F3 New Orleans

Tag: Bushwacker

  • Challenge Accepted

    Having an entire month with no ISI challenge seemed to be a challenge in and of itself for the Northshore PAX.  These guys don’t want a month off.  So when Hawg finally issued the February ‘Run Ranger Run’ challenge, the PAX was tripping over itself to register and get started.  Chaos ensued.  ‘Who is Anonymous?’  ‘Can we run 1000 miles instead of 565?’ ‘And what the hell is the Pelican’s real name?’  Luckily, Bushwacker took his machete to all the red tape and logistics (sound effect please), clearing a path this morning to simply log some miles.

    So it was not all that surprising that seven PAX came ready to hit the pavement.  What was surprising, though, was to arrive a few minutes early and find Carpool loitering around City Hall with no car in sight and already sweating.   (It’s no wonder the police tailed the gang down to Sunset Point!)    Nah, nothing nefarious here, it was just Carpool – having said aloud that he’d shoot for 70 miles this month – living up to his word.  T-claps to him for logging an extra four miles by saving some gas and running to the AO.

    No warm-up today, just straight to the mosey.  This morning we’d do an extra lap around the loop, adding a few extra tenths so that those of us hitting the Cove tomorrow might log an even (cumulative) 10 miles.  PAX ran somewhere around an 8:55 pace, giving us a decent chunk of time for my new favorite Scramble AMRAP: 5 pull-ups, 10 merkins, 15 squats.  Over and over and over, ad nauseam.  Literally.

    Countdown, nameorama, and Burgundy prayed us out.  Thanks for the nice run gents!

  • Intentional milestone achieved at the Marsh!!

    Arising on this Gloom the QIC received a GroupMe message from a fellow F3 Brother. It simply stated “Why am I here at 4:45AM???” The response could have been because your Qing, but wait that’s not the case. Or it’s Friday at Captains cove where only above average men and 6 percenters meet, nah its Monday.. Maybe it’s we are meeting in a dark commercial parking lot to carpool to another AO for an official launch wayward west… Actually non of the above, however there would be a milestone achievement set forth on this Monday at the Marsh with more than just 1 PAX posting. Although the QICs anticipation of being the Lone Ranger on this Gloom and having the benefit of slipping in getting a little work done and retreating back to the oh so comfortable Sack was surly his intention, one  Bushwacker had spoiler written all over it… With that said let’s begin..

    warmup

    15 IC GM, WM

    25 IC SSH, IW, Arm press Jacks

    15 IC Arm circles Forward/Reverse

    the thang

    To the monkey bars for a series of 10,8,6,4,2 pull-ups and dips followed by 10 elevated swing crunch’s per round. Over to the court for some Merkin suicides as Wacker stated. Consisted of right leg and left leg up Merkin followed by bear crawl 2 steps to half court. QIC quickly realized his overly aggressive intentions when after 4 sets he had journeyed a distance of less desired proportions and quickly modified to 4 steps on the bear crawl.. Brief recovery at half court, then continued the format of a staggered Merkin left/right 4 step bear crawl till completion. Feeling the effects of a Dwayne Johnson (the Rock) chest at this point the QIC shifted to the lower half. Squats to lunge walk each leg down the court and back. Next to the benches for  a Steve series of Bulgarian split squats 10IC each leg followed by the Freak nasty 15IC R/R.. With 9min to go shifted to the Core at center court. 1 min front plank, 25 IC FK, 1 min Right side plank, 25 IC LBCs, 1 min Left side plank, 10 IC Right side crunch and finished with 10 IC Left side crunch.. Completion!

    One can’t thank Bushwacker enough for posting and  keeping this YHC accountable, not only to himself  but also to the AO.. What we have on the Northshore is unique in so many ways. We have 6 days of NO excuse workouts for men in all shapes and areas of fitness.. The only hangup this Q sees is the hangup within ourselves, and I for one can see how easy and tempting it often is, but when you have that F3 Brother holding you accountable the likelyness of that occurring quickly becomes the 94 percentile..

    count off (great sound effects Wacker), Announcements (not today), COT (if a circle is possible with 2)

    QIC prayed us out.

    Appreciate the post Bushwacker and the great chatter!! I will be on alert for that Blue moon on Wednesday at the Gipper..

  • F3 Baton Rouge or Bayon Rouge – It is finally official – Noah’s Ark

    Like a Mommy Hyena hearing her pups call in the night – I was forced to hand off my Mothership Q for a chance at 15 minutes of fun in the Red Stick.  I knew those guys were in the capable burpee filled hands of FRACSAC.  Thanks Frac for taking my NOLA Q.

