Author: Big Rig

  • Always stay classy

    4 running PAX came together for a Sunday Funday run. YHC already knew Legz from working at The Hotel Roanoke back in the mid 2000s and a previous post earlier this year, but got to run with a couple others I haven’t gotten to meet before. Got to chat with each of them a bit during the run. Legz, and Freddy Mac both recently did the Blue Ridge Relay and are seasoned runners. Rapino is no slouch, he started doing triathlons 25 years ago. Very inspiring, as he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 12 years ago, but no way you could tell.

    We met up at the Sweet Donkey Cafe near Roanoke Memorial did a nice route around South Roanoke and then into the city. YHC had to relieve himself and cut off into a parking garage. Rapino decided that was a good idea as well and saw that YHC had found a drain to go in and Rapino was impressed by this classy move, as opposed to just using the wall. We made our way back towards Memorial Hospital, and cut through River’s Edge park back to The Sweet Donkey.

    6 miles logged and some stayed for coffee. A good time was had by all.

  • Lesson Learned

    YHC had finished a little pre run but no other PAX at the post time of 630 at Star City @ Wasena Park . Thought maybe they changed it to 7 and failed to update, or maybe due to the weather. Even though it had stopped raining for almost an hour. Decided to keep myself busy running up and down the steep hill around the corner up to Wasena Ave. Came back at close to 7 and still no other PAX. These Roanoke guys must be a bunch of softies, it was barely a drizzle.

    YHC skipped the warmarama since I had gotten plenty of running in.

    Broad jumps across the parking lot and bear crawl back.

    I wasn’t getting into it with the right intensity so I decided to kick it up a notch. Grabbed the weighted vest and did a set of stiletto squats on the curb. Run a lap and repeat.

    Ran into the neighborhood and made the climb up to Wasena Ave again. Found a nice hill and did spider man mountain climbers at the top and merkins at the bottom. Bernie Sanders up the hill each time. Did this 6 times.

    Made my way back to the truck and still no other PAX. Did a couple more sets of stiletto squats and merkins.

    Put the vest away and hit the greenway. Did about 2 miles stopping 6 times for chair dips.

    Back to the flag for some stretching and that was it.

    Shortly after, I received a text from one of the regular PAX. Turns out they audibled to a parking garage due to the weather. I learned my lesson. Always reach out beforehand when downrange, to confirm details of a workout.

  • 14 second run and beware TMI

    YHC was eager to get started on this cool morning at Rockwood Park for another version of morning wood. It was almost as early as a Graveyard Shift. So 5 am I started the Running timer on my Garmin watch and got to steppin. Shortly after I began I glanced at my watch and it was stuck at 14 seconds. My watch had taken a sh*t. So everything I did after that did not actually happen. I may have done about 5 miles then got my ruck sack and started a lap and uh oh…. YHC had to take a sh*t. Tried the restrooms near the tennis courts. Locked. YHC thought about going into the woods, but remembered a porta potty. Thought about running, but that wasn’t going to end well. It was a very long and uncomfortable hike over to the loo, but YHC made it. And can’t tell you how glad I was to have baby wipes in the ruck sack! Finished up and made the way back to the flag to catch some of Mudslide’s Broga and took part in State Farm’s first beat down at Rock and Roll. So that was a very long story about a 14 second run.

  • Monkey Humpers for an audience

    YHC had the Q for another version of the Bermuda Triangle. We started to mosey to the basketball court when we saw a car that looked like it was going to pull into the entrance. YHC called for the PAX to welcome them by doing some monkey humpers at the speed bump. Surprisingly, the vehicle decided to pull away after watching for a moment, so we moseyed over to the basketball court for the standard warmup with some side planks at the end.

    YHC remembered doing some donkey kicks in last weeks Q, and decided to try a different variation.

    Donkey kicks

    10 from left side plank position

    10 right side

    10 normal

    Then walking lunges to basketball goal and back

    YHC hates lunges

    11s

    Lieutenant Dans down from 10

    Groiners up to 10

    Mosey to the playground inside the track

    Quick trial of partner assisted muscle ups (need to figure out a better way to do this) Mosey back to the parking lot

    Mankillers counting down from 10

    OYO 50 DC Imperial walkers then

    50 DC toe taps

    Mosey over to the football field

    21s

    Merkins counting down from 20

    Jump squats up from 1

    I believe all PAX made it down to 8 merkins before YHC called the PAX back to the flag to stretch for about 2 minutes.

