Tag: Heartbreak Ridge

Two SOPers joined YHC in the rain, then freezing rain, then snow for something like this:

Lap around the track to the concession stand for COP: Dirty Birds, Carolina Dry Docks, Imperial Walkers, Mountain Climbers, Freddie Mercurys IC.

Mosey to the east bleachers and partner up for partner 11s:  Dips at the bleachers and pull-ups at the pull-up bars, with a run in between.

Mosey to the blacktop for Donkey Kicks at the wall x20, run to the other end, Lt. Dans x20; repeato 3x.

Descending Derkins: Mosey back to the track and around, performing Derkins at each bench/bleacher starting with 10 reps and working down to 1 at the bench behind the VSF.

COT

NMM: YHC and Attila watched Honeydo roll in at 5:27 with blue flashing lights trailing.  He talked his way out of a speeding ticket and was ready to roll at 5:29:30.  The story was that the officer agreed that an Offshore Q is more punishment than a ticket…

YHC didn’t get a chance to Q the Dirty Birds before the Falcons lost in the playoffs.  Since Burger King is sticking with 2 Legit 2 Quit in their commercials, it seemed okay to work them in.  Honeydo noted an NFC South theme for the other COP exercises – what to do for the Bucs, though?

Attila thanked the Q for staying out of the freezing water on the ground, but truth be told, the Q’s fingers were numb after grabbing the pull-up bar.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Link for Healing Place 10K training info and signup: https://backblasts.f3rva.org/2018/01/28/pre-blast-healing-place-10k-training-team-signup/.

Or is it Small Data?  It was 70 and sunny at Heartbreak Ridge, so YHC expects to see record numbers at the other AOs.

The THANG: Post next week, and YHC will be happy to Q it again.

Announcements: Solid VQ by Bootleg yesterday.  Was that computer code in the BB (“++”, “-=”)?

Four formidable fellows found their way to Heartbreak Ridge on a cloudy morning. We covered most of the AO:

Msey to field between track and road. COP- Imperial Walkers, Don Qs, Flutterkicks, Merkins. Head to Honeysuckle Hill for Burpees and Hill Run.  Start at 5 Burpees, run up Honeysuckle hill then repeato all the way to 10 Burpees. Head to tennis courts.   Bear Crawl width of 2 courts, 10 Merkins at start, 20 halfway then 30 at end. 2nd round decrease merkins by 5 each stop.

Head to track- bench fun. Alternate 20 Benchkicks, 20 Flutterkicks up bench. Repeato. Then carefully run on track over to Jerkin Gym. 3 sets of 8 each man. Run around track and finish with 3 Bernie Sanders and back to flag.

NMS – pax were dressed for cold weather, with Atilla donning a ski mask out of the car. Humidity made it feel downright warm once we got moving, or maybe the Burpees helped with that.

YHC had to move the COP location as Offshore was getting ahead of the Q. All 4 pax brought it this morning and YHC had to keep adding things.

Once we got to the track it got fun as the pebble track was frozen and patches of ice had to be dodged. Mr Holland lamented the Merkin count on the tennis courts and Offshore wondered aloud whether we went a full hour in the gloom, always a good sign.

Silent Assassin signing off.

A pax of 3 enjoyed the warmest day in YHC’s recent memory – 33 degrees and dry! Here’s what went down:

COP:

SSH, arm circles (reverso), imperial walkers and merkins.

Mosey to the track.  We completed a lap while YHC called out the number of burpees to perform every few feet.

Next to the concession stand where we did 4 sets of 25 LBCs, 20 dips and wall sits (plus one round of balls to the wall).

Then to the back side of the school for polesmokers down the row.  First guy does 5 with the other PAX holding 6 inches and so on.

After hitting all the poles, it was back to the track for a triple check: LBCs, derkins and running one side of the track.

Next we set off on a leisurely pace around the track with stops for LBCs (25×2), jerkins (10×2), and an attempt at infinity merkins on the bleachers (not too successful)

Then, back to the flag for numberama, nameorama, and YHC took us out (in probably the least coherent manner yet seen in F3RVA).

