Word on the street was that FKT was on life support. The last two weeks this workout maxed out at 2 pax. Frodo was worried his rep as the FKT site Q would be tarnished in the last month of his leadership. He needed help. “Bring the pain,” he said.
So, on a rainy Tuesday, 10 pax decided to FAFO what an F3 Metro workout feels like. What does that mean? Isn’t an Isotope workout and a Metro workout basically the same? Not exactly.
You won’t hear a disclaimer or see a shovel flag in Metro; you’d get destroyed for using a Weinke or calling for a “mobility moment.” You won’t hear a lot of imperial walkers or storm troopers called in Metro. There’s not a lot of waiting for the 6; drop days are most days in Metro. You rarely know who is on tap to Q the workout until about 1 minute before launch; backblasts are rare. I’m not even sure there is a working website.
But, one thing is for certain, fitness comes first in Metro – do your best to hang on for 45 minutes and you’ll be better for it in the end. And, you’re going to run … a lot. So, when Frodo handed me the keys to FKT, I knew just what to do.
The thang:
Follow me through the Birkdale parking lot, a couple of merkins, over the slippery bridge and to the executive halfpipe. Partner up. Burpees at the top on each side, meet in the middle for partner derkins (apparently, not a lot of derkins called in Isotope – one person planks, the other person puts their feet on their back and does merkins). Down on the wet pavement for a few LBCs just to piss Jobe off (it worked).
Into the neighborhood next door. Up the hill, 10 widearms at the top, 10 squats at the bottom x3. Around the neighborhood circle – 10 jump squats (aka Bonnie Blairs?) at every lamppost (I’m realizing now, as I’m having trouble getting in and out of the car, that there are a surprising amount of lampposts here!).
Back up the hill, over to park & ride lot for a round of plankjacks. DonHo gives me the “we have seven minutes left to get back to the lot” signal. AYG to the lot. I think we got 4.5. DonHo and Anchovy had some EC.
Moleskin:
- Most probably hated it, but that means it worked. It’s all about accelerating.
- DonHo’s last Q at FKT had one other pax. I was worried I might be the only one here today. 10 showed up. It’s not you, DonHo. It’s the burpees.
- I did get Anchovy to FKT, which seemed to surprise DonHo. If you have a desire to coach 5-year-olds in basketball, Anchovy’s team may have an opening. I’m waiting for the video from the last game to go viral on YouTube.
- Frodo said my merkin form was too good for Metro. He’s right. No one in Metro bends their arms on a merkin.
- In a surprising twist, Cherry Bomb refused to do anything related to legs (never seen someone say no to squats and modify with merkins).
- At the same time, Jobe refused to do any arms — ironic for a guy who just won the award for “best rack,” (Auto is still pissed, BTW) but he has a cool scar on his bicep to make up for it. But, he can’t sue the Spartan Race since he injured himself by doing an obstacle incorrectly. Jobe hates following directions.
- You know who loves directions? Swampfox. And, you need to be explicit. Dude needs to know exactly how many of each exercise to do, where to do it, and may need a demonstration, but he’s fully compliant.
- Pierre only came out to recruit someone to hand out water at the Huntersville Half this weekend. Not sure if he got AMPM to commit or not. Someone please volunteer if you aren’t running. There’s also a tent with coozies at the finish.
- It wasn’t a race today, but Swingstate won anyway. With a sore calf. Sandbagger.
Always enjoy being with this group. While Metro may excel at the first F, I appreciate that Isotope crushes the second F. I’ve only been coming to workouts in this region for 6 months, and I’ve met men I know I will call friends for life. Appreciate the love, fellas. Thanks for having me.
Matlock