: The chatter was good and steady with a backdrop of Petty (RIP) and the likes to give us a nice break from the usual metal mania. Some whined (HB) about having to carry bags of fertilizer, something about toxicity. At one point, Bernanke noted that GJ was unusually quiet after a record 10 seconds of peace. It didn’t happen again. It was good to see Woody and S-n-B back out after some foot issues, even if S-n-B was sporting red compression socks and espousing the merits of all things compression. Thanks HB for taking us out. Thank you for the opportunity to lead such a great group of guys!
15 Goats + 1 fly-by dissenter gathered in the very mild gloom of South Charlotte Middle School for a crowd favorite Mountain Goat workout… 30-30-1.
The workout is simple:
DONE! 4.5 – 5.5 miles depending on pace… not sure how many the dissenter got!!
Moleskin
First… apologies for the delays in the Mountain Goat Back Blasts, and a couple of missed posts. That rests on my shoulders, and I am resolved to return to a timely and consistent BB. I expect everyone to hold me accountable!
Great to see 3 Kotters this week at Mountain Goat! Huggy Bear, Mall Cop and Pele all showed up to share in the interval pain! You guys are always welcome, and have been missed… great to see all 3 of you!
A semi-Kotter also joined us… Insomniac has been nursing something that I’m not sure I can say in a family-friendly post… but great to have you back! He even showed some of his new-found speed with strong intervals!
Great to have Turkey Leg join us… TL is training for the Charlotte Full Relay where they will be doing the Speed for Need as part of the relay. Should be great!
TL and Purell were out front all morning. Purell is pure glide… running without effort!
Strong running from Fleetwood, Retread, The Mouth, Tweetsie, Benny, Kilowatt and Sensei… you guys have remained strong since BRR, which is very evident! Gullah continues to look strong! I know he’s considering a BRR run in 2018… you will do great!! Just keep coming out and giving that effort… you will be ready before you know it!!
The dissenter mentioned earlier was Fireman Ed. I suppose he was meeting some of his girlfriends from RFYL on the track. Not sure how many laps he got in… maybe he can reply to inform us of his workout regimen! He knows he is more than welcome at Mountain Goat. Not sure what Sensei said to him to make him not want to join us, but I’ll let he and Sensei work that out! (just playing… of course!)
T-claps to Benny and Fleetwood who joined Slim Fast for early warm-up.
Great prayer from Pele.
Announcements:
See you next week! SF
If I wanted, I could write a lazy backblast. We ran to the Murderhorn and back. (Most of us.) However, F3 is not for the lazy.
After a 2 mi Pre-Run with Billy Goat (runner!), I dispensed the disclaimer and warned that we going farther than usual today.
From the CVS parking lot, a typical warm-up
Side straddle hops x 20
Imperial walkers x 15
Mountain climbers x 15
‘Mericans x 10
Thus began own trek down Ballantyne Commons toward the SOB’s infamous summit. Sensing we may have some Refusnik’s, I asked our regional Nan’tan to watch the six. (My spidey-sense was right. He was needed.)
We stopped a few times en route for ‘Mericans, burpees, bear crawls, assorted Mary and a few weird ones like the crunchy frog and low country crab.
In the end, most of us made the nearly 5 mi run. Kudos if you made it. If you didn’t Madam Tussaud, likely kept them busy.
Moleskine
My favorite part of most workouts is the mosey. Not because it’s easy, but because it’s a chance to check in with the PAX running by your side. It’s a 2nd F opportunity. You hear about upcoming kid’s soccer games, the latest thing at work driving someone crazy, jokes about the M and planned races. Use this opportunity, to introduce yourself to someone new and check-in with old friends.
Announcements
Next week, Nov 11 – BALROG II CSUP – https://f3southcharlotte.com/2017/11/01/preblast-balrog-ii/
Rooms still available for Great Wolf Lodge. See Madam Toussaud for details.
SOB Christmas Party – https://f3southcharlotte.com/2017/10/27/2017-sob-holiday-party-pre-blast/
24 men gathered in the light-less parking lot of Charlotte Catholic. Brushback was not among them despite what YHC took yesterday as an HC. The call of the garage workout is a strong one. Here’s how the rest of us started the weekend:
The Thang
Mosey to top level of deck for COP:
– SSH x 25 IC
– Mountain Climbers x 15 IC
– Merkins x 10 IC
Mosey back to bottom of deck to start the climb.
Merkin ladder up the deck – run up 1st ramp then 20 merkins, up 2nd ramp 19 merkins, so on all the way down to 1 merkin. Only do up ramps, once at the top head down the stairs and start back up.
Regroup at top of deck for some Mary.
LBCs x 25 IC
Boone LBCs x 10 each side IC
Flutter x 30 IX
LBCs x 25 IC
Dolly x 20 IC
Mosey down 51 to entrance to greenway. Partner up for some circuit work.
P1 – 10 pullups, then squats until P2 returns
P2 – lunge walk parking lot, jog back to P1
Flapjack then Repeat-O.
Mosey back to launch for 5(ish)MOM including but not limited to LBCs, flutter, Rosalita, over unders, Russian twist.
Done.
NM:
Margo messaged late Sunday about YHC covering the Q. Considering YHC missed last week’s suckfest with nagging knee pain, there was some hesitation. Margo slyly offered to defer it to another week, which felt about like him suggesting that my M just cover. Game on Margo. The Q was mine. The good Lord blessed me with a pain-free knee, so hopefully everyone feels like we got some good work in. And apparently we covered 3 miles, which was accidental (sorry, knee). Magically, the pain seems to have shifted from knee to both shoulders. Who needs those anyway?
