Topless Surprise

Topless Surprise

10 shirtless freaks (all freaks yes, all shirtless no) were at #F3Swift this week to attempt to burn in the 5K or 10K race pace into their brains.  Here’s what they were able to accomplish.

The THANG:

• 0500 – 7-8 PAX for the Pre-run.  All may not have arrived on time, but more on that later.
• 0515 – Time to accomplish the Pre-blast:

http://f3nation.com/2015/12/28/preblast-week-7of8-joedavisrun/

• We were out to accomplish feeling what our goal 5K or 10K pace felt like in the legs, heart, and lungs.  Goal was to do the first 3x6minutes at one of those paces or Threshold Pace.  We accomplished this by using the outside of the Bull Ring for the 6min. 2min recovery was to find the putting green via a walk or jog, regroup, and wait the precious seconds until heading out again.
• The 6 x 200m R-pace (1 mile race pace) are to get the stride a bit longer, let the legs run, and maintain good form.  Running out of time after 4, last 2 intervals were done on the way back to COT.  Interval #6 was treated as an AYG back to COT and was probably more like 400m.  At least it beat doing a final 6min (or 1 mile) Threshold pace interval as called by the Preblast.

The Moleskin:

• First thing to change due to the rain – PAX weren’t going to head way off campus.  Decided to head to the Bull Ring instead.
• Second thing to change due to the rain – Change of venue, where there are markings with the building entrances every 200m to get a pace check if you don’t have a fancy GPS watch, meant that YHC didn’t have to place cones.  Cones were outfitted with blinky lights, so we’ll have to wait for that until next time to use them.
• Third thing to change due to the rain and warm temps – shirts.  While JRR Tolkein was already stripped down during the pre-run, many of the rest of the PAX found after the warm-up that it was just too warm and that extra pounds of water in the wet shirt was just going to get in the way.  Shedding commenced all around.  Except SwissMiss who went the other way with full rain jacket on.
• Nothing seems flat and Windy feels great unless you’re racing – notable 11mph NW wind that was unavoidable when running in a circle.  And more annoying than the occasional puddle were some slippery spots on the ring if you ran too close to the curb.  Either algae from all of the rain or wet leaf pile spots, they can throw off your rhythm just like the slight rise of a hill.  YHC found that it’s really all mental.  Recover and move on.  Don’t dwell on the struggle.  Tell yourself to relax even though you want to quit or slow down.  YHC had plenty of those thoughts trying to hit a 5K pace goal was passed by a PAX on a 10K pace blew by on the 3rd interval. At least it helped when Frasier mentioned a little “let’s go”.
• Was it really 8 PAX for the Pre-Run?  Well, at least 5-6 plus Gumbo arriving at 5:00:30 and heeding chase. And then Bratwurst arriving at 5:01:00 and heeding chase.
  • Note: more and more PAX showing up for the Pre-Run.  At some point, it’s going to be “the workout is from 0500 to 0615. Start at 0515 for an abbreviated version.”  Probably at least 6 PAX started out at 0515.
  • Gumbo and YHC gave chase and were greatful to just catch each other and hang back trying to figure out who had made it “on time”.  First spotted was Strange Brew with the sleeveless shirt, then Fire Hazard got picked out with his yellow socks, a reflection of a head clued us in to Outback, a really slender guy in front pushing the pace must be Frasier (also, everyone knows what Frasier looks like from the back), and it was likely OneNiner had on a hoodie.
• Kotters to Outback joining the Swift PAX this week.
• Kudos to Stump Hugger for getting out there while battling injury – seems he might be on the way back knowing how to moderate and find a life / workout rhythm.
• While OneNiner didn’t have Ringer or HoneyBee to race on the 200s, he made sure to keep others honest with an aggressive pace.
• Gumbo is keeping up the improvements and pushing faster and faster.  Both he and Fire Hazard are going to have a duel in the JoeDavisRun.
• Incredible that JRR Tolkien can come off a MuthaShip workout and still turn in a great performance. Looking forward to MuthaShip Monday after the JoeDavisRun when JRR in on the Q!
• Brew keeps tacking this workout and then turning around and putting out another similar effort at Mountain Goat on Fridays.  While the body hurts now, just wait until the taper of the final week.

Announcements:

• Next week is Taper week for week 8 of 8 of JoeDavisRun prep!  It will still be Fast, but shorter.
• Plan after the JoeDavisRun for Swift is to get Shorter and Faster working on 1 mile race pace for the next cycle.  A new pace will be introduced – F for “Fast”.  This will be for all of those Sprinter types with intervals mostly consisting of 200 and 400m.