F3 New Orleans

Author: Hawgcycle

  • I Feel the Need

    The newest F3 Nola workout exploded on to the scene today with a Pax of 6. This was my first workout with Rudy since he has been back. It was nice to have him keep me accountable on the time as I started one minute late with the disclaimer.

    Warm-Up

    I believe this AO will prove to be high risk / high reward so the warm-up will prove to be the most important part of the workout. Today was cooler than normal so it became extra important.

    Jog to the track and continue for one lap (About 1/3 of a mile).

    • Lunge walk x 10 each leg
    • Elephant walk (Reach down with your right hand grabbing the toes on your right foot and pull up on them for 2-3 seconds. Take three steps and repeat with left foot, yadda, yadda, yadda.
    • High knees
    • Butt kicks
    • Carioca right then carioca left
    • Exaggerated Skip aka Super Mario
    • Short sprints with recovery (10 yards, 20 yards, 30 yards, 40 yards, 50 yards)
    The Thang

    We ran a mile for time to set our baseline. The plan is to check our progress in 3 months or so. Here are the times:

    • El Guapo: 7:01
    • High Rise: 7:54
    • Kuch: 7:29
    • Rudy: 7:09
    • Screwtop: 6:48
    • Hawgcycle: 6:37

    After finishing the mile we did some more stretching: Butterfly and Hamstring.

    A few more sprints: 220m at 75%, 110m at 50%, finished with 3 100m sprints at full speed

    Cool Down

    Easy Jog for 330m followed by lunges x 10 each leg and a mosey back to the flag for COT.

    The Skinny
    • Cool morning so the long warm-up was necessary. I stuck with my plan in spite of Rudy’s mumble chatter. To tell you the truth, I enjoyed it. It’s been a while. It’s possible that I started a minute late and extended the warm-up just to hear his sarcasm.
    • Kuch and Screwtop set the standard for the 100m sprints.
    • Screwtop and YHC both left the track a little gimpy. Based on early returns there is only a 33% chance of getting injured at this AO. This is better than I envisioned. The risk is high, but I think the reward will be greater.
    • Screwtop stepped up to take the next Q. Don’t miss out.
    • Still looking for a name. I’m good with “Need for Speed” if nothing else emerges over the next week or so. After he set the bar for the first two 100m sprints, we could go with “The Kuch is Loose.”

  • Spot Start at Popeye’s

    Rev Sox is on the IL with shoulder inflammation so the team at Popeye’s turned to YHC for the spot start. Temps were in the mid 60s and the birds were out in full force.

    Warm-Up

    SSH x 25, Mountain Climbers x 26, Imperial Walkers x 20, Grass Grabbers x 15, Parker Peter x 20 – this all occurred after a mosey of about 15 feet.

    The Thang

    We moseyed to the ledge by the replica of the West Metairie Canal, for some 363 exercises. For those that have forgotten, the 363 was the developed to commemorate the World’s victory over Uptown at the 2017 Gnarly Nutria: World 363 – Uptown 360. The exercise consists of 3 reps of super slow cadence. If you are doing merkins it is a 4 count to go down, another 4 count to come up, etc. You end up holding yourself in the worse possible position at the end of these 3 reps. That didn’t quite come out right, but I mean for merkins you would be holding a mission impossible, for squats it would be an Al Gore…you get it. After those 3 slow reps, you do 6 regular cadence reps that again bring you to Mission Impossible or Al Gore or whatever at the end. Hold that and then start 3 more super slow reps. It’s meant to be a burner, they way it burns the World Victory into your memory forever.

    We did 3-6-3 Merkins, 3-6-3 Squats (using the ledge for full compliance), 3-6-3 Inclined Merkins, then 10 box jumps, 3-6-3 Decline Merkins (by far the worst), Tatum Channings x 20, Channing Tatums x 20.

    Long mosey to a sticker filled soccer field near W. Napoleon for 5 minutes of 12 Burpee EMOM. That’s 60 burpees total for everyone reading this not named Abacus

    Partnered up at the outdoor gym for partner assisted pull ups on the rings: Reps of 10, 7, and finished with 4.

