Author Archive Bratwurst

1Mile Challenge x 2

10 PAX at F3-Swift kicked off the Spring race season a little late (only by 2 months) with a 1600m Time Trial at Community House Middle School.

The THANG:

  • 0500 – Early crew of Bunker, Stump Hugger, and Bratwurst arrive for some extra warm-up around the oval.  Eventually, Honey Bee may have shown up early, so we’ll count him as FIFO instead of LIFO.  Back to cars.
  • 0515 – Roll out of the bus lot towards the track with the rest of the crew.  Mosey around the track, familiarizing oneself with the oval that many of us ran around in more light last Thursday at the Black Diamond workout, albeit, it’s now dark and we have a different focus.
  • After 10 minutes or so of easy running, we commence with the usual drill set of toes 20/20/20, heels 20/20/20, high knees x 25, butt kicks x 25, B-skips to 50m, and one last stride.
  • Start the countdown of about 5minutes to get in one’s own zone.  Find Tuck wandering in the dark.
  • BOM for the Lord’s Prayer.
  • Give final instructions – easy on the first lap, “3rd 500” is the hardest, yada yada yada.
  • Clock counts 3, 2, 1, GO! – run 1600m (0.994mile) AYG.  Record your time on the clock.  Fastest time was 5:09.
  • Bend over, wheeze, cheer in the next guy, let’s mosey to recover a few laps while saying goodbye to HoneyBee (off to get educated at F3 Community leadership forum).
  • Line up in finishing order of Time Trial, brag about your time, create 3 teams of 3 PAX based on finish order (1,9, 4), (2, 8, 5), and (3, 7, 6).  Not exactly scientific, but hope it works to create even teams.  Bring out JRR Tolkien’s shiny new relay batons and distribute among the teams.
  • 1600m Relay will split between team members.  Rules – each PAX needs to run at least 400m total, hand off as often as you want, finish fast. YHC doesn’t recall all of the teams, but he does recall JRR Tolkien crossed the line in last place (though uninjured).  Fastest relay time was 5:09, what a coincidence.
  • Mosey a couple more laps to recover, COT, Abacus takes us out.  PAX depart.

The 1600m Results (click for Full Results):

F3 Name PR on 10/20/14 10/21/2014 4/28/2015 5/17/2016 PR on 5/17/16?
Abacus 0:07:40 0:06:51 0:06:57 0:07:07 –
Bunker 0:05:56 Yes*
Bratwurst 0:05:13 0:05:10 0:05:20 0:05:09 Yes
Honey Bee 0:05:31 0:05:27 0:05:23 0:05:20 Yes
JRR Tolkien 0:05:24 Yes*
Soft Pretzel 0:06:05 0:06:04 0:05:57 Yes
Strange Brew 0:06:45 0:06:53 0:07:07 0:06:35 Yes
Stump Hugger 0:12:50 0:09:42 0:09:22 Yes
Tuck 0:06:21 Yes*
Wild Turkey 0:06:40 Yes*

*no previous time

The Moleskin:

