F3 New Orleans

Category: Northshore

  • Did someone say Merkin? Or was it Pequod II?

    5 F3 men embarked on a journey at the Gipper on this brisk Gloom.. Had the QIC known we would have the benefits of a nice brisk wind we could have journeyed to a water way to set sail with the Peqoud II. Appreciate the creative design of yet another there Moby.. Since non of the men showed with any slicker suits for the journey we will alternate and operate by land on this day..

    warmarama

    25 IC SSH followed by 10 Merkins OYO

    25 IC BKfollowed by 10 Merkins OYO

    25 IC HB followed by 10 Merkins OYO

    25 IC IW Take a guess

    25 IC SJ Did you guess yet?

    Tha thang

    Moseyed to the court house where we all may be standing before a judge explaining the scaring of the concrete someday. Series of sprints to the first set of benchs and down to bear crawls for the next R/R 4x.  Next we split into 2 teams while one man sprinted to the stairs and up and performed (2) 8 man body builders the men at the bottom did some form of core exercise. First series Freddie Merks, second LBC, third held blank, fourth Flutter kicks and finally Peter parkers. Upon completion we dropped for 15 Merkins IC. Moseyed to the parking garage for Pequod II introduction at which Einstein observed the nice stencil work done by Moby. Let’s take to the concrete ocean gentleman. We partnered up pulling a PAX member halfway across and then sprinted the other half to return and pull back to the  other side.. With observations of Einstein appearing to have done this a time or to. I could not help but visualize a brother out wind surfing 🏄 out in the Atlantic hitting waves and performing tricks.. As Steve and I pulled Turbo, I observed that the Full grown Strength of one Steve liked to sling shot Turbo upon stopping. This reminded me of a circus scene of a man being launched from a cannon… Moseyed back to the Trailhead to close with a R/R of the warmarama.

    Those in the ISI total 150 on the Merkins..

    Thanks for allowing me to lead!!

  • Relay Day

    Six fearless PAX and YHC braved the harsh elements (mid-70s, mild, light breeze) along the ominous – OK, cheerful – Mandeville lakefront this morning.  We kicked things off slowly with an easy warmup:

    • Abe Vigodas, Arm Circles, Shoulder Presses (varying 15-25x each IC);
    • Annie – many thanks to Grundy and Bushwacker for serenading the passersby.  The F3 Exicon warns that some PAX may break out into song.  I knew you guys wouldn’t disappoint!
    • 10 Burpos (low burpees)
    • Side Straddle Hops, Cheerleaders, Imperial Walkers, High Knees, Dancing Bears (varying 15-25x each IC)

    After moseying to a couple of well-spaced oaks, the PAX formed two teams and indulged the Q’s love of relays:

    • Relay #1 – Bear Crawls and Burpees (one team member bear crawled to the next oak and back, while the rest of the team did burpees – relay-style until all PAX had gone).  At this point, the Q (brought to his knees by the dreaded Bear Crawl) issued the disclaimer.
    • Relay #2 – Bunny Hops and Bobby Hurleys

    Mosey to the playground for more relays:

    • Relay #3 – Broad-Jump Burpees and Planks
    • Relay #4 – Sprints and Sister Mary Catherines (4x)

    Mosey to the flag to finish up:

    • Burp & Merk Pyramid (up to 10 OYO)
    • Dan Taylors (up to 10:40 OYO)
    • Mary – LBCs, right-side crunch, left-side crunch, push-throughs, flutter kicks, Freddie Mercuries (varying 15-25x each IC)

    Bushwacker prayed us out and reminded us about the Fallen Heroes 5K at the Chafunkta Brewing Company on November 4.  Contact Bushwacker if you’re interested.  Einstein, THE Manny, Bushwacker, and YHC retired to the coffeteria for some great F2.  THE Manny saved the flag (reminding YHC to grab it before jetting).  Thanks guys.

  • 10k Foray

    YHC stood in for Captain Sparkles today, as he had some excuse or another for not making it out – something to do with resting the week between running a half marathon and attacking a half iron man – or some such weak sauce non-sense.  I was, once again, admiringly impressed with the definition of punctuality that my F3 brothers are renowned for, as The Pelican arrived 2 minutes before 4:45 and Dundee and Carpool arrived 2 minutes after.

    Commencing in reverse, as is Captain’s Cove tradition, we started out with namorama and prayerorama. After our illustrious QIC initially aimed the PAX towards the boat ramps, we comically course corrected and were off at a pace of 4 guys focused solely on endurance (and, well, survival).

