Category: Richmond, VA

  • The pax made a showing for early signs of fall on the trails

    14 pax plus an FNG (Ely) showed up for what was easily the largest trail group that YHC has been a part of.  Plan was for Lab Rat to go deep, taking the distance pax up to Forest Hill Loop, and Johnsonville taking the shallow route, with an out and back to Reedy Creek parking lot.  Individual mileages will vary wildly this morning, but YHC’s watch clicked off 7.8 miles.  Saab ran a bit extra for his preparations for Cloud Splitter 100M next weekend, and probably finished up between 11 and 12 miles.  Shorter routes should have been around the 4 mile distance.

    The pax was large this morning, and with the shorter leg option more spread out than the norm…this is awesome, but makes it a tough task to write a backblast, since YHC was only with a couple guys for the majority of the run.  So instead of making this an entertaining BB, YHC will just say this:  Johnsonville’s idea of having a shorter run option has shown to have legs, and hopefully will be well utilized in the future by pax members who don’t want to be out for an hour and a half on a Sunday morning.

    A quick word on FNG Ely:  he had a stumble and twisted his ankle on the run, so had to cut it off early.  Hopefully it was a minor thing and he will be out to join us again soon.  The decision was made to wait until he has a good outing to drop a name on him.  TSB noted however that he has a propensity to get injured often, so some thoughts on names were:  Masochist, Bubble Boy, or RG3.

    Great job to all this morning, YHC hopes that the large groups will continue.

     

    Lab Rat out.

  • What’s this day-of-rest s#@!

    27 faithful and newly anointed presented themselves at Dogwood Dell today for what YHC hoped would be a satisfactory beat-down. This is what transpired (more or less)…

    COP: SSH, DQ’s (Abe/Swirly style!), Arm Circles, LBC’s, maybe something else…
    4 Corners (on a Triangle?): 25 WWII, (Bear Crawl to next station), 25 Merkins, 25 Burpees, 25 Flutter Kicks (4 count)…all done near “far traffic circle” past the Carillon.
    Doras (Carillon): 100 Merkins, 100 LBC’s, 100 Box Cutters, 100 Jump Squats,
    Rusty Cage: 5 pullups (overhand, underhand), 5 Jerkins (overhand, underhand). Repeato
    Jacobs Ladder (Burpees) on pit of pain
    Amphitheater: Lindsays (Dips x30, Merkins x10). Advance up step each time. (YHC then called an audible for two sets of American Hammers and Rosalitas.)
    Polesmokers: Hold 6 inches…Person in back does 5 merkins then advances to front.
    Ring of Fire (Merkins)

    Moleskin:
    It has been many months since YHC had the opportunity to take in Dogpile without the spectre of a long Saturday run and he hopes his enjoyment of the day was evident. YHC did enjoy seeing Wilson perform his signature “early start” during the instruction period for Doras. Beyond that, not much mumble chatter to draw upon for this writing, either because YHC was slightly distracted (as usual), or everyone remained steadily busy and winded.

    We welcomed 4 new FNG’s today and all were given awesome handles: Receptacle, Flatline, Cosmo, and DaVinci. Kudos to Lockjaw’s 2.0 DaVinci who gave the F3 workout an enthusiastic review and was already asking afterward if there is a workout he can join tomorrow (did I mention he is 7 and 1/2 years old). Needless to say, it was great to have all our FNG’s there today and we sincerely look forward to seeing you all again.

    COT: We wished those on the Spartan run today much success and enjoyment. Way to go guys (BT, Toga, others?)!…RESPECT for completing what I understand is an extremely challenging event. Also, we officially retired “Blue Balls” for the more g-rated and family friendly “Helix”.

