Category: Richmond, VA

  • Pre-Blast – – A Day of Cherishing

    I am doing a mammoth ride this Thursday the 29th of June – 200 miles of fun in the sun. Why – because it is 70 and sunny in RVA and this my way to cherish the fact that I am still walking on this earth. On June 25, 2005 I had a major heart attack and every day is a day to be cherished. So with this ride I hope to bring awareness, educate and maybe raise a few dollars for people struggling with epilepsy and need of a seizure dog.

    A seizure dog can be trained to bark when a child has a seizure so that family members know what is happening. Or, a seizure dog may put its body in between the seizing individual and the floor to break the fall at the inception of a seizure. Some seizure dogs may even be trained to activate some kind of pre-programmed device such as a pedal that rings an alarm. These dogs provide companionship, protect and alert others so people with epilepsy can have more independence. But these dogs are expensive to train. Their specialized training cost between $7,000 to $50,000. Yikes. So, I am looking to help families raising funds for these dogs by raising money for EFVA that provides grants (not 100% grants, but helpful grants) to families raising money for a seizure dog.

    Today, I invite you to join me on my quest by doing one or more of the following:
    – Ride with me on the 29th – – here is my route. I will start at 5:30 am. Contact me and we can work out a meet up time on my route.https://www.strava.com/routes/9344080.  Here are some of the breaks that I am targeting:

    • – Milestone Clubhouse in Atlee area – mile 0 – 5:30am
      – Grill and Chill Gas Station at exit 214 on 64E – mile 40 – 7:45am
      – Sunoco Gas Station in Hopewell – mile 64.2 – 9am
      – Cedar Heart Market – mile 88.6 – 10:30am
      – Country Quick Stop at 162 and 155 – mile 119 – 12:30pm
      – County Seat in Powhatan – mile 139 – 2:00 – 2:45
      – Goochland Courthouse Market – mile 154 – 3:45
      – Midnight Brewery – mile 175 – 5pm – 5:45pm
      – Stanley Store (Mountain and Ashland Rd) – mile 189 – 6:45pm

     

    These are all estimates and subject to change… I could get there faster, or elect to rest more…

    • Other ways you can join the fun…
      – Sign up and ride for the Tour de Midnight on 10/24/17. It doesn’t start at Midnight, but it starts at Midnight Brewery! This ride benefits EFVA that supports people with epilepsy in many ways.https://www.bikereg.com/tourdemidnight
      – Contribute to EFVA as they raise money and provide grants for people getting seizure dogs. These dogs can cost up to $40k to train.https://www.Pledgereg.com/136245

    Back blast coming…

  • Just another workout?

    It was a lovely 58 degrees at the Fayetteville town park, and one lone PAX member posted to enjoy the cool weather.  Here’s how it went down:

    Warmup in gravel lot near the high school baseball field.  Mosey to pull-up bars to begin park circuit:

    Hit the following exercise stations for the designated reps while running the .3 mile loop:

    • 10 pull-ups, decrease by 2 each loop
    • 10 incline leg raises, increase by 5 each loop
    • 20 WWII sit-ups, increase by 5 each loop
    • 20 merkins, increase by 5 each loop
    • 20 dips, increase by 5 each loop

    Complete 5 loops.

    COT- Toga took us out

    NMM:  Since we can now count individual workouts that aren’t at an official AO or workout, don’t have a shovel flag, have no other F3 participants, and aren’t completed with a COT (Note: the COT noted above was really just gasping and profanity), YHC thought he would post this.  At least it will get entered into Big Data.., right?  As Viral recently noted, maybe these only count when you go to foreign countries.

    There is a Yoga studio here, and I may head there and post a backblast for that tomorrow.  Chum Bucket will love it!

