YHC arrived at CDS around 5:25 to find a few pax warming up while a few others were getting back from their pre-run (when do you sleep?). The pax kept trickling in and we eventually ended up with 21 for this week’s edition of Skunkworks.
After a quick disclaimer, we circled up for COP:
Partner up by bell size. P1 farmer carries both bells while P2 does 5 burpees and gives chase. CMIYC down to the parking lot next to the church.
The Thang:
P1 runs a loop around the church (~.15 miles) while P2 performs called exercise. When both partners have completed the exercise, plank or Mary until the next round starts. Exercises were:
Time’s up – grab the bells and carry them back to the launch point.
Circle up for Mary:
Finito.
Thanks to Bulldog for the takeout in COT.
Announcements:
Moleskine:
After disclaimer, a bit longer run than usual, with the usual “marathon” comments from the PAX.
COP
SSH X 25
IW X 20? (KINDA FUZZY ON THE EXACT NUMBER)
3 DOWN & 1 UP MERKINS X 15?? (STILL FUZZY) I did hear some groaning when the pace slowed down, thanks for the insight gentlemen. <— And I use that term loosely…
PLANK (ARM OUT / OPPOSITE LEG UP)
MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS X 15
AND A LITTLE DOWNWARD DOG STRETCHING
And we threw in a 5 Burpee penalty for Bullwinkle who's seems to have his own time zone. F3 in NC runs on EST, not BST….
The THANG!
Mosey over to the road right side of the soccer fields and partner up for Assisted Suicides (#1 runs a suicide to first island while #2 does Burpees, flapjack and repeat with Merkins to second island. Then alternate Burpees and Merkins at each consecutive island till we reached the stop sign).
Plank up when done, several “over achievers” pin balled back to pick up the six and got back to the start for a well deserved 10 count.
Mosey over to the shelter near the volley ball courts for Dips, Declined Merkins, and Step Ups (20 each – 3 rounds). Plus a 5 Burpee penalty for a Bullwinkle Q-jack.
Next, “Get Them Up Against The Wall”, well, after we move the trash cans all nicely lined up against said wall. Time for some Wall Squats and Air Presses (50 to start with, oh, did I say 50, I meant 100), followed by 10 Merkins and round 2 with 125 Air Presses and H.B.’s exit from the A.O. Thanks to Nomad for keeping the count, I was barely able to get every 10th count out of my winded lungs. Good job putting the trash cans back where we found them. Leave the place better than you found it!
Next, circle up on your 6 in the parking lot. Got a few grumbles from the pax after relocating down the parking lot a bit so no one would be laying in the nastiness that trickled out of the trash cans into the parking lot. That’s ok guys, I was listening, should have done 5 penalty Burpees for grumbling about the Q looking out for everyone’s well being. (Side Note – last night I sat in on a Review Board for Boy Scout advancing to the rank of Life Scout, and this young man told us about the “near full body fungal infection” he got from the lake at a Scout Camp up in the mountains, nasty stuff, so don’t grumble! LOL )
Finished off with LBC’s and The Flutter…
Bullwinkle’s Burpee form is really improving! Great effort and performance from Mind Crime and Sling Blade. Shake & Bake has really up’ed his running game, I barely got in any Burpees or Merkins during the Assisted Suicides. Playoffs got his new Heaven’s Gate running shoes too, how’s the knee feeling?
First time I’ve seen Houdini at Thrive, welcome man!
Thanks for the privilege to lead this morning. Shame Glass Joe hasn’t made any of my Q’s. We’ll see how many Burpees it takes to shut down the chatter on the next one. I’ll try not to go all “Angry Scout Master” on him..LOL
Keep an eye out for F3 Union Co. shirt order coming up, looks like Hair Band is heading up that endeavor.
New workout! Official Launch Wednesday 5/31 at Stallings Elementary.
We will be there 5-10-17 for a shared Q workout. 5:30 AM EST (not BST). Name still to be determined.
Posted on behalf of Woody
Summary
22 men still chose to run a few miles at Swift today, despite their fearless leader Bratwurst being DR, MIA, on a work boondoggle, starting up a new running workout, on Vacation (who knows). YHC thought surely that Bagpipe would have record numbers factoring in my main man Heartbreaker on Q, Brat’s absence, and YHC notorious Preblast. It didn’t happen and SWIFT PAX outnumbered Bagpipe 22 – 20. #scoreboard #notacompetition #yesitsacompetition Here’s what we did, or didn’t do:
The THANG (yesterday’s preblast)
“Bratwurst is out… Tolkien is in, but don’t worry… the fabled Fortune Cookie Run won’t be back. Instead we’re running a Chinese Fire Drill. Mongol style!
