F3 New Orleans

Tag: Steve

  • Long Duk Dong and The Marsh Revival

    After a weeklong hiatus from F3, spent hanging with Captain Hollywood aboard the USS Kidd, it felt really good to be back in action this morning.  First off, t-claps to Bushwhacker, who responded promptly to Turbo’s call to EH more FNG’s, producing one the very next beatdown at the near-comatose Marsh.  Just more proof that Wacker’s gift of gab is good for more than just entertaining the men of F3.  Our FNG – Big Tuna – jokingly introduced himself with his own nickname (one that had us all laughing but won’t be printed here for posterity), a nickname that had YHC thinking of a classic character from 1980’s cinema (and yes, likely an offensive cliche) – Long Duk Dong, aka “The Donger.” YHC slightly regretted not bringing this up, because upon further reflection on the car ride home, YHC decided ‘The Donger’ is a pretty great nickname.  So like that time when Rudy wanted someone to be named Apples and willed it to be, YHC may be bringing The Donger out again in the near future.  But…  ‘Big Tuna’ fit the bill just as well, and he was a very welcome addition to the crew this morning, single-handedly getting the Marsh back up on its feet with SIX  PAX posting.  It felt like old times.  Now if we could get Splice back out there, this AO’s days of solo posts could be a thing of the past.

    Warm-Up: SSH, IW’s, Windmills, Toe Touches, Good Mornings, High Knees, Butt Kicks, all IC at or around 20x.

    The Thang:  Back at the Classic a few weeks ago, Shooter, Sparkles, Wacker and YHC passed the practice track in City Park and remembered fondly the 14 hours of pain and misery known as the Grow Ruck.  YHC is pretty sure the Marsh was borne out of that experience, where many of us first experienced the army physical fitness test.  Butt Splice opened the Milestone Marsh for business soon after, pushing us to set a benchmark each week with 1 minute of merkins, 1 minute of sit-ups, and a timed 1 mile run.  Keep your count and try to improve each week.  It’s been a while, and YHC thought it’d be nice to bring back a component of that.  So we began with:

    1 minute, as many merkins as possible.  The Pelican knocked it out of the park, so he took a water break while the rest of us hit 10x burpees, OYO.

    Next up, 1 minute of sit-ups.  YHC is not sure who won the count on this one, but it didn’t matter too much since there was no time for another 10 burpees, gotta keep this train moving.  So we moseyed onward, to the lakefront.

    Stop at the sea wall for: Irkins x10 IC / BSS L x10 IC / Freak Nasties x 10 IC / BSS R x10 IC / Derkins x10 IC.

    Then, on to the legendary stairs of Rips for a twist on an old classic: PAX performs Rocky Balboas, while one man begins the ascent, performing 10x calf raises as he hits each step.  At around the 3rd step, he call the next man up.  And so on, until the entire crew is lined up staggered on the stairs, pulsing up and down like a bunch of madmen.  Once you hit the top platform, knock out 10x merkins and then begin the descent, this time performing 10x squats on each step.  As each man completes the journey, he returns to the curb to continue with the Rocky Balboas until the entire PAX has completed the routine.

    Finally, mosey back to the Marsh to hit an abbreviated Mary: Leg Raises 15x IC, Putins 20x IC.

    Countdown, Nameorama and naming of the FNG, Announcements and Pelican prayed us out.  Welcome Big Tuna, great to see a new man post at 0500 on a Monday morning!  Hope to see you out there again soon.  And thanks guys for the opportunity to lead and for the motivation to get out of bed, I appreciate it!

  • Carpe Diem Convergence

    The F3 Nation knew about YHC before YHC knew about the F3 Nation.  You see, YHC’s brother-in-law, Lynchpin, lives in Charlotte.  In the early days, before the F3 Nation planted its flag in NOLA, Lynchpin routinely and enthusiastically regaled YHC with stories of legendary beatdowns and CSAUPs, tongue in cheek nicknames, funny exercise names and other F3 lore.  Then, when F3 decided to expand to NOLA, Lynchpin tried to EH YHC, but YHC begged off.  It all sounded, well to be honest, like a cult and how could YHC trust Lynchpin anyway?  After all, he married YHC’s sister.  Ugh.  But resistance was futile.  The NOLA PAX crossed Lake Pontchartrain in its Durham boat, Reluctant Yankee at the helm like George Washington crossing the Delaware. Nacho and Chewy fell in upon the PAX’s arrival and, together, they planted the shovel flag in the Gloom on April 9, 2016.  F3 Northshore was born.  How could YHC resist a free workout in his own backyard?

