For this week’s Summer Speed workout, we’ll return to Single File Surges, a classic cross-country team workout common in high school programs. In a couple of groups, depending on how many people we have and the range of paces, we’ll do three or four loops of the roughly 1-mile circuit around Stewart Park, running on the Waterfront Trail’s paved surface or the grass next to it as desired.
After we regroup from the 10-minute warmup jog, each group will spread out into a single file with 5-10 feet between each person, running at a comfortable, easy pace. The order of runners doesn’t matter. After everyone is in position, the person at the back of the line surges to the front, passing everyone in front of them on the left and then tucking into the head of the line after passing the last person. As soon as they’re in front, they yell “Go!,” the new person at the back surges to the front, and so on. The surge pace should be quick—somewhere in the R pace to I pace range (1 mile to 5K race pace)—because each surge will be short and the intervening pace will be easy.
I’ll be convalescing from getting another tooth removed earlier in the day, so Tonya will be managing the workout. She’ll also have the FLRC Challenge shirts for pickup along with new FLRC Challenge yard signs to give to anyone who wants to display one.
Remember, we meet at the bocce pits near the big pavilion starting at 6 PM, with warmups starting at 6:15 PM. It’s going to be hot, so make sure to bring water.
Resources
- Administration: You must be an FLRC member and sign the FLRC Training Programs waiver once for 2025.
- Location: Stewart Park in downtown Ithaca, which has lots of free parking
- Warmup: Lunge Matrix and Leg Swings, then 10 minutes of jogging
- Cooldown: A few minutes of jogging, then Strength and Mobility
- Pace Calculator: Jack Daniels’ VDOT Running Calculator