    Stay Classy,

    Toga

  • VQ’pon

    A fearless 8 Warriors showed up for a virgin Q at Batteau on a cool summer morning. Something similar to the below transpired:

    Mosey to the bottom of the steps for COP

    • SSH x 20
    • Don Quixote x 20
    • Arm Circles x 20 (give or take)
    • LBC’s x 20
    • Merkins x 10
    • Imperial Walkers x 20

    Eleven’s:

    • Box jumps at the bottom, WWII situps at the road
    • Plank for 6 – pick up Rapunzel

    Mosey to the stone wall behind tennis courts for receipt of coupon (VQ’pon). Partner up – Partner A grabs a coupon and Partner B runs along side for moral support. Mosey to playground.

    Coupon Playground:

    Partner A does 5 pullups and 10 Incline Merkins while Partner B grabs the coupon and does lunges around the perimeter of the playground. Switch off when Partner A is complete – repeat up to 3 rounds.

    Partner B grabs the coupon and the PAX mosey’s to the Stone House.

    Coupon Chair:

    Partner A does People’s Chair with the coupon on their lap, while Partner B runs a lap around the magnolia and back. Switch off and repeat up to 3 rounds.

    Partner A & B tag team the mosey back to the stone wall to deposit the coupon in it’s resting place. Mosey back to shovel flag for 10 minutes of Mary.

    Mary’s Merkins

    • LBC’s x 20
    • 10 Merkins OYO
    • Flutterkicks x 20
    • 10 Merkins OYO
    • Freddie Mercury x 20
    • 10 Merkins OYO

    Namerama/Numberama/COT

    NMS

    YHC arrived to the AO “Swirly early” to scout out the coupon situation – I could have sworn there were coupons located next to a tree near the Jacobs ladder field. No matter – YHC found 4 coupons at the stone wall and 8 PAX were in attendance making the plan work as desired.

    After scouting the AO, YHC was waiting by the car when he heard the ominous hooting of an owl from a neighboring tree. Thinking this was an ambush planned for Sippy Cup, YHC kept a weather eye on the road from the Nickel Bridge to see the carnage in action…no air attacks happened today as Sippy drove to the AO.

    Tobit and Swirly crushed the Eleven’s – way to go fellas. YHC messed up the counting a bit on the Arm Circles, and even called merkins pushups once (thanks Singer for the reminder!). After the Eleven’s the PAX stayed close together and crushed everything as a group.

    Thanks for allowing me to lead this morning, fellas! It was an honor and a privilege. Thanks to Tobit and Rapunzel for coming out to support YHC on his VQ.

    Announcements

    • YHC forgot to ask for announcements…if you have any please post in the comments.
    • Toga’s going away party @ The Answer on July 12 – see preblast.

    Why walk when you can Wheelbarrow?

  • Gimme 5… 10… 15… 20

    What a beautiful day to be in F3RVA!  6 awesome dudes showed up for a VQ at Punisher.  YHC tried not to disappoint!

    Mosey to the brick wall for a donkey kick-off.  5 donkey kicks, then hold for 5 seconds, then 10, then 15, finally 20!

    Mosey to a grassy area for COP
    Merkins
    SSH
    Side Plank Raises
    American Hammers
    Roll Ups
    Tabletops
    Smurf Jacks

    Mosey to Picnic Tables for some light refreshments and
    Skull crushers 5 each side IC, then 5 Derkins OYO
    Repeat adding 5 to the number each time until we got to twenty.

    Mosey to basketball court
    Partner Sprints —
    1) One partner does a regular wind sprint, the other does AMRAP merkins — switch up
    2) One Partner does a reverse wind sprint, the other does AMRAP freddy mercuries — switch up
    3) Wheelbarrow 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, full.  Each stop do 5 merkins.  Switch and let the other partner do their thing.

