The powers that be thought a convergence of two of SClt’s most respected and prodigious AO’s would yield a mighty birth of sculpted and high impact specimens.
Prepare to join the pax of Centurion and The Brave for an hour of TBQ and of course mumblechatter of epic proportions.
Where: CLT Catholic HS (regular parking lot)
When: 8/4/17 5:15 – 6:15
Who: Margo, Udder, Thin Mint, Firehazard will be your Qs
Why: Cause why not. Bring your big boy shorts and a towel. There will be sweat and pain. Maybe some laughs.
You have been warned
Bushwood is Down Range and apparently desperate for a Q so YHC has the lead this week. We’ll head to the North again, this time the Reverse Route. Here is the Map
Recommended start times:
0510: Slower than 8:45 pace or Clydesdales (YHC)
0515: 830-8:45 pace
0520: 8:00-8:15 pace
0525: 7:30-7:45 pace
0530: 7:00-7:15 pace
See you for some donuts!
YHC pulled into Elon Park Elementary Monday morning right after High Tide, shortly after driving by 3 pre-runners who had no respect for YHC’s weinke. Was it a wise move or a critical error in judgment? Read on and decide for yourself.
We ended up with 9 pax, including Cobbler, who was making his second post after being an FNG at Blackhawk over the weekend. After a thorough disclaimer blaming Argonaut for any potential injuries as site Q (not really, MT), we formed some sort of weird shape that wasn’t quite a circle or an oval in the middle section of the parking lot.
Warm-up:
SSH x 20 IC
Partner up by bell size. P1 carries the bells around the parking lot. P2 performs 7 merkins and gives chase. Circle all the way around the outer lots and back to the middle lot. The pax appeared sufficiently warm.
The Thang:
Although YHC tried to come up with something new and exciting for his first Q as a 42 year old, the well was dry. As a result, the body of this comes from a workout I’ve led a few times at Meathead. If High Tide minded, he didn’t say anything (thanks, HT).
We warmed up with 100 swings and 20 shoulder presses:
Next was a series of circuits of :30 on/:30 off of the following exercises:
Repeato
After completing the second round, the partners each grabbed a bell and mosied to the playground. P1 cleaned both bells and performed see-saw presses (alternating shoulder presses) while P2 performed 7 pull-ups. Flapjack until each partner has completed 3 rounds. 3*2*7 = 42.
Mosey back to the middle lot for some Mary:
Done. Thanks to Wild Turkey for taking us out in COT.
Announcements:
Moleskine:
19 ish pax came for a very mild temperature run through a quasi new area of Raintree.
Here is what was accomplished.
Run down 51 into Raintree Ln.
15 IW CAD
Circuit running down Willow Point drive – back out down Smokerise and back to Willow point – do until 6:05 and then run through Raintree back to the launch.
10 Merkins – CAD
The skin of mole – Naked of course
I had the q on my calendar and keep thinking and pushing off what I was going to do mainly because as Hannibal put it “my mind got the best of me” and both IT bands were killing me so I wanted to come up with something that would be for all endurance levels and also so I wouldn’t have to keep up with TL, Orange whip, Alf, VP, Margo, Double E,….etc…you get the idea.
Haze was questioning my q from the very start and I feel like he was ready to lead when I didn’t show up. Hopper kept him company when they passed me and made me feel good. Van Pelt was crushing it as usually and making me feel like less of a man. Retread continues to get faster and faster everytime we run together. Good push. Runstopper had the tights on today, just going to leave that right there. Horsehead was out today making it happen, he is back from his slip’n’slide injury (praying for you), Ironsides was pushing it hard up the hills, strong work brother. Utah was not giving up as well.
One Eye fortunately kept me company with his healed up broken toe. Glad to have you back out. Benny wherever you are we miss you. Glad that Retread reached out. I blame Haze for that one.
Now for Pop Tart – He showed up with no shoes on and had to run home to get them. There was a ton of comments of how we all would have just stayed home. PT wasn’t having any of that so he came back out and I told him where we would be. We ran together on one lap and then all of the sudden he looks at me and says “do you think walmart is open 24 hours”, since I am a man of class I knew they were and he was off. That was the last we saw of Pop Tart, he mumbled something about all you can eat at ribs at sonnys barbeque.
Announcements:
Speed for need – charlotte marathon relay – Trying to get a team from FT and Swift to join. Alf mentioned it so just send him emails as often as you can.
