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Midget, your ride is waiting for hill work and EC……..???

Q-Duel Train Rolls on right through the heart of the Happiest Place on Earth! The House of the Mouse welcomed 23 PAX from all over South Wake – and even as far as CARPEX!  It’s truly an international house of pain.  YHC rolled in about 0445 just because I was up, and noticed a truck in the lot. Flag set, Pablo rolled in and coming up the hill is Banjo (Already out on the golf course trails since 0435) “Midget is supposed to be here at 0500….”  I’ll leave that here for now. Fanny Pack checked in. YHC heard the tell-tale Nemo sounds coming in hot at 0504. We’ll wait and see if Midget still shows too. Ha. Off we go for EC.

PAX gathering and overheard Goldilocks saying he was waiting outside of M4L’s house as his ride… no show… Apparently he was doing “hill work” somewhere?? OK – 10 burpees Midget OYO.

Co-Q’d with the one and only Pablo Escobar!  His triumphant return to Disney as Q was as expected.

FNGs: NONE
Warm Up: YHC lead mosey on to the soccer field which was littered with 45lb plates and corner posts for soccer. Navigating and cutting mosey short we circled up (literally around a circle mid-field). 50 SSH IC, Frankenstein x10, Standard Merkin x20, Daisy Picker x10, Sir Fazio 10F/B  Mosey back to the lot (it was dark and hard to see) for count off. 1’s and 2’s form M4L Run Lines and follow your Q’s.

The Workout:

At the high school we broke into two groups. Group 1 stayed to take 4 rides around the corners, Group 2 went to Hot Dog Hills.

Group 1 – Broke into 2 smaller groups for 4 corners.  5 Burpees OYO, IR to Corner 2 – 15 Plank Jacks IC, IR to Corner 3 – 15 Prisoner Squats IC, IR to Corner 4 Mickey Mouse Merkins. Repeato. Group 1 did a prison break at 1/2 way points into Corner 2 and 4 second time through.

Group 2 – 11’s on Hot Dog Hill. Star Jumps at the top of the hill, Mickey Mouse Merkins at the bottom.

Groups did this for about 12 minutes and switched.

Overheard: “They’re dropping like flies”

Back to the Flag for Mary in our IR Groups 1 & 2.

Mary: Pablo-special – Mix of LSF, Box Cutter, Homer to Marge, Freddie Mercury, Pickle Pounders (Getting ready for Labor Day!), Have a nice day.
Announcements: Last day for Holly Springs Q’s ends at Cletus tomorrow, Fuquay starts Monday at Mutiny. Bring donations for Healing Transitions – Next week’s focus is on Toiletries (Noted that Fuquay doesn’t use mouth wash – so HS PAX focus on non-alcohol based mouth wash).
T-Claps (Recognition): Pablo for Co-Q today and the STRONG showing from the 12 Oaks boys. Thanks for your support this AM!!  Flanigan for stopping off to help Fonzie through his back issues AND still doing Star Jumps while attending to him!!
Prayer: Fonzi – Hope you are recovering well today.  All those in recovery and dealing with mental health issues. YHC took us out.

Co-Q Duel Kickoff at Downtown Train

F3 Southwake Co-Q Duel got started in a big way at DT. Record attendance for this site that averages 3-5 #HIM as we had 36 strong post. Was excited to have our newly named Weasel Shaker, and a guy who has had a major impact on me over the past few years, Mookie as the surprise Co-Q. DT is sort of like a “poor man’s Disney”, lots of great rides available and I was looking forward to showing a couple of them off for all the new faces posting to DT for the 1st time. Mookie and I decided to do a little split Q so everyone had a chance to spend time with both of us, and we went with 2 DT classics – repeats on Cemetery Hill, and a visit the drug store. Mookie would lead the hill work and I would take drug store with a group switch in the middle. Quite the impressive scene as I headed back to the lot from EC to find guys looking for overflow parking. Was cool to see guys reconnecting and catching up a bit on life, with some great mumble chatter out there this morning. Thanks to all who posted and thanks for a solid start to the donations for Healing Transitions.

