Growing up in the Bluegrass state, the first Saturday in May was always a holy day of obligation for YHC. Now in New Orleans with Jazzfest, my faith has evolved. But today the PAX indulged YHC in some Kentucky Derby minutiae.
WARM UP – Slow mosey to WWI Memorial and Oval (the paddock) – and circle up.
Windmills IC x 20
SSH IC x 25 (There are 25 3 year olds in the Derby this year)
Imperial Walkers IC x 25
Turfgrabbers IC x 10
More stretching
Then slow mosey on the track to the fork in the path to Prytania St. From there around the track down to Magazine is 10 furlongs, or 1.25 miles – the length of the Derby. Thoroughbreds run that distance in the most exciting 2 minutes in sports. PAX self-divided into 3 groups based on speed. The steady group left first, while two speedier groups did freddy mercury for one minute. Second group left after one minute while the last group did LBCs for one minute. Then last group took off. Despite a solid AYG showing from the PAX, the event was decidedly less exciting then the Derby. Reconvened at Magazine St. LBCs and Planks until all the PAX arrived.
THANG#2 Mosey toward the parking area near the flag for The Triple Crown. PAX pair up, while one exercises, the other makes a loop around the parking lot.
75 (1875 first year of the Derby) Burpees
91 lunges (2 is 1) (91-1 are the the longest odds of a Derby Winner – Donerail in 1913)
150 Muhammad Ali s, the Louisville Legend (aka, floyd mayweathers) (150,000 of your closest friends attend the Derby every year)
YHC modified the Muhammad Alis as time was running out. Quick mosey to the Flag, Counterama, Name-o-rama, Announcements and Intentions.
Well the ISI challenge brought a record crew to Colisseum Square run. 10 PAX headed out after finding the correct starting spot (bigger round fountain on the uptown side of the park.) Headed down to Melpomene then up to St.Charles for a run in the Neutral Ground. Fast group made it to Napoleon (others turned earlier) then down to Magazine and back to the start. Lead group paced at 8:10 mile with the last 2 miles under 8! At the imaginary flag- misordered name-o-rama and countoff and then a prayer for charity. Great morning!
So, YHC correspondent has been pretty busy having started and new gig and trying to ramp up as quickly as possible so I apologize in advance for the lateness in this backblast.
This morning would not only mark my one year anniversary of F3, but also the start of a new AO “The Angry Wave” . This AO name is in reference to the school mascot of the other school on St Charles Ave, Although there was much mumblechatter that it sounded like a STD, Which seemed appropriate with our F3 Urologist – Tinkles taking the first Q. I gave the usual disclaimer, Tinkles gave his announcement for Angry Wave that it would be an all running beatdown and the PAX split up and we were on our way. Interesting coincidence – Tinkles was the Q of my first F3 workout.
I had a plan in my head of what I wanted to do but that went out the window when I arrived to see the Park and Street car line were ponds from the overnight rain. So we moseyed toward Walnut and then back down the Avenue to our favorite spot of grass next to Holy Name Church.
Warm up
SSH x 20
Hillbillies x 20
Grass Grabbers x20
Mountain Climbers x20
Fwd/Rev Arm Circles x10 each way
Thang 1 BLIMPS around the Horseshoe – This was supposed to be down the Ave – which was what we did my first workout…
Burpees X5, Lunges x 10 Imperial Walkers x15, Merkins x20, Plank Jacks x25, Squats x30 While running around the horseshoe.
Thang 2 Mosey to the Circle on Loyola’s Campus
Right Leg Step Ups x15
Dips x10
Left Leg Step Ups x 15
Dips x10
Bulgarian Split Leg Squats x15 R Leg up
Dips x10
Bulgarian Split Squats x15 L Leg up
Mosey to the base of the Mountain
Thang 3 – Dirty Mac-Dulla Mountain
Trying to come up with something original I had scoured the Exi-con found this version of an Indian Run that sounded good but on paper but was kind of a cluster F. First guy in line drops and does 5 mekins and planks till the last guys passes him, then yells “6” to let the first person know to drop and start merkins.(Problem – 2 lines – so too many “6” being yelled out.