    Long Mosey around Gar Lake to the pavilion. Here we (and by we I mean I) introduced Dr. Webb to F3 NOLA. This is a marriage of Dr. Ws and Jack Webbs that comes from the sick and twisted mind of F3 Jackson’s SFx (formerly of F3 NOLA and F3 Valley Forge. I’m not sure if Jackson claims him or not. He’s definitely a nomadic ginger). JV will love this. 1 Dr. W followed by 4 Dying Cockroaches in cadence, 2 Dr. Ws / 8 dying cockroaches, 3/12, etc… We worked our way up to 5/20 before I felt like time was short (yeah, that’s why I stopped at 5) and moseyed to the flag.

    Luck would have it, we were two minutes early so we did another 3-6-3 set of merkins and squats.

    Boo Boo gave a good reminder to us all about the importance of gratitude in our prayers. I prayed us out, struggling to be heard over the chatter of the birds.

  • A Fill in Fartlekker

    Rudy’s not allowed to Fartlek right now, so he needed a fill in for the 610 Stomp. YHC is an old Fartlekker so it was not a probably for me. I showed up at roughly 0529:40 and gave the disclaimer. It was a beautiful day for a run. Here’s how it went

    • Normal Pace to the NOMA Fountain. I call it the fountain, but there is no fountain, just a lily pond with a huge statue of tri-colored bacon. Upon arrival I gave the instructions. I would call out an effort number from 1-100 (100 being a full out sprint) and a landmark to run to. After reaching said landmark, the pax was to circle back and pick up the 6.
    • 75 to the end of Lelong Drive
    • Easy jog to across Esplanade and down the sidewalk to Moss Street
    • 100 to the first big tree on Moss
    • 70 to the curve
    • Easy jog to Dumain
    • 50 to Orleans
    • 65 to the Lafitte Greenway
    • Easy jog to Bienville
    • 58 to Canal
    • Easy Jog back to Bienville
    • 70 to Conti
    • Avoid the car and truck at the Lafitte Greenway
    • 55 to Orleans
    • 70 to the curve (the real curve) near Cabrini
    • Easy jog to the bridge
    • 60 to Esplanade then an easy jog to City Park until the 6 arrives.
    • Easy Jog to Roosevelt Mall
    • 88 to the Flag
    • Seal the Deal with 20 Burpees
    The Skinny

    If you question the accuracy of the above – you should……my nine year old and Rev Sox both have this in common: they giggled when I announced our exercise this morning. I’ll have everyone know that fartlek is a bonafide Swedish running term used with a straight face by Kinesiology majors around the world no matter how funny it sounds in English……we covered approximately 4.5 miles give or take, depending on how many times you swept the 6. I feel like we got our money’s worth……I was glad to see that so many guys survived Tool’s Big Rock Challenge on Monday. Cowbell reminded me of my own foolishness. Is it better to not be able to perform any of the exercises or admit defeat and take the walk of shame? I contend that the walk of shame is never acceptable…….we had a Recall sighting. He ran with us for a bit on the bayou then peeled off to run the Wisner bridge. Not sure why he is choosing to run alone instead of with the pack. Perhaps it is the shame associated with being a Razorback fan. It does make life difficult, but you have to be tough and overcome it…….sealing the deal is a Stomp Tradition and it brings joy to Fracsac’s heart. Our next site Q needs to make sure it regularly happens ……. speaking of which, thanks to Cowbell for his reign as Stomp Commander. Under his tutelage the Stomp has grown at least two-fold in average attendance. If U.S. Presidents can take credit for economic growth, then Cowbell should be given credit for this ……. next man up. Who will take the reigns at the Stomp and fill the teeny-tiny shoes of Cowbell? From what I can tell, it mostly involves having someone else type your name into the spreadsheet, occasionally telling people to sign up to Q, then ignoring messages on GroupMe from people that need to reschedule their Q until someone else answers them and says that they will take it. You can’t really mess it up, well actually you can, but that takes a very special person.

