Tag: Heartbreak Ridge

A mob of 17 filled up the parking lot of Hearbreak Ridge this morning!  Wow!

For the third week in a row, we spent our Tuesday morning playing Ultimate instead of doing an “actual” workout.  I say “actual” in air quotes though, as I recorded over 3 miles in steps by the end of our little game.  This is the first time though that we actually had enough  white shirts to play with nobody having to go skins!  Same format as last week’s No Toll and the week prior’s DaVille….feel free to go read those if you want to know the logistics.

Lockjaw and I set up the field short in order to keep off the big bare spot where they are trying to regrow the field…also thinking 5 on 5 would be a great showing for today (I think they had 5 post last week to Hearbreak).  The field was plenty big though, and the game got going.  White team held on for a bit, but was quickly out-gunned with Ponch showing off some athletics and running the show.  Gucci is tall and fast.  Hardywood is a superhero.  Vinny has grit.  Handshake is always in the endzone.  They pretty well whipped up on the white team, even though we had Sippy, who did his best to pull us up by the bootstraps coming up with trick plays and such.  I tried to play a more defensive lined game, thinking like a defender in hockey or soccer due to all the fast turnover action….it worked somewhat, but anarchy reigns supreme on the ULTIMATE gridiron and I had more than I could handle much of the time.

HOWEVER, just like a shitty round of golf, it can all be made better if you walk off 18th green after holing out a birdie.  Staring at a score of 3-8, redemption was at hand for team WHITE when “last point wins” was called.  White drove down and made a costly turnover just outside the endzone.  BLACK marched down, only to make a turnover of their own!  Garbage Plate was able to make a great catch, then pitch it over the line for last point, and the come from behind victory!

Ahhhh, shucks…just like T-ball, everybody that played got a trophy….and that trophy was an absolute mess of a driver’s seat as they climbed their stinky sweaty backsides in it.  All three of this year’s Ultimate days went off without a (major) hitch and good times were had by all.  Sugar Sock texted me to apologize for getting worked up over calls!  Love to hear the enthusiasm, and no apology necessary….besides, that’s kind of my thing.  Even the grounds crew, who came over to bitch us out for playing on their “in repair” field could hardly be upset, and let us continue our game for the last 20 minutes!  Thanks, dudes…

A couple of other notes:

-Thanks to Loose Goose and Lockjaw for helping out with the logistics and the field setup

-Well done to Mr. Holland and Shakedown for shaving their heads for a great cause.  Mr. Holland looks like a mad man and Shakedown looks like TYA.  Here’s to growing it back, boys!

-OK, my Fantasy 7 from the last 3 weeks if I were to put together an Ultimate team:  Sippy Cup, DK, (Astro)Glide, Ponch, Spike, Rosie*, and gimme Garbage Plate to round it off.  Also, give me Vinny, Shakedown, Sugar Sock, Lab Rat, and Flipper to sit on the bench, ridicule the other team and argue with the refs.  For actual subbing power and general good attitude, Hardywood coming in at half time with fresh legs would be a monster.  Handshake is also clutch if he gets to stand in the endzone the whole time and catch TD’s.

* represents great player, but with questionable body parts

Apology of the week goes out to Loose Goose for all the “Im going to kill you” thoughts that filled my head when the grounds crew told us to pack up and move to the upper field.

 

Lab Rat apologizes…

 

 

 

2 second-timers, 1 summer tour participant, and 4 regulars tackled the dawn at Heartbreak Ridge this morning.

THANG

Mosey to front grassy area

Disclaimer. COP: Invisible jump rope x20, Russian Soldiers x15, Russian Kickbacks x15, IW x15 Freddie Mercury x15, CDD x15

Mosey to the bus loop on other side of the school

Curb crawls – bear crawl to other side, do 1 decline merkin. Bear crawl back, do 1 merkins. All the way up to 11.

Indian Run around the perimeter of the AO counter-clockwise all the way to the Jerkin Gym

With partners, do 3 sets of 10 Jerkins

Mosey to other side of track.

