Category: Richmond, VA

  • Down Manders – Is that possible?

    4 early risers launched at 5:10 for a couple easy pre-game extra miles to stay on track with Half training, then we swung back by the launch site to pick up 3 more runners for the main attraction – 5 miles through the Mines trails UP Queensgate and DOWN Manders. Turns out it sucks a little bit either way you go.

    Boberry took a spill in the road under construction but kept on trucking, and he, Rosie, and Rosetta turned on the burners in Queensgate. Heist held on for a mile or so. Honeymoon and YHC kept the reasonable pace. Bullseye peeled off after the mines trail but resurfaced Midlo Middle. Well done.

    All in all, a great start to this Hump Day. thanks guys.

    No More Gumbo For You!

  • Source of Shoulder Fatigue

    While the runners searched for the elusive all downhill route, 8 bootcampers were ready to put in some work! The following is a brief summary for your viewing pleasure.

    Run to the far end of the school, mixing in some Bernie, Butt Kicks and High Knees

    Warm Up: Arm Circles, Jazzercise, Alternating Shoulder Taps, Freddy Mercuries, West Virginia Prom Dates, Mario Jumps, Karaoke (x2), Broad Jumps

    Exercise One: Ab Tour – run around the school and to the track; stopping for 25 Heels to Heaven, 50 American Hammers, 75 LBC’s, 100 Flutter Kicks.

    Exercise Two: Starting at the back of the football practice field: Bear Crawl to the track, Lt. Dan’s Across the football field, Tooth Fairies up the staircase. 150 side LBC’s to finish things off.

    To the tennis court for Exercise Three: 4 Corners (Prostitute style): Merkins edition.
    10 Hand Release Merkins, 20 Merkins, 30 Werkins, 40 Carolina Dry Docks

    Exercise 4: Victory Hill (hill repeats) until time is called.

    Back to the flag for 2 minutes or so of Monkey Humpers.

    Numbers/Names/Announcements/Prayer Requests

    YHC took us out.

    Final Thoughts: The Merkin 4 Corners is always tough, but the PAX were looking strong! My “crowd pleaser” description may have not have been 100% accurate. Lots of events coming up in SOJ – be sure to check Slack for details. We have a bunch of people dealing with serious medical issues and injuries – keep them in your prayers. It was a great honor to lead.

    SYITG

  • Unexpected Block Party

    10 men gathered for a rare Handshake First Watch Q. It was also a rarer sighting of Mr. Hollands famous “Sisyphus”

    Speedy COP

    Start at the top of the triangle and run down to the first stop, 30 HRM’s run back to the top

    Run further to the second stop for 40 two-count Shoulder Taps and back to the top

    Run further to the third stop for 50 uphill WWI’s and back to the stop

    Run further for 60 Jump Squats and back to the stop

    Run further and grab the hidden coupons and back to the top

    Unfortunately time didn’t permit us to back it all the way to the bottom, but we were very close.

    Announcements – none

    Prayer Requests – Upchucks family and his 26 cousins.

    NMS – not much mumble chatter out of the Q today, YHC was tired and was trying to keep focused/motivated to get the workout completed in the narrow time window. YHC knows running past the 45 minute clock is faux pas. YHC was most excited that none of the Pax saw or expected the Microblocks to be hidden in plain slight, let along the perfect number of blocks. YHC was also glad the blocks were at the last stop, not the third stop as originally planned.

    Have a great day, everyone. Thanks again for Corned Beef for making the trip to FW!

  • Pub Crawl Penance

    With the end of Oktoberfest, it was time for some penance. We ran 2.7-3 miles, hit 9 different spots where I have had beers in the past and did increasing multiples of 1 burpee, 3 reverse crunches and 5 squats. Ended up with a total of 45 burpees, 135 reverse crunches and 225 squats plus the mileage. The 9 stops were:

    Pour House, Rusty Taco, World of Beer, MPM, Chuy’s, the old Kona Grill spot (under construction to be Fogo De Chao), Burger Bach, Park Lane/Keegans, & ended at the old Halligans spot (under construction for something new). Ran out of time to do Dave & Busters and get to ten.

    Announcements: Firehouse subs near Innsbrook next Tuesday at noon.

    Prayers for healing, helping us find FNGs & my job search

    Thanks for the opportunity to lead

  • A renovated bathroom is uncharted territory.

    I woke up this morning motivated to take the Q at the Triangle.  I climbed out of bed feeling chipper, and ready to cause some hate and discontent.  Now all I had to do was get ready, I walked into my newly renovated bathroom without turning on the light because I didn’t want to wake up the Misses.  This turned out to be a fatal mistake as I walked full force into our newly placed bathtub, stubbing my toe in the most painful way imaginable.  I immediately fell to the floor and began crying in agony as if I was a boy who had just been punched and had his milk money stolen.  As I lay on the floor in fetal position, I considered throwing in the towel, and giving up on the morning Q, but I realized that I had motivated brothers who depended on me to lead a great workout.  I immediately stood up with the adrenaline of a bull on red bull, wiped the manly tears from my face, put my big boy pants on, and sprang into action.  These are the events that followed. 

