Category: Richmond, VA

  • HR…err…Burpee Derby

    7 regulars posted for what was supposed to be a celebration of the mid-summer classic and a show of slugging power, well that is not exactly what transpired.  Instead:

    Short mosey around the parking lot in case and LIFOs got lost with the AO change.

    Initial COP in the parking lot:

    • SSH x25 IC
    • Arm Circles x15 (10 small, 5 large) IC forward and then reverse
    • Imperial Walkers x10 IC

    Seeing no LIFOs (and hoping there were not folks at NoToll wondering where the PAX was) – mosey to field and circle up in right field grass for additional COP:

    • Flutter kicks x20 IC
    • Freddie Mercuries x15 IC
    • Baseball-style warm-ups from foul line:
      • High Knees to centerfield and then back
      • Butt-kickers to centerfield and then back
      • Karaoke
      • Skip-jumps
      • Sprints

    Partner up for 61 Burpees in honor of Giancarlo Stanton’s record night last night in the MLB HR Derby.  Partner 1 performs Burpees while Partner 2 runs from foul pole to foul pole and back – flapjack and keep counting Burpees until you reach 61 – what a number by the way, with all its history in the HR record books by Roger Maris and all.  YHC initially thought we would do a second round of partner work with 497 squat jumps (in honor of Stanton’s longest shot last night) but YHC quickly audibled out of that so we would have time to show off our hitting prowess (or lack thereof).

    HR (Burpee) Derby:

    • First Round – Each PAX gets 3 swings.  A HR means the PAX must complete a lap around the field and 10 2-count flutter kicks (later audibled to just 20 2-count flutter kicks and no lap).  An out (anything other than a HR) means the PAX must complete 5 Burpees.  Results:
      • Buzzkill – 3 outs = PAX does 15 burpees
      • Hardywood – 2 outs, 1 HR = PAX does 10 burpees and 1 lap and 10 2-count FKs
      • DK – 3 outs
      • Buzzkill – 3 outs
      • Shawshank – 3 outs
      • Kevin Bacon – 2 outs, 1HR
      • Wedding Singer (F3 HR Derby champ!) = 2HRs, 1 out
      • Gumbo – 3 outs —in fact, YHC almost through the bat farther than I hit the ball.
    • Second Round – Each PAX gets 1 swing – HR = 10 2-count SSHs; Out = 10 merkins.  Result — 0 HRs, 7 outs and the PAX had to complete 70 Merkins.

    For those of you counting at home, the scorecard for today looks like this:

    • 4 HRs
    • 20 Outs
    • Approximately 115 Burpees performed by each PAX member
    • Addition of insult to injury closing with 70 Merkins

    COT and YHC took us out.

    Moleskin:  Not much to say here other than that is not how this played out in my head last night.   The PAX worked hard knocking out the Burpees and, in Buzzkill’s case, jumping the fence to retrieve the few HRs the PAX did hit.  Way to push through it gentlemen.  YHC for one will be hitting the cages so that the 2nd annual F3 HR Derby will feature many fewer Burpees.

    Thanks for letting me lead today and for indulging my idea.  Always a pleasure.

    Gumbo

  • Stairs to Hell

    5 were alive and ready to tackle forest hill.  Great to have Swirly back from Vacation and of course he was there at 5:00 ready to go.  Well this being my First Q at Batteau my plan did not go as I had imagined, but I think we all got something out of this morning!!!

    COP

    25 SSH 5-5 arm circles 10 knee bends

    Mosey to the pond for  2 man relay teams, one runs a lap around the pond and the other picks up a rock of choosing for single leg squats with rock on shoulder or arms until the other man catches him and he than takes a lap and gives the rock to his teammate. We did this for 3 rounds changing the rock enjoyment along the way. With overhead carries, squats press and single leg squats.

    25 Flutter kicks

    Now this is where it gets dicey: I was planning on 10-20-30 merkin stair runs and 10-20-30 dips at the top.  I thought we would do the dips at the top of the stairs but Hardywood said he had a better idea, we will take a left at the top and run a killer hill. Sounds great on paper but boy my legs were smoked!!!

    At the top of the next set of stairs I found 5 poles with our names on it so we finished with 25 pole smokers than run back to the flag.

    Thanks again for giving me the opportunity to lead. Singer is really picking up his runs and getting stronger. Swirly, Hardywood and LastTime totally showed up big time looking strong all the way through..

