F3 New Orleans

Tag: Bongo

  • Mediocrity loves comfort

    On this beautiful day 35 years ago I was born, what better way to celebrate my birthday than with my fellow PAX for a beat down. The clock stuck 5:30am, I proceed with the disclaimer which included a quote that really got me thinking the previous night “Mediocrity loves comfort”.

    We started our traditional mosey to the field near the cinder blocks for a little Warm-up; within 30 seconds I heard “stop stop stop” I turned around and Shuffles was on the ground. Luckily we had Dr. Walleye with us this morning which he diagnosed him with a sprain instead of a break on the ankle. Shuffles hobbled back to the flag while we headed towards the field again. Warm-up included

    – SSH X 15 IC
    – Hill Billies X 15 IC
    – Self Love X 10 IC

    The Thang:

    Since the Danger Zone has cut into my rock city workouts I decided we would play with cinder blocks for the day. Going along with my quote the PAX were asked to get out of their comfort zone and do 5 extra reps of each exercise OYO after the cadence ended.

    – Curls X 15 IC
    – Shoulder Presses X 15 IC
    – Bus Driver X 15 IC
    – Flutter Kicks X 15 IC
    – Decline Merkins X 15 IC
    – Curls X 15 IC
    – Shoulder Presses X 15 IC
    – Kuch and Tool assisted with some exercises I forgot the name of
    – Decline Merkins X 15 IC
    – Bus Driver X 15 IC
    – others that I can not remember

    Once we completed our reps Dirty Dell thought it would be a swell idea to lunge walk back to drop our cinder blocks off so we did.

    Next Up:
    Run to NOMA where we partnered up. One partner sat on the wall and threw air punches while the other partner did 20 shoulder taps 2 = 1. At 6:10 with our shoulders on fire we headed back to the flag just in time for 6:15.

    We completed the COT, Intentions, and gave thanks to be able to get up and exercise this morning. Pleasure to Q – great way to start 35 off.

    –


  • Don’t You Wish You Had Mandals.

    15 strong at The Stomp for a rousing round of rarájipari. We divided into to 4 teams and YHC gave the obligatory disclaimer about the inherent dangers to your ankles. I then called out a destination that only a few were familiar with and the race was on.

    The Thang

    Two teams headed down Roosevelt Mall toward the museum and two headed the opposite direction. YHC gave the team of Screwtop, Shuffle, and Manscape some bad directions a couple of times which allowed our team of Bongo, Kuch, El Guapo, and me to catch up. Once we made it to the woods we could hear another team. After much wandering around in the Couturie Forest, the team of Tool, Fracsac, Rev Sox and Abacus made it to the top of Laborde Mountain first, where Tool being the HIM that he is, immediately started leading everyone in some Mary. After a couple of rounds of Mary there was still no sign of team four (Dirty Dell, Briefs, Room Service, and Half Nelson). Being up against the clock, YHC had everyone start race #2 back to the flag while I went deep into the forest to locate the Team Dirty Briefs. They were close. YHC led them to our city’s highest point for future reference and then we were off to the flag. When I caught up to the other teams, Team Screwscape Shuffle was nowhere to be found. They were about a mile ahead of everyone else. My team made the decision to take Marconi on the way back and we got to the flag with about 5 minutes to spare. Still no sign of the Screwscape Shuffle. We found them at 6:15 apparently running victory laps around City Park.

    The Skinny
    • Mandals are freaking awesome for playing rarajipari. It’s as if the game was invented by people that wear them. Just ask Kuch about my sandwedge ability to get the ball out of the rough
    • T-claps to me, Bongo, and Kuch. We were on a team with El Guapo and he didn’t run off and leave us. Maybe he could have, but I’m going to believe that we hung with him out of our own improvement
    • Marconi is definitely the fastest way to Laborde Mountain. We will have to outlaw that route in the future.
    • T-claps to the Lakeview Krewe as they continue to successfully EH every man in the greater New Orleans area. This is Hall of Fame type EHing that we are witnessing by Screwtop et al., a la Reluctant Yankee 2015-16, 2017 Triple Shift, or the HNJ Flood of 2018.
    • T-claps to Rev Sox for rocking the tank on an unofficial Tank Top Tuesday.

  • Tee-Tee Returns

    Thanks to Douille for giving up his birthday Q so I could lead a 3-year anniversary beat down. I meant to give him a shout out during the work out and totally forgot so please tell him happy birthday next time you see him. I racked my brain to come up with a good workout involving the number 3 but none seemed to want to stick. I figured I’d catch my groove with something and moved on to the idea that I would provide a little F3 Nola 5/11/16 trivia.

