At 0515 on Tuesday morning, PAX will launch from the Vine Restaurant with the intention of performing a little fitness check. Consistent course, known distance, check your pace, and repeat As Many Reps As Possible (AMRAP).
The THANG:
Notes:
Reading the title, I know what you’re thinking, but no, oddly enough, this is not the Horsey McHorseArse backblast.
However, this is how it was explained to me that I start a workout when I have the Q. Let’s go (ring the bell) and run. Despite a 1-minute warning, new watch was a little slow to sync, so slight deviation today:
Thang
5 Burpees OYO
Shake out mosey to Carmel Pres for short COP – SSH, Mtn Climbers, Squats
Mosey to Pellyn Wood with brief pull of the reigns to remind everyone to keep it down #underwhelmed. Mosey to Walden Pond – dips and derkins…plank walk right. Recover. Calls for symmetry ignored.
Mosey to La Maison Dr – now, I’m no Spanish major and I haven’t taken French since elementary school, but shouldn’t it be “Le Maison”? Anyway, digressions aside, we more or less piled up in something that could loosely be considered a circle with no real middle (or in SG parlance, this was more like a jelly-filled donut than a traditional).
Flutters, LBCs, Freddy Mercury, merkins
Mosey back to Walden Pond – dips, derkins, plankwalk left. Russian Twists to keep the pax from leaving too soon. Mosey to Howland.
Backward run up. Squats at the top. Recover down.
Backward lunge walk to the 2nd driveway, then backward run up. Recover down.
AYG to the top. Recover down.
AYG to the top. Recover down. Knee ups at the bottom.
AYG to the top. Mosey back across Sharon View to the back of RTS. Larry Birds did some planking that kept the group mostly together. Mosey back to launch point. 5 burpees OYO. Fin.
COT
Announcements:
F3 Golf – if you’re going to play or want to play, sign up now
SOFAWIB – Swiper says tomorrow will be “historic”. I have no idea what that means.
Pray for Ninja Turtle (son of Run Stopper) currently in the middle of a 5-month hike of the AT
Moleskine
Per the text from Bushwood, Hairball apparently pulled out last night #twss. SemiGloss and I played rock paper scissors for the Q, and there was never any doubt he was throwing rock. So, YHC got the conch. It had been awhile at DMZ – probably since the time I ran in, likely got a stress fracture, and took a forced month off….so yeah, good to be back and still injury free.
If you aren’t running BRR, you are now one step closer to being ready to step in an as alternate #SemiGloss. Quite a few hills in Pellyn Wood (3.3 miles worth per Strava), so despite several comments about going back, yes, we did; no, we didn’t re-use the halfpipe. The decline plank walk was fun. Little bit of a change up there. Uphill backward runs are a staple and pair well with squats and lunges. Nice way to ease into the week.
Loved the progressive pax expressions after each, “recover back down”. Highlight of the morning.
YHC led from the middle (being generously optimistic) today. Rachel, Square Root, Agony, Swiper, One Eye….list goes on…etc. were ahead of the Q most of the morning. Coming back from IR is a slow journey. Legs and lungs aren’t there yet.
Discovered during Name-a-rama that Bugeater was there. Felt like this scene: There you are. Having just come off a shorter IR stint, you’re in there Bug. You’ll find it. See you tomorrow at OP. I’m told it’ll be historic, whatever that means.
Appreciate the opportunity, gents. Bushwood is buying beers at F3 golf for anyone who didn’t get their money’s worth today.
