The Foxhole Farmer

The Foxhole Farmer

(Posted on behalf of Pebbles who dislocated his typing fingers during Foxhole Farmers Carry, but managed to pop them back into place during Fatcamp’s 4 miles. Glad to have you off BB IR bro)

12 PAX came to the ‘Hole eager to start their week off right; with Pebbles at the helm it was a sure thing. Here’s what went down (maybe, if I couldn’t remember, I made it up):

Warmup-o-Rama

  • Disclosure given. A lengthy one, such that we were all expecting 500 swings again.
  • 3 rounds of: swings(21,15,9), merkins(21,15,9), 1 lap (small parking lot)

The Thingy

Phase 1

PAX count off by fours threes; each group line up behind the 3 biggest bells:
– 28kg (The Gray Monster)
– 28kg (The Heavy Metal)
– 36kg (The Liberty Bell)

First PAX in line one arm farmer carry down, other arm back, while remaining dudes do an exercise.
– Presses
– Swings
– Squats
– Cleans

Phase 2

Mosey with bells down towards the hillside of the school. Partner up.

P1: 2-bell farmers carry up the stairs and back.
P2: Push-Ups
Flip and Repeat until 100 team reps.

P1: 2-bell farmers carry up the stairs and back.
P2: LBCs
Flip and Repeat until 200 team reps.

P1: 2-bell farmers carry up the stairs and back.
P2: Carolina Dry Docks
Flip and Repeat until 200 team reps

Ole Mole

The sweat was rolling pretty soon after the AMRAP warmup; personally I like the AMRAP warmup, gives everyone a chance to go from cold to warm at their own pace. #tclaps Pebbles. No sure about everyone else but YHC’s grip was toasted after all the carries. Everyone got a chance with the bigger bells in the single arm carries and some of us got stuck with them again in the two arm carry section. Tough to remember all the quality individual efforts, but here are a couple observations:

  • Soft Pretzel sprints faster with bells than most men do without. Very quick up and down the stairs.

  • Loogie continues to post consistently, despite missing one of his limbs due to shoulder injury. YHC will be posting at Fight Club in his honor this Friday.

  • Madamme T is a beast on the push-ups (#10,000) and the dry docks, pretty sure he was lapping several folks.

  • For the record, Flint did show up for both the pre-run and the main event. flintcommit == hardcommit. Well done.

Pebbles, thanks for leading a quality grip beatdown; good prep for any folks training for OCR (which should be all of us.)

Announcements

  • a51 pool party.

Goonie loves soccer arms

Great turnout this morning at Devil’s Turn.  27 strong….biggest Pax I’ve seen out there…and we were still 1 down with my bald brother Honey Bee nursing an injury (careful where you step when reaching for a beer).

Blue Ridge is approaching and it is helping the numbers, but YHC is hoping we are creating runners out there who will stick with us beyond that race.  Many have Ragnar and Kiawah coming up so keep on coming out for training.

The Thang:

For today’s route we hit #TheVillage.  The nice 1.75 mile loop headed left on Bevington.  It’s a nice change of pace from the hills and it’s always good to mix in some tempo runs.  The plan was simple as always…run the 0.7 miles out to the start, hit the loop at your own pace, rinse and repeat until COT.  The loop is good and smaller groups of PAX always seem to form so no one is out there alone.

Moleskin:

YHC has to apologize that I did not post a backblast for last week’s DT.  Nothing crazy happened although we almost lost a first-time participant…luckily Pebbles found his way back.  But he didn’t find his way back to DT this week.

So this week, I’m doing the BB right out of the gate…screw work.  I’m in charge anyway so I can do what I want.

A big group this morning….I love seeing the numbers increase as we get closer to BRR.  Lots of regulars coming out and people are getting faster and stronger by the week.  The usual speedsters were out front this morning…Thin Mint and Bratwurst along with a few others I couldn’t see as they were too far ahead right out of the gate.

Fireman Ed started strong on the mosey this morning…he was feeling frisky.  It must have been all that beer belly stretching he was doing before the run.  Poking and rubbing your belly is apparently the key to speed.

Good to see Haggis back at DT post-vacation and post-zombie flu.  Get well brother.

There were many others doing many awesome and hysterical things this morning.  I just didn’t see them or hear them but I’m sure they happened.  By the way…these backblasts are easier to write and make fun of people when there aren’t so many PAX.  I’m not creative enough for 27 people.

Great work this morning guys and thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Announcements:

Palmetto 200 sign-ups are open.  There are $50 ultra team discounts and $100 12 man team discounts.  Frasier wants to make sure you have plenty of time to train.