    Warm UP:

    Disclaimer and quick mosey to the peristyle. It’s always refreshing to see America’s future lounging around the lagoon with a good vape in hand at 6:30. I must say I was a little jealous of the one guy with three girls but recalled that set up usually meant no deal was going to be sealed and buddy you might just need to pack it in the for night. Nonetheless I think they were curious of the pax and when one young lady started doing side straddle hops I lost the pax momentarily. We re-centered though and knocked out those SSH IC x 30, IW IC x 30, Grass Grabbers IC x 30, Peter Parker IC x 20, Mountain Climbers IC x 20, Parker Peter IC x 20, and something else.

    The Thing:

    Mosey around the way OYO to the little foundry. Plank and wait. Divvy into groups of 3: Al Gores, Pull-ups (count, 10), Dips. Rotate and repeat x 1.

    Mosey further around the way OYO to the track.

    Trivia fact one: 5/11/16 was a banner day at The Skinny. FNG’s included YHC plus Quick Draw (anyone spotted our favorite boy in blue lately?) and G-spot. Not sure who in the pax that day knew that ‘G-spot’ is a nickname for Greensboro, NC but the name caught on. I assume G-spot omits that nugget when detailing how he really got his name.

    Anyway the pax has caught their breath by now and is ready to run a mile. Easy enough but catch 10 burpees at the start of each lap. On the last lap instead of crossing the finish line the leader stops 20 yards short of the finish line and the next guy stops 20 yards short of him etc, etc. Plank and wait and the 6 with sweep you up to the finish. This went ok.

    Trivia fact two: I left my first beatdown with the name Tee-Tee. There was some trepidation in the name but urinary names can do that. My kids were stoked when I came home from the gloom and explained my new name. Well it didn’t last. Sometime between the post and the publication of the backblast (Shorty was Q so it may have been a bit) I was renamed Tinkles. Some backroom maneuvering but I think the right call was made.

    Indian run to the NOMA fountain. Spirits were running high so no need for more trivia. Need was for: RLSU IC x 20, LLSU x 20, Classic Tinkles (someone else said it not me) IC x 20.

    Partner up. Partner one stay and do modified LBC with feet on the bench. Partner two run around the now-open circular drive around NOMA. A pleasant mix of AC and paint fumes hung in the air around the museum. I almost vomited but survived. Switch.

    Just enough time to catch a view of Muscleship doing classic Muscleship aka Indian Walk or something like that.

    Mosey back to the flag with just enough time for some plank work on the side walk. We welcomed back Rudy from his butt cyst recovery run. Didn’t see any bloody discharge on the back of his shorts so I assume that it went ok.

    Circle up. Trivia fact three: I was EH’d by Walleye with an assist from Roots. This gave me the idea of having the pax say who EH’d them during the namorama:

    • JV- Yankee
    • Rudy- Heisenburg
    • Catfish- F3nola.com
    • 86- Tinkles
    • Angie’s List- Willie
    • Douille- Bagasse/Yankee
    • King Kong- Angie’s List
    • War Eagle- Baby Face
    • Two Utes- Hawg
    • Colonel Mustard- Seaman
    • Bongo- Maverick
    • Gabrielle- Seaman
    • Triple Shift- Triple Shift
    • Organ Grinder- Google
    • Fracsac- Maverick/Bubba
    • Heisenbery- Bogey

    T-claps to Seaman, Yankee, and Maverick for topping list of EH’ers

    Close with a prayer with special dedications to Fracsac’s mom, Triple Shift’s friend, and Moms. Thanks for the chance to lead and looking forward to another 3 years!

  • I’m told there was a 45-minute workout today

    Last week, High Rise was thrust into the spotlight at the Danger Zone when the Q failed to show. This week, High Rise was thrust into the spotlight when YHC had to make an abrupt exit to take care of a most urgent matter.

    Before all that though, we warmed up with a lap around the track, where we did some high knees, butt kicks, skipping, running sideways, zombie walks, and moseying.

    Next, we split into 2 heats for the following:

    • sprint 100, jog 300
    • sprint 200, jog 200
    • sprint 300, jog 100
    • sprint 400

    Somewhere around the time we came around the second turn of the 300 sprint, YHC broke the news to High Rise that he would, in fact, be Q’ing another workout on very short notice. Luckily, High Rise took it in stride.

