Category: Richmond, VA

  • “Is this really August?” Trail Run

    Nine of the faithful convened at the Pumphouse Parking Lot near the banks of the James River in Richmond for an early Sunday trail run.  The weather was a perfect 68 degrees F (the average August temperature in Richmond being more like 98 degrees F, day or night).

    Bleeder had started about 15 minutes ahead of the PAX.  The PAX pursued Bleeder running east along the Northbank Trail and crossing the footbridge to Belle Isle.  The PAX then diverted clockwise around Bell Isle, taking the loop through the easternmost woods.  The PAX crossed the “drawbridge of death” onto the south bank of the James River and proceeded west along the Buttermilk Trail.  Finally, the PAX crossed north on the Boulevard bridge and returned to the parking lot, having completed over 7 miles of technical, single-track running.

    Toga managed to run Bleeder down.  The rest of us did not.  Saab and Trophy looped back many times to stay with the slower runners.

    A COT was held sans Toga and Bleeder, who had to depart promptly for appropriate Sunday activities.  Oyster added another 5 miles on the adjacent Dogwood Dell trails (Way to go, Oyster).  YHC proceeded around the entire loop again.

    F3Richmond continues to grow stronger and faster.  Months ago, many scowled at the idea of running these trails.  Now they are starting to run (and smell) like a bunch of mountain goats.

    FEBA — Jville

  • Where were the Squeegees?

    Fourteen strong posted south of the river for a lively beatdown at No Toll.  Weather was a comfortable 72 degrees, 100% humidity and heavy downpours throughout the workout.

    Tennis Court Squeegee

    The Thang

    Quick warmup on the basketball courts.  Air Jordan layups; 4 right hand, 4 left hand.  Mosey to back parking lot for COP.  25xSSH.  20xDon Quixotes (10 slow, 10 fast).  15xImperial Squat Walkers.  Mosey to first set of tennis courts.

    Commence Arther Ashe 5 Setter.  Line up on sideline and complete suicide, touching each doubles alley and stopping at the sideline after each leg for an exercise.  Progressively increase exercise count from 15/30/40 with each leg.  Sets included:

    Set 1:  merkins/mountain climbers/LBCs
    Set 2:  shoulder tap merkins/prisoner squats/freddy mercuries
    Break:  suicide
    Set 3:  hand release merkins/lunges/WW2 sit up
    Set 4:  carolina dry docks/squat jumps/russian twist
    Break:  karaoke suicide
    Set 5:  werkin, donkey kicks, flutter kicks

    Mosey to back parking lot for curb-a-licious.  Grab a curb and complete clock merkins.  10 at each position on the clock (12/3/6/9).  20 curb jumps.  20 monkey humpers.  3-lap, 2-line indian run around the parking lot.

    Circle up for 4MOM.  20 candlestick bicycles.  20 box cutters.  2 sets of superman followed by a 6 count.  Mosey back to flag.

    Moleskin

    This is the first AO in quite a while that actually felt like the #gloom.  YHC arrived early to check on the status of the fields and decided to audible to no grass workout today.  Those fields are in too nice a shape for the 14 of us to go out and destroy them.  Bleeder commented that it’s fun to play in the rain as long as it isn’t 40 degrees, couldn’t agree more.

    YHC isn’t quite sure how to describe the first sets of ab exercises in the puddles on the tennis court.  The juvenile nature of my humor quickly came out as the PAX proceeded to complete ab exercises on their backs in a soaking wet shirt.  If anyone was passing by for a morning walk in the rain they surely would have believed the tennis courts had turned into a bog with a bunch of bull frogs clearing their throat, 40 times.  It didn’t get old throughout the 5 set match.

    At one point during curb-a-licious YHC though Shooter tossed his cookies.  Fairly confident that he was simply ringing out his shirt.  Confirmation requested.

    Thanks to Jville for the MOM suggestions at the end.  YHC’s improv was clean out of ideas.

    Welcome Herbie (FNG) to the PAX; that’s some serious dedication to show up at your first F3 workout in the middle of a downpour.  Hope to see you back soon.

