We'll take it from here, Cardinal

Early Thursday morning, YHC was stirring and came across the news of young Taylor Phelps, F3 Cardinal, out of Knoxville TN, who had horribly passed away during his Virgin Q (VQ) at a workout on 1/11/23. For Thursday’s workout, I incorporated one small element of his planned workout, 15 double count Freddy Mercury’s. We did them at the very end of our workout, and after the workout was over, I shared that his planned workout looked extremely hard, and I would be hesitant to try it. [Read More]

When are we going to start disturbing the peace?

So, Day 1 at A-Team was a nice intimate pax of 4 for the bootcamp, 3 for some ruck/walking. Day 2 was no such luxury. About 17 or so converged on the subfreezing temperatures in the very center of the Peak City. YHC fought a slow defroster to arrive with about 5 minutes before go-time. Feeble old eyes couldn’t make out the shovel flag, but the pax took joy in pointing out the HUGE flag at the fire station. [Read More]

12 Ways that Year 2 Differed from Year 1

Following up on my 12 pieces of advice from last year’s f3versary backblast, I thought it might be fun to reflect on how things were different over this second year. To summarize, I would say focusing and finding my place was the theme for this past year. Q’d a lot more this year (30+), and am more comfortable, yet oddly perhaps less prepared, at leading. Wrote way fewer backblasts. Used to write one per workout. [Read More]

Beer, Run, Repeat: A Blue Ridge Relay Story.

The Blue Ridge Relay felt different this year. Maybe it was the return of the slapbands for runners at the exchange zones. Maybe it was because every team seemed scrambling to backfill people leading right up to the day-of. Maybe it was because unlike in past years, there was a genuine race to the finish (and race to the bottom) amongst Carpex teams. Maybe it was because so many people are swearing up and down they aren’t going to do it again next year. [Read More]

August 2017 - Today

I said to the PAX at Tortoise today - I cannot imagine my life if I didn’t find F3 a short 5 years ago. It has meant so much to me, as I found new friends, pushed myself, laughed, looked outside myself, and pushed my boundaries. This workout was a celebration of those 5 years. The Workout There is no magic or mystery to a Red Ryder workout. Most of the time, you can count on hitting all the major muscle groups while you continue to move for 45 minutes. [Read More]

Kettlebell & Coffee on a Monday Morning!

Looking to wrap up the year stronger than I started I felt it was time to lift heavy things with a group of 23 others HIM. That along with the promise for some trunk coffee and perhaps the need to check off a few last boxes brought me out to Hells Bell’s this AM YHC gave disclaimer, searched for FNGS and with non present we started with the pledge then mozy the pickle and starting with [Read More]

12 reflections on 1 year with F3 Carpex

Several Pax have asked what I’ve learned over this past year, and several more have asked how much weight I’ve lost. YHC thought a blog post was in order, and considered alternatively entitling this, How to become a HIM of the month before your first-year anniversary, but we all know that’s just a teacher’s pet game, sooo… (Just kidding, it was actually a very pleasant surprise & honor. Besides, we know that can’t be true because Suck UP hasn’t been named HOTM yet. [Read More]

90 Days Later, I'm not a runner & Happy Birthday to Me!

After missing out of Qing for 90 days (I did post up with some IR and typical beat downs) I’m back to checking off a few boxes. With that.. today’s theme was “I’m not a runner” and I took the Joe Isuzu approach: I lied. Arrived early on this brisk birthday to scope out the surroundings as it had been a hot sec since posting here, I wanted to confirm my idea and memory. [Read More]

Let's get swole!!!

So for some strange reason YHC signed up to Q this morning. The day after running a 1/2 marathon. Not the best plan, but at least Hell’s Bells is typically limited run. Also, YHC does not typically post at Hell’s Bells, but I’ve been around long enough so what the hell? Here’s what we did: Warmup: No FNGs. Mission statement and pledge and offff we go for a mosey around the parking lot and up the street. [Read More]

Your M Will Thank Me Later

Preamble Sometime on Tuesday, as I was contemplating my posts for the rest of the week, a message appeared out of the blue that the HFT QIC slot for Thursday was open. YHC jumped on it and…Boom! Thursday plan solved! Then sometime on Wednesday, Buzz Cut messaged me something to the effect of “I don’t know you; can I count on you actually Qing my site?” Right question, wrong PAX to ask. [Read More]