F3 New Orleans

Tag: Bongo

  • Bongo Chitta Inaugural – from Bongo

    Really good morning and setting to try something new and training preparation for upcoming Wild West Relay. Five PAX joined me at the beautiful and awesome Bogue Chitto state park to run a true Trail run on the Red Path or Gorge Trail. This is about as good as it gets for trails here in Louisiana, ~ 391 ft of elevation change and it gives you a work out.

    For the most part we all keep together and took in the temps in 70s and low humidity. Probably one of the last for the year, but we all enjoyed it. See below for formal stats of the run and I want to encourage others to come to the next one on 6/1. More WWR folks, Rim to Rim enthusiast and general Ruckers will work fine for this.

    https://www.strava.com/activities/11385170755

    6.02 mi

    1:00:38

    10:04 /mi
    Elevation382 ft Calories —
    Elapsed Time 1:02:39

  • 49th Birthday and Rolling Stones – from Bongo

    Still trying to build Okwata back up, (3) PAX total today, enough to have a good time and keep mumble chatter going throughout. Here is what we did:

    My 49th birthday was 5/1, I still managed to avoid 50 and not looking forward to that “respect”. Also to note, today is a historical day for Jazz fest history as the Rolling Stones after (2) attempts will play a special dedicated Jazz Fest show. So we mix that in too.

    (49) SSH — I actually tried to cut the course here by jumping from 30 – 40 in the count, but PAX kept the count at normal. We almost needed a five count…. This was enough around my 49th B-Day move on to the Stones.
    (15) Lunges
    (10) Arm Circles
    (10) Grass Grabbers

    The thing

    Instead of a Blimp around (4) corners of Levee at Canal blvd, We did a “MICK”

    Merkins (10)
    Backwards jog up levee
    Imperial Walkers — (15)
    Bearcrawl across levee
    Copperhead Squats (20)
    Kicks, Butt (25)

    Next up:

    “Jumping” Jack Webb
    every Merkin, you do (2) Jump squats! Go up to 10

    Next Up

    Route 66 with Burpees at each light pole

    Route 66 the song, was a cover from Bobby Troup and on the Stones first album. Awesoe song over the years and how fun would be it be to drive from Chicago to LA?

    A bit of Mary to close out

    (15) LBCs, and some thing crazy from Cheesesteak….

    Happy jazz fest to all, the sun is coming up earlier and earlier at Okwata and more than enough reason to enjoy this workout by others.
    COT had some great intentions we hop come though.

    Thanks for opportunity to lead, see you on the radio.

  • The Uncertainty Principle – from Heisenberg

    YHC arrived at the mothership, the back of my SUV brimming with various. Bogey was there, stretching limbs that maybe wished they were still in bed. Then came Tool, followed closely by Squints, Bongo, and finally Smooth, who lived up to his name, arriving with the elegance of a gazelle. I was hoping for a larger turnout since the plan required splitting the PAX into two teams. Fortunately, Cheesesteak, Vagabond, Fracsac, and Catfish also joined, rounding out the group. Bongo quipped about expecting less running since YHC was leading, but the day’s agenda did include a fair amount of running, though others ended up running more than Bongo.

    Following a lackluster disclaimer, as Bogey pointed out, we headed to the Peristyle for our warmup. We circled up and did grass grabbers, windmills, imperial walkers, side straddle hops, and 10 burpees, all in cadence. Afterwards, we went back to my SUV to grab our gear.

    We retrieved our tools for the day: the 60-pound sandbag (lovingly referred to as Sandy), an 80-pound sand medicine ball, an assortment of jump ropes, egg weights, a bisected bosa ball that became an object of anatomical humor, a frisbee, a lightsaber (because why not?), a speaker, and the pivotal red die. We took everything to the edge of the great lawn, where we divided into two teams by counting off in alternating “1”s and “2”s, which took a few tries to get right.

    Group 1 started with tabata stations on the great lawn while Group 2 began their runs to the bridge by Café du Monde, based on the roll of the die. The tabata exercises included pushups on the bosa ball, deadlifting the heavy sand medicine ball, speed jump roping, burpees with the lighter sandbag, shadowboxing with egg weights, and using the heavy jump rope. The runs were determined by the die: rolls of 1 or 2 meant one trip, 3 or 4 meant two, and 5 or 6 meant three. The goal was to keep the runners’ duration secret from the tabata group, but this rule was frequently broken.

