Author: Mr Holland

Apparently YHC has developed a reputation of sorts.

If, come 10pm on a Thursday, the Q sheet has a blank next to Twin Team, Mr. Holland has a tendency to sign up and give his compatriots a beat down they won’t soon forget – that part’s true enough. But just because today (and maybe one of the days last month) that beat down was a Sisyphus sighting, that doesn’t mean it’s always the default setting! Holland takes umbrage with Rosie on this point…though one must admit that today doesn’t provide much ammunition for Holland’s grievance.

The plan *was* to be a variation on a previous “you vs the next five minutes” timer-based morning. But when YHC saw so many cars in Bettie’s lot, and so many Sisyphus newcomers, it was just too much to resist, and an audible was called before the car door opened.

Sisyphus
Mosey to Twin Team summit -dropping cones & flower pots along the way up- with a brief, dark, and forgettable COP up top. Mosey down to each marker, perform the prescribed exercise, then return to the summit before going to the next one.

1: bear crawl back to summit
2: 30 uphill-facing WWIIs
3: 30 downhill-facing merkins
4: two-man triple check: one runs back to marker 3 while partner does (1) mt. climbers (2) LBCs, and (3) alternating merkin/5 count plank
5: 20 burpees

The PAX finished in record time, with five whole minutes of Mary to end things.

MOLESKIN:

I’ve never really enjoyed a hot potato morning. There’s a sense of anxiety over my turn possibly coming up and what I might call that I never experience with even a last-minute Q signup, and even when I skate by, there’s just no substitute for a well thought-out beatdown. I’ve always got this one and one or two others in the back pocket, and much prefer their predictability to their alternative.

This being the biggest crowd at Twin Team I’ve seen in quite a while, it seemed only reasonable to introduce my brothers to my favorite beatdown at my favorite AO. Having Rosie & Gumbo join in after a mile warmup was icing on the cake!

Sisyphus will rest for a little while, but he’ll be back.

YNWA

A PAX of three* attacked Twin Team Hill with gusto for another episode of The Sisyphus. For a brief few minutes, three was four, but Nature called Doozy away and brought LIFO to new levels…hope you made it back in time!

For those not privy to The Sisyphus, here’s what happens:

Mosey to the summit of Twin Team, dropping flower pots/cones as place markers along the way. For each round, the PAX runs from the summit, performs the prescribed exercise, then returns to the summit. Repeat for each marker until the bottom.

1: bear crawl back to summit
2: 30 uphill-facing WWIIs
3: 30 derkins
4: one team runs to previous cone & back, while the others perform mt. climbers, then switch. Repeat for LBCs, then for alternating merkin/plank for 5.
5: 10 burpees

The final flower pot was placed tantalizingly close to the bottom of Twin Team, and YHC spent a good bit of the final ascent to the summit trying to justify cutting it short (you know, “in the interest of time” and all that). But here’s to mental fortitude, built over a long stretch of gloomy mornings!

Well done today – Sisyphus will rest for a while, but he’ll be back.

YNWA

The title says it all really…Holland, out.

(ok fine…)

A seven-strong PAX lit up Twin Team this morning with an exploratory worthy of (stolen from?) River Run, with added benefits! It went down like this:

The run route went up Twin Team, through Tarrington, eventually back to Bettie (just over 3 miles in all). Meanwhile, the Q had a 5-minute timer going, and each time it ran out, the PAX had 10 burpees, 20 WWIIs, and 30 mountain climbers before continuing on. It took the whole time, and it was decent.

YHC continues to experiment with time-based beatdowns, and needs to run more. Shout out to Pew, guest starring from way down in Mobile, AL where he’s just started a new F3 community!

YNWA

YHC arrived obscenely early (5:28) to find a lone Rosie Mobile waiting in the Bettie Weaver lot. On the mark, a PAX of two set off to wage a battle of Mind vs Minutes. The idea is simple: run for five minutes, stop and do things for five minutes, then repeat. Here’s how it went:

Mosey up Twin Team Hill (got about 3/4 to summit). Stop for COP: SSH (sideways on hill), DQ, Russian Soldiers, uphill WWIIs, derkins, lunge uphill until time. It was here that Doozy found us and the PAX became three.

