Follow the Leader?

Follow the Leader?

13 PAX launched on Tuesday morning from the Vine restaurant at the Ballantyne AO into a unremarkable gloom.  There wasn’t much gloom, but it was there and it hurt.

The THANG:

• 0500 – 5 PAX depart the parking area for some true 2nd F running.  Low heart rates abounded.  1 PAX found us in the gloom as he was a tad late.  1mi+ done.
• 0515 – 7 more PAX standing around with nothing better to do follow the group to the course for the morning – https://www.strava.com/routes/1578212 – a 5.8mi hilly course with 438ft of elevation climbing that would be described as “Moderate” by BRR standards.  Stop approximately 1mile in for some dynamic stretching / drills.
• 0530 – Commence the 2/1/30 for 6 rounds.  This consists of running for 2 minutes Hard (or I-pace from the calculator at http://runsmartproject.com/calculator), 1 minute jog recovery and regroup to the Six, 1 minute Hard, 30 seconds jog recovery and regroup, 30 seconds Hard, and 30 seconds jog recovery.  Immediately start the next round starting with 2 minutes Hard again.
• Finish near Ballantyne Commons “east” exit from Ballantyne Country Club and make our way way back home along Ballantyne Commons.
• 5.8mi – 8.0mi done!

Moleskin:

• #dontReadThePreBlast – why do the running workouts (Swift, Mountain Goat, SIB, etc.) or HD workouts (Muthaship, YoungGuns, WIB, SOFAWIB) #preblast the workout?  Usually to help PAX setup their fancy watch gizmo or if there are overly complicated directions.  #PreBlast are not intended to frighten off potential participants.  Make the decision to post, then read the #preblast.  For some of you, it’s the only way you may make it there.  Haggis apparently never reads the #preblast, so usually the warm-up is full of questions.  #heresatopicdiscuss
• #listenToDirections – the first two 2/1/30 sets were a mess.  PAX all over the place.  Starting whenever, running until they felt like stopping, all because not many listened to directions.  Not many like to run backwards (unless you posted at the Muthaship Monday), but regrouping (which is run forwards towards the back) is key on these long loop courses to keep the PAX together.  Towards the end of the morning, PAX got the hang of regrouping to the Six at the end of each interval.  This keeps PAX together, doesn’t force the Q (who is calling out to most PAX when to start/stop each effort) from shouting and waking the neighbors, and keeps everyone “in” the workout.
• Abacus has been quietly putting in the miles.  Knows how to stay healthy and be reliable for his BRR team.  Will probably take on more legs if called to!  Driver to BRR runner in one year!
• Strong performances out there today from Outback and Mr. Bean dueling at different times to see who could run fastest for one minute.  Outback chose a downhill, but found it hard to apply the brakes like a runaway train.  Mr. Bean saved it for towards the end, or as soon as YHC said “last set”.
• Hops said he was “mid-pack”, but was doing really well and is going to help push his BRR team.
• Cheddar was back from a long trip, but any remaining psychedelic effects were out of the system and
• Champagne was perhaps pleased that the intervals only lasted for 2minutes this week, but probably found out to be careful what you wish for.
• Haggis played Frogger with traffic on Hwy 521 pointing at all the cars that slammed on their brakes while claiming, “this is MY road.”
• HoneyBee was apparently a co-conspirator in the mangling of the first few sets to get more rest while pretending it was the Qs fault that the PAX were in disarray.
• Brew went Metro, but had the only other working watch, so when we found each other the only ones on the stretch of road, we almost just did our own workout.
• LongHaul is back, and it appears to be sticking this time.
• Tootie wouldn’t let Outback off easy, so took the Six and forced Outback back to racing Mr. Bean.
• StumpHugger building his base back up.  Wise to get the feet back under you before pushing it.  When coming back from injury, or starting a new training program, start slow and think longterm.  Too much too soon and you’ll be right back where you were hurting.
• The Fort BRR teams have gone into seclusion to make final preparations.  No representatives today.
• Bonus of missing COT with Bagpipe – no Q name exchanges for the list of the PAX.  May have to do this more often…or not.

Announcements:

• #Taper – next week at Swift we’ll be keeping intensity, but cutting duration like a true taper. Check out @F3Run51 article about a proper taper.