  • One Last Winter Morn

    8 Pax. Upper 40s. Dry. Still winter at the time of the workout.

    Mahatma was kind enough to allow YHC to take the Q this morning, since I missed my recent Q at Popeye’s. After a disclaimer warning the pax (especially those from Uptown) about the diverse wildlife roaming the park, we headed toward the jogging track on the north end. We gave hurried instructions to Mahatma as he rolled in hot and eventually circled up in the NE corner

    Warm-up
    • SSH x 20 – Rev Sox noticed a tempo change at the end
    • Peter Parker x 33
    • Imperial Walkers x 25
    • Merkins x 10 – tried to keep it nice and slow.
    The Thang

    1st Soccer Field (burpees for the six) – Bear Crawl length (120 yards) Sprint back (100 yards)

    SE corner (planks for the six) – 10! (10 merkins, 10 Squats, 10 WWII Sit-ups, 9 merkins, 9 squats…)

    Southside – lunges for the six

    Outdoor Gym (planks for the six) – 8 Stations. 45 seconds with 15 second rest

    • Burpees
    • Dips
    • Squats (T-claps to War Eagle for pointing out the deficiencies in my form) #TShiftEffect
    • Flexed Arm to Dead Hang
    • Box Jumps
    • Flexed Arm to Dead Hang
    • Dying Cockroaches
    • Flexed Arm to Dead Hang

    Mosey back toward the flag and circle up for Mary (LBCs for the six)

    • Flutter Kicks x 20
    • Keep the feet off the ground
    • Hello Dolly x 15
    • Keep the feet off the ground
    • Flutter Kicks x 10
    • Keep the feet off the ground
    NMM
    • T-claps to Darkwing Duck on his second post.
    • T-claps to JV for finding Lafreniere Park. We were shocked to learn that this was not only his first trip to this AO, but his first trip to the park. #ClassicUptowner
    • T-claps to Triple for completing the Spartan this weekend and continuing to post
    • I didn’t notice nearly as many feral cats this time, but did see a nutria, one roster, and 3 geese. Minimal amount of wildlife today.
    • There seemed to be some mumblechatter concerning the length of the bear crawl, but the pax pushed through and performed admirably.
    • When I visited San Antonio they kept they did not let their feet touch the ground during Mary. I thought implementing this idea was good, but it seemed to meet some resistance, as in most everyone’s feet hit the ground. Maybe I didn’t explain the idea well enough. We were on concrete so maybe concrete was considered ok? Not sure. There were also a few pax complaining about the weight of their shoes. That has a simple solution.
    • Much prayer for those facing cancer.

  • RED Friday – The Crouch

    Today’s RED Friday was in honor of Cpl. William Crouch from Zachary, LA. Cpl. Crouch was killed by a roadside bomb in June of 2007 in Hadid, Iraq. He was a Calvary Scout for the 2nd Squadron, 1st Calvary Regiment of the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division of the United States Army.

    Cpl. Crouch was a sci-fi fan so we did Imperial Squat Walkers and Peter Parkers. He enjoyed kickboxing so we did Chuck Norrises, Floyd Mayweathers, and Donkey Kicks. He was in the Army so we did WWII sit-ups.

    We book-ended these exercises with burpees because they are hard. Cpl. Crouch had many normal interest. In addition to sci-fi movies and kickboxing, he enjoyed pizza and hanging out with close friends. But one thing set him apart and that was his decision to do the hard thing and serve our country. He lost his father at 13. His father was a policeman and Cpl. Crouch wanted to honor him by joining the military. This was not an easy way to honor his father. It was hard and that is what he chose to do.

    We started each round with a 400 meter run, since as a Calvary Scout, it was his job to run recon ahead of his fellow men. We did 21 reps of each exercises as a reminder that he gave his life at the young age of 21.

