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Thursday Track - 4-5 x 1600

Fellow Endorphin Junkies -

First and foremost, the Club Banquet is this coming Sunday evening. We sure hope to see many of you on Sunday night at the club banquet except as now, except for our winners and their spouses, only Arielle, Christie, Rodrigo, Kyle and Rich are signed up to actually attend. Please consider coming. This is one of the club’s premier events. We hold elections and have a great event, with a great speaker. And of course we present the 2018 club award winners. Please come and celebrate with all our winners which include Thursday morning runners; Liz, Christine and Paul Ryan. YOU HAVE TO REGISTER IN ADVANCE at this link: https://www.dcroadrunners.org/sign-up/banquet

The weather tomorrow morning will be cold but nice, with temps at 38 degrees and lower humidity at 63%, but a bit breezy with wind at 10 MPH, so dress accordingly, and as always you should still bring fluids.

Accordingly, the Thursday Morning DCRRC Track Practice in Arlington will begin at the Yorktown High School track tomorrow at 6:00 AM sharp, with announcements before 6 - so please get there early at about 5:40 on the track to warm up for the workout at 6, which is around the corner from the school, at the intersection of North 28th and Greenbriar streets.

November 1, 2018 - 4 to 5 x 1600m in Cruise Interval Pace/Tempo Interval (10k/10m pace) with 400m easy jogs in between

Water breaks are important ALL year round, even when it cooler like tomorrow, so remember to hydrate before, during and after your runs - tomorrow after each interval!

NOTE: I expect to see your heart rates in the High 80% of Maximum range, and if your rates are higher, you need to slow down!

Stallions: 6:00 to 6:45 Pace, 5 x 1600m Intervals

Wolf Pack: 6:45 to 7:15 Pace, 4 - 5 x 1600m Intervals

Gazelles: 7:15 to 8:00 Pace, 4 - 5 x 1600 m Intervals

Coyotes/MTP Trainees: 8:00 to 10:30 Pace, 4 x 1600m

Suggested number of intervals are based on you being at recovered from recent racing. For Boston or spring marathons, try to hit 10 k pace, while if you are doing a shorter race, the 10m pace is good. This week’s workout is base workout, aiming at building strength and endurance for your spring marathon, especially if it is Boston. As always, don’t go out too quick on the first couple, and try to make each interval a bit faster than the last.  Mentally divide each 1600 in 4 parts - first 400, settle into a good rhythm, second 400 focus on form - knees higher than long runs and up on the toes, third 400 make sure you are relaxing and using your arms to lift the knees, not crossing over your body, and last 400, accelerate slowly to finish strong! Remember to leave something in the tank for your last interval, as these segments can be very challenging, even at 10k pace.

Here is the Coach Rich Club News this week:

Some solid racing performances at this past weekend's Club Challenge 10M. This is a grueling course but a great competition amongst all the local RRCA clubs. Sadly, we were generally 3rd or 4th in each team category. We'll gettum next year.

1:01:15 - Rodrigo Vellon, PR

1:04:34 - Christie Wetzel

1:08:51 - Steve Peterson

1:09:16 - Liz Ozeki

1:11:09 - Chris Walsh

1:13:41 - Bonnie Harvey

1:15:02 - Melinda Metz

1:21:05 - Neeraj Pradhan

1:31:22 - Hai Nguyen

1:38:11 - Keith Campbell

Sunday morning is the Burke Lake 12K. Still time to register: http://dcroadrunners.org

Coach Big Guy will be back from Austin and there at track practice tomorrow, but Coach is still recovering so we will miss him.

TMBC Cancelled 2/21

Fellow Endorphin Junkies:

The weather today through tomorrow is pretty miserable, with snow, sleet, ice, wintery mix, and rain today and overnight, with early morning freezing/near-freezing, so that the chances of either Yorktown or W&L being safe enough to run on tomorrow are so unlikely that Coach Rich and I have decided to cancel tomorrow's formal practice.

If we had to miss a formal practice, however, this is not a bad one to miss. Many of you will be running the Club Challenge 10 Miler this weekend, and with the hills and length and runner challenges it offers, missing a hard workout is not a bad thing three days prior to such a race. Moreover, tomorrow's workout was our familiar 2 x 15:00 Tempo runs with a 2:30 rest in between, and that is one of the easiest to transfer to SAFE roads near your home, which are much more likely to be clear than either track.

So, if you are running the Club Challenge 10 Miler, enjoy the extra day of rest – perhaps it will lead to a course PR. If you feel compelled to run tomorrow, you can easily do this one by yourself on SAFE roads, with a good warm-up/warm down.

Accordingly, the Thursday Morning DCRRC Track Practice in Arlington is CANCELLED.

February 21, 2019 – Formal Practice Cancelled – if you can find Safe streets, 2 x 15:00 of Tempo with 2:30 rest in between can be done on your own

Water breaks are important ALL year round, even in this kind of weather, so remember to hydrate before, during and after your runs.

In club news from Coach Rich ...

Congrats to Christine Westcott winning the Club's George Washington's Birthday Marathon in 3:19. It was a sprint to the finish against the Number 2 finisher thanks to Christine having to make 3 bio breaks along the way. This is an incredibly difficult course and another amazing accomplishment for Christine.

The club challenge 10M is this Sunday the 24th but registration is closed – good luck registered runners! The DCRRC Happy Hour is next Thursday night February 21, details on the website http://dcroadrunners.org. I look forward to seeing many of you there.

ANOTHER BIG REQUEST FOR TMBC ... Our annual DCRRC Banquet is on Sunday night March 3. This is a great time with great friends and great food. We honor our 2018 club award winners and this year like the past there is great representation from Thursday morning receiving awards: Liz Ozeki - Most Improved Female, Paul Ryan - Male Masters Runner of the Year, Christine Westcott - Female Masters Runner of the Year. Please come out to this event and cheer on these amongst and all our clubs winners, as registration numbers are low to date. Dinner is only $20, and it is a quite good family-style Italian, and a great speaker, so please sign up. Here is the link to register: https://www.dcroadrunners.org/sign-up/banquet

Coach Big Guy will be in Austin and able to do the workout there (60 degrees!), but Coach Rich is still recovering from surgery, so you are on your own tomorrow and a warm bed and a day off will serve many of you well!