    I always love the cove because it consistently proves to be a great opportunity to get to know your fellow F3s a little better. Today’s PAX, for example, hail from as close as Metairie and Slidell, to as far as Arizona! We had  three loving fathers, a former soldier, and a blue devil.  They showed dedication by arriving at 4:45 am to run 10k. They showed heart by pushing themselves without complaints or gripes. There was even a showing off the wearing of big-boy pants  by the tightening of sphincters as they passed the point of no return, more colloquially known as the sunset point port-o-potty! I mostly appreciate the comaraderie and brotherhood of the men who aim to add value to their lives and those of the people around them.

     

    “Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship”  -Buddha

  • Plyos for Breakfast

    A light turnout at the Gipper this morning but that did not stop the PAX from getting after it.  After the requisite disclaimer, Moby got down to business with the warmup:

    SSH, Toe Touches, Windmills, Butt Kicks and Shoulder Circles, all 15-20x IC.

    Mosey to the back of the Justice Center where YHC took the Q.  Picture a barbell with Merkins 10x IC on each side and plenty of plyos in between.  Total of 5 round trips up and down the Justice Center alley and steps.  100 Merkins total with skips, carioca, 45 degree hops, lateral hops, backward hops, bounds, and frog jumps in between.

    Mosey to the Veterans Memorial at the front of the Justice Center.

    Seal Jacks 20x IC

    Squats 10x IC

    Merkins 10x IC

    Split SSHs 20x IC

    Good Mornings 10x IC

    Merkins 10x IC

    Twisting SSHs 20x IC

    Squats 10x IC

    Merkins 10x IC

    One foot SSHs 20x IC (10 each foot)

    Good Mornings 10x IC

    Merkins 20x IC

    Mosey back to the Trailhead for some Mary:

    Vladimir Putins 25x IC

    Straightlegged Jackknives 10x IC each side

    Reverse leg raises 10x IC each leg

    Countorama, nameorama, and a prayer of gratitude to wrap things up.

    Great job this morning men.  Thanks for letting me and Moby lead.  Always an honor.

    Moleskin:

    This is the first Gipper beatdown that Einstein has missed in over a year.  If YHC did not know that his daughter was visiting from Colorado, the PAX would have skipped the beatdown and commenced immediate search and rescue operations.

    Final Merkin count for the ISI challenge:  150.

  • Rekindling the Round Robin

    The Trailhead (which could use a proper F3 name, Ei) is getting a decent following these days.  Nine PAX showed up on what felt like a light day, and a few of us had been notified that EiEi would be unable to make the Q.  So we went Round Robin style, like we used to do in the old days (3 months ago).

    As Clark Griswold would say, it was a bit nipply out, so YHC started the warm up with SSH, 30x IC, and then straight into butt kicks, toe touches, windmills, IW’s, arm circles forward, backward, air presses, and high knees, at or around 20x IC.

    Mosey over to the stage for a set of 11’s: Sister Mary’s up top then hop down and across to the viewing platform for derkins.  Finally got a little sweat going, just in time for Shooter to take the Q and lead us to the tunnel of pain for…

    BLIMPS: 5 burpees, 10 lunges, 15 IWs, 20 merkins, 25 plank jacks, 30 squats.  Back up out of the tunnel to catch your breath, only to rinse and repeat, this time doubling the numbers.  Grundy schooled the Q (not for the first time) on how to count lunges, and reminded us that, as an auditor, nothing was a fact until he confirmed it himself!  (For all the men of ISI, the merkin count hit 130.)

    The PAX found its way through the black forest back to the flag, in time for Bushwacker to hit us with LBC’s while waiting for the six.  I counted up to around 100 before he mercifully called time.  Until next beatdown, Bruce Lee!  Countdown, nameorama, and Grundy led us out with a nice prayer.

  • The Four Corners of the Marsh

     

    Be still and the Earth will speak to you.   – Navajo Proverb

    YHC passed through the Four Corners this past summer and saw the above proverb painted on a few landscapes by the local artists.  The monument is run by the Navajo Nation and while it’s undoubtedly an overpriced tourist trap, it’s also pretty cool to chat with the local Navajos that are creating and hawking their art in the surrounding space.

    All the same, though, this quote doesn’t really apply to today’s beatdown.  And while the PAX was anything but still this morning, we did manage to clear our minds using a different technique: by knocking out 150 merkins in the first 20 minutes of this beatdown.  Here’s how it went…

    Right out of the gate, 25 merkins OYO.  Then some standard warm-up: Good Mornings, Windmills, SSH’s, IW’s, High Knees, and Butt Kicks, all 20x IC.  Finish the warm-up with another 25 merkins.

