Category: Richmond, VA

  • Dirt Church, Happy Birthday Edition.

    While most of the congregation was away enjoying the fading last days of summer down at the Rivah, a couple regulars, a newbie, and a test driver started Sunday in the woods.

    Profit** brought a couple different bikes and a guy who will end up buying one of ’em.  And even though we’ve seen him a bunch of times, neither Profit nor I recognized E.F. Hutton, who decided to have his first real mountain bike experience with us.    Maybe it was the beard that threw us… maybe the lack of glasses (he wears glasses, doesn’t he?)… either way, there he was, all primed and ready to go.

    The day prior, three new trails were unveiled so we figured why not give some of ’em a whirl, and we planned to ride them until we read the sign that said “Most Difficult” with the black diamond and the skull & crossbones, and such, so we noped out of those, but instead decided Sunsetter’s brand new extension would be just fine for us.  And it was.  Sunsetter from the very top should be on everyone’s list.  They added not quite a mile to it, all as flowy as the rest, with just a few rock garden’ish things to contend with.  From there we did the usual route: Bell Return, Blueberry Hill, and just to leave with smiles on our faces, Blue Jay Way back out.

    You couldn’t tell that Hutton had never ridden his bike in the woods.  No slouch at all.  Couple more Sundays and he’ll be killing it.

    Eleven point seven miles, six hundred feet of climbing, in an hour and a half.

    ** Sunday was his sixty-friggin’-third birthday.  Even in the wrong shoes, he was pretty much killing it on the 29er.   HBD!

  • Iron Pax Modified

    7 Davillians where able to make it out on the first day of school and enjoy the last workout of the summer.

    This is how it went down:

    Mosey to the track next to Cool Spring ES

    COP (ALL IC) – SSH, DQ, LBC’s, Dying Cockroach, Imperial Walkers, Arm Circles

    THANG

    4 Corners (with a Iron PAX twist)

    While running around the track stop every 100 meters and complete exercises:

    1. 25 Pull Ups
    2. 25 Merkins
    3. 25 Squats Thrust w/ Coupon
    4. 25 Lunges then sprint 25 yards

    Rinse and Repeat till Q called time

    PAX then mosey back to the SF while switching who would be hallelujahing the coupons

    Numberama, Namerama, Announcements, OPUS took us out

    MOLESKIN

    Last week was the finally week of the nation Iron PAX challenge and since YHC did not have a bootcamp Q a “modified” version was put together so those not participating (everyone but YHC) could enjoy.

    The orginal challenge calls to complete 1 mile run then 50 pull ups, part 2, 3, 4 four times, follow by another 50 pull ups, and finish with a mile run. The PAX was able to get the 2 miles completed and 3/4 of the exercises while focusing on form. Not bad!

    Flounder asked why the PAX seemed light today. Since he is a double hate with no kids, we had to explain what happens on the first day of school.

    TClaps goes out to Spike today who not only crushed the workout but ran to the AO and back giving him a total of 4 miles.

    ANNOUNCEMENTS

    SPIT ON THAT!!

  • No Visitors for the Ghost Flag…No Problem, we’ll just do an Old Glory

    14 SOJ redwoods rose for the occasion and to defend the Ghost Flag against any and all comers.  There were none, but we were ready nonetheless.  So, while YHC had a variation of an Old Glory in mind for the Ghost Flag competition, given that home turf didn’t need defending, I decided we would just do the good old fashioned Old Glory itself….always a crowd pleaser and it has been a while.

    Getting right down to business, YHC grabbed Old Glory and took off for the fields in the back of NoToll.  This was the first Old Glory for a handful of guys – Doozy (of course), Slim Shady and maybe Cerano and Beaker.  Maybe for others also  as I didn’t see Posh, Olivander or Flatline listed on the spreadsheet — although that could just be that history has not been recorded.

    Gents, this is truly a You vs. You workout.  What is also great about Old Glory is that you can see results.  I forgot to everyone’s laps, so click on the Google Sheet below and add your own or leave it in the comments and I will update the spreadsheet.

    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Dx2qsu9vXun_NFgeD0GDKwQ6G2f5a-AKQq4IYk2eAJY/edit?ts=570f9ddd#gid=1836884263

    We finished with Indian Run style for our last mile and then a few minutes of Mary and some variety tempo Freddie Mercuries to close it out.

    COT, COR, NOR and YHC took us out.

