After it was learned that the swiftest of the Swift is now on the DL after a mountain biking accident this weekend, it is now time to call in the 3rd string and YHC is your Q for this addition of Swift. Apparently you are not supposed to land on your face and ribs when dismounting a mountain bike abruptly. Who knew? Seriously Bratwurst, get better soon.
Fortunately, Brat has pristine lesson plans to follow and we will continue where he left us after the 1-mile speed showdown last week. We launch at 5:15am from The Vine restaurant in Ballantyne. The plan is (somewhat) simple. See below (all is run at your 1-mile race pace):
1) Warm up mile or so – fellowship pace
2) Enter the bull ring ready to get down to business
3) Run 4 x 200m with 200m rest in between
4) Run 2 x 400m with 400m rest in between
5) Run 1 x 800m with 800m rest
6) Run 2 x 400m with 400m rest in between
7) Run 4 x 200m with 200m rest in between
8) Run back to COT
See you in the autumn gloom!
16 men answered the call and showed up for hill day at Devil’s Turn. To mix things up, there was a new challenge extended which was to start and end the workout at “easy” pace and build up to a peak of “threshold” pace for 1 mile in the middle.
With our newly established baseline 1-mile race times from Tuesday, the calculation should have been easy. The pain comes in the execution of this plan. The PAX found that holding a consistent pace through hills is challenging enough, but then trying to vary speed adds another layer of complexity to the equation. All the ciphering made the time pass quickly though.
On the warm-up apartment loop, Mall Cop played some superman and tried his hand at flying. As expected though, this did not turn out well and he now has 3 ripe strawberries on his leg. Lesson: the sidewalks of Piper Glen are dangerous places. Headlamps are advised or perhaps run in a constant high knees scenario. It does seem like someone is planning on doing something about the sidewalks at some point since there are now white X’s on the side walk around the cracks. We can only hope. Apply that Neosporin liberally Mall Cop!
TR was beasting it out there today. Coming off his dominant performance in the 1-mile time trial, he was ready to party. Impressive.
There were many out there pushing the pace today. The dark and O2 deprivation makes it hard to make out the shadowy figures, but some noted were Brat, Frasier, Haggis, TR, Soft Pretzel, Thurston, The Mouth, Brisket, etc. Really everyone looked like they put in the work today in the COT. Great work brothers.
Next week is track day at DT.
Announcements:
– Haggis would like to invite you to run 18 to 22 miles with him on Tuesday morning starting at 5:15am. Email him if you are interested. ….insert cricket noises here…
– Donate used athletic shoes at your favorite weekly workout in the next two weeks. There is a Q assigned to each location.
– The Brave starts at 5:15 Friday at The Vine restaurant in Ballantyne – Mighty Mite on Q
Devil’s Turn faithful: It is that time again. Let’s head to Piper Glen for a tempo run through hills. We will launch from the 4 Mile Creek Greenway parking area http://goo.gl/maps/Whecl at the corner of Rea & Bevington on Thursday morning at 0515. There are 4, 6, and 7+ mile options available. See below for the options:
1) Blue Pill (standard) – Run 0.75 mile apartment loop, out to Piper Glen, run the Old Course loop and back to lot (perhaps with a little makeup distance down Bevington Place). All this done at a comfortable pace.
2) Blue Pill (aggressive) – Do all the above, but instead of a consistent pace, run 1.5 mile at “easy” pace, 1.5 miles at “marathon” pace, and 1 mile at “easy” pace.
3) Red Pill (aggressive) – Run the standard Piper Glen 6 mile route (too complex to list here). Run 2 miles at “easy” pace building to 1 mile at “marathon” pace, 1 mile at “threshold” pace, 1 mile at “marathon” pace, then cool down with 1 to 2 miles at “easy” pace.
Find your applicable paces using your new 1-mile race pace in the following link: http://runsmartproject.com/calculator
A quote is included below from www.halhigdon.com on the idea of tempo runs.
A Tempo Run of 30 to 40 minutes would begin with 10-15 minutes easy running, building to to peak pace for 10-20 minutes near the middle, then 5-10 minutes easy toward the end. The pace buildup should be gradual, not sudden, with peak speed coming about two-thirds into the workout. (You don’t need to maintain peak speed for more than a few minutes toward the middle of the workout.)
The morning was cool and 10 men answered the call to execute a fast and furious tempo run to S. CLT middle school and back.
2 (TR and Brisket) used the run as a shake out prior to the mud run on Saturday. By the amount of rolling that was going on in the back of TR’s car prior to the run, I feel that a shake, rattle, and roll joke would be good here. Maybe rattley old bones? #wardaddy
It was nice to talk with Thurston and Lex Luther on the run out to the track. Those guys are beasts.
Marvel and Stone Cold are becoming more frequent members of the DT clan. Great to have you brothers.
