The Village was wet

The Village was wet

23 PAX showed up this morning to a little thing called Devil’s Turn.  It was hot…it was humid…most people went shirtless…sounds like a night in Tolkien’s backyard.  #F3hottubs

Big group this morning…BRR is approaching so the numbers are growing…or maybe it’s because so many people like me.  Mr. Bean showed up so that’s got to be it.  Yellow shirts were strong this morning…more and more people are getting in the groove with the DT uniform.  A few more follicly-challenged folks showed up today…we need more aerodynamic heads.

The Thang:

So what did this group of 23 do this morning…we ran!  Awesome!  A lot regulars today, but a few part-time DT’ers were out there so YHC became Chalkmaster again and mapped out the course.  I tried it make it as easy as possible so Honey Bee could follow along and not get lost….although it’s hard to get lost when you are always out front. #beespeed (wait…is that Bee Speed or Bees Peed?).

We ran #TheVillage this morning.  Down Bevington to the Touchstone Village for a nice 1.75 mile looped course AMRAP-style.  YHC challenged the PAX to get in 3 laps if possible which would be a total of approximately 6.6 miles with the warm-up/cool-down.  YHC also said “maybe 4 laps for the fast guys” to see who would take the bait.  From the looks of Strava several folks hit 6+ miles and a few of us took the challenge to try and get 4 and almost hit 8 miles…nice job.

Ye Olde Moleskine

A big group of guys today so it was a little hard to pick up on all the chatter.  The PAX spread out quickly at the start.  The humidity was tough this morning and what was thought to initially be a nice “flat” looped course turned into some pain.  You know the workout is good when you hate yourself for Q’ing it….several others commented about not liking YHC this morning as well.  I’m going to take that as a compliment of the workout because there’s just no way people actually hate me.

Here are a few observations from the morning:

  1. Trying to stay with Haggis and Honey Bee is pointless. YHC tried it for a lap and then watched them fade into the distance.  Thanks to Mr. Brady for sticking with me the last few laps.
  2. Huggie Bear probably had a painful shower this morning…he followed the rules and wore a yellow shirt, but we saw hints of red by the end. #bodyglide
  3. Soft Pretzel likes to put Body Glide all over himself so there are no chafing issues. He goes through a full tube in 2 days.  That’s an expensive habit.
  4. I thought I heard Hannibal say “his last DT” during COT…I sure hope I heard that wrong.
  5. I heard no keys in Cheddar’s pocket this morning….what crazy world are we living in? Or did I just miss the sound…
  6. The porta-potty at the parking lot is getting rank with all this heat and humidity.

Great crew out there this morning…love to see the big numbers of runners.  Thanks for the opportunity to lead.

Pre-Blast: Partner Races @ The Brave-“ship”

YHC has the Q for The Brave Friday, substi-Q’ing for my boi Tuck, who is unfortunately on IR… get well brother #F3HotTubs.  For the rest of you, here is the plan for The Brave on Friday. At 5:15am, we’ll turn the Ballantyne Village parking deck into a mini-Muthaship, and since that workout has a pre-blast, this one will as well… you have all day to decide whether this workout is right for you.

Partner Races… best you try to partner-up by size / speed. This will be your partner for the entire hour.

THE THANG:

1) 5:15am START- 100 total Spartan-style chest-to-ground burpees between both partners in Vine Parking lot

2) Sprint to lowest level of Ballantyne Village Parking Deck (go down the steep grassy hill)
12 partner dumbocrats each at base of hill
(Dumbocrat = P1 feet on P2 back, P2 plank while P1 derkin & P2 merkin at same time, flapjack)

3) Run all levels up to top of deck alternating FORWARD RUN FIRST (3 ramps) then BACKWARD RUN next (2 ramps).

4) Down the stairs on your left (farthest from Fountain), and climb up stairs 3x (210 steps = 12 flights)

5) At top of the deck, partner wheelbarrow on the straightaway for the 9 concrete pillars alternating as necessary

6) Down the stairs on your left at the end (closest to Fountain), and partner carry up stairs 3x (210 steps = 12 flights) alternating as necessary

7) Back down stairs to the bottom, and run to the TOP of the grassy hill you ran down and start steps #2 again (NO 100 burpees!). That’s 1 Lap… how many can you complete? #REPEATO

6:12am – stop wherever you are and head back to The Vine parking lot for COT, and Virtual Trophy Award presentation.