    Announcements:

    • BRR is this weekend.  The F3RVA team is strong is going to kill it…as long as they don’t let Saab behind the wheel!
    • F3RVA 4-year anniversary coming up, Saturday, September 22 at Dogpile – workout at 0600.  Run/Race (maybe teams?) at 0700 and Fellowship/cookout at 0800 — In the FALL (if that is what we are in) it is never too early on a Saturday morning to crack open a beer and fire up the grill!
    • CSAUP 10/20 — running and more running…Wilson’s dream day.
    • The Ghost Flag will be up for grabs again soon…stay tuned.

    NMS:

    First and foremost, it was hot, it was muggy and the fields of NoToll were wet…so, in other words, all was right in the world.  The sprinklers provided optional relief from the heat if you so chose and left some serious muddy spots to watch out for.  Olivander found the drainage area earlier on.  After that who cares right?

    It was great to get a few miles in and work the body out along the way.  I hoped the few BRR guys would pace themselves and leave some in the tank for Thursday and then Rosie and Honeymoon left the group in the dust.  Well done fellas.

    FNG-Eric (Doozy) came in on foot.  Impressive for an FNG.  Running is definitely not a weakness for Doozy.  He is from Charlotte originally but he’s been in RVA for 5 years.  He recently started training for a Spartan and when he looked up “how to train” the interwebs pointed him to us. Welcome Doozy – way to push through the Old Glory.  We look forward to see you back out soon and to helping you do more than just train for a Spartan.

    Great job this morning men.  Thanks for posting.

    No More Gumbo For You!

  • Running with the Devil

    A hot and humid fourteen broke away from post-holiday slumbers and kids getting ready for school to get a few miles in.  YHC called the Devil’s Pitchfork and off we went with 4, 5, and 6 mile variants.

    Marv took us out.

    NMS

    YHC knew Honey Do would be posting to conclude the Summer Tour.  What better way to defend yourself against the Silent Assassin than with a Devil’s Pitchfork?  Way to go completing the Summer Tour!

    Labrat’s apologies of the day has to go to the runner we ran into along our route who he felt compelled to criticize.  The dude was running in the dark and probably didn’t see you.  If he is who HD and I think he is, it was no offense.  Also, you owe me 42 burpees.

    Welcome Shotgun!  Cool name and we hope you will rejoin us sometime soon.

    BRR runners looked ready to roll this morning.  Glad I could send them off nice and easy with a few hills.  You are welcome.  Remember, there is a…..

    Time to Taper,

    Lockjaw

  • Döner Kebab’s NFL Survivor Pool

    F3RVA.ORG Pax,
    I’ve run an NFL Survivor Pool for 10+ years now. From Opus to Wedding Singer to TYA to L, several of the RVA Pax have played for the last years. I’m posting this to invite you to consider playing as well….

    Rules are simple: Pick 1 team per week to win; no spreads. If your team wins, you survive to the next week. If your team loses you’re eliminated. 1 Survivor. Winner takes all. The catch: you cannot use the same team more than once per year. So, if you pick the Patriots in Week 1, you cannot use the Patriots for the rest of the year.

    $10 entry. Winner takes all.

    Last year, The Chicken Whisperer (my 8-year-old son Joseph) won the league….simply by picking against the Cleveland Browns whenever possible.

    To join, follow this link: http://cltelim.football.cbssports.com/e?ttag=FFBC18_cpy_invite_new_mt
    The league password is: redskins#1

    Good luck!

    Peace, love and Derrius Guice,
    Döner Kebab

  • A DaVille Labor Day Takeover

    43 Redwood including several 2.0’s and one FNG from near and far arrived in the north for a labor day convergence. The shovel flags were planted, YHC asked the PAX to circle up and gave the disclaimer, then we went to work.

    This how it went down:

    Warm Up (PAX Choice) – Follow Spit for a lap around the large lake for about a 3/4 mile run or stay with Mudface and swing around the kettlebell some.

    Circle up and pass the Q to Opus

    The Tubthumping – Run in place and do a burpee whenever the words “I get knocked down” are sung in Chumbawamba’s Tubthumping. Plank and do mountain climbers in between the “I get knocked down” moments.

    Pass the Q back to Spit

    COP (ALL IC) – SSH, DQ, Helicopters, LBC’s, Arm Circles

    THANG

    (split into two groups: 1st group stay with Spit and 2nd group goes with The Carpenter)

    Group 1
    Spit’s Q

    Grab a cinder block and mosey to the far field

    Bears & Blocks – Get on all fours (like you are doing a bear crawl) with your Cinder Block on the grass between your knees or feet. Reach between your legs and pull the Block across the grass passed your head. Now, bear crawl forward until the Block is between your feet again, and keep repeating across the length of the field.