    Also Gumbo has NoToll but its at a different location so look at the post for the info.

  • Preblast-AO for Wednesday Hill Run 7/13/2016

    AO for Wednesday, 7/13/2016 Hill Run is Pump House Park, 530pm.  This is the same parking lot F3 RVA meets for the Sunday Trail Run.  The plan is to run across the Nickel Bridge and attack the hills of Riverside Drive.  Great training for the BRR.  See everyone Wednesday evening.

    Circle K

  • Wildlife and Bleachers

    Hopeful that TYA would make an appearance on the southside but disappointed two strong moseyed out for a fox and hound style run by the river.

    The Thang
    Leave Bettie Weaver and make a left on James River Road, right on Riverton Ridge. At the circle the fox runs back and the hound finishes the “square” approx. 1/2 mile further then chases the fox back to James River Road and into the James River Park loop. Exit the park and run to the James River High School football field for home and away bleacher run followed by an extra lap for the hound to give the fox a little hope. Run back to Bettie Weaver for COT.

    Moleskin
    Today the fox (3.5) was caught by the hound (4.5) on multiple occasions. YHC understands that in itself is not unusual, the wildlife on today’s run however certainly were.

    First sighting of two deer was rather uneventful, 2nd sighting was a little different as the young buck stood just off the road to watch YHC jog by, 3rd sighting was the same young buck 1/2 mile away standing on the road looking at me as I jogged by no more than 10 feet away. YHC has seen “When Animals Attack” on TV and was a little weary of the strange occurrence. But it doesn’t end there…

    Nearing the finish of the run the YHC was caught and passed for the final time by Gumbo, a fox who must have been upset by this runs across the road carrying an object in its mouth. When the fox sees Gumbo he stops and drops a head of a deer in the road and runs off into the woods. But it doesn’t end there…

    After the COT and some casual discussion of current events YHC hops in the car and heads out of the neighborhood onto Robious Road. No less than a 1/2 mile away a sheep, yep a sheep, comes running out into the road. Fortunately, for all involved the Chevy SS has a great breaking system! It does make me wonder however, what was the sheep running from? Where was TYA?!?

    AO change for tomorrow, Robious Elementary School baseball field 0530.

  • Trails run

    Apologies in advance for this completely thoughtless and straightforward BB.  Busy Sunday is rolling into a busy Monday morning.  It’s this or nothing:

    Eight pax showed up to hit the trails,  TYA was missing (out of town), but it was still 70 and sunny….

    ROUTE

    Start down North Bank, loop around Belle Isle, back on Buttermilk.  Option of Forest Hill Loop was taken by half the pax.  Distances should have been about 7 miles for short route, 10 miles for long route.  Circle K was on his aluminum horse and forged his own loop.

    NMS/Announcements

    Kotters to Trophy, good to have you out!  We hope to see more of you in the near future.

    Also, happy to see Mr. Rogers make it out to his first trail run.  YHC hopes that the timing worked out and you can make it in the future.

    Two distance milestones were passed this run….huge TClaps to THE Soutnern Belle and Aisle 5 for completing over 10 mile runs….their longest runs to date!  Well done to both of you!

    TSB announced she is doing the run phase of a team triathlon….which turns out to be a half ironman.  She is shaping up to be a helluva runner, and YHC knows that she will be ready to conquer 13.1 in September.

    About half of the pax stunk up ET’s afterwards.

     

    Lab Rat out.

     

     

  • Planking with the bears.

