Category: Richmond, VA

  • I Pulled Down All of the Spider Webs for You

    5 dudes, some shirted, some shirtless, took on the post-dawn Gloom. Temperatures were 70 and sunny with a dash of humidity. According to the goddess running with her pooch, the following might have happened:

    Route: North Bank to T-Pottersfield to Buttermilk. Some dudes did Belle Isle to railroad road.

    Numbers, names, and announcements at ETs.

    Announcements:

    Not many announcements except Pickleball and Convergence.

    NMS: Oral arguments focused on the Supreme Court. The panel was divided, with each party writing their own Opinions. Some lady showed up talking in country music song lyrics. She made the most sense of anyone.

  • 10k: 5 men. One cyborg.

    5:57 a.m. 5 blurry eyed runners discussing the running route for the morning when Aisle 5 comes in hot. No Wilson today to join Aisle 5 for a walk, but there was a backup plan: electric unicycle.

    Pretty much the last thing on earth we expected to see this morning was Aisle 5 charging ahead or behind the running Pax with his bionic enhancements. Really cool. Played music and everything.

    10k knocked out just under an hour.

    Starbucks post run. Good second F on a variety of topics including bourbon and the pros/cons of men’s short shorts.

    P.S. Text a dude who hasn’t been out in the gloom awhile. I plan to work on Aisle 5 this week.

  • Getting older….still learning

    In actuality, tomorrow is the official birthday(52) yet today was 70, sunny and humid so getting the Q in today makes more sense. A ready to go group of 10 was waiting to see what I had in store for them. A little jaunt to the basketball court(I am sensing a Saturday where we need to do some knockouts and other bball activity) to start the WARMARAMMA: SSH, Imperial Walkers, Helicopters, Don Quixotes, Cherry Pickers, Ukrainian Soldiers(i have been not spelling that correctly for a while), Merkins and LBCs to start out. After that a little suicide not like last week where Florence had everyone screaming in their minds(WTF), I changed it up. We did inch worms, twisting lunges, skips(I like to call them Mario jumps), and Bernies for each of the lines and back. After that, mosey to the tennis courts.

    I am sure the doubles and singles players were going what are they doing above(we shall see), Next up, a 4 corners “ladies of the evening” workout. Lt Dan(13), Carolina Dry Docks(26), Plank Jacks(39) and Jump Squats(52) were the exercises for each of the corners and the return trips. Once you finished everything, a round of 5 Navy Seal Burpees as a topper plus if anyone was still out there, help bring them in. Time to mosey to the next area…

    Over to the concession area for a triple check: Tricep dips, Step ups(today was perfect the benches were dry so the footing was great), and a little run down the steps, around the trash can and back up. A quick change of pace workout then onto the next part(luckily we didn’t have to worry about the baseball or any events going on today).

    Dora….a well-known staple of F3 workouts yet today and I have been pondering for a while to change it up from the standard and adding wrinkles(today was that day). I call it the reverse mega dora(300 squats, 200 LBCs, 100 Merkins, 75 Supermans, 50 toe taps, 25 WW2s). What I liked about today was we as a group helping others out running the lap with them, going at their pace plus it helps them to keep pushing(not about speed, it’s to keep moving and be steady). Once we all finished plus helped others with reps of whatever they were working on, getting close to the end.

    The final stretch….indigenous run back to the flag(rear person did a burpee, then ran to the front). We were able to get everyone in by the time we hit the flag. A final thing of Ring of Fire with Merkins, a deep squat hold the hour was up.

    Count outs, Announcements(Convergence at Dogpile 7am 7/4(you can fart sack a little that morning), School of Rock next Saturday at Rock n Roll with DTH, State Farm’s VQ at Satan’s Hill 7/7. Prayer by YHC(look over house Party especially as he makes his way down to Florida with his grandkids) to close it out