    Names and Numbers

    Announcements

    SOJ lunch Thursday @1145

    Final Iron PAX @Satan’s Hill on Friday w/Boberry

    State Farm has the Q @Rock n Roll on Saturday

    Dr TryHard’s 5 year Q @The Forge on Thursday (No Thursday Bermuda Q)

    Check Slack to stay up on upcoming events.

    Prayer Requests

    Pray for a family friend of State Farm dealing with Mental Health.

    Such a great crew at Bermuda Triangle. I hope to make it on a Thursday soon!

  • Ascending test… What?

    YHC was ready for a 1 year F3 anniversary Q last week until some crazy bug hit me the night before. PAX started rolling up and we moseyed on over to the basketball court for what was to be a Big Rig Beatdown. Here’s an idea of what happened in the dark.

    Warmup

    SSH IC

    DC IC

    Imperial Squat walkers IC

    On your 6

    Legs in and out while doing arm circles IC

    Heel taps IC

    LBCs IC

    10 merkins oyo

    Warmup complete

    Time for some real Ab work

    Alternating stiff legged LBCs IC. Like Freddie Mercuries only slower and slightly different motion

    American Hammers IC

    Oblique V ups both sides IC

    one more round of Alternating stiff legged LBCs IC

    This is where things got interesting. With Florence having to push back his 5 year anniversary Q, YHC felt a deep dive into the Exicon was necessary to truly honor our fallen brother. We did a modified triple check on the basketball court.

    2 PAX would perform a broken wheel barrow (holding only one leg) while the other PAX performs Ascending Testicles on the wall. (Basically Balls to the wall starting out at an angle and walking hands in to vertical)

    Only 1 round of this seemed necessary

    We moseyed our way towards our vehicles but stopped for some of Chaplain’s Indigenous polesmokers PAX got to choose their own traveling exercise.

    Moseyed over to the hill next to the football field for A Dora

    100 DC Ball dippers for Florence

    150 DC Mountain climbers

    200 merkins

    PAX would Bernie Sanders up the hill and run back down. The ball dippers followed by Bernie Sanders up the hill were real quad killers.

    Mosey back to the flag and break up in teams of 2 for merkins and toe taps followed by a few minutes of Broga led by Mudslide.

    Great to be back after being hit with some type of bug last week. Been a great 1 year being a part of F3. I am truly blessed to have found this amazing group. God is truly great.

    Names and numbers

    Announcements

    Love for LIV on this Saturday. Check Slack for details

    Prayer requests

    Pray for a close family friend of Posh who just passed away last night.

  • Trail Mix

    YHC had just gotten 5 miles pre run before the pre run with Boberry. Neither of us had any route planned out. Boberry suggested a trail run. We hit the trail on the other side of the river. I would say I barely have even a little bit of trail running experience, but always glad to try something new, especially with someone who has a better idea of what they are doing. Great to catch up with Boberry as our paths have crossed on many occasions, but got to get to know him and his story a lot better. Also glad to run with a more seasoned runner. Hope I didn’t slow him down too much. We made it back with about 10 minutes to spare before the convergence. Caught up with a few PAX and YHC hit the road.

  • Bermuda Triangle

    9 Citizens of the RVA were sucked into the vortex of the Bermuda Triangle. They had to perform various exercises before they could make it out. Here’s what may or may not have happened.

    Mosey over to the basketball court for a warmup right into an Ab session to prepare for the Fall Beach Season.

    Standard warmup with SSH, Don Quyotes, Ukrainian soldiers, Helicopters,Merkins

    Into the ground session

    LBCs, standard, one legged, both legs out performed In Cadence

    WW2s

    Penguins (heel touchers)

    Imperial walkers 30 double count increasing the pace as we go.

    Mosey back over to the pavilion near the flag.

    Triple check

    1 PAX planks while another does toe taps on or near the planker, as the timer runs to the short fence and back.

    3 rounds of each exercise for each PAX

    One more triple check

    1 PAX does chair dips as another does Merkins as the timer runs to the far end of the parking lot and Bernies back

    3 rounds.

