Fitness. Fellowship. Faith.

Free Outdoor Morning Workouts To Build Community Leaders

Team MasterLoad: 26.75. Team Olaf: 0

  • When: 20200313
  • QIC: Flo
  • The PAX: Masterload, Creeper, Repo, The Colonel (R), Old Flame (R), Grits (R), Bob the Builder (R), Splinter, Space Cowboy, Hot Tub, Dutchess


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The mission of F3 is to plant, grow and serve small workout groups for the invigoration of male community leadership.

Conditions:  62 degrees

FNGs:  None

The Thang: We ran at Nexton. This is quazi-town where Hospice aspires to be mayor.

Moleskin: Olaf decided throw a little shade towards Team MasterLoad earlier this week, despite the fact that our teams are not currently facing off against one another in March Madness. While Team MasterLoad was well represented at this morning’s Creamer gaining 26.75 points, Team Olaf was nowhere to be found. In other news, Floppy will be holding a press conference today to discuss the possibility of cancelling F3 Summerville March Madness or proceeding forward with holding the event without fans. Stay tuned…

Mile Test Results at the Creek: PR’s-a-plenty and an FNG

  • When: 20170828
  • QIC: Snowden
  • The PAX: Recount, Dutchess, Wee Woo, Shortcake, McFly, Caviar (FNG), Honey Boo Boo, Scarecrow, Urkel, Dunkin, Cowbell, Snowden


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Preamble: The Creek is the F3 Summerville/Goose Creek’s Monday/Wednesday running AO.  We meet at Goose Creek City hall at 0500.  Come out and see all of historic Goose Creek in the dark.

Weather:  Low 70’s.   Much better for the mile test.

FNG:  One, Jared.  Friend of Shortcake’s.  Shortcake mentioned him coming out at yesterday’s Creamer run.  This will be a fine introduction to the Creek and F3 Summerville/Goose Creek.

Disclaimer: Remember F3 is peer led and may have serious side effects which can hurt.  Be careful. F3 is not liable in the event of injury or worse.  Work hard, but know your limits.

The Thang: It’s the last Monday of the Month.  Lets run the mile test!

We began by circling up around the Creek’s makeshift shovel flag.  The Shame of F3 Summerville/Goose Creek.  A lovingly, but poorly fashioned thing.  Painted in the colors of Goose Crap.  There we did a little through the tunnel, a little stretching and a little discussion of what was to come.  I was pleased to see a decent sized crowd this morning.  12 in total.  One FNG, as well as new Creek poster Scarecrow.  Scarecrow started posting a week or two ago out at the ditch.  This was his first group run.

I explained that we’d say on the course this morning.  We’d complete a one mile warmup around the pond (2 laps).  The first lap would just be a jog, then we’d do some stride sprints on the second lap.  Once warmup was done we’d muster at the starting line.  YHC sent runners off at roughly 20 second intervals to avoid trampling each other.

Not much to say about the mile.  Run it fast!  Do it as fast as you can!

Results:

McFly:  05:59
Snowden:  06:12
Caviar (FNG):  06:26
Honey Boo Boo: 06:26
Dutchess: 06:57
Recount  07:29
Cowbell  08:01
Shortcake 08:05
Urkel  08:15
Wee Woo  08:30
Dunkin  08:30
Scarecrow 09:50

Nice work by everyone here….   McFly ended up being our champion (obviously).  YHC bested last month by 12 seconds. FNG made an impressive first showing.  Honey BooBoo, I know the guy is fast.  It was curious to see what the man would unleash.  A 6:26 on tired legs apparently!  Dutchess breaking the 7 minute barrier great job!  Recount, incredible improvement here.  Not just breaking the 8 minute mark but smashing it.  Cowbell, two months has made a huge difference for this guy.  Shortcake didn’t wear his watch….  I gave him what he told me he ran (somewhere between 8:00 and 8:10).   Good job SC!  Urkel making big strides as well with the 8:15!   Weewoo, guy has been running with us about two weeks and making great improvements.  Dunkin, amazing progress from a guy who refused to run 6 months ago.  Scarecrow.  Two weeks into F3, and busting out a sub 10 minute mile.   Every single one of these guys ended up putting in 3+ miles on their feet today between warmups, the mile and the cool down.

We cooled down with another mile and a half or so around the AO.