Looking forward to seeing all 3 of you tomorrow….

SYITG… J.R.R. Tolkien

Squat jacks are not my friend…neither is Paula Abdul

21 men (20 veteran and 1 FNG) came out the warm humid morning to put in some sweat equity.

We started out with a light mosey and circled up for the start of a great morning.  After providing the disclaimer and welcoming our newest FNG, we got right to it.

The Thang:

Started out with the following the COP:

  • SSH x 25 IC
  • IW x 20 IC
  • LBC’s x 20 IC

From there we mosey’d up the first row of parking in front of Target.  There we lined up in a row for a round Indian Plank.  Same concept as an Indian Run but done in the Plank position.

Next we lined up along the first row of parking and did a round of 2 Steps forward and 1 Step Back.  It was later renamed as the Paul Abdul by Heartbreaker.

I instructed the Pax to run 2 rows ahead and do 5 Carolina Dry Dock and then turn around and run back 1 row and do 10 Squat Jacks.  We washed, rinsed and repeated this for a total of 20 times.

After it was all said and done the Pax completed the following:

  • Carolina Dry Docks x 100
  • Squat Jacks x 200

From there we mosey’d to the parking lot in front of the movie theatre and had the Pax form teams of 3 for some de-constructed Burpees.  Partner 1 stayed at the starting point and Started with Squats.  Partner to mosey’d to the other end of the parking lot and started on Plank In and Outs.  Finally, partner 3 ran down to partner to and relieved him of his exercises and started the cycle.  Once the teams finished up the Squats and Plank in and outs, they moved onto Merkins.

We ended up doing the following as a team once completed:

  • Squats x 200
  • Plank In and Outs x 200
  • Merkins x  200

Next we mosey’d to the side of the movie theatre for 2 rounds of People Chair.  The first round we had our arms raised and the second rounds had air presses (civilian count) x 40.

We then circled up as we were nearing the end and finished strong with the following:

  • Freddie Mercury x 20
  • Heels to Heaven x 20 (I think Bucky suggested this one)
  • Rosalita x 15
  • Round Robin of Protractor (each Pax called off the angle, then counted to five and handed it to the next Pax)

The moleskin:

YHC was impressed how all the PAX came out in beast mode this morning.  We finished up the Paula Abdul and the de-constructed burpees much faster than expected and it left me needing to fill some time.

YHC actually thought we had 2 FNG’s today but one turned out to be Heart Breaker without a hat on.  It seemed to throw off a few of us.

There was some great mumblechatter all workout, especially when we did LBC’s at the beginning.

Welcome to Penalty Kick (Drano brought him out) and we hope to see you more as you visit family in Charlotte.

Great Job to Philmont for 2 days in a row…One more day make it a habit and keep up the good work

Big Thank you to Big Tuna for taking us out at the end with a great payer.

Announcements:

F3 Golf on July 29th and all proceeds are going towards F3’s Leap Expansion.  Information can be found at http://f3golf.com/

F3 Dads – Saturdays with a 9 am start time.  Please bring your 2.0’s out and show them what we do.  There are two locations, with the first being at the Bull Ring in Ballantyne and the second at Col. Francis Beatty Park.

Bucky has the Q this Saturday at da Vinci, with a start time of 7 am.

 

I Can’t Drive 45

14 men gathered this morning in the gloom to stand in the street for some reason. Once Q herded the cats back to safety, rescued Snoopy from the bushes, and delivered the disclaimer it was time to do some work. Here’s how it went down.

#COP

x18 SSH IC
x5 Squat Complex OYO
x9 Lunge IC
Sally
– 1:00 Squats
– 1:00 Merkins
– 1:00 Leg Lifts

#MOVE

Indian run from the rally point over to the bus lot.

