Author: Splinter

  • The Baggie, The Hand Mask, and the Toupee

    A strong twenty of the area’s finest gathered in the bowl for today’s Spider Run. Plenty of quiet suppositions prior to launch, with many questioning when there would be instructions. 0530 arrived and off we went.

    Everyone head west along the lake, across the bridge, right through the (now dark) path, and huddle up at the base of University and College.

    Intervals were next. All were 1 minute up hill followed by 1:45 recovery back down. First round of intervals were up University. On the third interval up we took a right on Wood and slow moseyed to Lakewood.

    Continue past the PoJ and complete 3 intervals up Lakewood. On the third, continue the recovery north on Wood.

    Continue on Wood to the Baldwin intersection on the left. Third round of intervals were up Wood. Apologies to the neighbors on the street as we completely took over that road. It was only 3 intervals, which is just over 8 minutes, and then we disappeared without a trace. Ok, maybe there was a trace of something left behind which stirred up the neighbors.

    Slow mosey back Baldwin, through Fraternity Row, then back to the flag which Flatline so graciously planted.

    Numbers, names, YHC took us out.

    Announcements

    • TYA is heading up The Bridge this Saturday. Contact him if you are interested in a 6am clown car.
    • Prayers for Lab Rat, Swirly’s MIL, and others in our PAX who are recovering or managing life’s various challenges

    This was the first interval session since winter. The common consensus was that winter is better for these shenanigans. That’s why we modified and chose different hills today. Great job to all.

  • The Crossett Fit Games – Hoedown Edition

    Twelve gentlemen gathered in the waning morning light at Hoedown for our tribute to Treehugger. It went something like this:

    Mosey to the blacktop for COP

    COP

    • SSH x25
    • DQ x10
    • Hillbillies x15
    • LBCs x20
    • Scorpions x10
    • Shoulder Taps x15
    • Mountain Climbers x10

    Mosey to the top field for The Crossett Fit Games.

    • 10x Pullups
    • 20x Vee Ups
    • 30x Merkins
    • 40yd Broad Jump Burpees
    • 50yd Sprint
    • .5 mile run to the corner of Forest & Lindsay and back
    • Repeat 5x (we only made 4x)

    Numbers, names, YHC took us out with prayer requests from the PAX.

    Moleskin

    Last night while contemplating today’s workout, YHC stumbled across Florence’s slack post. YHC changed plans and opted for the tribute this morning. Man was it a heck of a workout, even without wearing a 20# vest. Prayers for Treehugger and his family.

  • Backblast Comments Are Now In Slack

    Backblast Comments Are Now In Slack

    Slack is becoming a larger part of F3RVA. In order to consolidate comments to a single platform, we are shifting all comments to slack. Comments have been disabled for all posts and WordPress.

    If you need a login to Slack or need assistance with how to use Slack, please reach out to Splinter or your friendly neighbor at your local AO for more information. Anyone can grant access to new users in Slack by adding them directly into Slack.

    We will trial this for a while before considering moving additional functionality to Slack in the future.

  • It was a Square J Kind of Day

    Sixteen (or was it seventeen?) Saturday morning thrill seekers stretched and waited for the Q to arrive before YHC grabbed the reigns and off we went to the field in front of the carrilon for:

    COP

    • SSH x25
    • High Knees x10
    • Helicopters x10
    • DQ x10
    • Mountain Climbers x10
    • Merkins x10
    • Wilson’s Wife
    • Fudd’s Wife

    The Thang

    Since we were on the field, YHC called triple check on the field. Group into threes with exercises being merkins, freddie mercuries, while the pace car bernie sanders down and back to the last tree on the right before the gap. YHC passed to Bacon Bits

    Bacon Bits had us mosey to ye old stage and grab some coupons before partnering up for Dora. Exercises were 100x overhead presses, 200x squat swings, 300x curls. Pace car ran to the third tree. This took a while then Bacon passed it to Mr Rogers.