    It was a surprisingly non-humid and beautiful July morning for a workout. 16 Pax.
    COP.
    Mosey to warmup circle via a circuitous route.
    10x helicopters, 15x Don Quixote, Arm circles forward and back, small and big, 7x Knerkins, 20x Freddie Mercuries.
    Polar bear crawl (staggered merkin every five bear crawl steps) back and forth from edge of circle to center (2x).
    Mosey to amphitheater for 3.5 minutes of bunny hop up and run down.
    Mosey to pullup bars for partner pullups 1-5 pullups and 5-1 chin ups.
    Mosey down pipe and eventually make way down to the path behind Maymont past the bear habitat.
    Plank with feet up on rail. Pax on end runs to the other end and everyone does 2 derkins when each Pax passes, after 1 cycle, do one derkin, after 2 cycles just plank.
    Incline plank on rail, move right and move left according to instructions of YHC. More Plank-a-rama exercises.
    Mosey back to bottom of hill. Run ¾ of the way up hill. Skip up last ¼ of hill, balls to the wall on the brick building at top of hill while you wait for the six.
    Touch a tree. Revolution #1—3 trees: alternate bear crawl and crab walk with each tree. Revolution #2—touch 10 trees, running.
    Mosey to parking lot poles for 30 pole smokers.
    Mosey back to flag for 25x mountain climbers.
    COT—YHC led us out with prayers for the day and for Spit’s recent illness.
    Naked Moleskin:
    YHC kept the PAX moving today and we explored a new area of the AO, one that is well traveled during Sunday’s trail run. The rails should provide some good opportunities for plank-a-ramas. YHC opted for mostly full-body exercises today after a tough RAMM workout yesterday. Still we did about 2 miles of mostly moseying during the workout.
    Random thoughts: Hardywood and Malpractice impressed today in the bunny hops. Hardywood was taking one hop per step and Malpractice was taking a disciplined 2, both with excellent form. EF Hutton made it through the partner pullups without help! Skipping up hill is exhausting. YHC did not realize that there are a lot of poison-ivy covered trees in the area we did touch a tree—let’s hope no one touched those! There was a brief Saab sighting during the COP as he motored down love hill.
    As always men, it was a pleasure to lead you this morning.

  • AO Location Change for Tuesday – July 12 — Home Run Derby!

    All, to celebrate the fact that the mid-summer classic is the best all-star event in professional sports, and to specifically celebrate the Home Run Derby, we will be holding Tuesday’s NoToll workout at Robious Athletic Complex located behind Robious Elementary School where we will hold an F3-style home run derby.  I will bring the softballs and bats.  Bring a glove if you want to show off your best Mike Trout impression, but gloves won’t be necessary.

    Google maps:  2801 Robious Crossing Dr, Midlothian, VA 23113

    https://www.google.com/maps/place/Robious+Elementary+School/@37.5318517,-77.6139946,19z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x5508459ad606916!8m2!3d37.5315365!4d

    Turn right just past the school and we will meet in the parking lot for a little COP before we hit the field.  See you Tuesday.

    And remember… chicks dig the long ball!

  • Xerxes Encounter

    West met East at the GridIron where four of the Faithful, three from the RVA and one from Kernersville, gathered to meet a challenge that included the following:

    Welcome and Disclaimer

    Thang:

    x25 SSHs IC
    x10 8 Count BodyBuilders PanPaxC
    x25 DQs IC
    x25 Seal Jacks IC
    x25 Leg Lifts with HTH OYO
    x10 Slow Deep Squats with Knee Out Presses OYO
    x10 Curtsey Lunges IC

    The 300:

    x25 V Ups and Jump Rope
    x50 KBell Snatches (x25 R and x25 L)
    x25 Merkins and Jump Rope
    x50 KBell Swings (x25 R and x25 L)
    x50 Air Squats and Jump Rope
    x50 KBell Cleans and Presses (x25 R and x25 L)
    x50 Mountain Climbers and Jump Rope

    Merkin Sequence:

    x10 KBell Merkins
    x10 Medicine Ball Rolling Merkins
    x10 Dumbell Merkins
    x10 MB Rolling Merkins

    Tabata Dips and raised shoulder alternating single leg hip thrusts

    MB Chest Passes

    KBell WWII Situps AMRAP
    Seated MB Overhead Presses AMRAP

    x20 KBell Halos
    MB Chest Passes

    x20 KBell Roundabouts
    MB Back to Back Transfers

    MB Rock and Roll Squats

    Side Line to Side Line KBell Farmer’s Carries and Lunges, Bear Crawls and Lunges

    COT:

    Countarama and Numberama

    Prayer concerns, spoken and unspoken.

    Prayer of Thanksgiving and Supplication.

    Coffeeteria at Einsteins

    Moleskin:

    Warm welcome (homecoming) to Epstein, formerly of RVA (Freeman grad) and now residing south of the border. Strong posting for a KBell Virgin – rookie to veteran in about 18 minutes. Epstein’s bringing back to K’Ville best regards to Jordache and others who have posted to the GridIron.

    Attila found his groove with the newly introduced MB Rock and Roll Squat – so much that the Pax detected a smile that replaced the more commonly observed yawn.