Triple check – dips on hill bleachers with feet also up on the next bleacher down, back plank, run to other end of parking lot & back

Mosey to the wall of the school

Legs:
– 90 seconds of lunges
– 90 seconds of wall sits
– 90 seconds plank
– 40 donkey kicks
– 60 seconds of Lieutenant Dans

Mosey back to SF

Stretching COP: quads, hammys, butterfly, IT band/hip flexor

COT

Announcement – Hump Day Happy Hour at Hardywood West Creek location tomorrow. See pre-blast, this is a send off for Flashdance and Fudd (though Fudd will not be there.

NMS
– Good to see our newbies back out, way to get back at it again, Le Tigre (not Tea Gray, as in Earl Grey Tea) and Ponch. Look forward to seeing you continue to post
– A generally quiet pax this morning… except for groans about the Curb Crawls, led by Attila. This “Bob Vila of Qs” takes that mostly (?) as a compliment. YHC is already sore from curb crawls, lunges, and wall sits in particular. Sore is good.
– A bit of a surprise to not see Vinny present and sporting his team’s colors. If he’d asked YHC to give up the Q it probably wouldn’t have happened. YHC is happy for Caps fans, though prefers to not participate in the celebration of a rival’s championship. Perhaps one of NoToll, DaVille, or Spider Run is calling next week.
– The title is a genius quote ascribed to the great Bob Vila

4 hungry warriors came to conquer the morning at HR. SF planted and here’s the short version of how it went…

Mosey to small parking lot in front of school. COP: Invisible Jump Rope, Merkins, IW, DQ, Freddie Ms

Mosey to hill on east side of school for “fun on the hill”
– up the hill, 5 Lieutenant Dans, down the hill 5 LDs
– up the hill, 6 Lieutenant Dans, down the hill 6 LDs
– up the hill, 6 Lieutenant Dans, down the hill 6 LDs

Mosey to tennis basketball courts
– run forward to the wall, merkins, run back
– side shuffle R, WWII situps
– side shuffle L, CDD
– run backward, ???
– karaoke R, ???
– karaoke L, ???

Intermittently plank, one-legged balance toe touch each side, bridge/back plank between rounds

Mosey to Heartbreak Hill, repeato “fun on the hill” with modification of doing LDs only at the top, 5 iterations

Mosey to the SF
COP – each PAX choose a core exercise, finish with ring of fire

NMS
– Upon returning to the start, the PAX found note left on shovel flag by “556” – presumably a school bus with writing abilities. Glad to hear we’re encouraging someone. Maybe we should EH said school bus?
– Today was planned to be something completely different, but maybe next week with more PAX. Apparently plenty showed up at Lab Rat’s Ultimate party in DaVille

six studs took off without a named Q to tour Heartbreak Ridge. Here is what transpired:

COP – SSH, Don Qs, Merkins, Scorpion Kicks, LBCs. COP was ed by Mr Holland.

Q to YHC. 3 Trips up Honeysuckle hill via Bear Crawl. 5 WWII situps at top, run down then 20 Jump Squats. Head to tennis courts: Sprints across & 15 Merkins. 2 more times then Crab Walk across.

Q passed to Flipper- down to concession stand for Triple check – B2W, Flutterkicks, run to flag & back.  Handshake took Q over to Jerkin Gym. Descending Jerkins from 7-1. Then 30 WWII situps. Garbage Plate took us home with Triple check again of Inchworm, Dips, and Star Jumps .

Back to flag for Mary, 10 HR Merkins and COT closed out by Handshake.

NMS – Great to have Tubbs out for 1st time at HBR. He posted as FNG at Circus Maximus last week. Way to hang in on a humid hot potato Q.

Mr Holland started us off but could not recall a historic event from 5/29 date to muster a theme so we passed the Q along. As we made our way to the concession stand the gnats hit us full force. It only got worse when we hit the Jerkin Gym. YHC has worked out in some terrible conditions in these last 3 years but the gnats at the Jerkin Gym were unbearable. A few pax almost gagged up onto their partner while holding their legs on the Jerkins.

Garbage Plate and Handshake handled their Q part fine and are both ready for a full Heartbreak Ridge VQ soon.