    Announcements:
    > Bear Creek 10 miler (great trail run and post-run tailgate planned)
    > Those new to F3: Text F3RVA to 97000 to gain info and get setup on-line. (Doesn’t mean you can’t still see Wilson about “the App”)
    > Winstons is soliciting some volunteers to come up to Hanover on 10/15 and lead an F3 style workout for a church retreat. Please see Winstons if interested…have no doubt this will help with F3 recruitment in the area.
    > Workout and Happy Hour on Wednesday. See back blast from Hardywood (all meet at Crossroads at 6:00pm)
    > Mechanicsville has a new AO on Fridays…that makes 3 total for the week. Way to go guys. (YHC heard we were up to something like 18 AO’s in RVA…nice!)
    > Convergence on Oct 8…please reach out to FNG’s and those who haven’t attended for some time.

    Saab abides

  • No Games, Just Running

    13 Pax showed up to cover miles either by foot or wheels.  For the runners, it was the Carillon routes of the 4, 5, and 6 variety.  Perfect weather, though with some higher humidity leaving us drenched.

    An eager Wilson took us out.

    NMS

    When YHC arrived on the AO, there was speculation amongst the Pax that there would be some sort of game today.  Perhaps a travel sized version of Sharks and Minnows in the parking lot.  YHC notified the group that he had hidden 200 glow sticks in Windsor Farms and we were having a scavenger hunt.  Total silence fell upon the group.

    Kidding of course, today was about going to a favorite: the Carillon route sans glow sticks.  Flat out running some familiar roads.

    It was great running with Upchuck, WIlson, and Honey Do where discuss gravitated around renaming guidelines as well as the usual mumble chatter.

    Way to go TewKan who seems to be everywhere these days!  Consistency pays off with results.

     

  • Something New – Mile’s Creek: Atlee vs. Hanover

    5 pax plus two FNGs showed up for the first Q at Mile’s Creek – which is in a parking lot across the street from Milestone and Ashcreek neighborhoods by the cell phone / bell tower (New Highland Baptist Church).  This is what transpired:

    Mosey to the side parking log

    COP

    • X35 SSH
    • X30 4 count squats
    • X25 Imperial Walkers
    • X20 LBCs
    • X15 Freddie Mercury’s
    • X10 Merkins
    • X5 Burpee’s

    THANG

    Run to Corner field for 4 Quarters of 11s:

    1st Quarter:

    • Crab walk 10 yards
      • Heels to Heaven (10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1)
    • Run 10 yards
      • Alternate Merkins (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)

    2nd Quarter

    • Bear Crawl 20 yards
      • 2 Ct. American Hammers (10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1)
    • Run 20 yards
      • Monkey Hops (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)

    Halftime:

    2 Around the Clock Merkins

    3rd Quarter:

    • Bounders 30 yards
      • LBCs (10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1)
    • Run 30 yards
      • 2 ct. Mule Kicks (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)

    4th Quarter:

    • Kangaroos 40 yards
      • 5 Count Leg Crosses (10,9,)
    • Run 40 yards
      • Burpees (1,2)

    Mosey back to Flag

    COT/Namorama

    NMS

    Fun was had by all, well, maybe not all.  This workout was to show what a battle royal we will be seeing tonight as Atlee takes on cross town rival Hanover.  The Pax saw early that it will be a throwdown as Sugar Baby screams for his Hawks.  YHC laughed inside as he knows what is in store for the pax and that Sugar Baby’s babies will be Raiders.  The grass was long, the field was wet, the chatter was low (as Lab Rat cheated on us with the fart sack) and the workout was a beat down.  After only 5 burpees in the COH, chatter from a FNG about “only 5” brought another YHC smile as the approaching 11s was in sight.

     

    A brief warm-up became longer as YHC put the squats in cadence…  Ugh.  Fun was realized that you can get into the Skybox for $35 (35 SSHs) or pay online for $30 (30 squats) or $25 if your a booster member (25 Imperial Walkers), etc…   After that warmup we went to the field and began Quarter 1.  YHC lived up to his FNG name as he messed up his count in quarter 2.  The pax was introduced to “Around the Clock Merkins” at halftime – you start at 12 o’clock and after every merkin you put your right hand next to your left hand and then move your left hand out and go around till you get back to 12 o’clock – or go clockwise L to R and R out.  In the third quarter we did “bounders” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TetOdoov7jk at 9:30 mark, they call it drive bounders) Time was running out in Quarter 4 so the 11s were cut down to the first 2 cycles. And yes, Abacus lived up to his name multiple times during Qing and namorama.