FNGs: Not today, but I noticed several of or newer guys out there this morning. and it’s great to see you all coming back and really getting to be part of F3.
Warm Up: Stayed at the flag knowing we would be opening the workout with a jog and we did some SSH, Good Mornings, Fazio Arm Circles, Mt Climbers and of course, a Nemo classic the Goofballs.
The Workout: Counted off by 2s to split the group and headed out on the jog towards Earp where 1 group veered off the tracks to head over to Cemetery Hill and the other headed up and along the back road to the drug store. Mookie took his group through hill repeats and focused on keeping together by adding sets of burpees at the bottom, merkins at the top and mixing in low slow flutters, shoulder taps and LBCs. Cemetery Hill is a DT favorite and I was glad to see Mookie pushing the PAX to put in the work on these repeats. At the drug store we worked through another DT classic set that really just involves doing a bunch of different stuff with little, if any, recovery. Without details of count/cadence it went something like this: BTTW, People’s Chair, BTTW, straight into plank, shoulder taps, plank, merkins, plank, nipplers, plank – then on the feet and hold out the arms, slow seal claps, hold out arms, overhead claps, hold out arms – then drop and bear crawl across lot, plank hold for 6 then merkins, then crab walk back. Recover, repeat. We worked in some SSH too, and 2nd set we stopped short of the bear crawls for time. After the full set at each spot, the groups met midway and swapped. Then we converged again for a fellowship jog back the flag.
Mary: Circled up and did a set of 6″ hold/low slow flutter, LBC, Homer to Marge, American Hammers. Then Mookie treated us to some clockwork merkins and closed us out with some good stretches.
Announcements: After name-o-rama we brought back a tradition I really like and we asked the 6th man in the count to tell us how he got his name and what he has appreciated about F3. Tetanus was the 6 in the circle and he explained his name and talked about how he appreciates the accountability and how he looks forward to posting. Co-Q Duel continues this and next week – head over to Nutcracker tomorrow for Moby and some surprise Co-Qs, Mulching Bass Lake going well.
T-Claps (Recognition): Guys out on EC, Boy George for posting after a tough 50k trail race this weekend, everyone who brought donations, Pikachu for a great setup for trunk coffee 2nd F
Prayer: Let’s keep Quiver’s uncle and family in our prayers as he recovers from covid, unspoken, YHC shared a message about the work we each need to put in to being good leaders. 10 count silent for unspoken and YHC took us out.

Honor to lead and to co-Q with Mookie, hope you all have a strong start to the week

Garmin fail

YHC pre-blasted the workout with enough time that Pax would reach out and get their paces for today’s workout. The misconception about speed work is that is not just come and run as fast as you can. Lots of requests last night for pace and YHC checked back to see at 10 HC’s as of last night. The good news, an HC still means something at Tiger Blood as all 10 HCs posted.

Runners returned from EC routes warmed up and ready to go. No one could find Dawgpound as we started the mosey. As we neared the track the lost pup was located after setting up his recovery device.

Here is SW we don’t do 10 or 20 counts. At Tiger Blood we usually recover on the mosey, but today apparently we were to recover in luxury.

3 for 2 mile EC: Full House, Mr. Terrific, and Skidmark
1 mile EC: Dawgpound, Cupid, Pikachu, 187, Emeril, McNugget, and maybe some others
Run from home: Aquaman, Bernie, Bullseye

Notable non EC: Lipstick

FNGs: None
Warm Up: Little mosey to the track. Leg swings side to side and front to back. Tiger claws. 400 meters (1 lap)
The Workout: Tempo Runs. 2 -12 minute sessions with 3 minute recovery between sets.

“So what is a true tempo run? A tempo run—also known as an anaerobic threshold or lactate-threshold run—is a pace about 25 to 30 seconds per mile slower than your current 5K race pace, according to running coach Jack Daniels, Ph.D., who popularized the tempo run in his book Daniels’ Running Formula.

Without getting too technical, tempo pace is the effort level at which your body is able to clear as much lactate—a byproduct of burning carbohydrates—as it produces. Your body’s lactate clearance is at the same level as its lactate production, meaning the dreaded dead-leg sensation doesn’t set in.

