#puppymonkeybaby

#puppymonkeybaby

4 frozen idiots posted this AM in the quaint yet extravagantly landmarked Town of Lake Park for week 2 of the yet-to-be-named Union County running workout.  Since it was much colder, we started at 5AM for some additional warmup #logic.

#notsowarmup

5AM warmup – run back up the main road and cut over onto the perfectly manicured and gently rolling track around the community park area.  EE and I completed a nice fellowship lap while we attempted to tune out Glass Joe who was kvetching loudly about something the entire time.  Back off the track via a planned detour through a beautiful grassy area and a short up and back into the town square area to kill off the remainder of the 15 mins.  Circle back to launch point to pick up 5:15 arrival crew, of which there were ZERO.

The name of the game today was intervals.  We would run 1/3 mile, 2/3 mile, and 1 mile intervals at the scientifically calculated “run so hard that you can’t talk, but not hard enough to vomit” pace.

Also, there was no unnecessary touching of the hands to the ground today.  #purity.  I have found this highly unnecessary and undesirable in all running workouts.

#puppy

Up the main road past the extremely large Big Ben clock tower and on to the Washington Monument.  Hang a left at the brightly lit giant monument and stop at the beginning of  Mother Teresa circle.

Four 1/3 mile intervals around the Mother Teresa loop with a short cool down after each loop.

#monkey

Continue around the big Conifer Circle loop until we arrived at the Alden Street loop.

Two 2/3 mile intervals around the Alden St. loop with a short cool down after each loop.

#baby

Since Glass Joe and EE bailed during the Alden loops, Keifer and I plodded on for the final #deathblow.

Continue around the Conifer Circle loop back to Big Ben.

One 1 mile interval around the Conifer Circle, followed by a 3/4 mile cool down run that took us back to launch at 6:15.

I covered almost 8 miles all said and done. Not sure about the others since we had some early leavers (see below).

#skin

First time leading a running workout of this type (I did write a Devils Turn backblast once) so I was not sure about the timing of everything.  Seemed to go ok from my perspective.

My original map turned out to be a bust, so this was plan 2.  What shows up as a road on Google Maps has been converted into some sort of private walkway with a large tree planted right in the middle of the road.  Anyway, this route kept us closer to home and seemed to do the trick.

Spread out a bit during the runs.  EE way out front, GJ and then myself in the middle, and Kiefer bringing up the six.  We managed to stay together fairly well though.

5AM as a launch time sucks in many different ways.  I woke up at 3:30AM once, thinking it was 4:30, and started to get ready.  Then I fell into a deep sleep and woke up very dazed and confused at 4:20.  I somehow managed to reset my alarm clock to 4:30 for an extra magic 10 mins.

The intervals are great, but they really suck.  It did make the time go by pretty quickly, but almost 8 miles on a sub 20deg morning is a punch to the throat.

EE jetted early as he has to be home so his M can leave for work.  We did the 5AM launch mainly so he could get a full hour in.  Not sure if I’ll be making the early-early edition on a regular basis though – throws off the biological schedule too much.

GJ also announced an early leave, mentioning something about having to go home to “meet his M for breakfast”.  He reeked of Old Spice and Patchouli and we are pretty sure that he was trying his chances (if you know what I’m talking about).  Not sure about this strategy, but sometimes questions are better unasked and unanswered.
No announcements except “let’s get the heck out of here”.

Strava

Route

Horsehead