Announcements:  Summerville AO’s converging on Saturday’s.  The Ditch is TBD but for now appears like it will continue to meet BAU on Saturdays.  The Ditch Boot camp will run it’s monthly endurance test, the Swamp Fox on Thursday.

Prayers for people in Houston, (our FNG has family there dealing with the floods).  Urkel’s son dealing with a fever.

Pledge – Successfully Spoken

BOM – Completed

Devo:  Schedule your day and your week while thinking about the man you want to be, not the things you have to get done.  Don’t neglect your responsibilities, but don’t forget to be intentional about devoting time for God, Family, reflection, and improving the areas of your life that need attention.   Pulled this little nugget from chapter 2 of my study with Drumstick at the Goose Creek 3rd F Friday group.

FNG:  Welcome Caviar!  Caviar takes care of baby fish at a hatchery!  We named him caviar because that is a job that affords him a very luxurious lifestyle which means he probably really enjoys eating caviar on toast points while acquiring his vast land holdings.  Made sense to me.  Good name.  Can’t remember who called it out, but it was somebody to my right.

 

21-15-9. Time to work on some Metabolic Conditioning.

  • When: 20170822
  • QIC: Boucher
  • The PAX: Futurama (w/ Vest), McFly, Wee Woo, Sagat (w/ Ruck), Use to, Stringbean, Redo, Wiper, Dutchess, Cowbell, & Boucher (w/ Vest).


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Intro:  Hot & Humid.  Perfect for a Tuesday morning beatdown.

 

Disclaimer:  No FNG’s, but a disclaimer was given anyway. The disclaimer is a good reminder that ultimately, we are all responsible for our own safety.

 

Warmup:  Arm Circles, Merkins, Imperial Walkers, Squats, Mountain Climbers

 

Thang:  

 

Mosey over and grab a block and line up on the tennis court.

 

The Scheme of Maneuver was to utilize the metabolic conditioning structure of 21-15-9.  We coupled exercises together and performed this rep scheme as fast as possible.  The PAX would perform one exercise for 21 reps, sprint to the other side of the court, and perform the second exercise for 21 reps.  Sprint back and perform the first exercise for 15 reps, etc.

 

The couplets were the following:

  1. Merkins & WWII Situps
  2. Block Press & LBCs (4-count)
  3. Block Curls & Flutter Kicks (4-count)
  4. Diamond Merkins & Squats
  5. Kettle Bell Swings (w/ Bock) & Burpees

 

*The PAX were moving extremely fast and efficient this AM so instead of sprinting during the 3rd set we bear crawled half-way and crab-walked the other half.  This had the desired effect.

 

Mary:  No time for additional Mary.

 

Pledge, Announcements, Prayer Requests, and BOM.

 

Devo: 2 Corinthians 10:13 – There are two types of leadership:  Positional Leadership & Influence.  Oftentimes we are not in positions of leadership, however, we are always in positions of influence.  In 2 Corinthians 10:13, Paul tells the church in Corinth that he will not boast beyond his limits, but will boast only with the regard to the area of influence God has assigned to us.  We need to remember that God has assigned each of us an area of influence in our families, jobs, churches, and communities.  In order to reach our full potential to maximize our influence we must lead ourselves first.  If we do not have the discipline to lead ourselves first, how can we expect others to follow us?

Mule Train

  • When: 20170815
  • QIC: Stalker
  • The PAX: Boucher, Stringbean, McFly, Sunshine (FNG), Saget, Use To, Ophelia, Drumstick, Woohoo, Dutchess, Wiper, Redo, Futurama, Cowbell


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Intro:  The Ditch keeps growing. This morning was no exception with 15 weirdos rolling out into the heat and humidity, with 1 FNG. YHC wanted to leave the AO, while having the PAX in constant motion.

Disclaimer:  Given to 1 FNG. To everyone – scale, modify or replace.

Warmup:  Arm circles (no cadence, continue until all of the late PAX get in the circle), World’s Greatest Stretch

Thang:  Partner-up, grab a block each, then line-up on the basketball court. Partner 1 will do situps with feet in block. Partner 2 will do merkins on the block. 2 minutes, max effort. Switch and repeat.