    Announcements:

    Spit reviewed some of the Mechanicsville workouts for everyone – Tomato Run, Da’Ville and now Mile’s Creek. Also talked about Dog Pile and other RVA workouts.

    Abacus mentioned the upcoming Sept HDHH. We’re rolling strong on the southside on 9/28. Workout at 6pm, beers at 645. Details here:

    http://f3nation.com/2016/09/19/928-hdhh-ill-see-you-at-tha-crossroads/

    Fun times:

    Abacus

  • Preblast – Convergence Oct 8 @ Dogpile

    Pax: Please come out and invite a friend to the Convergence ( Our 2 year Anniversary)  on Saturday  Oct 8 @ Dogpile. We will go from 6 – 8 AM and this will be a Hot Potato Q – so be ready should your name be called! Look forward to seeing the pax out in full force for this 2hr beatdown !

    Swirly

  • Burpee Quota Exceeded

    21 F3 RVA regulars and 1 FNG fought off the tug of the fartsack to start the day with a beatdown that went something like this:

    Mosey to soccer field for short COP, as the PAX had much to accomplish this am.  Exercises included:

    Merkins x 15 IC

    SSH Burpees x 1 (Five SSH IC followed by 2 burpees

    Merkins x 10 IC (YHC had enough of counting and wanted to get straight to the meat of the beatdown)

    Mosey to far corner of school grounds for the Burpee Block. – Run to each corner of the block to encompasses the school and perform seven Burpees at each corner.  Plan when done.

    Form four teams for Field of Dreams.  PAX count off 1-4 (this was more difficult for the PAX than YHC anticipated) with 1s going to first base, 2s to second base, 3s at third base and the 4s at homeplate.  PAX performs exercises at 1st (Merkins AMRAP), 2nd (LBCs AMRAP), 3rd (Squats AMRAP) and 10 burpees at home.  When the team doing burpees finishes they move to 1st and the rest of the PAX moves around the bases until all teams have performed 10 burpees.

    Line along the soccer field perpedicular to Cary for Suicides using the first four trees as the touch points.  Suicides performed included:

    Regular suicide

    Reverse suicide (start with furthest touch point and work your way back)

    Burpee Suicide (perform burpee at each touch point)

    Backwards Suicide (run backwards while performing suicide)

    Polar Bear (bear crawl to each touch point and perform a merkin until you reach fourth tree)

    Dell Brown (crab walk back to first tree stopping at each touch point to perform one merkin)

    Mosey to far corner of school grounds near Cary for Ascending Burpees (run to 1st light pole-perform 1 burpee, 2nd light – 2 burpees, Repeato until you reach Grove stopping at each light and performing the corresponding number of burpees. YHC thinks we got to eight light poles.

    Mosey to area near parking lot for 4 minutes of Mary.  Exercises included:

    Alabama Prom Dates x 20

    Freddie Mercury x 25

    LBCs x 30

    5 Burpees OYO

    COT. YHC took us out with prayer asking God for guidance for the men of F3 RVA to go out into the world and use their gifts to make the day better for someone else.

    Announcements

    Spartan race this weekend.  Good Luck Toga and BT

    Bear Creek 10 mile-12.4.16 Sign up soon as race fills up quick.

    F3RVA Convergence 10-8-16.  Details to follow

    CSAUP event in the planning stages for late fall.  Details to follow.

    NMM : YHCs plan this morning was to exceed the PAX Burpee quota for the month so BT and Toga would not have to do any Burpees this weekend during their Spartan Race at Wintergreen.  They can tell the Spartan folks that the PAX performed their burpees for them beforehand.  Good luck this weekend fellas.  YHC also borrowed a tactic employed by Swirly and purposefully not including any 10 counts, which proved to be problematic as YHC was having difficulty announcing the next version of Suicide, as YHC was trying to suck in as much air as possible.  Way to work through the suicides this am gents, as that is a favorite of YHC.  Saab informed YHC that this was a virgin Circle K Q for himself and that he would never forget.  YHC thinks he can take that as a compliment.  Total Burpee count this am = 85.  While that is a lot of burpees, what makes it more impressive is that the PAX crushed 85 burpees while running the entire beatdown.  Burpees and Running always pleases the PAX.