OPTION #1: 0500 – 0515: warm up the legs and core by pulling each other in rickshaws for 15 minutes, sneak in a little Tai Chi to get the mind right. Shots of ginseng to chase down a GU packet right before the main event.
0515-0615: In drive mode (coasting, no pressure on the gas) one PAX starts driving Tolkien’s truck around the bull ring with the rest of the Pax in the cab or in the bed. The person in the back of the bed, hops out of the truck, runs around the truck without getting hit, enters the driverside door, pushes the driver in, and the PAX move towards the back of the truck. Repeato until all PAX have cycled through. That’s round 1. Round 2, add 5mph to the truck speed and repeat until 0615 or until there is a casualty. Remember the disclaimer that is given at the start that you exercise at your own risk.
or….
OPTION #2: We could go with the Bratwurst plan, so set your watches accordingly:
PACE Groups:
(R) ICH Pace – if you can afford a fancy watch that will override your heart rate to something ridiculously low and pump your VO2 MAX into the 60s fictitiously. Bunker leads pace group.
(I) NJURY Pace – if you have sprained an ankle for good or bad reasons in the last year, you have a free pass to this group. Fire Hazard, Tolkien and Tuck are the pacers…. in arrow formation, like Nike’s Breaking 2hr marathon pacers did… only 2hrs slower.
(P) URGE Pace – follow Frasier, Citgo, Fahvra, and whoever else has no body fat who will be running at lightning speed, and purge the food they ate four days ago in the woods somewhere to stay lean and mean.
NAKED MOLESKINE
Surprisingly, everyone chose Bratwurst’s option #2, despite some consideration by Enron to do #1 per Slack comments. During the workout, Gumbo nearly changed his mind as well but resisted asking for the Chinese Firedrill. MAn it would have been interesting to attempt this! Anyway, After considering a multitude of venues for the workout, and realizing that after 100+ SWIFT workouts there wasn’t any new ground to discover, the Bull Ring was chosen to allow for more measured pacing and regrouping. Tagalong was curious at Stonehenge what SWIFT was all about, and was true to his word, came out and crushed it. His brother-in-law Thin Mint chose not to make it a family affair and was MIA after completing 50k Trail Ultra this weekend, which earned him a free pass… until Haggis showed up to run (also ran the same trail ultra), which immediately revoked TM’s hall pass for missing. Congrats to the both of you crazy fools. Cheddar rolled up with seconds to go, and started jingling away with his keyset. No word whether he ran the Smoky Mountain Relay with some keys. Way to go brother in the F3 Expansion! #HIM Hairball, Bunker, and YHC tried to take advantage of Frasier’s calf injury which was sustained Saturday at Stonehenge after some idiot Q had the PAX backwards-run up the ramps AND the flats of the Premier 5 story parking deck. All three were looking to get back in pre-marathon form and today looked promising, covering 7+ miles (not including the pre-run). Anne Springs Greenway Trail BFF’s Enron and One-Niner showed they can run fast on pavement and trails. Wild Turkey battled through lingering effects of a sprained ankle incurred from paying zero attention to a hole on a Monday 10 miler. Everyone else put in solid work it seems per Strava Labs FlyBy. YHC was too busy running (P)urge Pace and not (Injury Pace at the end, spilling merlot from an ill advised Gu packet.
Kudos to Brat for leading this workout week in and week out. It’s tough figuring out what to do on a speed day, without just running senselessly fast to get injured. It’s also tough to synchronize watches, keep the group together, and to B-skip properly, although it comes naturally to Tiger Rag. So thanks for sharing your knowledge, intelligence, and leadership with the SWIFT crew. You can have your Tuesday workout back.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
“They may take our lives, but they’ll never take our F3DOM!” ~ @JRRTolkienF3
Huge turnout for Watchtower…Seven whole pax made it out for a pitcher’s workout. Contrary to popular belief, a pitcher’s workout includes more than 20 pitches, sit a bit, scratch a bit, spit a bit, rinse and repeat. Here’s a little something from spring training.
We set off on a leisurely jog down to the track. Doc, Goodfella, Frack, and Foundation apparently engaged in something called a ‘pre-run’…have yet to confirm why. I mention the pre-run because none of them could stop mentioning their pre-run.
We got to the track and warmed up using some of the activation techniques we learned at the launch of Legal Zoom’s Cool Runnings…from Bratwurst.