At second floor landing Merkins x10, Low slow Squats x10, Dying Cock roach x10, Run up to 3rd level landing
3rd level – King Kongs x10, Bobby Hurleys x 10, LBC’s x10, Run up to 4th level
4th level – Diamond Merks x10, Monkey Humpers x10, American Hammer x 10, Run up to 5th level
6th level – Merkin x10, Squats x 10, Penguins x10 With it raining and running out of time we did not proceed to the the top.
Flutter kicks x 15, Some other Mary I cant remember at this time. Then Mosey back to the Flag to meet back up with the Angry Wave guys. They put in about 5 miles, running around the park, to the levee, down the levee to Oak St. back up to Carrolton, and back down the Aveto the Flag
Count-o-Rama, Name-O-Rama. 2 FNG’s – Welcome Grimace and Da Cuzan (He’s Da Parishes cousin) Prayed it out.
I am so very thankful for starting F3 a year ago and am so much better for it. F3 has changed my life in so many ways. I am healthier, and more fit than I have ever been in my adult life. I have been presented opportunities professionally that would have never happened with out the fellowship of F3. I never thought on that first cold Feb morning that I would ever lead one of these workouts and now I do on a fairly regular basis. Thank you all for pushing me, motivating me, and always pulling me up even when I was the “SIX” for those first few months. I am forever indebted to you my F3 brothers! Always a privilege to lead this group of High Impact Men in the gloom. Thank you for the opportunity to lead! SYITG!
It was a misfire at the starting gate, where Mariah and El Guapo met at one fountain in Coliseum Square and Mulligan and I met at the other. Not knowing there were other PAX, each set of runners took off — in opposite directions around the Loop, each equally miffed wondering why the other group hadn’t shown up this morning. Clearly, more planning and consistency is needed at Stifler’s.
In the great and unequivocal way that all loops work, both sets of runners finally met at the midway point, despite running in different directions. Having unified, the now whole PAX took off at a pace that only Mariah’s dog scoffed at.
After El Guapo demonstrated his Frogger skills by dodging traffic, I learned my lesson in humility as I took a huge spill while making fun of the aforementioned near-pancake of a runner. I executed an absolutely awful tuck, roll, and mumble excuse (a classic TRME) move that would have made no one in my family proud.
Thankfully, the PAX was kind and only made fun of me for the next 6 blocks or so.
We wrapped up with a commitment to future Thursday AM runs, gave Mariah’s now tired pup a few pats, then dispersed back into the Gloom.
28 PAX ignored the threat of rain and made it out The Mothership this Sat. We lucked out with a “calm before the storm” as the the guys assmebled and prepared for takeoff. YHC wanted to mix things up with an old school City Park history tour as part of the workout, similar to a few beatbowns circa 2015. The night before had the forecast looking nasty, so the plan was to stay close to cover and hone in on a few of the iconic landmarks right there in the original part of the park. The 1300 acre park was established in 1854 and has lots of history, great architecture, nature, wildlife, and of course trees….home to one of the largest collection of live oaks in the world. Generations of New Orleans residents and visitors alike have enjoyed the park so it only seemed fitting to pay homage to a few things that make it a great place. As the clock struck 5:30 we discussed the plan for the day, followed by the disclaimer, then off to….
First stop, The Peristyle, built in 1907 to have outdoor dances and concerts for the “well heeled” New Orleanians….some chatter from Rudy about Jingle Vader being in that category. Using the year as the rep count, we started with Imperial Walkers x19 and Windmills x7.
Then an ugly mosey around The Casino Building with some doubt from the PAX before going up and over Popp Bandstand for Stop #2 on the nearby grass.