    Stay with partner, alternate 5 partner jumps over elbow planking partner– then 10, then 15
    alternate 5 leg throwdowns, then 10, then 15
    15 boo-yah merkins

    Mosey over to field
    Lunge and Runs — 5 lunges, then run to the tree designated by the Q! (Spit, come back!!!)
    5 on the way back.
    10 lunges, then run — same on the way back
    15 lunges, then run

    Forgo the Balls to the Wall exercise I had planned — opted for Marys back at the flag.
    Wave of Merkins — started at 1 merkin around the circle, then 2 — made it up to 8 before time ran out.

    NMS — Why is it that even though Lab Rat is not at a workout, that his name still is mentioned?
    When EF Hutton and YHC were teamed up for Partner Leg Throwdowns, EF asked  if he could do it LabRat style.  YHC didn’t know what that meant and wasn’t sure he really wanted to find out.

    Other observations —
    EFHutton must have done a lot of jumproping in his formative years, because he did all of those jumpovers in rhythm without stopping, one right after the other.  T-claps.

    The Wheelbarrow thing was much harder than YHC originally imagined it would be,  The PAX did amazingly well with this.

    It was good to see Conspiracy out there — he mentioned he was just getting back into the swing of things after the birth of his daughter.  Congrats!  Kids are a blessing (at least most of the time).

    Spit needs very specific directions when it comes to which tree to run to.  YHC said “Not the furthest one”  — Spit must have heard everything except for the first word.  Next time, I will go into more detail describing the bark, leaves, height, shape of the tree before proceeding.

    Had a great time branching out to VQ another AO!

    Announcements —
    First Thursdays in Mechanicsville starts NEXT Thursday the 6th.  6 PM Meet at Atlee for pickup game of Ultimate.  (30-45 minutes) — then head to COTU for a little 2nd F time.  If you can only make it for part of the time, that is totally cool.

    Going away party at the Answer BrewPub on July 12th.  See preblast for full details.

     

     

  • EMOM Day at Circus

    Three of the faithful posted at Circus Maximus for kettlebells. After a brief, typical warm-up, we did the following four rounds of 8-minute EMOMs.

    1st set (4 rounds):
    lunge right leg, curl right arm, press right arm, side lunge right. repeat for 1 minute
    standing row. repeat for 1 minute.

    2nd set (4 rounds):
    repeat above but with left

    mosey to front of school
    3rd set (4 rounds):
    halo. repeat for 1 minute
    diamond pushup on kettlebell

    mosey to outside of circus maximus
    4th set (4 rounds):
    kb swings
    goblet squat

    end with push ups from 10 to 1 (wide, regular, diamond)

    This was a not an easy morning at the circus, and YHC when home, crawled back in bed, and slept for several more hours. There was no room for mumble chatter

    Great job, men.

  • Sunday morning 8

    A group of 8 posted for a Sunday morning trail run.  Weather was sunny and 70, 0% humidity.  Perfect for a run.

    The Thang;

    Over the bridge to Forrest Hill, Forrest Hill loop counter clockwise, then back to the buttermilk and back on the bridge.

    NMM:

    Good to have Lockjaw back out there today.  He had been absent from the trail run for some time and he had a good showing on his first time back out.  Welcome to Longhorn (FNG Anna).  She is a Houston native and a non UT fan, hence the name.  She is a strong runner and had great showing for her first run.  She is a neighbor of Honeymoon, who also posted for the first time in a while.  He is starting to get ready of the BRR.  Oh, did I mention, that he is not running the BRR with the RVA PAX.  He is running with his NC PAX. I guess deep down, I cannot blame him, but the inner TYA has a little bit of resentment……maybe next year Honeymoon?

    Helix is a machine.  He just keeps pumping in the miles.  I think we might need to rename him cyborg or something similar.  He is so consistent running its a pleasure to view.  Thanks to Saab and Lab Rat for running with me for a while.  YHC had a foot cramp/some plantar issues this morning.  After the first 2.5 miles the running was slow and painful.  Very frustrating.  Maybe the body needs to rest a few days.  Will play it by air.

    Looking forward to the run next week.  Should be more and more BRR folks getting out there in future weeks.  74 days to game time.