    Some relief from angry Johnsonville’s Q last week and his affection for running generally – we planted the Virtual ShovelFlag at the Pavillion and kept the AO tight with a 75 yard radius. White Deer appreciated the gesture so much he agreed to Q the Circus Maximus on Thursday.

    The debut of the 300 was well-received and provided a good test for the Pax – repeats coming so keep your KBells in your cars. Add a MB and jump rope too.

    Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD.

    Isaiah 31:1

  • Community Focus

    Community is an incredible thing, isn’t it?  Whether it’s your school, your church, your neighborhood block, your family, or, basically every morning of the year, a group of guys looking to get a good workout, have some laughs and sweat until your eyes burn, people crave shared experiences…there’s just something within the fabric of our DNA that gets a kick out of doing things with other people.

    By and large, those shared experiences are fun–8,000 people cheering at the Siegel Center at a VCU Men’s Basketball game, a group of competitors going around a racetrack in Daytona, a few hundred people rocking out to a band at the National, and, in some cases, grabbing another guy’s ankles, kicking your legs towards his chin while the sweat from his shorts drips on your forehead.

    As said earlier, we crave shared experiences.

    At 5:30 on Friday, July 8 a group of 16 F3 men gathered at the Mary Munford parking lot for the weekly Friday run.

    While the building itself looked the same and the Tomatoes were still out there and the sun was up a little earlier as the summer wears on, that building, where F3 gathers twice a week, woke up nursing a heavy heart.

    It has been a tough 7 days for Mary Munford Elementary.

    My son shared a Kindergarten and 3rd Grade classroom (this past year) with this girl.  The Haas family lives on the 4300 block of Cutshaw and all week long, since last Saturday, that block has seen the community rally around it.  Yesterday, Betsy’s 3rd grade teacher brought 30 Monarch Butterfiles (Mary Munford’s mascot is the Monarch) to release in the Haas’ backyard with 30 or so elementary school kids cheering their flight and Betsy’s memory.  It’s been a week when the community of the near west end has been at it’s finest.

    During today’s run, F3 jumped in a bit to share with the community lend their thoughts, prayers and hearts to the community’s effort in comforting a family who is going through the unimaginable.

    THE MOLESKIN:

    A huge thanks to TYA for stepping back for this run and allowing me to Q, even though neither of us signed up to take it.  TYA had even laid out glow sticks (real glow sticks!) as he canvassed his neighborhood setting a trail for us to run.  We all undoubtedly look forward to the run next Friday where we can tackle Hillcrest and look for the glowsticks around 5:50 in the morning when the sun is brightly shining.

    Speaking of TYA….here’s a snapshot of my favorite conversation this week…

    Me: “TYA, how did you get all those bites on your torso?  Did you just get those playing ultimate frisbee?”  (this conversation occurred after yesterday’s pathetic display from all of us in the 45 Minutes of Dropping a Frisbee, errr, Mary”

    TYA: “No, these are actually something I got when I ran into a tree the other day on a run?”

    Me: “You ran into a tree the other day?  That stinks.  Was it on some trail run?”

    TYA:  “No, just a regular road run.”

    Me: “Really? You were on the pavement and then just ran into a tree??”

    TYA: “Yeah.”

    So anyway, I appreciate TYA stepping aside for today as we had the ol’ awkward Double Q.

    The 16 guys started off and ran and biked, as a group, to the 4300 block of Cutshaw, where the Haas family lives.  From there, we took about :30 and said a quick prayer of comfort for the parents and a word of thanks for the 9 years God allowed us to get to know Betsy.

    From there we headed to the “track” at Thomas Jefferson where we all looked to run a mile as fast as we could (or, in Saab’s case, however long he felt like).  The purpose was to try to see how fast you could run that mile.

    Interesting thing about the TJ track…it really isn’t a track.  Who knew?  Someone get John Baliles on the phone.  The TJ track, in case you were wondering, is 25% sand and 75% weeds.  It may or may not be 400M around (although I think it’s close, based on my and Sippy’s mile times).

    From there, the 4 Milers headed down Malvern to Monument. From Monument to Hamilton.  From Hamilton to Grove and from Grove back to Munford.

    The 5 Milers went from Monument to Boulevard to Cary.

    With the prayer and the four TJ laps, I’m not sure anyone did 6…but it was Strawberry to Cary.