Mall Cop took a break from work to work in a little running. We are glad for that. Wolfman was officially spotted prior to leaving. The man, the myth, the legend.
Great run everybody!
Devil’s Turn will launch from the 4 Mile Creek Greenway parking area http://goo.gl/maps/Whecl at the corner of Rea & Bevington on Thursday morning at 0515.
If you are doing the mudrun this weekend, you should probably be tapering. That is unless you are Haggis and you probably have a few 12 milers / pull-up fests scheduled between now and Saturday. Come to DT if you dare.
The plan is to head out to the S. Charlotte Middle school track executing a thorough tempo run for the duration of the workout (following the 1-mile warmup). We will circle the track at the school until 1) you have gotten enough miles or 2) it is time to leave to get back to COT by 6:10 am.
The distance to the track is 2.2 miles so total distance can vary between 4.4 and 8.0 miles depending on running speed and desire. The plan is for everyone to launch together at 5:15 am.
See you there brothers!
Devil’s Turn will launch from the 4 Mile Creek Greenway parking area http://goo.gl/maps/Whecl at the corner of Rea & Bevington on Thursday morning at 0515.
We will continue our hill work post-BRR for the benefit of our mud run brothers (there are hills in the woods too!).
This means YHC will bring the chalk and we can head to Piper Glen for some Tempo running through the hills.
27 men decided to take advantage of the cool morning and get in some work in the heart of B-tyne this morning. Thanks to some slightly suggestive workout options and a hapless tomato driving by at just the right time, it was incredible that the dollar bills weren’t raining this morning. More on that later.
The Naked Moleskin:
– So the call for dive bomber merkins raised some mumblechatter from the PAX. Admittedly, the motion does resemble getting jiggy with the pavement. What made the moment more special was that a lady in an F150 drove past just as we were in the middle of the exercise. She got an up close view of the action and laughed her way right into work. Amazingly no dollars were thrown our way.
– The PAX were after it this morning and it was great to have so many men putting in the work together. Running back to COT, YHC had the opportunity to hear the effect that F3 has had on J R Ewing and his son Vineyard. Vineyard is entering this year of high school with a new self confidence thanks to a new level of fitness and the fellowship and faith of those within the PAX who have worked out along side him. This is what it is about men – building stronger sons, fathers, husbands, and leaders. This is a gift we can give to those around us each day.
– Thank you all for the opportunity to lead this fine group of men.
Announcements:
– Sept 20 – F3 has been asked to do warm up excercises with the participants in the 1-mile fun run at the Isabella Santos Foundation run in downtown Ballantyne. Email jlevins9@hotmail.com if you are interested in helping out.
– Thursday Sept 11 – Convergence at The Rock (Calvary Baptist) at 5:30 – 6:15. See website for preblast tonight. All other Thursday workouts converge at The Rock.
21 men got in one more good hill run at Devil’s Turn prior to next week’s BRR extravaganza. Per Bratwurst’s suggestion 85% of the PAX wore their BRR approved reflective vests, head lamps, and blinking lights for a dress rehearsal of sorts.
On the warm-up “apartment loop”, the combination of a 20+ man running cluster, headlamps, and blinky lights made for comical sight. Bratwurst and I looked back on one occasion and laughed at the strange discotech / flash-mob / village people like sight. However, once the hills started there was no more laughing.
There were 3 options for today’s Devil’s Turn which were ~4-miles, ~6-miles, and a soul crushing 6+ mile option with a full “fun hill” thrown in. The 0.25 mile “fun hill” had many (incl. YHC) considering recycling Merlot by the top. After COT, there were rumors of an actual Merlot recycling situation, but that cannot be confirmed or denied. Speak up in the comments if that was you and you would like to be recognized for this balls-out, man making, screw-what-your-body-is-telling-you, effort. Intensity brother!
The format today was better than weeks past since it seemed that there was more interaction as people were passing each other going various directions on the various options. It was good to be able to utter words of encouragement sporadically between the labored breathing.
Great run today brothers. It is likely that you are now feeling the effects of all the weeks and months of training and are noticing that the hills are not as hard and your speed has increased. Now lets go kill the BRR.
Announcements:
– Labor Day Convergence at DMZ at 7:00 am. Foxhole will be at regular 5:30 start time. All other Monday workouts will converge at DMZ.
– Please volunteer or volunteer your neighbor to be on standby for BRR. There are currently no backups. Drivers are also needed if interested.
– Please keep Turkey Leg and his family in your prayers as they mourn the loss of his mother.
So it is one week before the BRR. Should we be tapering? Maybe after this weekend, but until then… we train.
What better to train for the BRR than one last hill week at DT? We will head again to Piper Glen and follow the same course as previous weeks except for the following options.
