For this week’s workout, we’re going to bring back a popular summer chase workout that I’m calling “Come Together” (so we have another theme song) given the goal of getting everyone to finish at the same time. We’ll be running 6 reps of an almost 800m loop around the top of the Arboretum by the bell—see the map below—with everyone aiming for I pace. For the first rep, we’ll all start together and I’ll record times. Then, for the 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. For instance, if Tonya runs a 4:30 800m and Patrick a 3:00 800m on the first one, Tonya gets a 90-second head start over Patrick on the subsequent ones, with everyone else slotting in somewhere in between. I’ll adjust the offsets as people get tired or to account for someone sandbagging early on. 
Recoveries will be 3 minutes of walking or jogging around the road loop by the bell. The faster people will get more rest, but I’m also expecting them to be incapable of not pushing the pace faster because of starting so far behind.
We’ll meet at 6 PM (ready to start at 6:15 PM) at the parking area in the bowl of the F. R. Newman Arboretum in the Cornell Botanic Gardens (Google Maps pin). After our lunge matrix, leg swings, and 10 minutes of warmup jogging, we’ll reconvene at the top of the Arboretum to start the workout.
The goal of this workout is to give everyone some experience with different positions in a race, where sometimes you’re more in front of a pack and other times you’re pursuing a pack. And the chase aspect of the workout tends to get people to push a little harder than they would on standard repeats. 
Everyone is welcome at these workouts, though you must sign the FLRC Training Programs waiver once for 2023 and, if you’re coming regularly, be an FLRC member. You don’t have to run PGXC—the workouts are great social running on their own—but we’ll try to recruit you.
Any questions? See you Tuesday night!
Resources
- Pace Calculator: Jack Daniels VDOT Running Calculator
- Warmup: Jay Johnson’s Leg Swings and/or Lunge Matrix, then at least 10 minutes of jogging
- Cooldown: At least 10 minutes of jogging, then Jay Johnson’s Strength and Mobility
- FLRC Calendar: (Download and import this ICS file for most calendar apps; subscribe to fingerlakesrunners@gmail.com if you use Google Calendar.)