That’s the key difference between a race and a tempo run. In an all-out session, your body bypasses this limit, allowing for fatigue to develop rapidly. A tempo pace, on the other hand, can be held steadily (albeit not too comfortably) for at least 20 minutes.

For those fond of using heart rate monitors, Daniels notes that tempo runs should be done at 90 percent of maximum and feel ‘comfortably hard’.”

Finished with a 400m at Short Interval Pace

Mary: No time
Announcements: Mulch again, Q Swap week between HS/FV August 10 and 17, Derek Davis Memorial Run will be held at Tiger Blood on 8/20. It will be the workout but will be open to anyone.
T-Claps (Recognition): 16 guys for speed work, incredible
Prayer: Full House’s family, Lipstick’s family

Crossing the Aisle

Bringing people together is important.  We each have the power to unite or divide. Men, in particular, have an opportunity to bring people together. Our families, our co-workers, neighbors, and friends. Sadly, a lot of guys go it alone and don’t engage. I’ve been there.

One way men get together is through competition (usually proceeded by smack talk, then usually followed by the smack down) and cooperation. Well, we had all that and more going on today. You see, there has been a lot of smack talk between R4TJ and TBD here lately. These co-site Q’s apparently inherited a beef that goes back.  Well, YHC decided to cross the aisle, plan a small convergence of sorts, and plan a competitive Thang for us to come together, workout, and have some fun before the smack talk re-ensues.  With both site Q’s negotiating the plan and timing, we were ready to roll.  14 pax from TBD rolled up on 8 pax from R4TJ on the parking deck to get squared away. There was an additional, 5-6 R4TJ pax that had “other hills to climb”.

EC: YHC solo.
Warm Up: Told the fellas I wasn’t wearing gloves cuz I didn’t want to hear R4TJ complain about it for the limited ground work we’d do. Circle up for SSH, Good Mornings, Windmills, Squatted Seal And Overhead Claps, Moroccan Night Clubs, Annie’s, and Frankenstein’s. Mosey the .6 mile over to the parking deck. Picking up the six before crossing Main.
The Workout: Thang 1 was meant to be for my crowd only. SSH in circle, then a Guantanamo style 45 degree side shuffle down the line and a plank hold hop down the line.  Alternated position every 3 or so pax.  Just happened to finish as R4TJ arrived.  After a quick count off, rules of engagement, etc. YHC decided to partner up mixed teams of R4TJ and TBD pax. YHC planned beforehand that if we couldn’t match numbers to compete… we would cooperate and compete. 2 teams… 3 points to be won. All pax in a parking space on their six.

Thang 2: 1 pax sprints wall to wall and back to their spot. All other pax await their turn to run by doing WW1. In the end, 1 point was awarded to team that finished sprints first. 1 point for most cumulative WW1’s. 1 point for team who could calculate their WW1 total the fastest. This fella named McNugget is crazy fast and closed the distance. Halftime result- 2-1 for team 1.

Thang 3: Down below to the underworld for last man standing BTTW. Turns out, 4 minutes and 8 seconds declared a winner. Team 2 awarded the point, but crazy cheers, coaching, and valiant effort put in by all. We finished in a 2-2 tie.
Mary: Mosey back to the TBD flag. Laughs were had, encouragement happened, we got loud downtown in the early morning, men worked out. It’s really all that YHC hoped would happen this morning. F3 can be fun too. #morethanaworkout
Announcements: Mulch continues, Sign up. Mookie will be reaching out to site-Q’s with info about Q swap in the coming weeks. As per Banana Seat, try to get out in the coming weeks to AO’s you usually don’t frequent.
T-Claps (Recognition): Cupid for being agreeable to arrange this idea of mine. Goldilocks apparently made a return to the gloom?
Prayer: Unspoken, those in recovery.  We are thankful.  YHC took is out.

Filter or Cowboy Style?

The air was thick down in the Teeter bowl this morning.  Cigarette butts were abundant among the parking spaces that were used just about all through the workout. Mumblechatter surrounded cigarette style preference, proper exercise form, slow bear crawlers, and the size of sweat stains. “Hey, can get that last drag?”  “You got menthol filter over there?” “Nah, this ones cowboy style.” “ How many merkins on these burpees?” These were only a few of the mumblechatter examples as we moved constantly throughout today’s AO.