    Mosey over to the corner of Marigny and Livingston for the start of 4 corners: Start with 20 burpees, sprint a block to the next corner perform 20 burps plus 20 squats.  Next corner add 20 (full grown man) sit-ups, and at the last corner, add 20 merkins to bring the tally up to 150.

    Back into the Marsh for a quick 10 pull-ups OYO before hitting the legs.  Started out with 20x IC lunges, depth charges (t-claps to Grundy for the cooler name), calf raises, monkey humpers, and grab a pull up bar to finish with knees-to-chest.  Repeato.

    Back to the court to circle up for Mary.  The PAX attempted 5 prisoner get-ups with varying degrees of failure.  Entirely YHC’s fault – next time I’ll watch a Youtube video and demonstrate proper form beforehand.  Then onto LBC’s, starfish crunches, Freddie Mercs, and Nolan Ryans, all 20x IC before we ran out of time.  Countdown, nameorama, and then Turtle led us out with a prayer.

    More than once I’ve mentioned that I’ll be taking Monday’s off, and yet I keep finding myself back at the Marsh.  That’s because this really is the best way to start the week.  Thanks for the opportunity to lead guys.

  • The Scramble is a small world after all!!

    QIC arrived a little early 0440 to get in some reps at the Playground for the ISI. Expecting to see other F3 brothers as he has in the past for some pre thang, he quickly realized it’s a small world when it comes to prethang before 0500. Before long he looked to his illuminating phone to see 0510 and no movement in sight, with concerns starting to mount that the morning journey would be solo, QIC Moseyed to the parking area to the surprise of multiple F3 brothers turning in from all directions. We started the Mosey on the standard route with Burgundy, Carpool and Shooter setting a little brisker pace while Dundee and Turtle paced the rear.. Upon are journey with some great mumble chatter of sorts the QIC learned a little more about Carpool. It most certainly is a small world after all,  learning that his father was ones History teacher in high school.. Returning back to the AO with 15 min to spare the PAX were happy to engage in some extra curricular activity…

    20 IC Merkins, 20 IC LBCs, 1 min true F3 blank (Turtle),  20IC SSH, 20IC MK, 20 IC BK and 15 IC Arm circles F/R closing with 20 IC Arm presses..

     

    countarama, annoucarama, COD

    Good luck in the 13.1 Burgundy!!

    Enjoyed the Gloom with you gentleman, and appreciate the opportunity to lead!!!

  • Octal October & October Surprise

    Octal October & October Surprise

    “And this is what ye have shipped for, men! to chase that white whale on both sides of land, and over all sides of earth, till he spouts black blood and rolls fin out. What say ye, men, will ye splice hands on it, now? I think ye do look brave.” ~~Captain Ahab

     

    So today we ditched the decimal(base 10)counting system and went with octal(base 8) counting. With a twist; If any PAX cadenced 8,9,18,19 we all had to do 10 merkins for punishment.

    Here is a table for reference:
    1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20 decimal count
    1,2,3,4,5,6,7,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,20,21,22,23,24 octal count

    here is how it went;

    short disclaimer

    warmup

    all in OCTAL CADENCE; side straddle hops, imperial walkers, toe touches, good mornings, arm circles, lunges, butt-kicks, squats, seal-jacks, mummy-kicks, high-knees
    we all fumbled the counting one time or another, and thus ended up doing about 120 “punishment for not concentrating”” merkins

     

    mosey to the “BEDROCK QUARRY”
    each PAX picks out a good sized limestone boulder, for coupon exercises
    on the ground for rowing exercise, then up for arm curls, all in octal cadence

     

    mosey to the front of the Taj Mahal
    circle up by the flagpole – step back to outer ring, everyone in plank position,
    10 merkins each, then one PAX jumps up and runs around and up the steps, while the PAX planks,
    repeat until all took their turn
    Next, bear crawl in to the flagpole, crab crawl out, repeat
    Next, 10 burpees

    mosey to the back of the St.Tammany Parish Courthouse Annex parking garage,
    backwards lunge walk halfway up the first floor ramp
    turn and sprint up rest of the way
    jog/walk across the second floor ramp
    backwards lunge walk halfway up third floor ramp
    turn and sprint up rest of the way

    And now….Moby-Dick takes over the queue with his October Surprise: and the PAX is treated to the inaugural launch of SV Pequod, with each PAX member getting the excellent opportunity to drag Capt Ahab on a Nantucket Sleigh ride, and then to play Capt Ahab and be dragged. Much fun and cheering as we all took turns. See picture of Shooter towing two!! And that non-skid surface was not stopping us!!