NMS:

YHC expected a large group would share in this wonderfully balmy weather.  Not realizing the effects of many cold days and then a little rain, the roads were fun.  YHC may or may not have played in the parking lot with his VW until common sense, and the memory that a police substation was across the street, kicked in.

Instead of a big group, he sat alone in said VW at 5:30.  After contemplating the options, he set off for a run around the track.  Within minutes, Mr. Holland and then Flipper arrived.

Great work gentlemen.  Always a pleasure.  See you in the gloom.

Ronnie.

Five PAX, mirroring the five Platonic solids, emerged in the gloom at Heartbreak Ridge.  An exercise die in the shape of a regular dodecahedron (the fifth Platonic solid) was back in play after its introduction at Heartbreak Ridge last week:

COP: 10 burpees for the temp + 1 burpee for the wind chill, Hammer Dance, Don Quixote, Mountain Climber, Hello Dolly, Elf/Russian Hammer Dance

Mosey to the end of the upper field to use the exercise die.  PAX take turns tossing the die, the tosser calls how to get there (bear crawl, crab walk, etc.) , then PAX complete the exercise on the top face.  The number of reps on the die was multiplied by 1 on the first toss, 2 on the second, 3 on the third, then repeato.  Each PAX tossed 2-3 times as we traversed both softball fields.

Mosey to pull up bars for 20 pull-ups each.  Mosey to the hill next to the football field for 5 runs up the hill, clearing each of the benches along the way.  Then 3 more runs.  Complete 1 revolution of Macarena merkins on the hill, and mosey back to the VSF for COT.

NMM:  Plato supposedly thought God used the dodecahedron to arrange the constellations in the sky.  PAX could have verified this as the sky was clear, but spent most of their time staring at the ground in plank position.  Unlike last week, the die repeatedly rolled to a 1-minute plank (which was sometimes multiplied by 2 or 3).

YHC introduced himself to Loose Goose and welcomed him to F3, as he did not recognize him bundled up in the gloom.  Kudos to Honeydo who posted again in shorts – perhaps a personal challenge?  One of the benches rose  up and checked Pucker on the sprints uphill as if he were planning to take a slapshot – YHC hopes you heal quickly.  Mr. Holland noted that Macarena merkins seem incomplete without Fudd’s singing.

YHC was reminded again (by himself) that he should really get around to making a shovel flag.  Anyone up for a shovel flag workshop?

Three 40 Year Old Pax came out to Heartbreak Ridge to begin to shed off the gluttonous excess of Christmas day.

COP – SSH, Don Qs, LBCs, Merkins, Arm Circles

Head to Benches for – Boxing Day Sets.  5 Box Jumps & 10 Box Cutters. Increase by 5 & 10 up to 20 & 40.  Mosey to parking lot. People’s Chair for 2 min.

Line up for Bear Crawl across parking spaces. 2 Merkins each space. Head down to Pull-up bars. 6 Pull-ups then lap around track. Then more Pull-ups. Swing by benches for Bench Kicks- 40 & 50.

Jerkin Triple check. 1 PAX runs up and down Heartbreak Hill while other 2 tradeoff on Jerkins. 1 more set of Benchkicks.

Back to parking lot and try out Offshore’s new present- Exercise dye. Exercises rolled were: Jump Squats, plank, Burpees, Freddy Mercurys.

NMS- According to Offshore there were 2 statistical anomalies in the Gloom this am: all 3 Pax were 40 yrs old and also we never repeated an exercise in the 10 or so throws of his handy new dye. Math is everywhere apparently.

Offshore was prepared for the Boxing day sets. The benches were a few inches higher than the normal ones at NoToll which slowed the pax down. Kubota put in solid work as usual, glad to have him out at Heartbreak Ridge.

The exercises dye definitely has 15 Burpees on it. Pretty sure this will make an appearance at a future Offshore Q. Happy Boxing Day Pax.

The gloom called, and 4 magnificent warriors answered.  Here is how the pre-Christmas training session went down.