    The roles switched after the runners completed their laps, with the tabata group rolling the die and setting off on their runs. There were suspicions that Group 2 might have rerolled a few times, hoping for lower numbers. As time ran short we stopped the rotation with Group 2 getting an extra turn running. YHC called for a round of core exercises—big boy situps, flutter kicks, and American hammers—and threw in an early “recover,” which was met with some groans and hesitations.

    We concluded back at the flag where courtesy of Heisenberg — not the meth cook from TV or YHC, but the physicist. I tied in today’s workout with a physics lesson about Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle from quantum mechanics. It states that in quantum mechanics there is a limit to the accuracy with which certain pairs of physical properties, such as position and momentum, can be simultaneously known. In other words, the more accurately one property is measured, the less accurately the other property can be known. So you were either doing tabata (fixed position) and uncertain about the runners (momentum) or you were running (momentum) and uncertain about what was happening in the fixed position group.
    We ended with a Circle of Trust, giving thanks for the day’s efforts and for all the “boobs” in our lives.
    Addendum we also learned about the concept of entanglement and may have formed a qubit when Catfish from Group 1 was simultaneously running with Group 2.

  • Elevation Training at The Stomp – from Rudy

    Chose a different route – head to Wisner Mountain (1 mile away) and then just back and forth and back and forth until it was time to head back home.

    Not too late to consider a WWR team!

  • The Art of the Poor Plan – from Fracsac

    9 Pax gathered around the shovel flag in hopes of a quality beat down from a Q that put significant effort into the planning of said beat down. YHC intended to do his best to let the pax down easy.

    The Great Lawn was like an anthill with busy workers assembling their vendor stations for the morning market, which was odd to see at 0630. So much for the plan thought out on the drive in.

    Brief disclaimer and mosey to the peristyle for the warmup. The speaker was playing classic 80s music and it was good.

    Head back towards the flag to stop at the truck for a few toys. Grab the 1.5 inch rope x 25 feet (or thereabouts), an exercise die (two would be dice), a frisbee, and a jump rope.

    Mosey to the tree line by NOMA. Separate into 3 groups of 3.
    Group 1 – Keeping the rope off the ground, run 5 trees, do 10 squats and return (timer). If the rope touches the ground it’s a 5 burpee penalty.
    Group 2 – Roll the die and do what it says.
    Group 3- toss frisbee, lunge walk to it, then 3 burpees.
    Rinse and repeat.

    Mosey to the Tulips and learn some useless tulip facts. Do some burpees. Do 3 minutes of Embrace the Suck.

    Mosey to the singing oak and do failure to launch, Embrace the Suck x 3 minutes, ring of fire.

    Mosey back to the flag.

    CoT

    NMM

    Apparently we had an FNG this morning. I learned this at the CoT, which is a problem if you’re the Q. Thankfully everything worked out, except the beat down was a total mess filled with useless facts and even wrong information. Regardless, calories were burned, sweat was drawn, and no man was left behind.

    Welcome Rebirth!!

    SYITG

  • #41 (not the Dave Matthews song) at Okwata – from Thumb War

    Disclaimer and Bday announcement.

    Mosey to the grass area in front of Mardi Gras fountain for Warmup in Cadence :

    Abe bagotas
    Grass grabbers
    Low slow squats
    Hill Billies
    Arm circles F & B
    Seal claps
    Moroccan night clubs
    Peter Parkers
    Mountain climbers
    SSH – 41 in Cadence

    Thang:

    2 rounds of Route 66 towards bridge near Marconi

    Round 1
    Jogging between the light poles, did escalating burpees at each stop starting with 1 rep

    Round 2
    Jogging between the poles, did ascending air squats starting with 11 reps

    We jogged across the street towards levee but stopped along the way and held People chair at the wall.

    Indian Ran the levee top to the house of pain for 4 sets of 5 pull ups.

    Jogged back to lake by Okwata sign for around the horn of Mary.

    Back to the Flag for COT and thanks for the Bday Q and F3 in my life.

    PS. #41 is one of my favorite Dave Matthews Band songs.