EC: YHC, 187, and Aquaman. Why did we take the Wescott hill route.

FNG’s: None, but Bullseye is officially an FNG behind the wheel with his permit now!
Warm Up: Mosey around the lot a bit stopping for Good Mornings, Sir Fazio’s, Squatted Seal And Overhead Claps, Frankenstein’s, and Imperial Walkers.
The Workout: Bear Crawlers Choice as we laid down some tracks along the parking spaces. Each pax in a parking spot. First pax calls an AMRAP exercise and bear crawls to the end.  Continued this procedure for the whole workout. The only break in action was when we hit an island, we all jailbreaked to the end of the lot, moseyed back to our spots and continued. Did this twice. Lunge walked back the second time. All kinds of exercises were called. Merkins, Irkins, dirkins, dry dicks, squats, lunges, pistol squats (ouch!), Shoulder Taps, WW1s and 2’s, Pickle Pounders, H2M, LBC, LSF, Guantanamo’s, burpees, Star Jumps, absolutions, Peter Parker’s, Box Cutters, Boat Canoes, American Hammers, mountain climbers, Freddie Mercury’s, wine mixers, plank holds, side planks, and several more.  The pax altogether called out a solid workout!
Mary: During the Thang.
Announcements:  Mix it up, get to other AO’s this week.  Mulch continues. Q Swap at the end of August.
T-Claps (Recognition): Lots of sweat stains on the lot this morning.  Great work HIM’s!
Prayer: Military, first responders, teachers to have peace and service during uncertain times.

I discovered today we could not do this routine all the way to the end of the lot.  We got about 2/3. Thanks brothers for helping me learn new things each time I Q. Honored to lead.

52s at Casino Royale

FNGs:  None

Warm Up:  YHC was anxious about this Q.  Slept poorly the night before waking up repeatedly.  Had sent out a pre-blast getting PAX excited with a Daniel Craig-themed meme wearing a tuxedo talking about coupons and asking if PAX were all in?  The problem was simply, was the Q all in?  With a 52nd birthday rapidly approaching, I wanted to incorporate the number 52.  A deck of cards was too easy.  Regardless, I broke out pen and paper and wrote down various exercises for each weight.  Somehow I managed 4 hrs of sleep.  Alarm went off and I was delighted to see we had just missed the rain in the forecast.  Still wicked humid with temps in the 70-75 range.  We were still going to be moist.  I pulled into Fleming Loop and only saw two Deputies parked side by side in a distant parking lost.  They watched me unload hundreds of pounds of kettlebells and dumbbells lining them up meticulously (6 feet apart) on the sidewalk adjacent to the snack shack.  I planted the flag and waited.  I was early.  In the distance I saw glowing lights from a vest approaching.  It was the site Q, H1N1 with his son Messi.  I think Messi literally grew a foot since the last time I seen him post.  I said hello and excused myself as nature called for the second time that morning.  Luckily being the Eagle Scout that I am, I was prepared.  Took care of business and sanitized just in time to see 16 bit had joined and was delighted to see another PAX pull in in a Honda Pilot.  It was Banana Seat.  Did not recognize him without the Yoda mobile.  Well it was 530 am and when needed to start.  Started slow with 10 good ams.  Proceeded to do 10 Daisy pickers, 10 windmills, 10 seal claps and some static arm stretching.  Not sure what I was thinking but I called 52 merkins.  Started and got to 10 before a car pulled in and head for us.  Poor planning on my part.  Stopped while the car ended up a bit away from us.  Called merkins again to finish off with 42.  About #38 I was like, “WTF”?  I can crank out 50 just about anytime in my house.  I was on the struggle bus.  Fudge me.  I know, F3 isn’t for everyone or if you can’t do it, don’t Q it.  Disclaimer:  were these merkins “perfect”?  No.  I’m sure my ass was in the air, arms were too far out, etc.  That’s ok, right?  On to the workout.