    The Thang
    • 400m run
    • Burpees x 21
    • Imperial Squat Walkers x 21 (2 is 1)
    • Peter Parkers x 21 (2 is 1)
    • Chuck Norrises x 21
    • Floyd Mayweathers x 21 (2 is 1)
    • Donkey Kicks x 21
    • WWII sit-ups x 21
    • Burpees x 21

    We stuck together and made it through 3 rounds. Scantron sealed the deal for us by leading us in 15 dying cockroaches

    Naked Man Moleskin
    • One of the great things about Pontiff Playground is that it serves as a flood control reservoir for the surrounding neighborhood. This means that it gets sloppy when it rains. Not sure if you have noticed, but it has been raining a lot lately. Conditions were perfect this morning for testing our physical and mental toughness by getting down and dirty and really wet. Just one of the reasons why F3 is so much better than other workouts.
    • T-claps to Scantron for leading us in a little Mary at a moment’s notice. He did a great job.
    • 126 burpees. Good work.
    • A few of us got in some post workout isometric exercises as we pushed in vain against Mahatma’s truck trying to free it from the hole of mud it had succumbed to. One by one we all left Mahatma on his own to figure it out. Within 10 minutes, he had it freed on his own.

  • That Was Super

    Run Ranger Run crunch time ensured that we had a healthy number of Stompers on Tuesday. In order to maximize our time, we ran the traditional route down the bayou, 22:30 out, then turned around and came back. The only rule was that you must have a negative split. We didn’t all achieve the negative split, but we were close. We circled up for COT a minute or two late and gave thanks for the day.

    NMM
    • T-claps to Smooth. He was able to make it just past Earhart. That is the farthest I’ve ever known anyone to make it. 6.5 miles for a just over a 7 minute/mile pace. That’s poster material.
    • T-claps to War Eagle. He has become a runner in the past couple of months. The young buck must have been feeling his oats as we rounded NOMA on the back stretch. Like a horse to the barn he took off as Rudy and El Guapo approached. He was a good 10-15 feet ahead of me and I was not able to close the gap. I was seriously wondering if he was going to beat me to the flag.
    • He didn’t.
    • There was a supermoon in the sky. Problem was that we couldn’t see it. If you haven’t noticed, it will be raining in New Orleans for the next two months.
    • T-claps to Amnesty and Tool who, each nursing their injuries, were willing to get out on their bikes and get some work in. The ride-by heckling was a nice touch.
    • Running in shoes is the worst. How do you all do it? It’s awful. If anyone is headed to Hawaii soon, let me know. I’ll give you $5 to pick me up a pair of Locals slippers from the nearest CVS.
    • Run Ranger Run 10 Member Team Standings as of 1512 hours on 2/20. It’s tight:
      • #5 Okwata (507 miles)
      • #6 Rock City (494 miles)
      • #7 The Birdcage-1 (476 miles)
      • #8 Mothership (470 miles)
      • #10 Northshore (461 miles)
      • #18 HNJ (362 miles)

  • The Back Nine

    After some last minute scouting, YHC pulled up without a minute to spare. The disclaimer was given, including a word of caution about possible broken ankles, and we moseyed to the Great Lawn for the warm-up

    Warm-Up

    This month is Run Ranger Run and every yard counts, so YHC forwent the customary circle warm-up and chose to go old school Jr. High football style:

    High Knees, Butt Kicks, Karaoke left, Karaoke right

    The Thang

    We divided up into 5 teams of 4. Each team received a baseball and were provided the simple rules of Rarájipari – You must kick the baseball to the Foundry. One team member can kick it the whole way or you can pass between team members. First team to the Foundry wins.

    At the Foundry we all found some pull-up space for the Bern ‘n Burp – keep your chin above the bar as long as you can. When you drop out, do 10 burpees and take a 10 second rest. Repeato until time is called. Most of us got in 3 or 4 rounds.

    Rarájipari under the 610 overpass to Zachary Taylor Drive.

    From there we moseyed to the football field between Grow Dat and the Dog Park. 100 yard Bear Crawl

    Next we moseyed to the 9th hole of the frisbee golf course for The Jack Nicklaus. Starting at the 9th hole tee box, sprint to the 9th hole (or whatever you call the contraption that you throw the frisbee into). At the 9th hole, do 9 merkins followed by 9 air presses. Then walk to the 10th hole tee box and sprint to the 10th hole where you do 10 merkins and 10 air presses. Continue this through the 16th hole. We repeated the 15th and 16th holes.

    Rarájipari to the port-a-potties on the backside of the track.

    On the track – 600m run as hard as you can.