Staying paired, the PAX moved out in two columns with the blocks in a Mule Train. As they walked in formation, each PAX performed either curls, OHP, tri extensions, or Cussack. Blocks would not be carried on the shoulders. The team at the end of the formation performed 5 blockees, then ran to catch up with the formation. Reaching the formation, the team would move to the front, while the next team stopped to do their 5 blockees. Rinse and repeat until the formation reached the playground (about 1/3 mile). Thanks to Belding for the idea.

At the playground, each team bear crawled in succession from the entrance to the first picnic table (bench dips until the next team arrived), then to the swings (swing crunches until the next team arrived), then to the monkey bars (pullups until the next team arrived), then to the picnic table (step-ups until the next team arrived, then the other side of the picnic table (inclined merkins), then bear crawl to the entrance. Rinse and repeat for two rounds.

Mule Train back to the AO.

Mary:  Dammits x15, stow blocks.

Numberama, Namerama, Pledge, Announcements, Prayer Requests

BOM:

Devo:  A timely message from James 2:1. “My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?”

Black, white, brown, yellow, Catholic, Protestant, Methodist, etc, etc, we are all children of God.

Moleskin:  Welcome FNG Sunshine, Marcus Britt. Marcus is a big dude, who played offensive line at SC State, and has an even bigger personality. Come back again, brother.

If there more runners than geese is it really The Creek?

  • When: 20170814
  • QIC: Floppy
  • The PAX: Snowden, Honey Boo Boo, Recount, Dunkin, McFly, Dutchess, Cowbell, Stringbean, Wee Woo (FNG)


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Conditions: 81 Degrees

Humidity: Satan’s dark heart

Warm-up: Do that on your own time

The Thang: Go around the pond, then around the municipal building and take the trail to that neighborhood ( you know that one), and work your way to the shortcut to the Ditch. That was about 1.98 miles. Turn around and retrace your steps trying to beat your time on the way back.

Moleskin: Sweet mama jamma it was humid today. That lead to some slower times, but more opportunity to converse with the pax. Typically, I try to be creative when I visit the Creek, but sometimes it’s nice to just do an out and back, and try to beat yourself. The most shocking part for me was I only saw a flock of about 10 ducks. No geese. Minimal poop. It felt like a dream. A hot, humid, wet blanket filled dream. Welcome FNG Corey Dickerson aka Wee Woo.

Devo: Some historically ridiculous stuff went down in Charlottesville, VA this weekend. Racism is dumb. Don’t be racist. Don’t be dumb.

Had some ‘fun’ activities planned, but first we had to pay the man.

  • When: 20170810
  • QIC: Boucher
  • The PAX: Futurama, Urkel, TKO, BCG, Wiper, Opehlia, Dutchess, Hacker, Cowbell, Drumstick, Saget, and Boucher


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Intro:  A little soggy out.  Not a problem.  Still had to pay the man!

Disclaimer:  No FNG’s, but a disclaimer was given anyway. The disclaimer is a good reminder that ultimately, we are all responsible for our own safety.

Warmup:  Arm Circles, Merkins, Imperial Walkers, Squats

Thang:  

We needed to get some work done before we could have some fun. Grab a block and circle up on the court.

-25 merkins on the block -> take a lap around the tennis court (with your block)

-25 squats -> take a lap

-25 flutter kicks holding block -> take a lap

-25 carolina dry docks -> take a lap

-25 WWI situps with block -> take a lap

-25 burpee block jump-overs -> take a lap

Muster back at court and form 3 teams of 4 PAX for Relay Races

-1st Race = Bear Crawl

-2nd Race = Log Carry

-3rd Race = Double Block Carry

*Winner of each race does 5 burpees

*2nd Place does 7 burpees

*Last Place does 9 burpees

Mary:  25 American Hammers

Pledge, Announcements, Prayer Requests, BOM:

Devo: Proverbs 18:15 – As men we need to be constantly learning.  Learning more about God, learning new skills, and generally increasing knowledge.  To stop learning is to become stagnate.  Stagnate pools of water become foul and cease to be useful.  We need to work to ensure we don’t become stagnate in life.

Creek Backblast! Get Ready for a recollection of events that occurred!

  • When: 20170807
  • QIC: Snowden
  • The PAX: Humpday, Cowbell, Dutchess, Urkel, Stringbean, McFly


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F3’s mission is to plant and grow small free workout groups for men.  We do bootcamps and we run.  If you’re reading this you already know that.

F3 is a peer led workout.  I’m a Q, but I’m not a professional.  Please, be careful, know your limits and workout smart.  Don’t get hurt.  F3 is not liable in the event of injury or worse.

