Category: Richmond, VA

  • Time Trials at River Run

    5 veterans posted on this beautiful and cool morning for some flat time trials at River Run.  YHC charted an almost 2-mile loop and challenged the PAX to complete as many loops as possible in 45 minutes.  Rosie took off like he was shot our of a canon and completed 3+ loops and more than 6 miles.  Swiper and Honeymoon deviated from the course a bit here and there and completed just under 6 miles.  YHC and Singer kept a strong hold on the six and logged just under 5 miles.  Well done by all.

    No more Gumbo for you!

  • Lone Southsider

    1 runner posted at OTB to get in a few Sunday morning miles.  After waiting around an extra minute or two hoping for a LIFO YHC hit the streeets around Midlothian.  A short loop was initially planned but an exploration of local neighborhoods pushed the mileage closer to 6.

    YHC considered not posting a BB but in the end, wanted the Big Data credit.

  • The Piccolo and a Hoedown

    Seventeen Tuckahoeians (Tuckahoegans?) gathered around the bus loop for their first ever Hoedown.  5 arrived on foot, only one brave sole one 2 wheels, the others by traditional means.  The excitement was high this morning.  Mosey to the giant paved ocean for COP:

    COP
    SSH x20
    MC x20
    Arm Circles forward / backwards x15
    Copperhead Squats x15

    The Thang
    Mosey to the front of the school for some Dora.  Partner up for a combined 100/200/300 of 3 different exercises.  Exercises were incline merkins, box jumps, LBCs.  One partner runs down the sidewalk & stairs to the parking lot & returns while the other performs exercises.  Plankorama when done.

    Slide around to the back of the school by the gym for the first iteration of triple check.  Jerkins, Al Gore while third partner bear crawls down the hill and back up.  More Al Gore while the PAX completes.

    Pass to Lockjaw for indigenous people pole smoker run.  Everyone grab a pole (virtual or otherwise) and complete flutter kicks.  Person at the end of the line does 5 HTH then runs to the front.  Complete 2 times through.

    Quick skip over to the concrete pad by the bus loop.  Second round of triple check including BTTW, elbow plank and lap around the bus loop.

    Potporri of exercises to close us out including 25 donkey kicks, ring of fire, box cutters and APDs.

    BOM & Honeydo took us out.

    Moleskin
    Heck of a great first morning for a Hoedown.  YHC would have been happy with 5 or 6 but in the end we had 17.  Two Can was happy that he could wake up and drive 90 seconds to the AO.  He was still LIFO.

    They AO may be small, but there are plenty of areas to explore.  No lack of jungle gyms to use for various exercises.  The back field may be best used during a full moon as it is quite dark back there.

    Fudd announced to the PAX the exact location where he learned to play the piccolo.  He may have been by himself while he was learning.  Not exactly sure.

    Great to see faces YHC normally sees scattered across the various AOs.  Hoedown is on the Q signup sheet so sign up for weeks to come.

    Announcements
    – RRRC Turkey Trot registration opened.  Registration here.  Great turkey day run.
    – Bear creek registration open also.  First Sunday in December.

    Splinter out

  • 2 Pauls and 1 not-so-Paul

    3 pax shook off the cobwebs of yesterday’s convergence and overall taxing week to test out this new weather….50 degrees at start time!  Welcome to Fall (finally).  Here is what transpired:

    Route: Buttermilk to Belle Isle, take the down river trail around to the pedestrian bridge and back on North Bank.  Classic route, with the Garmin variability putting the pax somewhere between 6 3/4 and 6 7/8 miles.

    NMS:

    A stunning morning for a trail run had the Pauls confused about what to wear….both had long sleeve shirts on.  Lab Rat got the closest by wearing 1 standard t-shirt, but the right call was to go sans shirt (obviously).

    The cooler temps really brought the scenery out, and several dear (yes, that’s spelled correctly) were spotted this morning.  TYA claims that one of the said dear did a double take in the direction of Lab Rat, but YHC thinks it was probably due to Lab Rat wearing sandals, so the dear thought she was getting a glimpse of renowned trail heart-throb, Patton Gleason.  She was surely disapointed to find it was just some schlub with cool shoes.

    Mumblechatter was heavy on the convergence yesterday (I think that happened, but havent seen the bb yet), but sprinkled in with other usual topics that included what body part is hurting this week and upcoming races.  Just the two of us at ET’s for a quick bite and coffee, but we made the most of it.

    Since this is the first non-Tuckahoe bb in quite some time, let me just say that the Tuckahoe guys absolutely crushed it this week!  This was a whole new level in takeovers, what with the uniforms and choreographed Q’s.  The takeover of the podcast was an awesome grand finale that was pulled off with impeccable timing.  Well done to all.

