8 men gathered in the cool morning and launched promptly at 0700. One went down (but got back up) before 0701.
Thang
Moleskin
We covered many more miles today (4.2-4.6 depending on the PAX) than any of us (including the Q) expected. Some grumbling at the end that this invalidated it being a true “Heavy Day” at Rock Zero, but I checked the official regulations and they simply state “at least 3 miles” and “use heavy stuff.” Check, and check.
What can I say, I can’t help but bring The Brave and it’s 4 mile minimum wherever I go. If you survived Rock Zero today (everyone did, and then some), then come check out The Brave sometime. It’s on Fridays so I’m pretty sure it’s ok to advertise it in this BB. #soManyRules
Plan today was to bring a little bit of training for the upcoming 2nd Annual BROlympics to RockZero. We covered a lot of the events today, including the 1 mile run, bucket carry for time, American KB swings, and we even worked our grip strength to get ready for the dead hang. Wasn’t sure how the church would feel about the KB toss, so we left that out. Either way, between the heavy stations toasting our CNS and the excessive continuous running, today has been an eat-everything-in-sight, hurts-to-wash-my-hair, take-a-nap kind of Saturday.
Buckeye went down early hitting a crack in the sidewalk, but shook it off pretty quickly. It’s understandable, the guy is top heavy with all those biceps. Couldn’t decide if BLC wanted to hit me or was enjoying himself, but he crushed it either way. Haven’t been around Boerwors long enough to say his name correctly, so I didn’t try. Everyone dug in and didn’t voice any complaints (that I could hear). Really great crew out today and really enjoyed spending the morning with all these guys who I don’t get to see very often (or met for the first time today).
Announcements
I know, I know, you missed this. The weekly writing of the Donut Run BB that everyone has come to love. We took the holidays off but now we are back! Yes, I am late with the BB this week. I could tell you it was work’s fault. That my brother is annoying to work with. That I have to do all his work. That I would never advise anyone to go into business with their family and then hire their brother. I could also recount the many times he has almost torpedo his largest account. But alas I won’t go into the excuses or use work or family as an excuse. I owe it to you all to get this out sooner and I apologize. So here goes…
What we did:
Run the reverse southern route. 1 ran the Jello route.
Moleskin (side bar: I always think of this when I have to type “moleskin”):
Jello is back after a hiatus with a hip injury. He ran his 4 mile route and crushed it. Good to have him back out. Grave Dancer and High Tide shuffled their way around while myself and Fleetwood chatted it up the whole run.
So, what has changed since the last Donut Run in December? Well Tuck has started a new workout everyday of the week. He’s making a serious push for Q of the year in 2018. Alf has some weird Cerebellum or Celebrate #inclusive workout in Waverly now. Tolkein has 64 more racing chairs. Hops has retired from F3. Tiger Rag is still in hibernation (I’m scared to think what he looks like). Should we do a wellness check?? Semi-Gloss is now leading cycling classes at the Harris Y. It’s specifically targeted for 45 year old women with 2+ kids. He sees this as a good niche business with potential expansion further in South Charlotte. Ironically, he competes for class space with Swiper.
Let’s see…Aquafresh has fully cemented himself as the DMZ site Q by kicking out all former site Q’s. Or maybe just me. BUT I have the shovel flag and I’m holding it hostage (insert evil laugh)! Actually, I’ll bring it monday to the DMZ at Independence Park for Bout Time and Jennings.
Peace!
BW
In preparation for my site VQ at Area 51, I arrived early to evaluate our weather and surface conditions. With everything clear, except for some icy patches, YHC sat patiently in his truck and developed the game plan.
At promptly 7:00, the disclaimer was given to the PAX, and we ventured off at a 8:30 pace for warm-up. Getting very close to 1 mile (0.9 to be exact), we then circled in the back parking lot where the PAX noticed 3 KBs set out — which ended up just being for aesthetics. (More on that later).
COT was done (IW, SSH, LSS, Merkins, some Mary) — all in a 15-count cadence. Mosey to the school wall facing McKee Rd and the exercises went like this:
Wall sits (30 seconds regular + 30 seconds with air presses).
