YHC gave a pre-blast that should have got about 3 PAX to post on this thick and humid morning. Surprise, surprise . . . 12 PAX were in the parking lot when things kicked off. Apparently there are a lot of sadists Amy Grant fans . . . Cue the boombox!
WARMUP
THE THANG
Since this AO is so expansive, there are lots of areas to explore . . . or since we always explore this AO, let’s just keep it close to home. The Weinke was to discuss the life and times of Jack Webb’s extended family while using some kryptonite for my #TennisArms.
MOLESKINE
The PAX found out that Jack Webb and Amy Grant’s love child is VERY ugly. However, YHC noticed that the PAX were singing along to the last song. Some people call the last ab exercise the “J-Lo” but Jenny from the Block actually covered Amy Grant’s original version of this exercise. From now on, this exercise will be called the “Amy Grant” by YHC.
Good work by all today. Lots of complaining about the size of the rocks and the AYG Accordions so hopefully that meant the PAX got a good sweat.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Thanks for the takeout Goodfella
Bushwood gave YHC the keys to the Donut Run this week while he visits the surface of the sun (a/k/a, Houston). I immediately cracked under the pressure and asked Geraldo which route he wanted to run (which is the Q’s only real decision for this workout). He chose the regular North Donut Route. Directions can be found here.
Recommended (and usually ignored) start times:
0510: Slower than 8:45 pace or sandbaggers
0515: 830-8:45 pace
0520: 8:00-8:15 pace
0525: 7:30-7:45 pace
0530: 7:00-7:15 pace
Fourteen men made the choice to get after it this morning. It was in the 80’s with close to 100% humidity. Said another way, it sucked being out there this morning.
Warmup
Quick run through of Side Straddle Hop, Mountain Climbers, Merkins and Squats
Mosey to the soccer field
3 rounds – 20 Swings, 20 Squats and 20 Upright Rows (Q forgot the name of that exercise and needed some assistance from the PAX) followed by a lap (no kb on the lap)
Mosey to the courtyard beside the church –
3 rounds – 20 lunges, 20 clean and press, followed by a run/mosey up the stairwell (with the kb)
Multiple choice – the pax was given the option between 3 stair climbs with kb or 5 stair climbs w/out the kb. They chose wisely and we did both exercises.
Mosey to the hill –
3 rounds – 5 swings, 5 squats and 5 overhead presses followed with a run up the hill
3 rounds – 10 mason twists with a backwards run up the hill
Mosey back to the start –
One minute to spare so we did burpees until the clock hit 6:15am
Thanks for the opportunity to lead out there this morning. It was hot and humid and everyone was working hard out there to get better. My legs were sore on the drive home so I hope that everyone is feeling it later in the day.
Announcements – Bulldog and his M are opening a yoga studio in Southpark.
Never thought I would see the day when I would be showing up at Fast Twitch in July for some cooler temps. With the upstairs at casa de BT reading a balmy 83, today was the day. Mid-seventies at 5am in SCMS parking lot felt great. But as 23 men launched into another episode of FT, the feeling did not last. Here’s why:
The Thang
Loop around parking lot, COP in staff lot
Run out and down 51 to entrance to Davie Park
Continue down 51 to Cary Ridge
Run the loop thru Carrington at a fellowship pace, but stop at each side street (7 total). Run the side street at AYG, then recover mosey back to the main loop and perform the called exercise:
Regroup with Mary and run OYO pace back to launch.
Finish with 2MOM:
Wrap.
NM
Strong work by all today. Attempted to shake things up a bit with some shorter interval speed work while keeping the PAX together. We didn’t set any mileage records, but it seemed to get the blood flowing. YHC also managed to cheat you all out of 2 min of work…but considering about half skipped the 2MOM and went straight for the water bottles / towels at the launch, I don’t think it was missed. Thanks to Rachel and his ever-capable secretary Haze for the opportunity. Semi, for the sake of all Raintree area residents (and the chagrin of construction workers), my Q routes will always include a porta-jon passing. #yourwelcome
Announcements
Thrive has a great AO with lots of options in a very compact space. But every time I show up, I see that hill and it just draws me in. I can’t resist it. And you guys get to suffer for my ADD.
Pre-Thang
We had 6 pre-runners this morning. Along the way we cleared up some fallen branches on meth lane then ran up to Monroe Rd and back. And Thurston ran with us even though he is no longer training for the BRR. #solid
The Thang
Mosey around the parking lot passing the dumpsters just to open up your nostrils some. Circle up in the parking lot.
COP
SSH IC x20
IW IC x20
Windmills (Abe Vigoda style) IC x10
Low, Slow Squats IC x15
Mosey to the side road.
Island #1: Bombjacks x10
Island #2: Burpees x10
Island #3: Bombjacks x10
Island #4: Burpees x10
Burpees at the stop sign until everyone is either finished or passed out. Mosey to the hill
You suckas been calling 7s on this hill. I envision 11s so let’s get after it.
Round 1: Merkins at the Bottom and Drydocks at the top
Round 2: LBCs at the Bottom and Heels to Heaven at the top. Lots of complaining from Horse about the LBCs in the swamp at the bottom but he actually did them.
