10 men fought off the fog, confetti, and late night celebrating and rolled into Carmel Neighborhood Park for a quick start, at 0530 sharp. Here’s what went down:
12 PAX left their excuses at home after a big Panthers win to come out and risk a run-in with black ice…
The Workout
Run around the school to warmup, a few black ice run-ins, but no men went down… yet.
Circle up in the back lot – short disclaimer: it’s icy out there… be careful!
SSH x 25
Merkin x 20
Mountain Climber x 20
Plank hold
IW x25
LSS x20
Stretches on your six. Yes, we stretched.
The Thang…
Line up at near end of the lot, run down and turn around before hitting the black ice…
50 Squats, run down & back
Walking Lunges down, run back
30 Jump Squats, run down & back
20 Burpees, run down & back
Standing Long jumps down, run back
Mosey around school to front wall, wall sits on ice. Some PAX literally sat on the ice, or the smart PAX grabbed a dry seat under the covered wall.
Mosey to front lot, near playground, circle up.
50 Merkins, run down to cones & back
40 Dry Docks, run down & back
30 Dips, run down & back
20 Pullups, run down & back
Plank hold variations for a long time.
Run around school, avoiding black ice… to the back lot again.
Circle up for a little Mary –
LBC x 25
Flutter x25
Dolly x15
COP – Thanks Squid for taking us out.
The Moleskin
Ten Schoolyard Bullies
After a quick extra-credit warm-up session with MT and Pebbles, a caravan of contender cars and trucks rolled into Elon Park.
Warm-Up
20 Two-handed swings
20 Goblet Squats
20 Merkins
Stations
Station 1 – Run around the school
Station 2 – KB – Cleans & Lawnmower pulls
Station 3 – KB – Squats & Cleans
Station 4 – Boxing – Jab/Cross combos
Station 5 – Boxing – Hook combos
Station 6 – Boxing – Heavy bag/Mary/Pull-ups
2:30 (long) minutes / 30 sec break
Repeat until 6:10
Mary
Real baby crunch x 15
LBC x 15
Pistol crunch right leg high x 15
Pistol crunch left leg high x 15
Knees to right x 15
Knees to left x 15
Chippy Cross x 15
Moleskine
YHC joined the bros at Foxhole when Fight Club took a winter break. I was asked to bring in some Fight Club work for my first Q. Chipotle and I were happy to oblige. I think most of the crew noticed how draining a 2:30 minute round can be. Throwing hard punches, that land, takes skill and a lot of energy. I was pleased to see (and hear) fists of fury developing by the later rounds. Thanks to Icky and Pebbles for providing additional instruction. Thanks to Chipolte for bring the boxing gear.
YHC on the take out
Top 10 Benefits to Boxing (adapted from http://dynamicboxingfitness.blogspot.com)
8 men showed up in Middle School parking lot at 5:30 (well, most of us) and got after it thusly….
Warmup jog around the light posts because it’s a Base Camp rule.
COP
SSH, 10 burpees
IW, 9 burpees
Etc. on down to 1 burpee.
(Let the record show that Sony showed up at about 5:45 – apparently he was in Nashville last week and that when they start workouts).
Over to the wall for alternating People’s Chair and BTW (with appropriate modifications offered).
Line up near the basketball goals for The Beast. Six counts of each exercise at three poles on the way down and three poles on the way back. Repeat for six exercises total (Merkins, Lunges, CDDs, Jump Squats, LBCs, Burpees – only 2 of us did burpees, the rest “modified).
Mary – Flutter, Dolly, Freddie Mercury, Peter Parker, Parker Peter, etc.
Line up abreast at one end of the parking lot, divided into two groups. Group one AYG to second basketball goal and back, then group two. Repeat with that goal two more times, then last goal twice, then the end of the lot once.
Moleskine
Sony rolled in around 5:45 – that may be the latest arrival that I’ve seen. I would’ve stayed home at that point, but Sony got after it once he got there. That was after Uncle Si came in hot at about 5:35 with his headlights off. Good call. They still both did twice as many exercises as Spackler.
I tried to limit the running this morning after a long run on Sunday, late night last night (Go Panthers) and Fast Twitch looming tomorrow. So I had to resort to burpees – ugh. Good work by the guys this morning. Also, I scouted the track and football field on Sunday afternoon – that would’ve been a bad idea this morning. So we stayed in the parking lot – Fridge managed to find the only icy spot and went down once though.