    A few weeks later, the NOLA PAX boarded their Durham boat and retreated back across the Lake, leaving the Northshore PAX to make the most of their gift of F3.  We stumbled about, we made mistakes, we created a new AO only to abandon it a few weeks later, and we had more than a few beatdowns with one or two PAX.  Somehow, however, we made it and two years later look forward to seeing one another regularly to suffer and have fun together.

    As this morning’s two year anniversary convergence approached and YHC learned that the weather more likely than not would be awful, there was no concern.  Two years of meeting rain or shine, hot or cold, left no doubt in YHC’s mind that the PAX would post.  And post they did.  And you know what?  The weather held off just long enough for us to celebrate our birthday with a 3 hour beatdown, visiting 5 of 6 Northshore AOs by the mechanical device known as the bicycle.

    Mandeville Lakefront:  4 burpees OYO, 19 SSHs IC, 20 IWs IC, and 16 Seal Jacks IC.

    Captain’s Cove:  4 vertical jumps OYO, 19 Copperhead Squats IC, 20 Sumo Squats IC, and 16 Regular Squats IC.

    Milestone Marsh: 4 plyo Merkins OYO, 19 Merkins IC, 20 Shoulder Taps IC, 16 slow seconds Mission Impossible.

    At this point, Chewy politely pointed out that he had figured out what YHC was up to with the count but that our birthday is April 9, 2016, not April 19, 2016.  Point well taken.

    Grandmother’s House:  4 Sister Mary Katherine’s OYO, 9 front to back lunges IC, 20 45 degree lunges IC, and 16 later lunges IC.

    And then, after a 10 mile mosey on the Tammany Trace to Covington:

    The Gipper:  4 Freddy Mercury’s IC, 9 Freddy Flutters IC, 20 Hello Dolly’s IC, and 16 Flutter Kicks IC.

    Then we mounted our bikes for the 10 mile ride back to the shovel flag for the countorama, nameorama, Shooter’s prayer and a coffeeteria, arriving about an hour later than anticipated.  No one will confuse YHC for a Swiss train conductor after this morning’s logistics, that’s for sure.

    Thanks for letting me lead, guys, and thanks for your willingness to try something different and new and for posting despite the threatening weather and actually being disappointed it didn’t pour on us.

    Some parting thoughts:

    We’ve come a long way on the Northshore.  Things have become almost comfortable and, while there’s a lot of positive to that sentiment, there are dangers too.  We could stop growing.

    So here’s a call to action.  Commit to EH’ing more FNGs and supporting them through their virgin post so that they return.  Commit to Q’ing more workouts, putting time into planning your Qs, and posting timely BackBlasts.  Commit to a CSAUP.  Commit to making yourself better and leading by example, always keeping your eyes open for growth and leadership in all three of the Fs.  If we want F3 Northshore to grow, then we are the ones that need to make it happen.

    Carpe Diem.

     

     

     

     

  • I’d better get this backblast done before Turbo yells at me

    Have you every felt like “Phil in the backseat of the Mirthmobile?”

    Some of you young whippersnappers may not be familiar with Phil, if so, check out this link

     

    So as the heavy weather plowed through Covington early Wednesday morning, it made me think of the lyrics from Bohemian Rhapsody…Thunder Bolt and Lighting very very frightening me….

    anyways… with the inclement weather I had to ditch my workout plan and go with the Bohemian Rhapsody:

    Bohemian:having informal and unconventional social habit

    Rhapsody:episodic yet integrated, free flowing in structure, featuring a range of highly contrasted moods, color, and tonality

     

    Here is how it went in the steady rain:

     

    Warmup: Side Straddle Hops,Squats, Arm Circles, Seal Jacks,Butt Kicks, Toe Touches, Speed-Skater Hops, all 20xIC, with plenty of merkins in between.

    Mosey over to the parking garage for Hurdle and Plank fun-o-rama:

    Each pax in plank position, spaced about 10 feet from each other. One jumps up and hurdles each of the planking pax, then assumes plank at the end of the line. Did this up the ramps to the upper deck.

    Then we ran the stairwells up and down and around with a task (burpees, merkins, ditchdiggers, duckhops) in between each of the four roundtrips.

    Then we did a few sets of sprints across the top deck and back. The rain was feeling good!

    Then we did a slow meandering Indian run down the parking garage ramps & back to the flag.

    A few minutes of mary: Nolan Ryans and flutter kicks.

    Count-o-rama, announcements, and Astro leads us out with a prayer.