    Announcements

    – Wednesday evening hill run 5:30PM @ Cary & Hillcrest.
    – Sunday trail run will be at Pocahontas Park.  10k cross country loop that will be run twice.  Meet at Martins at Stony Point at 6:30 to clown car to Chester.  Let Jville know if you plan on joining his clown car.
    – Richmond GoRuck event is on October 23 & 24th.  Bleeder is enthusiastically [sic] marketing the event.  Preblast posted a few weeks back.  Check it out here Red Light and Blue.
    – 2nd F planned for next Wednesday evening.  Details to follow.

    Splinter out.

  • Hate Hill

    On a wonderfully cool and non-humid morning 6 Faithful gathered for a beatdown at the Dogpile,

    The Thang:

    COP: SSH (25x), LBCs (25x), Imperial Walkers (25x), Merkins (15x), Freddie Mercury (20x), Plank pushups (10x each arm).

    Whamo springs:  One Pax throws frisbee–everyone sprints until Frisbee lands and does an exercise until reaching the disk.  Exercises included: Lunges, Crab Walks, Bear Crawls, Broad Jumps, Duck walks, Walkout pushups,

    Jacob’s Bowl:  Run down hill, Bear Crawl Up, 1 x Burpee, repeat up to 7 Burpees.

    Hate Hill–Aka, Love Hill starting at the top and ending at the bottom.  Partner up–one partner runs down then up hill, and the other partner does exercises down hill until they meet.  Flapjack.  Exercises were: Lunges, Duck Walks, and Broad Jumps.  Mosey to the pipe.

    The Pipe.  Run up Pipe Hill and then do 3 sets of: Pullups (8x), Australian Pullups (10x), Merkins (20x)

    Mosey to the flag

    COT

    Moleskin:

    Strong work by the Pax today.  Aisle 5 continues to improve and made a particularly strong showing as did Blood Test who back for his second workout.  Swirly and Wilson also showed bursts of speed and almost caught the Frisbee during different pulls.  It was nice to have HoneyDo back from his vacation.

    There was some mumblechatter surrounding the downhill lunges which were much tougher than expected.  There was also some discussion about bicep exercises, and YHC was happy to oblige with a pullup-heavy finish to the workout.  And, all in all we ran over 2.4 miles, most of it up and down hills.

     

  • Preblast for Sunday Trail Run

    Meet at 0700 tomorrow (Sunday) at the Pumphouse for some trail goodness!  All speeds welcome.  Br

  • Can I Get An Amen?

    Another splendid morning at the GridIron as the Pax enjoyed a temperature in the 60s.  We started with 6 of the Faithful and an FNG but added 2 Double Dippers at Half Time to make us 9 strong.  After a quick ambulation to the near WildCat GridIron Goal Post and a disclaimer we got right at it as follows:

    The Thang:

    Slaughter Starter – 20 Burpees OYO

    x25 SSH and x25 Don Quixotes

    Mosey to the Track and drop to our 6s at the 50 yard sideline of upper football field – x25 Alabama Prom Dates and Back Bend/Bridge/Arch Holds.

    50 yard sideline to sideline – x25 Air Squats, x25 Merkins, x25 Air Squats, and x25 Merkins

    Run a lap around track and Planks

    50 yard sideline to sideline – x25 Air Squats, x25 Carolina Dry Docks, x25 Air Squats, and x25 Carolina Dry Docks

    Lunge, High Skip, Run, High Skip, and Lunge a lap around track and Planks

    50 yard sideline to sideline – x25 Air Squats, x25 Merkins, x25 Air Squats, and x25 Merkins

    Run a lap around the track and Planks

    50 yard sideline to sideline – x25 Air Squats, x25 Carolina Dry Docks, x25 Air Squats, and x25 Carolina Dry Docks

    Run a lap around the track

    2 sets of x25 Partner Leg Toss

    Mosey to WildCat GridIron sideline Grand Stands – Merkin ISOs, Dips Tabata style, and Merkin ISOs

    Mosey to lower football field for BlockingSled drive blocking

    Mosey back to Parking Lot.