Mountain goat tomorrow and Ghostrunner tonight.

 

An FNG Bonanza

The Thang

  • Commish arrived and planted the shovel flag. Great to have a real SF there, especially with 4 FNGs on site. Speaking of 4 FNGs, a full and thorough disclaimer was given before we even started jogging
  • Mosey and COP (Seal Jacks, LSS, IW, Merkins)
  • Head to the speed bumps behind Smoke. Run down the road, stopping at all 6 speed bumps for 5 burpees at each to warm everything up. Plank-o-rama for the 6.
  • Head to parking lot in front of Target to snake our way down. Run to far island, turn the corner and do 5 jump squats, run back and turn the corner, 10 jump squats, keep working way down the lot to finish at 25 jump squats. Mary.
  • Mosey to the fountain wall behind Chipotle facing Rea road
    • 20 merkins, 20 wall dips, 20 American Hammer (both sides = 1), 10 burpee box jumps onto the fountain wall
    • Run around both buildings and return to the wall
    • Repeat 2 more times for 3 total circuits
  • Plank up in front of the buildings to regroup, low plank jacks
  • Mosey to the wall behind the theater for exercises and hill sprints. Went something like this:
    • People’s Chair (RLH, LLH), 10 count, sprint up the hill and back down
    • People’s Chair, 10 count, sprint up the hill and back
    • People’s Chair Air Presses IC x15, sprint up the hill and back
    • American Hammer ICx20, Frog Crunches ICx10, sprint up the hill
  • Return to launch for name-o-rama, etc. and Hops on the takeout

Moleskin

Big crowd out in the humid gloom this morning. Some (Mr. Bean) came hoping for miles and were left wanting more after we only covered 2.5. We kept the heart rate up with plenty of burpees instead. Goonie was quick to grab a little extra mileage as he sprinted to his car immediately following his turn in name-o-rama. Putting aside your terrible questionable choice of college to attend, I hope you made your tee time and definitely appreciate your coming out in spite of the tight schedule.

After finishing COP (and listening to Hops complain at length about #oldmanknees), the burpees were a fun way to start the morning. It’s worth noting here that the restaurant Smoke is no joke. YHC has not eaten there, but the delicious smells of smoking meat already emanating from the place before 5:30 made me think about coming back. Word has it that Loogie and Nard Dog were spotted after the workout tugging on the locked door and mumbling about brisket hash and pork belly bacon.

YHC received a number of thank yous from the PAX when the jump squat ladder was called. Nemo was out front pushing the pace and we had to rein him back a few times when he tried to keep going – nice work, young man!

The noise of the fountains (and the guy with the leaf blower) was rather deafening. It made the circuit work a bit more lonely/miserable but also drowned out the cries of the PAX for mercy. So, good and bad. Argonaut led the way with Outback, Squid, Hops and a few others close behind. Great work by all to push through (and not end up in the fountain), especially the FNGs. Bean is apparently over his recently acquired fear of wet grassy hills and killed the sprints. No injuries (that YHC is aware of) were reported. Others were killing it as well, but YHC had tunnel vision at that point so I’m not sure who they were.

A big welcome to our 4 FNGs. Great having you guys out. Come back.

  • Shortpole (FNG Andrew) – Graduate of UNC Charlotte, works with/for Argonaut in IT/Development, played lacrosse at the long pole middie position (Hops with the stellar suggestion to change long pole to short pole).
  • Honeymoon (FNG Kyle) – Argonaut’s soon to be brother-in-law (proposed last night – she said yes), in the military (branch?) deploying in November (thanks for your service, brother) and is only here for the week. Hope to see you more this week and in the future once you are back.
  • Muenster (FNG Dan) – Cheddar brought him out, NJ native, Wesleyan grad, amateur actor and works as a barista. Hops asked for an umlaut on the u, but after some research Münster is a city in Germany while Muenster is a cheese from Wisconsin. Should save future Qs the work of finding that darn ü.
  • Giselle (FNG Doug) – From Maine, spent last 6.5 years in the Navy (thanks for your service), works at XPO now. Doug is a Pats fan (which started Giselle) who let slip he had an ex named Giselle (which locked it in). Quoted saying “I couldn’t think of a worse name.” #SorryNotSorry. Welcome to F3, brother.