Mosey to the field. Partner up
Wheelbarrows across the field switching as needed. The first switch was on me. Every switch after required the guy about to hand walk to do 5 merkins (really derkins) before he started. This seemed to cause a lot of switching.
As we gather:
Flutters IC x15
Rosalita IC x20
In honor of Countertop, Pepper pods back across the field. Basically sprint until YHC says down and you fall/slide to the ground. Once everyone is down, I call up and you jump up and sprint again.
Back to the hill:
Backwards run up the hill/Forwards run down the hill x5 (last backwards was a AYG). Sorta funny to see the annoyance building as I kept saying backwards run up.
Back to the field:
Pepper pods half-way across
Broadjump Burpees across the other half
Mosey back to the parking lot. Bernanke was the first to stop at the water fountain though a few other turkeys followed him.
Bernanke water penalty (own the blame Brother): Burpees x5
4 MOM
In honor of the mythical Countertop: Backscratchers IC x20
In honor of Zip: Rosalita IC x20
Legs at 90 degrees for 30 seconds
Legs at 10 degrees for 30 seconds
DONE!
COT
Thanks to Nomad for taking us out
Prayers for Orbit’s cousin.
Moleskine
– Strong work by everyone. I wanted this one to be a grind with a you vs you on the hill and then just a tough wheelbarrow across that field.
– I’m not saying that hill should require 11s but yes, there should only be 11s on that hill.
– Bernanke told me he hated me. That was right before he knew I was about to burpee penalty him for stopping at the water fountain. Great timing Brother.
– Bullwinkle beat Hoffa there. Give yourself an extra minute or two to get to Thrive with all the road closings around the park.
– Because it was you vs you, I didn’t hear many stories to share on the hill. I did hear Orbit skipping ahead. Pretty sure he isn’t a Math major at Wingate.
– We did debate Wingate vs Win Gate. It’s Wingate. One syllable. Embrace the Southern Orbit.
– My voice didn’t crack. #winning
Thanks for letting me lead such a strong group of guys and Hoffa.
Glass Joe
Honestly, if it wasn’t so hot and so humid, today’s Bagpipe would have been scored, pretty easy. However, it WAS hot and with the ever-present misting of the Ballantyne Corporate Park it rain forest humidity levels.
COP
Side straddle hops x 10
Low, slow squats x 10
‘Mericans x 10
Imperial Walkers x 10
Wall Work
7 Muscle-ups
7 Donkey kicks
14 Muscle-ups
14 Donkey kicks
21 Muscle-ups
21 Donkey kicks
Next we barreled down Ballanatyne Commons through the hotel parking lot with stops for push-ups and Mary.
Soccer Field Square
Shuffles, sprint and backward run in the marshy field
Tiered Rock
7 Dips
7 Step-ups
14Dips
14 Step-ups
21Dips
21 Step-ups
Helipad
10 ‘Mericans
10 Squats
9 ‘Mericans
9…and the BCP Sercurity shamed us and scream, that’s a “highly restricted area”. In fairness, he probably wanted to make sure we didn’t get hit by a landing helicopter.
Loft Parking Lot
9 squats
Repeating down to 1 ‘Merican and 1 Squat.
It feels good to finish what you start. #neverquit
We ran back up Ballantyne Commons and back to start. (Let’s start calling it “VAK”.) Then finished the set with a round of Time Bomb Burpees.
Bagpipe Bulletin
Bratwurst instructed me to make sure I kept an eye open for those get the message about the Swift location change. I was the only on at 5 and took a trip up Ben Nevis. When I returned, Bucky pulled in the lot and Cheddar and Outback returned from their pre-run scratching thier heads. They didn’t the message. Flargh. They were good sports and stayed.
It was pretty annoying to be shooed from the Helipad, but rules are rules. I was planning to use the Premier Deck steps, too. So, I guess the chances we would get busted at some point was pretty high. Kudos the the PAX for being good sports and rolling with it.
All in all it was a typical workout, but every day with an F3 workout is special. Thanks for being there. #ISI
Meet in parking lot, quick disclaimer, let’s go
The Thang
Kits Trackside Warm-up
Mosi back to Park entrance
sprint to every 3rd light, then 10 jump squats
gather in playground, partner up
Pull-ups/ step-ups
Mosi to back field
5x5x5 sprint x 3
Misc Field work
Indian run back to start
Mary
Announcements
Speed for need – come out to next race, great opportunity to get involved.
6 PAX showed up on a humid July morning, unknowingly about to face the wrath of a sleep deprived Q…
The Thang:
An easy warmup with a lap of the short-track
SSH IC
IW IC
Another Lap
Mountain Climbers IC
Merkins IC
Somewhere around here, drano rolls in from the Java Run…
A stroll out to the benches for a quick circuit (see also: testing the knee out a bit)
10 Box Jumps
10 Dips
10 Incline Merkins
Plank-a-rama
Repeato x3
Then a mosey through the woods and we come to the (in)famous Ascent hill for a triple-nickel
5 rounds, 5 squats at the top of the hill, 5 merkins at the bottom.
