Author Archive Bratwurst

#Swift Preblast – Phase II

Swift will launch at 0515 on Tuesday from the Ballantyne AO at the Vine Restaurant.  We will drop off any Bagpipers at 0530, but the expectation is that Swifters will be ready to go at 0530 without additional warm-up (in other words, show up at 0515).

Phase 1 was intro to Speed and Interval workouts mostly focused around the Repetition Pace (1 mile race pace) for shorter 200 and 400m intervals.  Phase 2 is to add more Interval-Pace (2 mile race pace) as the BRR gets closer (about 80 days away).  We’ll not go longer than a few minutes per interval tomorrow, but we are focusing on the I-pace.  Find yours here based on a recent race result ==> http://runsmartproject.com/calculator

See you in the gloom!

#F3Swift – Heavy Breathing Wakes Neighbors in the Country Club

Swift launched with 12 PAX at 0530 on Tuesday morning from the Vine restaurant. There would be heavy breathing through the Ballantyne Country Club that would be sure to wake the neighbors.

The Thang:

• Early 0515 crew got in about 1.25 miles of light jogging, some high knees, butt kicks, bounding, skipping, and strides to loosen up before Swift and Bagpipe.
• Run the course here http://connect.garmin.com/course/6798052
• Through the course starting at the base of Ben Nevis, run intervals at 2mile Race Pace (a.k.a. I-pace from the calculator at http://runsmartproject.com/calculator) of 2 minutes, 1 minute jog recovery back to last man, 1 minute I-pace, 30 seconds jog back to last man, 30 seconds I-pace, 30 seconds jog.  Repeat for 5 cycles.
• Cool-down back to the Vine.  Total at least 4.25 miles on the main portion with somewhere between 5.5 and 6.0 for most PAX that did the warm-up.
• Stand around until Bagpipers come streaming in by chattering, fluttering, or flat on the back pretending to flutter.

The Moleskin:

• The 2/1/30 workout was a repeat from 3 weeks ago, but this time we added the intention of elevation change up and down through the Ballantyne CC.  Not many flat areas there, and the only comfortable one was perhaps the ride down the shoulder of 521.
• The goal of this workout is to keep things under control on each interval.  Like most workouts we do, the longest interval is the one to target.  If you can run the longest interval at the goal pace, then you’ll be making progress.  If you sandbag in order to “go faster” on the shorter ones, then you’re missing the point.  Most non-sport specific running is not done over 1 minute and 30 seconds, so adjust efforts accordingly.
• The recovery we do to the last man not only keeps the PAX together, but also gives a little more mileage to those that ran the time-based interval faster.  All of us benefit.
• With 5 minutes left over, that just means we’ll have more rounds next time!
• If Frasier is going to be a Ninja, he better get some quieter shorts. Surprised his leg speed does not make those things catch on fire with all of that friction!
• Haggis is determined, check.  Haggis is stubborn about not pacing in workouts, check.  Haggis will successfully pace a 1 mile race at the FNG Olympics, TBD but probable.
• Madame Tussaud was already lauding the benefits of the Country Club route before we started.  Not sure he’s ever run it with intervals, so perhaps we’ll be looking at it differently now.
• Route confusion was complete when we went under the 521 tunnel, popped out at the stoplight, and heard several PAX saying “which way do we go?”.  Soft Pretzel must think YHC is a route master having perfectly timed the Frogger-crossing of Hwy 521 to get back to the other side, but we can’t be so lucky.  It actually happened in the middle of a 2 minute interval, but am guessing the PAX were grateful.  The tunnel was merely eye candy and to show the way, for next time we’ll probably be using the other side of the Country Club as well!
• Jamboree either didn’t understand what YHC said for the High Knees exercise, or this War Daddy needs a little more flexibility to get his knee above knee-level.
• A post 18 miler Strange Brew is apparently a 57 year old War Daddy.
• Welcome to Swift FNGs Mallcop and Yogurt!

Annoucements:

• F3 Olympics is coming on June 14th. On the same day is mountain biking with kids at Francis Beatty.  On the same day is the pool party.  On the same day your M becomes more convinced that F3 is a cult you joined under the guise of Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith.
• TeamSpearhead.com – custom GoRuck light in August alongside a veteran
• 15K Obstacle course run by Navy Seals just north of Columbia with 50% F3 Discount.  Search for info.