Thanks to Margo and Udder for the opportunity. One of the last workouts in the complete dark and also probably one of the last beanie free workouts of the season.
Announcements:
Converge at the Vine next Friday at 5:15am with The Brave.
Race tomorrow at Calvary to support program for disabled adults – sign-ups still open.
Joe Davis sign-up is live.
A veteran is doing 30 marathons in 30 cities in 30 days. Next Thursday is Charlotte in Freedom Park. Looking for co-running supporters. See Runstopper for details.
Pray for Margo’s dad who will have open heart surgery next Friday.
Posted on behalf of Thurston, #cobains for the delay that is on me.
On Halloween morning nine pax gathered in the cold gloom for their weekly calisthenics. Hoffa rolled up
on his motorcycle, seemingly impervious to the elements. 5:30 rolled around and with little fanfare we
began…
The Thang
Did a warm-up mosey around the parking lot #HairbandMile, then circled up for
Side straddle hop x25
Imperial Walker x20
Mountain climber x20
5 burpees OYO
After this we moseyed over the road for some suicides. There was some debate over the proper
nomenclature regarding the concrete “things” where we stopped and exercised. Island? Peninsula?
Isthmus? No name was settled on and the exercise continued nonetheless. At each stop we did
Squats x20
Merkins x20
LBC’s x20
Monkey humpers x20
Bomb jacks x20
Mosey over the hill and find a spot in the middle for “Clock merkins”
Q calls out a time (12:00; 6:00, etc.) and do 5 merkins OYO facing that direction
After that it was time for some reverse hill runs, as follows:
Run backwards up hill, 10 LBC’s at the top, back down hill
Run backwards up hill, 9 LBC’s at the top, back down hill
Etc… down to 1 LBC
Our quads will thank us tomorrow. From here we proceeded to the soccer field where we did good ol’
fashioned suicides. No special exercises, just running. Following this, we moseyed to the parking lot for
the “Bear-muda Triangle,” as follows…
There are three markers in the parking lot, 30 yards apart.
At marker 1, do 1 burpee and bear crawl to marker 2
2 burpees at marker 2, then bear crawl to marker 3
3 burpees at marker 3, then bear crawl back to marker 1
Repeat
Cry
We then moseyed over to our spot behind the building. We started with “Balls to the Wall.” (Side note: I
prefer the name “Testicles to the Vestibule” for this one, but that probably has too many syllables to
catch on.)
Hold handstand for 10 count (x2)
Then we got into the People’s Chair for
100 arm presses
Back to the parking lot to circle up on our sixes for
American Hammer x20
Freddy Mercury x20
Dolly x20
Rosalita x20
Superman
Protractor
In summary, it was a great introduction the art of Q’ing. Many thanks to my fellow pax for an awesome
and strenuous workout today!
Posted on behalf of Purell:
15 pax (including 1 FNG) squeezed into a school bus filled parking lot ready to jump-start their week with a healthy beat down.
The Thang:
After a brief but substantial disclaimer, YHC decided the only way to counter the 35 degree weather was to limber up and keep moving.
COP – 2 laps around the 1,000 busses with a sprinkling of high knees, butt kickers, and karaoke. SSH x 20 IC, IW x 20 IC, LSS x 10 IC, Windmill x15 IC, Parker Peters x 15 IC, HR Merkin x 5 IC.
Mosey down Woodfox, left on Rounding Run, stopping at Rising Meadow for some peaks and valleys hill work. 5 burpees at the bottom of the hill, run up Rounding Run to the first speed bump at the top of the hill for 10 monkey humpers, continue towards Raintree Ln and run to the bottom for 15 merkins, run to the top at Raintree Ln for 20 mountain climbers/leg. Plank while waiting on the 6, then 20 LBCs IC. Rinse and repeat in reverse direction starting with burpees again and ending at Rising Meadow. Plank til 6 has arrived and 20 Dolly IC. Repeat this loop one more time with 20x Flutters IC and much to the pax chagrin, 10 Cumberland County Viaducts/each side.
Mosey back towards camp stopping once to recover the 6 and get 20 counts of Freddie Mercury in.
Mosey to the rock pile, grab a partner and a lifting rock to work on the beach body. Only 6 months til bikini season.
Round 1 – P1 runs to bleachers for 15 incline merkins and run back, P2 does overhead press, flapjack.
Round 2 – P1 runs to bleachers for 15 dips and back , P2 has tri extensions and curls, flapjack.
Done. COT.
Moleskine:
Pleasantly surprised when I pulled in the lot at my usual 90 seconds before kickoff to see so many PAX, especially given the cold temps. We had one FNG (Windex) out today courtesy of Horsehead. Somehow when coming up with the FNG’s name, we got on the topic of Greek meanings and Windex quickly pointed out that Goonie means woman in Greek. So yes, FNG called the site Q a woman… very solid first post, welcome aboard and hope to see you often. FIA will love you Goonie.
Everyone was getting after it today, pushing hard from start to finish. BaseCamp is always such a great group of guys working their tails off while encouraging one another. As YHC is still relatively new to the F3 Nation, it is an honor to be asked to lead by Drano and Goonie, and an even bigger honor that you all followed. Looking forward to seeing you all in the gloom again soon!
Announcements:
Holiday party – Dec 8, apparently the same day as Star Wars so no nerds will be attending the party
Let them soar 5k @ Christ Covenant Church, Sat Nov 4
Pancakes and Beer 5K @ OMB, benefits MedAssist, Sat Nov 4