A-1 AO

A-1 AO

Shovel flag planted firmly by Baracus.  Geraldo was happy to see one in the real.  Small crew today ready to get after it in the heat and humidity.  Disclaimer given, of course, and off we go.  Did one courtesy lap in the launch lot to grab Chowda.  He came in hot at 0531.  Here is what we accomplished:

Thang

Mosey from launch lot to the stadium.  Down ramp to the track.  One lap warm-up mosey.  Circle up behind the North goal post.

COP

SSH x 15 IC

IW x 15 IC

MC x 15 IC

Merkin x 15 IC

Low Slow Squat x 15 IC

Line up in back of the North end zone.

The Beast

Run to 10 yard line.  6 x called exercise.  Run to 30.  6 x called exercise.  Run to 50.  6 x called exercise.  Run back to 30.  6 x called exercise.  Run to 10. 6 x called exercise.  Run to back of end zone.  6 x called exercise.  Plank upon return.  One repetition.

Called exercises: CDD, Jump Squat, American Hammer, Merkin, LBC, Burpee

Plank at goal line.  AYG sprint to 50.  Plank.  AYG to goal line.

Mary behind North goal post: Flutter x 10/hold/Dolly x 10/hold/High Flutter x 10/hold/Rosalita x 10.  All IC.

Mosey back up ramp and over to entrance to stadium seating.  Chair plank.

Stair repeats

Run from bottom of stands to the top.  Run left and down next set of stairs. Left to start point.  10 repetitions.  Plank-o-rama to regroup.

Bench Set: 10 Step or Jump-Up/10 Dips/10 Derkins x 3

Mosey back down to field level.  One lap around the track.  Line up at the North goal line.  Plank.

AYG to South goal line.  Plank.  AYG to North goal line.  Plank.  AYG to 50.  Plank.  AYG to North goal line and continue at mosey pace to launch lot.

Mary/Merkin

Heels to Heaven x 15 IC/hold 6 inches/High Flutter x 15/hold/LBC x 15.  High Plank.  Merkin to 10 in civilian cadence: Regular/Diamond/Wide.  Back to six.  Flutter x 25 IC

COT

Moleskin

Shirts were drenched after this one.  Soupy may be the best way to describe it.  Solid group of men this morning.  Babyface and Baracus set the pace on the stair work.  All took turns leading the way on the sprints.  Utah showing some serious fast twitch on the full-field sprints.  Chatter was low this morning as sucking wind was the priority.   Geraldo’s consistent counting much appreciated by YHC.  He made sure the Q and the PAX had rep numbers.

Covered 2.2 miles in all with some running, sprints, strength, core, and ab work.  A little bit of everything and very little recovery time.  Dreams of winter months mentioned post-workout as PAX wrung sweat out of shirts.  Strong work out there today men.

This AO is fantastic.  Football field, track, stadium stairs, and many off-campus options, per site-Q Baracus.  YHC encourages PAX to get out to The Charge and check out this AO if you have not done so already.  The track is like running on clouds and the football field has soft synthetic grass. Access to stadium stairs is a huge bonus.  Really enjoyed this workout and campus.  Thanks for the takeout from Baracus, and for the invitation to Q The Charge.  Keep Tesla and his son in your prayers this weekend.  His son leaves the nest for Mississippi State.

Announcements 

Pool Party: 8/20.  Candlewyck Swim and Racquet Club.  Preblast and sign-up HERE

The Office Workout

13 men entered the gloom for an office workout beat down. A big office!
Warm up:
25 X SHH
20 X IW
15 X Slow squat
10 X slow merkins

Mosey with KB to church parking lot, talk about golf along the way

Starting in the lower lot
Do 10 merkins, 10 Swings, 10 squats with bell, 10 overhead presses, then run to first median do 5 merkins, next to second median 5 merkins, once you get to hill run it backwards with 5 burpees at the top. After run back to the start. Do LBCs until the entire pack is back.
Repeat this 4 times

Next round of exercises 10 curls, 10 high rows, 10 lawn mowers each arm, 10 Romanian deadlifts then run to first median do 5 merkins, next to second median 5 merkins, once you get to hill run it backwards with 5 burpees at the top. After run back to the start. Do LBCs until the entire pack is back.
Repeat 3 times

Mosey to grass in front of school
Mr. Jack Webb came a knocking with bell
1 merkin 4 overhead presses with bell, 2 merkins and 8 over head presses with bell, up to 4 and 12 then down to 2 and 8. Crowd pleaser.