    Great 2nd F at Ellwoods afterwards.  Upchuck spoke about a potential new AO and outreach effort in Manchester.  YHC is fully on board and we are exploring ways to integrate this into the F3 RVA schedule.  Upchuck also loved TYA’s personal hygiene actions while at Ellwoods.  Inappropriate, maybe, did it make me more comfortable, absolutely.

    TYA OUT

  • And he posts

    Four brave posted for a Wednesday evening hill run.

    The Thang:

    Q declares root, and all PAX, except Shakedown, decide to do something else.  Shakedown and TYA do 2 big loops followed by 2 small loops.

    NMM:

    A complete mutiny when YHC tried to prescribe the root today.  Swirly and Circle K immediately either 1) began complaining or 2) stated they were not following the same route.  No problems.  Wednesday hill run is very mellow and the objective is clear.  Hit the hills for at least 45 minutes getting a good beatdown and some preparation for the BRR.

    Earlier in the week, Rosie sent me a note saying that Shakedown might be interested in running the BRR this year.  He tasked me with talking to Shakedown and getting him to commit.  My initial thoughts to Rosie’s request was “tell him I am available to talk every Wednesday between 530 and 615 PM to discuss the BRR  That way, I could make sure he was really committed to this and would train to get ready.  To my surprise, Shakedown posted.  He came to run the hill to get ready for the BRR as soon as he could.  He is still not committed to the run, but he has already begun to train.  Great job Shakedown!!!

    TYA Out

  • F3 CVille is in Good Hands

    Two men from Richmond did the last ride down 64 westbound to give it away to our brothers from Charlottesville.  Not to disappoint, 10 strong locals rolled up, including 3 FNG’s.  Here is how things shook out:

    COP

    • SSH
    • Imperial Walkers
    • Arm Circles
    • LBC’s
    • Merkins

    THANG

    • Triple Check- teams of 3, one holds plank, one does WW2 Situps, the other runs up a massively steep hill around the maple tree and back down.  Hilarity ensued on the back down part.
    • Suicide Squad-  Mosey to basketball court for suicide, reverse suicide, burpee suicide, and bear crawl suicide.
    • 11’s- run across field to benches, 10 Derkins, back to other side for 1 4-count LBC.  Take one away and add one until reaching 1 derkin and 10 LBC’s.  You know the drill.
    • Pullups and box jumps (by special request)- Partner up, then divide pax in half.  Half the pax does 50 pullups with partner while the other half does box jumps waiting for their turn.  Switcharoo after all pullups are complete.
    • Tunnel of Love-plank up shoulder to shoulder, last man army crawls thru tunnel, then planks at end.  Everybody goes twice.
    • Partner carry- Partner up with a pax member the same size as you, partner carry to far side of field, partners do 5 burpess each, switcharoo to other side, another 5 burpees.
    • Ring of Fire Rosie style- Pax circles up in Al Gore.  First man drops for 10 merkins, then holds plank.  Pass to next man until everybody is in plank.  First man does another 10 merkins, then goes back to Al Gore.  Pass it around until complete.

    Mary

    • American Hammers

    COT/BOM

    • YHC took us out, asking for prayers OYO for Cheech, our fallen pax member.
    • YHC also wanted to impress upon pax that this is an open to ALL men group that although usually ends in prayer, is not required.  Recited “the man in the arena” by Theodore Roosevelt.

    NMS

    Lab Rat was very excited to finally get to head up to meet these guys that he had only met thru phone conversations and email correspondence-so excited in fact, that he was up and at ’em at 3 a.m. this morning!  OK, the jet lag and wonky schedule might have assisted as well, but still.  HoneyDo is always a great conversationalist though and the ride flew by.  The Richmond crew arrived in plenty of time to plant a flag and check out the AO ahead of the pax.  There was NO WAY we werent running that hill today!