    Alarm clock popped at 445am.

    Rain.

    Park and wait.  515am

    A quick iced coffee from Morning Call – a little FOMO at the post Mothership coffeeteria in that exact spot in 3 hrs.

    Clown car:  Jingle Vader, and Babyface and YHC.  Hawg decided to fly solo.   Hawg posted last night that he expected 30 guys to post – I was worried he had a line on the 30 guys and was trying to figure out riding situations.

    1 hr drive.  Good convo with the other clowns.

    620am stop at Walmart for towels.  Steady rain now – lack of driver preparation.

    650am arrive at AO.

    Upon arrival there are 4 Shovel Flags planted.  Some reunions – and 21 PAX settle in for Red Stick beatdown!

    Baton Rouge wins the award for the most unusual dress code:  in attendance today – lots of pants, parkas, raincoats, turtle neck, 2 pairs of jeans, did i see jorts?, steel toed shoes, and the monkey feet shoes.  Stay Classy Baton Rouge!

    Jingle Vader brought a 5th flag.  Baton Rouge flag, Houston Flag, Pontiff Flag, Uptown Flag, and a Northshore flag!

    700am Hawgcycle started the show with a little shock and awe.  YHC was looking forward to a 10-9-8 descending Burpee count but that is OBTs shock and awe.  Hawgs shock and awe always does 10 burpees.  (Hate)

    First pearl – SSH x 31 *not 30 because of Wally Pontiffs number, burpees x 10, Imperial Walkers x 25, burpees x 10,  windmill x 10, burpees x 11, Tiger Bait Q’d an over head clap x 15, Worms Q’d SSH x 15, burpees x 10,  Mega Dad Q’d pistol squats right leg x 10, left leg x 10, burpees x 5 Along the way during this circle.  During windmills – I may have hiked up my shorts a bit so that Rudy could notice my quads.  (I wonder if he did?)

    **2018 is the year of the clap according to Hawg he wants to give the burpee clap to everyone in F3.  Good luck with that brother.

    715am Long mosey to down to the base of a big hill.  Partner up .  Partner one goes up the hill backwards twice.  Partner 2 does AMRAP squats.  Then flapjack.  Then Partner 1 does goes up the hill backwards twice and Partner 2 does merkins AMRAP.   **Hawg split at this point.  Slippery on the hill…Kind of made it fun.   At one point f3 – Mega Dad called me out for not cresting the hill.  I laughed because it wasn’t a modification just me being lazy.  Next time up the hill I made sure to crest the hill with authority.  That is why I love F3 – the accountability — MegaDad was teasing but he was right.  We can always hold each other to that level.  If it is a modify that is one thing, if it is whiskey dicking then push yourself!

    From here we mosey’d to the sundial.

    730am At the sundial we did step ups-left x 15, dips x 20, step ups -right x 15, declined merks (dirkins) 10 oyo, here ROOTS with his excellent cadence got us doing Power Ups x 20 left, Power Ups x 20 right.

    740am Hand off to STEVE.

    Steve long mosey’d us to the baseball field across Highland Road.  He divided us into 4 groups.

    Group 1 25 burpees at homeplate (the count)   Group 2 Peter Parkers -amrap    Group 3 Plank Jacks – amrap   Group 4 – Squat Jumps – amrap

    home to 1st – bear crawl, 1st to 2nd – duck walk , 2nd to 3rd crab crawl, and 3rd to home – bunny hop.  A little mini-animals on parade or NOAH’s Ark in the RAIN.

    The rain really hit hard during the baseball field!  Good stuff from Steve and a good way to show BR all of the awesome stuff to keep in the F3 bag of tricks.

    748am Final mosey up the hill to the Flags.  At the final circle we still had 5 minutes so I explained the concept of 6min of Mary (6mom).

    755 am Jingle Vader led us in the Russian Twist x 20 and the Dr W x 10.  Damn that Dr W.

    Our final exercise of the F3 Baton Rouge launch was led by our guest from Texas.  F3 Houston’s TP led us in OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Mary.  An awesome exercise that I had never seen.  Will add it to my next NOLA Q.  and  a great way to FINISH!   Legs make a long circle while the Q says O Mary.  The count happens at the bottom – a goofy cadence but fun!  TP Tclaps for the gift!

    8am COT – Great prayer led by Shooter.  Thanks for the inspiring words brother (Tclaps).  We named FNG two shoes, FNG money cat, and FNG bow down.  So cool that this launch had reps from NOLA, Northshore, and Houston.  PAX headed to Franks for coffeeteria.  Nice spot for food-beats Starbucks.