#DOWORK

Partner up for:
DORA 1-2-3 (Half Version, 100 meters)
– 50 pushups per team, plank
– 100 flutter kicks (single count) per team, plank
– 150 squats per team
– 10 chest-to-deck burpees with your teammate
– Pass out

Keep your partner for:
SHOULDER WORK
– P1/25m Bear Crawl, P2/Elbow Plank, Flapjack
– P1/25m Crab Walk, P2/Elbow Plank, Flapjack
– P1/25m Lunge Walk, P2/Max CDD

Cross-county mosey back to rally point for:
6MOM
– 6-in hold while the 6 comes in
– x18 LBC
– x18 Dolly
– Protractor

COT

#END

#NMMS

Thanks to Sensei and Booyah for letting me take the reins at The Peak — one of my favorite favorite workouts that has nothing to do with the fact that it’s practically in my backyard and I can roll out of bed at 0525 and be at the rally point with a few minutes to spare. Nothing at all.

Everybody loves Sally. Do more Sally. More Sally.

I love the DORA 1-2-3 because it’s a team workout. You have to work WITH and FOR your brother as you grind through the high reps and try to catch your breath during the run. I saw all the teams working together with strong output. Everyone blazed right through the sequence, which, of course, ended up getting the crew a bonus 10 CTD Burpees immediately following the 150 team squats. It may pay to be a winner, but you might not like what I’m paying. Q was paired with a very respectable young man of 18, M*A*S*H. I don’t know this young man’s story, but he definitely pushed his Q to max output. Bravo, young man.

Dora’s workouts have a certain, steady pace to them, and I think some of the pax today were a little fed up with waiting for the Q to set them loose as I looked down the line prior to the last iteration of shoulder work about to give the Go Ahead for the lunge walk and I see Booyah, Big League Chew, Snoopy, and Tawny all staring back at me already halfway through to the turnaround. Sorry fellas! You just can’t hold a beast back. Don’t even try.

Shout out to MAD who posted with his ruck after checking with Dora to see if the workout would be ruck-friendly last night. Every Dora workout is ruck-friendly, but no Dora workout is ever ruck-easy. Instead of 3 exercises for Sally, MAD had to do three solid minutes of ruck thrusters…AS A WARMUP. And he had to do ruck presses during the flutter kick portion of the D123. Strong work, brother, can’t wait to earn a patch by your side soon.

More Respects than you can shake two sticks at this morning. If you ever EH and get the age excuse, drag that #sadclown out to Peak 51 and let Hacker, Nomad, Big League Chew, and Freedom show him what determination and resolve can produce. I’m blessed to have men like this to look up to and emulate as I approach the Respect Milestone.

The rest of the guys just kept grinding away; Horsehead, Pele, and Normandy (Big League Chew’s 2.0) didn’t need to say much, they came to do work.

Well done, men. It’s an honor to lead you. Can’t wait until next time.

thx/d

ANNOUNCEMENTS

F3 Dads – Lots of fun with your 2.0s. Horsehead has the Q this week!
F3 Golf – Booyah is putting together a 4some of duffers from Peak 51.
F3 Whetstone – Mentors and mentees among the Pax. No one is so good that they can’t get better. Learn from your brothers who’ve gone before you.
F3 Everything – Do it all.

4 – 0

This past weekend, the US Men’s Soccer Team had to convince themselves that Messi was not that good.  Ummm, right.  Likewise, I must stand tall and tell myself that the Cuda Run tonight will be a ‘win’ and that 20 other dudes are also looking for that win and will decide to join me.

We will focus on #BRR training and run the newly found HorseyMcHorseArse hills of South Charlotte.   That’s right, we will NOT meet at Ben & Jerry’s, but will post at the Old Bell parking lot on Sardis Road (McAlpine Creek Greenway Entrance) at 1930 (Blago, that is 7:30pm).  There will be several distance options — 4.2, 5.6 and even 7.0 miles for those who are feeling frisky.  The course is a 1.4 miles loop, so the PAX will be able to stay somewhat grouped regardless of pace.    The route is as follows:

  1. Right onto Old Bell Road from Gravel Parking Lot
  2. Left onto and up Blue Ridge Circle
  3. Right onto Mountain View Drive
  4. Follow Mountainview up and around and across intersection with Blue Ridge Cr
  5. Becomes Wilby Drive
  6. Follow Wilby all the way back to Sardis
  7. Left on Sardis and Left onto Old Bell Road to the start

That will be one loop of 1.4 miles.   Once back to the gravel lot, run through the lot and then head back out to run the loop IN REVERSE.   Some great elevation change here and probably the best BRR training in Charlotte

Q will have a cooler with non-alcoholic drinks for each loop and some frosty beverages for the finish.  Q does not want to drink alone.

