Fitness, Fellowship, Faith

Day: September 28, 2023

Always Wanted to Try This

We all have our home AO or our favorites. Mine is the one that I’m currently the Site Q which is the OG GasHouse. Unless I have a unique Q that requires a specific set-up, I take the same route each Saturday morning which means I’ll drive down Churchill Drive, take a right at the library onto Garrison and left into the Schiele. Why this route, well it’s the street my grandparents lived and then when they moved to a retirement home, my wife and I bought their house and it became our own. So, this weekly trip has a bit of nostalgia even though I’ve been up and down the road thousands of times. But as F3 has only been in my life for almost 8 years now, the downward hill just after Dixon to the speedbump speaks to me in a different way than those early years of my life.  Today was finally the day the hill would be in play.

Warm-up – actually a twist with Tube taking the warm-up for a few exercises. Those Pain Lab guys get out of their vehicles warm as Tube needed only a few exercises to get their bodies ready. Boot campers were dismissed. We moseyed out of the lot and to the library to finish the warm-up as our old bodies and particularly our legs needed some stretching:

  • Good Mornings SC x 10
  • Toy Soldiers IC x 10
  • Imperial Walkers IC x 10
  • Side to Side Lunge IC x 10
  • Maybe 1 or 2 more I can’t recall.

We trotted left out of the library onto Churchill and cruised up the road taking note of Stroganoff’s house (1st on the right) and then arriving at the speed bump just past Wilkins. The hill was clearly in view and the PAX felt what I was about to say. It’s a quick climb to the top – not a true Soul Crusher as Freight calls these beasts but when you do it 10 rounds, it becomes a beat-down. 11’s is the call with 10 Jump Squats at the bottom and 1 Perfect Form Merkin at the top. As we progressed throw the routine counting down and up respectively, I began to realize this lengthy run was going to take most of the workout. Stroganoff shared he had to depart at 7:30 for his daughter’s soccer game. He would make it to round 9 while the remainder completed the effort.

Next up was the PAX choice – 4 corners or another Hill burner. Nutria chose the 4 corner option. We began at Churchill and Edinburg with 10 Flutters, then went along Edinburg to  Queensgate, stacking the flutters with 20 Penguins, up the hill to Nottingham adding in 30 Big Boys, to Nottingham/Churchill for the finale with 40 Mtn Climbers. That didn’t take too much time, so lets use the last 12 or so minutes to get in 3 rounds of what I thought would be the real Thang. We moved to the base of Queensgate which I have used that hill before  (as has Whoopee) as it is tough climb. I had a sign with 6 exercises and reps on it. Due to the lack of time, we’d go about halfway up. Each PAX selected 3 of the 6 to complete in the allotted time. I’ll spare you the details but fare to say they were challenging.

It wasn’t all that complicated which I’m sure your surprised to hear. I guess sometimes I can go that way. Anyway it was effective and we enjoyed the fellowship.

COT – prayers for Turtleman. No announcements. Roscoe took us out.

Until the next one.

You can go your own way!

Go your own way!!! While this was mentioned as an option by YHC, the Armory route, including the gut check, was recommended as the way to go. We recited the Pledge of Allegiance and then headed off into the gloom.

We made our way, some heading off on an alternate direction later on as a way to practice “you versus you”. In the end, everyone made it back to the start safely. Good work men, another day’s work done!

Announcements: JJ5k, October ruck, 1 more runner needed for Tuna relay, Marshall Tucker Band playing in Belmont this Saturday

Prayer Requests: Turtleman coming home soon, Norwood posted recently, Jackson Hall

Hill Climbing at Midoriyama

A perfectly warm afternoon at the greatest afternoon AO anywhere and a slight crowd of 5 showed up to put in some work. Pockets had to work so I picked up the Q so it was going to be a simple one.

Pledge
Warmup: SSH, Cotton Pickers, Hillbillies, Low Slow Squats, MNC’s
Mosey down the road through the woods and to the picnic shelter where we find a nice couple sitting at the back table and a large dog who was not happy to see us.
The Thang:
10 Derkins
10 Step Ups
10 Dips
10 LBC’s
10 CDD’s
10 Reverse Crunches then
Run down the hill to the pier and return and do this 5 times.
Freight led the way despite his foot giving him some problems. Wojo passed me pretty quickly too but we all got in some tough work. One time I was asking which number we were on and the couple sitting at the back table said “That was three”. Dang, I had two more to go. That dog really wanted to join the hill run.

We mosey back through the woods and stop at the extra asphalt beside the road for a few AB exercises.
10 WW1’s
10 American Hammers
10 Flutter Kicks
10 Freddie Mercuries (Get on your bikes and ride)
10 LBC’s
1 Minute Plank
Repeat this doing 5 reps of each AB exercise and repeating the 1 minute Plank. Planking a minute is tough. The world record plank time is over 9 hours but I found a minute is plenty for me.

Mosey back to the flag and time is up.

Announcements:
Relay Trail Run on 11/18/2023. There is a sign-up form on Slack.
JJ5K is Saturday and is a nice local race we have supported for a few years now.

Prayer Requests:
Turtleman
Blart’s daughter
Huck
Jackson Hall and his family

Oompa Loompa took us out.

*NMM Calling all F3 Pax to give the afternoon AO a try. It is always a tough workout and the candor and mumblechatter are top notch. I know how easy it is to give in to the busyness and the laziness but I am always glad that I posted at Midoriyama. Thanks to all the guys who showed.

Rucking good time @ Diablo Sammich

Great morning for a Ruck! Bad time to fartsack.

We rucked around Martha Rivers stopping every 5 minutes to get 20 Merkins in each time. We had some good mumblechatter between the three of us. 

Announcements: South of Dallas is playing Saturday night to raise money for the Rotary Garden Club. See Bandit for details! Tubes last official Q as the site leader for Painlab is this Saturday. I think I have been site Q for almost 4 years. Is that a record for Gashouse?

Prayer request: Voodoo’s daughter, Bandit’s brother-in-law Michael, Pray for Bandit, Jackson, Turtleman and Teachers (all the bullshit they have to put up with now)

Good work men!

F4 CSAUP

You read that right. Fitness, Fellowship, Faith, and Freight! All coming to a trail run near you. Come out and join me at Midoriyama on 11/18 for a relay team style trail run. Very much like the Ragnar experiment race we did several years ago if you were involved in that. We will all set up in one location(the parking lot at the soccer fields at the end of the road) and won’t have to move from there other than when you are running so this will be peak 2ndF as well. Each team member will run 3- 2 to 2.5ish mile loops. Teams will be 2 or 3 man teams. We will start at 0730 and should be finished by noon. Plans will be made for food and brew somewhere after. More 2nd F! Are you afraid of trails? Are you scared of falling? Meow. Study’s have shown the best way to avoid that as you get older is to regularly travel on uneven ground. It allows your body to adjust to it and build the muscle it needs to keep you upright when you become uneven. Some people we know should have started this earlier. So come out for a good time and to improve your longevity. Sign up deadline is 11/11. You will be notified of your team/members the week of the race. Sign up link below.

11/18 Trail Relay Sign-Ups (google.com)

© 2024 F3 Gastonia

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