Each winter the glorious but all too brief period of time we know as football season concludes. Some teams celebrate a championship, with months of hard work vindicated and a strategy of not playing a single decent opponent until the playoffs, ensuring a well rested squad, validated. Other teams face the long, arduous offseason with bitterness and disappointment, dismayed over an offensive coordinator who inexplicably stops running the ball. The winter, spring, and summer march on, but in the back of the mind there is always a yearning for the promise that a new season will bring. The summer days drag by with a lethargy baked of heat and humidity, but finally, finally the temperatures dip slightly below inferno level and autumn appears on the horizon. After eight long months, right at the moment we are about to hit the breaking point, the most glorious morning of the sports year arrives, the opening Saturday of the college football season. It is a day unlike any other, when everyone (save UNC, Michigan, and a few others) is undefeated and full of hope. To celebrate this most blessed of days, fourteen gridiron warriors gathered to put foot to leather for the first annual Area 51 Kickoff Classic presented by Olympus.
To begin the festivities captains Gummy of Team Rock and Hairball of Day Zero completed a pregame run in a show of solidarity and sportsmanship. The players gathered in the parking lot of Elizabeth Lane Elementary and ran as a unit to the field at Carmel Baptist where the Golden Kettlebell, perhaps the most prestigious trophy in all of sport was unveiled. To determine who would have the first selection of players, a contest was held to see which team captain could perform ten burpees the fastest. About halfway through, Gummy decided to let Hairball win and gamble that the first pick was a small price to pay for letting the opponent tire himself out on burpees. Truly a savvy, veteran move that would make the legendary Clemson coach (hang on, have to do some quick Googling…) Danny Ford himself proud. At the conclusion of the draft we had Team Rock: Gummy, Strawberry, Pele, Sony, Ickey Shuffle, Sparkplug, and Thin Crust, and Team Day Zero: Hairball, Chanel, Mighty Mite, Deep Dish, Chum, Southpaw, and Gullah.
A spirited game ensued, and the quality of play was high enough that YHC believes that the sainted Coach Bryant would have approved. Some highlights included:
At the end of the day Team Rock triumphed over Team Day Zero by a score of 49-14 and the new season began anew. The Golden Kettlebell was presented to Coach Gummy, who swelled with pride as he passed it on to his quarterback, Thin Crust. Since Deep Dish and son had to depart before the run back to Elizabeth Lane, Thin Crust was named at COT by Gullah in a moment of brilliance. Thank you to all who joined us in joyous celebration of sport and camaraderie.
Starting at 6:30 seems like extra slumber for a normal monday, but there was a little grumble as 47 men rolled in to do work before resting from their labors. However even Gummy made it out before having to head home to make waffles for the multiple sleepovers happening at his house. Here is what went down:
COP:
Fireman Ed skipped the disclaimer and headed straight for the track and ended up circling up on the football field where he and Alf led the COP.
Fireman Ed led 25 x SSH IC
Alf led 20 x Merkins IC
Fireman Ed calls for Slow Squats (low was not clarified) x 20 IC Skywalker questioned Ed’s form but decided against heading into the circle to correct him.
Count off by 3.
Keep the Mass of Humanity together for one lap of 4 corners before heading off to their sites.
Corner 1: 10 Burpees, Corner 2: 10 Squats, Corner 3: 10 Merkins, Corner 3: 10 LBCs
When finished head off to your first station:
Group 1 with Alf and Dasher on the track
Summary per Alf “We ran around the track like fools”
After some time to recover he added that the original plan was to do field work, but after the sun was up he obeyed the stay off the field sign. They ran backwards until he had an audible then they proceeded with 4 corners and plank work.
Group 2 with Channel and Voodoo in the parking lot
Ladder (2 up to 10 and back down) with KB Swings, one handed swings and thrusters.
And take turns pulling a tire around the lot.
Group 3 with Simba and Fireman Ed at the bleachers
Bear crawl, Bleacher circuit, Burpees (LBCs) baseball field run, Burpees LBCs (repeat). All in Moderation.
After 15 minutes each group rotated until they completed the circuit.
Mary led by Voodoo
A real shovel flag was planted and 16 made the most of our 1st bootcamp style workout of THE VALLEY. Thanks for the support men. Sorry for the delay in getting this out. Busy week.
THE THANG:
Circle up/ count off
Side straddle hop x 25
Squats x 20
Merkin x 15
Mary Katherines x 10
Run to Forest Hill Campus via gone away
Prayer lunges to the prayer garden
Dips 15
Mosey to the hill
Jacobs ladder – Run down and then back up 5 times – 2 burpees at the top
Run to large parking lot –
Partner up – One runs around the trees while the other planks it out. Switch
Run back to school
Run down large hill
20 x squats
Partner up and do partner carries up the hill .25 mile
20 x squats
Indian run back to school
100% effort break out to C.O.T
The MOLESKIN:
We couldn’t have asked for a better sized group for this first workout. T-claps to Sloppy for his Virgin Q and brining out 4 fng’s. Looking forward to seeing where this goes and grateful for the opportunity to bring F3 to the Huntingtowne farms community.
Peace on your week,
GOP
Wojo has the Q on this Thursday. Hope to see you out there!
A double deuce of Former Sad Payaso’s gathered in the Hazard County gloom to take the next step in #gettingbetter. What is that, you ask? It’s LEADERSHIP, that’s what it is. Today was all about learning to lead a F3 workout.
Why? Here’s why.
Men were created to be leaders. We were created to lead our wives and our families, and also to lead one another. Sometimes, we just need a little motivation and encouragement . . . and maybe some teaching.
THE THANG BEFORE THE THANG:
At 6AM, a few of us (GJ, EE, Shephard, Crab Legs, and a Suprised Toughskins (more on this later)) met for a pre run with the 2.0s tagging behind on bikes. The kiddos were outfitted with lots of blinking lights today, which made for some amusement as they weaved around and heckled encouraged us during the run.
THE THANG:
Horsehead Lead
Run to the practice fields.
A few Forwards, Backwards, and Sideways runs back and forth across the field to warm up the legs a bit.
Circle up for a large COP. After some demonstrations of the basics of cadence calling with a few examples, we went around the circle and let each PAX take a turn at leading an exercise. Every man was given a chance to lead and most pulled it off without a hitch. Crab Legs, who enthusiastically launched into some ludicrous speed Imperial Walkers, gets the award for most entertaining exercise. Big Trade asked how to do burpees in cadence, and then busted out 10 perfect 6 count burpees for his first ever lead – not too shabby. Didn’t even spill any water from his #batbelt.
Double Applesauce run to the Shiloh Elementary Playground, with some instruction and advice about moving large groups from place to place. Break in the middle to round up the 2.0s, who were chasing geese around.
8 Mins of She Hate Me, led by Countertop. While calling this, he explained how these circuit sets allow the newer pax to catch their breath while the more experienced pax can go as hard as they want through the sets.
Repeated sets of:
Brief Mary led by Countertop, demonstrating cadence calling again for the pax. Also, a demonstration of this ridiculous sideways spider jump up exercise thing that nobody could do properly. About halfway into that, everyone was just looking confused and he revealed that he had called it “on purpose” to throw off the pax and demonstrate how to move on if you’ve called a bad one. It happens to all of us . . . Good recovery.
Pinball run led by EE to back bus lot. Another demonstration of how to move the large group along. This one has the faster guys doing repeated sprints to landmarks and then jogging back to pick up the six. Everyone gets a lung burner here.
Decreasing sets of Bomb Jacks and Derkins, starting at 10 each and working down to 1. Break in the middle for some wall squats and air presses.
Mosey to Front Lot to finish out with some more Mary led by assorted pax.
MOLESKINE:
Poor Toughskins! An error in the Mint Hill email that listed the Q school as starting at 6AM lured him out an hour too early. He took a strong dose of #manup and joined in with us on the pre run activities, with only minor grumbling. Strong work my friend.
Nobody calls cadence like Countertop. It will almost lull you to sleep from the soothing rhythm, but will most certainly put you on your back as you pretend to do those core exercises that only he is able to pull off sometimes.
Speaking of the #weekendwarrior, CT did a really awesome looking aerial dive when demonstrating the swing donkey kicks. He basically dove through the air and landed perfectly on the swing, right into the first rep. I may have attempted a variation of this (this is unconfirmed) with less than stellar results (my pants almost came down and I got a boo boo).
The pax are getting stronger, which is apparent during the long runs from location to location. We had a group of 22 today and everyone stayed together fairly well. A couple of months ago, and it would have been strung out like Courtney Love.
Lots of enthusiasm about VQs now. Next week, stay tuned for a three man Q featuring The Late Show, Smokey, and Big Trade. This will be Smokeys 2nd Q (1st at Outland) and a VQ for Big Trade. More guys also lining up to follow.
Also, be on the lookout for a new Tuesday workout at Indian Trail Elementary School. A couple of guys are looking hard at this now for a fall launch.
I am very excited about the growth at this AO and the upcoming expansion and leadership opportunities. I will be 2 years into this F3 thing in a couple of weeks, and I believe it has been used to mold me into a better man. I hope it will serve the same purpose for many others.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
I’ve typed enough, read them somewhere else.
Read the preblast for links to some valuable documents to help with leading your first F3 workout.
http://f3nation.com/2015/09/04/union-county-q-school-preblast/
Always a privilege
– Horsehead
We had an even number and Floorslapper arrived on time, so we started off with a mosey around the front of the school over to the bus parking lot.
COP:
20 SSH
20 IW
20 Merkin
The Thang:
Head off campus towards Kuykendall to the townhouse neighborhood. In 4 years as an AO, the PAX has never ventured that way. Partner up and run to each side street. Once at the side street, Partner 1 runs to the end for 10 merkins, while Partner 2 performs squats. Flapjack. Continue down to the end of the main road and repeat on the way back. Total of 100 merkins. And since that wasn’t enough, 40 more merkins once we were done. Now we are at 180. Continue down McKee to the next Townhouse neighborhood to the front median. Partner run runs down to the bottom of the hill, while partner 2 performs backward lunge with a forward kick. 200 total per team. Then same concept, but run down to and around the traffic circle back to the top. Partner 2 performs merkins. 200 total per team. Now each PAX is at 280. “Catch Me if You Can” all the way back to the AO. Partner 1 runs, Partner 2 performs 5 Diamond Merkins. Once at the AO, hit the wall for some people’s chair. Extend arms and each PAX calls out a 10 count all the way down the line. Next, head over to the playground.
10 pullups
20 merkins
30 dips.
Repeato
Now each PAX is at 340 merkins.
Circle up for some ab work.
50 LBCs OYO.
10 x Right leg cross crunch
10 x Left leg cross crunch
20 x Flutter
10 x Opposite toe taps
Protractor. Each PAX calls out a degree around the circle.
10 x Right leg can opener
10 x Left leg can opener
25 Merkins OYO
365+ Merkins total
Moleskin:
At some point I lost count, but according to Lobster Roll, we hit 400 merkins. And since he is the merkin king, I will take his word for it. That is why we finished with 25 to hit 400. There was a lot of mumblechatter coming from behind me during COM, and I am pretty sure it was Joker and Cold Cuts. Not sure what they were saying, but I think it had something to do with a ladys’ exercise. I guess they couldn’t handle the exercises I called out, so they were doing something that Suzanne Somers came up with. Maybe the thigh master? And congrats to Floorslapper for being on time. I think that was a first. And we also determined that O’T is a visual learner, and apparently had to go to work this morning. I didn’t realize he worked on the weekends. And the quote of the morning “So you are saying i have a chance”?
Announcements:
Mud Run sign ups end Sept 12.
10 Pax with no travel plans, including FNG Short Circuit (Josiah Rasmussen) posted for a holiday weekend kickoff this morning. After fully disclaiming, here is what happened:
COP in cadence:
SSH x 20, Squats x 20, Merkins x 20, Mountain Climbers x 20
#1. Mosey around right side of school to first courtyard. Dips x 10 IC and Wall Derkins x 10 IC.
#2. Mosey to second courtyard. Box Jumps x 10 and Eight Count Burpees x 8.
#3. Mosey to back hill. Bear Crawl Up, Backwards Lunge Walk Down.
Run back to first courtyard. Rinse and repeat 1, 2, and 3, then add
#4. Mosey to back porch for Merkins x 15 IC.
Run back to first courtyard. Rinse and repeat 1, 2, 3, 4, then add
#5. Mosey to bridge. Lunge Walk across. Come back over bridge for Supine Pullups on blue rails x 10 IC.
Run back to first courtyard. Rinse and repeat 1-5, then add
#6. Mosey to Rock Pile. Pick wisely. Curls x 10 IC then Overhead Press x 10 IC.
Recover and Rise & Repeat.
Mosey to wall for People’s Chair. Once settled, stay in position for Air Presses x 20 IC.
Mosey to front porch for more Dips, Derkins, and Mary.
LBCs x 40 IC, Heels to Heaven x 15, Bicycle x 15, Dolly x 15, Flutters, Plank, Elbow Plank.
Moleskin
Well, that sucked. I mean, Good work, men! YHC missed the last two weekends, and comes back to a lot of new faces. Great to see the strong growth at Commitment. And by “strong” growth, I mean this crew is full of powerful beasts! I will need to do some secret training just to keep up…
Great to have everyone out, and humbled to Q for the men of Union.
Announcements
Join Lawson crowd for Beat November 14. Reach Transporter for link to Groupon for half off registration.
Continue to keep Heather Meyers in your prayers, as she recovers from Friday’s surgery.
Posted on behalf of Morning After: No title, Intro, or Moleskin; but a plug to run a 10k for a good cause.
The Thang:
Side Straddle Hops X25
Imperial Walkers X20
Merkins x10 (I hear some chuckles) so hold it, then X9 (who’s laughing now?), x8, x7, x6, x5, x4, x3, x2, x1.
Mosey to the spot
Slaloms up the hill, through the trees with an exercise after each round:
Round 1 – 20 dips on the curb
Round 2 – 10 burpees
Round 3 – 25 Carolina Dry Docks
Round 4 – 10 Burpees
Round 5 – 20 dips
Partner up for a set of 100, 200, 300
Round 1 – Partner 1 runs, Partner 2 does merkins – flapjack until team hits 100
Round 2 – Partner 1 runs, Partner 2 does LBCs – flapjack until team hits 200
Round 2 – Partner 1 runs, Partner 2 does Hallelujah Squats – flapjack until team hits 300
Stay with you partner
1 round of Partner pushes across the lot, flapjack
1 round of Partner pulls across the lot, flapjack
Circle up for some Mary
25 LBCs
20 Russian Twists
10 Pax called out angles for the protractor, each with a 10 count hold
15 Backscratch toe taps
Finally, broke into 4 groups and finished with a relay sprint.
Mosey back to the start.
Moleskin: N/A
Announcements:
Hit the Brixx race on 9/12 – supports Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region’s pediatric hospice program (aka Kids Path). Good fundraiser for a good cause. I’ll be doing the 10K – an hour of running is nothing compared to what these terminally ill kids face daily. If anyone would like to join me, I would welcome it. Thanks!
At 0515 on Tuesday, the weekly Speed workout known as Swift will launch from the Vine Restaurant. Come at 0500 for some extra 3rd F (group mosey) and 2nd F (you won’t be out of breath).
Taper – keep the intensity, cut the duration. That’s what we’ll be doing this week.
This represents shorter intervals, more rest, and fewer reps than we have been doing. The only way you’ll burn yourself up for the BRR is if you do these too fast. Know your Threshold Pace from the calculator here: http://runsmartproject.com/calculator
Nine men got down to business this morning with tackling three parking decks and 4+ miles. Here’s a map and breakdown of the mayhem. The whole crew really pushed it today. Pebbles twerked an ankle descending the steps and I hope he is on the mend.
Thanks for the opportunity to lead.