• COP
  • 25 SSH
  • 25 IW
  • 10 2-count merkins
  • 25 2-count LBC
• Mosey to the track for Reindeer training
  • Reindeers must carry heavy loads, so team up and one man carries another around the track while 3^rd member does 8 burpees (there were 8 reindeer) before catching up; repeat for 2 loops around track
  • Reindeers must have strong front and hind legs

• • • Front legs – jerkin ladder starting at 8 and counting down
    • Hind legs – run up HBH, do 8 deep squats, run back down and repeat 8x
• Mosey to the football field for some reindeer cardio
  • Reindeer (bear) crawl across then high skip back (because there is a reindeer called Prancer)
  • Crawl (bear) reindeer across then high skip back (because there is a reindeer called Prancer)
  • Lunge across (preparing for trudging through the deep snow) then high skip back (because there is a reindeer called Prancer)
  • Karaoke across and back (there is a reindeer called Dancer)
  • Reindeer (bear) crawl across then high skip back (because there is a reindeer called Prancer)
• Reindeer Mary
  • 25 flutter kicks
  • 25 heels to heaven (as we will be flying so high in the sky)
• Bernie up the slope to the invisible shovel flag in the parking lot (because at its simplest, Santa is a socialist where everyone gets what they want without earning it)
• COT with YHC taking us out

One last Christmas-themed workout for YHC.  These themed workouts has been about the only holiday-related activities that I have participated in to-date.  Also, Mr. Holland has set an extremely high bar for themed workouts at Heartbreak.  It was good to have our resident educator on break with us this morning after staying up late on Monday.  Good effort from Mr. Holland!  Prayers for Seymour as the partner carries might have done so harm to his knee.  It took some of the fun out of this workout.  In addition, it was great to have Forcep with us.  Strong effort from our guest from Raleigh.

An early Happy End to Hate for Honeydo.  We missed you today.  I even planned jerkins for you.

God is good all the time!

Attila

6 steady PAX posted to Heartbreak Ridge to enjoy the worst kept secret of the 12 Days of Christmas beatdown. Just because PAX knew it was coming did not stop it from sucking. 12 days on 12/12 has a nice ring to it.

COP- 12 of everything – SSH, Don Qs, Flutterkicks, Merkins, Imperial Walkers.

Mosey to baseball field for THE THANG

1 Dozen LBCs, 2 Sprint of the field, 3 Diamond Merkins, 4 Imperial Squat Walkers, 5 Burpees, 6 Carolina Drydocks, 7 Lunges, 8 Plerkins, 9 American Hammers, 10 Flutterkicks, 11 Reverse Crunches, 12 Broad Jump Burpees.

NMS- YHC thinks only Loose Goose and YHC had actually experienced this beating from Rosie in years past at NoToll. Why not try to import this beatdown to the West End. We ran 2 min long to complete the full 12 days ladder. All the Pax were glad YHC had obtained proper corporate approval from Rosie.

The 12 Days took a while as our field is longer to run. Derkins were changed out for Plerkins as we had a lack of benches. Note to Pax when doing Plerkins find Ronnie.

Lots of Mumblechatter about counting during various segments. Loose Goose had an opinion about every count somehow. Guess Steelers fans are going to be a little mouthy this week, God only know what will happen if they actually beat the Pats this weekend.

Good to have Offshore back at Heartbreak Ridge. He had his own take on the theme by dressing as Mr. Snowmiser in all tight silver attire.

During the 11 rounds of runs across the field nobody was able to find a dry path across. Plenty of soggyness at HBR, which made it all the more fun.

Announcements – Mr Holland has Christmas Q at Hoedown. Be there.  HDHH at the Answer next Wednesday 12/20.

December 5, 1492 was the day that Christopher Columbus first landed on the island of Hispaniola. In recognition of a man who didn’t know where he was, who he was talking to, or what he’d find upon arrival at his unknown destination, six intrepid explorers ventured into the gloom of the Ridge to pretend we’d found India.

First, traced our route through the parking lot. Tracers included running, reverso, sideways, karaoke. COP: SSH, IW, arm circles, LBC, merkins. Mosey to track.