#F3Swift – Up the Dunreggan Brae and Plateau

Swift launched at 0515 from the Vine in Ballantyne without the QIC (running late, but not running…) for some warm-up.  Once the festivities kicked off at 0530, we had 9 PAX up for a workout that called for hills and some sustained running.

The Thang:

• Warm-up of about 0.5 mile.  Since the Q failed to post earlier, we did some standing dynamic stretches to loosen up in preparation for the Dunreggan Brae.
• 4 x 200m intervals up the Dunreggan Brae (hill on Ballantyne Corporate Place eastbound to the bridge across Hwy 521 – aptly named by Haggis for a hill in his hometown) at R-pace / 1 mile race pace effort.  Jog back down after first 3.
• After the 4th hill and jog recovery, do a 10minute Out and Back run at 80%.  This is a new pace for QIC from the runcoach workout, but appears to be a pace slower that Marathon Pace by 15 to 30 seconds.  Not a recovery, but not a Threshold Run.
• 4 x 200m intervals up the DB.  Jog back down.
• Jog back to COT, stop for about 30seconds of Mary on the way with the Bagpipe gang.

The Moleskin:

• Inevitably, there are some mornings to run late.  After a long run, splashing in the pool, and backyard grilling, the QIC hit snooze a few too many times this morning.  Fortunately, there is a built in snooze button at Swift right now with the PAX returning to the Vine at 0530.
• Once the Bagpipe left the AO, we had 8 PAX looking for some running.  A late arriving Puppy Love was forced to admit he wanted some running, or that he didn’t want to catch up to Bagpipe.  We set out with 9 PAX.
• Dunreggan Brae is smaller than our Ben Nevis hill, but with the shorter distance called for this morning, there is nice to have less traffic and have the space of the bike lane and street to spread out.  Sidewalks are never the best for hill work.  Just about a perfect 200m from lightpost to lightpost at the DB.
• The 200m are usually run at 1 mile race pace on the flat, so the goal for these hills would be to push the same effort, maintaining good posture (slightly forward), arm swing (perhaps more direct and slightly bigger), and stride (tad shorter) that are appropriate for hills.  Pace will be slower, but the GAP on Strava should adjust (http://www.strava.com/activities/146165890/laps).  No downhills run at this effort today.  Good distance to keep the PAX mostly together and able to regroup before the next interval.
• The 10 minute out and back was pretty hilly.  There is not much flat at the Ballantyne AO.  Fun to try to make it back to the start right at 10minutes.  Big pack developed with Haggis, Spinner, Jamboree, Rock Thrill, and Puppy Love.  Hopefully everyone pushed themselves.
• Last 4 hills were smoking fast.  Haggis pushed each one extra hard, and YHC was pretty sure he was either trying to spill some merlot or push his hometown advantage because he knows DB so well.

Announcements:

• Check the Bagpipe backblast – http://f3nation.com/workouts/bagpipe

#F3Swift Preblast – the Plateau

Swift will launch on Tuesday at 0530 (0515 for more warm-up and stretching) from the Vine Restaurant in Ballantyne.

If you know what a Plateau is, you’ll have a “leg” up in this workout for mental preparation.  It goes something like this, rise in elevation, high altitude plain, fall in elevation.  What that means for a 45 minute running workout means Hills, sustained interval, and more hills.

If you are programming the watch at home, it looks something like this:

1. Warm-up
2. 4 x (200m Hill at 1-mile race pace effort, 200m jog recovery)
3. 10min @ 80% (Basically Marathon Pace + :15) – calculate Marathon Pace at http://runsmartproject.com/calculator – i.e. if your marathon pace is 8:00/mi, then 80% is around 8:15 – 8:30/mi.
4. 4 x (200m Hill at 1-mile race pace effort, 200m jog recovery)
5. Cool-down

See you in the Gloom!

#F3Swift – Wings Flapping

On Tuesday morning at 0515, several Sons of Ballantyne (SOB) sped off for a quick warm-up and drill.  We got in some bird walking (toes and heels), bird hopping (skips), and road runner (butt kicks and high knees) BEEP-BEEP!

Upon returning to the Vine AO, we picked up some, dropped some off, and headed out at 0530 for the Swift workout.