    Apology of the week goes to Bleeder of all people…..sorry for making fun of your red shorts! #sorrynotsorry

    Lab Rat apologizes…

  • Recap of F3RVA’s Third Anniversary Convergence

    The 3rd Anniversary Convergence was a double-dip extravaganza to celebrate three years of F3RVA.  Thirty-nine (39) of the faithful gathered in the darkness at 0600 at GridIron, and forty-three (43) of the faithful, plus seven (7) FNGs — fifty (50) in all — gathered at 0700. By my number-cruncing, it added up to 60 different people posting at one or both workouts, with 10 posting early and not late, 21 posting late and not early, and the balance double-dipping.  It was a perfect early autumn morning, and the grass, sand, and pavement were bathed in chilly morning dew, which we promptly began rolling around in (and face-planting into).

    0600 RECAP —

    ChumBucket took the initial Q on the GridIron with the PAX occupying most of the west half of the football field in almost complete darkness.  Chum gave a brief disclaimer, and led the following warmup sequence: Invisible Jump Ropes x 25, Don Quixotes x 20, LBCs x 30, Carolina Dry Docks x 15, Imperial Walkers x 20, Helicopters x 20, and Arm Circles x 15 (forward and reverse).

    Hand-off to Rosie, who ran the centerpiece of the early workout — a terrible-awful Charles Bronson, followed by one leg of a merican beast.

    Hand-off to WhiteDeer, who ran wheelbarrows from one sideline to the other, and then back again.  He then ran a boat/canoe series that must have been very effective based on vocal grumble-chatter coming out of the PAX.  Or maybe he ran the boat/canoes first.  All I know is that he was liberal with his constructive (??) criticism of others as to their form.

    Brief rapid-fire Mary ad hoc by ChumBucket to permit Johnsonville to retrieve a record-keeping pad from his sporty Camry (no, TYA, that does not constitute “clipboarding’).  Mary series included Hello Dollys x 15, APDs x 15, Box Cutters x 15, and LBCs x 15 with some leg lift holds in between.

    Number-a-rama, Name-a-rama, and COT with Wilson taking us out.  I suppose “Hey God, it’s me, Wilson …” is better than “Hey God, it’s me, Sugar Sock …”

    0700 RECAP —

    Johnsonville took the initial Q briefly in the center of the 50 yard line. The COP stretched from sideline to sideline. He gave a brief disclaimer, and started the fun with 25x SSH, 10x mericans, and 20 hillbillies.

    Hand-off to Phonics, who continued the warmup with a machine-gun COP.  I have no recollection what Phonics did, but he claims it was as follows:

    10 Lunges IC
    10 Don Quixotes IC
    10 Helicopters IC
    10 Ball Dippers
    Plank-O-Rama which included
    10 Carolina Dry Docks/Merkins IC
    10 Angles Knee Jumps IC
    10 Side Elbow Planks Hip Dips
    10 Inverted Alabama Prom Dates IC
    10 Side Elbow Planks Hip Dips
    10 Rotating Elbow Planks IC
    10 Foot to Hand Mountain Climbers
    10 Carolina Dry Docks/Merkins IC (End of Plank-O-Rama)
    20 LBCs IC
    20 Freddie Mercuries IC
    5 Burpees on your own

    Hand-off back to Johnsonville who introduced small group leaders, Offshore, Spit, WeddingSinger, and the HoneyDo/Upchuck team and divided the PAX into respective teams. For the next 45 minutes, the four teams rotated through each of the following for stations:

    • Station 1 (pavilion behind playground ~ Offshore’s team started here) —  Alternate between Dips and Abyss merkins between picnic tables.  PAX rotates around outside of picnic tables doing 5 two-count dips in cadence, then rotating to the next spot. When several men get to a spot in the rotation, they go inside for 5 one-count abyss merkins instead of dips.
    • Station 2 (volleyball court ~ Spit’s team started here) —  Jacob’s Ladder (bear crawling) – Start at one side of the volleyball court, bear crawl to the other side, complete one burpee, bear crawl back to the other side, complete 2 burpee. Rinse and repeat till completing 7 burpee (or the whistle is blown).
    • Station 3 (track area ~ Wedding Singer’s team started here) — 1/4 mile sprints/runs, with no man left behind, meaning everyone goes back to get the six when they complete their lap. 20 count between laps. continue until whistle blows.
    • Station 4 (front of school ~ HoneyDo’s team started here) — Donkey Kicks (ladder or fixed count) — Run around loop.