    Do you know what sucks?  Running three more miles after you hoof it for a mile on a sand/grass TJ track. Ugh.  Taking that turn on Cary/Grove was brutal. The 89.9% humidity doesn’t help.

    In the end, my mapmyrun.com abilities showed to be horrible, as the 5 mile run was really 5.6 (sorry, Wilson).  But overall, a great workout, and none of us, I think, will have grass rashes on their backs from doing about 300 barebacked LBCs in the wet grass.

    I do want to say thanks to the PAX today for indulging my Munford community and myself with the timeout on the run, I appreciate that.  The obligatory thing now would be to say  “hug your kids extra tight tonight” or something cliche like that, but I’m pretty sure we all do that anyway.  I’m not sure about your kids, but my 9 year old has a tendency to do goofy things and I have a tendency to correct him on it.  Betsy was known to be silly and goofy, wearing huge bows on her head and sometimes purposefully wearing clothes backwards.  I think I’m going to tone down the critiquing of the 9 year old for awhile.

    I’m very thankful for my son’s school, our neighborhood, our church.  But this morning, I couldn’t be more appreciative of the community I have with the guys that come out of the gloom at 5:30 and drip sweat, run hard and drop frisbees.

     

     

  • R&R?!?

    12 Faithful and one moron showed up for some Mary this morning, and to make fun of the only guy in the RVA pax that could forget to wear shoes to a workout….Lab Rat.  Not to let that slow us down though, let’s get busy:

    COP

    -Mosey around half the grounds, finding the grassy path where possible

    • SSH IC X28
    • Don Quixote IC X20
    • Arm Circles IC X10 little X5 big, Reverso
    • Crunchy Frogs IC X15
    • LBC IC X30
    • Merkins IC X10 (15?)
    • Partner Leg Toss X25, Flapjack

    THANG

    • Ultimate frisbee-  Divide into teams based on who did leg throws first or second.  Any time frisbee hits the ground, pax does excersize of Q’s choosing.  Interceptions, the intercepted team does excersize. Upon score, the team scored upon moseys to opposite end of field.  Excersizes included:
      • Merkins
      • LBC’s
      • Squat Jumps
      • Deep knee bends
      • Crunchy Frogs
      • Burpees (upon interceptions)
    • Mary- 1 minute of Superman

    BOM/COT

    • A life worth living does not necessarily mean being comfortable.  YHC really butchered the quote he wanted.  Here is the true quote:

      On the frontlines-in humanitarian crises, in wars overseas, and around some kitchen tables here at home-I’d seen that peace is more than the absence of war, and that a good life entails more than the absence of suffering.  A good peace, a solid peace, a peace in which communities can flourish, can only be built when we ask ourselves and each other to be more than just good, and better than just strong.  And a good life, a meaningful life, a life in which we can enjoy the world and live with purpose, can only be built if we do more than live for ourselves.  -Eric Greitens, The Heart and the Fist

    NMS

    So the plan for the day was to do something lighter for those that had already been pummeled by the massive beatdowns from earlier in the week.  A nice game of ultimate frisbee with some excersizes thrown in for good measure seemed to fit the bill.  Also planned was a “half time break” COP.  Once we got in the action though, all that got thrown out the window, and plenty of excersizes were there for the taking.  “The every time the frisbee touches the ground”  turned out to be a death sentence, as everybody forgot how to catch.

    Of course, there were a few standouts, and TYA was not a member of that group.  Sippy is the clear player of the group, which everybody pretty much knew.  The rest of the pax each had their moments of glory, and everybody got plenty of running in.  While confiding in Sippy Cup preparing this workout, the concern was that the runners would run and the non-runners would stand around a bit, but that wasnt the case at all.  Plenty of hustle from everybody and WAY more excersizes were performed than expected.  Turned out to be a pretty good mix of fun and work.  YHC was completely drenched in sweat by the end.

    YHC would be a horrible Q if he didnt mention that Wilson caught the game-ending touchdown/basket/point/homerun thing to end the game, even though the “shirts” were up by at least one heading in to that  drive (it was not the “game winner”).  The skins were the clear losers, being that they had an extra man, lost the match, and YHC is sure that he is not the only one scratching his back on anything with a rough surface he walks by from doing LBC’s sans shirt.

    YHC hopes everybody enjoyed this morning as much as he did!

    Lab Rat out.