The THANG:

• 0.5 mile warm-up (early birds got about 1.0 extra)
• Run at 1 mile Race pace (a.k.a. Repetition Pace or R-pace from the calculator at http://runsmartproject.com/calculator) for the following intervals around the Bull Ring at Ballantyne Corporate Park:
• 4x200m with 200m recovery jog after each – regroup PAX after set
• 2x400m with 400m recovery jog after each – regroup PAX after set
• 800m with 600m recovery jog
• Can’t decide how much time we have left intervals…flapping our wings here
• 200m with 200m recovery
• 400m with 400m recovery
• 2x200m with 200m recovery back to COT

The Moleskin:

• Record for 0515 warm-up since we finally pulled in some Bagpipers, and record for Swift with 12 PAX.  Steady improvement.
• The goal in this workout is finding the consistent 1 mile Race Pace – key for the F3 Area 51 Olympics in June.  That means that the 200m, 400m, and 800m are all run at the same pace.  It’s hard to hold back on the shorter intervals, so leave that for the races.
• Long recovery is key for the high effort at each interval.  Breathing should return before starting the next interval, so keep the recoveries to a slow jog.
• 24 hours have passed since this workout, so YHC doesn’t recall all of the events of yesterday morning, but 800m (0.5miles) around the Bull Ring sure does seem far…
• Welcome to Swift FNGs Voodoo and Udder

#F3-Swift – Fartlek or Fartsack?

At 0515 this morning, 8 PAX rolled out from the Vine restaurant for the weekly Ballantyne Area Speed workout known as Swift.  One more Swifter caught us on the warm-up jaunt and we swelled to 9, one dropped after the warm-up to drop us to 8, but one poor Bagpipe soul got caught up in Haggis’s motivational speech and gave Swift a try to stabilize our numbers at 9.

The THANG:

• 0.9mi – Warm-up (0515 option added 1.3mi of running and drills).
• 3.4mi – Heading over the the landing strip known as North Community House, we ran 4 rounds of 2minutes Hard (a.k.a. I-pace or as Dredd calls it “Aye” pace or your 2-mile race pace – figure it out from the pace calculator at http://runsmartproject.com/calculator), 1minute jog, 1minute Hard, 30sec jog, 30sec Hard, 30sec jog.  No extra rest between rounds.  Covered minimum of 3.4mi – PAX got extra if they recovered back to last man before starting next interval.
• 1.3mi – Cool-down back to the Vine
• Total mileage about 4.7mi in 45-47minutes – averages to just under a 10minute pace for the main workout. 0515 option would have finished between 6 and 6.8mi depending on distance of timed intervals and recovery.
• Full Strava report here: http://www.strava.com/activities/140580485

The Moleskin:

• After borrowing from Scottish heritage with Ben Nevis last week, we stayed in the European flair with a “Fartlek” workout – Swedish for “speed play”.  At least 9 PAX decided that it was better to run a Fartlek workout than stay in the Fartsack this morning.  This was more structured that some Fartlek workouts can be, but incorporated intervals of varying distance.
• The goal is still to run the intervals at the same speed, which becomes much harder to do on a 2minute interval after only 30seconds rest.  Rounds 2, 3, and 4 get “very hard” if you are pushing too much on the 1st and 2nd rounds.  It should always be “hard”, but bearable for 2minutes.  You’ll get the groove eventually.
• North Community House Rd is about as straight, quiet, and flat as you’ll find in Ballantyne.  You may be able to land a small plane there (or just use I-485 down below), but the Helipad has been relocated there.  The inbound car traffic that we brushed up against this morning was either going to the Helipad or getting to the Ballantyne Resort Golf Course maintenance area to cut the grass.
• Honeybee made perfect attendance again, and we’ll see how long this streak continues.  He clued us into his goal to stomp the Chicago Marathon in October.  What other races do the PAX have planned?
• Jamboree is a FNG to Swift, but he is no stranger to running.  He is a veteran of several marathons I believe, even dating back to when Thunder Road was just the “Charlotte Marathon”.
• Haggis joined us late on the warm-up, but seemed like he was trying to make up for lost mileage on the 2/1/30.  Don’t think there was spilled merlot, but YHC even felt like it after the 4th 2min interval.  No spillage though!
• MT and Spinner are quickly becoming familiar with these kind of workouts.  After last week’s hills, these should have felt smoother and better able to get in a groove.
• Puppy Love (War Daddy – Respect!) was a FNG to Swift, and despite his taking the Red Pill this morning and there being some chatter about regret, it only helps to make you stronger on the other stuff.  Having a good rotation between Boot Camps and Running (or Cycling and other pure cardio) is a great balance.  Still waiting on Brisket to return from his Boot Camp rotation…
• Abacus was back to Swift to show that it can’t keep him down for too long.  Great to have you back!
• Strange Brew, still recovering from multiple 15mi long runs over several weekends, is just about to turn that corner where the body adapts and starts getting stronger.  These faster workouts are a different kind of hurt, and they build the strength to help you go longer.
• Soft Pretzel claimed “travel” was in his decision to pass on the main Swift workout today and just join for the workout.  I agree, do this Swift workout on your own, run through the Boot Camp with others, and then brag about the results later.  Just hope the Pretzel doesn’t get too stale from lack of running…