Silent Assassin signing off.

 

On this beautiful, lucky mid-May morning, 8 determined die-hards gathered at the Ridge. Here’s what went down:

Mosey to front of parking lot for a warmup COP: Invisible Jump Rope, Russian Kickbacks, Don Quixote, Carolina Dry Docks

Mosey to south end of track near the road. Intro the Lucky Horseshoe. Set the timer for 33 min, and PAX complete as much of the following as possible during that time:
Do a lap of the track and do 20 of the marked exercises on laminated card corresponding to that lap number.
Lap 1 – Merkins
Lap 2 – Merkins, Storm Squats (to clear up any ongoing confusion, each storm squat rep = [1st leg -> squat -> 2nd leg -> squat])
Lap 3 – Merkins, Storm Squats, Scorpion Dry Docks
Lap 4 – Merkins, Storm Squats, Scorpion Dry Docks, WWII Situps
Lap 5 – Merkins, Storm Squats, Scorpion Dry Docks, WWII Situps, In-place Lunges (to clear up any ongoing confusion, 20 each leg)
Lap 6 – Storm Squats, Scorpion Dry Docks, WWII Situps, In-place Lunges
Lap 7 – Scorpion Dry Docks, WWII Situps, In-place Lunges
Lap 8 – WWII Situps, In-place Lunges
Lap 9 – In-place Lunges
Lap 10 – Victory Lap, no exercises at the end

Mosey to shovel flag for Ring of Fire

COT

MOLESKIN:
Well done this morning, gentlemen! Kudos to Phonics and Offshore for both completing the Victory Lap! You both crushed it and it was great to see.

Thanks Phonics for making the trek to Heartbreak, we hope to see you again.

Nine aspiring NHL players posted today in preparation for game three of the Eastern Conference Finals, and to celebrate the Caps finally breaking the 20 year D.C. sports curse (what curse). It went a little something like this:

5:30 sharp, leave the locker room and mosey to warm-up area beside the rink / bottom of Heartbreak Ridge.

COP: YHC advised the PAX that he needs work on cadence.  Arm Circles (slow – forwards / backwards). Jump Squats. Invisible Jump Ropes. All x 10. The dudes abided with HALT every time, so YHC must have improved slightly overnight.

THANG: Pre-skate strength and conditioning. Clockwork Merkins on HBR. 5 at 12/ 3/ 6/ 9. Repeato Counterclockwise. Plank walk between slotted times. Crawlbear up HBR  for 20 row boats (there’s a theme here). Crabwalk back down. Polar Bear up HBR for 20 WWIIs (still a theme). Polar Bear back down.

Time to lace up the skates and hit the ice. 1 lap around the rink/track. (Native American Run w/ 3 burpees).  

Partner up: Defenseman, time to get in on the ice time. Catch me if you can. Skate/run backwards while partner does 5 burpees. (It’s hard to do burpees in skates on ice). 1 lap.

New partners: Time to work on those upper and lower body injuries. Partner 1 runs a lap while partner 2 completes dips. Repeato x 2. LBCs to wait for PAX. 50 LBCs OYO (more on this in a minute).

Penalty Box / Rusty Cage. Pax hit with a 5 minute major. Partner up. 11s. Jerkins and Booyah Merkins (2-count).

Game over. Back to the locker room/flag. Good guys win. YHC took us out.

NMS: Great time this morning. YHC pulled an accidental Swirly. I woke up at 4:45 got ready and started to head out the door when I realized it was 4:15. Oh well. Arrived at HBR 30 minutes early and was able to get the rink lights turned on, warmed up and ready to go. Six PAX members joined me at the start of practice with two others coming in hot. Considered having them skate extra laps, but decided against it.

There was a leak in the arena roof, so last night’s rain made pre-skate training a bit slippery. Flipper called an audible on downhill Polar Bears and went with somersaults instead. Good work Brother, YHC/Coach noticed the extra effort!

Solid mumble chatter during time in the Penalty Box. Solid effort as well.