July 31 marked 2 important dates – another trip around the sun and the 3 year anniversary for YHC. I could think of no better way to celebrate than to lead the strongest group of men in all of A51 in the Monday tradition that is The Matrix.
Word spread that it was a big date for me and the Matrix faithful came out in droves, 2 FNG and a few guys from Union County made the trip across the county line, so when 05:30 struck, there were 20 ready to get their week started in the best way possible.
The standard disclaimer was provided and an addendum was included that announced that the workout would be a blast from the past. It went a little something like this:
Mosey along the sidewalk, past the track, thru the bus lot and back to the main school parking lot for COP
SSH X 25 IC
IW X 20 IC
LSS X 15 IC
Merkins X 10 IC
The Main Event
Mosey to playground & perform 10 Pull Ups, 20 Derkins & 30 Dips OYO
Mosey to rock pile. Form teams of 3 & 2/3 grab a lifting rock
Mosey to lower lot with rocks for GRINDERS
P1 starts at one island, P2 starts at the other. P3 runs from one station to the other and takes over called exercise for total # of reps.
Round 1
Station 1 = 150 Merkins / Station 2 = 150 CDD
Round 2
Station 1 = 150 Squats / Station 2 = 150 Lunges
Round 3
Station 1 = 200 O/H Press / Station 2 = 200 Curls
Round 4
Station 1 = 200 Calf Raises / Station 2 = 200 Monkey Humpers
Round 5
Station 1 = 200 LBC / Station 2 = 200 Flutter
Return rocks & mosey back to cars for 4 Minutes of Mary
Freddie Mercury X 15 IC
Heels to Heaven X 10 IC
10 Burpees OYO + 5 Burpees OYO
Time!
The Moleskin
Welcome Trey – No Doubt & Max – Bernie
Because of the F3’versary, I knew I wanted to repeat my very first workout. Today’s weinke was easy to prep. On paper, it seemed fairly simple and easy. In reality, what Alf put us through 3 years ago and what we repeated verbatim today was a real smoker. Today was a real test of your fitness and all passed with a big A+.
I announced to the group in COP that this was a repeat of my virgin post and a few people quickly noticed that I didn’t give proper credit to the Q that day (I think they wanted to know who to blame if it sucked). Alf led the original workout and that immediately led to lots of mumble chatter because he’s known to provide solid beatdowns. There was some confusion & wonder when we arrived at the rock pile and gathered our ‘lifting rocks’ and then ran to the lower lot. Some need a new definition of ‘lifting rock’. It was pointed out that some of the lifting rocks were more like pebbles and we heard some pretty lame excuses as to why they were picked. Even with some rocks weighing 1/10 of the rock Squid picked, everyone got what they came for. I’m sure the FNGs thought we were crazy when we started, but they hung in there and left with smiles on their faces. My bet is they come back for more.
Now for the sentimental Moleskin….. When I first posted on July 28, 2014, Alf led us through the beatdown listed above. It was new, it was weird, but most of all, it was what I needed. The guys that showed this AM may or may not have had an idea of the significance of the day to me, but they came for their own reasons. That’s what keeps F3 alive – the higher purpose that each PAX is striving for.
Today was an important for me. It marked 2 significant milestones in my life, but more importantly, it reinforced (for me personally) the credo of F3, Iron Sharpens Iron. I am truly humbled at the challenges that my brothers overcame this AM to be part of my special day – some rescheduled prior commitments, some drove 25+ minutes, and some resisted the traditional Monday AM fartsack. Make no mistake, each and every action made an impact on me. As I mentioned, it’s hard for me to open up and be vulnerable, but it was laid on my heart today to try to explain the impact you guys have had in my life. My family and I moved to Charlotte 3 years ago in late-June and I was introduced to F3 by Zip-A-Dee less than a month later. I posted 2-3 times the first week and then became inconsistent. Alf must have noticed my repeat absences and sent me an email encouraging me to come back. You have no idea how much that meant, so don’t miss the opportunity to reach out to the guys who you haven’t seen in a while. They need to hear from you and need to be encouraged. I am now a regular in both A51 and Union County because someone took the time to let me know I was missed. I now post at every opportunity not because I need to bless you guys with my presence, but because I need to bless myself with your’s.