Announcements:

• Area 51 BRR teams – we will be putting out some announcements soon to have a “BRR preview” on a Saturday this summer to run legs 31 and 33.  Stay tuned.
• F3-Golf – HC this week!
• Stonehenge Double-down this weekend – do the workout and then stay for the Ballantyne 5K/10K.
• Running Plans – looking for a “coached” plan for your BRR or long distance race plans?  Look no further than the really cheap runcoach promo that they have offered to F3.  Money-back guarantee allows you to take a spin on it for a couple of weeks.  Month-to-month plans starting at $10.  Go here for details – http://f3nation.com/2014/03/26/f3-marathon-training-plans-take-your-running-to-the-next-level/ 

#F3Swift – Conquering Ben Nevis

Swift launched at 0515 with 5 PAX from the Vine in Ballantyne.  We dropped 1 and upon coming around at 0530 to pick up more PAX, no one at the Bagpipe COP wanted any of that.

The Thang:

• 0515 – Warm-up over to Ben Nevis to lay out the cones for the main workout.  Too fast for Haggis, so he dropped back to Q Bagpipe.  According to MT (or Spinner), we did some “ballerina twinkle toes” (called Giraffe at LetMeRun), heel walkers (penguins at LMR), and strides.  Took too much time, so YHC had to quickly go back to try to pick up more PAX at the Vine.  Upon finding no takers, we set out back to Ben Nevis for the main set.
• 0530 – 200meters,200,400 with equal recovery jogs in between on the hill going Westbound on Ballantyne Commons from Rushmore Dr towards the entrance to Ballantyne CC at Ballantyne Meadows Dr.  Recorded here: http://www.strava.com/activities/138083014/overview.  In the first set, all Intervals run uphill (downhill recoveries).  In the second set, first 200m interval downhill, the rest uphill.  In the third set, second 200m interval downhill and the 400m was done uphill on the adjacent hill back towards 521.
• Total mileage for pre-work and warm-up @ 2.5mi. Plus Intervals and Cooldown @ 3.5mi. Totals for all at 6.0 miles.  Only 1.5miles of this was at individual pace.  The rest at a cool 2nd F pace or much slower for recovery.
• just before COT while waiting for Bagpipe – LBCs for 1001… 1002… 1003…  then Bagpipe arrived, so we “did over a thousand” LBCs.

The Moleskin:

• Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in Scotland, so it seems appropriate to give the hill on Ballantyne Commons going West from Rushmore up to Ballantyne Meadows the same name.  Garmin recorded it at 300ft of elevation difference over a 0.25 mile giving a grade of 22% (not sure if we buy that, but it’s steep).
• Goal for intervals was the same effort as your 1 mile race pace.  Also called R-pace at the calculator at http://runsmartproject.com/calculator.  On a severe hill, the actual pace won’t factor and it’s more about effort.  Strava does try to estimate the “Grade Adjusted Pace” – for example on an uphill 400m it gave a 1:30 second interval today (normally a 6:00/mi pace) a GAP of 4:25/mi.  Again, not sure we buy that, but it sounds good, right?  Conversely, it gave a downhill 200m in 0:35 (4:42/mi) a GAP of 6:02/mi.
• Perfect attendance to Honey Bee making 3/3 Swift events so far.  That dude has the perfect shorter stride for the Uphills and Downhills.  Better watch out on the BRR for this guy.  Smoked it today.
• Spinner is starting his Swift streak making it 2 weeks in a row.  He may prefer to rename Ben Nevis “Alpe d’Nevis” to get closer to his cycling roots, but he does want to make sure everyone knows he just doesn’t “spin” indoors – he’s a roadie.
• M. Tussauds didn’t stand still long enough to make a good wax figure today (like the PAX were doing in COP at Bagpipe).  Instead, he made his FNG Swift appearance today and fought back on the hills.

Announcements in the Bagpipe backblast here.