YHC didn’t plan this, but as it were, today was my 50th post (hence the 50 LBCs). Special shout out to Hardywood (or blame Hardywood if you’d prefer) for bringing me in to F3. It’s been awesome so far, thanks to all of you. Can’t wait for what lies ahead. Thanks for letting me lead today.

Announcements:

Happy Birthday Atilla!

PuppyPile – May 19th. 7:05

Pay Shakedown lost of money to shave his head.

See Wilson and Gumbo about golf.

Memorial Day Convergence at Tredegar/Belle Isle May 28th. 7:00 a.m.

F3 Arlington is launching Saturday June 2 at 7:00 a.m. YHC plans on being there. Join me if you can. Hit me up for details or check them out on Twitter.

-Never pick the low hanging fruit!

Vinny, out!

10 (seemed like 11) veteran F3RVA pax came to tackle the morning the right way at Heartbreak Ridge. SF planted and precisely at 0530 the pax took off for the adventure. Here’s the recap:

THE THANG

Mosey a lap around the parking lot to the front side near the street

Warmup COP
SSH x20 IC
Russian Kickbacks x20 IC
Russian Soldiers x20 IC
DQ x10 IC very slowly, stretch at every motion
(Some other exercise) x12 IC

Mosey to the track for beginning of arms day. Break into two groups; first group head to pullup bars, second group head to jerkin gym
– @ Jerkin gym: 10 Jerkins, then 20 bench dips. Run on the track to the pullup bars
– @ Pullup bars: 10 Pullups, then 20 merkins. Run on the track to the Jerkin gym
– Repeato until each station completed 2x

Mosey to the near side of the school

Triple Check: Wall sits, Plank, Run to other side of parking lot & Back

Mosey to the exit lane from the parking lot

Curb crawls (as prescribed in F3Nation.com Exercises) – Bear crawl to other side, do 1 Derkin. Bear crawl back, do 2 Derkins, etc. all the way up to 13. Audible to Incline Merkins after 6. Modification options: bear crawl –> lunge walk, Incline Merkins –> Merkins on knees.

With arms on fire, mosey to track. Each Pax do 2 laps, and head back to shovel flag

COP
Ring of Fire: all pax plank while one at a time each does 10 Merkins
APD slow x20 IC
Heels to Heaven x20 IC

MS

As always, it was a pleasure to lead this morning. After Gumbo’s leg-smoker day at Dogpile on Sat, YHC’s lower extremities were still sore and groaning for the focus to be on arms today. Even more was planned, but those plans will just inform the next time.

YHC had some trouble counting the PAX, and thought right up until the final COP that we had 11. Probably would have made more sense to split into groups of 4 and 6 for Jerkin/Pullup sequence… expecting maximum mental sharpness is not necessarily a requirement to better yourself with fellow PAX in the gloom, so no apologies offered here.

The first words Offshore said to YHC today were, “I need to sweat today.” Surely intended to be awkward… and it was indeed. Good luck collecting all of your body fluids for the cyborg study or whatever it is, Offshore. Shortly before or after that interaction (again mental sharpness not necessary here), Attila & HoneyDo’s commentary on YHC’s trunk search for gloves that didn’t stink yielded today’s BB title

Good to see the warm weather Pax out today, hope to see everyone back!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

5/19 7:00am Puppy Pile (2.0-friendly at Dogpile)

Friday 5/11 – Weekly West End pax lunch at Chipotle on Broad Street BETWEEN GASKINS AND COX ROAD

5/16 – Hump Day Happy Hour at Independence Golf Club. Speed Golf may or may not be on the agenda.

Seven studs slid their way through the morning dew at Heartbreak Ridge to try and answer the eternal question: what is the best way to perform a merkin. We started with:

COP – Imperial Walkers, Don Qs, Helicopters, Merkins, Scorpion Kicks, Lbcs. 

Grab a bench- 15 Derkins, 15 Ball Dippers, then run the parking lot. Repeato.

mosey to hill formerly known as Honeysuckle hil. Polar bear up, down then 20 WWII situps. Backwards run up, 20 Heels2Heaven, Crab Walk up, 20 Freddy Mercurys.

Mosey to Basketball court. Run length, 25 Donkey Kicks. 5 Burpees on other end. Repeato but increase to 10 Burpees.

