Author: Rosie

  • Sneaky takeover

    YHC arrived early for an EC pre-run with a downranger and planted the SOJ Ghost Flag. Apparently no one noticed the black flag at the AO entrance and Chaplain was surprised to have his half marathon taper plans upended. In respect the taper, as Lockjaw would approve, we went easy on the legs but heavier on shoulders.

    Mosey to the cul-de-sac with a stop to wait for Snuff. Various Warm-up exercises with an RVA special – Jazzercise – thrown in for the out of town guest.

    Make our way back up the road with a stop at the first 8 light poles – 10 merkins/10 box cutters at each. Up the sidewalk with a Jerkin indigenous run – 3×5 rounds. Triple check with HRM and WWII. In front of the school for random Mary. Since the PAX were expecting Chaplain, we could not leave without some standard parking lot activities. Back and forth across with Mummy Kicks, mario jumps, bear crawl, lunges and a few others. Ring of Fire and some stretching to close it out.

    Thanks for being a good spot Chap – SOJ Ghost Flag rides again. Supply Chain made his way around RVA the last few days picking up points for a CSAUP – lots of good ideas to implement in RVA.

    Announcements-

    Chili Cook Off 11/24 – Rountrey – see Heist

    Thanksgiving workout – 7 am at 45MOM

  • 3×3

    3 routes with 3 PAX for each, a perfect split on a brisk morning. 4 milers found the path from Queensgate into the Grove and may have opened up a whole new world. 5 milers made their own way guided by Draper. No 6 milers but the big Walton Park-Coalfield loop was 5.5. Tapering achieved by some and Doozy broke in some new kicks for this weekend’s half. Welcome back Greenbow, OTB and MOT this week. Good to see you back out.

    Good luck to those doing the half marathon and other races this weekend.

    • Big Deal on Sunday November 24 at Rountrey – Chili cookoff 3-6pm
    • Nov. 30 – Heist, Hermie, and company head to the Bridge – tag along if you can
    • Thanksgiving Day – 7am at Mary Munford – TYA recalls his experiences at the First Thanksgiving north of Virginia.

    Take care of yourself, and if you can, someone else too.

  • 10 Years in the Books!

    Over 100 men of F3RVA descended on Dogpile to celebrate 10 years of F3 in Richmond. After milling around the flags reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones, Gomer Pyle took the reins and kicked us off with 1 Burpee for each year.

    Mosey (Mossy?) down the road and across the field to the Amphitheater for the disclaimer and introduction of our COP Special Guest. OBT takes over to lead a few exercises but more importantly give a few words about starting F3 in Richmond and the impact it can and has had on all of us. OBT had to leave early to watch what I assume was a basketball game at UNC with a final score of JMU 70 UNC 50?!? Gomer then added some always popular 8- count Shazams and some other stuff to the warm up.

    Next we split the group into 7 completely equal groups with guys from the original or early on taking their PAX on an adventure. Lockjaw, Bleeder, TYA, Doner Kebab, Johnsonville, Swirly, and Oyster each did their own thing.

    Rumors abound over what each group did. Lockjaw spent some time at the Rusty Cage before touching some trees. Bleeder touched some trees in the circle while TYA took over the field. DK explored old hills near VITA and Oyster ran everywhere for a long time.

    Back in the Amphitheater Gomer led a random assortment while waiting for all the PAX to come in. Little did the PAX know that along with Gomer’s words of wisdom wrapping up the morning he was passing off the F3RVA Nantan role to YHC.

    I am incredibly humbled and appreciative of the support from the PAX for my new role with F3RVA. We have been given an amazing opportunity to be part of F3 and it is ours to give away but we have to put in the work. We all know there are others around Richmond that will benefit from all aspects of F3 from the fitness to the fellowship to support and encouragement of other men. It will take effort to continue to “Plant, Grow, and Serve” but together we can make some big things happen.

    2nd F was next level with food and drinks supplied by the PAX, including Futon and Upchuck. Awards followed coordinated by Heist and EF Hutton. A separate backblast will detail the winners. Many pictures and videos on Slack from Kubota and Bone Thugs.

    Incredible morning gents, thank you all for making it special. I am grateful for the opportunity to lead.

    Everything is coming up Rosie!

  • Anyone got any ideas?

    7 gathered with reflective gear and headlamps ready to get some miles in but with no one on the Q sheet the group was queried about where to get these miles. After turning down a second week of track work and determining that Greenbow was not going to post, Honeymoon suggested the YMCA route. Straight out and back on Coalfield past the YMCA – turnaround when you want and head back.

    Doozy spent some time with each of the pairs – Draper/Rosie, Honeymoon/House Party, Singer/Bullseye, and everyone made it back in time – success.

    After a few weeks of only runners, we are officially pulling SOT off the AO list for now. It may some back in some form or fashion but the runners have taken over this AO for now. Sorry to see it go but such is the life of F3, do what works and move on.

