Paula Visits Fast Twitch

Paula Visits Fast Twitch

12 PAX arrived at Fast Twitch for what felt like a relatively cool morning ready (or not) for the grab bag of hilly running that came next.

Thang

• Long(ish) warmup down (then up) Providence towards Arbo stopping at the lot before Windbluff
• COP: Windmills x10 IC, IW x15 IC, LSS x15 IC, Merkin x10 IC (kind of)
• Hold plank while instructions given for the first set. We will be running timed intervals down Windbluff, right on Raintree, stop at 51
  • 60 seconds hard, 30 seconds recovery
  • 30 seconds hard, 30 seconds recovery
  • 15 seconds all-out sprint (w/ good form if possible), 1 minute recovery
  • All recovery is jogging, return to the 6 then continue in a forward direction
• Once at 51, instructions given for the main set. Paula Abdul (2 steps forward, 2 steps back 1 step back)
  • Route is Raintree towards Clt Latin / Providence
  • You will run forward 2 streets (only streets with a street sign count, no driveways/parking lots/etc)
  • 10 hand release merkins
  • Run back 1 street
  • 20 LBC
  • Continue this pattern until you reach Providence or we run out of time
• COT / Name-o-rama (including Hawks Nest FNG Hightower) / BoM with Hawk’s Nest

Moleskin

YHC was excited to be offered this Q slot at Fast Twitch by Purell. The new launch point offers endless potential for painful, hilly suffering of which I am quite fond and I was more than happy to share this with the A51 PAX this morning. Morning felt cool at first but, as usual this time of year, that changed pretty quickly. I had visited the new AO a few times in the last few weeks so was aware of the new launch point, but multiple PAX were friendly enough to share addresses, pictures, maps and other various coordinates to make sure YHC arrived. Looks like Frasier has given us SOBs a bad name. Not sure whether I helped or damaged that reputation this morning.

The warmup was similar exactly the same as Fletch’s popular warmup last week. YHC made a point this morning to run far enough ahead of Purple Haze and Alf to not hear any complaining about running, running too fast, running on hills, etc. Unfortunately, the timed interval set required us to stay together and much mumblechatter was heard including the use of the word ‘Swift’ as a curse word. Nothing wrong with a little structure to the running, guys. Looking at Strava, it looks as if everyone played along for the most part. Appreciate it.

To appease the masses and avoid outright rebellion, our main set included moments of both hands and asses on the ground. This, unfortunately, did not make it any less painful. Took us about 4.5 miles to travel the 1.5 mile stretch of Raintree and it definitely felt like it was never going to end. The 3 trips up various parts of the Providence Colony hill, as well as the full trip up to Windbluff, were definitely soul suckers. Even Purell looked a little winded at one point so we knew we were onto something.

Rachel and Purell finished the entire Paula Abdul set with a little to spare and head back for the six. Believe Uncle Rico and Astro may have finished entirely as well and were close on Rachel’s heels either way. Uncle Rico’s (somewhat awkward by FT standards, perfectly acceptable at Swift) pre-warmup stretching* paid dividends as he edged out Astro. Astro likely would have finished quicker if not wearing a 30 year old cotton t-shirt that proved to be more of a wind-catching kite than an article of clothing. Alf and Purple Haze fueled each other with grumbles all morning and almost made it. Everyone else put in an impressive performance and refused to throw in the towel, all arriving at 0615 on the dot. All-in-all, we covered between 5.7 and 7 miles today, most at a healthy pace.

Thanks to all who came out. Pop Tart was last seen looking for a beer to fuel up for his next lap of Raintree after hearing Turkey Leg mention that the Beer Mile should really be the Beer Raintree 10K.

* recorded clip of Uncle Rico stretching available here: https://giphy.com/gifs/stretch-Ig9Z7wby0MOKk

Announcements

• Uncle Rico’s restaurant, BrownBag (https://brownbagnow.com/charlotte/), is open and serving lunches near Stonecrest now. Early reviews from the PAX are good so swing in for a bite some time or grab some bulk food to bring home for dinner and get some brownie points.
• Memorial Day Convergence this Saturday at RockZero, 7 AM, Calvary Church
• F3 Pool Party at the Lawson pool on Friday 6/8 from 8-10 PM. Pool will be rented out just for our group. $40 per family includes pizza and beer and all proceeds will be used by our region in future projects with The Sandbox. See #the_sandbox Slack channel for details and sign up here: http://bit.do/f3sandbox
• F3 Dads camping trip to Julian Price Park 7/20-7/22. $40 total for 2 nights. Lots to do including hiking, canoeing, rock climbing. Frasier needs HCs by 5/27 to make reservations. Talk to Frasier or check the #f3dads Slack channel for details.