    YHC was primarily concerned with giving some of the pax members practice in cadence calling, then giving them routines that would be easy to remember going forward….things they have probably seen already in some fashion.  Triple checks, 11’s, suicides are staples in the RVA and seems to work for us.  I am sure that the CVIlle pax will come up with their own flair going forward, but hopefully they have a base to pull from.

    Lab Rat was looking around before taking off today and was amazed that he was the most out of shape guy there.  HoneyDo’s comment was “where are all the fat guys?”

    Hampton Roads can keep their “Sunny and 75”, ’cause that’s  what it was today and it was ROUGH.  YHC took an unprecedented for F3 1-minute water break so that we didnt lose anybody today.  The pax worked hard though  and there are some seriously in-shape dudes at CVille!  One other impressive feature of the guys that were present this morning was their enthusiasm for F3 in such a short time.  Yessir, F3 CVille is in good hands.

    Apology of the week goes to Buck3 and whomever the other guy was that totally ate it coming off that hill today.  It was funny as hell, and I apologize for laughing my ass off right in front of you.

    Guys, it has been a true pleasure getting this going and I am SO HAPPY to see the quality of men that have gathered on that field the last few weeks.  I hope that you will develop the same bonds that I have been able to form over my time in F3……and that, my friends, is why we “give it away”.  Best of luck to you all, and I look forward to our next chance to meet.

     

    Lab Rat apologizes.

     

     

  • Pipe Loop !

    22 strong posted for Dogpile this morning in the windy gloom and here is how it went down…

    Mossy – Warmup = Arm Circles, Helicopters, Windmills, Imperial Walkers, LBC’s, APD’s Flutter Kicks – curb crawl 1-5.

    Pipe Loop – Partner up – run the loop – 4 exercises = 100 Lt. Dans – 200 Cap Thor’s – 300 Merkins – 400 invisible jump rope .

    lunge up the loop to the break – mossy the rest of the way up to the rusty cage.

    Rusty Cage : 5 chin up -10 American Hammers = 3 sets   –  Jerkin station : 5 Jerkins – 10 WW11 situps = 3 sets.

    Mossy to the Carillon – Ring of Fire = 10 merkins while planking

    Indian Run : 3 lines across field down road – back to the flag.

    The Scoop : YHC arrived at 5AM and planted the Flags for the 6AM beatdown . Yep that’s right an hour early – it’s all about preparation boys !! YHC enjoyed the nice windy gloom while listening to the latest F3RVA podcast (Viral as the special guest – well done dude) and visualized the workout about to take place – yep YHC got a bit of a chub….. The pax rolled in and smiles and laughter filled the air. Great to see Rosie moving around so well – atta baby Rosie – back at it dude ! Wilson was a celebrity guest down in Charlotte this week and he showed those dudes how we role in RVA – well done Wilson – love the Gotee bro – sexy… Hardywood ran to Dogpile – strong buddy – love it! Not sure what the deal is with Circle K but that dude arrived with 5 minutes to spare ??? Wilson called out Mr Roper – saying he will arrive right at the bell and not have his shoes on – nor will he rush to put his shoes on – boom nailed it Wilson… Flipper ran 4 miles all over Dogpile looking for the pax and finally found us at the pipe loop – way to persevere Flipdog!

    The pipe loop was a crowd pleaser – not much mumble chatter – YHC did hear a pax member yell out Swilry is the Q you love to hate – I God why did I come – and seriously I may puke. YHC takes all these comments as positive … Both Fudd and Circle K mentioned to YHC that today was a close to splashing Merlot as they have come – maybe lay off the scotch and Jack Daniels before a Swirly Q – ya think….. Gomer Pyle crushed that loop – so did Cozmo – great job dudes.  The lunge at the end of the loop up to the cage was mostly a slow walk before a Mossy. The cage is always a good smoker – YHC  loved the effort there boys way to push..Two Can decided he would do his own Mossy back to the flag instead of participate in the Indian Run – YHC was glad to see him all smiles when we returned so all was well no major issues.. Saabski rolled around a bit after we circled up – guess he needed a little more stretching – glad there was no injury – or added injury – take it easy Saabski we need you healthy.