     

     

     

     

    And the PAX gives YHC a hard time for not knowing the nuances of the novel “Moby-Dick”, but in Catholic elementary school we were not allowed to read anything with “Dick” in it.

    Nice spray-paint job on the SV Pequod, Moby!! You must have used a template.

    mosey back to the trail head.

    count-o-rama, good prayer led by Shooter, we bid our adieus and head out to take on the day.

  • Common Core

    QIC pulled up to the Marsh to see zero cars, zero F3, and 3 minutes to beat down. My first thought was of how my  machinations to bring more abdominal agony could’ve been discovered (reviewing all groupme post of the last week), causing such fear as to preclude the formation of more than a solo PAX.  But then, before I could say Avengers Assemble! Butt Splice, Carpool, and Shooter converged on the spot, and with a collective double take, we spied the injured Grundy pull up, figuring to get one more beat down under his belt before an 8am MRI. We proceeded to zip through the warmorama to get to the good stuff. There wasn’t much mumble chatter, aside from grunts, groans, a bazooka explosion and general discontentment as the core (and upper quads) were set ablaze with some hanging leg lifts and  our Monday favorite, the Bruce Lee! (now with 2 bonus sets!!!) Keeping to the running theme of QIC discovering how much better some things look on paper than feel in reality, We hit the court for a suicide ladder….up AND back down. Every time we returned to our starting point we would perform 8 count body builders, increasing reps x5 upon each return. Once we hit x20 we proceeded to reverse our way back down the suicide ladder of horrendous pain and torturous exhaustion. As if everyone’s simmering hate for QIC wasn’t quite ready to boil over yet, we squeezed out 20x hanging knee raises to put a proper period on this pre-dawn persecution. We wrapped up with COT  and offered special intentions for healing of Grundy’s wrist. As we dispersed, I noticed a white shirt drift off into the gloom towards the monkey bars. Apparently not sufficiently beaten down, Shooter was off to shake out a few pull ups for the ISI challenge (BEAST!) I guess it’s back to the drawing board to bring a more adequate amount of pain next time…

     

    WARMORAMA

    SSH x20

    Asskickers x20

    Hillbillies x20

    Goofbals x20

    THANG

    Hanging Leg Lifts x20

    Bruce Lee – Putins, Leg Lifts, LBCs, Heel Touches, Crunchy Frogs, 100s: 5  supersets x20 each

    Suicide Ladder (up AND down) – Starting with x5 8 count body builders upon 1st return, increase by x5  until up to x20. Then, starting with x20, decrease by x5 upon each return

    Hanging Knee Lifts x20

    COT

    Countorama

    Prayerorama

    The PAX brought some serious intensity, inspiring job guys!

     

  • 10K Plus

    I am not certain if it is uncouth, unbecoming, untoward, crass, or a violation of the F3 chapter in Emily Post’s Etiquette, but what follows is a backblast of an officially unofficial workout which will hopefully very shortly hereafter become an officially official workout at the recently dubbed CAPTAIN’S COVE.

     

    Five PAX arrived at the predetermined, slightly changed location (what gazebo???).  We were about to begin our pre-departure routine when Ocho rolled in hot, in a most silent and environmentally friendly fashion, although that may be subject to debate when one considers the volume of ore required to be mined to manufacture a lithium battery for a Prius, not to mention the challenges that disposing of such presents.  Nonetheless, the Ocho-operated Prius glid into the parking lot.  Apparently the parking lot stripes are laid out in an unintuitive manner, resulting in the Prius intersecting a yellow stripe at an acute angle.  Mumble chatter erupted (well, erupted may be a bit too dramatic a verb, but there was mumble chatter, trust me) as the Pax laughed and pointed at the parking job Ocho executed.  Perhaps Ocho heard the chatter because he proceeded to engage the Prius’ hip and trendy electric motor once again and, with a bit of pitch, yaw, and roll piloted the silent auto into a position parallel to the stripes.

    Countorama, nameorama, prayerorama.  And we’re off.  Three pax proceeded at a slightly faster pace, and C-Spark announced that the three in the lead would add the “Thursday Scramble Loop”.  This allowed the trailing Pax to catch up and overtake the lead pax.  At Sunset point, lead Pax met up with tail Pax and kept going.  We finished in two groups at the gazebo that does indeed exist, with the lead group getting an extra ~1/2 mile in, thanks to the loop.

    Really digging the 10K Fridays guys.  This, with the City Hall Scramble, has seen several self-proclaimed “I’m not a runner” Pax tackle the mental obstacle of running.  Excellent, excellent work guys!  See ya next time.

     

    Ei