The SOB convoy rolled into Blakeney at 7.02 am for part 2 of the double down pain fest. We were joined by another 6 pax for a total showing of 17 men. Not bad for the second week of a new workout on a snow day.
The Thang:
Kick off with a merkin fun fest: 10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1. Then head to playground for attempted pull-up / burpee routine. This didn’t really work due to not enough pull up bars plus ice, so YHC changed tactics and headed to an open space.
Burpees, merkins, handslap merkins, and ab routines interspersed with planking plus sprinting back and forth ensued. Most of this was standard stuff (read: hard), but the planking / ab routine is worthy of further comment. YHC found himself turning into Angry Q and increasingly yelling at the pax: “6 inches!!!”. The goal became to try and see who would give in first (Fireman Ed?). We interspersed holding our feet 6 inches off the ground with elbow planking for a good long time. YHC did not know when it was going to end, and nor did the pax. It went on for a long, long time.
After this brush with hell, we reconvened at the fountains for dips and durkins. Can’t remember how many sets – it was getting fuzzy at this point. Almost lost Mic Check at this point, but he held on in the end.
Then we wandered over Ardrey Kell to a long stretch of virgin snow on a slight incline. There we proceeded with more merkins, 6-count burpees, bear crawls, and sprinting back and forth in the snow. When YHC got to the point that he couldn’t run anymore, we switched to another 6-inch / elbow plank routine. This one went on for a while also. After that we did a few more merkins then headed back to the fountain for COT.
Moleskin:
The pax were forced to look deep within themselves during the planking / ab routines. Did you like what you saw?
There was a fair amount of chatter. Mr. Bean in particular called a lot of people out during the 6 inch routines. Interestingly, he only had energy to speak when his own feet were on the floor.
T-Claps to Jean Claude for a strong post. Good to have you out there brother. Also Heartbreaker, Bunker, and Strawberry were notable for keeping strong form throughout.
Mic Check inspired a lot of this workout with his trash talk at the bar. I hope he suffered, but apart from his minor breakdown during Durkins he didn’t seem to struggle too much.
Loogie has the most creative approach to planking. Frehleys Comet seemed at the end of his rope but stepped right up to lead burpees when called. The old man is a beast!
Bratwurst objected strenuously to the planking routines, but held it together. That’s what you get for crushing YHC at the Joe Davis run!
Wingman, Tuck, Mighty Mite, Fireman Ed, Market Timer, Madame Tussaud and Tolkien were all characteristically solid, performing all required motions with little fuss. Mighty Mite had extra speed on the snow sprints.
I was proud of the SOBs today. Great workouts with a great group. Thanks for the opportunity to lead.
One for the history books. After a lot of talk last night 11 big hairy SOBs showed up at Stonehenge with little regard for the weather. What followed was a kick in the teeth. Then every single one of them accepted the double-down challenge and also posted at Da Vinci for more.
The Thang:
A slow mosey through the ice to the Ballantyne Village parking deck. Go to the bottom of the deck and proceed with all the old favorites – bad and basic.
20 burpees, sprint length of the deck at the bottom and back (around 100m each way). 10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1 merkins, sprint. Elbow plank for an indeterminate time, then sprint. Proceed to the depths of the deck and line up for merkins. 20 merkins, then run to the top of the deck.
Hang out at the top for a mary routine – planking, bicycles, etc, then run back down. Repeato 3 times with some variations.
Time passed quickly then we headed back The Vine for COT.
Moleskin:
Considering that this was just round one, it was fairly challenging. Tolkien and Bean were really getting after the sprints and runs to the top of the deck. Nice work. Didn’t see any merlot but I know YHC was close a couple of times and I think Tolkien may have been too.
There was some grumbling about the numerous plank sessions, but nothing compared to what was coming at Da Vinci. YHC was lined up for Da Vinci and somehow got talked into a Double-Down Q at the last minute.
Don’t have a count on Merkins. Had to be at least 200.
T-claps to Market Timer for putting in the time. He didn’t bring his daughter or his pajamas (like he did at Brazwells last night) but he was on strong form nonetheless.
As we left the parking lot, it looked like Wingman might be a no-show, but he rolled in just as we were leaving and caught all the action.
