Bro Speed 3 – Pyramid of Pain

Bro Speed 3 – Pyramid of Pain

23 PAX made it out to BroSpeed event #3 – the Mile Pace Pyramid.  Never an easy one, and save some directionally challenged “Northeners”, all the PAX made it back safely in spirit but perhaps crushed in body.

The THANG:

• 0500 – Warm-up group was out looking for cones, and whilst there were some spotted, no one quite caught who left them there.
• 0515 – PAX don’t need to be babysat. They can leave home all by themselves and find their way to Rushmore.  Fortunately, it’s a common place we use, so no trouble making it there.  Only Tuck and Mario tried to go an alternate route.
• 0525 – Q joined somewhere along the way and there’s always one PAX surprised, this time it was Madame Tussauds, that he actually showed. Commence warm-up drills along the 100m markings.
• 0530 – Explain the full workout a few times to the PAX. Yes, it’s the same pace the whole time.  Yes, recovery is the same distance as the interval.  Yes, it’s going to hurt (not asked, but some knew what was coming…).
  • 4x200m at 1 Mile Race Pace (a.k.a. Repetition Pace from a great pacing calculator at http://runsmartproject.com/calculator ). Regroup the PAX at end of the round.
  • 2x400m at 1 Mile Race Pace. Regroup the PAX at end of the round.
  • 800m at 1 Mile Race Pace – back up slightly on the hill to run a downhill 100m to “drop-in” this beast. Regroup.
  • 2x400m at 1 mile race pace. Regroup.
  • 2x200m at 1 mile race pace. Cut off due to time and head back to the Vine.  Unless you live north of (or near north of) Hwy 51 and therefore the buildings and parking lots of Ballantyne Corporate aren’t as familiar to you and you end up running a looong way back (not a Cheddar-long way, but just out-of-the way).
• 0615ish – COT at the Vine
• 0630 – 12+ PAX (we let some Bagpipers attend, too…) at Einsteins for 3^rd F Timekeeper with a discussion question dropped by Paper Jam

Moleskin:

• Previous weeks saw us put in 2 miles of 1 mile pace intervals per week. Week 1 was 4x(200,200,400), and last week 2 was 8×400.  So the 2.25 miles at pace this week (should have been 2.5mi, but we did cut it short by 2×200) of mile goal race pace is not THAT much more…so why does it hurt so bad?  It’s because that 800m is a badass of an interval for several reasons:
  • 1) running it after already have “warmed up” with a mile’s worth at that pace
  • 2) Coach Jack Daniels only recommends “elite” runners run more than 2minutes at the Repetition Pace, and though there were some fast guys this morning, no one was under 2:00 for the 800…
  • 3) running “BTTW all the way to Ballantyne Commons PKWY” is a long way from the Bull Ring
  • 4) you try to relax at this pace, forget to breathe, and your body demands more oxygen by giving you the “IceNines” – gasps of air between dry heaves
  • 5) it just sucks
  • 6) everyone out there ran the whole 800!
• The L-word – Lap buttons have been the new find at Swift lately. Apparently, even Swift FNG Purell knew how to find his, so what took Erector so long?  Well, good news everyone, Erector found his button!
• YHC will be combing through the 18 PAX (!!) on Strava that had Swift results posted from today. Expect some comments on your workout and a full table that gets added to this backblast or a Google Sheet link.  What we’re looking for is consistency in the intervals… if they are all at Mile Race goal pace, then they should be within a small range of each other.  Next week will be another workout with similar pace, though there will be one Time-based Interval thrown in, so continuing to know that pace through to the Brolympics is key.  Now, just to get Frasier and Madame Tussauds to upload their stuff, and Picasso to get on Strava, we’ll have perfect Strava attendence and YHC won’t have to record names at COT…
• Great to have Site FNGs Purell, Laronda, and Ickey Shuffle out today. Whether it’s just dipping your toes in the water or making a streak of it, great to have you.
• Seemed like traffic along Rushmore was at an all time low, which is a good thing. Only one car that YHC recalls actually passing through the PAX, and none during the hard intervals (which is a good thing since they were only measured on one side of the road and we weren’t about to run short/long using the other side…hahaha!
• Painted markings that YHC is laying out to set the cones should be there for a while, though the generic Yellow paint used to mark them on the curb is a good / bad thing. Good that it’s faint and won’t look like we’ve marked up the place, but bad in that you need a headlamp to see it.  We’ll see if some reflective marking paint is a good addition or if it becomes too obvious and gets the authorities attention.  Anyone have experience with this sort of thing that knows any rules about markings in the public right of way?

Announcements:

• After the Brolympics and starting in March, the run Qs of South Charlotte are coming up with a new coordinated structure to workouts. More details to come, but it should allow those that want to run at Swift, DevilsTurn / Pursuit (new similar running option to DT that’s down in Millbridge on Thursday mornings), Mountain Goat, and others, but don’t want to get smacked in the face by something like Hills for all three days.  Also, should allow PAX to step up and Q with part of the workout already defined.  Stay tuned!