Category: Richmond, VA

  • Sampler Platter

    Three strong redwoods were not injured, out of town for Easter or cuddled up in a clown car to/from Hampton.  They were rewarded with a tour de Gridiron, and here is how it went down.

    • COP
      • 25 SSH
      • 25 IW
      • 15 DQ
      • 10 2x merkins
      • 25 FM
      • 15 Pickle Pounders
      • Arm circles – 10 big/5 small, forward and backward
    • Mosey to the playground for a jerkin ladder (countdown starts at 8)
    • Mosey to the grassy knoll
      • 15 burpees
      • 25 APD
    • Mosey to the pickle ball courts
      • Lunge walk across then karaoke back – rinse and repeat
    • Mosey to the middle school track & field
      • 25 dips/25 bench kicks on the bleachers
      • 800 m sprint around the track
      • 5 Bernies on the incline
    • Mosey around the school to the pillars
      • 25 pole smokers
      • 25 WWII sit-ups
      • 25 pole smokers
    • Mosey around the backside of the school, ending at the softball fields
      • Modified arch loader
        • Bear crawl
        • Crab walk
        • Bunny hop
    • Mosey to the front of the school for triple check
      • Run the loop
      • LBC
      • Wall sit
    • Mosey back to the parking lot
    • COT with YHC taking us out

    Today was a sampler of this expansive AO and all it has to offer.  Low reps, lots of cardio.  Here is the thing, there was so much more we could have done.  We did not touch the tennis courts, trails or football fields.  All in all, today’s low rep/high variety tapas workout were enjoyable as the PAX gave a strong effort.  Great to have Pigskin in from Charlotte.

    Hope the Hampton launch went well with an assist from the Gridiron clown car.

    Happy Easter men!  God is good all the time, especially when we are able to reflect on his sacrifice for us!

    Attila

  • Crikey

    5 men and 4 2.0s climbed down from the fartsack trees and gathered in the 70 and sunny weather. Here is what went down

    quick run around the church

    COP all In cadence

    SSH x 10

    Merkins x 10

    LBC x 10

    Arm Circles 10 small, 5 big and reverso

    Four Corners

    Bear Crawl with a Hand Release Merkin every five steps or Lunge with 3 Hand Release Burpees every five steps to corners 1 and 2

    Corner 1 – 10 V-ups

    Corner 2 – 20 Flutter Kicks

    Crawl Bear with a Hand Release Merkin every five steps or Backwards Lunge with 3 Hand Release Burpees every five steps to corners 3 and 4

    Corner 3 – 30 LBCs

    Corner 4 – 40 Supermans (Supermen?)

    Mosey back to the flag

    Numberama

    Namearama

    Chewy took us out

    NMS

    YHC and his crew of 2.0s arrived at the AO with time to spare, to see Emoji waiting for us in the parking lot. The flag was planted and the rest of the PAX came rolling in shortly after. YHC’s younger 2.0s have stated that they want jto Q for their birthday. So the COP was given over to them to count cadence and call the exercises, they look ready, and the PAX should expect something interesting in May.

    Welcome to Koala (Drop Bear). She arrived with a look of determination and stayed with The Carpenter the whole time refusing to not finish with the rest of the PAX. Hope to see you back out soon.

    Quick note. Yardsale is trying to gather volunteers for what sounds like the sketchiest game of bingo in the state. An i think that something about having to do it for Community Service was mentioned.

    Good work was done by all

    As always, it was an honor to lead.

    info on drop bears https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_bear

  • Cross route or a t ?

    19 strong posted for the run this morning and here is how it went down.

    TYA gave the instructions – fella’s we are doing the cross route in honor of Good Friday. Commonwealth to Monument left on Monument to Staples mill – back down Monument left on commonwealth to Broad – back down commonwealth to monument left to Belmont – back up Monument to Commonwealth.  Yep this is the 5 mile route cause YHC did not listen to the streets for the 4 and 6. YHC is assisting with writing the BB for TYA today…

    19 is awesome to have @ RAMM – let’s keep that up dudes!

    So this all started after Splinter texted TYA last night and asked if he was doing the cross route… Yep it was gonna be old school but after brief consideration TYA went with the cross route or as Marv like to say oh we are running a t  – 🙂 The parking lot was coned off so YHC parked on the street – wow been awhile since YHC has done that – but figured that was the right call – gotta keep the school happy – no moving the kindergarten cones..  Everyone seemed to have a good and safe run other than my man BT – who tweaked that back again and was walking like a 90 year old man…. Good news is he went to see our brother Flipper and got that sucker worked on – Flipdog will have him back in action in no time – atta baby Flip! Glad to hear you are feeling better BT! Splinter allowed his daughter to see Feris Bueller’s day off and she did not laugh in the first 15 min which concerned Splinter cause when he walked in and sat down he was rolling with in seconds – hey Splinter try Fletch next man  no way she can’t laugh at that one or maybe Caddyshack – weird science, Major league any of those are sure to have her laughing immediately dude  🙂  Fuudski took us out with some very appropriate and powerful words. We indeed have much to be thankful for but most of all we are thankful for the love and the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior. Good Friday is a time of reflection – Easter is a time of celebration – let us reflect and celebrate this weekend.