    Excellent job by the pax this morning – it was a pleasure to lead..

    ET’s was a blast as always – great to have TYA join us after he ran 13 miles this morning – dude is a stud! Also awesome to have Loose Goose and Viral come to breakfast – sorry y’all missed the beatdown but great to see y’all.

    HDHH : coming up soon.

    Be prepared for a July 4th convergence workout – stay tuned.

    Upchuck – golf event 8/7 – get with him if interested – it’s a great cause..

    VQ week – this coming week – step up if you have not Q’d – Corporate is paying attention.

    New Podcasts are up – check them out

    Wed Hill runs : if you are running in the BRR – come on out…. BRR 75 days away – it’s right around the corner fella’s …

    Continue to be in prayer for Cheech – his family – his pax – and the person involved in this terrible accident . And remember what I said – don;t take anything for granted – be thankful for the many blessings you have, and live man – just live life to the fullest- give it your best ! May God continue to be with you all!

    Have a great rest of the weekend.

  • Coming Soon – F3RVA.org

    Richmond, Hampton Roads and Charlottesville PAX.  Coming soon:  f3rva.org.

    Most of you have heard that this is coming.  Others may be hearing for the first time.  As you may know, F3 Nation is pushing local communication to each region to manage.  This means that we will no longer be posting backblasts and other pertinent regional information on the f3nation.com website.  This change will take effect in mid-July.  After mid-July, anyone with a login to f3nation.com will no longer have rights to create a new post.

    Richmond has taken the charge to create a new website to support our local needs.  We heard the comments and have decided to maintain similar capabilities of f3nation.com.  We are also offering up this ability to Charlottesville and Hampton Roads for as long they need it.  Indefinitely.

    What does this mean?

    1. Starting July 1, use https://backblasts.f3rva.org as the location to post backblasts, preblasts, etc.
    2. If you have every posted a backblast or commented on a backblast on f3nation.com your user account should be migrated over.  If you have a login but haven’t commented yet, please do so by June 30 so your account will automatically be created.  This will help our region comz out a lot so we do not have to recreate logins.
    3. We will not lose our historical posts. This was a major decision on staying with our current platform.  Videos posted on backblasts will not transfer over but everything else should.  Including comments.
    4. Mobile app should continue to function as-is.  There may be a gap for a day or two while this gets ironed out.  Wilson – shoot me an email.
    5. Spreadsheets for Q signup and challenges will remain the same.  Big Data will not miss a beat.
    6. Unfortunately, this decision will prevent cross-posting of backblasts across regions that are not under f3rva.org.  This is an outcome of the broader f3nation decision.

    Timeline:

    1. On or near June 30 I will open up the new f3rva.org to traffic.  We will be testing this week to verify that backblasts can be posted and users can be notified of all comments made on a backblast (if desired).
    2. On June 30 I will migrate all existing backblasts from f3nation.com to f3rva.com.  Any posts to f3nation.com after 6/30 will not be migrated.
    3. Starting with July 1, you should post your backblasts to f3rva.org.
    4. If you have any IFTTT recipes for notifications, you will need to modify those to point to f3rva.org as necessary.

    What do you need to do?  Virtually nothing.  On June 30 you will be able to login to f3rva.org.  Your user account will remain the same but you will need to reset your password.  There will be information on f3rva.org directing you how to reset you password.  After that, the rest should remain the same.

    This is a great step for our Richmond region and will allow for us to control our own communications on a broader scale.  There will also be more opportunities for us to enhance this website to include other features.  There will be data, lots of data.  All to come in the future.

    If you have any comments or questions let me know, either directly via email or by commenting below.  We also have an admin at f3rva.org email account you can use (but I cannot guarantee a response time).

    Splinter out.