We were proud to be F3 SOBs this morning. Everyone who talked it up, showed up.
https://f3southcharlotte.com/2016/01/23/sob-hammer-comes-down-part-2/
7 men pushed aside common sense and posted this morning for the always high intensity #F3DayZero. The original plan to run off campus was scrapped. It’ll keep for another time. Instead, we stayed at base and chose some old school suck.
The Thang
Mosey down the to the proving ground for COP:
Mosey to the rock stone pile. Pick a good one. Back to the proving ground for some work.
The Beast – Run down and back, stopping at each trash can (6 stops) for 6 reps of called exercise for 6 rounds.
Two rounds of suicides, sans rock stone.
Rock Stone sprint grinders – Divide into two groups. Perform called exercise at each end. Guys alternating sprinting between ends while carrying the rock stone.
Return the rock stone. Back to the proving ground for some Mary.
Mosey back up to school from a few rounds of People’s Chair. Done. COT.
Moleskine
As YHC ran up to the school parking lot, Philmont was already there waiting, having moseyed from his house. He described its location as in back of the Touchstone center, made it sound like he lives in the Tuesday Morning stock room. Then Frasier arrived. He noted that there was some guy sliding around in the front parking lot. Yep, forgot to tell Icicle we parked on the side. Then Rachel came running in, another Touchstone neighborhood guy. Then up drives HighTide, in his Jeep…the old one, not the new one. Last to arrive was CrotchRocket, coming in with all the pomp and circumstance worthy of F3 royalty. Turns out he just moved South, settling somewhere close to TR’s house. Yeah, good luck with that.
Rachel and Frasier are skinny dudes. They stayed out front the whole time. Philmont noted that the skinny guys don’t even break the top layer of snow/ice. The rest of us, well we trudged along. On the far end of the proving ground, it was like running in that thick beach sand. HighTide reminisced about his summertime Speedo sprints on the island’s white sands. Icicle did not hold back on sprint grinders…the man was flat out totin’ the rock stone…did a Heisman pose each time before handing it off.
We tried coffeeteria…but Starbucks was closed. Weak.
Solid work men. Thanks for posting. It was an honor to lead.
Announcements
With no idea what to do with a 30 minute Q and waking up to the message that my other half was not going to be there made for an interesting hour Q Turnpike Style and the weather could have not Ben more perfect for a Tour de Turnpike!
7:00 am hits and it’s time to mosey!
Mosey to the virtual shovel flag
COP
SSH IC X 20
IW IC X 20
Mosey to the small track and let’s lunge walk halfway around.
When we get halfway around time for stop 2 of the tour for a Turnpike special of Four Corners!
Starting at the first corner with 25 Carolina Dry Docks and then run to the next corner and add 10 CDD and continue that patern until you reach the fourth corner which would equal 55 CDD. Not only was this a favorite of the PAX this morning but my shoulder in which I have been experiencing a lot of discomfort on the past few weeks really enjoyed it!
Mosey to the practice field.
Butt kickers to the dip bars and then 25 LBC’S OYO
Karaoke left to the tower and then 50 LBC’S OYO
Karaoke Right to the dummies and the. 75 LBC’S OYO
Run (carefully I may add) to the start and then 100 LBC’S OYO.
Let’s mosey to the road behind the practice field for the next stop on our tour. But wait first let’s do 15 of the best and worse idea Burpees OYO that we have ever done! Once complete we got to our next stop which was the field across the road. This stop was simple let’s just run to the top of the hill there. Once on top of the hill we ran halfway around the parking circle.
We then lined up for a three man Indian run to the next stop of our tour towards the wall next to the school.
Grab some wall and drop an inch to get comfortable!
Peoples Chair W/25 Air Presses
15 Squats OYO
Peoples Chair W/ 50 Air Presses
30 Squats OYO
PC W/ 75 AP
45 Squats OYO
PC W/ 100 AP
60 Squats OYO
Mosey to the buses!
Bear Crawl cheese weave through the first five buses then run the rest! A lot of fun slipping and sliding on these.
Mosey Back to the wall and grab a block for some safe station work
25 Step Ups
25 Dips
25 Decline Merkins
Let’s mosey to the hill by the parking lot for some 7’s!
1 Merkin on the bottom
6 Squats on top
Continue until you reach 6 Merkins on bottom and 1 Squat on top!