     

  • Rollin’ Dice in da Rain (Gambleholics Anonymous)

    So Much for the ch4 forecast last night saying that the rain would be out of here by 5am and we would only get about 1/2 an inch! Fortunately, it settled to a light drizzle by the stroke of 6:30am. (not so much for our southshore bretheren)

    But the 1st rule of Gambleholics Anonymous is to show up…I suppose. And so 4 brave PAX indeed did just that. Calling a rain-induced audible to the planned strategy for YHC’s clandestine beatdown, we opened with a little warm-o-rama consisting of 20x each:

    Toe Touches

    Windmills

    SSH

    Imperial Walkers

    High Knees

    After an unusually brief mosey we commenced with a dice-rolling, knowledge-testing, beatdown of fun, ass-whoopin dimensions! And speaking of brief, for those who did not claim victory over the dry fart sack and the torrential weather that southern Louisiana was presented with this gloom, this is all of this sure-to-reappear beatdown  you have access to at this point.

    After returning from whence we came, we closed out with Mary consisting of 20x:

    Freddy Flutters

    Crunchy Frogs

    100s

    Count, Name , Prayer

    2 year convergence next saturday, sure to be an adventure not to be missed. Bring your bike if you can/have one

    Many thanks to the PAX who posted and endured the beta test if YHCs lead today. For those who didn’t…you’ll get your chance soon – I pinky promise!

  • To Run or Not to Run?

    Well you see it goes like this. We had an F3 Brother who advertises he’s going to make Captains Cove this Friday since he’s on this side of the lake this weekend.
    So F3 Brother Steve gets excited to host our brother in his first Northshore appearance and makes a Hard commit to show up for the 10K Friday even though he has a 10K race the next day. Witch and trainer would tell you to take the day before a race off and rest your legs!
    Well since this Q has been canceling so much lately and also likes to cater to our F3 Brothers when ever he can. He also against better judgment woke up at 3:50am to be there for our guest. Captain Sparkles shows up early when he shows up lately. Steve rolls in minutes to spare. So no South shore guest yet. Well it’s his first time to this AO he might have got lost. So Captain Sparkles & Steve start talking about the Movie industry. And next thing you know it’s 5:30am well Steve looks at Captain Sparkles, Captain Sparkles looks at Steve and both with happy looks on our face say well looks like he’s going to be a no show. So using good judgment we do what any hardcore F3 would do with a race next day. Yep we high tailed it back to the fart sacks. To rest our legs. So every sad story has a Silver lining.

  • Circuit training

    5 pax met this morning at the trailhead, YHC stole the Q from the ailing Turtle.

    Warm up: Down Dog and hip flexor stretch

    Circuit Training:

    1. Jump rope 4 x 50
    2. Lateral band walk
    3. Forward and backward lunge with indian club swings
    4. Single leg RDL with 15lb DB
    5. Wall slides for lower trapezius

    Rinse and Repeat

    Cool down: Hamstring, Piriformis, hip adductor stretch

    COT: Name o rama, prayer.

    Thanks guys for letting me lead.

    Chewy

     

     

     

     

  • Mastering the 8-Count

    Warm Up: Toe Touches, Good Mornings, Windmills, SSH’s, Toy Soldiers, Seal Jacks, Sister MK’s, all IC at or around 20x.

    The Thang:

    Mosey East towards the Lakefront playground, hitting a series of 8-count exercises at each cross street:

    1st 20x 8-Count Bodybuilders

    2nd 15x 8-Count Absolutions

    3rd 10x 8-Count Bodybuilders, 10x 8-Count Absolution

    So the F3 Nation website or – the more frequently visited – Grundy Audited Database (GAD for short) says that a wise Q will introduce the 8-count cadence for the exercise known as Absolution, but then “instruct the PAX to do the exercise OYO, lest he give the impression of weakness.”  Well, YHC has never been accused of being wise and this group of men has certainly already seen me act weak (ahem… the high-pitched squeal as Captain Sparkles emerges from the bushes), so… time to forget one’s pride and school the Q in mastering the 8-count!

    The thing is, the 8-count isn’t actually that difficult.  So really, this was more of an excuse to wreck the PAX early on, which seemed to have worked.  (At the very least, it wrecked this here Q.)

    A few 10-counts later, we arrived at the playground and split into partners for a little routine up the tallest “hill” in Old Mandeville.  These sort of rigorous elevation changes would be good training for those running the Blue Ridge Relay this fall.  Here’s what we did:

    P1 does squats, P2 run-walks (aka, lunge walks) up to the swingset pad and back.  Flapjack.

    P1 does merkins, P2 bear crawls up and back.  A little slippery this morning.

    P1 does lunges, P2 frog jumps up and back.