Weather:  Mid 70’s, humid like it always is.  It was also dark.

YHC arrived about 10 till and waited the arrival of the PAX.  I surveyed the landscape and felt good about today’s run.  I’ve been dealing with a nagging hip injury and it was feeling pretty okay today.   It’s also officially the first day of Marathon training so the plan was a simple straightforward run on the agenda today.  The PAX started rolling in one by one and I was happy to see the group gathered around.  The Creek has been posting some solid numbers lately.  I mentioned the plan to the group.  One of the runners was unfamiliar with the route so Stringbean, being a gentleman agreed to make sure to accompany.  I checked to make sure everyone was lit up or wearing reflective gear and we took off.   We all started off roughly together.  After about a mile McFly and I pulled a little ahead and looped back to close the small gap between us and the pack following.  No one was setting a blazing pace, but I wanted to keep the group relatively tight.   Spent a little time talking with Dutchess who is relatively new to the Creek, but has been posting fairly regularly, so I was happy that I got to know the guy a little better.

After a while the group made it’s way back to the AO.   I  was really pleased to learn that Urkel had accomplished a milestone that day.  He mentioned that he had a goal to finish the run at <10 pace and pulled it off.  Urkel was walk/running that distance two months ago, so I was very impressed with his improvement.   It’s an honor to run with these guys and see them get better and better week in and week out.  T-Claps to Cowbell  who continues to post and improve with his running.

Pledge, and announcements.  Humpday checked the pulse of the group on possibly shifting the Saturday bootcamp at the ditch up to 0600 instead of 0700.  Group seemed open to the idea, more to come.  Drumsticks 3rd F study on Fridays.  Ditch AO 2nd F coming up in a couple of week.

Prayers and  Devo:

F3 is a group that inspires strong bonds between the PAX.  But on the flip side of that, I sometimes find myself guilty of not maintaining relationships with old friends due to the busyness of life.  I encouraged each of the PAX to think about their friends and family and reach out to someone that you know may be struggling with pain in their lives.

Speed Gainz at the Creek

  • When: 20170731
  • QIC: Snowden
  • The PAX: Urkel, Recount, Dunkin, Dutchess, McFly, Snowden


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Conditions: Beautiful morning for a run.  Course was a little wet.  68 degrees.

Disclaimer:  No FNG’s but I gave it anyway.  “F3 is peer led.  Only you know your capabilities.  Be safe, don’t get hurt.  Please don’t sue me if you get hurt cause I’m no professional and I’m just running with you.”

Preamble: Last workout of the month at the Creek is the one mile time trial.   Nothing fancy.  Just a nice excruciating all out effort on a Monday morning.  But it’s important to benchmark your performance, see what you’re capable of, yadda-yadda.   As I mentioned in my pre-blast I don’t even like this workout, but I do it because I feel I need to.

Reminds me of the quote from the great hero from the movie “Caddy Shack”, Judge Smails:

“I’ve sentenced boys younger than you to the gas chamber. Didn’t want to do it. I felt I owed it to them”

I want the PAX to know their capabilities.  Most of us aren’t going to go out and run an all out mile.  Frankly it’s not a great workout.  It’s too short by itself to be considered a workout.  It’s more of a “feat”.  But, when you go out and run a hard mile you learn all sorts of things about yourself.  How much have you improved?  What kind of estimated pace could you hold for a 5k, a 10k or more?  There are formula’s for all of this.  Check out the Galloway Magic Mile formula to learn what your result means for you.

The plan:  Since the mile by itself is a serious undertaking we will do a proper warmup.   The PAX completed a half mile warmup lap around the 1/2 mile pond loop.  Nice little jog…..  Then we did a second loop this time picking up the pace for brief strides.   This is where we’d accelerate for 50-80 yards or so to a near sprint, then decelerate back to jogging pace.   Dutchess was holding a strong pace during this.   I got the feeling from last weeks Swamp Fox workout at the Ditch that the guy had some speed.  Once the warmup was completed we gathered at the starting line.  The course would take us around the track twice.  I asked the group to estimate their finish time.  Group 1 would be 8:30 and up.  Group 2 under 8:30.  YHC sent the runners from group 1 off first with about 15 seconds between them.  Followed by group 2, one at a time.

We ran.   We ran until we were done.  Personally, I decided NOT to look at my watch.  I didn’t want to know my pace I just knew what fast felt like and I wanted to feel like I was running fast.  So I managed to avoid looking until the work was done.   The rest of the group was pushing hard.   We didn’t say much to each other.  As YHC finished up he was greeted by the voice of McFly.  McFly was running a little behind this morning.  He asked me how I did.  I told him I’d tell him when he was done.  🙂   McFly is fast.  I didn’t want to lay my cards out even though I knew he’d kick my butt.  Gamesmanship!

The PAX where gathering.  A couple of muted “good jobs” etc… I heard a few times but not all of them.  We took off for a cooldown jog around the AO while McFly did his work.   Once we returned we did a little Mary while we waited for him.   15 LBC in cadence led by YHC.  15 American Hammers in cadence led by Dunkin, 14 flutter kicks in cadence led by Recount.

Final Results:
McFly!!!   5:58   first under 6 at the Creek.   He won the crown (all I had was a safety cone).

Snowden  6:24

Dutchess: 7:40  great first trial effort sir!  I can’t wait to see next month’s result.

Recount: somewhere under 8.  what kinda guy doesn’t wear at least a stop watch to a time trial?  Recount.  Either way, this a GREAT run for recount.  The guy has really been getting in killer shape lately.

Urkel: 8:15 (huge props to this guy!  He’s been around f3 for about 4 months I reckon and his fitness has improved immensely particularly with running!)

Dunkin: 8:52 another amazing improvement.  Dunkin didn’t even run 6 months ago.  I think he was a 11-12 minute guy the first time he came out, but he’s been posting more and just threw down a sub nine.   That’s incredible.

Pledge/COT/Devo:  Led by Snowden.   Don’t fall into the trap of letting your blessings begin to feel like burdens in your life.  It was more detailed than this, but I’m running short on time.   Thanks for reading my backblast!

 

The Swamp Fox

  • When: 20170727
  • QIC: McFly/Humpday
  • The PAX: Humpday, Saget, Cowbell, Boucher, Thumper, Wingman, BCG, Snowden, Redo, Wiper, Tadpole, Dutchess, Urkel


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Intro:  14 Strong showed up for the monthly run of The Swamp Fox.

 

 

FNGs:  None

Disclaimer:  F3 Summerville is a peer-led, zero-cost non-profit workout group. F3 makes no representations with regard to the skill level of workout leaders, the safety of the exercises performed during workouts, or the hazardousness of the premises upon which workouts are conducted. Participate at your own risk.

 

The Thang: The Swamp Fox is simple but not easy. PAX grab a block and head to the trail with the goal of at completing at least five rounds of the following: 20 Burpees, 20 V Ups, 20 Squats with a block, a .2 mile run. 

Good Work Men!

Sand Bags….oh those bags

  • When: 20170725
  • QIC: Stringbean
  • The PAX: Dutchess, Ginger, Hacker, Saget, Boucher, Urkel, McFly, Wingman, TKO, Hostess (FNG), Cowbell, Thumper, Redo, Wiper, Tadpole (FNG), Creo (visitor from Chapin), Shortcake


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Temperate 75 with 100% humidity

Disclaimer

Well Q got to the AO a little early to lay out a surprise of coupons hiding in the dark on the edge of basketball court. Had a little extra time afterwards for a 2 mile jog.

Warm Up:

30 SSH

30 LBAC

15 TTT

Instruction given for the PAX of 18 to line up on the basketball court shortest to tallest…some where confused. Then paired up working from the edge of line until down to the middle. Instructed to their starting coupon.

Coupons: 2 80lb and 1 60lb sand bag, 3 large logs and 6 blocks.

 

Exercise were performed with your partner and while one does exercise the other has to carry the coupon around the tennis court. Once both has carried that particular coupon then they rotate over to a different coupon.

50 Burpees

100 dammits

150 Merkins

200 WW1 sit ups

250 Bob Hurleys

No time for Mary this took every minute to perform.

Pledge

Prayer request

Devo – Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron one person sharpens another.

Sometimes we are the one pushing our brother in the gloom to do better and sometimes we are the ones being pushed.

Welcome 2 FNG’s Hostess and Tadpole. Tadpole actually had a buddy come from Chapin to work out with him this morning. Kind of cool to have a friend that dedicated to see you do better.