Author: THE Yankee Aggressor

  • One chaser eats the other goes hungry!

    The weather man said it was 18 degrees and windy with a wind chill of 8, but the PAX all agreed that it was 70 and Sunny.  The PAX was four strong for today’s run in the Gloom in RVA.  All Friday run veterans

    The Thang:

    Fox Chase round X.  Two routes, the foxes (Swirly and Bleeder), take a lap around the school, then head out to Grove.  The chasers (Fudd and TYA), head to Grove, turn right until they reach Hamilton, turn around and the chase is on.  Everyone then runs to Grove and Three Chopt, turns around and runs around the school and back to the shovel flag.

    Moleskin

    Swirly hasn’t missed an F3 workout in Richmond since the Great Depression (same year as TYA was born).  He continues to impress, getting stronger and stronger everyday.

    The day was won by Fudd today.  He started at a slow saunter with TYA and then ramped things up once we hit the turnaround point at Hamilton.  He caught the foxes a half mile or so after the turnaround at Three Chopt.  I think we need a fox for Fudd next time.  Maybe Conspiracy or Orville.  I also would like to see a race between Fudd and Toga.  Still not sure who I would bet on, but out of pure principle, I would go with Fudd.

    TYA did his best to chase down the two foxes at the end of the run, but ended up about 50 yards shy of the goal.  He saw the group turn at the school and turned on his afterburners (if you could call them that).  Although he made up most of the distance, Bleeder and Swirly made it to the shovel flag first.

    Very little second F after today’s run.  The wind and slight chill in the air left us all wanting to get back to the comfort of our vehicles (and eventually our homes) as quickly as possible.

    Swirly and Bleeder had a spirited conversation for the first mile or so.  Topics discussed included the North Carolina driving tests and F3 RVA T-Shirt design.  Bleeder commented that three weeks ago, he would have been incapable of holding any kind of conversation on during a run.  Progress!

     

    See you in the Gloom next week.

  • Foxes Survive!

    Six faithful and one FRNG (Friday Run New Guy) posted on a balmy January morning in the RVA.   Actual temperature was 40 degrees, but because we have become accustomed to lower temps, it seemed like it was a little too hot out for a run!

    The Thang:

    Pax run to corner of Commonwealth and Grove.  Foxes (Bleeder, Swirly, and Lugnut) take a left onto Grove.  Chasers (TYA, Fudd, The Scream, and Brain Tumor) take a right onto Grove.  Chasers run to corner of Hamilton and Grove and turn back….and the chase begins.  All run to the corner of Grove and Three Chopt, turn back, run to corner of Westmoreland and Grove, then one lap around the school and finish up at the shovel flag.

    The Moleskin:

    Fudd, our Friday Run New Guy, was looking forward to the Fox chase.  He was really disappointed when he found out that Swirly, Bleeder and Lugnut were the foxes.  He thought we would have some young coeds from either VCU or UR as the foxes that we would be chasing.   Oops, sorry for the misunderstanding Fudd… maybe next time we will try to get a group more worthy of the “fox” term.

    The foxes won the day today.  A very impressive performance!!!  They improved their per mile pace by nearly a minute and a half over two weeks ago.  This made it very difficult for the chasers to catch the foxes…. in the end, despite Fudd’s best kick, none of the foxes were caught.   Maybe next time….

    Lots of mumblechatter during the runs now.   PAX is getting much fitter week by week.  Great work men.

    Announcements

    Saturday “Dogpile” workout at 6 am at Dogwood Dell

    Saturday “GridIRon” workout at 7am at Pouncey Tract Park

    Tuesday #notoll at Hugenot park 530 am

    Thursday 45 Minutes of Mary 530am at Mary Munford

    Friday RAMM, 530am at Mary Munford

    Hard commits for the Rugged Maniac to Johnsonville.  Also, send your emergency contact information to Johnsonville.

     

  • Heart ache by the hundreds

    17 strong and brave faithful posted for 45 Minutes of Mary this morning.  The Gloom was in its full glory this morning, with ample fog to please all.  Approximate visibility 100 yards.  Weather in Q’s mind: 70 degrees and sunny!

    The Thang:

    Mosey to tree line at corner of Cary and Commonwealth, disclaimer, COP.  25x mountain climbers, 25x windmills, 30x little baby crunches, 20x Merkins (Note, no side straddle hops done as warm up — maybe the first time they were not done at the initial COP in F3 history?)