    Well done today guys – each of you encourage and inspire me everyday.  See y’all in the gloom..

  • Next exercise: Deer chasers

    5 PAX, and at least 1 deer, ignored the forecast of rain to take on Twin Team.  Rain actually held off until the very end and weather was a glorious 64 degrees.  Spring is now in the gloom:

    COP – Invisible Jumprope, Don Qs, Merkins, Flutterkicks, Scorpion Kicks, & Hillbillies

    Mosey to field behind BW, partner up.  Partner 1 does Pull-ups while other runs field and back.  Switch and repeat. Then head to short side of rectangle (or Square??) for Partner bear crawl.  1st man starts crawling field while other does 10 hand release merkins then runs and switches.  Way back across field Crab Walk.  Plank up sde by side. Last man broad jump over pax. 2 times through. Then Pickle Pounders to catch our breath.

    Head to parking lot.  Burpee lamp post escalator.  1st Light = 1 Burpee, all the way up & down parking lot up to 12th light.  Back to baseball field. Backwards run field, run back then 10 V-Ups.  Bunny Hop field then 20 V-ups.  erMaybe another or 2 rounds in there?? & finish up with Mary of:  1 Leg APDs, Reverse Crunches, Heels2Heaven. Then back to Flag.  Mr. Holla2nd took us out.

    NMS – With 30 seconds to spare we had 3 PAX and YHC had visions of many a Triple check in his head.  Then Bullseye arrived to make an even 4 but Mr Holland followed him in to give us the dreaded 5.

    On the mosey from the COP to the field we stirred some deer in the woods any YHC joked we were going to do Deer chasers next, little did he know the deer would soon agree. On the field a few minutes later while Mr Holland, Rosie, and YHC were running the field a Deer joined us running the same direction. Rosie looked the deer down and the deer knowing Rosie could run it down, veered off. The pax was weary then as where there is one deer more are not far behind.

    The Burpees on the parking lot were tough, by Hardywood math we did 289 Burpees, or by conventional math 78 total. Bullseye and Roscoe put in solid work and Rosie as usual led the Pax.

    Everyone enjoy your Easter weekend.

     

  • Cat Daddy and a Pack of Wool

    19 brave souls posted at 530 for a beatdown in Richmond’s west end.  Spring has sprung.  Shorts and a t-shirt were the uniform for the day.  Jerusalem cruisers were optional.

    The Thang:

    Mosey to side of Tennis courts for COP.  10x Don Quixote’s (Saab did 3), 10x Helicopters, 20x SSH, 20x LBC. Mosey towards Reveille church, stopping along the way for a little bit of exercise at intersections.  Take the short cut to the Reveille, ring of fire with 5x hand release merkins.  Mosey to Windsor Way.  Lung down the yellow brick road, one pax does 5 hand release merkins and 5 WWII setups.  Mosey to church for Elevens.  Swirly picks hand release merkins and Saab picks Burpees as the exercise.  Mosey to other short side of field.  Triple check one pax does WWII setups, second does jump squats and third runs to other side of field and runs backward to other side.  Mosey back to Mary Mumford, again stopping to get a few merkins and setups along the way.  Finish up at 616 in the parking lot.  YHC took us out.

    NMM

    I owe the PAX a minute.  I pride myself of starting and finishing the workout on time (for confirmation of this, please talk to Conspiracy).  We started precisely at 530 GMT (Garmin Mean Time), but we finished 1 minute past the appointed finish time. It is kind of challenging to manage time when you are commuting to a field a half mile away, but a commitment is a commitment and I didn’t meet mine this morning.

    There was a little controversy when I said lets go to the short side of the field.  A few of the PAX asserted that the field was a square and therefore didn’t have  short side.  I think once we ran the short way, it was apparent that it was indeed a rectangle.  Speaking of the field, the dew was heavy this morning and the grass on that field is deep.  Don’t get me wrong, its a nice field (not up to the standards of no toll) but cutting the field once a year or so might be a nice idea.