With 12 granite columns and topped with a bronze dome, Popp Bandstand was named for is benefactor, John F. Popp, and is a replica of the Temple of Love in Versailles. In 1916, Popp made a donation to the park to build the Popp Bandstand which was completed in 1917. The Spanish Mission Revival-style “Casino” building opened in 1913 as a place that sold refreshments. Because of that, the City Park legend says that the building originally was called a cantina, using the Spanish word for a place where food and drinks are served. In a 2008 Times-Picayune story, City Park Executive Director Beau Bassich said he believed the New Orleans dialect colloquialized the word into “casina.” However, 1913 newspaper articles do use the word “casino” to describe the new building, explaining it will be “the amusement center of the park,” though there is no mention of gambling.
Here we circled up using 1917 and 1913 to inspire the rep count for Peter Parkers x19, Low Slow Squats x17, Mountain Climbers x19 and Arm Circles x13.
Then we recaped the age of the park, 164 years, with a Plank Merkin circle where all PAX held a high plank while merkins were cranked out individually in a clockwise manner up to 164 total.
Then a mosey over the stone bridge towards City Park Ave for a meandering jog through the oldest grove of mature live oak tress the world. We made sure to recognize the two oldest ones by looping around McDonough Oak and then, after some doubt from the PAX about my navagation ability, made our way to the Ansmen Oak, both of which are approx 800 years old. Here we circled up for an 8 round burpee countdown, one round for each century…Burpees x8,x7,x6,x5,x4,x3,x2,…x8 for the crowdpleaser! More about City Park trees here: http://neworleanscitypark.com/in-the-park/trees-in-city-park
Then a mosey over the Ansmen Bridge, one of 9 built by the WPA, and back to The Peristyle where we lined up on one side for a partner circuit. This included 8 rounds of PAX #1 performing the specified exercise across the Peristyle and back (timer) while PAX #2 stayed put with a stationary exercise.
1)Inchworm & Wall Sit
2) Bearcrawl fwd/bwd & Balls to the Wall
3) Duck Walk & Declined Plank
4) Crab Walk fwd/bwd & Wall Sit
5) Lunge Walk & LBC
6) Kong & Balls to the Wall
7) Fiddler Crab & Flutter Kicks
8) Lateral Lunge & Wall Sit
Next up, we couldn’t leave out the adjacent Great Lawn that has hosted countless hours of F3 beatdowns. Built in 2010, the Goldring/Woldenberg Great Lawn is enjoyed by many and has seen a slew of picnics, concerts, yoga classes, and side straddle hops over the past 8 years. So we moseyed a quick loop to the Great Lawn and back to the nearby benches for a partner circuit of: PAX #1 Dips x20 OYO while PAX#2 runs to GL for Merkins x10 and back. Rinse and repeat for 3 rounds total follwed by a “victory lap” around the GL topped off with planking to wait for the six.
Still some time left for a few more history lessons so over to the rear of The Peristyle to gaze upon the banks of Bayou Metairie. Although it is now a landlocked lagoon, Bayou Metairie was originally a natural waterway spanning from Bayou St. John to the swampy area near what is now Old Metairie, essentially following the path of current day Metairie Rd. Once used by the Native Americans and early settlers, the banks of the bayou gradually formed the Metairie Ridge which provided high ground for ground transportation and later development of homes.
Since we didn’t have a year to use for rep count, we shifted our focus to 1946, the year of the first City Park Big Bass Rodeo, which is the oldest freshwater fishing rodeo in the country. At this point YHC had to alter the planned exercises and went with the first thing that came to mind, burpees, which really seemed to excite the PAX and peanut gallery, given the initial silence of disbelief followed by some grumbling and the “we already did enough burpees” comments. So PAX#1 knocked out Burpees x19 while PAX #2 held a wall sit on the ledge along Bayou Metairie, which had an awkward slope not conducive to said exercise. Then partner plank slaps, aka patty cake, holding a high plank and alternating hand slaps up to 46.