    Five hard chargers gathered for some morning work

    The Warm Up: side straddle hops, Ukrainian soldiers, Imperial walkers, Don Quixote’s, arm circles, Super Mario jumps, Karaoke, Bernie Sanders.

    The Work: Elevens, Merkins on one side, sprint the length of the basketball court, squat jacks on the other side.  

    Suicides with Bernie Sanders.  Sprint to free throw line, 1 burpee, Bernie back, Sprint to the half court, 2 burpees, Bernie back.  Keep this same fashion to the end of the court.

    Mosey to the parking lot.  Stop on the way to do 10 monkey bumpers… just cause.

    Next up, Chaplain’s world famous indigenous pole smokers, hard charger in the rear either had to bear crawl, lunge, or crab walk to the front. 

    Next, The Viking ship (formerly known as indigenous canoe) everyone in a single file doing American hammers, hard charger in the rear does five Merkins and lunges to the front. 

    Mosey to the football field.  Stop on the way to do 20 Alabama prom dates… just cause.

    Four corners, Corner 1, 10 burpees, Corner 2, 20 Merkins, Corner 3, 30 WWII, Corner 4, 40 Lt. Dans.  (It is important to note that my original plan was to do 40 flutter kicks, but for the life of me, I could not think of the two words “flutter” and “kicks”.  Not wanting to sound stupid in front of my peers, I asked someone have a good work out to which Big Rig responded Lt. Dans.  This is a perfect example of why you should keep a winkie on hand.)

    Mosey back to parking lot with three minutes to spare.  Merkin ring of fire. 10 hand release Merkins, 10 Ranger Merkins, 10 Wide Merkins.

    COT

    No announcements.  

    Prayer request:  Florence’s wife had an Aunt pass away, prayers for the whole family

    Big Rig’s mother requires a surgery, prayers for a safe recovery.  

    It was good to jump in the Q spot again, it’s been a while.  GO VIKINGS!! Looking at you State Farm, the Chiefs are going down.  They may as well not even bother coming to the Twin Cities as the Vikes are going to row all over them.  Maybe they should go see Taylor Swift live in concert instead.  

  • Smokin Six Shooter

    Smoke curled from the end of the magnum revolver, aimed into the NoToll gloom, as six immortal men of valor ripped the morning quiet to shreds… with the following beatdown: 

    The THANG: 

    WARMERAMA: 

    • Mosey onto the BBall Court and circle up
    • Welcome & Disclaimer
    • DQ’s awaiting Carmen’s exit from the car
    • Ukrainian Soldiers awaiting Mr Ropers imminent arrival
    • OK, all Six Studs present? 
    • MUSICAL WARMERAMA – Play Bon Jovi’s “IT’S MY LIFE”, with Nancy Kerrigans the entire song (alternate side as needed) interrupted by a Burpee with every “It’s My Life”
    • A few other IC Reps to stretch

    COP #1: 

    • Line up on the end line for DORACIDES
    • Partner up to complete:
    • x100 Ball-Dippers (2-ct)
    • x200 Mericans
    • x300 Oblique LBC’s (alt sides as needed)

    COP #2:

    • Mosey out to Field #1
    • Stop en route to pay the toll (x20 dips, x20 incline mericans)
    • Line up on the end line for SPRINTS – 50%, then 75%, then 100%, then 25%, then 100%

    COP #3:

    • Line up in plank along side line for TUNNEL OF LOVE
    • Completed x4 painful rounds

    COP #4:

    • Mosey over to the Parking Lot
    • Partner up for CATCH ME IF YOU CAN
    • P1 Bernie Sanders, while P2 completes x3 Mericans then runs to switch – to be continued for full circumference of lot then also BTTF

    FINAL FOUR MINS OF MARY:

    • Boat/Canoe
    • American Hammers
    • Rosalita Dips
    • Flutters
    • STRETCH

    COT:

    • Counterama # 6
    • Namerama
    • Announcerama (see Below)
    • YHC took the PAX out in Prayer

    NMS:  The NoToll remnant kept the cluster close on center mass to beat the day before it began. Honored to count myself among these true warriors. SYITG, DTH

    Announcements (SEE SLACK!)

    • 10/13 SOJ Happy Hour at Diamond Billiards
    • 10/15 SOJ Family Day at Rockwood
    • 10/21 Brewery Tour

  • Blockees? Again??

    9 PAX posted and survived to tell the tale of week 4 of the 2023 ironPAX challenge. It was a greatest hits of the worst exercises they have come up with. Some were smart enough to stretch/warmup a bit before 530. Time hit and this is more or least what was done by the PAX:

    The Thang

    • Set EMOM timer for 5-minutes. Perform 3 Kraken burpees every time the timer goes off during the workout. Kraken Burpee is 3 hand release merkins and then a burpee. Perform the burpee after the 3rd hand release merkin.