    Regroup in center of GridIron field for brief closing COP with Johnsonville leading Mary consisting of mountain climbers and pickle pounders.

    Number-a-rama, Name-a-rama, and COT with Attila taking us out

    MOLESKIN:

    [FROM JOHNSONVILLE]  It was an incredible honor and privilege to organize this event and to pull together some of our best leaders from around F3RVA to showcase what we do day in and day out.  Each of the leaders contributed their part of these workouts, and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to get a double-dose of gloom.  Thank you all!

    Particular thanks goes out to Hardywood for organizing a fantastic catered breakfast from http://eggheadrva.com/.  The food was excellent, and the catering was very convenient.  Please do not forget to consider EggHeadRVA for your breakfast catering needs!!  Also, please do not forget to reimburse Hardywood if you reserved some food.  

    Guinea, being rather scholarly despite how he may come across, informed me of the actual definition (not urban dictionary definition, mind you) of “merkin.”  See here if you dare.   At least in my mind, that is not quite in sync with F3 ideals and culture.   As you probably know, the name of the common F3 exercise derives from “American-style Push-up,” or, if you happen to be a Bush or from the South, ” ‘merican-style.”  I suggest we spell and pronounce it Merican.

    [FROM UPCHUCK] Nice work this morning fellas and Pinkie. Way to dominate the 4 stations.  Hats off to FNGs Banner and Shrek. Way to push through a tough set of donkey kicks and WWII sit ups. Those are unforgiving.

    Gomer Pyle provided his usual energy this morning providing a fine example of how to crawl, get sandy, and do burpees. Well done. YHC Peyton Manning has to give some feedback to Hardywood Brad Paisley on the abyss mericans. Not quite perfect form. Almost there. Close. Basically, almost there.

    Luckily, Hardywood redeemed himself by organizing the finest of breakfasts. Yum, yum. Thanks to Nate for doing the cooking. TClaps on that aioli. What a pleasure to lead this fine group. Way to push through hour 2. Great showing in the gloom this morning, gentlemen!

    [FROM OFFSHORE]: YHC was continually haunted by “If you can’t Q it, don’t do it” because of being smoked by the preceding leaders’ exercises, the difficulty of the stations, and the ability of the PAX in his group to just crush the exercises. The Q often found himself as the six and Splinter, Mulder, and Phonics routinely led the PAX. Many thanks to Jville for organizing an epic beatdown.

    Respectfully, Johnsonville

  • Form Police 2.0

    Nineteen came out to The Creek for the final day of Tuckahoe Takeover. 10 men and 9 2.0s made for a fun beatdown, start with run around church.

    COP – SSH, Don Qs, Flutterkicks, Merkins, Scorpion Kicks, then tell Pax Form Friday required all pax to call out bad form. Anyone calls out bad form all pax run to end of parking lot and back.

    Head to Benches for Donkey Kicks and run 3 rounds. Plank up, bad form called.

    Head to curb for Bear Crawls and 15 Merkins, Lunges & Jump Squats  (good shooting form), lights go out so mosey to light at entrance for Pan-Pax Burpees then some mary. Mosey back to benches for AMRAP Dips, 2 sets. Back to the front for slow count Merkins and some more Mary.

    NMS – The 2.0s got into the Bad Form Police theme quickly. They seemed to really enjoy the ability to throw things off, we must have ran 5 times per their bad firm calls. YHC really enjoyed it and watching the 9 2.0s, including 3 FNGs, was beyond cool.

    Emoji brought a 2.0 not his own, not sure if that is normal.  Good to meet some Daville pax like Tea Party and Pit Bull.

    Spit was not kidding that the lights go out at 5:50. YHC was not prepared for it to be that dark.

    Silent Assassin signing off

     

  • Form Friday meets Friday Murph

    Five Twin Team regulars, one visitor from NOJ and one FNG gathered at Twin Team for a last Friday of the month ritual.  Huddle up to exchange pleasantries and quickly greet the FNG who ran to the workout.  Focus today was on form, which I can attest made this workout awesome.  This is basically what we did.

    1 mile warm up.  Work our way to James River Rd and head toward the school.  Dodge the various cars traveling on this road (strange for 530 in the morning at a school) and work our way all the way around JRHS, behind the gym, past the football and baseball fields before meeting up at the Weaver playground.

    The Murph
    Since this was Form Friday, the focus was on… you got it, form.  Rather than the traditional breakdown of The Murph into 10 sets, the PAX was instructed to break down into 20 sets.  Therefore, it looked something like this:

    5 full extension pullups
    10 nose to the ground merkins
    15 90 degree or less squats

    Repeat 20 times for a total of 100/200/300.