    20 Coupon Swings

    Lunge & Blocks – With the cinder block overhead lunge back across the field

    Mosey back to the SF’s to drop of the blocks

    Opus’ Q

    Circle up

    Tabata – 20 sec all you got and 10 second rest. 8 sets of the following: Merkins and Werkins. 1 minute rest then 8 sets of WW2 Situps and American Hammers

    Helix’s Q

    11’s – Dirty Dog and Donkey’s Kick

    Group 2
    The Carpenter’s Q

    Mosey towards the first lake. Stop at the pile of rocks. Pick up a rock and “hallelujah walk” to the pavilion. 

    Count off by 2’s.
    1’s start at the picnic tables under the pavilion. 2’s circle the pavilion on the outside.

    1’s do the following all IC
    5 skull crushers, 5 dips, 5 skull crushers on other side.
    Repeat with 10 reps, 15 reps, 10 reps, 5 reps.

    2’s do the following all with the same IC
    5 SSHs, 5 hand release merkins, 5 SSHs
    Repeat with 10 reps, 15 reps, 10 reps, 5 reps.

    Switch (2’s to the pavilion, 1’s outside the pavilion) and repeat the sets…

    Pick up rock and “hallelujah walk” back to the pile and toss the rock back.

    Spike’s Q

    Mosey to the field.

    11s – 1 burpee, 10 WWII sit-up

    Circle up for 5 MOM – Burpee Shuffle 

    Numberama, Namerama, Announcements, Bodo’s took us out

    MOLESKIN

    A great turn out for this convergence. With school starting tomorrow and several PAX enjoying the summer one last time, YHC wasn’t sure what the turn out would be. The AO was secured not by Big Blue this morning, Mudface was the first to arrived. YHC and The Carpenter were not far behind. The trio set up the AO and went over the plan of attack. The PAX keep rolling in while YHC asked a few DaVillians before hand to planned to Q at some point. It seemed DaVille had the largest showing with 16 (including 2.0’s) PAX members. Glad we had a great turn out for a workout in our backyard.

    Mumble chatter was heavy in the beginning especially during the run. YHC could hear Lab Rat even when he was on the other side of the Lake. As time went it on it did seemed to get quieter.

    Most of the PAX were experiencing Opus’ newest exercise The Tubthumping for the first time. Opus told YHC later one it was hard to explain what to do because he was so out of breath from Mudface’s kettlebell exercises. It took a little while but the PAX seemed to catch on.

    YHC would like to thank all those that help make this happen including Papa Spit for catering the food.

    Please feel free to share you favorite moments in the comments.

    ANNOUNCEMENTS

    SPIT ON THAT!!

  • Hillbilly Mangos

    9 trail warriors rose to greet the dawn of a new day.  According to legend it went a little something like this.

    Counter clockwise trail loop to Potterfield bridge and back for 7 miles plus.

    Namerama, numberama, YHC took us out.

    Moleskin: Great to have FNGs O’Really and Shortcut.  Way to work fellas.  Hope we see you guys back out soon.  Gomer Pyle got in his miles early as he was going to be singing in church today.  We are all looking forward to hearing about how his spiritual rendition of She Drives Me Crazy was accepted by the congregation. Saab got in extra miles this morning and he is ready to roll the BRR.

    Good luck to the guys running BRR his weekend!

    News:  Labor Day Convergence is tomorrow at 3 Lakes Park. If you haven’t started driving, you probably won’t make the start.  At this point you’ll need a bullet train or a pterodactyl to get you there in time.  4 Year Anniversary Convergence at Dogwood Dell on 9/22.  CSAUP on October 20th, see TYA for details.

    Be super,

    Hardywood

  • Did Not Forget the Burpees

    YHC was excited to get back in the saddle after a long sabbatical in Wyoming.  Six solid redwoods joined me for a beatdown that built to a crescendo..  Here is how it went down:

    • COP
      • Parking lot tracers
      • 25 SSH
      • 15 IW
      • 15 cherry pickers
      • 10 2x merkins
      • 25 2x LBC
      • 10 helicopters

      Mosey to the jerkin gym for 3x 8 reps

    • Mosey to the lower practice field for a beast
      • Merkins
      • Copperhead squats
      • WWII sit-ups
      • Crab cakes
      • Monkey humpers
      • Wide grip merkins
    • Mosey to the pillars for 25 pole smokers, 30 APD, 25 pole smokers
    • Mosey to the softball field for a modified arch loader – named crawl from RF to CF; run to LF; 10 burpees; run back to RF
      • Bear crawl
      • Crab walk
      • Bunny hop
      • Karaoke run
      • Crawl bear
    • 30 APD
    • Mosey back to the parking lot for ring of fire with 10 merkins
    • 10 burpees with Deep Run CC runners
    • COT with YHC taking us out; coffeetaria at Einsteins

    Great work by the PAX today.  The modified arch loader with burpees was a real burner, putting many of the PAX in the red.  Of course that did not stop White Deer from making some new friends with some of the Deep Run cross country team.  As many of you have seen with the summer tour, White Deer will talk to anyone.  He will challenge anyone, even if you are ¼ his age and superior in fitness.  Those last 10 burpees were brutal.