    Round 1

    • Murder Bunny 10yds to 1st cone and perform 10 thrusters
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Murder Bunny 10yds to the 2nd cone, and perform 15 thrusters
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Murder Bunny 10yds to the 3rd cone, and perform 20 thrusters
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Reverse Murder Bunny 10yds back to 2nd cone, and perform 15 thrusters
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Reverse Murder Bunny 10yds back to 1st cone, and perform 10 thrusters
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Reverse Murder Bunny 10yds to cone 0 (starting line)
    • END OF ROUND 1 AND IMMEDIATELY BEGIN ROUND 2

    Round 2

    • Murder Bunny 10yds to 1ST cone and perform 10 BDE Big Boys (WWIII Sit-ups)
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Murder Bunny 10yds to 2nd cone, and perform 15 BDE Big Boys
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Murder Bunny 10yds to 3rd cone, and perform 20 BDE Big Boys
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Reverse Murder Bunny 10yds to 2nd cone, and perform 15 BDE Big Boys
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Reverse Murder Bunny 10yds to 1st cone, and perform 10 BDE Big Boys
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Reverse Murder Bunny 10yds to cone 0 (starting line)
    • END OF ROUND 2 AND IMMEDIATELY BEGIN ROUND 3

    Round 3

    • Murder Bunny 10yds to 1st cone and perform 10 Man-makers (Blockees)
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Murder Bunny 10yds to 2nd cone, and perform 15 Man-makers
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Murder Bunny 10yds to 3rd cone, and perform 20 Man-makers
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Reverse Murder Bunny 10yds to 2nd cone, and perform 15 Man-makers
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Reverse Murder Bunny 10yds to 1st cone, and perform 10 Man-makers
    • Bear crawl back to start and perform 5 perfect merkins
    • Run back to block, Reverse Murder Bunny 10yds to cone 0 (starting line)
    • END OF WORKOUT

    Some took less than 45, some needed a little more time but all pushed themselves!! Tclaps to all who posted to any week of the IPC. This was a true time to push yourself and better yourself. To me that’s what F3 is all about!! SYITG.

  • Octoberfest

    Whitesnake celebrated the empty nest by going to Octoberfest in Germany and upon returning, attending HBR. During his visit abroad, he did bicep curls with steins and …… Well, I’m sure he did his daily burpees.

    Disclaimer

    Mosey forward, Karioke left, Mosey backwards, Karioke right back to start

    Warmup: in cadence

    • 20 SSHs
    • 20 Imperial Walkers
    • 20 Squats

    Stretch

    Mosey to Heartbreak Hill

    • Jacob’s ladder with 5 dollies at bottom each time: up the Heartbreak hill 7 times with 1, 2, 3, etc. to 7 Burpees at the top

    Stretch

    Mosey to one side of the Railings on the sidewalk

    • 11s with Hand Release Merkins on one side of sidewalk and V-Ups on the other side. In between each exercise; climb over both railings in one direction and under both railings the other direction;

    Stretch

    Mosey to outdoor basketball Court in back of school

    4 Corner Blimps with alternating Bear Crawl or Crab Walk on two sides and mosey on the other 2 sides:

    • 5 Burpees
    • 10 Lunges
    • 15 IWs
    • 20 Merkins
    • 25 Plank Jacks
    • 30 Squats

    Michael Phelps

    Mosey to benches in front of Quioccasin;

    • 10 Dips
    • 10 Bulgarian Split Squats (each leg)
    • 10 Derkins

    2x in cadence

    Mosey to shovel flag for

    stretch

    60-count Plank

    Announcements: 2nd Tuesday 2nd F at Firehouse Subs in Innsbrook at noon

     

    “There is more hope for a fool than for someone who speaks in haste” Proverbs

  • Tuesday Cruise-day

    4 runners and 6(!?!) ruckers enjoyed a beautiful early fall morning in the Atlee environs. Ruckers had a staggered launch to accommodate 5:00 and 5:30 start times. The early starters looped back to the start for the later starters.

    The running PAX correctly interpreted the posted route to imply track work was in the offing. YHC inaugurated what is planned to be regular Tempo Tuesdays with some cruise intervals (4 X 5 minutes with 1 minute walking rest) at tempo pace on the gravel track. Some Davillians are signed up for the River City Half in the spring, and YHC thinks nothing beats a weekly tempo/threshold effort to safely improve aerobic fitness for these longer efforts.

    Back at the COT, we did numbers and names. Opus was then voluntold to take us out.

    A 2nd F at PBR Hanover on Thursday at 6:00 was discussed. Also, Davillians with athletic shoes they can donate should give the shoes to Corned Beef.

  • 45 Seconds IS a long time

    Most Ms wouldn’t agree, but 10 HIMs (with the promise of no running) came out for a strict kettlebell breakfast this morning. Here’s what went down.

    Warm-a-rama with a very quick mosey, SSH, Ukrainian soldiers, Jazzercise (for Nancy) cherry pickers, merkins, LBCs

    The Thang

    Each exercise was 45 seconds long. We ran through the list just shy of 2 times.

    Swings, single arm curls, skull crushers, squats, big boy sit ups, kettlebell burpees, lawn mowers, side bends, kneeling overhead press, bench press, lunge, American hammers, single leg toe touch, shrugs, overhead front raises, merkin pull throughs.

    Count, names, announcements, COT

    Great work today gents!!!