    COT

    Announcements – F3 RVA celebrates its 1 year anniversary on September 20, 2015 – GridIron calling for convergence on September 19 at Pouncey Tract.  All Pax posting challenge and FNG emphasis – the expectations are high that we will exceed the 24 RedWoods who posted at the inaugural RVA F3.  Wilson taking lead in coordinating with the Giant Killing Pax at DogPile.

    Prayer concerns – spoken concerns for a parent, a spouse, and a brother; unspoken concerns acknowledged; gratitude offered.

    BOM – strong, real strong, prayer offered by Groh to take out the Pax with a powerful sense of God’s blessings and a renewed commitment to our call to leadership in our homes, communities, and workplaces.

    Moleskin

    A lot of Respect with 4 half-Centenarians posting this morning.

    Welcome back to Newman and a warm welcome to Ashe who finally succumbed to months and months of firm EHing – nice showing by both of these men this morning.  They took the RedPill and they liked it.  Nice to have a pastor among the Pax, Ashe.

    And welcome, also, to Aisle 5 who Double Dipped for his virgin GridIron posting.  Well done and remember Veteran Double Dipper Wilson’s sage advice – the hardest part of the Double Dip is getting out of the car at Pouncey Tract.  Aye.

    Epic MumbleChatter from Jolly Rancher who displayed searing disdain for his father’s brief pause during the Slaughter Starter and incessantly suggested that sprints Tabata style might achieve a bona fide BeatDown.  J’Ville had his revenge when he ran down his fleet-footed offspring on the track.

    FlipPhone put in some impressive track work and exercised sound discretion in opting for some ground and pound sideline work while the rest of the Pax hit the BlockingSled – no back injuries among the Pax today!

    Groh seemed disappointed that YHC lost his way and never got to the Pillars.  Maybe next time …

    Discussion ensued concerning Brain Tumor’s Q on Thursday at 45 Minutes of Mary – ouch.

    All 9 of the Pax regrouped for Coffeteria at the Daily Grind and enjoyed some solid second F.  Onward and Upward – Excelsior!

    Proverbs 27:17

  • Lucky Horseshoe III: Grab a badge and get to work!


    A much needed rain shower cooled temps and welcomed 7 faithful and 2 FNG’s to our third iteration of the Lucky Horseshoe.  Here’s how it went down.

    THE THANG:

    Mosey to the corner of the soccer fields near River Rd.

    COP

    SSH x 20                                                                                                                                               Merkins x 15                                                                                                                                           Imperial Walkers x 20                                                                                                                             Freddie Mercurys x 20                                                                                                                         Russian Soldiers x 22

    Mosey back to the shovel flag to begin the Lucky Horseshoe.  The PAX has 33 minutes to complete the following around the track:

    Lap 1 around the track- merkins x 20

    Lap 2: merkins x 20, storm squats x 20

    Lap 3: Merkins x20, Storm Squats x 20, Scorpion Drydocks x 20

    Lap 4: Merkins x 20, Storm Squats x 20, Scorpion Drydocks x 20, WWII situps x 20

    Lap 5: Merkins x 20, Storm Squats x 20, Scorpion Drydocks x 20, WWII situps x 20, Lunges x 20

    Lap 6: Storm Squats x 20, Scorpion Drydocks x 20, WWII situps x 20, Lunges x 20

    Lap 7: Scorpion Drydocks x 20, WWII situps x 20, Lunges x 20

    Lap 8: WWII x 20, Lunges x 20

    Lap 9: Lunges x 20

    Lap 10: Victory Lap

    COT and record how much each member of the PAX completed.

    MOLESKIN:

    Welcome to Rousey and Trickle!  It was great to have you out today and hope you continue to post.  We were a little light today; could it have been a little too Gloomy for the PAX, was the fartsack that comfy, or is the ramped up training for the BRR taking its toll?  Who knows, but it’s always good to have more men looking to get better and stronger.