One legged squats—which don’t work on that curved brick facing! #lesson learned
Mosey to rock pile at end of soccer field and grab a lifting rock. Partner up so that we have 4 stations, one at each light pole on the soccer field.
Exercises were (1st time thru)— 10 merkins, biceps curls, triceps extensions, overhead press. Stations were rotated clockwise, with the merkins station being the timer.
2nd time thru (same format just pulled in a little to cut down on the distance)— 20 LBCs, Flutter Press, Louganis, American Hammer.
3rd time thru— 10 squat jumps, Regular Squats, Squat Thrusts, SMC.
Extended mosey back to launch. 10 burpees OYO + 1:30 plank hold. Done!
Moleskin:
Well, it was my site VQ and it showed a bit! Poor decision to try to use a curved brick wall for squats, followed by a very large rotating square exercise that saw the PAX get in about 50 biceps curls each. Also, the teaser with the KBs were odd as YHC was definitely called out on it at the end! However, they looked great in triangular form for us to gaze upon during COT! (I called an audible when I realized that the back end of that parking lot was covered in ice).
Another rookie mistake was being tricked by the PAX names. You got me, Cold Cuts! I was trying to figure out just who the REAL Ochocinco was!!
Thank to Abacus and Huggy Bear for the opportunity to lead!
Announcements: Continue to pray for Bout Time, his son, and the rest of his family. DMZ is converging this upcoming Monday to Independence Park so that Bout Time can join.
Also continue to pray for Gremlin’s family, dealing with the loss of our brother.
Seven men gathered at the Chick Fil A parking lot for DaVinci. Two people sat in their cars like pole position at the start of the drive thru waiting for the green light so they could get fed. A solid disclaimer was given and off we went with the promise of low miles. Paper Jam thought I was lying.
The warm was quick and to the point. IW x 15 at the park in Blakeney.
Mosey over to the playground and partner up in a group of three and four. First set was 200 merkins, 200 knee tucks while holding the bar while partner three goes to the front of Brixx and back. Next round was 200 step ups, 200 squats with partner three going to Brixx again. Third round was 200 dips, 150 CDD and running to Brixx. Plank when done.
Mosey over to the stairs by Black and White/some yoga place. Three rounds. Hop on one foot up the stairs, do people’s chair with arm raises x 30 then 20 wide arm merkins at the bottom. At this point there was some conflict between Paper Jam and Mighty Mite. It seems Paper Jam did not like the comment about the UNC football team and academic integrity. Integrity was mentioned when it appeared that not all of the exercises were going to be completed by all of the Pax. This talk quickly escalated into accusations of NCSU only winning championships in goat bucking. This is just not true as the records show that NCSU did win a championship in Bass fishing. Not sure where they hang that banner or where you can find a t-shirt with that but just ask Mighty Mite/Luggie or any other sad NCSU fan holding onto 1983 or the potential of the 2018 football season.
I digress. After the Anchorman type showdown beside Enlightened Yoga we moseyed over to the retaining wall in between Brilliant Sky Toys and Old Navy. Old Navy is having a sale this weekend just like every weekend in case you want to go and Brilliant Sky has cool over priced toys if you are into that. We ran from the stop sign to the retaining wall where we did American Hammer on the wall x 20 followed by 10 diamond merkins. Next round was 20 knee tucks off the wall with 10 squats. Last round was 10 jump up to the wall, stand straight up and then run back to the stop sign for 10 CDD. 20 LBCs while the six finishes up.
Mosey behind Old Navy/Target. Stop at every light to the end of the target on the other side of Rea and do 5 diamond merkins. Yes Teddy even the ones not lit. Plank while the six comes in.
Mosey to the parking lot beside Target closest to the gas station. We did several rounds of the beast. Five stops going out and four stops coming back at each island. First round was merkins x 5, second round was squats x 5 and then finished with burpees x 5. Time to mosey back to the AO.
Finished with One minute forty five seconds of elbow plank. Done!