  • It Was Only A Mile – from Paradox

    Journal entry
    Feb 17, 2024
    An eventful morning on the Farm

    My family has lived on this property out along Hwy 1 since around WW2 and most mornings I follow a strict but enjoyable routine. Up just before the sun rises over the cane fields , I brew a pot of coffee and check the weather. Then I enjoy a quiet morning with my thoughts, some prayer and maybe even a good book.

    But this morning …this morning my routine was , well, I’ll put it politely and say it was disturbed. You see, shortly after the weatherman informed me that today’s forecast was not fit for man nor beast , well I heard just that. A man , my nephew, in the yard hollering at some sort of animal. On closer inspection out my kitchen window it was no beast making these noises but a hybrid redneck dialect being emitted from another human he insisted on calling a paradox. He was in a truck loaded nose to tail with tents and tables like Jed Clampett. “Shoot fire Yankee this is a mighty fine residence, hope tha skeeters ain’t neer bad as the peltch last beatdown” he said while looking around the farm. I expected him to have no teeth at all but he only seemed to be lacking inseam in his shorts. A paradox indeed.

    To my amazement, my nephew, the one he kept calling Yankee, seemed to know and welcome him and they began putting out cones and yard signs in a cold rain storm just happier than two pigs in the sunshine. Things were getting quite strange here , and little did I know it was just the beginning.

    By 7:15 the rain had let up but the floodgates of middle aged men with knee braces and headbands were now wide open. Short , tall, thick , thin, they all piled in helping setup a flooded tent and passing around gold baun sticks and theraguns. Some dressed for the weather while others invested in Himalayan technology to keep there mammary glands chafe free. There seemed to be no distinction in vehicle either as they stepped from punisher Tundras or eco friendly wagons. They greeted old friends with butt slaps and elbow taps yelling obscenities like FracSac and Goosey. Quite frankly , I don’t even care to know why a Hawg would even need a cycle. This ceremony continued until there were dang near 30 of them loitering around our property! I had the authorities dialed up when I was informed they had gathered on purpose AND for a charity cause AND my nephew had actually planned on them being here! Tomfoolery! The very definition!

    I settled back into my armchair to take a breather. That’s when the foghorn went off …and they started running.

    The first one I saw break away from the pack looked like he had been taken right off the cover of one of those running magazines. A stride so Smooth you would swear he was standing still but hard to reconcile that with the 1/2 mile lead he had most of the day.

    Behind him were 3-4 others seemingly using this gazelle as a pace car and weighing options that he couldn’t keep that pace all day..right..right?! (He would)

    They had one young enough to be 15 with spring loaded rubber for legs and others flexing the scars of midlife ,held together with bioflex and gorilla glue.

    Behind this second group were the real rabble rousers. A pack of 10-15 wild dogs complete with mobile tunes, homemade JV shirts and promises every turn that “I think this is it for me boys..wink, wink”

    A few ringleaders in this pack but the real Don Corleone was a highlighter vested gentleman they all called Popeye. He was not blazing land speed records but something about the way he set his jaw let any observer know he wouldn’t be denied his mileage goal.

    They all hit the first corner in site of the quarter mile cone and stared down a cold and wet 15mph headwind, lovely. Gosh I wonder if any of them had cozy pickleball scheduled today.

    In between miles I saw various strategies of recharge. Some gorged calories , others walked it out , and some stood still contemplating the next lap. Many of these hooligans searched for a man who I guessed to be their local shaman but lap after lap he wore many more hats (and one whistle) . One part coach , one part field general, his intimate knowledge of the men was palpable . Some he pushed harder, others he let down easy, both equally effective in getting his men’s best effort. He delivered speeches to ward off ego and checked joints for oil leakage like a seasoned mechanic. With a firm nod or a head turned grin he communicated his trust. This was a leader of high impact men from any viewpoint. He whistled and they ran. They ran and he whistled.

    The wind blew. The socks got wet, got swapped out and got wet again. Many met their goal mileage, passed it and kept on churning. By about 11am most having exceeded a half marathon at this point, most took a bowl of delicious pastalaya and continued to cheer on the rest.