    This is another PT test of sorts to measure the progress of the PAX.  YHC had large shoes to fill in the absence of Loose Goose with respect to this workout.  It was made very clear that a laminated and possibly oversized weinke would be much appreciated by the PAX, so YHC took it a step further.  Unfortunately, YHC ran into the travesty of not having image posting privileges, so check back to this backblast later when that is remedied with a pic of the PAX.  I think LG would be proud!

    YHC still has no idea what the significance of 33 minutes is, but it’s a good number given that none of the PAX finished with a full pull.  Sippy Cup was on a roll and had a chance, but had to leave early due to a prior commitment. Probably ran to Williamsburg.  Swirly finished 9 full laps; NICE WORK!  And, there were several in the 8 lap range.  Marv was intent on pushing the PAX and tried to add a extra squat in the Storm Squats, but thankfully the PAX corrected the exercise else we might all still be out there!  If you want a real challenge, see the backblast from July 2 for the last Lucky Horseshoe to see the handwritten results of that workout.  What a disaster.  All YHC was able to glean from that pic was that DK was a little lost.  Your results from today are below.  If there are corrections, let me know!

    Thanks to Marv for taking us out (with a prayer brought to you by one of our own) and for letting me lead you today.  Go out and lead with PURPOSE!

    TYA: 8 completed

    Marv: 7 completed plus a lap

    Rousey: 8 and a lap

    Trickle: 6

    Pucker: 7 and a lap

    Swirly: 9

    Fudd: 8

    BT: 8

    Sippy:  ???

    Announcements:

    Regularly scheduled workouts continue through the week.

    There will be a Sunday run as prep continues for the BRR.  Hopefully, it will be added to the Schedule on this site, but if not, post Friday for details!

    Aye!!

     

  • The Lucky 3

    Three strong posted for a good start to the week at the Punisher on the North side of Richmond.  Weather was sunny and 70, with no humidity.

    The Thang:

    One PAX run around the school, other two PAX do appointed exercise, switch when runner comes back.  Exercises completed were merkins, curb dips, LBC, flutter kicks, freddy mercury and alabama prom dates.  Mosey to parking lot.  Bear crawl from curb to curb 10 Merkins at the curb, crab walk back, 10 more merkins.  Rinse and repeat x3.  Lunges from curb to curb, 10 dips each side, repeat x 2.

    Naked Moleskin

    Thanks to Swirly for picking up the Q at the last minute.  Always need to be prepared to throw down a beatdown just in case and it looks like Swirly did a good job.

    At the end of the workout, all three men gave a detailed history of the hardest moments of their respective lives.  Lots of tears were shed, bonds were created and emotional fellowship of the deepest kind happened.  For those that were present, it was described as possibly the most significant moment of their lives.  Bigger than 9-11, Apollo moon landing, and Caitlyn Jenner coming out of the closet.  So, next week when you consider missing the punisher, consider that you might be missing out on the best moment of your life.

  • Welcome Mr. Pete Rose

    7 strong and eager rolled into the south side of Richmond today to play some ball.  Here is how it went down

    The Thang:

    Mosey to front of school for COP.  20x Don Quixote (Thank BT), 20x Through the Tunnel, 20x Side Straddle Hops, 35x LBC, 20x something else.  Mosey to side of school at bus drop off.  Curb crawls, escalate up to 10, repeat 10 and then back down to one.  If you finish early take laps around the front circle of school.  Mosey to baseball diamond for the PETE ROSE.  9 rounds of exercises and running bases.  9 random exercises on playing cards(burpees, box cutters, travoltas, squat jumps, slow squats, LBC, Merkins, Werkins, and Carilina Dry docks), 9 hit cards (single, double, triple, home run and foul ball).  If single 25x exercise, run to first 25x exercise, run back to home plate. Double is 20 reps, triple is 15, HR is 10 and foul ball is 5.  When foul ball is hit, run to deep center field. On the way back, run sideways, jumping, just like Carlton Fisk.