T-claps to Argonuat for bringing out 2 more FNGs – dude is on a roll recently EHing left and right. If you haven’t EHed someone lately (or ever), give it a shot. Lots of guys out there who could use some F3 in their life. T-claps as well to Cheddar for the stellar marketing effort on Twitter yesterday. With a turnout of 23, I would say you succeeded. Thanks to you and Commish for a great site and for asking me to lead.

Announcements

  • F3 Pool Party – next weekend (8/20 4-7PM) – Sign up!
  • F3 Union County – last day to order shirts and they need a few more to complete the order. If you have posted there or plan to in the future, consider scooping one up http://f3.mudgear.com/products/f3-union-county-pre-order

Fat Camp AMLAP

YHC was at the helm for another installment of Fat Camp.  I have a goal of 100 miles for the month of August and as the PAX learned from the 500 KB swing at Foxhole two weeks ago, when I have a goal, I drag everyone else through my misery.

An FNG pulled into the parking lot at 6:16, which was a pleasant surprise.  After a quick disclaimer (I made it through without an F-bomb) we were off!

Warm up

Quick Mosey

30 x SSH

20 x LSS

15 x Merkins

The Thang

5 to 10 pull ups at the jungle gym in the NE corner of the playground

mosey

10 toes to bar at the jungle guy in the SE corner of the playground

mosey

10 push ups at playground on south side of school building

mosey

10 burbees at NE corner of school building

mosey

bunny hop up concrete steps north of school building

mosey back to pull up station for next lap

AMLAP (As many laps as possible) for 25 minutes

Mosey to the turf field

Sally Pushup challenge

Sally leg raise challenge

Mosey to the rec center in the back and Indian run to COT

Garmin came in at 4 miles for the workout.

Moleskin

Everyone did great this Fat Camp, which played out more like a Brave workout.  I was surprised at how little complaining there was. Except for flint, who always complains. Even with all that complaining, he was a stud during the AMLAP portion. After he remarked that he needed to “give his legs a break” for BRR, I recommend that he give his mouth a break instead. Hopefully Flint knows that I only kid.

The FNG (Bubble Boy) actually crushed it.  Was running with the lead pack most of the time.  I took a moment to tie my shoes which gave him the No 1 spot during AMLAP, but I made sure to pass him in the final stretch.  He got the name Bubble Boy for showing up to the workout in a long sleeve shirt and pants.  He said it was because he was worried about having a reaction to the grass…which is artificial turf.  I’m just glad he remembered to take off his head gear when he got out of bed this morning.

Fallout – came to post for as a Site-V . Great to see him as always. Hope to have you out again soon. Soild work

Fire Marshall Bill – Killed it as usual, no further explanation needed.

Bounty Hunter- Walking proof that Clydesdale’s have cardio. Dude can do a standing backflip, just ask him.

Sorry #notsorry for all the running guys…..

See you in the Gloom

Pebbles.

 

 

Hydra Pre-Blast

Lace up your runnin’ shoes, gents.  We’re going for a good, hard yog.

In case you get there late…take a right out of OPE parking lot, right at the HT, run to Summerlin, turn around and come back to OPE, plank it up & wait for 6.  There will be more after that, most of it will involve running and maybe some sort of light calisthenics.

See you in the gloom.

-DayZ

Just another day of hills

18 men (sans site Qs) showed up for another session of “Let’s run fast, far, and up & down hills” at Fast Twitch. Per usual this time of year it was a brisk 80+ degrees with 100% humidity. The shirts came off faster than on Bourbon Street on Fat Tuesday. Here is what we did:

The Thang:

-Warmup mosey to Raintree Ln. Stop and do 10 SSH to wait for the six. Maybe 1 other person joined YHC in the SSH. Solid work, men.
-Continue mosey to top of Raintree Ln at Four Mile Creek and stop for instructions:
— Run down 4MC, left on Whitethorn at the blinky light, left on Raintree Ln. and back to 4MC intersection.
— Option 1: Repeat loop for a 2nd time
— Option 2: Run hill repeats from bottom of RTL by gravel lot to top at speed hump past 4MC.
— Meet at gravel lot at bottom at 0605
-Form 2 lines (not really though) for Indian Run back to Rounding Run
-Free run to Woodfox and stop for the six
-Russian Twist x 20
-AYG back to school

The Moleskinny:

Slightly smaller group today than I anticipated for less than 5 weeks from the BRR. No site Qs to be found. One was clearly DR and still running. The other was still complaining about his run-in with a stingray and used an excuse about needing to drive to Atlanta. Still no Hairball sighting. That’s 2 days in a row of no-shows for him. Beaker was getting a little nervous because HB talked him into meeting at 0445 to run in to grab some extra miles (Silliest idea I’d heard all week). But then HB decided sleep was much more fun and Beaker smartly walked back to his house, got in his car, and drove to the running workout. Gummy, per usual, was asking to turn around early and wanted to know when he could make choices. This isn’t The Rock – you actually have to do a full workout here.

