Greetings from 29,000 feet. 14 men showed up in the breezy, chilly gloom to take it down a notch. It went something like this:
WARM-O-RAMA
Stretches
– Right over left
– Left over right
– Arm Circles forward
– Arm Circles reverse
– Hug yourself a bit
While stretching, Q explains that the theme of the morning is to try to keep your heart rate in the "fat burn" zone throughout. Q tells the story of a conversation with LightBulb discussing how he's been so successful trimming down lately. Q realized that he spends 80% plus of each workout in the "sprint" zone (for him, between 155-173 bpm) and virtually no time in fat-burning mode. This must change if the Q's spare tire is ever going to disappear. So we'll run – but slowly…
We'll run laps around the parking lot for 2 minutes and then we'll do an exercise (fairly slow-paced) for 1 minute. And then we'll repeat that, over and over, until we are done.
For those that feel they must run faster, feel free to lengthen your lap around the lot as appropriate, but be back in 2 minutes (#scalable)
Counts and laps are pretty much from memory so please excuse any slight inaccuracies or omissions.
Lap 1: (15) IC Side Straddle Hops
Lap 2: (10) IC Windmills
Lap 3: (15) IC Mountain Climbers
Lap 4: (10) IC Imperial Squat Walkers
Lap 5: (10) IC Cotton Pickers
Lap 6: (10) IC Squats
Lap 7: 45 second People's Chair (no wall, so back-to-back)
Lap 8: (10) IC 'Merkins
Lap 9: 45 second Back Stretch
Lap 10: (15) IC LBCs
Lap 11: (15) IC Low Flutters
Lap 12: (10) IC Box Cutters
Lap 13: (15) IC Mason Twist
(probably mixed some up or forgot some in there)
Lap 14: Cool-down short lap (walking)
WARMUP and 6MOM mixed in with the runs.
REFLECTION:
Q spoke about his thoughts on the parable of the day-laborers and how we sometimes get caught up in worrying about what we think is fair and unfair. At times, it seems as though others may be receiving the same or even more of the rewards or earnings than we receive while they appear to put in less effort, less money or less time.
This parable reminds me of two things:
(1) Keep my focus on me. If I am receiving what I have agreed to receive in exchange for my time, my money, my efforts, etc., then it should be no concern of mine what others may receive. If I am not "wronged", it is not my business if someone appears to make out "better" than I.
(2) God's eternal kingdom can be attained at any time, by any one, regardless of their past. The price of admission is the same for everyone: accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior, truly repenting of your sins and asking for forgiveness.
In our flawed and shallow human logic, it can seem "unfair" that some who lead lives that we view as sinful and unacceptable can receive the same grace as those who lead wholesome, God-fearing lives as long as both eventually turn from their sin, truly accept Jesus and ask for forgiveness.
But that is EXACTLY what God's grace does for all of us! That is the wonderful gift that He sent to Earth over 2000 years ago that we will celebrate this coming weekend. There is no point in our lives when there is no hope of forgiveness and there is room for EVERYONE! Someone else receiving God's grace doesn't take one ounce of God's grace away from you! How awesome is that??!
May we all remember to keep our eyes looking upward and not glancing sideways to see what someone else "got".
Matthew 20:1-16English Standard Version (ESV)
Laborers in the Vineyard
20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius[a] a day, he sent them into his vineyard.3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’[b] 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”
MOLESKIN:
– How may SVU tags are there on f3isotope.com? #CompensatingForSomething?
– Q failed miserably in his goal to keep his heart rate in "the zone". Average heart rate throughout the workout was 162 bpm. 79% of the time spent in the “sprint” zone. 0% in “fat-burning”. Honestly, it felt slower and I could breathe better – Q could actually hold a conversation while running (#SoThatsWhatItsLike). Q was never really winded or tired throughout the workout and managed to cover almost 3 miles (with 14 minutes of “rest” built-in). Maybe the Q stumbled on to something but it sure wasn’t the fat-burning zone.
– Early indications are that others were more successful at keeping their heart rates in the zone. Glad it worked for you!
– Some of you stallions refuse to be slowed. I guessing a couple of you got at least 5 miles in!
– This morning was the Q’s first F3 workout in 9 days due to travel. Wasn’t feeling it when climbing out of the fartsack. Wasn’t happy about getting started. Then drove home thinking “How is it that I EVER think about NOT going? That felt AWESOME!” This is group is truly something special. I can’t tell you how much it means to me.
– Fantastic showing from SVU today. I guess the wall is a little easier to get over when heading south 😉
– Had a couple of people nursing soreness, tightness and injury today. Feel better fellas and rest what ails you.
– As always, I am honored to be given the opportunity to lead and privileged just to be a part of this.