Mosey back to Bettie’s Bus Loop. One man posted on each end of the straightaway doing LBCs and squats, respectively, while 3rd man bear crawls the length (and what a length it was…). Swap out when the bear reaches you until time.

Mosey behind JRHS to the tires. Flip a tire for five minutes.

Mosey the long way back to Bettie for regular ol’ triple check: one merkin followed by a 5-count (and repeat), WWIIs, and run the front circle.

6:15 waits for no man, so from there it was numbers, names, ‘nouncements.

MOLESKIN

YHC has a much easier time mentally regulating a set number of exercises, and a time with an indefinite rep count messes with my head…which was the point. From the first running set, it was clear that five minutes is a much longer time than expected. YHC is becoming more interested in the sorts of exercise routines that challenge the mind as much as the body.

Kudos to Doozy for finding us in the dark! Rosie had just commented on the animals who were likely watching our Russian Soldiers with interest from the woods, when from below a light came bobbing up Twin Team. The hill truly did have eyes this morning.

YNWA

10pm Thursday night, Twin Team had no Q. This time one week ago, YHC knew exactly what to do, and Sisyphus dominated the hill. This time both Mr. Holland and Sisyphus stayed on the sideline, and a 3-man PAX ended up with a hot potato.

TOBIT: YHC gave Tobit the first leg, offering an avenue out of Twin Team Hill. Given that we had an AO newbie, Tobit wanted to introduce him to the namesake nonetheless. After a brief (and apparently forgettable) COP, we attempted a Hill Beast. Tobit prescribed 4×9 rather than 6×6 per round, and we embarked on a dark and daunting endeavour. After two rounds (merkins, then WWIIs), Tobit realized we’d not finish, and relinquished the Q to YHC.

HOLLAND: In order to prove to Rosie that the PAX can hit both the Hill and JRHS in one morning, we moseyed over to the tire pit. By then, we had about five minutes, so each man grabbed a tire and flipped it for five minutes. At the timer, mosey back, a quick Mary, then out with numbers, names, and ‘nouncements.

Shoutout to the BRR crew – we did our best to run in the dark and do unpleasant things in your honor! Also, Mr. Holland thought this was potentially Tobit’s unintentional VQ, and had composed the backbone of a brilliant backblast accordingly before finding out he’s Q’d several times before. YHC is not one to waste good material, however; so below you’ll find a piece of fan fiction, what would have formed part of Tobit’s VQ, had that happened today:

It’s a tale as old as time: friends meet in the dark, their roles unclear. After a bit of awkward back-and-forth, Tobit takes the lead, and the friends head off to see what they can find. They begin to fumble around in the dark, spurring one another on along the way. Tobit stumbles from time to time, but that’s how these things always go. Time passes – more time than anyone realizes, and everyone gets invested in what’s going on. Before anyone really understands what’s happened, Tobit’s had his first time.

Suddenly, the outside world comes calling. Each one remembers his commitments in life, and has to exit the world they’ve just created. Tobit emerges, proud of what happened, but also wishing it could have been as he’d imagined it before. Everyone leaves a bit wiser, and contemplating their role in life.

YNWA

(10pm Thursday) Mr. Holland: “I wonder who has the Q at Twin Team…”

Y’all know what that means at this point. At the first sight of YHC with cones and flower pots, Gumbo could hardly contain his enthusiasm. A PAX five strong moseyed on over to Twin Team Hill for the Sisyphus.

COP: SSH, DQ, Russian Soldiers, hand-release merkins, Freddie Mercury

Sisyphus goes about like this: mosey to the top, dropping five markers along the way. Run down to each marker, perform the exercise, and return to the summit.

• bear crawl back to summit
• 25 decline merkins
• 30 uphill WWIIs
• 5-man triple check (2x only). Two pairs plus one solo on each station: mountain climbers, alternate 10 merkins and holding plank for 10 count, run to previous cone and back.
• 20 burpees

MOLESKIN

If the effectiveness of a beatdown is measured by the grumbling and cursing of the PAX, this is a good one. Glad to have the PAX there to push me along – no way I’d put myself through this nonsense alone!

The cones and flower pots have been placed in a Witness Protection program after receiving multiple credible threats to their well-being.

YNWA