    Prayers for Gumbo and his family

    Announcements:

    Friday – Happy Hour at Snuff’s in Bon Air 5-7pm – see preblast

    F3RVA 10 Year Convergence Saturday – 5am BigRig workout; 6am Run or Ruck; 7am Main event w/ special Guest Stars; 8am – 2nd F and Awards; 1:30 pm 2ndF Cook-out at Huguenot Park – RSVP or sign up for potluck

  • Slowly up the hill

    We went down the hill and then we made our way back up. That is all – end of backblast.

    Not really, it was a challenge to remember all that we did but here is my best recollection.

    After NTB warned Rev that ‘Rosie’s a runner’ and Gumbo provided a correction that you never know what you’re going to get with Rosie at the helm, a mighty 15 took off in a slow mosey down the hill.  The cul-de-sac was much further than I remembered but we made it in tact.  #16 arrived after a brief search of the AO.

    Warm up starting with DQ (you’re welcome Last Call), Ukrainian Soldiers, Imperial Walkers, SSH, Shoulder Taps, Peter Parkers, Tempo Merkins, Freddie Mercuries and LBC.  After rave reviews of the low rep/good form at Dogpile YHC tried to recreate a similar beatdown to work our way back up the hill.  Exercises included lunges, no-cheat (HRM w/ shoulder tap) merkins, American Hammers, bear crawl, crunchy frogs, 30 seconds of curb taps, reverse lunges, copperhead squats (add the twerk, if needed), single leg squats, werkins, heels to heaven, and burpees.

    Mosey to the ramp railing for an indigenous jerkin run.  Everyone hang, those with long arms may have a cheat code, man at the end does 3 jerkins (chest to bar) and run to the front – 2 rounds.  Mosey to the box office for diamonds merkins, WWII, wall sits, questionably cadenced hoe-downs, and high donkey kicks.

    Mosey up the stairs to the next level for more lunges, stagger merkins, and varying speed flutter kicks – the only exercise with high reps and obviously a crowd favorite.  Up to the next level for bear crawl, crab walk, reverse lunge, and plank jacks.  Mosey to the flag for a ring of fire but first, we have to scratch the itch for arm circles – do them in a boat position, legs raised, back off the ground – forward and reverse.  Solid flair during the ring of fire with some Chuck Norris, HRM, Hitchhikers, single leg, and others.  Stretch it out to close out the full 45.

    NMM

    Minimal running today but solid work by the PAX on a beautiful late summer morning.  Chatter with other PAX recently have lamented the lack of good form in some exercises.  Sometimes it good to do high volume, fast, and to fatigue but there is a lot of benefit to getting it done right– including a lower risk of injury – and sometimes that takes lower reps. 

    Solid chatter around the PAX this morning but I missed most of it trying to think of what to do next. Go out and get better today, it takes effort but the PAX is there for support.

    Announcements –

    James River Float Sunday at Huguenot Flatwater

    F3RVA 10 Year – Friday 9/20 and Saturday 9/21 events – see pre-blast.

  • Dogpile Classics

    5 Dogpile regulars joined YHC for some of the Dogpile Classics. Chatter around the flag continued through the mosey to the circle and into the warmup with most of the exercises done In Conversation instead of in cadence. Mountain climbers shut down the chatter and the workout was on.

    Avoid the tall grass and downed branches on the way to the Rusty Cage for 3 rounds of a Murph starter package. 5 pullups (assisted if needed), 10 Booya merkins, and 15 jump squats. Finding the trail helped on the way back to the amphitheater. Going up the stairs working on low reps, good form with a variety of exercises on each step – merkins, dips, lunges, WWII, capping it off with burpees. Down to Posh’s garden which needs some attention for the start of Love Hill. Runner to the gate – rotate through lunges, Polar bears, broad jump burpees. Since the amphitheater was such a hit, we had to go back down with the same stuff – low reps, focus on form. Back to the flag for some stretching to close out the hour.

    Lots of good chatter this morning with some OGs at Dogpile this morning.

    Labor Day Convergence tomorrow – 7am Nuckols Farm Elementary

    We talked about how it doesn’t take much for a guy to slide out of the routine and get into a Sad Clown cycle. If you’ve read the backblast this far, reach out to a couple of guys that you haven’t seen in a while, F3 or not, invite them to Labor Day or the 10-year or just check in. It doesn’t take much but it may mean more than you realize.

  • F3RVA 10-Year Anniversary

    F3RVA 10-Year Anniversary

    Gentlemen of F3RVA – you have been hearing announcements, you’ve seen the T-shirt orders, and heard bits and pieces about the 10-year F3RVA anniversary. F3 was started in Richmond 10 years ago with what F3 Nation referred to as a ‘Leap’. They found a few local contacts to get something started and built it out with Charlotte PAX coming up for a Q-school and preliminary workouts before passing it off to the locals on 9/20/2014. Thanks to Big Data (ahem, Splinter), you can read all that happened that day here: https://backblasts.f3rva.org/2014/09/20/old-dominion-welcome-to-f3-nation/ I am sure you will recognize a couple names in the PAX list. After that inaugural beatdown, the PAX from RVA took off and have helped bring F3 to all of us in Richmond, plus assistance in launching Hampton Roads and Charlottesville.