The Workout:  I gave direction early on with the seven stations laid out.  I set the goal for 52 reps for each exercise.  Mix it up.  Do sets of 13 or use your imagination.  It was up to you.  Do I dog it?  Do I try to do 52 of each?    The only non-52 rep was the dreaded overhead carry or farmer’s walk using the 40 # dumbbells.  I tried the two 40 # dumbbells over my head like John Cusack.  That was a quick no and modified to just one.  Still, walking to the fence and back – that was a bitch.  The Farmer’s carry with both dumbbells was no joke too.  I liberated a neat neat exercise to the coupons with the addition of a frisbee.  I had heard of these merkins before using a towel.  Merkin position with one hand on a frisbee sliding the frisbee out out/above and forcing yourself to do offset merkins.  Other exercises included kettlebell swings, figure 8s, halos, thrusters.  With the dumbbells, one round was from your six doing nipplers, chest presses, overhead presses, and straight arm Tricep extensions.  Additional exercises included curls for the girls, ground pounders, Tricep curls, lawn mowers, rutrows, and upright rows.  It got sweaty real quick.  Funny part, it was too quiet.  BS needed some music so I ran to the car grabbed my phone, turned on Pandora and found a hard rock station. The PAX gave it their all!  They put in the work this morning.  Nice job!

Mary:  it was 6 ish and I asked PAX to grab some wall.  In honor of 52 we held people’s chair and BTTW for 52 count (4 PAX x 10, YHC counted to 12).  I did not think my arms would hold up.

I immediately called for Yoga.  The rock music continued with a song that had some profanity.  It was not the soothing music one is accustomed to when conducting yoga.  PAX were cutting up.  We finished with downward dog, runner’s stretch, child pose, some neck/leg stretches.

Announcements:  Mulch at Bass Lake.  New AOs – get out and try a new/different AO this week.

T-Claps (Recognition):  All PAX who gave 100% this morning.

Prayer:  Silent prayer, unspoken.  YHC took us out.

An honor to lead and thank you for pushing me when I was anxious and not feeling my normal self.

 

 

So this workout is FREE???

15 PAX including one FNG and a 2nd timer posted at Paradise City on the steamy morning. A few guys already lost the shirt once YHC took his off. FNG received the disclaimer at 0528. Today’s workout was a repeat from a previous AO in Carterico I led this past spring. The guys hated it so I knew it would be a great fit for PC. YHC mumbled to some PAX as we took off that the FNG had a good chance of merlot on this one. Here’s how the fun went down.

FNGs:
Bondo, Warren is 59 and survived without a merlot. However, he learned about a workout through HS Rec Center that he signed up and PAID money for. Little did he know our workout was free. M4L and YHC instructed him to Cxl his membership immediately and ask for a refund. Tell HSRC it was a horrible workout and they should Cxl this class.

Warm Up:
Butt kickers, High knees, Carioca
Circle up
Throwback for Blue Hen since he couldn’t make it.
Jacked Up
SSH x 20 IC
Plank Jacks x20 IC
Smurf Jacks x20 IC
Seal Jacks x20 IC
Red Bull Smurf Jacks x20 IC

The Workout:
Four corner stack’ems
C1 – diamond merkins x10
C2 – monkey humpers x10IC
C3 – crab cakes x10IC
C4 – Turkish getup x10
Run to C1 do exercise, back to start and same exercise.
Run to C2 do exercise, back to start and stack’em.
Repeat for C3 and C4, keep stacking

Black snake run to opposite parking lot

Split group in half
Loop burpees increasing merkins
10 burpees w/1 merkin (10)
9 burpees 2 merkins (18)
8 B 3 M (24)
7 B 4 M (28)
6 B 5 M (30)
Total 40 burpees and 110 merkins

Ramp belly sprints x3
Absolutions on recovery at bottom of ramp x5 (2 sets)

Mary:
She fartsacked

Announcements:
See slack, HS/FV Q swap coming in August

T-Claps (Recognition):
EC HIM and Bondo jumping right in…RESPECT

Prayer:
COVID-19 battles, Clay’s family, Matt friend of Bondo, unspoken

Great job to all those men pushing themselves. Cupid said he set a bootcamp record for calories burned at 600+. There were a couple guys that should be challenging themselves more because they are stronger than what they think. Appreciate the opportunity to lead as always.