The usual fasties jumped out front on the first loop and took off. Mr. Brady, Gerber, Alf, and Beaker did their thang and racked up over 7 miles each with their 2 loops and hill repeats. Van Pelt and YHC were the only other ones to take on the loop a 2nd time, I think. Correct me if I’m wrong. Great running with you VP. Strong work out there. EDIT: Voodoo, Cheese Curd, and Marvel also ran the loop twice. Then they screwed up and ran all the way to Providence. Happy? My apologies, I was typing this BB very fast and very hungover.

Most everyone else got in at least 6 miles or close to it. I don’t know which was the easier option of the hill repeat of the loop. The idea was that neither would be easier, so I think that worked. Shout out to Strawberry (the actual one and not his pastry twin Pop Tart) for getting in 6 miles. His first time passing that threshold at FT. Solid Work!

The Indian Run never really worked from the beginning. I said to form two lines, but it was one long line and a line of 4 guys that disintegrated almost immediately. It was probably for the better since we practically were playing Frogger along Raintree Ln with all of the cars that were rolling through. The IR was supposed to last until Rising Meadow, but with everyone getting spread out, the audible was called to free run to Woodfox.

Apologies for the late BB as YHC was traveling and working all day/night in Raleigh. Thanks for the take out by Runstopper. Everyone continues to get faster as we get closer and closer to BRR. Keep up the great work and try not to get injured. Run, stretch, rest, repeat.

Announcements:
– The Rock is converging at Randolph Middle School on Saturday 0700 with Metro for a workout, coffeeteria, and campus cleanup.
– Sign up for the 8/20 pool party.

Shouldering the Load – Dromedary

14 PAX including YHC rolled up on Dromedary this morning with the goal of getting better, faster and stronger. Brief disclaimer was delivered but I could tell that this was a group that needed no modification. From there it began:

Warm-Up

  • Mosey parking lot loop
  • 25 SSH
  • 15 Imperial Walker
  • 20 Mountain Climbers
  • 10 Low Slow Squats
  • 10 Windmill

The Thang

  • Merkin Curb Walks (Merkin, Move right, Merkin) x20
  • Diamond Merkin Curb Walks (x10)
  • Wide-arm Merkin Curb Walks (x10)
  • Plyo Merkin Curb Walks (Merkin + Curb Jump) x10
  • Chest and Shoulders were feeling good and the heart rate was starting to jump; count off into groups of 4
  • 4 corners in parking lot (Corner 1 & 2 = 10 burpees) (Corner 3 & 4 = 10 jump squats) rotate clock-wise until all corners have been hit (sprint longer distance rotation; bear crawl shorter distance rotation) Return to center for Flutter and F. Mercury
  • Rinse and repeat substituting Box Cutters and Crunch Frog for Flutter and F. Mercury
  • Line up for Suicides – Sprint forward, back-pedal back (x3)
  • Full court sprints (x2)
  • Jack Webb (1:4 ratio – Merkins/Air-press) up to 10:40

Moleskine

  • First and foremost as announced TODAY IS THE LAST DAY FOR UNIONCO F3 SHIRT-ORDER! I have provided the link below, access this TODAY and purchase so that we can complete the order. I am purchasing one as soon as I finish typing this. You can always use extra shirts over the summer…don’t wear the same Stank-soaked shirt 2 days in a row: http://f3.mudgear.com/products/f3-union-county-pre-order
  • Strong work by the PAX on the Sprints & Suicides. There was a lot of speed out there but I think Hollywood took the Sprint Crown and the suicides were crushed by Landshark and Flipper
  • Old McDonald was next to me and was back-pedaling like he should be in training camp in Spartanburg trying out for a roster spot at corner
  • After taking a beating with YHC at #F3Swift yesterday; Long Haul was back out getting after it
  • Abacus set the pace on the Jack Webb to help us finish strong
  • Thanks again for the opportunity to lead, Posse I know where the grass is now and will take it easier on everyone’s knees the next go around
  • SHAMELESS PLUG: Come out to Arsenal (Indian Land Elementary School) tomorrow morning 5:15 launch, great AO if you have never been and we get after it

Over and out – General

Old Dog…New Tricks

The humidity was a comfortable 95% as 5 gathered to sharpen some iron at Anvil. Dodging deer on the way in, all arrived safely. Disclaimer given…off we went.