    Mr Rogers led us to the triangle for a tribute to Garbage Plate. Partner up, one person runs the triangle while the other progresses through bear crawls, lunges, polar bears, broad jump burpees. Then pass to Wilson.

    Wilson led us to the amphitheater for a short triple check. Merkins, LBCs, while the pace car ran up 8 steps and returned. Plenty of name combinations shouted with the most memorable being Bacon Gas. Wilson had us mosey back to the flag before passing it back to YHC (presumably because he didn’t want to write the BB).

    YHC led us through 3.5 minutes of mary including American Hammers, Rosalitas, Dollys, and LBCs before finishing promptly at 07:00.

    Numbers (someone was skipped), names (no one was skipped), before YHC and then Hitchhiker took us out.

    Announcements

    • Shiplap’s big day is tomorrow! Keep him and his new family in your prayers.
    • Prayers for our PAX who are recovering, especially Lab Rat. We are with you brother.
    • As of today, commenting on backblasts on the website has been disabled. Use Slack to comment on backblasts. If you aren’t on slack, as a friend or ask me.

    Moleskin

    Many of the PAX were expecting a tire to be dropped off somewhere, which must have been why the Q wasn’t in attendance. Turns out the signed up Q just overslept. Make sure to ping him on Slack and let him know how much we appreciate him.

    Great to be at Dogpile two weeks in a row. Going to have to make this a more regular thing… Great coffeeteria afterwards where we solved all problems IT related.

    SYITG!

    Splinter

  • No Stars? No Likey!

    Sixteen of the mightiest dudes tried to hide from Anthrax but he found us anyway. YHC wasn’t taking suggestions for routes but there was one proclaimed, which was immediately dismissed. After that was out of the way, YHC called out these routes:

    Routes

    • Head west, around the lake, over the gravel hill and up University
    • Continue on University to a right on Ralston then quick left on University
    • Continue through the driveway, down through the park to a right on Roslyn Hills
    • Left on September
    • 4s: Left on Melwood, left on Roslyn Hills, right into the park
    • 5s: Left on Ruggles, left on Rosyln Hills, right into the park
    • 6s: Right on Higginbotham, left on Running Cedar, left on Ruggles, right on Charnwood, left on Standish, left on Rosyln Hills, right on Shadow, left on Twin Team, left on Melwood, right on Rosyln Hills, right into the park
    • Everyone head back via the park

    Announcements

    • TYA is leading The Bridge this weekend. Contact him for clown car info.
    • No First Watch tomorrow. Moved to Huguenot Flatwater. Bring your own kayak.
    • Retreat info has been posted on Slack. Last Saturday in September.

    Moleskin

    Great morning for a run. Welcome FNG Saul. Not exactly sure how we got there but there is a connection so Saul it is. Good running with you this am.

    Have a great day everyone.

    Splinter

  • Burpee Bliss

    Ten of the area’s finest gathered at the brightest AO in RVA for a return to normal Q following last week’s takeover. Briefly discuss if today is the summer solstice (it’s tomorrow) or if it is simply the longest day of the year (it’s also tomorrow), before we moseyed to the front of the school for:

    COP

    • 20x SSH
    • 10x Helicopters
    • 10x DQs
    • 10x Merkins
    • 5 stride bear crawl forward (to get onto the cool “grass”)
    • 20x LBCs
    • 10x Scorpion Kicks

    The Thang

    Mosey over to the rectangular parking lot for exercises everyone loved. Partner up for 4 different exercises, 3 different sets. While one partner exercises, the other runs various lengths around the quadrilateral and back. Exercises were:

    • Set 1: Merkins / Lunges / WWIIs / Burpees
    • Set 2: Diamond Merkins / Jump Squats / WWIs / Burpees
    • Set 3: Werkins / Calf Raises / American Hammers / Burpees

    Multilingual 10 count from Pigskin then off we moseyed down Lakewood to a left on Hillsdale. Stop and point our rears south and complete 20 monkey humpers in Lockjaw’s driveway.