    Mosey back to the flag

    NMM
    • Mistake #1 – We arrived at the flag late. How late? More than 3 minutes, less than 35. I don’t really know. I wasn’t using a watch. I was wearing one, but I wasn’t using it.
    • Mistake #2 – Quiche wasn’t with us.
    • Mistake #3 – It took me a minute to realize Quiche wasn’t with us anymore. Fracsac went out to find him. Somehow in the 30 seconds we had been standing at the flag, Frac forgot where we had come from and ran off in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, rumor has it that Quiche had accidentally locked himself in one of the Rock ‘n Roll Port-a-lets. Fortunately all City Park Roads lead to the Port-a-lets on the backside of the track. Frac finally made it there and through brute strength was able to free Quiche. Both returned to the circle, smelling of excrement and unwilling to speak about what had happened.
    • Mistake #4 – While playing Rarájipari on the way to the track, I mentioned to my teammates that we shouldn’t tell the groups ahead of us that they should take the street to the right up ahead. As the Q, I am apparently supposed to be taking care of the pax and so I received some instant F3 karma when the sidewalk rose up and tripped me. It felt like a pretty spectacular fall.
    • We had one FNG – Scrub. He came out on his own. I wasn’t paying close attention, but I believe a medical resident at Tulane mentioned F3 to Scrub while he was there being treated for a virus he contracted in South Central Jersey.
    • We ran a lot. It was at least 4 and half miles, no more than eight.
    • Rudy met us for the circle of trust. He’s just in it for the fellowship.

  • I Don’t Mind Running, But Don’t Lie to Me

    The title is a quote from Left Eye, and you can understand where he is coming from. Uptowners stay in one place. That’s what you expect. So what’s happened the last three weeks at The Uptowner?

    • Three weeks ago – A Murph, by definition it includes 2 miles of running
    • Last week – Mambi was Q and he led us all over God’s green earth. Who knew Pontiff was so big?
    • This week – Run Ranger Run started so we did a The Laredo, which ended up being about 3 miles of running
    Warm-Up

    Boo- Boo volunteered to lead the warm-up. It seemed like he had no idea what he was doing when he started with Imperial Walkers, but it turns out he was in full control. Best Warm-up all year: IW x 20; Arm Circles x 10 Forward, x 10 backards; SSH x 30 (Finally); Grass Grabbers x 20

    The Thang

    The Loredo

    • 24 Air Squats
    • 24 Merkins
    • 24 Walking Lunges
    • 400 meter Run

    AMRAP – 11 was the most anyone completed.

    Naked Man Moleskin
    • Two Yutes crushed it. I was pacing him, hoping to humiliate him in the last 40 yards, but I’m old and he’s in good shape, so things didn’t go my way. It’s been impressive to see the gains he has made since joining F3.
    • T-Claps to Boo-Boo for stepping up to lead the Warm-up. He handled it like a pro.
    • Our Workout today was done in memory of Edwardo Loredo.

  • Uptowner Murph

    We had a dirty dozen for the Murph this morning at The Uptowner. Given the limited pull-up bar space, we broke up the run into 4 half – mile runs, staggering groups of 6ish.

    The Murph never disappoints. Lots of us struggle with pull-ups and how do you get better at pull-ups? By doing pull-ups.

    Great work today. Lots of prayers for those affected by cancer in our community. Let’s take the lessons we learn in the gloom back to our friends and families as we strive to be servant-leaders.

  • Q vs. Q at Fight Club

    Our friend F3 Bono from F3 ENC reached out to us a few months ago about an idea they were using at one of their AOs – Q vs. Q.  The idea is simple, start with a five minute warm-up, then for the next 40 minutes two Qs battle it out to see who can deliver the best beatdown.  Each Q gets 2 ten minute rounds to deliver the pain.  It’s kind of like a dance off…actually it will be a dance of when it’s Rudy vs. Da Parish.

    YHC thought Fight Club would be the obvious place to hold a competition like this, so I reached out to Rev Sox and we decided to do a trial run.  The plan is to have a Q vs. Q battle at Fight Club on the last Wednesday of each month starting in 2019.  Let’s get a couple of guys on the docket for  1/30/19.