    Excited for F3 Baton Rouge.  I hope it works.  You have been planted – it is up to you guys to make it grow.  You should try to add a weekday workout at a totally different AO soon.   Every guy who is posting needs to EH someone to join you in the gloom.  That growth will keep new ideas, energy and excitement at the workouts.    Don’t be nice with nicknames – workhorse and fastball got off easy.  Its OK to twist the knife a little.  Neck brace mentioned he would like a name change and at breakfast Roots came up with DOLLAR COLLAR.  I like that new one too.

    830am Franks

    945am back on the road to NOLA

    1040am drop off Babyface and JV

    11am show up at the hizzy

    Good luck BR – make it happen we are all counting on you guys.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Are you a 5% man?

    Just another day at the Cove: 4 men, 10k, 0445.

    Pre-thang, Bushwacker was on a fact-finding mission about tomorrow’s clown car up to BR for the launch:

    “You going?” YHC asked.

    “Ah, maybe.  Just gathering intel right now.”

    Uh-huh.  YHC knows what ‘maybe’ means.  Bushwacker himself said it not too long ago: “If someone says ‘maybe,’ there’s probably a 5% chance they’re actually going to do it.”  I parrot that back to him, then we do a quick countdown, nameorama, and we’re off to the races.

    Though with no Southshore to impress, our pace was considerably less aggressive than our Ivan pace from last weekend.  Still, we managed around a 9:20 average.  The Cove remains the only Northshore beatdown where you can get in some good F2 during the thang, and Shooter never lets me down as a running partner – making the long run pass quickly.   Bushwacker and Pelican were right behind keeping each other company.

    When Bushwacker rolled in to the finish line clutching his stomach and running for his car keys (something that happens every so often after a 10k), I realized I had forgotten the prayer and said so, but also mentioned that we’d understand his need to run for the nearest bathroom.

    Well, Bushwacker is no 5% man.  He found a comfortable position while Shooter prayed us out, and was almost immediately touched by the grace of God and regained his composure.  (He also committed to tomorrow’s BR beatdown.)  It’s as Captain always says, ‘Only above average men out here at the cove.’ Always a pleasure guys, thanks!

  • Back to the Farm

    This morning’s beat down was never going to compete with yesterday’s star studded event.  Reading Steve’s BB on his way out the door to the Gipper, YHC grudgingly conceded to himself that the likes of Choppa, Ocho, and Nacho Libre could not be expected to rise out of their fartsacks for two consecutive mornings.  It could have happened, YHC guesses, if Turtle had committed to back to back Qs.  Lacking the draw of a rock star Q like Turtle, however, YHC could only hope that he wouldn’t be posting alone. Fortunately there were a few PAX out there unaware of yesterday’s celebrity meetup, but YHC wasn’t too off in his prediction as Gipper regular Tanked Up regrettably decided he would not post with the rank and file this morning.  Et tu, Tanked Up?

    So it was to be a working man’s beat down this morning, strictly meat and potatoes.

    15 minutes or so of dynamic stretches on the train platform then a short mosey to pick up a couple of half filled sand bags for the main event:

    AMRAP for 20 minutes:  35 yards farmer’s walk with both sand bags, 35 yards run, and then 35 yards backpedal making up one round.  Shooter carried his sand bags like bean bags, and the rest of us struggled.  Good thing we all have office jobs…except for Bushwacker I guess but he is in lawn care management.

    Back to the Trailhead for Mary:  scorpions, swan preps, jackknives, and flutter Freddy Mercury’s, all IC.

    Countorama, nameorama, and Moby prayed us out.

    Thanks for letting me lead men.  I always look forward to Wednesday morning at the Gipper with you.

     

  • Krazy Ivan 2018

    The events depicted in this Backblast are completely stupid and utterly pointless.  Any similarity to events which are neither stupid nor pointless is purely coincidental.  

    No animals were harmed in the running of the Krazy Ivan.

    The Inagural Northshore Krazy Ivan CSAUP went off as planned, sort of.  The Northshore won, the Southshore whined, and it was….warm??!!??  The lack of frigid conditions made for a slightly less stupid but still rather pointless event.  Next year, we will aim higher.  Without further ado…

    Twenty men gathered at the gazebo on the Mandeville lakefront on a beautiful, starry, breezy Saturday evening: 15 Northshore PAX, 1 Northshore Scorekeeper, and 4 Southshore PAX.  Lots of mumble chatter, a bit of trash talk, and some ogling at the Freedom Hammer ensued.  Somewhere around 2100, as the PAX waited for Triple Shift to open the needle valve to bleed some pressure (a little oilfield lingo, there), THE Manny rung the bovine bell.  Some quick instructions from YHC, including a warning of low visibility, potentially questionable footing, an offer of flashlights (offer summarily rejected), and the PAX gathered at the starting line.  Hawg mumbled something about the Gnarly Nutria always beginning on time.  Uh huh.