BS Out!

Core and Glutes

YHC made a commitment to Q one of South Wake’s newest AOs unaware that it would be Deadbolt’s 6 year anny. Good thing I held my commitment because who wants to run 2.5 miles during a workout? I’ll stick with the .27 miles we got this morning. YHC promised glutes and core and delivered. No gloves were needed and the Q didn’t wear shoes.

EC: None

FNGs: None
Warm Up: SSH, Fozio Arm Circles, Good mornings, Overhead claps, Imperial Walkers, Hillbillies
The Workout: Tabata style rotation 20 second AMRAP, 10 second rest for 8 sets then rotate to the next exercise.
Exercises in no particular order:
Glute Side hops – cone to cone
Glute Diagonal hops
Single leg homer to marge
Side plank crunches
American Hammers
Peter Parkers
Reverse lunges
Mary: Single leg deadlifts – no weight, slow count, form matters
Announcements: Ruck event in October – Sounds awesome Banana Seat, mulch
T-Claps (Recognition):
Prayer: Rams’ family, our county

Sandbaggers

You had to HC to Tiger Blood to get the workout ahead of time and program your watch. This created some anxiety for some once they saw the workout and the pace they were required to run for the given distance. Some just avoided it all together and showed up this morning controlling what they could control, yet still with some doubt. The best part of speed work is we stay together, get the 6, but the workout is geared to your individual goals. We some new HC’s for a fall marathon, the numbers of TB are growing.

EC: Fumunga, Mr. Terrific, Skidmark

FNGs: None
Warm Up: Leg swings side to side and front to back, Tiger claws
The Workout:
Warmup
1200m (3 laps) at Long Interval Pace
400m (1 lap) Recovery
1200m
400m
1200m
400m
Cool Down

Long Interval Pace is slightly faster than 5k pace. We use a chart of paces to determine what your pace should be. Some pax were doubtful when told they should run that fast. Long Interval Pace is not all out. It should be slightly uncomfortable, but too hard to achieve.
Mary: Stretching
Announcements: Mulch, Q-swap between HS and FV coming soon, Ruck event in October, RDC marathon in November (Cupid HC’s today)
T-Claps (Recognition): Dawg and Emeril sandbaggin’
Prayer: Covid around Pax family and Friends, Rams’ family, a guy from Norm’s unit, Fumunga’s friends

“I feel the need for speed.” – Said no possum ever.

FNGs: None

Warm Up: 2 PAX for EC. 8 PAX took the DRP for today.  20 SSH, 10 Imperial Walkers, 10 Hillbillies, 10 count cadence good mornings, 10 count cadence daisy pickers, Quad and Hamstring stretch.
The Workout: First half of ME: 7 speed and power plyometric exercises for 30 sec timer per exercise. 10 sec rest in between. 1. Jump Squat 2. High Knees 3. Tuck Jumps 4. Calf Raises 5. Lateral Bounds 6. Butt Kicks 7. Jump Lunges.  PAX rotated as rabbit in the middle,for the pace setter per exercise. Rinse and Repeat 3x. 14 min and 20 sec total cycle.

Second half of ME: Two groups of three and one group of two. Three stations: Bridge Hill Sprints, Grab bag of weights for upper body and 20 yard sprints. Hills and sprints did 3 reps before rotating.  Weight group did variety of upper body exercises called out at random from PAX. Each round the reps were reduced by one. Two hills , two sprints then working our way down to 1 rep.

Mary: Yoga stretches focusing on hip flexers,quads, hamstrings and lower back.
Announcements: Dead Bolt 6 year anniversary at Cletus on Friday. CSAUP coming in the fall and Q-swap. (Banana Seat)
T-Claps (Recognition): LED, FRAM and FED-EX helping family in need with furniture in Angier.
Prayer: Clay Jensen’s family, Crab legs struggling with health, Dead Bolt’s daughter in third week of Nursing at Wake Med. Tension and depression in society and in homes during this time.