Fat Camp World Cup

SOB Land’s most versatile and unique AO set the bar even higher last Wednesday with a workout that combined solid strength training, condition, and 2nd F in the form of friendly competition. Here what you missed if you fart sacked or decided to post some other AO.

The Warm Up

400 meter mosey

25 SSH

20 Mtn Climbers

25 Seal Jacks

20 Low Slow Squats

20 Moroccan Night Clubs

The Thang

 

(1)

PAX completed 5 pull-ups immediately followed by 10 push-ups for 5 rounds. Pax were given about 15 to 20 seconds recovery between each round.  All reps were completed on my count (aka uncomfortably slow).

Mosey over to the school building

(2)

PAX went balls to the wall and completed 5 to 10 inverted presses followed by a 80 meter waiter carry with the KB (x2)

PAX completed 10 Carolina dry docks and another 80 meter waiter carry

(3)

Partner up

Partner 1 grabs both KBs in one hand and completes a 100 m farmer walk (total weight ranged from 50lbs to 100lbs)

Partner 2 LBCs until partner 1 gets back

switch

(4)

4 v 4 Soccer (30 min)

Moleskin-

Good workout and honor to lead.  I think the PAX got some good upperbody work in and enjoyed the 4 v 4 soccer.  We put the aluminium bench in front of the goal and said to score a goal the ball had to pass over the top of the bench.  This made it quite challenging. I think we will see more field sports (Football, soccer, ultimate frisbee, ect) at Fat Camp moving forward, so if your into friendly competition keep a eye on the twitter feed and post!

Mighty mite went down hard about 20 minutes in, but the prognosis is okay from what I understand, so be sure to make fun of him for flopping.

 

 

tawney

Sorry for the belated back blast, but it’s better than no back blast, eh?

The Thang:

Mosey to parking lot, around church. Circle up!
10 x Merkins
15 x Imperial Walkers
8 x Merkins
10 x Low Slow Squats
6 x Merkins
15 x LBC
4 x Merkins
10 x Hillbillies

Partner up! Grab one rock per group.
First partner does called exercise, 2nd partner runs suicide
1. Bicep Curls
2. Shoulder Presses
3. Merkins, push on rock with alternating arms
4. Low Slow Squats

Mosey to parking lot behind school
This exercise is done all together.
1 set of Jack Webb (work your way up to 5) + Suicides 1/2 way across parking lot
1st set (1 Merkin, 4 Arm Raises)  + Suicide (etc., etc…)

Mosey to wall
Wall sits for 2 minutes (1 minute x 2)

Mosey back to parking lot for Mary
Protractor
Flutter
Freddy Mercury

Announcements:
F3 Golf (July) www.f3golf.com
Whetstone Program  – https://t.co/d1NakRlkue?ssr=true
Sensei is still looking for Q’s for Peak 51. Sign up now…the more you do it the easier it is!
Drop Thrill is moving to Fort Mill, so we’ll MISS HIM! Good luck!

Take care out there and KEEP HYDRATED!

Gettin’ Our Rocks Off

YHC promised a painful one for this week’s celebration of the Maul. 15 pax showed up to see if he could deliver:

Tha Thang:

COP
SSH x 20
IW x 20

Let’s get straight to the fun – bear crawl suicides. Start at one line – bear crawl 2 parking spaces and do two merkins. Run back to the starting line. Bear crawl 4 parking spaces and do 4 merkins, run back. Went up to 10 parking spaces and 10 merkins. #crowdpleaser

Give the shoulders a rest (they’re going to need it) and mosey down the Murderhorn to the rock pile. Pick a rock that you’ll become intimate with over the next 30ish minutes (numerous questions of “a lifting rock or a running rock?”). Just pick one.