Mary
10 X flutter
10 X rosalita
10 X bicycles

Moleskin:
I will say the dedication of the site Qs here is amazing. They sent me an email about posting the backblast this evening, then 30 min later show up at Vintners where I am having dinner. I promised I would get it done tonight.
Great job by the pack today, hope you enjoyed the office workout. You can now take this home with you and do it in your office. Thank you Harley and Fletch for letting me Q, always an honor. Thanks for taking us out Harley

Announcements:
2017 F3 Golf Tournament
Joker on Q at death valley

Windbluff repeats

Considering the upcoming BRR YHC was interested in provided as many miles as possible yet hitting some hills. So we did the following….

Disclaimer was given and off we went into Raintree

The thang:

Down Woodfox we headed, making one stop at the top of Windbluff to give instruction on the loop which consists of the following: Run south on Raintree Lane toward Providence Rd. Make Left onto Providence RD (going North). Make Left onto Windbluff. Run Windbluff repeats from Raintree to Providence until time is called or whenever Geraldo feels like he had enough. During the repeats, 10 lunges each leg at Providence Rd. and 10 jump squats at Raintree Lane. Most Pax finished at least one repeat, others two, and Thin Mint got in 3 total. Mileage was anywhere from 5.5 to 7.2 including up too 700+ elevation. Well done!

Thanks to Thin Mint for showing us how professionals do business.

Strong work by all out there today. Purple Haze, thanks for throwing me on your schedule and not even showing up for the workout. Good move. Seriously though, TL and PH thank you for letting me lead this am! And thanks to Chelms AKA Tater Tot for the take out.

Beaker

 

#lemmings

Dad: If your idiot friends jumped off of a cliff, would you do it to?

GJ: Yes, yes I would

Dad: Idiot

Running a tad late on the pre-run, so I texted the boyz. No response, they were already off and running (or kidnapped). Fortunately, I was able to spot the gleam of GJ’s giant melon from 1/2 mile away and join up. That giant head would prove useful, as we used its reflective properties to amplify my headlamp beam as we trekked through abandoned factories, crystal meth labs, and a haunted corn maze.

Thankful to be back at the vehicles in one piece, we began the workout with a little something like this:

THANG:

  • Warmup mosey to the main road and back, some sideways and backwards nonsense thrown in.
  • Back to the main lot for a #BobDole COP. Various leg and core exercises, as to not violate the oath I signed with Whiplash yesterday not to use my left arm for a couple of weeks so it can heal up. We’ll continue the leg and core theme throughout the workout.
  • Line up along the side road.
  • Run to end, 25 squats, 25 LBCs, 25 Lunges.
  • Run back, turn around, and run to end again, repeat exercises
  • Run back
  • Run down steps to other corner, 25 flutters, 25 reverse lunges, 25 SSH
  • Run back, turn around, and run to corner again, repeat exercises
  • Run back
  • AYG to opposite corner of fields
  • 7s between the big hill and soccer goals – Mt. Climbers and LBCs (or merkins if you choose)
  • Chinese firedrill all the day back to the vehicles – get there however you want, AYG
  • Closeout Mary – Heels to Heaven and Protractor by EE

SKIN:

Yesterday afternoon, I did a poll on Slack to see if the pax desired a running or strength workout (knowing full well that I was going to run regardless).  The Hairband eagerly participated in this, with some strong suggestions.  Very interesting how he became ill so suddenly upon learning of the  results.  Very interesting indeed . . .