    Mosey into the field at the entrance for some football training camp Up Downs inspired by Remember The Titans.

    Circle up

    Every PAX either runs in place, does Skaters or squats until the Qs call to do a Burpee or Power Roll. Did this for a few minutes. I think it was about 10 burpees.

    Mosey back to the basketball court for a Merkin ring of fire. Each PAX planks while one chooses their own variety of Merkin

    Mosey back to the flag for some Broga compliments of Mudslide.

    Names and numbers

    Prayer request for Liv at the Alamo. She is a 7 month old girl who has had multiple surgeries and is having a hard time. Watch for a fundraiser, possibly a tshirt drive on Slack as well as other activities and events.

    The number of regular PAX for this AO has grown over the summer. Really great to see!

  • Bermuda Triangle Basketball?

    5 Bballers showed up for a Big Rig Beatdown at Goyne Park in Chester. It was Mudslide’s first time at this AO and I believe he was pretty impressed and he didn’t even get to see half of it. Here’s what YHC had in store for them.

    Start out at the basketball court where the school left out the basketballs.

    Warmup right into the workout.

    Started out with high knee kicks(not sure what else to call them)

    SSH, Don Quyotes, Helicopters,

    LBCs In Cadence, regular, one leg out, both legs out,

    American Hammers

    Heel touchers

    Merkins

    Mosey over to the playground for some abs for running. I got some funny looks when I said something about this before we started.

    A Dora. Partner up, YHC flew solo.

    Each team would complete the following while the partner ran to the transformer and back.

    100 hanging leg raises

    200 Toe taps

    300 Imperial walkers

    I call this Abs for running because the legs get heavy on long runs and this helps strengthen those muscles.

    Mosey back to the basketball court for a few games of knockout. Pretty sure most everyone played this in gym class. 2 basketballs, line up at the free throw 1st person shoots, then the second. If the second person makes it before the first, the first one is knocked out. Once you are knocked out you have to do 10 burpees. Winner gets to pick an exercise for everyone to do. Florence won the first 2, and I think State Farm won the 3rd.

    Stay on the court for a couple rounds of Suicides.

    Mosey back to the flag for some curb dips (chair) and Carolina Dry Docks x2 In Cadence

    Mudslide led us with a couple minutes of Broga.

    Names and numbers. Check Slack for announcements.

    YHC took us out.

  • Morning Wood

    It was 2 early birds for the Morning Wood. Glad to have the Chaplain there to run with YHC today before Gomer’s beat down. Conversation was aplenty as we discussed how to balance our lives between home life, and F3. Something we both had to work on this week.

    It was a good run on the usual trail. About 2 miles logged. We didn’t solve all the problems in the world, but I felt a lot better heading into the rest of the weekend about what is going on in my life. Just reminded me how important F3 is to me.

    Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads!

  • Alamo

    10 strong made it out for beautiful morning at The Alamo. I’m told it’s a small group for this AO but they brought it!

    Circle up for the usual intro and a warmup

    Multiple exercises performed In Cadence

    SSH, Don Qs, Imperial Walkers 30 count In Cadence(Speeding up the count as we go), LBCs ( regular, and Chums one legged LBCs) Canoe holds with arm circles.

    Next we would go for a run around the neighborhood for a somewhat golf inspired workout. Stop at every intersection and perform an exercise, adding an additional exercise at each intersection and increasing the reps in increments of 3.

    3 burpees

    6 squats

    9 WW2s

    12 Double count Mountain climbers

    15 merkins

    18 monkey humpers

    21 LBCs

    24 calf raises

    27 American Hammers

    We stopped adding exercises at 27 but we did 3 more full sets I think.

    I believe we did at least 36 burpees

    @NancyLopez got a sprint in on the way back to the flag. He thought we were stopping at an intersection, but I threw him a curve and kept going.

    Back to the flag for some Alabama prom dates and Supermans.

    I believe it was Pele who led us in some Broga to finish.

    Names, numbers, prayers and announcements.

    Prayers for McGruff’s neighbor who passed away too soon at 31. Pray for her family to get through this trying time.

    Great group at the Alamo! Lots of PAX I’ve never had the opportunity to post with. It was a great group to lead, even with Negative Nancy!(Just kidding!)