Jack Webb – 1 merkin, 4 presses with the rock. Laddered up to 5/20 and back down to 1/4. This really hurt by the end. Took a breath with some LBC’s, Dolly, and Rosalita (all x15).

Pick up the rock and head to the pile. Don’t throw the rock back – more fun awaits. Triple 7’s on the Murderhorn’s wicked stepsister (this thing needs a name). At the top, 7 full body squat, curl, and press with the rock. At the bottom, 7 American Hammer/Russian Twists with the rock. Carry the rock the whole time, 7 times up and down. Heartbreaker led some Mary while waiting on the six.

Need to head back for the grand finale. Run up the Murderhorn – 10 lunges at each lamppost along the way (10 x 3). Catch our breath and wait for the six – time to mosey back to the parking lot.

Tight circle for the Sally Challenge. This is an awesome/horrible way to end a workout. Everyone gave it their all, for most of the song, at least.

Time – well done, men. Squid with the takeout.

Skinny of the Mole:

This was my anniversary Q, and I tried to bring it as much as I could. Might throw in some burpees next time, just to make it more fun. My arms and shoulders are definitely feeling it.
– Great job to Heartbreaker, Strawberry, Cold Cuts, and Squid for leading the way on the Triple 7’s. They were moving faster with a rock than I normally do without one.
– Paper Jam killed the Sally challenge. His upper body strength is ridiculous.
– Cheddar and his soccer arms hated me the entire time. That’s what you get for your Alabama shirt, brother.

Thanks to all for coming out. It is an honor to lead.

Announcements:

F3-only Ruck being put together by the guys in the Fort. Talk to Bounty Hunter. It will be sometime in spring of 2017.

Whetstone program – sign-ups are still going on

F3 Dads this Saturday – Francis Beatty Park and the bull ring at Stonehenge. 9:00 am.

F3 Golf – July 29th

Southern Discomfort – October 22nd

1.0 = Not Bratwursty

17 PAX tackled the Dromedary Hump on Hump Day today for several rounds of things that did not involve much running.

The Thang:

  • 0530 – Disclaimer and Launch
  • Follow Q around the 0.3mi parking lot.  On the way do Side Shuffles (both directions), High Knees, Butt Kicks, Karaoke (both directions)
  • Circle up for some stretching – In cadence x10 for Don Quixotes, Imperial Walker, Low Slow Squat, Slow Mountain Climber (similar to https://youtu.be/Mh9yylvxKo8, but a little faster)
  • Continue Circle for Merkin / Plankfest without moving out of Plank position – In Cadence for 10 Regular Merkins, 10 WideArm Merkins, 10 Diamond Merkins, Peter Parker x10, Parker Peter x10
  • Grab a partner, but don’t worry about it for now…
  • Mosey down to Rails
  • 3 sets of 12 counts OYO with elbow plank after each set.  Exercises are Rail push ups (https://youtu.be/wU2mqdq9f7o?t=2m31s), Dips, and Ice9’s Butt-touch squat (stand up next to bar, grasp bar, lower butt to ground keeping hands on bar and shins vertical, stand up)
  • Mosey to rock pile and find your partner again.  Partner 1 grab a rock, Partner 2 stand and look at P1 challenging them to get a good sized rock.  Back to Circle up in Parking area.
  • 3 rounds of Partner Rock work.
    • P1 curls with rock x15 while P2 LBCs. Flapjack.  Plank when done.
    • P1 tricep extensions while P2 LBCs. Flapjack. Plank when done.
    • P1 overhead press while P2 LBCs. Flapjack. Plank when done.
  • 3 rounds of Partner Rock work.
    • P1 deadlift with rock x10 while P2 Dolly. Flapjack.  Plank when done.
  • 1 round of Partner Rock Merkin work.
    • P1 5 merkins with Left hand on Rock then 5 merkins with Right hand on Rock.  P2 squat hold. Flapjack.
    • P1 5 merkins with Left hand on Rock then 5 merkins with Right hand on Rock.  P2 squat hold. Flapjack.
    • P1 10 Diamonds on Rock while P2 squat hold. Flapjack.
  • P1 return the rock to the pile.  P2, instead of standing and watching P1, run up to the top of the parking lot hump.  Both partners return to launch point.
  • Circle up for some Mary
  • 0.3mi Parking lot Mosey.  OYO.
  • COT

