Single Road, Single Distance, Multiple Gains

Single Road, Single Distance, Multiple Gains

6 PAX took on what seemed to be an easy and straightforward workout at F3-Swift on Tuesday.  Just one road – Rushmore, just one distance – 400m, but didn’t turn out to be that easy.

The THANG from the PreBlast = http://f3nation.com/2016/12/26/preblast-the-400m-is-the-spice-of-speed/

The THANG as it happened:

• 0500 – 5 pax there to run extra credit.  4 go one way on the traditional route, 1 pax (YHC) goes the other to lay out the cones along Rushmore at 200m intervals.
• 0515 – same 5 pax still there at the parking area.  Let’s get this on!  Mosey down to Rushmore.  Since we’re the only ones here and we’ve already warmed up, let’s cut the mosey short and do the 5 drills (heels, toes, high knees, butt kicks, B-skips).
• Sometime during the drills, Das Boot joins us.  Because of the extra time, we consider that 8 intervals is the minimum.  We have time for more…
• 400m #1 – at 1 mile Race Pace (a.k.a. Repetition Pace) – along the flat of Rushmore.  400m jog recovery.
• 400m #2 – reverse the course of #1 and still flat. 400m jog recovery
• 400m #3 – for this one, we back up on Rushmore Dr to have half Flat and half Uphill to the office building.  This was the first taste that 8 intervals would probably be enough. Bend over, hands on knees, gasp for air, hands on head, slowly walk away.
• 400m #4 – reverse the course of #3 and start downhill and then the flat.
• 400m #5 – 8 are repeated from the first.
• Eight is enough.  We gather the cones and head home.
• At COT, we beat Bagpipe back again with enough time to see Nemo outsprinting another PAX.  Gotta get that guy some Swift!

Moleskin:

• 400m – less than 2 minutes for most PAX, but pretty darn difficult if pushing at the right pace.  Thankful for the 400m rest that allows recovery.  Most intervals, about 200m in, YHC was wishing they were over, but that next cone was still a long ways off.  Seemed much longer than on a track when you have the last straightaway to pull you in.  Hairball had his watch programmed for 400m and said the cones every 200m were all about right, but that Uphill one was dreadful. Had to be too long. Guess marking off the cones based on my M’s small lime green Garmin (couldn’t find mine in the Gloom) did OK.  Couldn’t really tell how fast we went until I got home, found the USB cable, and went all old school downloading the .FIT file from the lime green garmin to a Chromebook, and manually importing into Strava.
• Hairball was right at the front every time.  He did make a comment about wondering if he made FastTwitch “too” great again last week, and that was the reason for the low turnout, but turns out that it just wasn’t cold enough for the PAX this week.  Running in short sleeves and no gloves, the PAX that didn’t show must have packed all of their summer gear away.
• Wild Turkey was clicking right along running most 400s in the low 6:00/mi pace.  He’s going to have JRR Tolkien doing some Burpees at the Joe Davis 10K.  Definitely a PR will get destroyed.
• OneNiner was consistently hitting his 1:30 or less per 400.  When we got back to the Vine, he was still running and running.  Something telling that he didn’t want to see 6.9mi on the Strava activity.
• Bunker said that he was going to take it easy, then dropped some speed on the PAX late in the game.  He either had enough yogging around, or just wanted to test the legs.  But he still likes to keep the Lap times a secret.  Doesn’t want JRR Tolkien to combine HR and Speed and get too much data for analysis.
• Das Boot got the late start, but he made it to the Start Line!  More than we can say for those that are apparently semi-retired.  Right around the mid 6:30/mi pace.  Will be interesting when we can get all of the PAX back on the track for a 1 mile Time Trial.  Many will be surprised at how low they can actually go.
• 100% Strava representation this morning.  Apparently, it’s a Swift requirement now.

SYITG,

Bratwurst