When Turnpike asked me to Q Fartlek, I immediately began reading up on proper techniques for run training since I hadn’t run 2 consecutive miles following a decision to run in the BRR in 2016. The two takeaways from my research were that to get faster you either needed to add sprints and/or weight to your routine, and that you should always carry hydration. Since I had no desire to sprint, it seemed the best way to help the Fartlek crowd would be to bring jugs of water and kill two birds with one stone.
Much to my surprise, 18 other men hopped out of the fartsack and braved the drizzle to see if I would come up with anything interesting. Rumor has it that Charlie Rogers had planned to join us, but was counting the bank’s profits until the wee hours of the morning. It seems only Two Scoops learned about his absence before putting foot to prissy pedal as many of the other Incogs managed to unplug the EV and get off … the kotter list today.
The 3/4-mile course was explained and sets of water jugs were handed to 5 men with 3 running clockwise and 2 running counter clockwise. The expectation was that whenever two men passed in opposite directions and only one was carrying jugs, he would pass them to the other. With so many pax in attendance who had completed a GoRuck Heavy, I was worried this would be too easy. But it seems retirement hasn’t been kind for many men who once lived by the acronyms #DBAP, #GYMR and #PYA.
Broken Finger and some guy named Geoff must have misunderstood me when I mentioned covering the six because they immediately set off to run 6 miles on their own. Titan ran away in fear when the jugs came out and Tantrum must have been allergic to plastic since he put his jugs aside as soon as the Q was out of sight. I’m not sure if it was Pork Chop or Sea Nymph that first thought to set jugs down along the course, but I’m sure it was meant to help indicate where the turns were along the route. Of course with Turnpike lost somewhere in PA, this was unnecessary so I tried to pick up the spares whenever I came across them.
Most pax got in 3-4 miles, and I suspect some even carried a jug or two at some point during the workout. One man should be rewarded for thinking outside the box by emptying his jug to lessen the load (I suspect he was in need of hydration due to the extreme effort put forth). And speaking of boxes and loads, Toxic seemed quite interested as Crocs was rubbing his teats post-workout — something unique to these running workouts I guess.
As for me, I was able to manage 3 miles in 40 minutes — about 2-1/2 more than I thought I had in me so as least it was a success for someone. Many thanks for all that showed up to support me, and to Goat for suggesting a juggy jog, even if it needs some tweaks to perfect the idea.