    And finally, P1 does Freak Nasties, P2 does an 80% sprint around the perimeter.

    A few more 10-counts sprinkled throughout, and we’re onward to the back of the baseball field, which had a lot of action for 0700.  Gearing up for an early morning game, the PAX got to watch some kids practice their swings, and also witness the slowest-ever flag raise while we planked up and one by one (or two by two, I suppose) hit the pull-up bars for 8 pull-ups.  The 2nd round was 4 pull ups, and the flag had still only made it to half mast.  Did a round of 25x IC Mountain Climbers, but still didn’t get to see that flag hit the top.  Oh well, can’t plank forever.  Time for an Indian Run back to the flag.

    T-Claps to Low Nays who overcame the strong urge to splash some merlot and made it back to the flag for some Mary: (all IC) Flutter Kicks x20, Leg Raises x 15, Putins x20, Jane Fondas/QuickPulses/Heel-to-Knees x20 each leg.

    Countdown, nameorama, announcements (Sign up for the Classic!  Sign up to Q!), and The Manny led us out in prayer.  Thank you guys for the push to be a better man, and for a truly great start to the weekend.

  • “Hello Dolly!” or is it “Rosalita!”

    YHC arrived with the return of Waterpik awaiting in the Gloom. Fresh off a trip to NY. We started some chatter about his experience while away. It appears there is a play named “Hello Dolly” that the pik and his M took in on there trip. All along one might think F3 had created the term or redefined its meaning of sorts, which the latter must certainly be correct. Simply put, I don’t think the play in NY was based on grown men laying on their backs and swinging out there legs in cadence. Although that may be appealing and theatrical in a place like NY. After all it is a big city with many different walks of life and one would never know what to expect or SWING into in such a place.. Maybe her name was “Rosalita!” Who really knows? Either way with Steve rolling up right on time, we get after it starting with a little warmup before our journey on this cool below 50 degree Gloom. 20 IC SSH, 10 IC GM, 20IC WM and 10IC Ws (chewy), which amount to what seems to be a reverse shrug compressing the upper back muscles. With headlights approaching the PAX is soon joined by the Choppa right before our departure.

    thang

    QIC explains to the PAX that we will be incorporating intervals of 30 second burst starting at 20 percent, 30 percent, etc. etc. increasing through the run till the final burst. We went after it at 100 percent completing the last as a sprint to the finish.  Now it did feel fitting to skip the 90 percent since we started with the 20 instead of 10. So in all when complete we totaled 8 intervals. YHC quickly realized on the last interval that Waterpik runs similar to the shifting of a CVT transmission.  His pace just continued to climb with no shift point and no chance of getting passed with a passing gear applied by the Q.

    Nice finish Waterpik!!

    Arriving with 15 to spare we head to the playground to tackle the ISI challenge of the day (1 min pull-ups) Upon completion we hit the deck for Spider man Merkins each leg totaling 10 in all. Then we take to our six for Mary. First we do hip raise hold better known as wife pleasers. Q implemented a 3 count hold at the top to 15. Next we did 15IC FK, 15IC Hello Dollies and closed with 15IC Rosalitas..

    count off, announcements, COT

    Appreciate Choppa for taking us out in prayer!!

    Always enjoy the lead gentleman!

  • Another day at the Office

    Another beautiful morning at The Gipper and another beat down in the books.

    Warmup of lateral lunges, airplanes, seal jacks, squats and forward lunges.  All 20x IC.

    Mosey to the Justice Center for some 11s.  Merkin/Shoulder Taps combo at the bottom of the stairs, In and Out Squat Jumps at the top.

    Recovery walk to the Justice Center benches.  Lateral shuffle between two bookend benches with a lateral step up at each bench.  5 trips OYO.  Then back to lateral steps ups 7x IC, cross over lateral step ups 15x IC, then regular lateral step ups again 8x IC.

    Back to the Justice Center entrance for our ISI AMRAP Challenge of the day:  how many Merkins can you do in one minute?  So simple, yet not so easy.

    Circuitous mosey up and down the Justice Center parking garages ramps and stairs before heading back to the shovel flag, the PAX hitting some short accelerations along the way on the command of “sprint” and some soccer headers on the command of “jump.”

    Mary of windshield wipers 20x IC, Nolan Ryans 20x IC each side, Jane Fondas 10x IC each side, and 45 degree leg raises 10x IC.

    Moby Dick, still on IR but almost ready to get back in the game, joined the PAX for our countorama, nameorama, and Einstein’s prayer.

    Thanks for letting me lead, guys.  I always look forward to Wednesday morning at The Gipper with you.

