Q: Captain Insaneo
Pax (11): Face, Zartan, Snowman, Cowbell, Fridge, Diablo, McAfee, Big Bird, Piggy, Tool Time, CI
Gearlander:
Tri-blend F3/GORUCK Tshirt (with sleeves); Nike shorts; Swiftwick socks; New Balance trail shoes (which were handy because of the tread); Navy Buff with red, pink and white accents; can do attitude.
100lb Sandbag – Big Val
60lb Sandbag – Lil Val
60lb Sandbag – Johnny Ringo (courtesy of Face)
50lb Battleropes
2 45lb Dumbells
2 30lb Kettlebells
A bunch of coupons
4 wooden pallets
We’ve used Sojourn a few times for Black Ops. It’s a good spot. Close to my house, which is nice. Large parking lots. A nice playground where you can do pull-ups. Zartan has a solid set of coupons stored there. And it’s close to the highway so it’s noisy enough to drown out any grunts, moans or screams.
I was on vacation earlier this month, and I’ve taken a self-imposed Q break. But I just couldn’t help myself, so I gauged the Pax and got 8 HCs for a Sojourn BO that would be minimal running and lots of heavy stuff. We did this a few months back and it was fun. I decided to make this one less fun, though.
Cardinal hooked me up with 5 wooden pallets over the weekend. Unfortunately, my rig could only hold 4. You see, I was returning from Centre College Sunday, where my oldest just finished soccer camp. Plus, I had my other two kiddos in the rig. And the 5th pallet was huge. Hopefully Cardinal will find a good use for it, or bring it to a workout. Because pallets are the new coupon. Woof.
Before I tell you what I did, let me tell you my general Q philosophy. Last week, Opera Ghost from F3 Lexington (KY) was preparing for Flexington’s first non-F3 Louisville/F3 Nation-Q’d workout. OG is a stud, but like all of us prepping for our first Q, he was swimming in the deep end a bit. I shared with him that my method for Q’ing is KISS: keep it simple stupid. The reason for this, you ask? My first Q was a complex disaster that had music, video, props… it was like a Carrot Top Show with actual humor. So now, I try to pick some simple, yet effective sets that most Pax can do in a You v. You manner. Sometimes it comes to me easily, but sometimes — like today’s — I have to sketch it out in my head to make sure it’s actually simple yet effective. Not a weinke per se, but a meinke; a mental weinke (why is this not in the Lexicon?).
So, thinking I had a good plan, I started hauling all the stuff listed above from my basement workout cave to my car. I don’t exaggerate that I felt like puking just doing that. This foreshadowed good (read: awful) things to come, I figured. The Tahoe looked like a low rider. I texted Face to make sure he was game for a pick-up in the gloom (he always is, unless he isn’t), which he was, and asked him to bring the newest F3 Sandbag Q, Johnny Ringo, who made his first appearance at the Capture the Flag Ruck on Friday.
I woke up at 0505 to a light drizzle and a temperature of 71*. Humidity was 98% and I’m pretty sure the dew point was high. I grabbed a water, my spare key and rolled over to Face’s about 3 minutes away. Then, 3 minutes later we were at the AO.
We followed Diablo in, who was clearly not familiar with this stretch of road, despite it being on Friday’s Ruck route. Then, we hopped out, I popped the back hatch, and Face saw the pallets. He said nothing; he only laughed a evil laugh. He knew it WAS ON.
COP (all in IC, except the stretches):
SSH x 20
Grassgrabbers x 10
Quad stretch
Overhead arm stretch
Grassgrabbers x 10
Mosey around the church to show the Pax the pull up/merkin/squat area. Then, I divided the Pax into groups of 5 and 6 for….
Thang 1:
Pax of 5 at the playground would do AMRAP pull ups/merkins/squats waiting to be relieved by Pax of 6, who would go to the other end of the lot, about 50 yards away. Pax of 6 would grab a heavy implement and do 12 reps of an exercise of their choice. Then, they had a choice of pallet push, farmer carry (with the two 45s) or coupons, or bear crawl to the other end to relieve the Pax of 5. Flapjack. Repeato.
McAfee told me at the end that he burned himself up on the first two pallet pushes. Samesies. It seems easy at first, but then you can’t breath; oh and your quads catch fire. And then the wood starts to smolder. Had it not been for the rain, I’m guessing there may have been flames.
After a while, some Pax carried the pallets, which was cool. Or flipped the pallets, which was cool. Sometimes we partnered up to go halfsies down the lot with the pallet, which was cool. And at each end, it was a You v. You smokefest. As I type, I’m still a little dizzy.
We did this for a good while. There was no chatter. There were some pained noises coming from the Pax. Good thing for the highway noise and all the 3rd shifters, early risers and truckers.
I called it, and we did Thang 2….
Pallet relay. Each team grabbed a pallet and a 60lb sandbag. Val and JR were gonna get on that horse and ride. First, I had us doing a loop, but Z reminded me that there were sleeping normals right next door, so we went back to the 50 yard parking lots. Team v. Team, down 50 yards, back 50 yards. On the GO, I started for our team and let me tell you getting that thing going was tough. Shoe traction became a major issue, along with oxygen deprivation, lactic acid buildup and sweat in the eyes. Both teams won, though. Yay!
Then, we circled up for Mary, with each Pax, but YHC calling a set of 10.
American Hammers
Rosalitas
Gas pumps
Little baby flutter kicks
Shoulder taps
Big boy situps
LBCs
Merkins
J-los
Something else
Fin.
COR, NOR. Piggy shared the sentiment that we all agree with: glad to be part of this group. We raised $7500 for Team Vince by Friday. And we all got better this morning. You know it was a good set when Tool Time is sitting down for a bit before he can get in his car, and McAfee tells you it’s the hardest workout he’s done in 6 months. Somehow Face looked fresh as a daisy though. I closed out with two things: 1. Do something for your M. Encourage her to find something like this for herself. The time we spend doing this is as important as the time we spend with our families, and she deserves to have that time, too. 2. We all have something going on, so be empathetic. Understand that the person that your dealing with may be having a tough time with an underlying issue. Be a good person. We broke there, but not before we all took a minute to get behind the wheel. It’s dangerous to drive when you’re broken.
CI out.
F3 Louisville 