Today was a gloomy morning. The rain was coming down. It was an uncomfortable morning for what would be an uncomfortable workout. Eventually three other vehicles pulled up to make it an intimate pax of 4 at Buildup.
Warmup: We took a mosey to the picnic shelter to warm up the legs. The focus of the Q today was to ensure the fidelity of the 1st F. To make sure we take time to practice counting and revealing some of the finer points that YHC learned from Dredd and OBT in the early days about the purpose of counting cadence for the Q. YHC told a little story about being scared of his favorite Sesame Street character, The Count when he was young. Guess it’s similar to my reaction when FIN has the Q – cry when I show up at the wrong AO, cry when I show up at the right AO. Either way, we started with a few classic exercises like SSH, Imperial Walkers, Merkins, and squats. The focus here was counting cadence with fidelity as a model.
The Thang: As a Q one has “to get prepared for the expected so we can be prepared for the unexpected.” So, we rotated counting cadence and incorporated brief AARs in between. We focused first on practicing the count with the warmup exercises. Some key points we discussed during the AARs:
- Why count cadence – to keep the pax unified in periods of extreme exhaustion and limited visibility (this was the case on the last rounds of Jack Webbs)
- When in charge, take charge – speak clearly and loudly. Vary the number of reps so the pax does not become complacent
- When falling dive – if you mess up a bit, just keep rolling as long as the pax can follow up
- Precision breeds competence – the pax trust a Q who is confident and precise with counting, so practice counting out loud
We continued with 3 rounds of Wimpie Legs (jump squats, jump lunges, and donkey kicks) with the pax counting the last round as our legs became weary. We continued with Jack Webb (Merkins and Hallelujahs) with a 1:4 ratio to 10:40. Those last 3 rounds were brutal. The legs were worn out from Wimpie Legs and the arms and shoulders were exhausted from the Merkins and surprisingly Hallelujahs. That is a sneaky exercise on the shoulders and traps.
COT: Prayers for Spellcheck’s Dad; Bono’s bride and best friend who just had a baby.
Naked Man Moleskin: Sometimes the best lessons learned are ones that happen when you step back and make sure you are aiming towards the vision. Today was supposed to be the last Black Pearl workout in it’s current format. I think it was actually the first Black Pearl in it’s new format. About 5 months ago, Bono and Tonka launched the Black Pearl with the mission “to ensure the integrity of the 1st F through difficult, fun, and effective workouts for all men.” However, by not keeping that mission as the focus on the Pearl, we strayed away from it.
Today’s workout was a lot of fun and actually closer to what YHC envisioned with the Pearl than some of the prior versions. Popeye joined F3ENC about a month before me. He knows how to count and could offer experience and a model. Khaki’s is a new site Q. He had the basics down in counting cadence and focused on precision. Condor is a new pax who is going to become a Site Q very soon. He absorbed the experienced and led with confidence and competence as he counted. It was a fun workout, we told stories, we pushed through the pain, we stayed together. We targeted the mission of the Pearl.
Sometimes the best lessons are learned by evaluating the execution of our mission. Leading is an iterative process. Rarely do we get it perfect the first time. Tonka and I talked about how the Pearl has veered away from it’s mission over the last little bit. It seemed like we were sailing off course a bit and we talked about how the mission can be more effectively achieved in an alternate format. YHC then talked to Fruity Pebbles, our 1st F Q about how to use a small team to target the mission and support newer Site Qs and AOs. The key is to focus on the mission of the Pearl.
Consider this a time when a ship pulls into port to get new supplies, new maps, tighten down on the crew and then launch stronger and more focused. We will coordinate with our 1st F Q and launch again soon – this time with our mission clearly leading the way.