The Thang:
At this point we jogged/staggered over to the stadium steps. Doc and Goodfella continued to discuss their ‘pre-run’. Frack informed us he no longer had a right hamstring. Foundation was quiet as were Jingles and Posse.
We ran stadium steps alternating aisles running up the first flight and down, jog to next flight and walk backwards up them and jog down. Rinse and repeat until all steps were climbed.
Jog back towards the front and walking lunge for approximately 30 yards, and took it to the front of the school for a few LBCs and American Hammers. We also stretched again, but were careful not to overstretch our tired muscles.
No announcements. Goodfella took us out, but not before he and Doc discussed their pre-run again in order to determine how far they’d run.
8 pax lifted…hard. Here’s what we did.
SSH x 15
Merkins x 10
IW x 15
Merkins x 10
CDD x 15
Snatch x 10
Squat x 10
Curl x 10
Merkins x 20
Clean x 10
Lunge x 10
Upright Row x 10
Merkins x 20
Swing x 10
Deadlift x 10
2 Handed Press x 10
Merkins x 20
Partner up: Doubles
Same circuit x 5
NMM: No Mary at Meathead
We lifted heavier and harder than you ever have. Maybe next week you’ll join us.
10.5 Men made their way to Indian Land for a pre-run and beatdown known as Arsenal.
The thang:SSH x 15
[5 burpees]
IW x 15
[5 burpees]
Low Slow Squats
[5 Burpees]
Mountain Climbers x 15[5 Burpees]
Merkins IC x 10Mosey to Playground
5 Pullups, 10 merkins, 15 squats
1 Lap around Playground
X 5 setsMosey over to field, then audibled to hill for 7s
Merkins at Bottom, Squats at top, Up & down Hill in MiddleBreak into 3 teams of 3
2 partners BTTW or People’s chair while 3rd partner grabs Two 45lb plates and carries length of Front of school and back.
Next partner takes plates and walks/runs.
Race until all team members complete Plate Walk.Circle of Mary
Each Pax calls exercise x 10 reps.The End
Announcements: BROlympics this weekend.Moleskine:
This AO is becoming one of YHC’s favorites of the week. The hilly pre-run followed by a plethora of possibilities at the school makes it interesting and tough. It is also great to catch up with some interesting PAX that I don’t usually see at the Vine or StoneCrest. This Q was less organized than I would have liked, so YHC will need more opportunities to improve there. The Plate Carry, in particular shows promise, but needs fine tuning.
FireHazard sped through every part of this workout leaving YHC wondering if there should have been more Burpees during the warmup just to slow him down.
Ringer & General were out front pushing every run and breezing through the Merkins.
Kielbasa and Sauerkraut seem like they should be mentioned in the same comment. Both powered through the burpees and hills like it was a walk in the park. Kielbasa may have led the way in mumblechatter, but he also led the way with his canoe/boat choice in the circle of Mary. That was tough.
Erector made his second appearance at F3 and did not complain as he carried his body weight equivalent in plates the length of the school and back.
Madame Tussaud and Outback kept everyone honest on the hills and at the playground. Good to see the familiar faces out in Indian Land. I think have lost track of which one of MT’s impressions was Kiwi, Scottish, or English. I have a feeling his Russian, German and Dutch would sound surprisingly similar.
Mario & his dog made it to the morning run. Not too shabby for an 8-month old. The dog did OK also.
It was a pleasure being able to lead this group. SYITG
12 strong stayed close to home but got some miles with some hill repeats.
Mosey from Carmel Park to Church at Charlotte parking lot for SSH x 20, merkins x 10, IW x 15. Mosey across Colony to Castellaine for 5’s (really 6’s) and 3’s (really 4’s). 5’s included jump squats at the top and merkins at the bottom. 3’s included lunges at the top and burpees at the bottom. Mary as we wait for the 6. Mosey back to the courtyard of Church at Charlotte for dips x 20 and step ups x10, repeat. Mosey to the bottom of the parking lot. Suicides to each street light and back with increasing widearms x3. AYG to the top. 6 minutes of Mary – LBC, Rosalita, Knee ups, protractor, heels to heaven, Boone LBCs.
Orlando cut it close this morning and chose wisely to try the church first vs. the Camp Gladiator route. He only missed the first 50 burpees and am sure he has done them already. Swiper, ’bout time and One Eye were flying as usual. Swiper’s attempts to oust the Q with facts, logic and speed were thwarted by the pax who could even follow the worst guidance. Good to see Gangsta back in the saddle. Albatross keeps coming back for more.