    Naked Moleskin

    We were at the end of the baseball game, running out of time when the Dealers choice card came out.  Lug Nut threw us a much needed softball, calling LBC’s as his choice.  Thankfully he hooked us up as burpees were the second to last exercise pulled.

    Splinter and BT were very close to a LIFO today.  BT was late because he remembered that he forgot his gloves about 5 minutes from his house and temporarily turned around.  DK helped BT by sharing one glove with BT for the curb crawls. Not sure if abusing just one hand on the pavement helps or not…let us know DK and BT.

    Announcments

    Hill run tonite at 530 p starting at intersection of Cary and Hillcrest.  Forecast is 70 and sunny, so come on by and give yourself a nice leisurely run

    Sunday runs being added to schedule.  Name suggestions are welcomed…

  • Over the Hills and Far Away


    14 of RVA’s faithful PAX met on a beautiful August morning for a good ol’ fashioned #NoToll beat down.  It went something like this:

    The Thang:

    Mosey 20 yards for COP: 25 SSH, 25 slow bending squats

    Mosey to NE corner of soccer complex for Over the Hills & Far Away: 1-2 sets of exercises followed by loop around entire complex (0.5 miles).

    10 burpees OYO + loop

    20 Imperial Walkers + 15 Merkins + loop

    Bear Crawl half width + mini plank-orama + Backward Run width + mini plank-orama + loop

    Zombie Walk (forward lunges) 3/4 width + mini plank-orama + Crawl Bear half width + loop

    X’s & O’s + 25 LBC + loop

    25 Flutter Kicks + 10 Box Cutters OYO

    Mosey back to Flag

    10 burpees OYO

    COT

    Moleskin:

    It’s time for YHC to buy a watch.  Relying on BT (again) for timings.  Unfortunately, it was only as we moseyed back to the shovel flag when BT informed YHC that his watch might be a little fast.  This probably explains why Johnsonville, Sippy, and 1 other were LIFOs.  YHC will let this slide this time.

    Sippy continues to lead the way on run-heavy workouts.  Pommel Horse and Rosie did a great job of keeping him honest, though.

    This workout was all about keeping the momentum going.  Why not end such a workout with 10 burpees?  It was a crowd silencer for sure.

    Announcements:

    TYA is hosting a hill running workout tomorrow afternoon at 5:30pm at Hillcrest and Cary St Rd (this is after he Q’s tomorrow morning’s SOT workout).  Respect.

    Sign up to Q.

  • An extra hour of sleep is so nice

    5 strong souls moseyed into the gloom on a beautiful 66 degree morning.

    Mosey to the center of the top football field
    COP
    25 X SSH
    30 X LBC
    20 x Crab Cakes
    25 x Imperial Walkers
    Mosey to the bus loop

    Modified Dora 1 2 3 (sprint style, partner)
    50 merkins
    100 LBC
    150 Squats
    Zombie Walk and
    Mosey to lower football field

    Beast
    Merkins
    LBC
    V ups
    Mountain Climbers
    Jumper squats
    Freddie Mercury
    Mosey to front of school bleachers

    Triple Nickle
    Run uphill 5x monkey humpers
    Run downhill 5x dips on bleachers
    Rinse & repeat 5x
    Mosey to back to front of school

    Ascending Curb Crawls
    Bear crawl to opposite curb 1 derkin
    Opposite cub +1 until reach 13
    (complete as many as possible)
    Mosey to football field goal post by parking lot

    1 minute of Burpees
    Tap goal post on jump

    COT

    Moleskin

    The PAX was strong today led by a speedy DK on most exercises.

    YHC had not seen Groh since his initial FNG visit. He and DK put together a very strong performance in the Dora 1 2 3. YHC and Short Shank did our best but could not keep up with their elite speed.

    Chum Bucket joined the PAX just before the ascending curb crawls. YHC keenly aware of Chum’s love of this exercise saved it for the end. Of course, Chum bear crawled his way to complete the most derkins in the PAX. Great job double dipping Chum!

    Until next time.