    Welcome to FNG – Snookie.  Hope to see you back out at 45 MOM as you have no excuse living directly across the street from Mary Munford

    Thanks for allowing me to take the lead this morning and get the burpees out of my system.

    Circle K

    Aye

  • Fun with Bells and the Wall

    7 Circus Maximus stalwarts and 1 FNG fought the urge to hit the snooze on another dense, drizzly morning and escaped the fartsack to swing some bells and start their day off right, this is how it went down more or less:

    COP – SSH ICx20; Helicopter ICx10; Don Quixotes ICx11; Arm Circles ICx15 (10 small, 5 large) forward and then backward

    Swing & Push – 10 2-arm swings then 10 merkins — repeato reducing the number of the merkins each round down to 1.

    Partner chase around the circus loop – first loop Partner 1 carries both bells; Partner 2 performs 5 Burpees then sprints to catch Partner 1 and flapjack.  Second loop, same concept but exercise was WWII situps instead of Burpees.

    Conveyor Belt – PAX split into 2 groups of 4 and formed two conveyor belts with 4 stations each 2 parking space lines apart.  Exercises included Squat, Bob & Weave, Upright Rows and Clean & Press. Perform designated exercise at conveyor stop then bear crawl north to the next stop.  Sprint from northernmost station to back of the line. Complete 2 runs through the conveyor belt

    Form line along the school wall for a some Wall/Kettlebell Combos:

    • Swings and wall plank – each x10 – 2 rounds
    • Lunges and donkey kicks – each x10 – 2 rounds
    • Squat and press and balls to the wall merkins  – each x10 – 2 rounds
    • Squats and wall plants – each x10 – 2 rounds

    Discount Double Check on the sidewalk under cover.  Partner 1 carries bell to end of the sidewalk and back.  Partner 2 performs prom-date-bridge-press-reach (I’m with Toga we need a name for these).  Flapjack.  For second round the exercise changed to WWII situp and press.

    Time expired.

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

    Announcements:

    • HDHH – next Wednesday 6:00 p.m. workout (Batteau) and 6:45 happy hour (Crossroads) – see Hardywood’s pre-blast.
    • Good luck to Toga and BT this Saturday at Spartan Race – we know you guys will represent us well.
    • Bike ride 9/24 – see offshore?
    • Sign up for Rugged Maniac 10/1 – see EF Hutton or Flipper for details
    • Bearcreek 10 miler 12/4 – sign fast
    • New AO (the Creek) kicking off in DaVille tomorrow (at New Highland Baptist Church at 0530) – Abacus has the Q.

    Great work today gents.  Lots of swings and leg work.  Way to push through.

    Welcome Rosco.  A great friend who I knew would love F3 and who I have been EH’ing since I started.  Thankfully he is on the mend from a nasty ankle injury suffered while laying the law (literally) on somebody.  Great to have you out there Rosco. I know you will be a great addition to the F3RVA PAX.

    Thanks for letting me lead and bring back some of my favorite exercises that we have done at the Circus.

    Lots of new and great AOs out there folks.  No excuses – let’s turnout with FNGs in tow.

    Gumbo

  • It’s raining it’s pouring ….

    3 strong mosey into the gloom on a rainy and humid morning.