  • Weather couldn’t have been much better.  Shirtless temps, slight breeze, low humidity, no rain, dry track.
  • First, the relay was a fun idea from JRR Tolkien.  Running AYG after exertion of the 1 mile was an OK idea.  Splitting up the PAX based on results was a fair and decent idea.  Giving the PAX 2 minutes to decide how they would run the relay was a smart idea, but it was too short because not sure they would have come up with anything more creative, therefore dumb idea.  The losing teams had each PAX run 1/3 of the distance (a little over 500 meters) continuously only passing off the baton once between each PAX.  The winning team strategy, having been practiced with baton passing the night before and strategy worked out with VDOT tables, distance preference, and other weird science, was to have SoftPretzel lead off 200m, pass to StumpHugger to run 200, pass to Bratwurst run 400, pass to StumpHugger for 200, pass to Soft Pretzel to run 300, and pass to Bratwurst for the anchor of 300m.
  • Now, let’s talk about these amazing individual results!
  • Abacus has been there for every 1 mile speed challenge at CMHS.  While this year wasn’t a PR, his dedication is admirable as only a few PAX have shown up for every one.  Now that his busy work season is over, he’ll be back in form soon with more consistency!
  • Bunker has a PR by account this was his first mile race in a LOOOONG time (or ever).  However, his pacing to the sub 6 was admirable and he drug others along with him.  Known as the high mileage man of the SoB PAX, he’s already at 647mi total for 2016.
  • Bratwurst – new PR since the glory days of being a teenager.
  • HoneyBee has been putting in the time and dedication and starting to see results across the board.  As an indication that long distance training doesn’t sacrifice ALL speed, despite improving his marathon PR, he’s dropping the mile time every time he runs it (dropped 1 second from a month ago, too).  Sounded like he pulled an “early Haggis” on Tolkien and slipped by with over a lap to go and never looked back.
  • JRR Tolkien’s first second time running the mile at Swift with the 5:22 a month ago and a 5:24 today.  Perhaps a very aggressive goal to go 5:10, he was on the pace early before the dizzybacks and stairs of the previous day (and HoneyBee) caught up to him.  Fabulous job on closing with strong performance – you’ll catch HoneyBee one day, sometime soon, in the near future.
  • Soft Pretzel had a previous barrier of 6:00 in his head.  Running a month ago, he was just over.  Running a year ago, same thing.  Running a year and a half ago, you know the story.  Well, today was the day to keep on the number, pace it smartly, and go low.  This guy EARNED it!  Now that’s out of the way, better things to come.
  • StrangeBrew, Bratwurst’s finest pupil and co-leader of Mountain Goat, has been working to drop time from the beginning.  Slight setback last year, but the dedication he’s been putting in to the running is admirable.  Dropping 20+ seconds is AMAZING!  Keep it rolling…
  • StumpHugger was confused which watch, phone, iPAD he should believe for his final time, but in the end, it was still a PR!  He still feels there’s some speed that was left out there either earlier in the warmup or still in the tank, so he’s going to re run this soon.  When he does, another PR for sure.  It should be noted that SH was pretty Swift on 2×200 for the winning team in the Relay.
  • Tuck has been developing into quite the runner lately, and this 1 Mile was his chance to show off the hard work.  PR by account of no previous recorded time, and the march to go lower starts now.
  • Wild Turkey – first timed 1 mile since middle school (check!), high vis yellow shirt with reflective accents (check!), PR on the mile when there aren’t burpees involved (check!) – this guy is a Runner!  As probably the newest consistent PAX at Swift, the next year is going to bring some good things as the mile time keeps going lower and lower.

Announcements:

  • F3 Dads Ballantyne starts Saturday morning 5/28 at 9am at the Bull Ring (Ballantyne Corp Pl and Brixham Hill Ave, 28277) near the new Sarah’s YMCA. Runs weekly through June.
  • F3 Dads Matthews starts Saturday morning 6/4 at 9am at the softball fields in Colonel Beatties Ford Francis Beatty park at 4330 Weddington Rd, 28105.  Runs weekly through June.

#PreBlast – Mile Time Trial

For anyone working out on Tuesday, we have put together an opportunity to set a bar for yourself with Spring/Summer Training.  Come out to Community House Middle School on Tuesday morning at 0515 for a 1 Mile Time Trial.  We’ll start with plenty of warm-up (though you can also come out at 0500 for easy running).  Then, You vs. the clock for 4 laps of the track.  Afterwards, some more work to be done, it’ll just be more fun.

Park on the North side of the school in the large Bus Lot.

There will be time to make it back to Ballantyne Corp Park for #F3-Timekeeper at 0630.

Start with Yoga, End with Merlot

9 PAX showed up to test themselves at Community House Middle School on Thursday morning at the F3 SoB impromptu workout known as F3BlackDiamond.

The THANG:

  • Circle Up, Disclaimer, and let’s do some exercises In Cadence that went something like this: SideStraddleHop, Mountain Climbers (the slow, deliberate kind), Imperial Walkers, Good Mornings.  “Yoga” session over, so the PAX must have not wanted a stretch and warm-up.
  • Mosey on a little tour of the next two stations – rails near the gym, bleachers near the baseball fields.  Get into groups of three.
    • Partner 1 & 2 – take off for the rails.  Partner 1, once at the rails, 10 Standing Merkins to rail and then push back up to standing position.  Then, 10 Supines.  Repeato until relieve by P3.
    • Partner 2 – once halfway to rails, head back to relieve P3.
    • Partner 3 – start rounds of 10 jump ups on the bleachers and 10 20 Mountain Climbers.  Repeato until relieved by Partner 2.  Once P2 arrives, head off to relieve P1.
    • Continue Rounds until each Partner completes 3 rounds of each – about 15 minutes.  Plank to regroup.
  • Mosey to the larger field bleachers at the track. Partner up, except no one wanted JRR Tolkien as a partner.
    • P1 holds feet as P2 completes 10 Crossfit GHD Situps mimicking here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NlVNTgIYLo  Flapjack.
    • Both Partners complete 20 Dips OYO
    • Both Partners complete 25 In & Out (ab exercise – your six on the bleacher, extend feet straight out with toes touching ground each time, knees to chest).
    • Repeato for 3 rounds
  • Halfway done.
  • Mosey to track and field to show next two stations along the home straightaway of the track (finish line to 100m start) and get back in groups of 3.
    • Partner 1 & 2 – take off from 100m start toward the finish line for the field exercise.  Partner 1, once at the field, 25yard Reverse plank slides with feet on discs (basically a reverse wheelbarrow). Jog back to start of 25yard and repeato until relieved by P3.
    • Partner 2 – once dropping off P1 at 100m, run back to relieve P3.
    • Partner 3 – Flip the tire.  There are two big tires and one REALLY big tire.  Choose wisely.  #gripstrength. Continue until relieved by P2.  Run to relieve P1.
    • Continue Rounds until each Partner completes 3 rounds of each – about 15 minutes.
  • Regroup at Track Start/Finish line.  WildTurkey suggests a timed mile, but we have something else in mind.  The Burpee Mile –

    • 10 burpees (hand release)
    • Run 400m
    • Repeato 4x.
      • Modify if needed (the Q did) for 5 burpees on each half lap for still only 10 total per lap
  • Regroup and then Burpees until the Six arrived.
  • Mosey back to cars at parking lot.
    • On your six for Flutter – ICx20.
    • 1 Leg Flutter Right ICx10.
    • 1 Leg Flutter Left ICx10.
  • COT
  • StumpHugger took us out.

Moleskin:

  • Very pleased that after MicCheck had YHC running a lot at DaVinci on Sat, that YHC could return the favor.  Apparently, he spends evenings hanging out at Community House Middle, so this was an opportunity to give him something else to think about while he’s there watching Track and Soccer practice.  Visions of the Burpee Mile will be dancing in his head.
  • Stump Hugger has been doing a lot of running, but not a lot of bootcamps, so super surprised to see him roll in as the 2nd man to arrive.  Eager to get after it, he didn’t let his partners down (though he may have let his head down to the bleachers a little too hard on the ab exercise – heard the ground shake) and was there every step of the way.
  • WildTurkey got in a nice tour of the CMHS campus looking for the track parking area, and seemed to have a lot of running on the brain this morning.  YHC already had planned to use the track for running before his suggestion, but like where his head is for the 1 Mile Swift Time Trial this coming Tuesday.  Should be a little easier without Burpees interrupting the flow.  Anyone notice that WT is showing up at most of these BD?  He seems to be everywhere these days.
  • Cable Guy and Mario were YHCs partners in the 3man group today, so YHC didn’t see much of them. What YHC did see of Mario on the Crossfit abs shouldn’t be repeated (#iwaslookingabovethewaist). Mario did say that if he had one halflap left on the Burpee Mile that he could have closed on JRR Tolkien…we’ll never know about that…but we do know that Mario was calling out several PAX on Hand-release Burpee (#notaninchworm) form.  Cable Guy either isn’t normally VERY enthusiastic, or he was just quiet today, or he was working hard and out of breath, for he would relieve YHC on the 3man grinders with a soft “Brat”.
  • Mr. Bean was vying with Tolkien for the lead on the Burpee Mile, but YHC thinks it may have been Mr. Bean’s lack of burpee form (no hop, what’s a merkin) or concerned with saving himself for the Q at Brave (#moreburpees) that kept him neck-and-neck.
  • SoftPretzel was quiet today.  He was keeping to his own little pain cave most of the morning.  Thanks for repaying YHC the honor after posting at your HairBurner BD.  Wonder how HairBurners would work on a rubberized track – with all of the friction, wondering if it’s even possible?
  • JRR Tolkien tried to get the Q to do his DragonFlag exercises on the bleachers, but YHC found those impossible last week.  Perhaps instead of dragging our feet on disks next time, we can just Handstand walk – hard enough for you?  Or was the Burpee Mile your limit?  Was that your Oral IV sprayed all over the track infield afterwards?  Sounds like a substance that may be on banned list for F3 next year (#cleanoursport).