    Mosey to corner of tennis courts and 1/4 mile gravel track.  One K, Five K:  pair up, first pax runs 1/4 mile, second starts on set of exercises.  Exercises are 100 squat jacks, 200 merkins, 300 lbc, 400 flutter kicks, done in order (total of 1,000 reps per team).  When first pax returns, switch.  Each PAX did 5 or six laps (team total about a 5K).

    6 Minutes of Mary, dealers choice.  Flutter kicks x 30, Rosalita’s x 25, LBC x 30, Superman x 2

    COT and out into the day

    Moleskin

    The benevolent Q provided music during the exercise portion of the 1K 5K.  Music selection was a hit.  Shakira, Eminem, and the ever popular Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five.  TYA knows every word of the 5 minute plus original rap song The Message (Its like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from going under)  Music during the 6MOM was not so helpful.  Trying to do exercises in cadence while music is playing is nearly impossible.

    Johnsonville attempted a flying EH at the beginning of the workout.  The EH was not immediately successful.  Maybe a soft commit for next time JVille?

    Several of the tandems finished the 1,000 exercises in the 1k, 5K.  Again, the benevolent Q showed up and allowed the teams that finished early to work their way back down the exercises.  Not sure, but I think the team of Johnsonville and Fudd made it all the way up and all the way back down (1,700 reps).  Great work by all, given that we had no breaks for a majority of our workout.

    Several deflation jokes made at the beginning of the workout.  Patriots fans TYA and Pucker absorbed the ribbing.  We could have used some additional moral support from Wedding Singer.

    The PAX continues to get stronger and stronger.  Cannot wait to see our progress after 6 months…one year.  Pleasure to be given the opportunity to lead the group this morning!

     

     

  • The Scream learns to count (or maybe not)

    counting

    10 strong and warm bodies posted for The Scream’s Virgin Q this morning at #Notoll.  Fun and a little pain was had by all.

    The Thang:

    Mosey to field after a short run around the AO

    SSH x 21

    Wndmill x 20

    Imperial Walkers x 24

    LBC x 20

    Peter Parker variation x 20 each side

    Bear crawl to mid field, backwards run to endline, backwards crab walk to mid field, lunges to start

    Rosalitas x 20

    Protractor for 2 minutes

    Flutter kicks x 20

    Hello Dolly x 20

    Tabata sets, one with dips and the other with squats.

    Mosey to basketback courts for the king of hearts.  First set of suicides were regular, second set was backwards and the third set was side shuffles.

    Q to TYA

    Plank, then 30 x LBC, Mosey to shovel flag for COT.

     

    Great Virgin Q for The Scream.  Way to get out there and lead the group.

    We definitively now know that artists cannot count, at least in F3/military form.  Scream constantly switched his cadence calls from 1: acting both as the PAX and the Q (1,2,3, 1, 1,2,3,2, 1,2,3,3….)   2.  counting as the Q normally does, but for some reason skipping the number one (Johnsonville helped the Q by calling the 1 count) 3.  skipping the Q count all together and calling only the PAX numbers and  4. not counting at all.  Despite the cadence challenges The Q and PAX survived and had a challenging workout.

    Kotters go out to Pelosi 5-0.  He had been on hiatus for a few weeks, but came back and acquitted himself well.  Holidays, family illness, and travel had him out of town, but he beat the fartsack this morning to get back out there with us.

    Scream turned to TYA (who was supposed to Q half of the session) at 6:12 (42 minutes into a 45 minute workout) and said, turning the  Q over to TYA.  Adrenalin and a virgin Q will skew your sense of time.  #selfsmoked  #needawatch  Toga also noted that at the beginning of the workout the cadence was at hyper speed.  If there is a sudden wind in RVA it is because the PAX was doing SSH and windmills at 2x the normal speed.

    Loose Goose is recruiting participant to his next monthly challenge.  This month the challenge consists of doing 100 Merkins and 30 pull ups per day for the Month of January.  Overhead after the workout, Loose Goose is trying to work on “good form” pushups.  You would think after 10,000 or so, your form would be pretty buttoned up?