Still not sure where that pre-run went off the rails.  I think it started there.  The suggestion to go into the haunted forest started as a joke, but got legs somehow.  I was waiting for the giant spiders to attack at any time.

If integrity is defined as “doing the right thing with nobody is looking”, what do you call it when a Pastor blatantly cheats in front of an audience?  If you were there, you know what (and who) I am talking about.   Still love you man.  The extra burpees were a nice touch.

The UC boys have gotten faster, and I have lost a step or 10 (and gained a lb or 10).  The combo resulted in me leading quite a bit of this one from the back.  Don’t worry, I’m on a comeback.  Another dozen or so of these sketchy pre-runs and I’ll be back in the middle(ish) where I belong.

Good site – lots of options without having to go far off of campus.  The working bathroom is a cherry on the sundae.  Almost cancels out the weird.

 

Sound off with any other comments of observations.

 

 

Love,

Horsehead

 

 

 

Leftover sandwich : BB edition

Between work and life, YHC didn’t have a lot of time to think through a pre-blast.  Rather than truly going green and recycling an old workout, YHC opted to steal bits and pieces from prior workouts (and re-use the late pre-blast).  Kind of like when a drug company adds another drug to one rolling off patent to prolong it’s life / profit stream for another 7-years…but anyway.

No other takers for the pre-run, so YHC got to be alone with that little voice inside, which was a scary place.  Good middle of the night BRR training.  Internal monologue:

Nice downhill to start.  Try to keep an easy, sustainable pace.
Abbotswood has to be the darkest street in Charlotte…eh, maybe just S. Charlotte.
It is eerily quiet.  And dark.
Totally convinced there was someone hiding behind a boat parked on the street.
Pre-blasting a solo run seems like an invitation to Chester
Could I outrun a kidnapper?  Are they on foot or in a car? 
This has to be something Sundancer has thought.  And irrationally feared.
Is that a raccoon?  3?  Why are there 3 raccoons together?  Weird.
And why did that one run into the storm water grate?  Ninja Raccoons!
Hope my car is still there.  I wouldn’t be surprised if Swiper moved it and acted like it was stolen.
Oh, a truck.  It’s Hammer.  And Sledge.  Only, wow, 2 minutes to “go time”. 
Small group.  Good thing there isn’t much of a plan.
Oh, there’s Swiper.  At least even numbers.

So the four of us did the following:

Run the Chadwyck Chaser mile.

Partner up on plush grass of the newly striped mini-football field behind the school.  Partner 1 stays by the conveniently placed cone and does mountain climbers.  Partner 2 runs to the playground.  Partners collectively complete 100 pull-ups, 200 merkins, 300 squats, 400 LBCs.

Run the Chadwyck Chaser mile again.  COT.

Announcements

Church on the Street – sign up for Labor Day weekend if you’ll be in town
A51 Pool Party – sign up now for planning purposes (CHEAP)

Moleskine

Had to call an audible after +/- 20 minutes of mountain climbers.  If regular mountain climbers were an escalator, most of us were creaky old stairs.  Heart rate stayed up and shoulder are sore, so mission accomplished.  Lunges were far easier today but will be felt tomorrow.

Swiper and Hammer went with the 1-exercise at a time route, which probably increased their mileage…only they didn’t quite finish.  Lost time from all the transitions.  YHC and Sledge did some of each exercise per trip and easily finished, adding another 40 squats albeit with less mileage (+/- 3 miles).  Think everyone still felt tired by the end of what felt like a grind.

Appreciate it, gents.  Same time & place next week.

  • Kirk

 

Sweating through a Leg-o-rama

3 men ventured out into the soup that was this Saturday morning. We spent 45 minutes working our legs into Jello before we decided to cram a bunch of merkins in all at once.