SUMMARY
13 slackers ducked the hard workouts: Black Diamond @ The Bruthaship, a beatdown by guest SOB Q Argonaut @ Commitment, was that it? Wait one more…. DaVinci @ Blakeney SOB Dads with the handsome Honey “Tiny Dancer” Bee on Q. Instead they showed up at Stonehenge for a few easy exercises over less than 3 miles, some nerf gun target practice, tug-o-war games, and most importantly the coffeeteria, led by YHC. See, not every workout by YHC is a killer fellas! Especially when YHC is waaaay out of shape and can’t Q anything hard nowadays 🙁
THE THANG
*rest of exercises were forward lunges, back lunges and full-situps, but they were all scrapped by YHC due to excessive complaining about PAX legs being sore thanks to One-Niner’s workout at The Brave the prior day #youhadtobetheretoknowIguess*
2. Mosey to the reservoir across from the pond next to The Bull Ring, run DOWN each steep hill to the water’s edge, and run backwards UP hill and around each of the 20+ shrubs / trees that surround the reservoir. 1 lap was enough…
*PAX thank Mario for skipping a whole bunch of trees so that a few were missed, blaming it on the dry-needling he had done on him TWO DAYS AGO*
3) Mosey to the ‘Say Cheese’ segment which is the pond just south of the Bull Ring for the final two exercises. After a quick disclaimer* by YHC regarding the called exercise, which involved shooting my kid’s Nerf Foam Pellet Guns at a target, PAX raced up the hill, and around the entire pond vs. a partner that was of similar speed. The winner would shoot the gun at the target, if the target was HIT the shooter would perform LESS of a called exercise (racing partner do MORE), and if the target was MISSED, then the shooter would do MORE of a called exercise (racing parter do LESS).
*Disclaimer: YHC has the workout planned while in Roswell, New Mexico last week, where YHC shot his first handgun and shotgun, and BEFORE the horrific shootings that have happened 3 days in a row (Wild Turkey can vouch). Disclaimer was given, and thoughts for victims and our Nation were spoken, before this exercise was called, as to recognize and not trivialize the events, but still have some big boy fun.*
4) Tug-o-War… 12 PAX remain after 777 leaves to Double-Down @ Davinci. Partner up in somewhat even pairs by size. First person / team to drag the rope and the midpoint market past their cone, WINS!!!
5) Mosey or in YHC case, drive truck back, to The Vine Am Kitchen parking lot for COT & YHC with the takeout, where our thoughts and prayers are with all the victims of the recent shootings, and pray that we men of F3 Nation do our part to make this world a better place and lead and influence others to do the same, one man at a time…
MOLESKIN
Today was a fun day… and YHC is trying to convince himself that not EVERY workout needs to be a killer (evidenced by the MAF Strava runs @ 10min/mi), so YHC enjoyed mixing it up with some coupons today. YHC hopes everyone else had some fun… especially since PAX have been throwing down some VERY difficult workouts as of late #especiallyTheBRAVE. As YHC is learning about top level endurance athletes, 80% of their training is aerobic, and 20% anaerobic, so going hard every workout will just get you hurt, and not build your aerobic conditioning (fat burning engine) but just your anaerobic one (burn sugar & electrolytes). Something to consider, as I’m finally taking Bratwurst advice… we can discuss more later if you want. Anyways…a few observations:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
SYITG ~J.R.R. Tolkien
Fourteen men came for a romp through the hilly darkness. By the numbers:
No need to pretend that anyone is going to follow a Q or Weinke. I planned on doing Yucca repeats this week. You may have needed something else so do what you will and assemble at the flag pole at 0608 for the Pledge. Everything usually shakes out in the first 10 minutes as people settle into paces, groups and desired workout needs. A notional Weinke for the Site FNGs and Free Play seems to be a winning combo.
The giant oak tree blocking Boo Radley’s driveway has been moved to allow inbound traffic. The outbound lane is still blocked. Like, Zoinks!
59 days until BRR. Don’t cheat yourself like 7/9 of Free Range is doing.
22…wait…23? No…22 PAX showed up for a little thing called Devils Turn. I’m keeping it short and sweet this week as there were too many PAX to keep track of…and because the wife and kids are out of town, I’m pretty lazy and started drinking beer so I don’t want this to get in the way.
The Thang
This week’s DT was simple…1 mile repeats on the DangerZone. The ‘Zone is a 1.2 mile stretch between 51 and the Dunkin Donuts on Rea Rd. The plan was to run 1 mile at a “comfortably hard” pace (#mywifesfavoritepace), recover for 0.2 miles and repeat on the way back. Everyone was told to be back by 0615 for COT…some listened and some did not. #pandasrunslow
The Quick Moleskin
I could go on and on about this workout…it was pretty amazing. Everyone who was there knows that one person completely dominated all morning long. This person ran his tail off and didn’t even break a sweat which I didn’t think was possible. He was running so fast and hard you almost didn’t even see him until the end….amazing performance.