    Here recently, It started to happen naturally plus myself being able to get out there and feel better with the workouts. In the 20s and 30s, you can wake up, get going once you are there, warm up and ready to go quickly. In the 40s, for myself I had to start realizing that things will not work as it did before. I need a little extra time, then the body fully woke up and the motor kicked into high gear. I will be 52, last year there were struggles and at times it was frustrating. The last couple of months I made some changes and as I go along(tweaks here and there will be needed). I was able to find something(the other came to me via offer) that has really helped. The first: doing some stretching with flexibility, mobility getting the body to move more naturally has helped. The second I received an email offer to try the Calm App for 4 months(I took advantage of that). The few minutes and I have used in a few times to help fall asleep but in the morning that 5 minutes get my mind to be calm and the male cat plops next to me so he’s relaxed. I am in no way where I want to be but I am heading in that direction. The workouts I want to be steady…..I can feel when the adrenaline is cranking so I need to bring it down. For the 45 or 60 minute workouts, I want to be steady so when the time to shift it up a gear is needed(I am ready). I will hopefully make it to Alamo(been a few weeks) Monday, Convergence Tuesday if you get a chance, hit a spot that you haven’t done or want to try(it may wind up in the rotation). Have a good one, if going away enjoy the 4TH

  • Bringing it!

    5 guys total including an FNG came out this morning to Dapile to feel the heat and embrace the sweat!

    Opus —
    COP included merkins, DQ, IW, LBC’s, Flutters, and other stuff
    DORA —
    Short run to the fence and back
    100 stepups
    200 squats
    300 SSH

    passed it on to Helix
    to the bball courts
    4 corners plus one
    plus one runs and relieves the corner who runs and relieves the next corner, etc.
    corners were
    Monkey Humpers, merkins, flutterkicks, do something on the pull up bar (pullups, hanging, etc.)

    passed it to Phonics
    11’s
    1 WW2
    10 Burpees
    etc.

    passed it to Mr Holland
    20 AM ham each speed hump
    sprint to the first one, then every other one we jogged or walked.
    Back to the flag
    V ups (5 OYO)

    Opus took us out.
    Jul4 convergence at Dogpile 7 am
    Good to have a FNG out today — karate instructor and builder of guitars. Welcome Mustang

  • The Heat is On

    13 Pax of various ages (what other AO can boast attendance from a teenager and a septuagenarian) descended on the friendly confines of Short Pump North. Lighthouse came in running and warned us of the heat and man he was right.

    COP: DQs, DMH, Merkins, MCs, FMs, LBCs.

    Mosey with a merkin run. We run together (sort of) and then I call out 10 merkins. We went around to Short Pump Middle and did 40 merkins.

    Dora with 100 HRMs, 200 Squats and 300 monkey humpers. Run in a loop in front of the entrance. The monkey humpers got more challenging after the first 100. Mosey to newly paved basketball court (did they do that for us).

    Four corners: 10 burpees, 20 squats, 30 2 count mountain climbers and 40 2 count flutter kicks. It was noted that the temp on the asphalt was a bit high. Mosey to tennis court.

    Slight audible: A kid was practicing tennis with his mom so the suicides with an exercise was constrained to the first two courts. We still may have scared them. 1st one – 5 Carolina Dry docks then 10 CDDs. 2nd set – diamond merkins, 3rd set – wide grip merkins. Mosey to field next to main Gridiron field.

    1st set – partner wheelbarrows run back. 2nd set – bear crawl run back and 3rd set – lunge Bernie back. Mosey to bleachers.

    Elevens with derkins and 2 count step ups. I was asked whether my M wanted me to build my arms today. Fair question since we did lots of merkin exercises.

    Finished with American Hammers, Freddie Mercuries, Heels to Heaven and stretching.

    Convergence this Tuesday at 7 at Dogpile for those that are in town. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for our democracy.

    Fireman Ed

  • The Case of the Missing Coupons

    Sharing of the Mission: The mission of F3 is to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for the invigoration of male community leadership. 

    Disclaimer.  

    COP: arm circles, cherry pickers, DQs, SSHs, Mt Climbers, WWIIs, Merkins.  

    The Thang: 

    Honey Bear Tree Challenge – In pairs, for solidarity, we Murder Bunnied to a tree, stopping to do 20 SSHs.  Then Bear Crawled to a different tree, doing 20 WWIIs, then ran to 3 trees, followed by 20 Merkins.  Did 3 rounds. Only problem was, the coupons have been removed again. We found a couple near the Rusty Cage. Some were huge. We modified the heck outta this one.

    Burpee Sandwich (hold the coupons) – 3 burpees before and after Lunges, Flutter Kicks & American Hammers (10 count each), repeato for 3 rounds.  

    Touching Cindy – we split into two teams and numbered off. Teams were placed “equidistantly” from coupon  (Cindy).  All held a plank, the numbers were randomly called, runners raced to touch Cindy.  Winning team did 10 LBCs.  Losing team did 10 jump squats.