Tha thang

Warm-up lap around the track

COP:
Imperial Walkers x 10
Cotton pickers x 10
Squat x 10
Lunge x 10

Mosey over to the front of the school, partner up (which was difficult with only three people):
Partner 1 runs a lap around the track.
Partner 2 completes the following:
10 single-leg squats left leg
10 single-leg squats right leg
10 jump ups
10 step ups

Rinse and repeat

Mosey over to the hill on Carswell for a Triple Nickel ™
10 tuck jumps at the bottom
Lunge walk up the hill
10 squat jumps at the top

Mosey back to the school, hold people’s chair while we take a short water break (it was hot, y’all).

One lap around the track, stopping at each corner for 20 merkins.

Find some shade for Mary:
15 x dolly
15 x rosalita
15 x heels to heaven
15 x freddy mercury

Run out time with a three man grinder, with squats on one end and hand-release merkins on the other

COT

Moleskine

It was a small crowd, so lots of 2nd F was had. Everyone pushed hard through the heat. There was absolutely no air flow whatsoever. Props to Alf for pushing it on the laps around the track. Fault Line was a beast as well.

40 Never Looked So Good

Saturday was a big day for DaVinci….a 40th birthday celebration by the Q.  YHC hasn’t posted to DaVinci in a while and felt bad about it…such a good AO with so many options to choose from.  A nice crew showed up this morning to celebrate and get a good workout in.  The theme this morning was 40 or variations of it….4 laps, 4 sets of 10, 40….anything to get people griping (only one person did and we’ll get to that later).

The Thang

Started off with a very thorough disclaimer so no one sues us.

Head towards Nakatomi Plaza for the following loop:  Run up stairs, then across, and back down the stairs.  40 LBCs and run to the corner for 40 Russian Twists.  Around the building to the breezeway for a People’s Chair and 40 shoulder presses and then to the last corner for 40 Freddie Mercury.  Repeat 4 times for a total of 160 exercises at each station in total.

Head across Ardrey Kell to Carolina Sports Clinic parking lot.  Bear Crawl approx 40 meters (or more..who’s counting but it fits the theme) then sprint the rest of the lot.  Loop around for Lunge Walk plus sprints, and finally 10 merkins at each of the 4 islands for a count of 40.  Repeat 4 times.

Head back to the start for 10 dips, 10 derkins, 10 full touch the toe sit-ups, and 10 pull-ups.

40 burpees to top off the hour.

Skinny of the Mole

DaVinci really is a great AO.  It’s not getting the love it should…we have so many workouts in SOB land it’s hard to hit them all, but there are so many areas to hit from that site.  This morning we had a good crew show up and pound the pavement.  Triple 7 showed up after Stonehenge for a strong double-down…dude is flat out killin’ it.  Mic Check, Bratwurst and his 2.0, and Tolkien (a little late but he worked out like 7 times that morning so I’ll cut him some slack) rounded out the crew.

The first stop seemed to go well…everyone was pretty close together and the pace was good.  The LBCs seemed to get the most out of folks…Bratwurst apparently can’t count to 40 or gets lost in his own thoughts and just goes until folks are done.  Whatever works in my book…

The second stop is where the complaining started….well actually it started a little earlier, but it amped up there.  Mostly from our good friend Tolkien.  No matter what YHC gave direction on, there was a quick “this is bullsh**” comment to follow.  It was probably the bear crawls….which were included for a reason.  I will give him kudos though…I saw him complete the full bear crawl exercise.  Of course, I had already completed that, plus finished the lunge walk section, and was almost done with all my merkins by the time he finished one round of bear crawls, but F3 is all about getting better.  Keep at it my little-armed friend.

The best part of the day was Bratwurst’s face when I said we had 40 burpees to complete after the entire workout was just about done.  It was priceless….I wish I had a picture.  It was a mix of anger, fear, hatred, and just plain old annoyance with the Q.  Even Howie, his 2.0, got into the act by giving the Q a hard time…a chip off the ole’ Brat(wurst).  He got me back though…YHC didn’t realize that several PAX were planning to wake me up post-hangover the next morning for an early run.  I should have seen that one coming…but my 40 year old brain is slower.

Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Circuits of self-flagellation

Self-flagellation: the action of flogging oneself, especially as a form of religious discipline.

YHC isn’t so sure about the religious discipline part of the definition (3rd F?), but there was definitely some intentional flogging going on at the Foxhole this morning. After Pebbles’ 500 swings shredded the hands last week, YHC brought back a favorite workout from a few months ago. It’s meant to be a mix of strength and aerobic capacity, mixing kettlebell exercises and running. YHC clocked 1.8 miles this morning, but others got 2+.

COP:

  • 20 x SSH IC
  • 10 x Merkins IC

The Thang:

Mosey to the playground with your bells for some circuit work:

Circuit 1:

  • 10 x 1H swings on the weaker side
  • 10 x 1H swings on the stronger side
  • 5 x C&P on the weaker side
  • 5 x C&P on the stronger side
  • 5 x pullups

Run the big lap through the parking lot and do 4 burpees before returning to the playground.

Repeato 4 more times for a total of 100 swings, 50 C&Ps, 25 pullups, 20 burpees and 5 laps.

Circuit 2:

  • 10 x high pulls on the weaker side
  • 10 x high pulls on the stronger side
  • 5 x snatches on the weaker side
  • 5 x snatches on the stronger side
  • 5 x goblet squats

Run the little lap through the parking lot and do 4 burpees before returning to the playground.

Repeato 4 more times for a total of 100 high pulls, 50 snatches, 25 goblet squats, 16-20 burpees and 5 laps. Running late, so YHC (and a few others) skipped the last lap and burpees.

Circle up for 5 burpees OYO to make an even 41. 1-2 minutes over. #cobains

Thanks for the takeout in COT, FMB.

Announcements:

  1. Area 51 & SOB Pool Party – August 20 – sign up here
  2. Final SOB F3 Dads this Saturday. 9am @ the Bullring. Bratwurst on Q.
  3. Ragnar Trail Run – still a spot left – contact JRR Tolkien if interested
  4. Southern Discomfort – October 22nd. Area 51/SOB CSAUP with lots of running and AO visits.
  5. Area 51 & SOB Christmas Party
  6. Foxhole Q signups available. Please click here for the Sign-up Genius page. As much as everyone loves my creative Qs, it’s always good to have new blood come in and lead. Leadership and volunteering to lead workouts is what keeps F3 running, so give back.
  7. F3 Leap: F3 is expanding to a number of new cities this Fall. Please check out the website to see where you can get involved. All kinds of skills are required.

Moleskine:

  • Welcome to site FNGs Fahvra, Muppet and Ringer. All three of them were pushing it today. Fahvra (and Thin Mint) needs to get a bigger bell because he was leading the pack. He might have done 6 rounds of each circuit. #extracredit Muppet was pushing hard and has a great nickname (last name is Henson). Nice to meet you, brother. I’ve seen Ringer on twitter and backblasts, but had never met him. Good to meet you as well and strong work.
  • Great to see my former co-site Q, Chanel, back at Foxhole this morning. He’s been battling some injuries and the inertia that develops once you start sleeping in the mornings instead of running around in the dark with a bunch of dudes. Hopefully this is the beginning of a comeback! #kotters
  • Clocking in around 2 miles, this is a bit more running than most of the Foxhole faithful are used to (#BRRseason), but it’s meant to be active recovery and to provide a break from the circuits. The circuits are monotonous and tough, but short enough to keep the intensity up the whole time. YHC kept wondering if we were done yet.
  • YHC celebrated his 41st birthday over the weekend (#old), so the burpees were added at the end of the recovery run. None of the pax seemed to mind. Thanks to Chanel for calling me out when I said I was 40 in Name-o-rama.
  • Great work by all of the pax to push hard through the workout and not complain about doing the same 2 circuits 5 times each. See you next week at the ‘hole!