Then a jog up one more long hill to Rea, a round of flutters to bring in the 6, then across the street to the rock pile.
The lifting pyramid went as such
2 Curls, 2 Overhead Press, 2 Tricep Extensions.
1 Burpee
4/4/4 – 2 Burpees
6/6/6 – 3 Burpees
8/8/8 – 4 Burpees
10/10/10 – 5 Burpees
Somewhere in here Q said something about last one… but then it went back down
8/8/8 – 4 Burpees
6/6/6 – 3 Burpees
4/4/4 – 2 Burpees
2/2/2 – 1 Burpee
A jog back across the parking lot for a quick hydration break
To the playground to do some pull-ups/merkins sets
Back to the school wall for the people’s chair with air presses and a tribute Moroccan Nightclub
Then circled up for a PAX choice Mary with some LBC’s, Dolly, Freddie Mercury, Mountain Climbers, and other exercises YHC forgot
Count, Names, Announcements, Ball O’ Man, and that’s a wrap.
NMM
A hot and humid morning, the sweat was pouring out in buckets. YHC was pleasantly surprised to not have every joint in his body falling apart mid-workout, a good sign that the recovery from last month’s non-F3 related injuries has been going well.
The mumblechatter was there, mainly Drano recruiting for driving BRR vans, and the excuses that the PAX had to avoid it (already scheduled races, birthdays, anniversaries, something about a scheduled vacation with their dogs for an iditarod training session, the usual basket of excuses)
Good to see Purell out again, even though he’s yet to post with the guy (in some roundabout way through the M’s or 2.0s, YHC forgot how) who EH’ed him. Good job Goon, the Black Tahoe was missed today.
Announcements:
Some BRR teams are looking for drivers. See Drano (I think it’s Slim Fast’s team)
The Q Sign up sheet for Ascent needs your help! Get on it! http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080d4daca62ea2fc1-qschedule
Hi, it’s Ickey, who’s joined the call? For those on the phone, we’re still gathering in the room so we’ll get started in just a minute. We’ll take role using the WebEx. OK, it sounds like we have a quorum so let’s get started. RockZero is still finding it’s legs under the new regime and the recently installed labyrinth of rules, regulations, charters, governance, and bylaws. The old guidelines were simple, 3 miles and no burpees. Sensible, except for the part about the 3 miles. The new hierarchy of guidelines calls for alternating weeks of heavy and light (insert crude monthly cycle joke here), mandatory partner work, at least 3 miles, no burpees, the goldenrod copies of paperwork to be faxed to HQ, the lavender copies given to the site Q, and the ecru copies to be delivered by carrier pigeon to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. YHC was assigned a heavy flow day, so we set out to accomplish our organizational objectives while remaining in compliance. The eleven of us in attendance performed the following:
Run to the site of the old Day Zero site at McAlpine Elementary stopping a few times along the way to keep the group together while doing a mobile COT with side straddle hops, imperial walkers, merkins, etc. Corporate raised some objections to the format but mobile is the wave of the future so they need to become more agile and nimble. It’s tough to turn an aircraft carrier.
Upon arrival at Day Zero we partnered up, checked that box off the requirements list, and grabbed heavy rocks to satisfy another covenant. Directions were to perform 200 repetitions of the called exercise, alternating between partners for sets of 25, and for the non lifting partner to do core exercises in the meantime. Sets consisted of curls and LBCs, triceps extensions and sit-ups, presses and Freddie Mercuries, and squats and flutters rounded out the rock work. We interspersed some mild sprints to help hit our mileage Key Performance Indicator number though Corporate was quick to point out that the fields were closed so our compliance dashboard would be yellow trending red. Some rules must be broken in order to disrupt the status quo however.
Following the heavy rock work we ran back to the hot box at RockZero for some supersets. We combined dips and incline merkins in order to realize synergies and optimize efficiency and performed sets of 25, 20, 15, 10, and 5. The output was predictable, measurable, and manageable. Once this phase of the deliverable was closed out we ran back to the launch lot.
After a cost/benefit analysis was executed and communicated, workout management decided to outsource Mary. Ten core exercises were called, none of which were burpees, and we ended on time to remain in accordance with all applicable regulations. Mileage ranged from 2.89 to slightly over 3, so the regulators will be happy and the organization including management will not face any penalties. Legal was consulted, documents were notarized, and all artifacts were properly cataloged.
NMM: This was the first time in almost three years of F3 that YHC felt confident enough to make up parts of the workout on the fly having only planned a loose framework. Leading workouts is still not something I am completely comfortable with so I appreciate the PAX’s willingness to follow. That’s enough corporate jargon nonsense for now. I hope I wasn’t talking on mute this whole time. With that, we’ll close the call and give everyone a few minutes back.
Community House MS Track Layout
This is the week to measure at Swift. Considerably easier than an all-out race, having a workout you repeat from time to time will help you to gauge your fitness level. We’ll be meeting at the Community House Middle School track. The address is 9500 Community House Rd, Charlotte, NC 28277, but you will be using the Northern Bus Lot entrance off Community House Rd to get to the track.
The THANG:
Community House MS Track Layout