    Bleeder continues to torture TYA in the sprints (especially suicides).  TYA, although pushing himself on the sprints continues to get smoked by all comers, including Bleeder with 1.5 usable legs.  Of course, Bleeder cognizant of TYA’s fragile ego, taunts TYA at every opportunity.

    Lots of talk about Tea bags at one point in the workout.  You will have to ask Doner Kebab and Toga about that part.

     

  • A Guinness and a run for breakfast

    5 Strong PAX posted in the crisp clear morning at Mary Munford.

    The Thang:

    Stretch.  Run around school, left onto Grove, Run to corner of Three Chopt and Grove, turn around, run to corner of Westmoreland and Grove.  Turn around and pick up last runner and bring it back to the shovel flag.

    6MOM, dealers choice

    20 x LBC

    15x Russian Twists

    15x Hello Dolly

    15x Rosalita

    15x Freddy Mercury

    COT, great close out by Guinness.  Off into the day, 4 miles under our belt and feeling great.

    Moleskin

    Pleasure to have Guinness from NC join us again for todays workout.  Great to have visitors.   We look forward to your return next time your are in town.

    Four of today’s  five PAX are now 2 for 2 in 2015.  The Scream, TYA, Guinness and Conspiracy have both posted for the workouts on the 1st and 2nd days of 2015.  Only 363 days left for perfect attendance for 2015.  Despite a HC for today, Wilson and Johnsonville decided to spend the morning in the fartsack.

  • 365 Merkins and a Megaphone

    12 PAX, including two guests from NC, showed up for the GridIron on Saturday.

    The THANG:

    Cousteau Q

    Half mile warm-up run from the park, around the school, and around to the school soccer field

    COP

    SSHs

    Ass-Kickers (right lunge, left lunge, down to a merkin and back to lunge position)

    LBCs

    Rosalitas

    Flutter kicks

    Football field circuit

    Partner carries 25 yards each, duck walk 25 yards, and bear crawl 25 yards

    Complete 4 times

    Tunnel of Love – bunny hops to the tunnel and bear crawl through

    Two 100 meter sprints on the track, jogging the corners in between

    Cousteau Q tag up with Chum Bucket

    Mosey to rear baseball field for COP

    3 sets of 30 merkins OYO

    Jog wooded trail to Park

    COP for more merkins followed by single-file “rabbit run” through woods.

    Rinse and repeat until PAX completes 365 merkins.

    Mosey to parking lot for quick 3 Minutes of Mary.

    COT

     

    MOLESKIN:

    Cousteau led a long warm-up lap of the school grounds and kept the PAX panting for 30 minutes. Per Cousteau, “Hope your legs felt it the next day – next time we’re going to do a log workout.” Whatever that is.

     

    The Tunnel of Love through frost and mud was a highlight of the morning.

     

    Chum Bucket sought to squeeze in over 300 merkins in the final 30 minutes of the workout. The PAX pushed away in spite of worsening form and knotting triceps.

     

     

     

  • Megaphone ventures to the RVA

    megaphone1

    The PAX was seven strong on this crisp, clear day in RVA.  Just prior to our start, a new PAX member showed up. Quiet at the start, he mentioned that he was from down south in NC.

    The Thang:

    Run around school to corner of Westmoreland and Grove, Run to Three Chopt and turnaround.  Run back to Westmoreland, turn around and run back to Bleeder,  Run with Bleeder back to the shovel flag.    Stretch out.

    COT, Bleeder took us out into the post Christmas world with a few inspirational words.

    Moleskin

    To The Scream’s chagrin, the Starbucks at Libbie and Grove was not open at its usual time this morning, so our emergency constitutional stop was not available.  As a result, Scream had to cut his run short to hit head back home to his porcelain beauty.  Morning workouts sometime do interrupt our normal routines.

    Conspiracy caught up with us for the final half mile.  Having not seen us on his ride down Grove, he assumed we headed into Windsor farms.  So Conspiracy did a new route, searching for the PAX in the Farms and around the AO.  He finally found us towards the end or our run on Grove where he led Bleeder back to the shovel flag.  #nomanleftbehind.