    Continue our mosey to the ‘P’ shaped lot for a modified dora. 100 CDDs, 100 Side Lunges, 200 LBCs. Collect the 6 and then back to the flag where we counted, spouted off various names, and YHC took us out.

    Announcements

    • First Watch is yacking this week
    • TYA has the bridge this Saturday
    • House Party has a VQ at Rock N Roll on Saturday

    Moleskin

    Marvelous morning today for Hoedown. Other than the initial rolling in the grass, we stayed dry today. Let’s hope we can keep this weather for a little longer!

    SYITG!

    Splinter

  • I Won’t Take It Personally

    Four, that’s right 4, of the highest scholars briefly complained about the cost of used cars before we realized it was 5:00am. Mosey to the northeast corner of the back parking lot for:

    COP

    • 20x Invisible jump ropes
    • 10x Helicopters
    • 15x Imperial Walkers
    • 10x Shoulder Taps
    • 10x Mountain Climbers
    • 20x LBCs
    • 10x American Hammers

    The Thang

    Continue our mosey northward to a left on University. About halfway down University there were a few grunts and groans but general displeasure was withheld until we reached the bottom of University for 11s. Merkins & jump squats at the bottom and top of the hill. Bro code every two sets to make sure we left no one behind.

    Short mosey down Ralston stopping at Kingsbury for Splinter’s Triangle of Terror. Form a triangle at each point of the intersection. The 4th person bear crawls from station 1 to station 2 and that person continues the bear crawl to the next station. We went counter clockwise. Stations were burpees, squats, WWIIs. We did 3 complete rounds.

    Catch me if you can up Kingsbury to Gaymont. 5 merkins then catch your partner who is bernieing up the hill.

    South on Gaymont, stopping at the toothbrush swing for a final round of 11s. HRMs & WWIIs.

    BTTVSF where we did flutters and finished with Last Call leading shavasana.

    Numbers, names, various announcements, and YHC took us out.

    Moleskin

    There must have been some sort of convergence somewhere else that YHC didn’t know about as all but YHC + 3 of the regulars (and no visitors) were ready to launch at 0500. Excluding takeover week and ad-hoc broga sessions, this was the smallest First Watch since October. Clearly wasn’t because YHC was on the Q sheet.

    We witnessed a cat fight (not the good kind) as we were traversing back on Gaymont. Discussion ensued as to whether or not a owl could attack a cat or not.

    Until next time.

    Splinter

  • Wash your own Socks

    Twelve pavement (!pickle) pounders gathered at various times for various routes for today’s RAMM. Those that arrived for a 0530 launch enjoyed the following route, curated in the car prior to launch:

    Route

    • South on Commonwealth
    • Continue to Windsor Farms and complete the Berkshire, Sulgrave, Canterbury loop, exiting by going north on Malvern
    • 4s continue north on Malvern to a left on Fitz-Hugh
    • 5s right on Grove, left on Roseneath, left on Monument, right on Malvern
    • 6s right on grove, left on Boulevard, left on Monument, right on Malvern
    • All continue west on Fitz-Hugh to a left on Commonwealth
    • Back to RAMM base

    Numbers, names, YHC took us out.

    Moleskin

    Is RAMM disorganized? Of course. Are there consistent Qs? Hardly. Do we still participate in the 3Fs? Absolutely! Not to delve into the conversation of what is worthy of a point or not, but it takes very little effort to think of 3 different routes for people to run for 45 minutes. Perhaps you want to explore a certain area further? Maybe this time of year you want to see what an area looks like in the daylight? Gone are the days where you have to hop in the car (unless you are TYA) and map out a route by driving it. There are tools available (such as https://onthegomap.com/) that make this really easy. Sign up and give it a shot!

