Random Turns on the Straightaway

Random Turns on the Straightaway

17 PAX played follow the random turning leader at Swift today.  Here is what they did.

The Thang:

• Early crew rolls out at 0501 from the Vine Restaurant in Ballantyne for 1mile easy through the corporate park. Returning early to the Vine, decide stretching and 2^nd F is worth more than miles.
• Full group rolls at 0515 on a new warmup route. Instead of trudging through grass (that’s for those bootcamps), the PAX roll across 521 at the hotel entrance and through the hotel parking lot to cut to Ballantyne Commons PKWY. Up to the MetLife building and stopping at the back entrance. 1mile more done.
• 4 drills with toes, heels, high knees, and butt kicks done.
• Provide some navigating rules along N. Community House and explain Threshold pace for the 5minute interval and 1minute. Read the Preblast for a video explanation of Threshold pace.
• Start 5 minute interval with 1 minute rest. Complete 4 with some regrouping.
• Regroup all of the PAX and mosey before 1 last 5minute interval to meet back at start point.
• Mosey home via Ballantyne Commons or Ballantyne Corporate. 1+ mi more.
• COT

Moleskin:

• Threshold pace = Comfortably Hard. If you didn’t check out the pace guidance from http://runsmartproject.com/calculator, then Q guidance was 50-60 seconds per mile slower than your fastest mile race/time trial. Should be in control during these intervals that translate over to doing a consistent 20minute interval or mile repeats at the T-pace.
• Swift PAX were strong in numbers today. Not quite a record, but notable that we were only one short of the Bagpipe numbers. Site FNG Cable Guy and relative newcomer (to Swift) Dear Abby almost helped tip the scales. Strong showing knowing that Swift is one of the few workouts with a Preblast each week (whether the PAX choose to read it or not).
• And that’s with several PAX coming off a long BRR training trip over the weekend. A lot of the warm-up was spent discussing the van-sized cabin they chose to simulate actual conditions in, that Beer+Cheese don’t mix with Outback, and that there are significant hills on the BRR even on just “Hard” legs – keep in mind that “Hard” is the middle level with “Very Hard” and “Mountain Goat Hard” adding elevation or distance.
• A bit of Q prerogative today with turning points on the intervals. It makes sense that in order to keep the PAX together on “the strip” of N. Community House that we turn when the leaders turn around. Even better when Honeybee is leading out front and the Q calls a turn to effectively now be in front. Overall, makes for some erratic turning at times, but it seems to work. Suggestions welcome if it really works.
• Notable on the last interval were the Q instructions to take 5 minutes to get back to where we started the intervals. This did not mean race straight back to the start point (Doubtfire seemed exuberant), but take whatever path necessary to get there AND keep running until clock expired. In the end, Strange Brew took an unconventional route (not to mention “going metro” again) and Doubtfire got dragged farther than he bargained for – kind-of like chasing a chicken through a field with random turns.

Announcements:

• Next week is the last ISI workout before BRR. 800m with 200m recovery. It was nice to do these on the track at AG last month. What do you all think about visiting Community House Middle School (less than 5min from the Vine) and trying to get #FastTwitch to join? What kind of turnout could we get?