Of course I’m talking about Cheddar. He was simply amazing today…no one else deserves any comments in my backblast other than him. He out-worked us all…quite a showing.
Psst…Cheddar. The workout starts at 0515…not 0615. But thanks for showing up to greet us.
As always…a honor to lead.
Announcements:
Run Stopper’s son is hiking the AT. Keep him in your thoughts.
F3 Golf
F3 Dads will continue through early August. This weekend is at Honey Bee’s pool.
Operation Sweet Tooth…toy drive this fall/winter. Watch for updates from Hairball.
20 men posted to Kevlar on Friday morning. Thank you for the opportunity to lead.
The goal was to have us explore some of the space near the tennis courts and I think that objective was achieved.
The Thang
Warmup –
Lap around the track, followed by up/downs, merkins and mtn climbers.
We then proceeded to do 4 rounds of Hershel Walkers – situps, merkins and sprints – 20x, 15x, 10x and 5x for the situps and merkins
Second Evolution
Moved to the tennis courts and proceeded to run an obstacle/conditioning course that included the following: hair burners in the parking lot, followed by climbing up and over a shipping container, high knees through tires, 25x dips, 25x carolina drydocks, climb through the tennis pavilion and up or over the tables and then climb back out the other side, 10x box jumps on the far side of the tennis courts, circle back and bear crawl back from the tennis courts to the shipping container. All of this constituted 1 lap.
The majority of the PAX finished 2+ of these circuits – job well done.
Phase Three
Carried all of the hair burner weights and eight tires with us to the hill by the church parking lot and proceeded to do a round of sevens which included squats and merkins.
Bring it home
Wrapped it up back at the school with a round of up/downs and one last Hershel Walker set of 20x.
Special shout out to Normandy (15 yrs old) as he pushed hard out there and gave Big League Chew a run for his money.
Great time out there with the Friday morning crew at Kevlar. Thanks to Horse Head and Bulldog for allowing me to lead everyone today.
10 men met at McAlpine Elem for some hard work #F3DayZero #HighIntensity
The Thang
Mosey from campus with a right on Carswell, left on Bevington then right on Radner down to the cul-de-sac at the entrance to the greenway. Circle up.
From the Radner cul-de-sac, run up & turn right onto Willow Run then left onto Stoney Hill, stopping at the base of South Point Drive. Time for the beast on the South Point hill.
After a little bit of Mary, rup Stoney Hill, left on Bevington then right onto Carswell. We did some AYGs on the Stoney Hill and Carswell hills on our way back to campus.
Pick a partner. Grab a lifting rock. One partner do AMRAP of called exercise with rock while other partner did ~25 yard backwards bear crawl. Flapjack. Exercises were shoulder presses, curls & triceps. Next was same deal but with ~100 yard out & back sprints/moseys…exercises were chest presses, curls & good mornings.
Return rocks and mosey up to parking lot for people’s chair and air presses x 50 IC to finish us off.
After Gloss’ send-off, we embarked on our various journeys.
Moleskine
Day Zero is intimidating. #HighIntensity men are intimidating. A shirt-less Gloss is intimidating. A combination of all three ran off two FIA ladies from the McAlpine track before we even started (even though they did stop to ask Butter where he got his pink shoes). Then our mere presence in the Radner cul-de-sac greenway entrance made two ladies turn around and go the other way…it was funny watching their decision making process while we did our set of low slow squats. Monkey humpers would have wrecked them.
The beast on the South Point Drive hill was a horrible idea in hindsight…pretty much did the Q in. Turns out The Swede lives on the street…good thing he posted or we would’ve been ringing his doorbell. While on the hill, we ran into one of his neighbors. Ignored us all, except for a sultry “Heeyyyy Jeff.” Heard a lot of talk about breaking the rules and not ending the beast with burpees…but I’m a traditionalist.