Mosey to entrance of the school for 3 MOM:
Flutter IC X 20
Rosalita IC X 20
Freddy Mercury IC X 20
Done!
Thanks to Glass Joe for taking us out!
Hope I didn’t disappoint in our tour this morning! There was a lot of great bad ideas out there this morning just glad you joined me in the fun.
Turnpike
The weather guessers were right on with their forecast. It was an icy and snowy mix last night and into this morning which resulted in a pretty crusty white surface along the 51 corridor. Leaving the house this morning I actually didn’t expect anyone to show given the pretty sketchy driving conditions and several AO’s closing due to inclement weather. I did one donut in the parking lot to check the running surface and to my surprise there was a decent amount of grip. 5:15 struck and it was just me in the lot with thoughts of heading back home creeping in…at about the time I was going to put the truck in drive, headlights began to show from around the bend. On Two wheels comes Mr Brady and that was more than enough to begin.
The Thang and the MOleskin
Quick but thorough disclaimer was issued and away we went. What Mr Brady lacked in illumination he more than made up for with bright colors and a hat with Bells. YHC had new batteries in his headlamp and a blinky so we felt pretty visible heading into the gloom.
Warmed up around Strawberry Lane to Woodfox. Got it moving a little faster on Rounding Run and settled into a nice pace for the remainder of our trip. No stops as it was windy and sleeting the entire run. Nice 2nd F along the way as we hauled up Windbluff to Providence. Made the decision not to run near providence due the possibility of cars fishtailing at the sight of two nuts running on the icy sidewalk.
Turned around and headed back to Raintree, sharp slippery left turn on Raintree and all the way up to Providence yet again. A Few near spills, but we made it back into South Charlotte Middle with 5.5Miles under our belts. The miles Felt a lot more difficult this morning, likely due to the extra concentration on footing.
Quick COT and take out for safe travels and health and we were officially done.
On my drive to SV Middle, I experience snow at first, sleet and then freezing rain by the time I got there. Saw one guy spin out on the way. Averaged about 35 mph. Figured it was going to be worthy of some laughs. But then no one else pulled in the parking lot so the moment of decision: To Post or Not To Post. It’s F3. We post. Off I go….
The Thang
Moseyed to the grass as the pavement was, well, slick
COP
Do you cadence out loud when you are solo is the question I’ve always wondered? So, I did the 3 count in my head and the rep count out loud.
SSH IC x25
IW IC x20
Windmill IC x10
I did have an idea for what I wanted to do but after COP, I figured why not go through the obstacle course a couple of times. On the way, I remembered why that was a bad idea. It’s in a bottom and my feet were now soaked.
Two times through Obstacle course. The 7-8 foot wall was a beast with a layer of ice on top.
Mosey to the baseball field beside the middle school for what was my idea coming into this thing.
Bear Crawl to 1st base. Lunge walk to Second. Crab Walk to Third. Lunge Walk to Home. Had intended many rounds of this with various combos. But after Round 1, I had soaked the two layers of gloves I had on and now my fingers were as cold as my toes which I hadn’t felt since the run to the obstacle course. Time to Q-Jack my own Q.
Lap around the Middle School
Decide to do a circuit workout:
Round 1) Rail Walk, Step Ups x20, Dips x20, Decline Merkins x20, Lap around Middle School
Round 2) Rail Walk, Step Ups x25, Dips x25, Decline Merkins x25, Lap around Middle School
Round 3) Rail Walk, Step Ups x30, Dips x30, Decline Merkins x30, Lap around Middle School
4 MOM:
Flutters IC x20
Dolly IC x20
LBCs until 6:15
DONE!
COT:
I prayed. God listened. It counts.
Moleskine:
It was cold. It was wet. It was nasty.
I tried to do some things I didn’t like such as Decline Merkins. I was sweating and glad at the end that I did it.
Thankful half the lap around the school was on a gravel drive. It was easier to run on than the pavement. Didn’t bust my butt a single time which is surprising given I normally fall when it’s dry. The laps around the middle school added some mileage but it was definitely slow mileage in the conditions.
These are the moments that will test you. Do we quit when no one is watching or do we do a full workout? It really becomes a matter of character at that point. I am convinced our families and the world around us need us to be consistent even when no one is watching.
Glass Joe