BRR training begins – Thursday nights 7:30pm Foxcroft Wine shop – mileage followed by adult beverages. Bulldogs Matters summer help needed (see Cuda). 6/3 Goat from Cotswold – Shawshank is pulling together again this year. Check the website for details.
5 familiar faces gathered at Tha Hole this morning. Here is how it went.
Warm Up: Circle up for 15 IW, 15 merkins, 15 windmills, 10 MC/10 Plank Jacks/plank-o-rama
Main Event Part I. 4 sets of alternating Pull Ups and Double KB Cleans. 6-10 reps per set. Slow pace, focus on form, strength.
Main Event Part II. 4 sets of 10 KB merkins/10 Two Handed Swings/10 Overhead Presses/10 Two Handed Swings. Recovery = a 10 count in between each set and one set of flutters x 30 IC after 3rd set.
Main Event Part III. Mosey down to the soccer field and line up facing the field width wise. KB burpee ladder: 1 burpee, run across and back, 2 burpees, across and back, etc. AMRAP fashion and hit pause when the 6 gets to 3 reps. Then gather for 3 sets of one-arm rows/Mary. Mary was LBCs/American Hammers, Heels to Heaven/Pistol Crunches, Full Sit-ups/Side Crunches. Then re-start the ladder and go back down to one KB burpee.
Mosey back to launch and kill time with snatches (5 a side), high pulls (10 a side), and swings x20.
Moleskine: “Sometimes you wanna go… where everybody knows your name…” That is pretty much what it felt like this morning with Argonaut, Kirby, Fire Marshal, Luggi, and YHC this morning. YHC had been missing Foxhole lately for some Big House and some fartsack – it was good to be back.
Announcements: May 24 SOB convergence at The Maul with an FNG quota. Start thinking it through now and make it happen.
23 pax mustered in the south Charlotte gloom for another Monday morning edition of BaseCamp. After a stumbling disclaimer by YHC, we launched into what is normally the most poorly lit AO in all of Area 51. Thankfully the sun comes up earlier this time of year….though a few of the pax are better seen in the dark. Didn’t see a shovel flag…Goonie? Drano? Perhaps I missed it..as I did Tebow…more on that later.
Anyway, below is something similar to what the downpainment entailed with some random commentary –
The Thang & Ye Olde Moleskine:
Jog down to the track and run one lap then circle up at midfield’s for COP.
COP:
IW x 15 IC
Slow Squat x 15 IC
H-R Merkin x 15 IC
Flutter x 15 IC
Carolina Dry Dock x 10 IC
Partner up for the following:
P1 AYG run width of football field while P2 does LBC’s. Flapjack. Rinse & Repeat.
P1 AYG run. P2 Jump Squats. Flapjack. Rinse & Repeat.
P1 AYG run. P2 Wide-Arm Merkins. Flapjack. Rinse & Repeat.
I think we did some Chilcutt with alternating leg lifts x 10 IC at this point.
YHC then grabbed the bag of numbered tennis balls for the next segment. Not sure who gave me that idea years ago, but Haze provided the tennis balls…glad he was there to enjoy it this morning.
Split the pax into 3 groups.
Then had one of the pax pull a numbered ball out of the bag (numbered 5’ish to 100). Can’t remember exactly what numbers were drawn – 8, 11, 12, 13, 22, 24, 30..I think? Anyway, each group ran from midfield to a separate corner of the field and did the following with the same number of reps in the corner and back at midfield:
Burpees, American Hammer, Diamond Merkins, Freddie Mercury, Merkins (Haze called that as my ad-libbing brain froze…thanks for the added creativity?), One-legged squats.
Goonie, Swing State (our guest from NoCo/Isotope/Lake Norman = Lake Nopotope = Identity Crisis for our northern brethren) & Adobe were out front on this bit. Goonie also had the nerve to call me out on my merkin form…I’m getting a second opinion from Champagne.
We finished with 9 minutes and 47 seconds of Mary consisting of something akin to:
Dolly x 13 IC
Makthar N’Djaiye x 10 IC…of course
6-count burpee x 10 IC
High Slow Flutter x 13 IC
Cumberland County Viaduct x10R IC & x10L IC..of course! Nobody likes love handles…
Jog back to launch lot.
SSH x 13 IC. I don’t know why I called these…I’m ashamed of myself. I can’t explain it. Simba was not happy at all.
Done
COT with Swing State taking us out.