    Events for the weekend are below:

    • Friday 9/20 – Weekend Kickoff Happy Hour – 5pm at Casa de Snuff in Bon Air – 2032 Buford Road – 5:00-7:00pm – Park at BACA or St. Michaels
    • Saturday 9/21 – Workouts at Dogpile
      • 5am tentative Early/Premature Beatdown/Run/Smokefest – Big Rig will be leading this – don’t miss a chance to get the day started right
      • 6am – Pre-Run and Ruck options
      • 7am – Main Event – 10-year Anniversary Beatdown – Special Guest OG Qs
      • 8am – Stick around for post workout refreshments
      • 8am – Team Brightside Fundraising and F3RVA awards
    • Saturday 9/21 – Family Cookout – Huguenot Park at 1:30pm – all PAX and families invited

    This is a special event, we have all been fortunate to have the F3 community in our lives so let’s use that weekend to celebrate and energize us to keep giving it away. We want to get as many guys out as we can so start headlocking now – reach out to any guys that may not be on Slack or don’t post very often, they won’t want to miss this.
    More info to come on details. Reach out to me or Gomer if you have any questions.

    Most importantly – Put 9/21 at 7am on your calendar and someone else’s! Let’s GO!

  • Slow and easy but also flat

    The call for an easy Sunday Run was put out and the PAX delivered. Despite the lower humidity we found the flattest roads in Salisbury, including where YHC grew up, and kept it slower than usual. The runners even beat the walkers/ruckers back, that’s what I call easy. The consensus is we need more of the slow pace long runs. Time will tell if we keep to that, I know Honeymoon will approve.

  • First Watch is Overrated

    The cars kept rolling in at WaThoHuk despite the locals’ insistence that there are only a few regulars. Discussion pre-workout centered on the typical WTH routes and also furnished the BB title, stated by a PAX not to be named but is older than YHC. Hint, all but Hops are older than me. After ensuring Pigskin that he would not need a head start or directions we headed off into the gloom.

    Around the bus loop and to the track behind the school. No warm up (this is a run) let’s dive right into the Mega Beast. Run the track stop every 100m for 6 reps, finish the lap and reverso stopping at the same spots. 1/2 mile per round. Exercises were jump squats, merkins, WWII, Monkey humpers, Carolina Dry Docks, and Heels 2 Heaven. Hops was a little disappointed that burpees was not the last round but today did not feel like a burpee day. A group lap and extra lap around the parking lot got us to 4 miles total.

    Phonics and Hops set the pace and the PAX enjoyed Olympic related chatter across the board, including disadvantages of using additional poles in the pole vault or the American 1500m winner. Good luck to Hops, visiting from C’ville and providing continuing education to the attorneys of the world. Look for him again in the coming months – we’ll make sure to have some burpees for you next time. The sign up on the Q sheet threw the regulars out of sync with an SOJ/Summer Tourist Q and downrange and DaVille PAX too. Thanks for letting me take the lead and fill in as Q for the morning.

    Announcements – Westhoe Lunch next Tuesday; Others – See Slack

  • Toga’s Time Bomb

    7 strong from across RVA joined YHC to avoid potential injury on the Ultimate field and instead opted for potential injury from excessive KB work.

    Vague recollections of a Circus workout by Toga years ago and YHC playing with the ‘Workout’ function on my watch led me to the Time Bomb. After a brief warmup we got to the main event. 6 exercises – 30 seconds each; rest between exercises decreasing from 30 seconds down to no rest in 5 second increments. For those not wanting to do the math, that’s 7 rounds. Exercises were Swings, Press, Goblet Squat, Halo, KB merkins (one hand on KB), and Sit and Press. Lots of good shoulder work against Dumar’s Dr.’s orders.

    Farmers walk around the parking lot and circle up for some Mary – beginning with the Alabama Honeymoon – the advanced KB version of the APD. Add some flutters, some complicated KB American Hammers, and a few regular APDs to close out the time.

    NMS: Excellent muggy morning to get some KB work in and for those that didn’t want to run, this was the workout for you. Welcome to B.O.B. – 2nd post in 2 days, great to have you out. Hopefully Hermie doesn’t need to do too many root canals today, the arms may be a little dead holding them in someone’s mouth. Despite moving to the City, Gumbo still found his way south of the river, just can’t take the SOJ out of him. Nancy may be starting a Pre-Pre-early Wood workout of Sitting 2 year-olds starting at 3am – be on the lookout for the pre-blast.

    Announcements:

    Float the James – Sunday Aug. 11 – See Meatball

    Sat. Aug. 17 – Pickleball Tournament – See Oyster

    Wednesday Aug. 21 – Upchuck’s 100 @ First Watch

    Wed. Aug. 28 – Magnolia Green AO Launch

    Monday Sept. 2 – Labor Day Convergence – More info to come

    Sept 20-21 – F3 RVA 10 year anniversary festivities