Announcements:

  • Mr. Bean has the Q for the next Black Diamond.  He was pretty quick to volunteer, so watch out!

Long on Speed, Short on Time

16 PAX planned to get after it on Rushmore Dr in the Ballantyne Corporate Park this morning in the final preparation until the 1 Mile Time Trial planned for 5/17 at Community House Middle School.  The Planned workout was pretty big, we didn’t accomplish it in the 2 previous times either.

The THANG:

  • 0500 – come early for some extra easy running – seemed there were about 9 PAX out today with RockThrill, Tuck, Bunker, JRR Tolkien, Frasier, HoneyBee, Abacus, Wild Turkey, and Bratwurst.  At least that seems mostly right…could have been less, could have been more.  Objective #1 to lay out the cones every 100m.  Objective #2 to return to the lot before 0515.  Only 1 and 1/2 of the objective met, but we may have at least sighted the lot by 0515.
  • 0515 – head out with the full group of PAX for a warm-up of easy running and dynamic drills.  Head towards Rushmore Dr.
  • 0529 – Start the main workout.  Each interval has equal distance jog recovery.
    • 600m at 1-mile Race Pace + 3 sec (i.e. if your 1-mile target is 6:00, then your 600m target is 2:15.  Run this 600 at 2:18). Don’t make this too fast.  PAX got in 2 of these.
    • 400m at 1-mile Race Pace.  PAX got in 3 of these.
    • 300m at 1-mile Race Pace – 1 sec (i.e. if your 1-mile target is 6:00, then your 300m target is 1:08.  Run this 300 at 1:07). Feel like you are pushing slightly.  This round was run with recovery OYO, and perhaps only the Flyin’ Frasier got to 4 intervals.  Most of the rest got 3.
    • 200m at “F”-pace – your 800m race pace – or pretty much AYG.  Most of the PAX got at least two.  Frasier probably completed three, Tolkien decided to extend his recovery back to COT and get in at least 2 more, and HoneyBee probably followed him.
  • 0617-0619 – File into COT just in time to have FNG Posh named and have JRR Tolkien take the PAX out.
  • With no formal Count or Name-o-rama for the Swift PAX, YHC is going by memory on this one.

The MOLESKIN:

  • Something about 1 week before a 1 mile time trial (and the 5x1000m Relay later in that week) already had Ringer and OneNiner tapering.  We saw them getting some pre-running done out there, but my guess is that they are trying to be Clandestine and plot their Ultra Strategy for the Fast5.
  • Something about 1 week before a 1 mile time trial had the rest of the PAX feeling frisky enough to not listen to many of Jack Daniels’s suggestions about how to run this workout 3 sec slow, then on pace, and only heard the push the last few and All You Got.  That, or we have several sub 5 min 1600m runners ready to break that elusive old man barrier on 1 week from today!
  • JRR Tolkien had some excuse about missing the MuthaShip yesterday because he couldn’t find the “right” partner on Match.F3Nation.com to do the workout with, so he was pushing everything extra hard today.  However, we did have some celebrity couples – Wild-Tucky was seen side by side pushing each other in the darkness.  SoftHops was reminiscing about days at Wake and getting in a little too much 2nd F.   AbacuStump was putting his horse whispering skills from the farm to good use and prodding the Stallion to move really fast.
  • Several strong individual performances did abound.  Haggis didn’t have 100 miles in his legs from the weekend, so he felt like punishing them today as a reward.  HoneyBee had beating his Father-in-Law in the Fast5 to think about.  Bunker was doing his best Asafa Powell impression again – smooth dome and high stepping the 200s.  Cheddar was relishing again that he’s not Mr. Jingles, even though he wants to be with those keys.  Tootie and Frasier were both sensible.  One is just getting back in to shape and he’s learning his upper limits again.  The other one, he’s on Swift Custody this Tuesday, and he’s just plain fast. We worked it out so we’ll have Frasier again next week to rabbit the 1mile challenge.  If YHC is going 5 single digits, Frasier is going 4 high digits.  Watch out.  We’ll see how many PAX follow him and flail off the pace.
  • Another observation – shirtless was faster today – less drag – more cooling effect – if you run fast they look at your legs and not your barely hairy chest.