Moleskin: Not a lot of chatter except the NCSU/UNC dust up. Luckily I have been trained in conflict resolution. Too bad I was not working today because things probably could have ended more peacefully. F3 is free but not my expertise. Paper Jam says I am always trying to read people’s mind anyway.
Everyone put in great effort. Hanging on that bar was cold. Probably should have done that one at the end to let it warm up. Hopping on one leg up the stairs can be tough. Always feel like I am going to fall forward. The wall get ups was particularly hard. Time to start doing some of this stuff for those doing obstacle races.
As promised the miles were low. Kept it at 2.4. There was extra credit with the prerun. Thank you Bunker for joining me. Teddy said his bed was too warm. Teddy is a free agent for BRR and I promise he will get out of the van and run when it is his turn. He is a great team mate and never cusses at you for walking. At least not while you can hear him as the van drives by.
Cofferteria was followed by six of us.
Thanks for the chance to lead. Do not get to lead many boot camps because of this running thing so it caused to have to think about it.
Enjoy the weekend.
Ice. YHC figured with the launch of Cerberus and the informal Charlotte ice shut-down seemingly still in effect, this workout might have turned into YHC yelling numbers and obscure names at Margo for 45 minutes. So when the numbers hit double digits, it’s all frozen gravy from there. To this point most of my Qs have been pretty planned with a quick variance here and there. I figured the site by this point would be pretty cleared out, but planned to stick to the deck just in case. Unfortunately even the deck is not safe. Mother nature had other plans for this one. A quick disclaimer was given with a special addendum for the ice and off we went.
COP
Mosey to the top, or the top before all of the ice starts, of Tartarus for COP. That ended up being the 3rd level, and although not as scenic as the top, it worked.
IW x 20
LSS x 20
American Hammer x 20
Dolly x 20
The Thang:
Paula Abdul down the deck, forward running 2 sides of the deck, and backwards running 1. 20 merkins at the end of each forward run, 10 mountain climbers at the end of the backwards run. The ice saved the PAX 40 merkins and 20 mountain climbers with no YHC add-on, and Haze says I don’t care.
Back to level 1, partner up. Partner 1 runs up the deck while Partner 2 does called exercise. The run was initially the stairs to the top, across to the middle stairs and down. But after 1st group, was changed to up 1 level on the ramp and down the stairs. 200 LBCs, 100 squats and 50 burpees between partners. Wall sits with leg lifts while waiting on the six.
The plan was to then go across the bottom of the deck with the called exercise, jump the wall and keep it going. But again the ice had other plans so we cut it short.
Forward bear crawl to the wall, 10 donkey kicks, backwards bear crawl back
Lunge walk to the wall, 10 decline merkins, backwards lunge walk back
Broad jump burpee to the wall, 10 Wall-tar N’Diayes, run back.
With all of this new found free time, we moseyed to the rock pile beside the building across the street.
Overhead press x 20
Tricep extensions x 20
Curls x 20
Continue with sets of 15, 10 and 5 with small break in between, just enough time for Marconi to feel guilty of the size of his rock and switch with Runstopper. Haze felt the same guilt, but not enough to trade.
Mosey back to the main circle. After seeing the benches were iced over, we moved to the brick circle.
Steps Ups x 20
Dips x 20
Decline Merkins x 20, with Margo bare handing them in the ice.
Back to launch with some Mary to close things out.
Heels to Heaven x 25
Freddy Mercury x 25
Flutter x 25
Rosalita x 25
1 minute of Burpees
YHC with the take-out prayer
Moleskin:
Easy group today that got after it. Rachel out front when there was a front, and the comment was made that he is even fast at lunges. After being an FNG on Monday, Chunder hitting his first week hard with 3 posts, well done. Keep it up and that endurance will as well. Posting has sure worked for Thunder Road, man is in shape. The Snuka-Marconi respect team is always fast and out front. It was so cold that Runstopper even wore shorts on top of his tights, then proceeded to lift a small boulder. Morning After, Margo and Haze solid as always. Enjoyed it and thanks for the opportunity to lead.
Announcements
DMZ meeting at Independence Park on Monday
To all pax – DMZ will relocate this Monday, January 22nd, to bring a workout close to our friend and brother Bout Time, as he continues to stay with Jennings during treatment at Hemby.