    • YHC: Yo, I gotta go. real bad. you got this
    • High Rise: Sure thing. What’s next
    • YHC: Uh, sprints
    • High Rise: uhhhhh. okay

    YHC had planned some parachute runs and round two with the new, hopefully fixed, speed ropes, but when ISI doubled the normal turnout at the DZ, those plans were scrapped for a “spur of the moment” workout. Luckily, High Rise was up to the challenge. I’m told the following occurred while I was gone:

    • 400m sprint
    • Relay Races
    • PAX choice MARY (dying cockroaches, penguins, merkins, crab cakes, Freddie Mercury)

    Luckily, YHC returned in time to suggest we finish up by timing our fastest quarter mile. This was met with some groans – apparently there had been running while YHC was busy handling nature’s call. Who knew?

    We finished up with some stretching and a bit of grumbling from Rudy, so I’d say we were fully back on track by the end. War Eagle prayed us out. Thanks for letting me lead half a workout, and thanks to High Rise for being a great sport and taking the reigns. – Kuch

  • H8! #6

    The Thang

    Event: The 6th running of the H8!

    Conditions: 72 degrees, 90% humidity, winds out of the SSE at 4 mph.

    Participants: 30 Pax including, 7 H8!ers, and 14 first timers.

    Each lap consists of running south to the top of the levee, crossing canal (bear crawling the neutral ground), running south to the bottom of the levee, cross canal and run north to the top of the levee, cross canal (bear crawling the neutral ground), running north down the levee and back across canal to the starting point.  At the starting point you do a descending burp and merk pyramid starting at 8 (burpee with 8 merkins, burpee with 7 merkins, …..burpee with 1 merkin)

    At the end of the 2nd lap the burp and merk pyramid starts at 7, etc.

    The goal is to complete 8 laps in 40 minutes.  According to MapMyRun, each loop is approximately 0.4 miles.  Therefore, to conquer the H8! you will have to do the following in 40 minutes:

    • Run just less than 3.5 Miles of Hills
    • 550 Yards of Bear Crawls
    • 36 Burpees
    • 120 Merkins

    We did AMRAP and then moseyed back to the flag.

    The Skinny
    • 12 finishers for a 40% success rate: SOGO, Cowbell, Smooth, Mahatma, 86, Thighs, Mariah, Triple Shift, Dirty Dell, Ya Mom N Dem, Screwtop, and Hawgcycle
    • No one got nine. Who will be the first?
    • I feel like YHC spent most of my energy chirping at Mahatma, at least until the 5th lap at which point he left me far enough behind he couldn’t hear me anymore.
    • I may have to put cones out next time to protect the integrity of the H8!.
    • Rudy had his first DNF at the H8! but it was for medical reasons. His doctor says no burpees. I would like to find a doctor like that.

  • 11 from Heck

    Okwata started with a beautiful moonrise and gentle breeze and then quickly went to CSAUP.

    After the disclaimer, the PAX moseyed to the Center of the Universe for the warm-up: SSH x 25, Abe Vigoda x 15, Imperial Walkers x 25, Peter Parkers x 20, Parker Peters x 20, Sun Gods x 10 (each direction). The PAX then moseyed to the bottom of the levee for the THANG.

    The THANG was an 11 using one-side of the levee: Merkins at the top (descending) and LBCs at the bottom (ascending). To achieve full CSAUP status, YHC directed the PAX to Quadrofeelia (a.k.a. Bernie Sanders) up the levee and Bear Crawl down the levee during the 11. After this, YHC needed O2, so Two Youths gave the PAX a twenty-count.

    Next, the PAX moseyed to the seawall in front of the MG fountain for a Hurricane Hoedown. YHC was so spent the PAX DJ-ed the cadence. Then, the PAX DJ-ed some additional MARY: Sweat Angels, Dying Cockroach, Real Freddie Mercury, and more LBCs.

    The PAX moseyed then to the virtual flag for the COT. Count Off. Nameorama. Announcements. Intentions. Prayer. Lord, teach me to be generous. . . .

    Moleskin: It was a great effort from the PAX today. YHC was beat after the 11. The PAX also stepped up to help YHC with cadence and then MARY. Future Qs sharpening. Fellowship. Teamwork. You name it.

  • “F3 Has Changed My Life”

    In a feat only New Orleans can accomplish, the PAX arrived to a cool yet muggy morning at 5:30 today. The sun might even have been peeking through the clouds as we set off into the humid air for a run. With the H8 last week, the new sprint workout, and the general level of intensity at the workouts lately, YHC thought a simple run this morning – no burpees, no sprints, no Mary – would be a nice change of pace. And so, that is what we did.

    One of the nice things about a run is that it gives you time to talk. I personally got to run with several different PAX and catch up on all the latest. Among those I was able to run with was Steinbrenner from F3 Memphis, who is in town for a convention. We traded some war stories, learned we were both former high school wrestlers with a tendency to eat an entire large bag of chips in one sitting, and talked about the myriad ways F3 had affected our lives. Somewhere along the way, he looked me in the face and said “F3 has changed my life”.