Announcements:

  • Black Diamond workout this Thursday 5/12 at Community House Middle.  YHC on Q.  If you don’t workout in Union County and aren’t in the top teams at the Mud Run, you probably haven’t ever seen YHC do a merkin.  You still may not see as much on Thursday, but come to gawk anyway.  There’s a track, it will be used, but not in the ways that you think.

Fastest Swift backblast posting in a long time.  The sun is still up…

SYITG,

Bratwurst

#PreBlast – Distance goes Down, Speed comes Up

The weekly Speed running workout known as Swift will launch at 0515 on Tuesday from the Vine Restaurant in the Ballantyne AO.  There will be cones to mark distances and a pause for instructions to the group before each set.  Therefore, no pre-workout watch programming should be necessary if done with the group!

The Plan:

  • 0500 – come early for some extra easy running
  • 0515 – head out with the full group of PAX for a warm-up of easy running and dynamic drills.  Head towards Rushmore Dr.
  • 0530 – Start the main workout.  Each interval has equal distance jog recovery.
    • 2 x 600m at 1-mile Race Pace + 3 sec (i.e. if your 1-mile target is 6:00, then your 600m target is 2:15.  Run this 600 at 2:18). Don’t make this too fast.
    • 3 x 400 at 1-mile Race Pace
    • 4 x 300 at 1-mile Race Pace – 1 sec (i.e. if your 1-mile target is 6:00, then your 300m target is 1:08.  Run this 300 at 1:07). Feel like you are pushing slightly.
    • 6 x 200 at “F”-pace – your 800m race pace – or pretty much AYG

Note: F-pace is about 8 seconds faster per 400m than your 1-mile (close enough to 1600m) race pace – which is the same as a full 32 seconds of pace per mile.  For example, if your Mile Race Goal is 6:00, then your F-pace target is about a 5:28 / mile pace.  Which means that you could run a 800m race in about 2:44.

Bull Ring track speed

Even though the PreBlast was light on specifics, 13 PAX (more PAX than Bagpipe even though they had a rain cover that could have been utilized, and WAS utilized – so what if many of them did the MudRun over the weekend – Bunker and Tuck posted to Swift!) launched from the Vine American kitchen at 0515 for the weekly Speed fest known as #F3Swift.

The THANG:

  • 0500 – lots of PAX posted for the early extra credit.  YHC was not one of them, but there were a lot of cars in the Parking Lot.  Someone mentioned that FireHazard? was pushing the pace up pretty high past 2nd F pace, but maybe that’s because he wasn’t doing Swift – YHC never saw him later.  Maybe YHC just heard the wrong name, but someone pushed it for the group.
  • 0515 – mosey to the Bull Ring about 1.1 mi.  5 dynamic exercises (heels, toes, high knees, butt kicks, B-skips –> oh those felt good) and we were ready to do the workout of the day.
  • Completed two rounds of the following:
    • 2x200m at 1mile Race Pace, 200m recovery after each
    • 800m at 1mile Race Pace, 800m recovery
    • 300m AYG (at 800m Race Pace or F-pace), 4minute recovery
  • Head back to COT with an optional extra 200m

The Moleskin:

  • Better PAX turnout in the gloomy weather than the average over the past month.  Ultras, marathons, and OCRs must be on the back burner for a while.  It’s all about the 1 Mile Time Trial in 2 weeks!
  • The speed was on display today.  HoneyBee, Haggis, and Mario didn’t want to mess around with worrying about 1 Mile Race Pace through the first 200s.  And while the first 800 put a dent in their exuberance, the 300 was a chance to show that most everyone still had their legs.
  • However, the group was more moderated in the second half of the workout.  It was evident that it was beginning to take a toll, and by the time the 800m rolled around, there was an epic battle brewing with the weary Haggis and the sprite JRR Tolkien.  Something about Haggis running down Tolkien in the last 200m even though he was trailing by up to 50m at one point.  However, it cannot be confirmed because Haggis is secretive and doesn’t post to Strava!  Here’s where we would have checked on the Fly-By = http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/#563961835?c=dnnx2n9f&z=F&t=1NA6fZ&a=61-dIbo9nCHztZshPcWbIZTumyFeXZwh3b6bIepPnCE&x=10j8&s=8I Because as everyone knows, if it ain’t online, it’s not true!
  • HoneyBee wasn’t letting JRR Tolkien run him down this week (like he almost did in the first 1mile Time Trial).  No marathon weariness in those legs apparently.
  • OneNiner and Bunker didn’t have the nicks of Mud Runners (must have worn the long socks), and both were apparently glad to be back on “just” the run again.  No mixing merkins and running for a while – doctor’s orders.  Or find a new Tuesday workout that rhymes with “*itch”.
  • Welcome to Swift FNG FallOut!  Apparently he “knew” this would be a tough workout, but what his friend General (think he was the EH’r) didn’t tell him is that this would be one of the most difficult workouts that Swift has done.  800s and 300m sprints will put a hurt on the lungs.
  • RockThrill – glad to have you back after the sighting last week!  We’ve got all paces at Swift, and we know we can make anyone faster (or at least slow the decline of our old bones). Don’t let StrangeBrew talk you into moving to Area51, just keep commuting like everyone else from Union County and South Carolina to the future-to-be-known-as “Providence, NC” (isn’t that the rumor for Ballantyne?  only our resident Real-estate brokers would know).
  • Cheddar and General aren’t just a flash in the pan at Swift.  Both have been pretty consistent and working on things that make them stronger – not carrying a pound of keys in his pocket and getting in some endurance, respectively.
  • Mario, don’t worry about the form on those 300s.  Just keep torching the field.  Now, let’s carry that over to running a Fast Mile in 2 weeks and we may find something…

Announcements:

  • Ragnar Relay on trails in SC in October.  More info to come, but look it up on the web.  Several 8 man teams being put together for what will likely be a big 2nd F event (at least for JRR Tolkien because he apparently doesn’t think running 16 miles over 3 runs on the trails qualifies as a 1st F).

SYITG,

Bratwurst

 

#PreBlast – Rocking the Race Pace

Swift will launch at 0515 on Tuesday from the Vine American Kitchen in Ballantyne.  Come at 0500 for some early easy warm-up.  2 weeks to go until 1 Mile Time Trial on 5/17 at Community House Middle School.

The THANG:

  • 0500 – Early crew for 2ndF conversational pace
  • 0515 – Gather rest of the troops for 2ndF conversational pace while heading towards the “Bull Ring”.  Continue dynamic stretching / warm-up drills.
  • 0530 – Start intervals that will be run at your 1Mile Race goal pace.  If you don’t know your pace, use a recent race result and go here to find your “Repetition or R-pace” –> http://runsmartproject.com/calculator
  • 0610 – Head back to COT

Re-Committing

The PAX gathered around the shovel flags at 0615 on Saturday at Weddington HS.  The FNG was disclaimed and 10 PAX set off into the gloom for an opening COP.

The THANG:

  • Mosey and circle up to the HS Student Parking lot.  Either because Dasher notices Camacho arriving in the front lot, or because he doesn’t want to start with burpees, Dasher heads off to find him.
  • Opening COP with BLIMP – all merkins today will be hand-release
    • Burpees (hand release) – 6 count IC x 10
    • Lunges – IC (front L, front R, side L, side R) x 5 each
    • Imperial Walkers (knees to elbows) IC x 20
    • Merkins (hand release) IC x 10
    • Plank Jack (elbows) IC x 10
    • At some point, Dasher and Camacho finally showed up.  Turns out Camacho guessed wrong and went around the far side of the school
  • Mosey down the trail, down the hill, show up at upper Practice football field.  Plank for the six.
    • Inch-worm across the width of the field OYO, run back, PAX lead planking
    • Moderate shuttle run to center, back, width of field, back, plank with 10 counts
    • Burpee Broad-jump across the width of the field OYO, run back, PAX lead planking
    • Moderate shuttle run to center, back, width of field, back, plank with 10 counts
    • Bear crawl across the width of the field OYO, run back, PAX lead planking
  • Mosey to the Elementary school playground.  Stopping for the six at various times with Heels-to-Heaven.  Once at the middle of the Elementary Field, divide into 3 groups.
    • Group 1 – Plank with feet on swings. In & Out crunch 20x.  Run back to center of field and plank.
    • Group 2 – Run to playground and do pull-ups until Group 1 finishes. Run back to center and plank.
    • Group 3 – Run to basketball court.  Plyo hops, leaps, karaoke across and back until Group 1 finishes. Run back to center and plank.
    • 10 Hand release Merkins (throw in some Wide Arm and Diamonds on later rounds) IC.  Rotate groups.  Repeat so each Group does 2 full rounds of all 3 Stations.
  • Quicker Mosey to the trails.  Squat hold, plank, Freddy Mercury, and other various exercises along the way to allow the group to come back together.  AYG to top of the Hill on the trail.  Squat hold for the six.
  • Mosey to the front of the HS.  Same 3 Groups.
    • Group 1 – 15 box jumps or modify to step-ups
    • Group 2 – 20 dips
    • Group 3 – Merkins until time to rotate.
    • Rotate through 3 times.
  • Move a few yards back to the cars for closing Mary
    • LBCs
    • Makhtar N’Diayes
    • Flutter
    • Dolly
    • Reverse Plank Butt raises (Crowd Pleaser)
  • COT!