    Post run mumblechatter mentioned personal privacy and other activities individuals will undertake this long weekend.

    Announcements

    • Convergence Monday 7am @ Brown’s Island, r-u-c-k @ 6am
    • See slack for departure details for next Saturday 6/4

    That’s all for today. Enjoy the weekend!

    Splinter

  • No running

    Eight early risers bathed in the late season pollen while keeping the running to a minimum. After some jovial bantering about length and girth, off we moseyed to the back parking lot for:

    COP

    • 25 SSH
    • 10 helicopters
    • 15 arm circles
    • 10 donalds
    • 10 reverse scorpions
    • 10 inverted scorpions

    The Thang

    Stay in the general vicinity for 4 sets of 25 reps of different exercises. Repeat 11 times. Exercises may have been:

    • Star Jacks, merkins, squats, LBCs
    • Imperial Walkers, dips, box jumps, freddie mercuries
    • Mountain climbers, werkins, lunges, flutter kicks
    • Hillbillies, carolina dry docks, monkey humpers,
    • Tuck jumps, diamond merkins, jump squats, heels to heaven
    • Repeat 1-5
    • SSH, windshield wipers, calf raises, box cutters

    Mosey back to the flag, stopping by the side of the church for 5 WWIIs at each sign. of course there were arguments about what constituted a sign.

    Back to the flag for ring of fire, american hammers, and some sort of floating vessel until time expired.

    Announcements

    • Bridge and blood on 6/4. Sign up.
    • Memorial day convergence at tredegar
    • Need breaking bread volunteers this summer
    • Daville takeover day coming up

    Numbers, names, YHC took us out.

    Have a great day!

  • The Baltimore Experience

    Eight gentlemen exhibited their southern hospitality by greeting three northern visitors for today’s edition of Timberwolf. After some brief discussion of appropriate parking spaces, Honeymoon rolled in on his chariot and off we went. Brief mosey to the main entrance of the school for:

    COP

    • 20x SSH
    • 10x Helicopters
    • 10x DQs
    • 10x Copperhead Squats
    • 10x Mountain Climbers
    • 10x Merkins
    • 10x Scorpion Kicks (inverted)
    • 20x LBCs
    • 10x WWIIs
    • 10x Burpees

    The Thang

    Slow jaunt to the back of the building and enter the western cage of tennis courts for line drill variations. Use the space between the courts as exercise zones.

    • Round 1: 15 merkins, 30 squats, 40 flutter kicks, run between zones
    • Round 2: 15 hand release merkins, 30 lunges, 40 freddie mercuries, north karaoke between zones
    • Round 3: 15 shoulder tap merkins, 30 jump squats, 40 LBCs, backwards run between zones
    • Round 4: 15 CDDs, 30 side lunges, 40 HTH, south karaoke between zones

    Pass the potato to Marv.

    Mosey to the bus loop by the 7th grade entrance for triple check. LBCs, plank, tracers for the first 4 lines.

    Mosey BTTVSF, alternating between merkins and burpees based on the lowest number on each door we pass. We passed the 8th grade entrance somewhere along the line as well. 6th graders must have to tunnel into the building.

    Circle up for 5 MOM including american hammers, iron penis, hello dolly, SSH, and one or two arm circles before time hit.

    Numbers, names, and Marv took us out.

    Moleskin

    Major appreciation to the Timberwolf crew for enduring the dual Q today. You guys have great energy and takeover week is a reminder that YHC needs to find a way to break out of the routine from time to time and see the PAX all over greater RVA.

    There were a few attempts at mutiny on the tennis court today. Luckily, all attempts were thwarted. All except for Bullseye. He does what he wants. Kudos brother, you do you.

    Backblast title goes to the mumblechatter theme on the tennis courts as one PAX member was receiving a ribbing for his recent trip to Baltimore. There were many suppositions about the nature of EH that happened. Only one knows best.

    Thanks again for letting us lead.

    Splinter.