    Later I went to lunch with a friend, and we were joined by another PAX member from this morning, Briefs. Briefs is new within the last month or so, but you wouldn’t know it from the workouts. As we were walking out of the restaurant and chatting about the run this morning, he looked me in the eye and said “F3 has changed my life.”

    They say good things come in threes, and it is F THREE, so I will say this much: F3 has changed my life. I think the myriad ways in which this statement is accurate are well known to all of us, and to suggest it’s only a physical change would be silly.

    So thanks to all of you for that, as well as the opportunity to lead this morning.

  • Danger Zone 1 Pax 0

    This morning 9 of the fastest F3 PAX decided to take on the Danger Zone. I gave the disclaimer at 5:30 a.m. and we moseyed on over to the Track a.k.a. the Danger Zone (DZ).

    Warm-O-Rama
    We did a light mosey around the track with high knees, butt kicks, carioca right/left side. We finished warming up with a few 30 yard warm-ups that honestly I forgot what they were!

    We then headed on over the the Agility ladders. Here we did the following:
    – Two feet in each square then sprint 30 yards
    – Jumping Jack Feet then sprint 30 yards
    – Icky Shuffle then sprint 30 yards
    – One left foot hop then sprint 30 yards
    – One right foot hop then sprint 30 yards

    We did a 25 second breather and we were onto a 1 mile run which included Sprinting the straights and jogging the turns. Some of the PAX did a lap cool down while others (myself included) were gasping for air—last time I eat Mexican at 8:00pm before a workout!!

    Next up we did 3 heats of 100 meter sprints – due to the popularity of the Danger Zone in just 2 weeks we had to split up into 2 heats. After the first round we realized we needed some more stretching so we stopped and did some more stretching before Heat 2 and 3.

    Apparently the stretching didn’t help Jesus Juice as he has been complaining all day at work about how he pulled a buttocks muscle and is limping around the office like a wounded animal.

    We then used the agility ladders for some ladder push ups X2. We did a cool down stretch and moseyed back to the flag right on time.

    We did Count-o-rama, COT, and Prayed. Fun time this morning in the DZ hope Jesus Juice gets his rear end back for next week.



  • 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.

  • 4-getta-bout-it


    It was a beautiful Thursday morning on the lakefront last week. After a little chatter amongst the PAX, I issued the disclaimer and we mosey’d to the corner of lakefront drive / canal blvd. Once there we commenced with the warmup:

    • side straddle hops – 20
    • imperial squat walkers – 15
    • grass grabbers – 15
    • peter parkers – 15
    • arm circles – 10 forward, 10 backward

    Seeing as how the H8 was coming up in 2 weeks, I thought it might be good to do a little H8 pre-work. After Kuch’s Q at Popeyes on Wednesday, the LV clown car was talking about some different TV shows, and one of the shows that came up was the Sopranos. Anytime i think of that show, the word “for-getta-bout-it” comes to mind. Well since i was thinking of that show at the same time i was trying to think about what exercises to use during my Q, a nice exercise creation was born. It would aptly be called, the “4-getta-bout-it” and it would entail 4 figure 8 laps up & down the paved part of the levee with bear crawls across the center (just like the H8). We would also do a burpee / merkin ladder like the H8 as well. The difference with the 4-getta-bout-it would be that the PAX would have to run up each of the levees backwards (Bernie Sanders style backwards). So the good news is that it would be only 1/2 of the laps as the H8; the bad news is that running up the levee backwards is not what most people consider fun. Ultimately, all of the PAX completed the 4 laps (Smooth actually completed 5 laps, which has come to be known as the “High Five”), and then after a brief 20 count from Cowbell, we mosey’d to the benches. Once to the benches, we did the following:

    • dirkins – 15
    • squat jump clockwise to next bench
    • left / right leg step ups (10/10)
    • squat jump clockwise to next bench
    • dips – 15
    • squat jump clockwise to the next bench
    • irkins – 10
    • squat jump clockwise to the next bench
    • windmills – 15
    • squat jump clockwise to the next bench
    • LBC’s – 15
    • squat jump clockwise to the next bench
    • dying cockroaches – 15
    • squat jump clockwise to the next bench
    • flutter kicks – 15
    • squat jump clockwise to the next bench

    Once completed, we mosey’d back to the flag for the announcements, intentions and the prayer. As always, thanks for the opportunity to lead, fellas. It’s a pleasure grinding through the beatdowns with y’all!