We will be at Independence Park (the Ranger/Indy AO) with a 5:30 a.m. start.
Please spread the word and post if able – all are welcome and encouraged to join.
Where: Independence Park
When: Monday, January 22nd, 0530
Parking: St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, 1510 E 7th Street
QIC: Hops
Jennings updates: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jenningspalmer
Official launch day at Cerberus. I was planning the Q around a big crowd and a big crowd came. 41 men posted which was quite a bit in 23 degrees, but I figure a bunch of guys missed on on Wednesday and Thursday workouts and had some downpainment to make up.
All right – official disclaimer mentioned something about black ice, white ice, and various shades in between. Off we went. Circle up around Whole Foods for some quick COP.
IW, Mt. Climbers, Merkins and Lunges.
Mosey around the credit union an grab some railing.
Supine pull-ups on railing IC. Followed by Derkins, with feet on railing IC.
Repeat-O.
Apparently this is the shady side of the plaza and there was still plenty of snow. If your gloves sucked, you weren’t too happy with me right now.
Mosey back to the parking deck. Because, well, it’s a parking deck so we have to use it.
Run to the top. Backwards up the ramps, forwards on the flats. At the end of each ramp do 10 Jump Squats. At the end of each flat do 10-hip slappers each side. Peoples chair while we wait on the six.
Mosey to stairwell 2. Break up in each direction. Run down each stairwell, 10 8-Count Body Builders at the bottom. Back up and do 10 Romanian Dead-lifts (each leg) at the top. Hit all 3 stairwells and meet back at the middle. Some People’s chair with air-presses while we wait on the six.
Mosey back down the deck. On the bottom ramp pick a parking lot line and plank up for a merkin ladder. 10 merkins civilian count. Plank walk left one spot. 9 merkins. Plank walk right one spot, 8 merkins. Repeat to 1 merkin.
Repeat run to top with backwards up ramp, straight on flats and 10 jump squats after each ramp. Skip the hip slappers. People’s chair waiting for the six.
Down the steps an to the turf field. Snowed over so circle around for some Mary.
Freddy Mercury, LBC’s with leg lifts, Dolly, and Flutter.
Head to launch and done.
Moleskine:
Always a fun challenge to manage a large group and today was no different. Tried my best to keep things moving while keeping the leaders and the 6 all together. I was surprised by the amount of snow still left on that upper tier of the parking deck. Good excuse to limit the planking and burn up the quads with some wall sits.
I am thankful for the leadership in all the local regions for pulling this together and for Transporter and Argonaut pulling me in to help get this thing going. Tons of potential and easy to get to for a lot of guys. If you haven’t been out there yet, give it a try. And if things continue this way, we will likely have a few other days out at that AO and use it heavily like The Vine and South Charlotte Middle.
Announcements: The Brave moving locations to Brazwell’s to change the AO a bit. That either means they need a mile warm-up to get back to The Vine or they want to spend more time on Murderhorn.
New workout in Waxhaw starting Feb 1.
Thanks to Snowflake for the takeout.
-Alf
Glass Joe, Shake-n-Bake and Nomad ensured their warmth with a pre-run. At least SnB and Nomad had sense enough not to wear shorts! The rest of the crowd just wanted to get started as soon as possible in hopes of getting warm. Glass Joe provided periodic warmth reports which validated the workout was the correct intensity.
The Thang:
Mosey to warm up
Disclaimer
Mosey to the street
The beauty of being Q is, you make the rules!
Karaoke to the shelter
Pax you are welcome for each running lap. My way to ensure you stayed warm as desiredJ
Move trash cans
50 Air presses – great we have time for more R&R
Move trash cans back (Leave NO trace)
Mosey to the starting parking lot
20 Rosalita in Espanol
Time’s up
COT
Announcements
The Moleskin
Thrive is simply a great workout due to the regulars that attend. If nothing else, your gut will be sore from laughing at the mumble chatter. We are saddened by the loss of Gremlin, but appreciate his modeling of consistency and dependability. Characteristics we each strive for.