    Many benefits to the good weather.  No layers of clothing, no need to stay in the car pre workout to stay warm and most of all, no rush to get to the cars post workout. As such, several of us lingered around the AO post workout. For the most part, who know what silly subjects we covered.  One thing that did come up from Vinny was a new code name for a group of women.  There was a group of women running by the AO at around 630 and Vinny said “there goes a pack of wool”.  When someone pointed out that there was one male amongst the women, he simply amended his quote to the backblast title.  I don’t know what that all means, but it was as funny as heck.

    Thanks for all the birthday well wishes.

    TYA OUT

  • Ode to TYA (and Saab)

    4 SOJers posted to Timberwolf to take full advantage of the wonderful weather and maybe the actual arrival of Spring (hopefully).  YHC had a few things in mind to as a tip of the cap to TYA for his birthday and to TYA and Saab for their 100-mile feats… it went something like this:

    Long mosey around the back of the school and over to the large bus parking lot for COP, including:

    • Helicopters
    • Don Quixotes
    • SSHs
    • Imperial Walkers
    • LBCs

    THE THANG

    Route 55 (aka Route 66 in the Exicon)

    Starting at light pole #1 with 1 merkin, then run to light pole #2 and do 2 merkins, and so on and so forth around the parking lot to all 10 light poles for a total of 55 merkins.

    Run it back but with jump squats

    Mosey to the basketball courts

    The TYA/Saab (aka The Wilt Chamberlain in the Exicon)

    Line up on the end line and start with 100 LBCs OYO, then sprint 100 feet to opposite end line and do 100 squats, sprint back to original end line and do 100 2-count flutter kicks, sprint to opposite end line and do 100 lunges (50 each leg), then sprint back to original end line and plank for the six.

    Donkey Kick Filler

    Mosey over to the brick wall and do 20 Donkey Kicks OYO, bear crawl across path, do 10 merkins, crawl bear back to the wall.

    Native American Run long way around bus parking lot and to the front entrance of the school, bottom of the hill for Timberwolf Hill

    Partner up – Partner 1 runs to the top of the hill (3rd lightpost) and back, Partner 2 performs exercise, then flapjack working your way up to the top.  Exercises included: Lunges, Broad-jump Burpees and Polar Bears

    ROF – circle up on our six and hold six inches.  When it is your turn, perform 10 heels to heaven and pass it to the left.

    6MOM – right into some Mary, including:

    • Hello Dollies
    • APDs x 55
    • American Hammers
    • Freddie Mercuries – Jville cadence – slow, then fast, then Jville fast
    • Box Cutters
    • Superman

    COT, Number-rama, name-a-rama and YHC took us out.

    Announcements:

    • CSAUP – you should be tapering
    • Jville has a clown car heading down to Hampton Roads this weekend for the Peninsula Launch – reach out to him if you can ride along

    NMS:

    YHC wanted to give a little SOJ shout out to TYA for his birthday and for his recent 100-mile feat (and a shout out to Saab for the same).  YHC also wanted to focus mostly on running, legs and abs.  When I saw The Wilt Chamberlain, and Route 66 in the Exicon, the plan came together.

    Tclaps and much RESPECT to TYA and Saab for their leadership and dedication to F3RVA and to redefining CSAUP and the boundaries for pushing yourself to the limits.  It is a pleasure and a privilege to be amongst you guys  and to have your character and fortitude permeate across F3RVA.  MUCH RESPECT! And thank you!

    The PAX today pushed through strong on teach exercise.  Way to work guys.

    No More Gumbo For You!

  • A Salute to 25

    6 PAX rolled up to a morning which was much warmer than those in recent memory.  It went down like this.

    COP, IC

    25 SSH         25 LBC’s       25   Arm Circles (small and big)

    25 Helicopters         25 Mountain climbers

    Mosey to bus loop

    4 cones spaced 25 feet apart was the stage.  Starting at the first cone, do KB swings, death crawl to second cone, lawnmowers, death crawl to next cone, halos, death crawl to last cone, sit up presses, lunge back to first cone, that’s one cycle.  Do 5 cycles, starting with 5 reps and going up by 5 each time until you reach 25 during the last cycle.

    Mosey to SF, 25 reps of the following:

    overhead tricep press      American Hammers     Figure 8’s        around the world   Merkins

    on your six, hold 6 inches for 25 seconds, 2 reps

    Numberama, namerama, YHC took us out

    NMS

    YHC was reminded that yesterday was his sister and brother-in-law’s 25th wedding anniversary.  This made YHC feel old and also reminded him of what a great achievement it is to love and work together for 25 years, as these two have a wonderful marriage and 3 great sons.  So YHC decided to honor them by having everything be about 25 today.  Relationships are about many things, including managing the ups and downs through the years, remembering to laugh as often as possible, and above all be kind.  Attempt to show your M the love that Christ shows to us, and in the attempt (while certain to come up short) there is strength and grace.