    Warm-up

    Amnesia was voluntold for the warm-up:  SSH x 30; Good Mornings x 10; Squats x 20 – All in cadence

    Q vs. Q

    YHC won roshambo and decided to go first.  Being that it was the national day of mourning for George H.W. Bush, I decided to go with a tribute to #41, a man I think would have been all about what F3 is doing.

    Round 1 – Hawgcycle

    George H.W. Bush was the 43rd VP of the U.S. so in round one the plan was to complete 43 burpees:

    14 burpees OYO

    President Bush joined the Navy at 18, six months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  During his time in WWII he piloted 58 missions.

    Merkins x 18; Squat Jumps x 58

    14 burpees OYO

    He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his military service

    Iron Cross (left leg) x 10; 5 burpees; Iron cross (right leg x 10); 5 burpees

    After WWII he went to Yale where he became a cheerleader like his father and future son.

    Mary Catherine’s x 10 (IC); 5 burpees

    Flags are at half staff today – Hold a mission impossible for 41 seconds.

    Round 1 – Rev Sox

    Rev Sox informed us that he has always been self-conscious about his teeth.  He was born missing 3 of them.  Which JV responded with “I was born without any teeth.”  Touché JV.

    In hopes that we would all lose some teeth, Rev Sox had us do the tooth fairy up the steps.  2 merkins at each step all the way to the top for a total of 56 merkins.  Bear crawl each landing.  Then at the top, lunge walk to the other side and run back down.  For the second iteration, we  did 1 merkin at each step for a total of 28 merkins.

    Round2 – Hawgcycle

    Let’s move to the presidency.  As H.W. famously promised “No new taxes” to start his presidency, YHC promised “No more burpees” to start round 2.

    H.W was the 41st president, so the plan is to do 41 eight-count body builders during round 2.

    14 eight-count body builders

    The Cold War ended during 41’s presidency so we proceeded to tear down the wall by bear crawling to the top of the levee then doing 30 AMERICAN HAMMERS in cadence at the top.  We bear crawled back down and did 20 Russian Dips at the bottom.

    14 eight-count body builders

    41 signed a trade agreement between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico famously known as NAFTA during his presidency.  To commemorate this, we did Mexican Jumping Beans and Flutter Kicks – Canadians love flutter kicks.

    Not enough time to do the final 13 body builders so YHC called an audible and had the pax do 13 burpees.  I broke my promise just as President Bush did when he raised taxes.  Sometimes circumstances call for it, right George?

    Round 2 – Rev Sox

    Rev Sox and I had a good friend, Charlie, pass away from cancer earlier this week.  Charlie had his leg amputated earlier in the year and had been hoping to recover enough to walk the Crescent City Classic in April.  Rev Sox is not what you would call a runner, but Charlie had convinced him to sign up for the Classic.  In honor of Charlie, Rev Sox is now training for the Classic in April.  Round 2 was dedicated to Charlie as we ran a 1 mile route along the levee.

    NMM

    • JV and Amnesia were tasked with choosing a winner in the first F3NOLA Q vs. Q.  They failed miserably as they called the battle a draw.  Our hope was that a clear winner would be chosen before the COT and that man’s hand would be raised in victory just like at a boxing match.  Well that didn’t work out.  This appears to be a design flaw.  Perhaps we should do the scoring anonymously online as they do in ENC.
    • I didn’t mention the Thousand Points of Light during the workout, but that is one of 41s more famous initiatives.  I certainly think F3 falls perfectly in line with his vision.  Americans taking the initiative to make our world a better place.  In addition to the free daily workouts, there are other great things going on across the nation.  Check out programs such as Speed for Need, Operation Sweet Tooth, the Darby Project, or F3 The Mission, just to name a handful.
    • TAP for the friends and family of Charlie.  He was one of the most humble, unassuming men I have ever met.  He endured a lot of pain and heartbreak in the last few years of his life, but he remained strong and continued to share his faith with a joyful heart and attitude.  He will be missed by our community, but he has left a lasting impression on those that know him.  Help us all to have the strength, joy, and faith that Charlie showed.