Option 1 (blue pill – 6 mi): Run standard course with energy and stamina and at the end of the run in Piper Glen, turn right onto Old Course and head back to COT (standard plan from previous weeks). If you get back to the parking lot early, optional distance down Bevington Place can be pursued.
Option 2 (red pill – 6+ mi): Run the standard course until you come to the end of Links Dr. (on the return leg) and turn left onto Piper Glen Dr. at the bottom of the hill. This is where the fun occurs. Proceed at a quick pace up the Piper Glen Dr. hill all the way to the crest. Then proceed back to the bottom of the hill at the intersection with Links Dr. Try to maintain pace back down the hill too. Then turn around again and head up the hill to turn right on Old Course and head back to the parking lot. (this allows a full appreciation (1.5x) of the largest hill YHC knows in these parts)
Option 3 (green pill – 4 mi): Run the standard 4 mile course out to Piper Glen. Proceed around Old Course to dead end. Take right down the hill and turn left on Old Course again to head out of the neighborhood and back to base. Add some distance down Bevington place if needed to hit 4 miles.
Meet at the greenway parking lot at the corner of Rea Rd. and Bevington Place to leave for the 4 and 6 mile routes at 5:15 am. We will head out together for a 0.75 mi “apartment loop” and then proceed for the main event through Piper Glen. YHC will have chalk to mark the way for both the 4 mile and 6 mile options.
For those that return to the greenway parking lot earlier than 6:10, feel free to add a little extra distance by turning right down Bevington place for an out and back. Time it properly to return for COT at 6:15 am.
If you are into knowing where you are going, see the following post for some pertinent info.
http://f3nation.com/2014/06/18/devils-turn-preblast-time-to-hit-the-hills/
9 men chose chest over quads, biceps over calves, and brawn over speed today by entering the Foxhole. With all the #BRR prep going on these days, it was time for a good old fashioned upper body assault. Target achieved.
Here’s The Thang:
Jog around parking lot to shake off the late August chill
Warm-up COP in front of school
– SSH x 30
– Front lunges x 5 each leg
– IW x 25
– Side lunges x 5 each leg
– Merkins x 20
– Mountain Climbers x 20
– Back lunges x 5 each leg
LBJ w/ KB to parking lot by the fields
– 2 arm swing x 10
– 1 arm clean x 5 per side
– 1 arm high pulls x 5 per side
– Peter parker Merkins (one hand on bell) x 5 per side
– 2 arm swing x 20
– 1 arm clean x 10 per side
– 1 arm high pulls x 10 per side
– Peter parker Merkins (one hand on bell) x 10 per side
– 2 arm swing x 30
– 1 arm clean x 15 per side
– 1 arm high pulls x 15 per side
– Peter parker Merkins (one hand on bell) x 15 per side (actually forgotten in the lot and later inserted after the farmer carry)
Partner up (KB size matters) for partner farmer carry / catch me if you can
– Partner 1 run with both bells, Partner 2 hand release merkins x5 and catch partner
– head up to field and around field stopping on near side line
On field keep 2 bells
– Partner 1 jackknife with KB, Partner 2 caraoka half way and jog out the rest, caraoka half way back and jog out rest
– Partner 1 Russian Twist, Partner 2 run to other side and back
– Partner 1 Flutter with KB press, Partner 2 run to other side and back
Mosey back to parking lot
– Oh there is still time… 5 burpees on your own
COT
Ye Moleskin:
– There were a bunch of beasts out in the gloom this morning. The mumblechatter was at a minimum because these guys came to do work. However, YHC could count on the #baldbrother (Market Timer) for a bit of chatter to keep things light (something was needed ’cause those bells were heavy).
– Welcome to relative newcomers Gyminee, Free Clinic, and Icky Shuffle. YHC has unfortunately had spotty attendance the last few months, but it is great to have a new set of regulars out in the gloom. Keep on killing it out there brothers! I look forward to getting to know you better in the coming weeks.
– Cotters to Philmont who is just one week out from his expedition through his namesake local. Awesome accomplishment and it is good to have you back in the gloom! Cotters also to Wingman who is fresh off vacation and living the good life. That burn is the welcome back gift from us to you. You’re welcome.
– A special cotters to Rip Curl who is just back from Saudi Arabia. It is not likely there was much surfing to be had, but it seems like it was quite an experience. Welcome back to the cool, sandless gloom.
– Thanks brothers for the opportunity to lead. I am always grateful to have this group to workout alongside.
Announcements:
– Next Monday is Labor Day. Foxhole is on regular hours (we are just obstinant like that) but the rest of Area 51 will be converging (somewhere). More info to come in the next days.
– September 20 there is a 5k/10k/1-mile fun run in Ballantyne to benefit the Isabella Santos Foundation. F3 will be leading the warmup for the kids prior to the 1-mile fun run. Email jlevins9@hotmail.com if you are interested in joining us. http://www.isabellasantosfoundation.com/5k-race-fun-run/