The MOLESKIN:

  • My how the Union County Boys can bring it!  Doc McStuffins, Dasher, and Transporter (who somehow made the whole workout in a hoodie despite the 60 degree temps) were leading the football practice segments. These three don’t just lead, they are out in front and pulling away.  Perhaps still some work to be done on the grit – some of them sought softer pastures for the Makhtar N’Diayes instead of the parking lot asphalt.  Popeye’s forearms are so swole, his elbows never touched the ground, so he had nothing to worry about.
  • Welcome Site FNG, JRR Tolkien, who was doing a little recon for the @F3BlackDiamond workout here this Thursday. Already his 2nd recon visit, he’s planning a 3rd recon trip to map out every nook, cranny, and step for his Q on a hard 1 hour impromptu workout at 0515 on Thursday.
  • Welcome FNG Bo-Berry (Phillip)- EH’d by Argonaut.  Bo-Berry stayed with the group today and had enough wherewith-all to give us his life story at COT.  In the end, we just went with his first job at Bojangles.  Though Snowflake did have a pretty creative Long Island Iced Tea (Bo-Berry is from there) that we could have turned into “LIIT” or “LIT”, but the creative juices just weren’t flowing free.  This is definitely consideration for naming FNGs at the second workout they attend.  More time to think!
  • Silicon was back (KOTTERS) and still able to hold it together, Argonaut is a beast and the War Baby, and Camacho was not late but just wanted to get in some extra running looking for us. All are facts.

Thank you for following YHC today, thank you for Ice9 and Snowflake for the opportunity to lead, thank you for Union Co Schools for a great campus to use as our playground, and as Snowflake said on the takeout – thanks be to God for the ability to get out and exercise.  May we be as diligent and has as much effort in other areas of our lives.

Until next time (Thursday),

Bratwurst

 

Announcements:

Would you like a little Hill with that Speed?

At 0515 on Tuesday, 10 PAX headed out into the gloom for a new route and a new workout at the Ballantyne-area speed workout known as F3-Swift.

The THANG:

  • 0500 – 4 PAX take on some easy running to find the new course and setup the cones.  For a second, PAX are confused as Frehley’s Comet is there not to be there early for Bagpipe, but to get in some more running!  #distancerunner
  • 0515 – Rest of the crew joins and we head out for a modified warm-up around the Bull Ring, through a traffic circle / fountain, and then beside the TIAA building for some dynamic warmup drills.
  • The workout with 3 rounds completed was:
    • 6 minutes at Threshold Pace, run out and back with turnaround at 3:00
    • 200m Hill at Repetition Pace effort
    • 200m jog recovery
    • 200m Hill at Fast Pace effort (basically AYG – see below for pace guidelines)
    • 400m jog recovery
  • Back at COT just on time

NMM:

  • Kotters to Frehley’s Comet.  With all of the running today, FC was most concerned that he got in more miles that Fireman Ed did in previous weeks.  He kept asking YHC how many we planned to do, how many we did, and how many he’ll get credit for.  Let’s just say you ran a lot, and we’re glad you didn’t have to use the towel hanging from your waistband.
  • While Cable Guy hasn’t been MIA as long, great to have him back.  Seemed like there was a big pack developing today, and Cable Guy was in the mix of it.
  • After the first Out and Back 3min/3min and then 200m Hill, it became obvious this was going to be a tough workout.  Important to get a feel for what “Comfortably Hard” is (using it just for Bunker, but I have to give Dr. Jack credit for the term), for after we pass through the Mile Time Trial in 3 weeks, “Comfortably Hard” or Threshold Pace is a staple for training for BRR and longer events.  If you aren’t able to regulate breathing (the comfortable part) during that Pace, then it will become way too hard and you’ll work more than you need to.  Depending on your normal breathing, T-pace should be somewhere in that 3:1 breathing to stride ratio.
  • What was also obvious after the First Out & Back is that the PAX let themselves be led by the guy in front instead of their heads.  You shouldn’t be passed by another PAX on the Back if you ran both at the right effort.  YHC remembers a quote from the morning that may seem a little harsh, but, “if you get passed, it doesn’t mean you’re Slow, it means you’re not running Smart.” But of course what started as not running smart could become Sandbagging just to make sure you’re not caught by the likes of JRR Tolkien or Bunker.  There’s a balance there somewhere.
  • The Hill effort at the end and then the Sprint hill sure did bring out the effort.  Similar to a Fast Finish we did in previous weeks, this seemed much tougher, and it was, but YHC actually started to dread it while heading towards it.  It seemed futile to try to run down the Wild Turkey on the Hill, for he didn’t make it easy.  Not sure that after the first hill effort, JRR Tolkien’s MuthaShip training let him get caught, but Bunker may have been close once or twice.  What was certain on the 2nd AYG Sprint up the hill is that someone gave The General orders to “take the hill” and he shot out like a rocket leading the charge never to be caught – and he said that the MuthaShip will again be in his sights.
  • With Taxes wrapping up or getting Extended, it was nice to have Abacus back.  Not content for driver status at BRR this year, it’s obvious he’s not in favor of the Flat Tax – this man likes Hills and steep tax bills (or wish he would have trimmed mine a bit!).
  • StumpHugger has been literally sitting by the keyboard waiting to post comments on this BackBlast.  He must have something keen to say, and let’s just say it better be good.  Great effort out there at Swift brother!  You earned this one.
  • Cheddar didn’t say much, per the usual, but he was likely just tapering for his leadership at several workouts this Weekend.  Take it all in and then dish it out man!
  • Still one lonely cone on the hill somewhere…

Announcements:

#Preblast – Countdown begins again at 3…

At 0515 on Tuesday, join us for a weekly speed workout that will be sure to challenge and envigorate your running fitness.  Here’s the plan:

  • at 5:00 am, depart the Vine parking area for some extra warm-up.  Conversational pace.
  • at 5:15 am, we’ll be back to the Vine parking area and pickup the rest of the crew to continue running at Conversation pace for at least another 1mile.  We’ll get in some dynamic stretching and be ready to start the speed part Swift workout at 5:30 am.
  • The workout for the day:
    • 6 minutes at Threshold Pace, run out and back with turnaround at 3:00
    • 200m Hill at Repetition Pace effort
    • 200m jog recovery
    • 200m Hill at Fast Pace effort (basically AYG – see below for pace guidelines)
    • 400m jog recovery
    • That’s round 1 – start again with another round.  We’ll try to get in 3 rounds total.

SYITG,

Bratwurst

 

Pace Guidelines:

  • If you are new to E, M, T, I, R, or F-paces meaning something, then you’ll want to visit http://runsmartproject.com/calculator/instructions/ and watch the video.
  • Here’s the Calculator itself – http://runsmartproject.com/calculator/ that will explain Easy, Marathon, Threshold, Interval, and Repetition-pace.
  • Fast (F-pace) is not in the Calculator, but it is detailed in the book Daniel’s Running Formula as your 800m race speed.  One way to find this is to take your R-pace per mile, divide by 4 (to get 400m split times of a 1 mile race), subtract 4 seconds from that time to get the 400m split time of a 800m race.
    • Some examples:
      1Mile Goal , 400m Goal Split , 400m F-pace split , 200m F-pace split
      0:05:00 , 0:01:15 , 0:01:11 , 0:00:35
      0:05:30 , 0:01:23 , 0:01:18 , 0:00:39
      0:06:00 , 0:01:30 , 0:01:26 , 0:00:43
      0:06:30 , 0:01:38 , 0:01:34 , 0:00:47
      0:07:00 , 0:01:45 , 0:01:41 , 0:00:51
      0:07:30 , 0:01:52 , 0:01:49 , 0:00:54
      0:08:00 0:02:00 , 0:01:56 , 0:00:58

Categories

Most T-claps

None found

Twitter

© 2024 F3 South Charlotte