Despite the talk of Snowmageddon and CMS schools cancelling classes as soon as they heard about the chance of frozen precipitation, 16 manly men hopped out of the fartsack to a pleasant surprise: temperatures that didn’t make you think your eyelids were going to freeze. It was a balmy 42 degrees when we started. Although Mr. Bean was sporting some nut-hugging tights #wearsomeshortsoverthose and a knit hat with the biggest pom pom at the top of it you’ve ever seen, it was so “warm”, we all thought Pop Tart was going to take his shirt off at some point. Let’s find out if that actually happened:
The Thang
Head directly toward the Murderhorn. Groans ensue. Bean starts talking and heckling the Q (and doesn’t stop for 45 minutes). One the way down, 10 merkins at each lamp-post and 10 at the bottom. Quick COP of IW x 10 IC and 10 merkins IC.
Head up to the pool parking lot for some 3-man grinders. P1 does 5 pull-ups and 10 merkins at the park area. P2 does squats at the base of the parking lot. P3 runs between. Keep switching. Everyone got about 6 rounds of everything so we could get our requisite 30 pull-ups for the January challenge.
Once completed, we took a left on Elmstone, L on Thornhill Club, and a R on Meadow Run to head out to Ballantyne Commons Parkway. Lots of chatter (led by you-know-who) of the Q not having any clue where we were headed. In fact, we were headed toward more pain. L on B’tyne Commons to Stonebriar Dr.
3x up the Stonebriar Dr. hill, with 10 HR merkins at the top and 10 squats at the bottom. #smoker
Mosey east on B’tyne Commons back to Stonecrest. Stop for 10 merkins to catch the six. Head in the south entrance and toward speed bump alley. About 6.5 minutes left. 5 merkins at each speed bump (6 of them) and then jailbreak back to launch for 10 more merkins. 1 minute of plank and we’re done.
Moleskine
The Murderhorn gets a lot of run at the Maul and Rebel Yell, but the Stonebriar hill sucks almost as bad. Wanted to switch it up a bit and take some guys to a place they may never have been before. Even some crafty veterans were mentioning they had never been over there. It’s always good to venture out and find new territory so AO’s don’t get too stale. When you’re Qing, do some recon beforehand and put some thought into it.
Solid work by all this morning. I think Kirby and Arsenal were thinking bad thoughts about me while heading up Stonebriar, but they pushed through the whole time with maximum effort.
Frasier is getting faster. That guy might have a future as a runner. If you’re looking for someone for a BRR team, look him up. With some training, I think he could be a pretty solid piece for some lucky team. After getting smoked last year by Team Waterade, the SOB team might be looking for another guy in hopes of redeeming themselves.
Fredo and Marliln continue to amaze at their, um, “advanced” ages. All kidding aside, YHC hopes he’s that fast and strong after hitting the “respect” age.
Pop Tart kept his shirt on, thankfully. However, he really needs to run more. Looking kinda flabby and slow out there…..
Speaking of flabby, many pax pointed out that the pull-up bars were tilted after several rounds of Fire Hazard doing his pull-ups all on one side. Meanwhile, the Baxter Village New Year’s day race is already starting to slaughter pigs for next year’s meal. They ran out of food this year #Iwonderwhy #foodhealshishamstring
No Show has a significant advantage when it comes to hills. Since his legs are a full 3 feet longer than anyone else’s, the dude can move. The much shorter Tagalong and Teddy were right there with him, though.
Strong work by all, this morning. We covered 3 miles and got in our 30 pull-ups and 200 merkins. Thanks for coming out – enjoy the second workout of the day (chasing the kids around the house).
Announcements:
Keep Gremlin’s (MECA) family in your prayers as they deal with his passing.
Keep ‘Bout Time, his son, Jennings, and their family in your prayers as they deal with his struggle. Never underestimate the power of prayer.
Congrats to Madame Tussauds on his 4th F3 anniversary.
Happy birthday to Kirby (tomorrow)
Bean is bringing beer to his Stonehenge Q on the 27th to celebrate his 50th birthday. Should be a good one.
Everyone drive safe today.