XC workout Tuesday 9/2 at 6 PM at the Cornell Botanic Gardens

Group Runs & Workouts
1

We’re getting ever closer to cross country season, so please sign up for:

This week, we’ll be doing our 800m Equalizer workout, which consists of 6 reps of an 800-meter loop around the ponds and the sculpture garden at 5K pace—see the map below. Everyone will start together for the first rep, and I’ll record finishing times and calculate the offsets between each runner (hopefully with help from a non-running friend). Then, for the second and subsequent reps, we’ll do a staggered start from slow to fast, forcing the faster people to run in pursuit of the slower people. If the offsets work out properly, everyone should come in together at roughly the same time.

image
image1558×1122 183 KB

For instance, if Ying runs a 4:30 800m and Chris a 3:00 800m on the first one, Ying gets a 90-second head start over Chris on the subsequent ones, with others slotting in somewhere in between. I may adjust the offsets as people get tired or to account for someone sandbagging early on. :slight_smile:

Recoveries will be 3 minutes of walking or jogging around the field. The faster people will get more rest, but I’m also expecting them to be incapable of not pushing the pace faster because they are starting so far behind. Part of the goal of this workout is to teach you how to race from a different spot in the pack, with slower people learning what it’s like to lead and faster people forced to play catch-up.

Meet on Tuesday at 6 PM at the parking area in the bowl of the F. R. Newman Arboretum in the Cornell Botanic Gardens (Google Maps pin) and be ready to start the warmup at 6:15 PM among the sculptures. Invite your friends and recruit new students!

Resources