    Mosey to the rusty cage for SEVENS (like 11s, but it’s 7s):

    • Pullups 6-1
    • Merkins 1-6

    Native American Run to the Carillon – 10 Jack Planks in corner 1st corner, run the length of the field, American Hammers in the corner 2, run the width, we then humped some monkeys in the next corner, SSHs, repeato until it was time to do a Native American Run BTTF.  

    Numbers. Names. FNG, Lightning, EH’ed by Wedding Singer, made it to us today all the way from Vermont. He mentioned doing F3 in Vermont & that there isn’t much of it. Good luck to you sir to bring the spirit of F3RVA back home with you. With a name like Lightning, you’re gonna need all the luck you can get. : -)  

    Announcements: America’s fastest growing sport and Richmond’s fastest growing AO: Pickleball, at Batteau on Monday mornings. Come on out. I hear Splinter and Bleeder are the men to beat. I’d like to see these 2 face off some time (a Clash of the Titans). In other news, Flatline wants to check all of your Colons, I mean, he encouraged all of you to get a Colonoscopy if you’re 45, as colon cancer is preventable. At Coffeeteria, one discussion was that in the cancer game, an ounce of prevention sure does beat a pound of cure. Also, the Pax was challenged to think of 2 people who might need some encouragement. Reach out to them. Maybe go visit them. Flatline pointed out that since texts are so normal, sometimes making a call can have a bigger IMPACT.

    Prayer Requests: Prayers for Machismo regarding expanding his business. Prayers for his leadership and wisdom as he takes on new challenges.

    YHC took us out. May we continue to grow, so that we may be there for others in need. Amen (translation: It is so.).  

  • Traveling COT

    it was the monthly Bro-Code run at Currahee which is a 40ish minute 4 mile route with COT conversation, catching up with pax, and just some plan ole accountability to get of the fartsack.

    The Thang: You have to show to know.

    no one leads… no one follows.. it’s bro-code. All 1 Pax (including the 2 adopted 4 legged Currahee mascots)

    have a great day.

    Welcome to Dry July for all those abstaining from libations for the next 31 day.

  • Devil’s Pitchfork: FTLOBD

    Be it 2, 3, or 4 legs, 9 took a pass at the Devil’s Pitchfork off Westham Station near the James. Ample elevation for all.

    Waltz, bad nymph, for quick jigs vex

    Saab abides

  • Devil’s Pitchfork: FTLOBD

    Be it 2, 3, or 4 legs, 9 took a pass at the Devil’s Pitchfork off Westham Station near the James. Ample elevation for all.

    Waltz, bad nymph, for quick jigs vex

    Saab abides

  • The BEST Rock workout playlist

    An alert goes out a 8:42 last night by Futon…Anyone taking the Q tomorrow? YHC was feeling inspired after leading a HUGE workout the morning prior during a work conference, 76 strong. So after seeing some not me…and Hot potato, YHC decided to step up and bring it. Within 30 minutes, the Bose was charging and I found the most ultimate Rock playlist for the Gloom. 12 Strong showed up ready for the next edition of Flex Friday at the Hill, and here is how it went down.

    COP-

    State Farm was unsure of Coupon options so some mumblechatter about our logs changed YHCs warm up plans. Initially I planned to just mosey up the hill and back for a little blood flow, instead we took a field trip up the hill and to the right back through the trail to show SF the logs then back to flag.

    From there the standards – SSH, Imp walkers, Ukr soldiers, Stretch arms left/right, behind the head, Arm circles, dead man hang L/R, Merkins, LBCs, Flutter kicks, W/S wipers

    The Thang-

    Modified Tabata. YHC downloaded a tabata app for the work beat down and it is great. Air horn sounds us off. The modification is 60 sec on, 30 sec off and run through a 10 circuit workout with Cinderblocks.

    The circuit-

    • Curls
    • Skull Crushers
    • Cindy Merkins
    • Cindy Dips
    • Cindy Squats
    • Cindy Swings
    • Bench Press
    • Cindy Rows
    • American Hammers
    • Overhead leg extension

    Repeato x 2 but reduce time to 40 sec on 20 sec off. This length of time BURNS!!!

    Mosey opposite direction through the trail and back down the hill. Finish with a little stretching, TIME!

    COT – See slack for details. Convergence, School of Rock, etc

    Thanks for letting me take the lead again fellas! Iron sharpens iron.

    -Vagabond