     

  • A CSAUP Convergence in the Mud

    Well, the day was finally upon us. With a 50% chance of rain it was anybody’s guess what the weather would do. But when it’s called Tough Mudder, either way is good. The clown cars converged at NOLA Motor Park and the clowns met up just inside the official Tough Mudder grounds. The southshore boys called a last minute audible.With Fracsac having to pull out, Cowbell, was and easy EH to grab his spot. Speaking of last minute, YHC pulled up to the meeting spot to see that none other than the elusively nomadic Butt Splice had joined the party, having bought his ticket yesterday.

    Due to the race being 12 mud-filled miles long, not to mention this guy’s exhausted brain, I won’t list all the obstacles, but give a greatest hits and honorable mentions overview.

    Like ripping off a band aid, the 1st obstacle thrown at us was Kiss of Mud 2.o, involving an army crawl under barbed wire through the soupy mud. Butt Splice was fully submerged and in heaven!

    The Hero Carry obstacle (which was much easier the 1st time around) found us carrying our partner about 50 or so yards, then switching for the next 50. Strategically speaking we tried to match up size-wise with Steve/Tanked Up, Butt Splice/Gabrielle, Shooter/Walleye, Bushwacker/Ocho (had I only known this deceptively sized man was actually heavier than the solid Shooter, I might have chosen more wisely), and Reluctant Yankee/Cowbell. Jingle Vader paired up with a random to complete the obstacle.

    Much better acquainted, the fun continued.

    Somewhere along the way, we chanced on a solo mudder who by some stoke of good fortune joined our  regal ranks on this muddy mission. This bald bruiser (sorry the alliteration is addictive) was visiting Nawlins with his lovely wife (who was a loyal spectator) from Chattanooga, TN. An easy Eh and a great F3 fit to round the crew out at 12.

    There were more muddy water-filled pits, walls, hay bales, nets and unpredictable terrain in store for our daring band of F3 brothers. The course lent itself to some quality mumble chatter that added to the intrinsic appreciation of the experience. Speaking of mumble chatter, between Gabrielle and Ocho’s slew of  salacious interactions with random members of the fairer sex, I’m surprised we didn’t walk away from the course with our own fan club. Or better yet, a new cadre of FIA recruits!

    Not that we didn’t all have an appreciation for the females we ran into. A bunch of us made a new friend in a medical assistant at the Trench Warfare obstacle when we gave her a big F3 group hug, sharing all the muddy goodness we had to offer…especially Ocho.

    There were back busting back flips and reverse swan dives at the Shawshank obstacle. This one was quite refreshing!

    At Everest 2.0 we joined the waiting crowd in an attempt to scale the slick quarter pipe and, with the assistance of the previous victors, to mount the 15′ summit. In an attempt to get up quickly and help some folks, F3 and otherwise, YHC skirted the waiting onlookers and made a few unsuccessful shots at the top. In between tries, many, especially the tall gents, were making it look like child’s play. I returned to the fold to find Ocho back on the ground after having already made the ascent. Butt Splice had inadvertently pulled him back down as he tried, in vain, to make it up. With the brilliant Walleye extending his lengthy arms towards the next contestants, the guys one by one made it up. After an embarrassingly  high number of failed tries, this now bruised and battered Q joined his comrades in victory.

    Anyone who knows anything about the tough mudder knows that that one of the most anticipated , and feared, obstacles is the Electroshock! While most of us caught a shock or 2, poor Shooter, who had almost made it through with only 1 zap, took a shot that rung his bell. Being St.Patty’s day, the luck of the Irish must have been shining on Steve, Reluctant Yankee and Jingle Vader (hope I got that right), because they got through scott free. We were all entertained as we prepared to move on by a bald, hardcore ranter who got tagged in the face and many other places as he worked his way through – SON OF A BITCH!

    At the last obstacle, Happy Ending, we ran into fellow F3 Saxon who, along with Jesse from Chattanooga, Ocho, and Butt Splice, formed the base and extension of our human ladder that helped a lot of recently rinsed fools get to the top. Eventually we retrieved our magnanimous brothers and slid down the other side to cross the finish line, arms locked.

    As we gathered post-race with out victory beers (and recovery drinks) in hand to close out with a COT, we were in a unique and enviable position to name an out-of-state FNG. Welcome Big Easy to the F3 Nation! We hope he returns to Chattanooga and hits up one of the 5 area posts up that way. Thanks to Butt Splice for his emotionally aroused prayer to take us out.

    Gentlemen, despite some bumps and bruises this was an extraordinary adventure, and I am blessed to have taken the journey with each of you. Many thanks for following my lead to the starting line today.