This season my 2.0 started playing hockey, and I coach. The Orange County Sportsplex is our home barn, so we've spent a good amount of time in Hillsborough over the past few months. Around the time the season started, I signed up the for the Trip Nip, the prize for Qing all three Hillsborough AOs in the same week. As the week approached, I took a different view of how to plan the workouts; instead of planning three workouts, I thought I'd plan one workout spread across three days. Since it covers all of our key exercises, and mixes in a good amount of Cardio, the three day Dora was born.
Since I developed one workout for three days, this backblast will follow the same format, one back blast for three days. For ease of reading, I'm going to skip over the Warm Up & Mary, but rest assured dear reader we did 24 SSHs each day, had some LBAC, RLBAC, Willie Mays Hayes at the beginning, and rounded out the workouts with things like Flutter Kicks, Hello Dollys, and more than one ring of fire. Now on with the good stuff!
The Rock 12/5 – Upper Body Day: After some pre workout recon, YHC found the right hill for us to use, and after the warm up we jumped right into the main work of the day, a Gross of Merkins. In true Dora fashion, we had one partner run, while the other knocked out 12 reps of said Merkin. The Merkin order was roughly:
Standard Merkin
Wide Grip Merkin
Diamond Merkin
Erkins
Derkins
Right Hand Offset
Left Hand Offset
Carolina Dry Docks
Hand Release Merkins
True Americans
Crucible Merkins
Ranger Merkins
With 144 of the finest merkins out of the way and a bit of time left, we moseyed to each of the islands that made up the points of the roundabout and did a compass style set of 48 Squats, 36 LBCs, 24 Squats, and 12 Burpees in Cadence.
What I learned from the Trip Nip – It was frickin cold that day! The Ducks of Hillsborough showed up though, and en masse. While we were standing around before the 0530 bell rang, each PAX knew where their brothers were. Dinghy was out of town, but was going to meet up with another PAX Down Range , Cortes, had a sick 2.0, that kind of thing. These weren't things posted on slack, they guys just knew where each other was and why they weren't there. Lesson #1 – Watch out for your F3 Brothers. Know what they need, know they're good to go, pick up the 6 if you need to. Fellowship grows into brotherhood.
The Rooster 12/7 – Core Day: With 144 Merkins on Monday, day two needed to hit 288 reps for our cores. It was an honor to lead the first official meeting of The Rooster! Replacing the Skunk after being told they couldn't use the Orange County MS parking lot, this new spot got its name after the cacophony of cocks the PAX heard the previous week during the soft launch. Again we partnered up, added some music to the mix and jumped into 24 single count reps of the following exercises:
LBC
Hammers
Backscratchers
V-Ups
WW2
Freddy Mercuries
Flutter Kicks
Hello Dollys
Right Oblique Crunch
Left Oblique Crunch
X Factors
Groiners
What I learned from the Trip Nip – A beauty of a morning compared to Monday. The PAX really turned out for this one, not only during the workout, but also for the EC run. With YHC new to the AO, I heard the runners before seeing them turn the corner at the AO. You know how sometimes when you run, you stay quiet, and lock into to your breathing rhythm? Not these guys, they were enthusiastically chatting while maintaining their pace. Sometimes the workout isn't the most important thing. Sure we get together in the gloom for 1st F, but when you rely on your fellow PAX, there are days where the conversation is more rich than the work. Lesson #2 – Maybe a PAX needs to vent, maybe they need to be consoled, whatever it is, that's what we do. Listen when someone needs you, talk when you need someone.
Duck & Weave 12/9 – Leg Day: I'm not sure if it was my offer of cold brew, Banjo's trip to Hboro from Carpex, or Cortes' offer to contribute to the Holiday Fundraiser, but 5 PAX were so excited for ME they got there early to run off their anticipation. Right at 0530, we got rolling, with YHC talking about Leg Day to wrap up the Three Day Dora. With 144, and 288 reps astern, we pushed on towards a brutal 432 reps for leg day, while ascending the parking deck at D& W. Our 36 reps were completed with these exercises:
Squat
Copperhead Squat
Air Drama
Ballerina Squat
Alternating Forward Lunge
Right Leg Lunge
Left Leg Lunge
Reverse Lunge
Pulse Squat
Sumo Squat
Monkey Humper
Johnny Drama
What I learned from the Trip Nip – The Ducks of the Northern Province keep going. Nubbin threatened after the Rooster to not join us for the 432 reps, but he showed anyway. Banjo visited from Carpex. Nearly everyone stayed for cold coffee. Topics of conversation ranged from 3D Pancake Printers, to Merkin Form, to rolling dice to pay for coffee, and how to impress the Northern Orange County Farmers at BoJangles. The conversation was rich, and rotated well; the words were volleyed between PAX that have been around for years and the newer guys. Inclusivity among F3 in Hillsborough is second to none. I've never been crazy about the phrase, but yesterday I saw "Leave no man behind, but leave no man where you found him" being applied. Lesson #3 – Pay attention to who doesn't talk, who doesn't fully engage. Seek them out make them feel like part of this community.
YHC took us out at the Rock and the Rooster, Buffay offered our words of wisdom and thanks yesterday.
Naked Moleskine – Thank you for the hospitality and the opportunity to learn and lead in the Northern Province this week. We are a large region within the F3 world and this week reminded me of the best part of what we do. Sure my legs ache today, my core was sore on Thursday, and sliding a jacket on Tuesday morning reminded me of the day before, but today I'm reminded of the community we have in Churham, the healing of the emotional and mental soreness that we may or may not talk about. Being among our fellow F3 bothers makes each of us stronger, makes each of us better for our friends and family, and continues to protect what we've created in this F3 Churham Community.
SYITG!