Nearing the end of our hour, we had just enough time remaining to circle up under The Persistyle for some themed Mary. YHC breifly talked about the various projects completed by the WPA (Works Progress Administration) in the 1930’s throughout City Park, including Tad Gormley Stadium, nine concrete bridges, a golf course, several art deco conrete benches, and Roosevelt Mall. In 1937, President Franklin Roosevelt came in town for the dedication ceremony. Pics below and more info at: http://neworleanscitypark.com/in-the-park/works-progress-administration-in-new-orleans-city-park
In this undated archival photo, President Roosevelt chats with New Orleanian Paul Alfred Montreuil, 7, at the dedication of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Mall in City Park. Also pictured: Marcel G. Montreuil, park superintendent; George Grundmann, chairman of the dedication committee and vice president of the park board; and James H. Crutcher, administrator of the WPA in Louisiana.
Our WPA and FDR themed Mary consisted of:
W – Weezey Jeffersons x10IC
P – Pickle Pounders x15IC
A – American Hammer x20IC
F – Flutter Kicks x20IC
D – Dying Cockroach x15IC
R – name??? exotic exercise led by Triple Shift x25IC
Moseyed back to the flag with some rain for added bonus. Capped things off with a COT and announcements. T-claps to War Eagle for stepping up to lead the prayer. He’s a pro at that stuff and much more eloquent in that field than YHC.
NMM – Thanks to the PAX for bearing with my non-professional tour guide ability and abbreviated history tidbits throughout the morning. As always, the peanut gallery led by Rudy and others kept it entertaining. T-claps to Mahatma and others for the occasional motivational cheers and USMC grunts to keep the PAX in high gear. Several guys asked for links (http://neworleanscitypark.com/in-the-park) to some of the City Park history in so I included several in this backblast, which may be one of the longest in F3 history….sorry for the long read, if you made it this far. My wife asked if I was writing a book.
23 PAX with 2 FNGs managed to meet up on a beautiful, wet, humid, warm Saturday morning on the first day of December. At 6:30, YHC gave his standard disclaimer and off went the PAX.
(missing PAX in the photo: Bogey, King Kong, Smooth, SwampCock)
Warm-ups
Short mosey to the Peristyle and did the following in cadence:
SSHs x 20
Windmills x 10
Forward Arm Circles x 10
Backward Arm Circles x 10
Hill Billies x 20 (with Fracsac’s witty comments as YHC was trying to explain what the heck are the Hill Billies to the FNGs)
Peter Parkers x 15
MC x 15
Partner Workout
Picked a partner and jogged across the street to the Great Lawn. Magically, bunch of cones (dividing the field in halves) were set up in the middle of the field.
Part 1 – Starting in the middle of the field, each PAX ran toward his sidewalk and back to the middle and performed 15 patty cake merkins with his partner, rinse and repeat with 10 reps, rinse and repeat with 5 reps.
Part 2 – Starting in the middle of the field, each PAX ran toward his sidewalk and back to the middle and performed 20 synchronize big boy sit ups. Rinse and repeat with 15, 10, and 5 reps.
Part 3 – Starting in the middle of the field, each PAX ran toward his sidewalk and back to the middle and performed 20 synchronize squats. Rinse and repeat with 15, 10, and 5 reps.
Part 4 – Starting in the middle of the field, each PAX ran toward his sidewalk and back to the middle and each PAX performed 5 burpees jump over. One PAX was doing the burpee jump over the other PAX, who was in the low plank position. Flap Jack. Each PAX did 4 rounds (total 20 burpees jump over each)
When finished, Mahatma-Ice gave a 20 second count, then moseyed to the fountain in front of NOMA and waited for the six.
The Thang
Starting off at the fountain in front of NOMA, each Pax had to do the following OYO:
Round 1
20 box jumps
20 incline merkins
15 box jumps
15 merkins
10 box jumps
10 derkins
5 box jumps
5 diamond merkins
then moseyed to the last light post and back to the fountain (about 0.5 mile)
Round 2 – rinse and repeat but shaved off the first set of 20 box jumps and 20 incline merkins, then moseyed to the 7th light post and back.
Round 3 – rinse and repeat but shaved off another set of 15 box jumps and 15 merkins, then moseyed to the 5th light post and back.