23 pax showed up for the latest edition of Skunkworks, on what felt like a mid-fall morning. 1 FNG so full disclaimer given, then off we went: Warm up lap around the track, circle back up in the parking lot SSH x 20 IC IW x 15 IC 10 good mornings OYO 10 swings followed by 10 Merkins 20 swings/20 Merkins 30 swings/30 Merkins 20 swings/20 Merkins 10 swings/10 Merkins Partner up with like-sized bell, farmers carry Catch-Me-If-You-Can with idle partner doing 10 Merkins, down to the bottom of the parking lot. Partner 1 does called exercise while Partner 2 runs across the parking lot up to the street and back, then do 10 hand-slap partner Merkins, then flapjack Round 1: KB curls Round 2: overhead press Round 3: tricep extensions Round 4: double swings Round 5: double cleans Round 6: double suitcase lunges On your six for some Mary: Flutter press x 15 IC LBC x 15 IC Back with partner, farmers carry Catch-Me-If-You-Can back the same way back to the parking lot. Dolly x 15 Heels to heaven x 15 30 seconds left so finish up with 20 merkins OYO DONE MOLESKIN: Always a great group at Skunkworks. Great seeing some old faces and meeting some new ones. Appreciate everyone letting me lead today. With all the merkins we did, I must have been channeling Busch since I was substi-Q for him. Sound off below with any mumble chatter I missed. I was too busy gasping for air to hear much. Thanks to Young Love for taking us out in prayer.
17 Pax gathered and galloped at this week’s edition of Mountain Goat. After a couple of warm-up laps around the SCMS parking lot with butt kickers and high knees thrown in for good measure, we set our sights on one of F3 SCLT’s most hallowed and revered landmarks – the Dunkin Donuts at Colony and Rea. Instructions were to run to Dunkin by way of 51 and Rea and back. If time permits, add a repeat or two on the Danger Zone.
It’s close enough to the BRR that an official Countdown can begin at Swift. At 0515 on Tuesday morning, we’ll start the countdown with 6 more workouts to go. Meet at the Vine at 0515 to light the fuse.
Training for the BRR has brought us a lot so far. We’ve worked a lot on Interval Pace to maximize our aerobic power (how much blood can we get to the running muscles and how much of the oxygen can we convert into every) – those have been everything from the 5/4/3/2/1/1/2/3, 800m Repeats, and 2/1/:30. We’ve worked on Repetition Pace to improve our speed and economy (how efficient is your effort & form at translating into speed) – those workouts are the Hill Repeats, 200m, 400m and occasional 600m. And Finally, we’ve worked on Threshold Pace to maximize our endurance for racing – those are the 5min/1min recovery, 10min/2min recovery, etc. And you also should have bookmarked (or downloaded) the running calculator to help you target these I, R, and T Paces from http://runsmartproject.com/calculator
I see us needing to work on a little of all 3 (I, R, and T) in the last 6 weeks before the BRR, so here’s a quick calendar. I’ll still be sending this in a PreBlast each week:
Timeline for 8/1:
9 men showed up to witness my VQ. We were all thrown off as we learned that the Pineville Fire Department had been condemned, and that we must find somewhere else to park. With Lieutenant Dan guiding the PAX all the way to the back of the park parking lot, we gathered in the darkness as our colleagues at Camp Gladiator began warming up.
After a quick but sufficient disclaimer, the moseying began with a quarter mile of extra mosey provided to us by the Pineville FD.
Warm-Up
From there we moseyed another .5 mile where a choice was given of 5 Burpees or 10 Jump Squats. No one chose Burpees. After this, a final .5 mile was run where we met at the pond at the Belle Johnson Community Center. There was women’s group also using the park, and Lieutenant Dan was approached about the two groups joining forces in the future. He told them they needed to ask the “guy in the red bandanna.”
The PAX was advised to be cautious of goose poop and snakes and to reach in the pond to retrieve a rock for both running and lifting, where three rounds of 20 X Curls, 20 X Overhead press, and 20 x Tricep Extensions were completed with a sprint and 10 merkins in between.
Following this, the men partnered up and did a round of Catch Me If You Can around the .5 mile loop of the pond, with one carrying a rock while the other did 5 merkins before catching, if they could.
Upon completion we lined circled up for some mary before the daunting 1 mile+ “downhill” mosey back to the start.
Moleskin:
I wanted to make sure we ran 3 miles for my VQ, as I hate running but am trying to improve on it. I’m grateful to all who came out for my first and hope to improve my time management skills for the future. Also notably, we ended without being taken out then re-circled to be taken out by YHQ, which I thought was sort of funny.