    By around 2pm there were 4 still running . And when I thought I had heard it all one yelled “back the cones up” and they took off for one last trip, this time for 1.2 miles. The gazelle in front still as fresh as mile 1 but that ole hawg wasn’t far behind. They all knew he had a little sand left in those bags. The third man was a true bewilderment. His physique suggesting he could walk on as an NFL tight-end but his running demeanor at mile 26 was simply unbothered. The redneck brought up the rear and surely he thought there was a bud light promotion for finishers. (there wasn’t, but a Coors from a friend was even better)

    The gazelle found the finish line first only a second in front of the hawg and the artist they called Tana only a furlong after that.

    And as the miles piled up I pondered to myself “why would they do something so utterly stupid “. With time on my hands, as the trucks loaded with tents and boxes dispersed , I came to three potential conclusions.

    Was it fitness driving them ?

    Surely this looked plausible as some had clear physical gifts and several maintained peak cardio strain. Were these average Yankee Jeaux’s striving to be Americas Best athletes? Unlikely. But I can only say it seemed the fitness got them here, but it was not the reason they stayed for more. An appetizer of sorts, maybe stellar quads is just the byproduct ….so I kept searching.

    Were they just here to fellowship? Some signs pointed in this direction. As soon as I saw the Solo Stove fire pit I knew a high fluting party was in full swing. This crew obviously knew how to have a good time and the verbal assaults flying along with answered grins of disdain indicated enjoyment of each others company. I’m Closer to the mark here but…but no. Not quite the primary driving factor I could sense.

    So if they weren’t fitness professionals and most would think a better party is available at any other watering hole then what’s left ?!

    Hidden amongst the laps, intertwined between these fun loving family men, was the intrinsic need to put ones own pain aside. To combine that suffering with the brother next to him and have it all be for something much larger than themselves. That’s why they ran. Every step counted , every lap mattered. It was “only a mile” they said to each other .

    But it seemed like so much more.

    This was a fine day.

    Postscript

    Congrats to NOLA’s Smooth for winning the first annual IOAM! See ya next to year to defend .

    Second place – The OG sandbagger himself Mr. Hawgcycle

    Third place – Wilford Montana – forged in the fires of deep Bourg pickleball this was truly impressive brother!

    To all that ran today (and one that whistled), thank you for your time , effort and commitment to raise money for several great causes today and during RCR.

    Thanks to Rudy for the ground support and motivation. You really stepped RCR up this year!

    Special Thanks to Enron and Bourgeois Meat Market for the awesome lunch!

    As usual artistic liberties were taken in portrayal of backblast characters but Reluctant Yankee and his family were overwhelmingly gracious hosts . Huge thanks to his family for having us invade their Saturday!

    It’s a privilege to lead.

    SYITG

    Paradox

  • Who’s the Q….You! – from Triple Shift

    It’s Run Cajun Run! I committed to get some steady miles on paved roads (littered with cracked and pitted asphalt) as opposed to slogging through a sloppy mess at a Metairie track. I visited an old stomping ground called the 6-10 Stomp! The last time I visited that AO was probably a year or two ago. So, in honor of showing up, the regular pax voluntold me that I was the Q so I would write the backblast.

    The Thang – 20 minutes out and 20 minutes back. Closed with a COT where we lifted up the pax members who are suffering from illness, loss, and sickness. We also celebrated the wonderful gift of revelry, joy, and happiness that permeates our area during Mardi Gras.

  • 8 years and more to come – from Bongo

    Don’t know where to start from this morning, but overall a fun beatdown. Too much mumble chatter, mostly instigated through Bogey and Frac almost to point of harassment. But the Q moves on and stays focused on the job at hand as a leader. My exact (8) year anniversary is 1/30/2016, but was volunteered last week by Catfish for this week’s mothership so we’ll celebrate a week (or two early).