#PreBlast – Brixham Green – Take 2

Swift will be launching from the Vine Restaurant parking area in Ballantyne on Tuesday morning at 0515.  Come early at 0500 for some extra sweaty 2ndF warm-up.

The THANG:

  • 0515 – 15 minute warm-up consisting of easy jogging, drills, and #MumbleChatter about such drills.
  • 0530 – 1 mile (2 laps) Threshold Pace around Brixham Green (Buildings 1 and 2 on http://www.bissellleasing.com/content/uploads/2016/04/ballantyne-corporate-park-map.pdf ).
  • 1:00 to 1:30 rest: There should be enough PAX that you’ll form groups to start each mile segment with another PAX.  1 minute is MINIMUM rest, and 1:30 is recommended MAXIMUM rest to get other PAX to start another interval.  Suggestions will be given at the beginning to form pace groups for 6:00-6:30, 6:30-7:00, 7:00-7:30, etc.
  • Repeat until 0610.  Mosey back to COT.  Extended cooldown will need to be OYO (on your own).
  • Find your Threshold Pace at http://runsmartproject.com/calculator:
    • Input a recent Race result (or “realistic” race goal).
    • Click “Calculate”
    • Click tab “Training”
    • Use the “Threshold” 1 Mile as the Pace you’ll be running on Tuesday.  The course we have is just about .5 mile around, so you can even get a good measure if you’re relying on your stopwatch alone.

SYITG,

Bratwurst

Fast Finish Hills

#Cobains on the Delay for this Backblast of #F3Swift last week on July 26, 2016.

The THANG:

  • 0500 – several PAX in for the early crew.  Strava results showed these PAX got in almost 8miles on a Tuesday.
  • 0514 – Full disclaimer (we do that at Swift?) and then we followed the Preblast for this workout very closely.  The only updates were that we got in 4 total rounds.  Here was the Preblast:

http://f3nation.com/2016/07/25/preblast-fast-finish-hills/

 

The Moleskin:

  • YHC ripped off modified this workout off somewhere from the Internet on Runner’s World, Competitor.com, or something like that.  It was unique from what we have done before for hill work (for there are few hills in our area that have a nice “flat” in the start), but it was fit into a common 200, 200, 400 workout that we have done before.
  • In all, seems like a workout that we can repeat with great location with minimal traffic, close-by, the gradual and straight hill, wide course, well-lit, and the “moderate” hill.  Perhaps having a steeper hill would be nice, for example Ben Nevis or the Bagpipe hill, but we would need some planning to make those fit the 50/50 flat/hill experience.
  • Welcome to Site FNG Doc McStuffins who YHC chases around at most Bootcamp workouts (and not only because those are YHC’s “off” days…), and Kotters to Dasher who was out for his second Swift (but may not come back for another year now).  Doc was bringing it early on, for YHC did say it was all about “effort”, but he quickly found out what a 35 minute workout entails as far as continuing that same “speed” through the end of the workout.  Perhaps
  • Mr. Bean had his normal “horse-whispering” going on to encourage and motivate the PAX on the hill, and YHC certainly knows that he would be worried if he was on the same BRR team and Mr. Bean’s van came by with YHC walking…  Somehow, Mr. Bean would make us want to run harder, either to catch up at the next exchange zone and smack him, or to get a fist bump for helping through the pain zone.
  • Apparently, One Niner was the teacher’s pet at school.  He listens to the instructions, doesn’t rush to turn in his test too early because everyone else is, and quietly moves up the class rankings nailing A’s all the way.
  • Pebbles won about half of the intervals.  Though they were all on the recovery half.  Apparently he doesn’t need to recover as slowly as the rest of us.  He still kept it going strong on the other half of the intervals.  Impressive for this relatively new “Swifter”.

Your “Running” Public Service Announcements for the week: