Arena VQ at Skunkworks

Arena VQ at Skunkworks

16 showed up for Arena’s VQ at Skunkworks.

Mosey down to the upper parking lot

Warm Up: (in cadence)

  • 30 – Side-straddle-hop
  • 20 – Imperial walker
  • 10 – Merkin
  • 5 – Burpies

Indian run with one kettlebell:

  • Split up into 3 groups with one kettlebell each
  • Run down toward C-building, across median, back to service road and around church back to where we started from.

The Workout:

  • Place kettle bell at the end of a parking space line.
  • Start from curb
  • Run out to kettlebell do exercise 1 – rep. Jog backwards back to curb. Sit on curb and get back up (preferably not using hands). Jog out to kettlebell and do exercise 2 – reps and jog backwards to curb. Repeat until you’re doing 10 – reps of the exercise.
  • Once complete, run one lap from upper parking lot up to main entrance, back toward high school and in the entrance across from high school back to parking space line.
  • Hold plank until everyone has completed.
  • Exercises:
    • Two handed swings
    • Clean

o    Goblet-squat to shoulder press

Mosey on back to grassy area by the high school.

  • Ab workout
    • 30 – LBC
    • 25 – Flutter
    • 25 – Dolly
    • 15 – Freddie Mercury
    • 20 – Heal to heaven

o    Hold plank for the last 15 seconds.

For the second week in a row, the Q did not provide any commentary so I get to add my own. Arena aka Wabbit aka Awena aka Ron Weasley – solid work. I was dying on the last set of KB squats to press. Coach Fudd is the middle school soccer coach at CDS. Definitely a varsity level workout today.

Harley posted on behalf of Arena

Clever titles are really hard to come up with

7 Men stood tall in the Marvin Ridge winds

The Thang

Mosey around the lot
circle up
50 SSH in cadence
25 mountain climbers in cadence
15 merkins in cadence into 6 inches
10 merkin burst

Mosey over to Sand Bags.
Catch me if you can (p1 runs with bag and p2 10 merkins)
Catch me if you can (p1 Runs with bag and p2 10 CDDs)
10 hand slap merkins chased by 10 CDDs
Repeato x 5

Mosey back to sandbags at the bottom of the hill
P1- overhead press with the bags
P2- run up the hill and back down
Flap jack

P1- Alternating shoulder press with squats
P2- run up the hill, do 10 CDDs, run back down

Flap Jack

P1- Straight arm Shoulder extension with the sandbag

P2- run up the hill, do 10 CDDs, run back down

Flap Jack

P1- Run up the hill with the sand bag and do 10 up right rows into overhead presses and run back down

P2- 10 merkins into 10 knee tucks until partner gets back.

Flap Jack

Mosey down to the football fields

Line up in the end zone

AYG to the 50

10 hand slap merkins into 10 CDDs

Repeato

10 yard wheel barrel walks

Flap Jack

Bear Crawl to the end zone

10 yard wheel barrel walks into 10 decline merkins

Flap Jack

Mosey over to the bleachers.

p1- runs up the steps

P2- does step ups

Flap Jack

Repeato, Repeato, Repeato,

Mosey back to the cars and circle up for Mary

Freddie Mercury in cadence (fast and slow)

10 Peter Parker Straight into 10 parker peters straight into 10 merkins X 3 rotations

Good group out there today. I met a few new guys and saw some that I see every day. This was only my second time to Marvin Ridge. It is windy, and one of their parking lots is bigger than most AOs. Apparently the lower football fields have never been unlocked so with a little nudge from bananas we made our way down there to check it out. Bratwurst probably missed his only chance to get down there. Bad things happen when site Qs don’t show up. Thanks for letting me lead

March 21 race postponed

Unfortunately, the race organizer had an issue with permits and the race scheduled for March 21 to raise money for brain tumor research has been postponed.  I will provide more information as it become available regarding rescheduled date.

Tour de Ballantyne – Stage 1

At 0515 Tuesday morning, 12 PAX (incl. 1 Site FNG) launched onto Stage 1 of the Tour de Ballantye sans bikes, only smokeboots.

The THANG:

  • Warmup 1mi then proceed with drills for heel-walking, toe-walking, high knees, and butt kicks.
  • 6 Rounds of 2minutes Hard, 1 minute easy, 1minute Hard, 30sec Easy, 30sec Hard, 30sec Easy.
  • Cooldown 1.2mi back to COT
  • Total miles between 5.7 and 6.9 – varied due to different speeds in intervals and running back to #six.

The Moleskin:

  • YHC recorded 344ft of elevation climbing today.  If you check out that link, you’ll see the roller coaster effect.  For comparison, the last DevilsTurn “hilly” Piper Glen trip was 363ft.  For those that have done DevilsTurn, just imagine pushing HARD up and down those hills for up to 2 minutes at a time.  That’s what the 12 PAX endured today, but they’re better for it now.
  • Welcome to site FNG Hard Hat (neighbor of Haggis).  Haggis tried to plead for the friendly confines of the Bull Ring for you, but “sorry” that the rest of the PAX felt no obligation to oblige Haggis’s request and wanted to stick by the Preblasted route.  Frehley’s shot out, “If I can do it, you can do it.”  And we were off – in the opposite direction from the Bull Ring.
  • Speaking of Haggis, who will join OBT, Dredd, Turkey Leg, Frasier, and Mighty Mite in the Palmetto 200 ultra team this weekend, asked YHC about 2/3 of the way through the workout when a good time to taper would be.  “Just coast in now,” and so he did. #starstudent  Except, Haggis may have been asking because he was absolutely blistering the PAX along with Gunny, Cheddar, and Long Haul for the first several rounds. I’m guessing that stubbornness makes a good ultra runner. #stubborunner
  • Temps were above 50 degress, so MT showed off the legs without pants.  However, #ModestMadame didn’t leave too much skin uncovered and went with calf condoms instead. #shesGotLegsAndSheKnowsHowToUseThem
  • Tough today to hold on to the “recovery jog back to the six” on the latter rounds.  Especially if the six kept turning around for some #catchmeifyoucan like the early rounds.  Communication #QFail
  • We found Frehley’s #HorsCategorie climb, but we actually did it backwards (well forwards, but downhill).  Now that we know where it is, perhaps we can work up to visitation rights.

Announcements:

  • 3rd F starting 4/28 after Swift / Bagpipe at Einstein.  Topic TBD, but certain to be something that everyone along the spectrum can get into.

St. Patty’s Day Dash

19 PAX showed up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for a nice Spring/St. Patty’s Day installment of Fast Twitch… however, much like the riders of the Bus in the Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock blockbuster hit Speed, little did they know what was in store!!

Today was “Track Day”… and despite the valid objections that the track is not marked, which can lead to mass chaos, confusion, and is sure to cause head-on collisions, concussions, severed limbs, etc… we still went.  YHC properly disclosed the disclaimer… the fine print includes indemnity from concussions and severed limbs due to unmarked track lanes!

Here’s how it went down:

We started with a couple of laps in the parking lot with karioke and butt-kickers.

Circle up for COP:
SSH x 20
IW x 20
Head to the track (amid groans and calls for an immediate Q-Jack)

The Thang… Pretty simple:
1.  1 Mi warm-up
2.  200 m at 1 mi Race-Pace (almost all you got), followed by 200 m recovery jog
3.  200 m at 1 mi Race-Pace followed by 400 m recovery jog
4.  600 m at 1 mi Race-pace followed by 400 m recovery jog
5.  Repeat #2-4 2 more times

Gather in middle of football field for:
Low/Slow Squat x 50
CDD’s x 20
LBC x 50

Mosey back up to parking lot… time for:
Dolly x 20
Flutter x 20
Protractor
DONE!  – Approx.  5.5 mi.

The Moleskine:
Fine job by all of the PAX today!  Always an honor to lead, especially at Fast Twitch… I’m never disappointed, and I hope you weren’t too disappointed this morning!  A little track work is always good to clean the pipes out and work on improving our running efficiency!

I am still learning from the great Bratwurst, so I always have to pay homage and respect…

Great to have Beeker and Garbanzo out as Fast Twitch FNG’s.  Don’t listen to what those guys were saying in moments of O2 deprivation!  I hope you both will continue to come back!

Usual suspects were at the front… Mr. Brady, Turkey Leg, Bout Time, Soul Glo.  Spackler lead most of the recovery segments…

Seriously, across the board, everyone was pushing it to the limit, despite getting pretty crowded towards the last circuit… it felt a bit like “All Skate”… I kept looking for the disco ball in the middle spinning to Steely Dan Hey Nineteen!

Anyway, great being with you boys this morning!

Chelms with a nice take out… thank you Brother!

Announcements:
1.  Team Chelms’ 10k is postponed from this upcoming weekend.  Stay tuned for reschedule date.
2.  F3 Golf Tournament sign-ups.
3.  Slim Fast and Turkey Leg will be part of the handful representing Area 51 at the Palmetto 200 this weekend.  Also representing, that I know of… Sensei and Cheese Curd.

The St. Patrick’s Day #17 Multiplier

In honor of YHC’s Irish roots, 23 of SOB’s finest showed up for a numerical beat-down: Good veteran crew no need to give a disclaimer off we went:

COP:

SSH X 34

Mountain Climbers x 17

LBC’s x 17

The Thang:

Short mosey to short wall for the following:

Dips x 17

Derkins x 17

Dips x 17

Mosey to Loch Ness and called out a grass route which is never taken down to the lake to the displeasure of Market Timer, he will survive.

Round 1: Bear crawl to top of hill over short wall 17 Merkins

Round 2. Bear Crawl to top of hill over short wall 17 Carolina Dry Docks

Round 3. Bear Crawl to top of hill over short wall 17 LBC’s

Round 4. Bear Crawl to top of hill over short wall 17 Flutter Kicks

1 lap of Loch Ness, hold plank for the 6 (Actually hold plank for poor Philmont who took a tumble over the wall, gashed his shin, didn’t complaint and kept it going (Respect)

Mosey to upper parking area above Loch Ness grab a partner size doesn’t matter:

Round 1:Partner 1 sprints to end of parking area and back (100 yards) while partner 2 performs merkins repeto until total between pair hits 85

Round 2: Partner 1 sprints to end of parking area and back (100) yards while partner 2 performs Dry Docks repeto until total between pair hits 102

Round 3: Partner 1 sprints to end of parking area and back (100) yards while partner 2 performs LBC’s repeto until total between pair hits 102

Stay in partners for the following: Partner resistance pushing halfway up the parking area (45 yards) 17 merkins each and switch to top of parking area. x2 ( I started hearing the groans)

Two rounds of sprints,  followed by 17 high arm presses while against the wall.

Mosey back to AO on the way back Mermaid informs me I have 5 minutes, heck why not hand out a few more sprints. Found a good parking area of about 50 yards for the following:

Superman position on the deck at YHC’s command all you got to the end.

Criss Cross position on the deck at YHC’s command all you got to the end.

LBC position, heck throw in 17 for good measure all you got to the end.

Call jailbreak to my surprise the PAX took off, not sure who won that, stayed back with the 6, Mermaid informs me we have 1 minute, why not break out some merkins for said time as many as you can give, many groans.

COT:

Abacus will inform everyone of the new race date, Madame Tussaud still has spots open fo rthe Mud Run (anybody want mine), The Commish has his virgin Q at the Maul tomorrow, come out and support him. The guy started early January has dropped 24lbs and wants to lead.

Our Father taken out by YHC. Honor to lead as always.

Bean.

 

 

 

Meet my friend, The Cinder Block

15 pax showed up to start the week off right and YHC led them into the gloom. What lacked in originality, we gained in a good workout.
Run around field to bottom parking lot. Disclaimer given.
SSH x 25 IC
IW x 25 IC
Merkins x 10 IC. HOLD IT. MC x 25 IC. HOLD IT. recover
Find the cinder blocks and partner up. Size/speed does not matter and mosey to,other side of school near basketball hoops.
P1 suicides with light pole and 2 hoops.
P2 with cinder blocks, 10 squat thrusts, 20 LBC, 20 Merkins on block. Repeat x 3
Grab some wall 60 sec & 25 air presses.
BTTW WiTh 5 presses
Back to the blocks
P1 suicides
P2 CDD x 25; something else, don’t rememeber
Gather blocks and head to little gym.
Split pax in half
Half decline Merkins on block, other half 10 pull up x 2
Repeat with decline Merkins and dips x 20
Return blocks.
Mosey to bottom parking lot 5 Burpees
Repeat x 2 until back to start point
Time for a little Mary, flutter x25 IC

But wait, there’s more!

5 PAX chose to answer the call of Foxhole for their Monday down-PAIN-ment.  We played games, saw doubles, singles and even recruited the Principal.

The Thang:

The Warmup:

SSH x 20 IC
Swings x 20 OYO
IW x 20 IC
Cleans x 20 OYO
Merkins x 20 IC
Snatches x 20 OYO
Wide Arm Merkins x 20 IC

Partner up with like size bell for a nice farmer carry game of catch me if you can.  P1 takes off with both KB’s while P2 completes 5 Diamond Merkins, then catches P1 and flapjack all the way to the bus parking lot.

The Main Event:

With your partner line up on the first basketball outer line for some partnered doubles work.  P1 does called exercise while P2 runs to the last basketball outer line (Audible to 3rd after 1st round), approximately 80 yards.

  • Round 1 – Double Swings
  • Round 2 – Double Racked Squat
  • Round 3 – Double High Pull
  • Round 4 – Double Chest Press
  • Round 5 – Double SeeSaw Shoulder Press

Grab your bells and mosey back, stopping at the picnic tables for some singles work.  P1 completes exercise at picnic table while P2 complete KB exercise

  • Round 1 – P1 performs 25 Step Ups while P2 performs Snatches, flapjack to 100 Snatches
  • Round 2 – P1 performs 20 Derkins while P2 performs TeaBag Squats, flapjack to 100 Squats

Just enough time for another catch me if you can farmer carry back to the cars!

Moleskine:

It was a privilege to lead you men at my first Foxhole Q.  I appreciate you indulging me through a workout that allowed me to explore the AO and see some of what it had to offer.  Today we got a good HIIT workout in while exhausting most of our body.  There wasn’t a lot of mumble chatter today as I think we were all trying to get through each called exercise as best we could.  Great work out there today in the partner work, iron sharpens iron and you men displayed that in droves.

Voodoo, great to have you out there and hope to see you keep coming out.  You and Loogie were killing it.  Wingman, great work today as always.  This guy ran 7 miles yesterday and shows up today and is speeding up as the workout and exhaustion were at its max!  Perhaps the biggest surprise was Brown on that last farmer carry.  I’ve never seen him run so fast, no one will believe me that the legendary 0.0 left everyone else in the dust.  I almost forgot about the Principal of the school off-roading on his own campus to come see what the heck we were doing!  Loogie didn’t skip a beat and immediately went into recruitment mode.  Immediate visions of “Otter” aka Eric Stratton from Animal House come to mind.

Thanks for taking us out Brown, a great reminder of why we do what we do.

Announcements:

Stonehenge Tackles Rain & Parking Decks

YHC had an entire football (soccer) type beatdown planned for the PAX and the rain decided to end that idea. PAX were given the option of a rain or parking deck fiesta, Mic Check decided he wanted the parking deck special, ask and you shall receive. Off we went into the gloom around Loch Ness had to stop for 15 quick step-ups as we lost Haggis. Come to find out Haggis returned to his vehicle to collect a Starbucks card he has been holding for 4 weeks thanks to Frazier. Haggis catches up with the PAX and we continue to Premier parking deck. Hold plank wait for the 6. Security guy is on us within 2 minutes, Haggis approaches car, window is lowered 10 second conversation and security detail drives off happy with his blessing to use the deck.  That Starbucks card came into use after all.

 

COP

SSH X 30 IC

Mountain Climbers x 15 IC

Merkins x 10 IC

LBC X 15 IC

 

The Thang (Sprints of Pain all exercises in Cadence)

Round 1: 100 yard sprint 10 Merkins 10 LBC’s Plank when done

Round 2: 100 yard sprint 15 Merkins 15 LBC’s Plank when done

Round 3: 100 yard sprint 20 Merkins 20 LBC’S Plank when done

Round 4: 25 Donkey Kicks 100 yard spring 25 Merkins 25 LBC’s Plank When done

Round 5: 20 Donkey Kicks 100 yard sprint 30 Merkins 30 LBC’s

Included some of the new PAX in taking the cadence count, Beebo, Commish, Sky Hook and some veterans, Chippy, MT, MC

Four Corners of Pain:

Split into two teams each team hits four corners of the parking deck and at each corner completes the following, team is not finished until the 6 are finished too. Great way of encouraging everyone to stick together, losing team was given 15 count of winners choice, burpees and monkey humpers.

Merkins 10  total 50

Carolina Dry Docks 10 total 50

Burpees 10 total 50

LBC 10 total 50

wall work 25 over head head press and leg extensions, that was rough after four corners of pain. Mosey down to lower level for 3 rounds of:

Partner carry halfway up ramp 10 merkins each switch to the top x 2

Bear Crawl to halfway point (or gorilla run like Tussaud)  sprint to top hold plank.

Long run back to AO at the bridge Merkins by MC & Haggis while I round up the 6, back at lot MC giving out more merkins.

Moleskin

Good veteran crew, a lot of heckling as to be expected, great work by Loogie, Philmont, Beebo, I know those guys don’t like running but they gave 110% effort. I wanted to treat the PAX to an old fashioned English soccer workout, I think the adjustment of pain was satisfying enough.

Takeout from YHC, said prayers for Lo Pair our F3 brother in Raleigh.