Back at the school, several complaints about three sets of backwards bear crawls. Your shoulders will thank me later. Think Gloss skipped most of the rock lifting…stayed hunched over in the dry-heave position, mumbling about his Spackler-esque Friday night of One Bourbon, One Scotch & One Beer (x 7). He left cleansed of all shame.
Alf, Fault Line, Red Rocks & Hairball worked hard and led the way throughout. Pro was mediocre, as usual.
Announcments
#F3Golf – Sign-up
Day Zero (Butter) agreed to sponsor a hole.
9 dads, 1 single man (what?), and 16 kiddos showed up for the first #SOBDads Pool Times. Before the pool fun could start, a workout had to be executed to make it true F3 style.
Here’s how the workout went down:
1) Disclaimer: water dangers, pool floor will mess up some toesies, no lifeguard, yada yada yada I imagine the 2.0’s were hearing something like the Peanuts teacher voice at this point.
2) Enough of that, we moved to the field and Danica led us through the playground (Dads too).
3) Converge at the bench, Tiny Dancer lead us through a second round. This time Dads opted out.
4) Once everyone finished, time for a lap around the park complete with dangerous rocky crossings and such.
5) Come back to the grassy field for a COP. SSH x 10, Good Morning x 10, IW x 10, and kiddy curls x 5 (way harder than it sounds)
6) Circle up shoulder-to-shoulder and sit down. A bucket of ice water is moved conspicuously toward the outer extent of the circle. YHC begins the instructional for a game called drip, drip, dunk. It is much like duck, duck, goose except for a cup of ice cold water is dripped, dripped, and … you guessed it emptied on the unlucky person. A game of chase ensues and the next person gets a chance to drip. This continued for some time ensuring everyone had a chance to be shocked by the cold water.
7) It was then time for the kids dreams to be realized. The dads lined up on one side and the kids on the other. One at a time, the kids got a cup full of water and could choose their victim from the line of dads. The 2.0’s were very inventive in their methods of inflicting chills to the dads. Funny stuff.
8) It was then time to practice for the NFL Play 60 coming up on July 23. We set up cones in 2 stations for the kids to run a quick post route and catch a football thrown by the dads.
9) The next football inspired station was a chalk obstacle course. Many were timed but YHC was not able to discern the winner due to lolly gagging with snacks in the shade.
10) Once everyone had their fill of the football stations, it was break time until the pool opened. There were waters and snacks available and a shady tree to hang out under. It was a nice break.
11) Boom! 10:00 hit and it was pool time! Everyone filed in and fun was under way.
The Moleskine:
– Mad props go out to Mario who, not having a kid, still showed up and had a great time with us dads. The man is awesome. YHC still hates you due to your young leg tendons, but mad respect at the same time. He even showed up on his motorcycle which is also pretty cool.
– Thanks go out to Thin Mint who contributed a large box of snacks to the festivities which featured flavor blasted goldfish for goodness sake. Flavor blasted! Needless to say, they were a big hit. Thanks!
– Thank you to all the dads who came out today and have come out to F3 Dads so far this summer. I know it means a lot to our kids. Even though the 2.0’s may sometimes pretend it’s not “cool”, they dig it. Thanks for being great dads!
Next week’s #SOBDads is at the Bull Ring. Q is either Tolkien, Wild Turkey, or Muppet. I am getting mixed reports. Regardless, prepare for fun and show up at the Bulls at 9:00 am on Saturday!
Both Site-Q’s were gametime scratches, so no SF, but we launched at The Rock after brief disclaimer.
The Thang:
Jog over to one of the lots near 51 for COP
IW x 20 IC
Slow Squat x 20 IC
H-R Merkin x 20 IC
Flutter x 20 IC
Run off campus, across 51 and into some neighborhood…can’t recall its name. Made our way to Five Knolls for some hillwork.
5 Jump Squats at bottom, Run up the hill, 5 burpees at top. 3x. Plankorama when all finish.
Run back to The Rock and over to pavilion.