    The Thang

    Mosey to the sidewalk in front of the bus loop

    COP
    10x Helicopters
    26x SSH
    20x Jville hops
    20x Crab Cakes
    20x LBC’s

    Mosey to the basketball courts

    4 Corners
    jog the long side, shuffle step the short side
    20 x box cutters
    20 x slow bending squats
    20 x American hammer
    20 x jumpers
    rinse and repeat x 2

    regroup on track for a 2 lap defensive slide race

    25 x lbc’s
    25 x monkey humpers
    25 x flutter kicks
    25 x left hand jumpers
    rinse and repeat x 2

    regroup on track for a 2 lap defensive slide race – opposite direction

    Mosey to side of school parking lot

    Burp in a Box
    1 burpee in each parking spot down the hill (11) w/ shuffle step
    1 burpee in each parking spot up the hill (11) w/ shuffle step

    mosey to front of school

    Triple Check
    3 x step ups
    3 x derkin plank
    3 x lap around bus loop

    mosey to parking lot

    Johnny Cash
    5 merkins each, 2x

    COP

    Moleskin

    Good to see Trophy at SOT this morning, He and Gumbo were setting a blazing pace through the exercises. Also, we had lights for the first time since school ended!!! And of course, a couple of buses trying to get the morning started right with the smell of diesel.

    A newly painted “racetrack” in the middle of the basketball courts added a nice change of pace in the middle of 4 Corners. If my memory is correct they split the defensive slide races, either way well ahead of YHC.

    Looking forward to seeing the number’s rising again at SOT.

    Peace

  • And you thought we were going to run…

    Lucky 13 posted for what became a cage match.  Here’s how it went down:

    Mosey to the Carillon, head up and down the steps, and then mosey back to the circle.  Warmup COP: SSH, Imperial Walkers, Don Quixote, scapula merkins, scorpions

    Mosey to the rusty cage for the main event:

    • 8 overhand pull-ups, 10 clerkins, 20 mtn climbers: repeato x3
    • 6 chin-ups, 10 werkins, 15 leg raises: repeato x3
    • Form 2 lines and shimmy across pull-up bar to the center: repeato x4
    • 4 commando pull-ups, 10 diamonds, 20 2 count flutter kicks: repeato x3
    • Form 2 lines and shimmy across pull-up bar to the outside of the cage
    • 4 close grip overhand pull-ups, 10 clerkins, 15x WWII sit-ups: repeato x3
    • 6 over or underhand jerkins at the dip bars: repeato x4

    Mosey back to the flag for the angry caterpillar.  The PAX lines up in the same direction, hits the deck and places their feet on the person behind them.  This was originally meant to be a crawl to the flag, but it devolved to just merkins.  Finish with American Hammers till time expired.

    NMM:  The PAX seem to think that the run around the Carillon implied a more running oriented workout.  Camping out at the rusty cage for nearly the entire workout got that out of everyone’s head.  If you didn’t get your upper body workout today, you were skipping reps.  The jerkins at the end pretty much killed YHC.  Thanks to Saab for helping me get through that, and special thanks to Swirly/Pinocchio as well.  The entire PAX nows knows the proper way to use the nose on the diamond push-ups or any other triangular oriented activity.  The member of the PAX in front of Swirly on the Angry Caterpillar can attest to his skills.

    Lastly, thanks to the entire PAX for helping get YHC and BT ready for our Spartan race.  We are well prepared for anything that gets thrown at us.., except for spears.

    Announcements:

    • HDHH workout and 2nd F next Weds, see Hardywood’s backblast (Flipper will be singing)
    • Spartan still open for any interested- 9/24
    • Bear Creek trail run- Register now!

    Stay Classy,

    Toga

  • Pre-blast: Trails 101

    Trail-running PAX are anxious to get new people out on the trails on Sunday mornings.  YHC has heard from several that the mileage is too much.  That dog no longer hunts: starting Sunday, there will be 3-4 mile routes offered in addition to regular routes to allow new runners to build up stamina.

    Trail runs are at your own pace, and the PAX circles back every 1-1.5 miles to get the six.  No PAX left behind!

    Join the PAX on Sundays at 7am to experience: sunrises over the James River and cemeteries, trail mermaids, the Spur, the Sugar/Slingshot Tree, scratching the Nutsack Tree, and, an awesome 1st and 2nd F before you hustle home to get your 3rd F on!