    Our friend from NC was very quiet at the start of the workout.  He walked up, did not say much, but was clearly a seasoned F3 participant.  So we started the run….then the mumblechatter started.  The Scream and YHC were slightly ahead of Brain Tumor and our NC friend.  Despite the 50 yard lead, The Scream and I could clearly hear the conversation between Brain Tumor and our guest.   The mumblechatter lasted the entire 4+ mile run.  When we turned around to run back to Bleeder, the guest introduced himself to YHC.  Shockingly his name was “Megaphone”.  Had he not been named megaphone by his hometown PAX, we would have renamed him.  It is incredible how good the PAX is at nailing the right name for each member.  #thewisdomofthepax.  Look for (or better yet, listen for) Megaphone at tomorrows Gridiron.

    Megaphone, great to have you join us this morning.  Always nice to have new members of the PAX an we loved your company and enthusiasm for F3.

    The running PAX continues to get stronger.  I can see the improvement in myself and the other PAX weekly.  Always a pleasure to have the honor of leading this group of men.  Great work guys.

    Next workouts

    Saturday, Pouncey Tract Park @ 7am

    Tuesday Hugenot Park, 530am

    Thursday Mary Munford, 7am, special 1 hour New Years workout

    Friday, RAMM, Mary Munford, 530am

     

     

  • Pele arrives and the PAX takes a fall

    The Thang:

    Mosey to the first soccer field, Toes on the line

    skip w/ arm circles across field, 10 SSH, rinse and repeat back to plank
    skip w/ high knee bends across field, 10 imperial walkers, rinse and repeat back to plank
    skip w/ leg kick across field, 10 windmills, rinse and repeat back to plank

    Mosey to corner soccer field
    Toes on the line – Football
    O-line – 3 pt. stance fire out, stay low, 10 yards to 5 burpees, rinse and repeat 5x to plank
    DB – backwards run across field
    O-line – 3 pt. stance fire out, stay low bear crawl, 10 yards to 5 WW2 sit ups, rinse and repeat5x
    DB – karaoke across field
    O-line – 3 pt. stance into duck walk lunge to 50, rotate backward duck walk to finish to plank
    WR – 3 pt. stance into full sprint across field

    Mosey to parking lot for Parking Lot Party, bounding cross jumps up parking lot to gate
    Stations
    Pull F-150 75 feet
    Shadow slides
    line jumps
    Squat thrust
    4 Minutes of Mary
    20 x LBC
    16 x Flutter kicks
    15 x Hello Dollys
    30 sec High Knee steps

    Moleskin

    Young Pele (FNG) showed impressive speed and stamina in the Gloom. Being 11 years old does have its advantages.  He pretty much sauntered through the workout.  Most impressive part was that he was adept at trash talk at this young age (thanks to Bleeder for the good training).  TYA commented to Pele that he needed to get his butt down for the planks, not to follow the old guys in the triangle position.  Pele quickly commented back to TYA “the old guys like you?”

    The Sheik evidently lost his brakes at the end of the sprint and wiped out LugNut & Ricky Bobby. Likely the brake accumulator failure.   Almost wiped out the entire leadership team of the Woodfin organization (or could we call it the Woodfin “braintrust”  — maybe not)

    T-claps to Doner Kebab & Oyster for recognizing the truck pull was too easy with 4 members of the PAX. They turned around and pushed against the pull to create more resistance. Forcing Ricky Bobby to grab the strap with more than his thumb and index finger.

    TYA continues to impress with the lack of High Knee bends skills. Only to be topped by LugNut’s inability to remember “starting position” in the cadence and allowing Brain Tumor, Wedding Singer, & The Sheik to be on the truck pull at the same time. Epic Fail, way to easy.

     

    Forecast for tomorrow morning: 70 degrees and sunny…see you then.

  • Off the reservation

    6 faithful and two FNG’s showed up on the crisp December morning in RVA to sharpen their bodies and minds.  Great day for a workout!!!

     

    The THANG:

    Mosey to corner of Commonwealth and Cary

    21x Don Quixote (Windmills)

    20x Side Straddle Hops

    15x Merkins

    25x Little Baby Crunches

    20s Slow Squates

    Mosey to corner of Cary and Windsor way.  Stop at the Windsor Way bus shelter for one minute of dips.  Mosey down the red brick road to Dover Baptist Church field.