People’s Chair for 1 minute
Jump-up x 10 on benches; Incline Merkin x 10 OYO
Jump up x 15; Incline Merkin x 15 OYO
Jump up x 20; Incline Merkin x 20 OYO
People’s chair with Overhead press x 25 IC
Run over to playground
10 Donkey Kicks on swings OYO
10 CDD’s IC
15 Donkey Kicks on swings
10 Wide-arm Merkins IC
18 Donkey Kicks on swings #BenZobrist
8 Diamond Merkins IC
Run to rocks next to baseball diamond, grab a lifting rock
10 Overhead press IC
AYG run from left field line to centerfield fence
10 Bicep curl IC
AYG run from left field line to CF fence
13 Louganis IC
AYG run to lightpole in middle of lot
Mosey to neighboring lot
Backwards run to median
Jog back to launch lot; still time for 6 MoM
American Hammer x 13 IC
Elbow plank w/Leg Lifts x 13 IC
LBC x 25 IC
6-Count Burpee x 10 IC
COT
Ye Olde Moleskine:
Small but hearty crew. Got a brief geography and cultural lesson on Johannesburg and Cape Town – South Africa…so that was helpful. Also good to learn that most of the rest of the world can’t stand France either.
Sledge, Hammer’s 2.0, rode into the lot with a towel over his head….every 13-year old wants to start his day with a 3.2 mile, 84 degree/84% humidity beatdown, right? Good work Sledge. And appreciate the prayer in COT from Hammer. #davehuberesque
Despite my rather unorthodox Q at Anvil Wednesday, both Deep Dish and Hammer came back to same AO and same Q this morning. #muchobliged
Deep Dish, Cubs fan that he is, appreciated my shout-out to Ben Zobrist again on the 3rd set of donkey kicks. #LETSGO
Always appreciate our South African brothers and their hard work and good attitudes. Boerewors paid YHC a compliment by saying this hour long downpainment had the intensity of a 45-minute workout. Couldn’t possibly have been as #highintensity as Purple Haze’s DZ Q today, could it?
Glad it was worth the effort to post men. Five Knolls, as advertised, is no joke. YHC’s first time on that monstrosity. Always a privilege to Q, especially at the finest AO in Area51.
Announcements:
Sign up for F3 Golf – Friday July 29th – 9am start. Tiger Rag & Bananas guaranteed a high temp of less than 84.
Keep your antenna up for 5th Anniversary of Area 51 — likely a Saturday convergence after BRR in September.
14 dudes ready to start the weekend out right posted at one of the finest AO’s in the nation, either due to excellent marketing or habit. I love the month of July, humid mornings and 100 degree afternoons. Here’s what happened next:
NOTE: We had a new face, so for anyone new reading this, IC = In Cadence. 1 count sequence (1,2,3,#) is 2 reps. i.e 20 SSH IC = 40 Side Straddle Hop (i.e Jumping Jack). OYO = On Your Own, 1 rep = 1 rep, performed at your own pace. Mosey = jog.
Grab a rock as “thick as your thigh”, this little guy was your partner for the remainder of the workout. Choose wisely
Hold that Rock Squat during Q’s instructions about the AMRAP to follow:
NOTE: the route I’d mapped out on Strava included a .2 mile run here, but there was a newly erected 12 ft chain link fence (or newly locked fence) had other plans for us. #qfail
NOTE: Hat tip to Transporter for the heads up on the time. YHC was about to start COT at precisely 7:15. Closing out a workout at quarter past the hour is all YHC has ever known. Knew it was an hour workout, lost track of the fact that we started at 6:30 somewhere during the indian runs. #qfail #cobains
ENDEX
Solid effort from all despite the collection of Q fails on the hill run and YHC’s attempt to terminate the workout at 45 rather than 60 minutes. Transporter was quick to point out that he paid for a 60 minute boot camp, and that’s what he was getting. No arguments here. Solid group of guys out there, hard to remember all the individual efforts, but here are a couple notes:
Chime in below with anything I missed. For YHC, that was both miserable and fun. I guess that’s what makes F3, F3. Next week, another guest from the Ballantyne crew, JRR Tolkien, will be Qing. I’m sure he has a good plan in the works; and if anyone is keen on finishing well in the Spartan, you’ll probably want to be there. JRRT has posted some really competitive times and placed in the top ten in several Spartan races.
Argonaut Out.