Head Out On the Highway



Head Out On the Highway

16 PAX either didn’t read the Preblast (or there wasn’t one posted in the normal place) or fought through suggestions in their head that hills, hard intervals, and short recoveries weren’t going to be their thing this Tuesday morning in Ballantyne.

The THANG:

  • Pre-run at 0500
  • Head out from the Vine at 0515, and realize quickly why we don’t take “the shortcut” often through the Ballantyne hotel lot in order to get far East up Ballantyne Commons.  After the game of Frogger (or Crossy Road for you young whippersnappers), we headed up Ballantyne Commons to the “East” entrance to the Ballantyne Country Club.  Once regrouped, we did some warm-up drills in between bursts of instructions about the workout, and we headed into the neighborhood on the long outside loop for the Intervals of the day.
  • 2minutes “Hard” (or I-pace for exact GPS wearing running freaks), 1minute to regroup the PAX and recover
  • 1minute “Hard”, 30seconds to recover and regroup
  • 30seconds “Hard”, 30seconds to recover
  • Start it all immediately over, whether there is a hill, road hump, stop sign, or truck barrelling down the highway.  We will stop to cross Hwy 521 as a group though.  We learned from earlier.
  • Keep it up for 6 total rounds of the 2/1/:30 snaking through Ballantyne Corporate Park until time is called and we can head back to the Vine before Bagpipers arrive, but not too early so that they think we don’t actually work at all.

The Moleskin:

  • What’s up with having to go shirtless in November?  Let’s hope this doesn’t last much longer.  Some of these PAX need to cover up.
  • What makes your adrenaline spike?  Try heading out along Hwy 521 on a flat stretch of road with 55mph traffic coming at you in the dark.  Pretty exhilarating, and it’s easy to see what Steppenwolf meant about looking for adventure.
  • Soft Pretzel, Thin Mint, and others (though they didn’t show) don’t care for this workout that we always seem to do in the Country Club.  It’s hard with the Hills, the humps, and the short recoveries.  And the short 2/1/:30 second intervals seem to make you think they’re really short too, especially when compared to the 5 and 4 minute intervals of last week, so perhaps you take the first round or two out pretty hard.  Let’s just say that if you do that, round 5 and 6 are hurting pretty bad.
  • Haggis didn’t listen!  Pushed extra Hard the whole morning.  At least we still have last week, we’ll just have to file that one away…
  • Cobbler!  Big props to him for joining us on a course where there is no “shortcut”.  You have to run the whole way or you’ll get lost like Citgo almost did.  Keep it up!
  • Brew is coming back into form.  Let’s just hope he makes it back from a wild Thursday of football at App State this week, because he’s going to crush what we have in store for next week.
  • Das Boot was on time.  With the muzzle door shut, the breech door was opened and torpedo Das Boot was loaded into the tube.  Fire when ready!
  • Erector quietly putting in the work week in and week out.  A sure Joe Davis runner this next year, he’s going to PR for sure.
  • Retread again!  How do the hills of Ballantyne compare to the hills of Raintree?  Mountain Goat needs a 2/1/:30, and you could give it to them…
  • Cheddar making things look too easy.  We need to get him in a run shorter than 20 miles to see what kind of speed he’s got now.
  • Looking for big things out of Atlas, Citgo, Thin Mint, and Depth Charge at the Charlotte Marathon Relay this Saturday.  Who else is planning to run?  Whether it’s pushing kids, running alongside vets, or pushing yourself to a new goal, it’s shaping up to be a fun weekend.

It’s a pleasure running with you gents every week!  As I was reminded last week running a workout on my own during some travel, you can go much harder when you do it with others.  When alone, it’s too easy to give up!  Thank you all!

See you in the Gloom,

Bratwurst

 

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