    The Beast (at least most of a Beast, we only did five exercises instead of six. Given  the significance of he number 6 to the beast, I think next time we will do a sixth exercise).  Exercises were Merkins, squat jumps, rowers, burpees, and mountain climbers

    Mosey towards shovel flag.  Stop on the way for a plank and 10 more Merkins.  Mosey back to shovel flag.  Side planks on each side and regular planks for a minutes.  Then straight into six minutes of  mary #6MOM

    20x Flutter kicks

    20x Rosalita

    25x Freddy Mercury

    Superman

    Moleskin

    Today we ventured off the reservations heading into Windsor Farms for a little excursion.  Good to see some new territory and find some new tools along the way to inflict a little pain to the PAX.  A few unexpected hazards along the way as well: first, the folks in and along windsor farms do not do a very good job of maintaining the sidewalks.  For a ritzy neighborhood like this, you would think they could repair the infrastructure #anklebreaker.  Secondly, because of the uneven sidewalks, several of the PAX took to the lawn next to the brick path–also dangerous as the trees branches are very low causing anyone over 5 feet tall a problem #decapitation

    Loose Goose spent some time today trying to figure out how the Brew Thru next week was going to work.  He was wondering if they had some sampler sized beers that he could buy in lieu of a 16 ounce draft.  Johnsonville and several other chimed in and said that although intellectually it doesn’t seem possible to drink and run it can happen!  Just let it unfold Loose Goose.  One of the other PAX mentioned another event he had heard of.  It had 12 stops and at each stop you had to eat a taco.  If you splashed merlot, you were out of the race.  Now that is the definition of CSAUP!

    Thanks to the two FNG’s coming and joining us this morning.  Both Pucker and Ronaldo acquitted themselves very well.  Hope to see you out there in the future!

    YHC had a little bit of a reality check when he got back home.  After the workout in the relatively chilly weather, he reentered the fartsack to read for a few minutes.  I was complaining (to myself) how cold I was and how miserable I was feeling at the time.  I tucked myself into the fartsack, picked up my kindle and continued reading my current selection: Night by Elie Weisel.  For those who have not read this book, It is a first person account of the holocaust by Elie Weisel who was 15 at the time of the events.  So as I was moaning about my dire situation of being cold in my 70 degree house in my comfortable fartsack, i was reading about humans being transported to a concentration camp in a cattle car.  #CONTEXT #firstworldproblems

    Normal workouts continue as scheduled.  Friday 530 run at Mary Munford, 7:00 Saturday at Pouncey Tract Park, and Tuesday at 530 in Hugenot Park.  Next Wednesday is the first annual Brew Thru, starting at 600 at Strangeways brewery.  Festivities will continue onto four other pubs, with the final stop at Hardywood

     

     

  • The Scream. On a tree!

    THANG

    Quick Stretch.  Run around school to corner of Westmoreland and Grove.  Left onto Grove, run to Three Chopt, cross street and head back down Grove.  When you see first runner heading back down Grove, turnaround and head back to shovel flag.

    COP

    20x Hello Dolly                                                                                                                25x LBC                                                                                                                      20x Flutter kicks – to strengthen hip abductors (see last weeks post)                         20x Freddy Mercury

    COT, prayer by the Scream, back into the day with four miles under our belts!

    Moleskin.

    Noticed along the running route.  Just east of the corner of Grove and Lexington, there is s a tree with a knot in it which is the exact shape of the head of the screaming man in The Scream painting.   Someone has added to the knot the eyes and mouth of the man.  Has F3’s The Scream been practicing his art out in the community?

    The Scream by Edvard Munch, 1893

     

    THE Yankee Agressor arrived at the AO about five minutes before the appointed run time, planted the shovel flag and got ready for the run.  No one else around.   Was it going to be a PAX of one?   Three minutes to the appointed run time, Lockjaw and The Scream arrived at the AO.  When TYA said, “I thought I was going to be OYO today”, Lockjaw responded “I wouldn’t leave your here by yourself”.  God I love F3 and the PAX.   #Accountability #ISI

    Conspiracy was LIFO as he had a bit of frost on the windows this am.  He arrived about 10 minutes late, but do to his age (and mostly his speed) he quickly caught up to the group and finished up with us.

    Was hoping for an OBT sighting this AM.  He must have chosen the warmth and comfort of his rented fartsack at the local Hampton Inn instead of the fun and fellowship of our RVA F3 run group.  Come on OBT, our standards are higher here in the RVA!