Moleskin:

  • ShopDog, LongHaul, and others had to be reeled back in as they wanted to get extra credit for continuing the rock work well beyond the called counts.
  • Das Boot and his partner were going for more dance-like rock exercises with a small one-handed rock.
  • GreaseMonkey apparently didn’t get matched up with the right-sized rock as he scooped up Bananas casted off rock.  Not sure if Bananas went back for a larger or smaller rock, but we did notice the brown stains on his shoes as he returned. #itsnatural
  • We should apparently allow each partner to choose their own rocks next time.
  • Nutter Butter, Hollywood, and Long Haul pushing it on the final 0.3mi parking lot mosey, so not exactly a mosey for them.  YHC knew the mileage was low when Long Haul & YHCs Garmin didn’t “beep” until the final turns.  That’s just barely over 1.0mi gents! Full mileage https://www.strava.com/activities/617056374
  • While the miles of running were low, that meant not much time to catch your breath this morning so we were in a continual plank hold, squat hold #itsnatural, or moving somewhere.  Challenge is to make every workout that way.  When you can get to a point that there is only “active rest” (no 10 counts of only standing around), then you know you can keep pushing harder on the segments in between.
  • Not every workout has to be an all-out effort.  If you need a day to rest the legs, work the core.  If you need a day to rest the arms, slow down and work on form while pushing elsewhere.  If you need to dial it back for a workout, focus on staying with the six or pushing another brother.  Take a rest day when you need it.
  • The FNGs are getting younger…  School must be out, for a 2nd time 11yo FNG who is a 2.0 of BottleCap got named today (welcome “Toast”).  And Bananas brought another 16yo FNG out but wasn’t his 2.0, and per the Union County tradition, he’ll be named at his 2nd post.

Announcements:

  • F3 Dads at Ballantyne and Col. Francis Beatty Park this Saturday at 9am.  Bring a 2.0 of any age to enjoy fun and exercise.
  • Didn’t get enough run today?  Join the Wednesday evening run at 1900 from Brazwell’s in Ballantyne – 4 or 6 mi at an easy pace called #SummersEveRun.  For more challenging run options, consider the Interval-based run workout #Swift on Tuesday mornings in Ballantyne, the Tempo run #DevilsTurn on Thursday mornings in Piper Glen, or the Long Run options of #SOBLSD or #RumRunner on Sunday mornings.
  • Next Black Diamond workout is in Fort Mill on Saturday morning at 0645 at 1309 Rosemont Dr, Fort Mill, SC.  It involves a pool, so running shoes and swimsuit required.

 

BB for Anvil 6/22/16

We had 13 PAX.  12 men and 1 young person.  The young person was Sledge who most definitely held his own.  Awesome feeling to have both young and more mature (50+) to motivate you.  Very fortune to have low humidity on this June morning.  This half asleep, quiet group launched sharp at 5:30

The work:

1.3 mile warm up run from launch around church, got off campus briefly, and reconvened at parking lot area close to drainage rocks.

Grab lifting rock, set to side

25x SSH

25x IPW

25x Hollow body rocks

25x LBCs

25 merkins

6 inches, countdown from 10

Rocking it.  Take lifting rock and..

20 squat press

25 curls

20 single leg lunges

20 tricep extensions

15 rock overhead standing squats

25 LBCs

Replace rocks.  Follow me.  Approx .7 mile run around church to front of church to semi circle stone wall

Partner up.  Size weight doesnt matter. Partner 1 does vertical hand walks along wall (feet on wall, hands on ground). Partner 2 does LBCs

Rinse/repeat 3x

Follow me.  To the soccer fields.

Sprints:

6 sprints approx 50 yards each

10 merkins after each sprint.  10 second rest.

Follow me back to launch

25 LBCs

6 inches – 20 second count by Lobsta

Done.  All in 2.7 miles all-in