     

    With another ringing of the bovine bell, THE Manny released the hounds.  Turbo, Backdraft, Steve and all the other skinny dudes went out guns blazing.  Out and back to the west end seawall x 3 was the course.  The easterly breeze made for a nice tailwind on the way out that was as appreciated as was the equal and opposite headwind was loathed on the way back.  That is, unless you were Triple Shift.  You see, Triple Shift had a strategy, folks: get right on the heals of a really good looking, husky PAX and run in his ample slipstream the entire race, save for the last 50 yards when you turn on the reserves and blast past him.  So if you think about it, Triple owes YHC one of his points.  But more on the (contested) scoring later.

     

    The course was dark, sometimes nearly pitch black.  Although Orian’s belt and the waxing crescent were quite visible, the running path was at times not.  As 19 PAX trekked and traversed back and forth, forth and back, we passed those both ahead and behind us, those who lapped and those who got lapped.  This afforded the PAX opportunity to root for, hiss at, tease, encourage, or mock those we were passing.  I can speak for Triple, as he was behind me the entire time benefitting from all my hard work I mean seriously did I mention that already I mean it’s not a big deal that he got one more point than I did but really when you think about it I should at least be added to his Christmas card list but whatever I’m not bitter or anything.  Particular attentiveness and night vision skills were needed to navigate the last two tenths of the west end.  YHC had specifically warned the PAX about this risky, questionable section of the course.  So it’s a good thing that YHC himself did not take a tumble and nearly bust his ass on the exact part of the course on which the warning was issued.  That would be ironic.  Dontcha think.

    At the finish line, the PAX again gathered and coalesced.  Fracsac volunteered for Safety Caboose, finishing up the race and also ensuring that no man was left behind, injured, abducted, or absconded with.  Thanks Frac.  THE Manny tallied up the score and announced a 176-31 Northshore victory; looks of mistrust appeared on a few faces.  Perhaps that was because they were expecting a 177-31 loss.  But, abiding by the only rule of the Krazy Ivan – run the race in a tank top – THE Manny exercised legislative, judicial, and executive powers and stripped Turtle of his single point for finishing the race in a hooded sweatshirt.  Coutoramma, Nameorama, BOM, and off to The Barley Oak for some F2.

    At the BO, drinks were had an all was merry.  Tomatoes tested the neck twisting and head turning capabilities of Captain Sparkles (ok, his were not the only capabilities tested…hellLLOOO black dress).  An impromptu yet formal meeting of the F3 Rules Committee adjudicated on the ability to move an AO once it is established.  Verdict: negative ghost rider, pattern’s full brah.  At this point, Hawg petitioned the Rules Committee for a formal, third party review and calculation of the night’s score.  THE Manny’s honour in question, YHC immediately began the process.  Third party results are in, proving that you should sometimes watch what you ask for.  The final, certified, verified, bonafied count is 190-35.

     

    Excellent CSAUP, PAX.  T-Claps to the Southshore guys who posted.  We will see you at the 2018 Gnarley Nutria.  A pleasure to be amongst you.

     

    EiEi

  • Pre-Crazy Ivan Quick-Step

    Has it gotten to the point yet (can it really ever) to where it’s passe, redundant, or simply monotonous to mention anything about the frigid temperatures we’ve been facing this winter? I didn’t think so either….It was DAMN COLD this morning! All the better reason to abbreviate this morning’s edition of The Captain’s Cove in anticipation of the juice we’ll need for our legs when the northshore’s honor is on the line tomorrow night at the inaugural Crazy Ivan. Despite halving the regularly scheduled 10k to a 5k, YHC  knew I would be pushed to the brink with the rest of the PAX consisting of members of F3 Northshore’s “8 minute mile club.” After all guys, I’m not really a runner…

    We quite quickly rolled off countorama/namorama, and with expedited efficiency we prayed a plainly direct prayer of appreciation and were off. Instead of the regular route, we just went the length of lakeshore dr. and back. T claps to Ei who eventually hung back for the slow mosier among us (I won’t mention any names), and tried his hardest to run slowly enough to stay with him.  Great run this morning guys, and an even better run tomorrow night! (hopefully with Butt Splice and Backdraft among us)