    No time for a final mile so we just sprinted back to the flag.

    Moleskin
    Many thanks to Rosie for reminding TT of the last Friday of the month ritual at TwinTeam.  YHC had thought The Murph had disappeared as it appears as if Honeymoon has difficulties with data quality.  Never fear, data fixed and all is well in the world.

    This was YHCs first experience with The Murph and man is it complete punishment.  Can’t wait to try it again with the normal # of sets to compare.  Smaller number of reps with a higher number of sets was indeed challenging.

    Not sure if this typically happens in The Murph but conversation went sideways for a bit.  Mr Roper started telling stories about his college roommate only to have Rosie retort Swirly’s famous prison quote.  Hmmmmm…

    Good catching up with everyone in SOJ today.  Welcome Cameron (DeVito) who received his name as he was born in the same hospital on the same day as Rosie.  They aren’t exactly twins and Cameron doesn’t look like the governator so DeVito it is.

    See everyone @ Convergence.

    Splinter out

  • Pre-Blast: Learn To Brew day at Lab Rat’s

    Pre-Blast: Learn To Brew day at Lab Rat’s

    Pax,

    After the convergence, Helix and I will be making a beer together at the Ratskeller.  I have no other plans, and minimal beer, but I have a grill and a grocery store nearby.  There will be at least one set of corn hole, possibly the unveiling of another…depending on if Ronaldo works as fast as he runs.

    All are welcome, ’cause my wife is out of town!  I will give the downstairs bathroom a once over in case she finds out about this.

    We will be kicking off by meeting at Original Gravity (in Lakeside, by Lewis Ginter) at 10:00 a.m. to gather ingredients.  We will then mosey over to my house to start the brew day.  Weather is going to be gorgeous!  Swing by for a minute or the afternoon.

    Ratskelller address:

    9212 Wagon Ct

    Mechanicsville, VA 23116

    phone:  804-263-3570

  • The Smell of College

    Six of us met at the TT location for some hills and HDHH.  Not as many hills as #rollercoaster but fun was still had by all.

    Start at Kuba Kuba Dos.  Run down Sunset to University.  Cross college & take the path around the lake.  2 PAX stopped to water the plants along the way.  Do a loop up Gateway, by the stadium and back down.  Back around the lake and return more or less the same way we started.

    UR campus looks significantly different at 1730 vs 0530.  Swirly coined it perfectly with his “This is the smell of college” comment.

    Few quick cervezas at KKD post run, some staying longer than others.

  • Fudd Friday at RAMM

    15 middle aged wannabe rock stars fought off the grip of the fartsack to run (or bike) into the darkness at Mary Munford this morning.  Upchuck took the Q for RAMM Gears and YHC was in charge of RAMM.  Here’s what happened, more or less:

    Everyone mosey west on Grove and take a left on Roslyn, then a right on Stratford Crescent, cross Cary St, and continue south on Ampthill.  Take a right at the bottom of the hill (at the Manoli Loupassi sign) and continue on Paxton back up the hill, cross Cary St. heading north where Paxton turns into Tuckahoe Blvd, then take a left and head west on Grove.  4 milers turn right on Granite, then right on Patterson and right on Westmoreland to return to the SF.  5 milers take a right on Maple, and then right on Patterson to follow the 4 milers back to the flag.  There were no six milers today, but if there had been, they would have continued running to Three Chopt, gone right up to St. Cristophers, take another right and go north to Patterson, take a right and follow the 4 and 5 miler routes back to the SF.

    NM:  As most F3 regulars know, YHC does not make it to many workouts during the week anymore, given my Baltimore work location.  Having said that, this is the first time I have ever been to a RAMM workout where the riders outnumbered the runners. The official count was 6 runners and 9 riders.   The route for the runners took us down towards the James and back up a pretty good hill, before heading down Grove and back on Patterson on more famiiar turf.

    The runners seemed to be sweatier post workout than the riders, so not sure what route the riders took, but the rumor was that Upchuck took them on a tour of Westham before stopping at Starbucks for a latte.

    Announcements:

    Convergence tomorrow at Gridiron with workouts at 6 and 7.  See Hardywood’s pre-blast if you want breakfast on site after the second workout.  NO DOGPILE WORKOUT TOMORROW.

    There will be some type of get together at Lab Rat’s hacienda following the convergence.  Start time around 10am.  Beer will be provided, in some fashion.  There will also be cornhole boards there.

    Prayers for EF Hutton’s family as his father in law passed this week following a stroke.

    It’s always a pleasure to lead you men into the gloom.  Well done out there today!

    Fudd