Announcements:
# Goonie mentioned Savage Race, though it’s far to late to sign-up. Thanks for nothing Goonie.
# F3 Dads at Charlotte Knights (2.0’s get to sing the National Anthem on the field!) – Friday, May 26th
# Convergence at RockZero on Saturday before Memorial Day – don’t miss! Really cool with citations read of those decorated men who, indeed, gave their last full measure of devotion to our country and the preservation of our freedoms.
# Convergence Memorial Day at BaseCamp
Some other observations:
Simba talks a lot but also gets after it pretty good out there, and he picked up the tennis balls. #servant
Insomniac wore a nasty looking NC State hat this morning….backards at times (that’s Wolfpack for backwards)
Smash was mumblechattering the whole workout…ok, not really. Not at all. Just seeing who’s paying attention. Thunder Road was also talking junk the whole time….
Floorslapper was on time as was Adobe. #uncharacteristic
Compound, a recent addition to the pax via Metro, visited his old middle school stomping grounds this morning. Good to have you brother. He was mumbling something about his glory days on that gridiron….not really….though maybe? Maybe not.
Invited Swing State to join us this morning and figured it was him when I saw a vehicle pull into the wrong lot at 5:20’ish…as YHC did (allegedly more than once) a few years ago. Good to have you down from Lake Nocotope.
Apparently my Q’s are fairly predictable….I accept that. Goonie did call me out for omitting Burpee Broad Jumps & something else I can’t remember. I’ll do better next time boss.
And now for the apology portion of this backblast. YHC inexplicably and inexcusably skipped Tebow at the end of Name-o-rama. How could that happen? His beard is twice as long as Haze’s and much redder. #ginger No words. Cobains Tebow. I made sure the list listed you in the pax list.
Grateful to Goonie & Drano for tapping me to Q. It really is a privilege to lead you men through the workout. The 1st F doesn’t get easier, you just get stronger (if you push yourself). The 2nd F is why we want to keep posting and connecting with the pax (also takes effort/intentionality). And the 3rd F is ultimately the “why” we do anything we do. Drink deeply from all 3 wells men.
2 Sleds, Bells and bags of fun. That was the plan for the morning. It was an energetic one at that, McGee made his Commitment comeback and 17 others showed up to beat the fart sack on the cool Saturday morning.
WU: 30 SSH, 30 MC’s, 30 LBC’s, 10 Potato Pickers, mosey to the side of school for some people’s chair, 20 donkey kicks OYO, grab a rock 15 Curl to press, 15 Low slow squats, 15 Lunges each leg. Mosey to the back of school grab a railing, 10 bottom rail (IC) 10 Middle (IC) 10 upper (IC).
The Thang:
Mosey over to the tack for a quick 400 so we could separate the group into 5 teams for what lay ahead. 3 teams had 3, 2 had 4 to find the practice field lined with 2 sleds 3 45LBS plates. 5 Kettle Bells and 5 Sand bags. The mission was simple, One person on the bags and one on the bells with the runner swapping out on the bags side. was suppose to be three sets but the first set was 150 Sandbag burpees, second was 200 KB swings, and the third was 300 Squats with the bag between each set was a 400 Indian run with the bag as a team. Mosey back and do a challenge race with the next fasted guy. Some quick Mary to finish up.
Moleskin: We never made it to the 3rd set. I hear a lot of grumbling about the 150 sandbag burpees, “there should be an audible on this,” that one stood out. The second I heard that, there was no way I was going to reduce the target. Any ways, there was a lot of sweat and determination. I saw a lot of heart, Damascus was killing the sled, Recalulating had a no quit attitude even with a hernia issue going on. MoneyBall and Shampoodle clearly has decided to kick it into gear and added Saturday to the mix, as always Doc, Goodfella, and Hollywood and Bottlecap gave their 100% and led the pax. Popeye has shaken the dusk off his wheel and has gotten back into the swing of things and Legal, have you all see this sleeper (car reference). He is getting faster, quickly! McGee was fast as usual and was all about the 150 sandbag burpees (after they were done). Gator and Foundation continue gain speed and Shop,,,well Shop is an interesting one, there’s an at the beginning of the work out Shop and there is an end of the work out Shop, clearly two differert Shops, one is good at speed, the other is substantially faster, at the end of the work out. Last but not least Orville, PLEASE Come Back, this was not a fair workout to start on, heavy on weights and high on intensity, with no explanation of modification from the Q, that was my fault. That all said Orville made his way back and got back in the game! Nice work
Announcements:
Sanctuary- Monday nights 7:30 Brooklyn pizza
Chariot Race- Tolkien has challenged us to find a race to Sponsor a handicap person to race with, lets do this!