Down to Jerkin Gym- 3 Sets of 8. Grab a bench – 50 Benchkicks, 20 Derkins. 2 more times decreasing Benchkicks by 10. 

Back to flag for Mary, and close with RoF. Atilla took us out.

NMS – Mr Holland arrived to make it an uneven 7 on the initial mosey. Vinny suggested some Scorpion Kicks with some modifications. Those will have to be tested in the Corporate R&D lab before dropping on the pax. Handshake and Gomer Pyle both are back to for after nursing their ankle injuries.

At Honeysuckle Hill a police car pulled in but used his loudspeaker to tell us to carry on. This continues our good relationship with the boys in blue at HBR. The high volume of Benchkicks was appreciated by the pax.

During the mosey back to the flag Mr Holland asked the pax about preferred Merkin hand placement. Many suggestions ensued with comments of lock your wrists, should blades touching, parallel planes, etc. Somewhere Toga is smiling…

The Dew was thick this morning with hands and feet soaked. May this be the last long sleeve morning in the gloom for a while, but the legs are always SOP. Silent Assassin signing off.

7 of Richmond’s best beat the fartsack this morning, hoping to not watch the puddles gather rain… Shovel flag planted around 0523, laminated LH card located, and the PAX took off at precisely 0530 to tackle the gloom.

THE THANG
Mosey to north end of track near snack pavilion, disclaimer, COP:
– Russian Soldiers x20 IC
– Russian Kickbacks x15 IC
– Helicopters x15 IC
– IW x15 IC

Mosey to south end of track near the road. Intro the Lucky Horseshoe. Set the timer for 33 min, and PAX complete as much of the following as possible during that time:
Do a lap of the track and do 20 of the marked exercises on laminated card corresponding to that lap number.
Lap 1 – Merkins
Lap 2 – Merkins, Storm Squats (to clear up any ongoing confusion, each storm squat rep = [1st leg -> squat -> 2nd leg -> squat])
Lap 3 – Merkins, Storm Squats, Scorpion Dry Docks
Lap 4 – Merkins, Storm Squats, Scorpion Dry Docks, WWII Situps
Lap 5 – Merkins, Storm Squats, Scorpion Dry Docks, WWII Situps, In-place Lunges (to clear up any ongoing confusion, 20 each leg)
Lap 6 – Storm Squats, Scorpion Dry Docks, WWII Situps, In-place Lunges
Lap 7 – Scorpion Dry Docks, WWII Situps, In-place Lunges
Lap 8 – WWII Situps, In-place Lunges
Lap 9 – In-place Lunges
Lap 10 – Victory Lap, no exercises at the end

Mosey to shovel flag for COP/Mary:
Plank
Back plank
Freddie Mercury slow IC x20
Superman

MOLESKIN
Kudos to Offshore, who came within about 20s of completing the full menu. Way to kill it! That’s almost 2 full laps of improvement from March – incredible.

YHC was slightly surprised to see head nods from all after asking the PAX if they want to do this again in May. This workout is easy to have a love/hate relationship with – the laps get longer… and then they get shorter and you think you just might be able to squeeze another in if you push a little harder. YHC likes doing this regularly, but thought the PAX might say – “You don’t like my point of view, you think that I’m insane… Its not sane… It’s not sane.”

Capture of laps completed as baseline for future LH iterations (please correct if wrong, the iPhone voice memo didn’t work): HoneyDo 8 + part run, Mr. Holland 8 + part run, Seymour 8 + part run, Offshore 9+ most of run, Vinny 7 + part of run, Attila 7 + part of run, Loose Goose 7 + most run, 13 IP lunges short of 8.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
F3 RVA shirts (2 designs) available for order between now and 4/30. Lab Rat is closing an order today to combine shipping, so reach out to him ASAP if you’d like to add to it. See https://backblasts.f3rva.org/2018/04/16/dogpile-and-mosey-on-shirts-now-available-for-pre-order/ for details

WEST END weekly lunch starts back up next Friday 5/4. Location: TBD (HoneyDo?), time: high noon.