    The main theme, unknown until final COT was to go back to my first beatdown as an FNG and recreate that, or as close as I could get. Here is the former Workout, https://www.f3nola.com/2016/01/30/no-hawg-no-flag-but-time-for-tyson/. Another point, temperature was < 32 F which I think is one of the coldest mornings in the gloom I can recall. Despite this, (12) pax showed up ready and willing which any Q, as I am, would be thankful for today. Here we go: Boys got together – and we took off for the Peristyle. Circled up for our WARMUP COP. SSH x 25, Slow Squats x 10, Mountain Climbers x 25, and Imperial Walkers x 25 Arm circles X 10 each way. Circle Back up to visit our boy – Jack Webb. Push Ups/Air Press starting at 1, then 2, then 3, then 4 to 10 over at the great. Still way too cold and time to start moseying to NOMA pond. IC Dips x 20, Left leg step up x 2, Incline Mercans X 15, Right leg step up x 20, Dips x 20, Decline Mercans X 15 Box Jumps x 1… OYO with former story from my past I ain’t telling again…., no one is getting hurt under my watch! Long Mosey over the Football Field of Practice Track Eleven across the football field with running in middle, Burpees on one end, big boy sit ups on other. You know the math as I don’t need to explain. 5 rounds with Tyson. Sprint to the 50 yrd line do an exercise, then the goal line do an exercise, then back to the 50 and finish at the Goal line with a 4 set of the exercise. Rd 1 Burpees x 5, Rd 2 Jump Squats x 10, Rd 3 Peter Parkers x 15 each leg, Rd 4 Dying Roaches -x 20 total to keep it easy and finished Rd 5 Burpees X 5. Long mosey back to great lawn with quick stop at calf raise stand of stadium, Heisenburg counted us in. Great Lawn minimal Mary: Flutter Kicks X 20 and Hello Dolly X 20, arriving back to flag at 07:29:58. What a way for Q to keep us on time. COT went back through a reflection of my appreciation of what F3 has done form me in the last (8) years and how the (3) Fs (in whatever order) continue to bring me back. Many thanks for the opportunity to lead as always as I need to do it more. Here is to many years to come! See you on the radio.

  • Folsom Prison Blues – from Rudy

    21 PAX gathered in the gloom – 1 DR visitor from Katy TX (Happy Meals) and 2 more of the Chips brood – welcome Chip and Dale, his 9 year old identical twins! (also joining were the other 2 Chips boys – Frito Lay and Knucklehead. What a name — “Knucklehead”!!!)

    6:30 strikes and after a disclaimer we were off to the rocks. Limber up with some stretches and low impact activities (Imperial Walkers, Hillbillies), then some SSH. We had to restart that after explaining to Maytag how a “cadence” works. Oh, thanks for joining late Mahatma and DAX.

    Non-stop chatter from Heisenberg and Vagabond earned a quick 5 burpee penalty. Then go grab a rock.

    YHC grabbed a rock that proved to be way too big. But we’ll get to that.

    Deck-o-Death: start plowing through the deck with Overhead Press, Curl, Row and Squat. One variant – doing 2, 3 or 4 of any suit barely seems worth the trouble. So when those cards were flipped, we’d do 10 burpees, 20 Peter Parkers or 30 LBS instead. FracSac accused YHC of planting the deck with multiple King of Spades. WRONG. Half way through, Hawgcycle noticed that YHC was struggling – so he snuck in to replace my rock with a mere pebble that he’d been using. Shamed, but thankful…

    7:00am – time to call the deck off (half way through give or take) and mosey to the Mini to gather up some bricks. Didn’t quite have enough for everyone – figure it out.

    Partner up on the Great Lawn for a Dora-Ish thing. 3 rounds. PAX 1 (timer) runs back and forth with the rock while PAX 2 exercises. Flip. Rinse and Repeat. First round: PAX 2 does Brick-pees. Second round: PAX 2 does FLoyd Mayweathers (with brick). Third round: PAX 2 does Sit Ups. Rounds change on a timer, not on a count – so everyone just keeps going.

    7:20 – time for the last item. 56 Years ago today, Johnny Cash recorded Folsom Prison Blues live at the Folsom Prison. So to honor the man in black, we’ll do Ring of Fire while listening to Cocaine Blues, Dirty Old Egg-Suckin’ Dog and other hits. First round with Merkins, Second round with Squats, Third round with Leg lifts.

    And that got us to 7:30. Back to the flag for a COT. Naming of Chip and Dale might have been the FASTEST FNG naming I’ve ever been associated with. “I like Disney Land” said one of ’em. And that was that.

    Intentions for sick and suffering F3 PAX and friends – Bongo’s wife, Mayhem’s friends the Schaff family in particular (but not alone).

    YHC took us home with a reflection about Romans 7. Then off to coffee!