Groups of 3 for Indian runs. One team clearly the Nina, Pinta, & Santa Maria. The other started as rival explorers Amerigo Vespucci & Co, but somehow morphed before the end into those Three Ships from the Christmas song (YHC has many questions for the moleskin on this). Ships hit stormy weather, and had to add 3 burpees for the 6 of each run line.

Mosey to HBR. In honor of the captain of the Pinta, who must’ve asked at least 22 times, “Are we there yet?” PAX completed double 11’s: 20 merkins, 2 WWIIs; run to the top of the hill, 18 merkins, 4 WWIIs, etc (how did Columbus know about WWII??). SSH @ the top when complete, waving the rest of the ships safely to port.

Mosey to back field, for our brave explorers to scout the terrain. Run 5 yards, plank. Next man jumps over, planks 5 yards out, continue across field. For the return trip, army crawl underneath, careful to avoid stalactites. Midway, switch to over/under alternating, continue to end of field.

Mosey to parking lot for triple checks: copperhead squats, flutter kicks, run across lot. Theme ran out of juice by this point, but the clock hadn’t, so the beatdown continued.

MOLESKIN: I love a good themed beatdown, even one somewhat improvised like this one. Mention of the Christmas Carol, “I Saw Three Ships,” however, has left me puzzled. I’ll leave it to you fine folks to help me make sense of this cryptic song:

“And what was in those ships all three, on Christmas Day in the morning?/Our Savior Christ and His Lady…”

1. Is the third ship just empty?
2. Do Christ and His Lady travel with body doubles (maybe they were both in all three of the ships)?
3. Is “His Lady” his mom, or his girlfriend/wife? I know that’s getting a little Da Vinci Code on us here, but seriously, who refers to your own mom as your Lady?

“And wither sailed those ships all three?/And they sailed into Bethlehem…”

Bethlehem is about 27 miles from the closest body of water, the Dead Sea. How did they sail there? Is this whole thing just a parade float after all?

On this day in 1821, Panama declared itself free from Spanish rule, joining Simon Bolivar’s project of a unified continent in Gran Colombia. In 1912, Albania shook free from the Ottoman Empire. 1958 saw Chad, Gabon, and Republic of Congo gain autonomy from France. Two years later on this day, Mauritania followed. East Timor saw it as a good day to go solo as well in 1975, and not to be left out, South Ossetia did its best in 1991 to part ways with Georgia.

In celebration of so many independence movements, six brave souls set out across Heartbreak Ridge to stand in solidarity with the rights of men everywhere to live freely. Life began simply enough… COP included SSHx20, Don Quixote x 10, Arm Circles x 15 & reverso, Freddie Mercury x 25, Merkins x 20.

THE OPPRESSIVE RULER. Since many independence movements begin under an oppressive government, Q continued to work the PAX in cadence, removing all freedom of thought or movement. Three rounds through the following:

• 20 copperhead squats
• 10 2-count mountain climbers
• 20 merkins

POLITICAL UNREST & PERIODS OF STABILITY. Independence movements always come with some combination of unrest and stability. Mosey to the top of HBR. Partner A demonstrates “political unrest” by running down HBR, Bernie back to the top. Partner B demonstrates “stability” at each interval: Balls to the Wall, Wall Sit, Squat & Hold, Elbow Plank.

Mosey to bus loop. In honor of Nov. 28 occurring a mere 56 times on a Tuesday over the last 400 years, 56 LBCs.

FUGITIVES. Even successful independence efforts end up with players on the wrong side of history who’ve gotta make a run for it…fugitives form groups of 3. Partner A carries B on his back, while C completes 20 merkins. C becomes A, A becomes B, B becomes C as they complete a lap around the school.

Partner leg toss x20, curb dips x 20, repeat for good measure. Mosey back to flag for Mary. 25 WWII’s (plus a few since Q started w/o the 6!), Ring of Fire, 2-count chicken peckers x20, American Hammers x 20.

MOLESKIN: Well done today, men. I first picked up with y’all here at the Ridge back in August and was just trying to survive. Glad to take the next step and have a VQ this morning!