Round 4 – rinse and repeat but shaved off another set of 10 box jumps and 10 derkins (leaving with only 5 box jumps and 5 diamond merkins), then moseyed to the 3rd light post and back.
In addition to the mileage, the PAX toughed out 100 box jumps and 100 different forms of merkins.
T-claps to Mahatma-Ice for setting the tone early. Not an easy task to do 100 box jumps, all those merkins, and all those miles. Once again, everyone got stronger for coming out to a F3 workout. Respect!!!
Round of Mary
Moseyed to the grass field next to NOMA and did the following in cadence:
Hello Dolly x 20
Dying Cockroach x 20
Flutter kicks x 20
American Hammer x 15
Moseyed back to the flag with 30 seconds left. Why not 3 more burpees??? PAX finished the workout at 7:30 a.m.
COT
Count-O-Rama 23PAX, Name-O-Rama, announcements, intentions. 2 FNGs (Hank and Hatchling). Hank is a reference from King of the Hill. Hatchling because he is only 18. Our thoughts and prayers for I Love You Man’s niece with her recovery from brain surgery and King Kong’s 2.0 with her girls’ scout camping over the weekend. Thank You all again for the opportunity to lead. Always a pleasure and honor to workout with the PAX. SYITG
I took the Q this am bc I have been dying to try some Rarajipari after Hawgcycle told me about playing it in City Park for the 610 Stomp.
We showed up for a hot 68 degree AM in the gloom. We had a FNG – (CHIHUAHUA) named after the province in Mexico that is home of the Tarahumara people who invented this game. He was wearing a Bulldawg shirt so clearly this is a man of great taste and pedigree. Thanks to Brown Bag for EH’ing him!
We gave the disclaimer and headed directly to Wolfpack Mtn. I picked up a bucket of balls on the way.
At the base of WPM SSH x 20 IC, Dying Roach x 20, Imperial Walker Squats x 20, and Mtn Climbers x 20
Partnered up – got a ball and started to play RARAJIPARI on our way up the MTN. At each end of the garage we did 10 merks. Congrats to the winners Sandbar and Saban who won the race up the MTN.
At the top of the MTN. We circled up for Peter Parkers x 20, Flutters x 20, Parker Peters x 20 and Hip Dips each side x 10 each.
Then we got a new partner and went down the garage with 5 squat jumps at each side. This in hindsight was probably a bad exercise choice. – Most of the PAX did their jumps with their back to the balls still rolling down the MTN. A couple of near missed ankle injuries – as far as I know – no injuires occured.
Congrats to Mariah and Peppa for winnning the race down. It certainly helped that their ball plummeted over the edge to the bottom floor from 6 stories up.
At the base – we put the balls in the bucket and ran to the benches. At the benches we did x 20 shoulder taps x 20 power ups left and right, and x 20 dips.
We sealed the deal with x 15 low country crab in cadence.
Then we hustled back to the FLAG. If you got to the FLAG before the 6 each PAX knocked out a BLIMP or as far as he could get.
Announcements: Tree sale at HNJ tonight!, Lycee is having a Christmas Market Saturday
Thanks for letting me Q – I’m looking forward to a Flaming Lips beatdown next Friday!
My plan was to leave my vehicle at Morning Call and run to Stifler’s Mom for the 0530 start. However, my penchant for tardiness and my not so blistering 11:30+ pace put me well behind schedule. Fortunately I was able to contact Swampcock and he met me on the route. Once we joined forces we sat out like bats out of hell headed for Morning Call. Despite the super sonic pace Swampcock set, we enjoyed some good conversation. We arrived at Morning Call a few minutes early and were later joined by Fracsac and Da Parish after their Okwata beatdown. Swampcock set a new record for the number of Cafe Au Laits consumed at a single coffeeteria and then we jumped in the Explorer and headed back to Uptown.
NMM
This was a great way to start Thanksgiving Day. I have a lot to be thankful for. Like Swampcock, I am a transplant to New Orleans. A lot of our conversation centered around our decisions to move here. They were good decisions. So many of the things I am thankful for are tied to this great city and the people that live here.