    As usual, I have No Idea what I’m doing.

  • The Middle Finger Loop

    1 Lonely warrior set out on a Wednesday late afternoon to show Hillcrest the middle finger

    ROUTE 

    Down W Hillcrest Ave, across Charmian Rd, up/down Hillwood Rd (aka The Middle Finger), across Charmian Rd, Up E Hillcrest Ave for a one mile loop. YHC completed called it a short day and completed 4 loops.

    MOLESKIN

    Swirly had texted YHC early in the day noted that both him and TYA had family obligations and ask YHC to take the Q.  YHC decided to do the small loop but with the twist. Not sure if this route has been named yet but YHC is call it the “Middle Finger”

    SPIT ON THAT!!

     

  • Preblast: Clown Car from RVA to Saturday’s Hampton launch

    I have a clown car headed to the Peninsula launch of F3 Hampton Roads at Oyster Point in Hampton this coming Saturday, March 31. I would prefer to fill it up.

    I will depart Midlothian around 5AM. If I can make a stop by Ellwood Thompsons between 5:25 and 5:35 to pick up residents of that area. Workout will be from 0700 to 0800. We will enjoy Coffeeteira with the locals for an hour or so, which should get us back home before noon.

    Please text me if you interested in coming along for the ride (804-357-0949).

    Cheers! Jville

  • Double Nickel

    12 brave souls emerged from the fartsack for a beautiful March morning.  Weather is turning to springtime finally and the temperature was a perfect 70 and sunny for the workout

    The Thang

    Mosey towards the road to the lake.  COP.  55 SSH, 30 arm circles, 10 windmills.  Mosey across the street and towards the lake.  Partner up for the Double Nickel.  First partner runs to the light, does five burpees and returns, second partner doing exercises.  Exercises are 55 hand release merkins, 155 jump squats, 255 WWII setups, 355, SSH, 455 LBC.  Mosey a few feet and grab a curb for curb crawls.  Ascending and descending to 5, repeating 5.  Exercises are incline and decline hand release merkins.  Mosey back towards the shovel flag, stop at intersection for five hand release merkins.  Circle up for ring of fire, 5 hand release merkins a piece  Final exercise is american hammers x 55.  Mosey to the flag and TYA took us out.

    NMM

    Birthday Q’s are always fun, that and I haven’t been to Wdog in a bit.  That made for a great return for me.  I really love the AO as there are so many things to do there and the variety makes the workouts interesting.  Theme of the day centered around the age.  Usually I don’t really give a hoot about how old I am, but for some reason, the double nickel has been really bothering me.  Being the numbers guy, I keep doing the stupid math.  for example, I am as close to Wheelbarrows age as I am to 82, I am as close to Splinters age as I am to 71.  Shit, that f$5k’ing old.  But, not a lot you can do about it.  I’ll keep the same philosophy I’ve been using for years.  Do as much as you can do now, hit it hard, and try to be in at least as good a shape next year as you are today.

    On the double nickel, we broke up into pairs.  As everyone was pairing up, I ended up being the odd man out.  No problem, I teamed up with Swirly and Sippy (not a bad pair of dudes to have on your team) and jumped into the exercises.  It all made sense to me until the COP when we counted off and had an even number of guys (12).  How the heck was there an odd man out when there were 12 guys there.  Circle K thought he was the odd man out as well and joined one of the other teams.  Note to self.  When Q’ing if you can count the guys out there, you might avoid having two odd men out.

    The double nickel was a long exercise and took us about a half hour to complete.  it was not, however, the exercise that got the most complaints.  The incline hand release merkins were tough.  There were two challenges.  First, you definitely had to look out for the dental work.  Too quick a movement or the wrong positioning of the body and you were in trouble.  Second, pushing up your whole upper body from an incline position is challenging. YHC had to rely on a kipping motion to be able to get his body off the ground after the first several rounds.

    TSB (my daughter Leigh) and MLWK (my lovely wife Kay) surprised us with breakfast and OJ at the end of the workout.  I couldn’t have been happier to see them out there today.  It is the little things in life that make you feel special.  My daughter thinking of doing that for me and them both willing to get up at 530 to pull it off is something Ill remember for a long time.

    Theme of the day is Urgency.  We always think that we can do something tomorrow or in a year.  Live life today.  Acknowledge the precious time you have in life and use it to the fullest.  What a blessing that we have the capability and means to do just about anything we want.  Seize the day!

    TYA OUT