Mosey around parking lot with some high knees and Apollo Creeds so that we felt like we were at a running workout. Circle up for new some exercises:

* Side to side mountain climbers (keeping feet together) x 15
* Low Slow Squat x 15
* Merkin Jack (legs out on the down stroke) x 10
* IW x 15
* Grasshopper (too complicated to explain) x 15

Gather at the traffic island for 5 laps with 4 stops on each loop. Stop 1 & 3: side-to-side MC’s and 5 tuck jumps. Stop 2 & 4: 5 plank walks + 5 Merkin Jacks then repeat. 5 laps took a lot of gas from the tank. Recovered with 50 LBC’s OYO.

To the Hot Box for sets of jump ups/derkins/dips. After each set, do squats to allow all of finish. 5 rounds: 5/10/15…10/15/20…15/20/25…10/15/20…5/10/15.

Mosey to Rocks and grab a FIA rock. 6-count quick set (curl/press/skull crusher) x 10. 5 rockies. Walk to end of parking lot in Hallelujah position (rock overhead). 6-count quick set x 10. 5 rockies. Walk back to rock pile. one more round of 6-count x 10.

Mosey to launch. 1 minute left. Burpee circle x 5. Finished.

Moleskine:

Small group but strong work by all. Swiper out front most of the way. Brilleux and Ickey always consistent. Drago, fresh off naming ceremony at last week’s Centurion, shows speed on the corners. 3 of the 5 PAX are Demon Deacons. That almost makes us bowl eligible. Go Deacs!

Drago showed perfect form on the jump tucks. that is what 19-year old knees will allow you to do.

Like a concerned Q, YHC was sure to stay in the back the whole time. Yea..that’s it. YHC was practicing good Q etiquette. Another disclaimer needed for that one. AYE.

That’s nothing to be proud of, Russ…Fifty yards.

14 men gathered in a middle school parking lot at 5:30 on a Wednesday, then did this:

Yog around the parking lot a bit, then circle up for the warmup.
SSH, IW, Slow Squats, HR merkins.
Run to Davie Park entrance, plank to wait for the six.
15x jump squats, 15x HR merkins, 15x lunges, run to the gate and back.
15x monkey humpers, 15x CDDs, 15x squats, run to the gate.
Bear crawl, lunge walk and jog up to the playground. Partner up.
Partner 1 runs hot lap, partner 2 does exercise. Flapjack. 2x through for each exercise.
Derkins, Step Ups, Dips.
Back to park entrance for Mary.
AYG to the traffic light at the daycare. Mosey back to the cars. More Mary to finish off the time.

Moleskine:
Friendly group this morning for the usual sweatfest. Semi Gloss came out of his office with plenty of time to complain about a mysterious arm “injury” that appeared to flair up throughout the morning when we were running. Go figure. Dollywood and Square Root crushed the run back to the daycare. They had to be under 5:00 minute pace. Our peaceful morning at the park was disturbed by a garbage truck that somehow took 30 minutes to empty two trash cans – there may be something else going on there. Nice work this morning, guys. Good way to start the day.

Announcements:
– Area 51 pool party
– The Rock is converging with several Metro workouts at Randolph Middle School this Saturday for a Campus Cleanup. Workout at 7:00, Coffeeteria on-site at 8:00, Campus Cleanup done by 9:30 or 10:00.

Bagpipe

12 tough SOBs came out this morning for running and pain stations.  Here is what we did:

Mosey to the small parking lot for warm-up: 20 mountain climbers, 20 squats, 15 merkins.  All IC except the cadence for MCs got interrupted when a car turned in and we had to scatter.

Then head to Lochness for part 1 of the main event.  Run laps around the lake with stops for 10 jump ups, a wall walk the length of the 2nd patio, and 20 dips on picnic tables.  Go as far as you can until time is called, ~10 min.

Mosey to the hill on Ballantyne Corp Pl for next stage of the workout.  Partner up.  Run the hill with your partner and do 20 derkins each at  the top, 20 hand slap merkins at the bottom.  Repeat until time is called.

Mary: 20 flutter, 20 dolly, 15 Russian twist, all IC.

With your partner, run ~30 yards of the hill alternating forwards, backward, and shuffle each side.  Finish with all you got to the top.  Mosey back to launch with several stops for Mary and merkins.

Announcements: Convergence Sept 13 in Indian Land. F3 Ghost Flag needs PAX – check Slack for updates – next event in Shelby on August 20.