    Great work by Baby Back and Kru today.  Good to have those men back with us.

    Remember that the Labor Day convergence is Monday at Three Lakes Park (7 am).

    God is good all the time!

    Attila

  • That time already?

    That’s right! BRR is NEXT week. That means it’s time for the Wilson NO Running – Stage Ground & Pound workout.

    OK – YHC needs to get this out first thing. The music selection and volume was not great. It will be corrected for next year. In fact, I am thinking of testing it a few times throughout the year…………be warned. YHC was really excited to try some new things this year – Partner Exercises. That whole odd/even struggle with YHC was happening even before we started.

    The video attached is one of my favorites from 5FDP. Enjoy. Swirly go find a wall………………….then find the song The Bleeding from 5FDP and you’ll be able to bench 380. 🙂

    26 strong men and one incredible young lady got right into the action. NO COP! Too much to accomplish. Head directly to the stage. Wait….is there a dude sleeping on MY stage. Did he not get the memo??? Audible – circle up in the enter area right in front of the stage. If he’s gonna take MY stage we are gonna make it hard to sleep.

    Here are the exercises. Many thanks to Vinnie for being the ring girl this year. YHC still loves ya.

    Partner Shoulder Press, Monkey Humpers, Arm Circles (who knew that would be so damn hard), Partner Leg Toss, Active Dead Cockroach – Partner Hand Punch, Imperial Walkers, Calf Raises, Shoulder Tap Merkins, Squats, SSH, Alabama Prom Date, 6 Inch Hold & LBC’s.

    Lots of mumble chatter early on today and lots of catching up with PAX who you might not have seen in a while. Who knew THE Carpenter & YHC were born in the SAME hospital in Summit, NJ? It was cool to hear where everyone was born and what high school they went to (some were sounding a little attached to the high school years). For those who missed this workout, Posh actual spoke during the workout! LOL

    THE Carpenter took us out.

  • Where’s the Track?

    Twenty Four gentlemen ran decided to start this Friday off right by biking or running.  Before 5:30 AM, several PAX members preparing for the BRR took for additional miles.  At 5:30 AM, the professional and amateur bikers left.  This is what the rest of the running PAX did.

    The Thang

    Using Brocode, run east on Grove and take a left onto Antrim.  Run to Thomas Jefferson High School.  Pair up with a running equal and then alternate running 400s for about 24 minutes.  PAX members ran 7 to 9 400s.  Some PAX members did a slow lap around the track and then all ran back to Mary Munford for about 4 miles.

    COT – Numberama, Name-o-rama, Announcements, Wheelie took us out.

    NMS

    A few weeks ago, YHC participated in the Richmond Road Runner’s Club summer track series at UR.  For one of the event, YHC and Betsy Ross (2.0) ran the 8000 relay in which each teammate alternated running 400s.  After completing this, YHC thought this would be a great RAMM workout including those preparing for the BRR.  After the mile warm-up run to TJ this morning, YHC gave the instruction to step onto the track.  As he stepped onto the track, he had trouble identifying where the track was because it was dark and the grass had overtaken the track.  After some discussion, Splinter pointed out a one foot path around the track.  Once this was discovered, off we went.  Little mumblechatter occurred while waiting for the partner to complete his run.  As we finished the 400s, most PAX members took a slow walk back to Antrim and then ran back to Mary Munford.  Its funny how running less miles like today can be so challenging.

    Congratulations to Offshore for completing the summer challenge today by taking an amateur bike ride.

    It was great partnering with Swiper today during the alternating 400s.  Well done to Sippy and Saab for pushing the pace.  Our groups were together the entire 24 minutes and it was exhausting.

    ANNOUNCEMENTS
    • Labor Day Convergence at Three Lakes Park – Sept 3rd at 7:00. See Pre-Blast
    • F3 RVA’s 4 Year Anniversary Convergence – Sept 22nd starting at 6:00. Runners and Non-Runners are needed.  See Pre-Blast

    Gotta Run!

    Phonics