DC Road Runners - Enter your slogan here

Yasso 800s - 6 to 8 800s

Fellow Endorphin Junkies -

We will be at the Yorktown track tomorrow, in Greenbriar Park around the corner from the school entrance, so meet us for warm up around 5:40 AM for a 6 AM sharp start. Tomorrow will be cool and breezy, with Temps from the Mid-40s, some humidity at 87%, a bit of wind at 10 mph, and little chance of rain - a good day to run but remember to hydrate despite the mild temps!

INVITATION – it's that time again – Coach Big Guy & Mrs. Big Guy's Annual Kentucky Derby Party at Chez Big Guy – fabulous Mint Juleps, delicious Southern Fare, and excellent fellowship – and we runners get to see someone else run – the Ponies! ;-) From 5 to 8 PM this Saturday – just drop a note (bigguy at dcroadrunners.org) so that we have enough libations and food – see you there!

May 4, 2023 – Yasso 800s – 6 to 8 Yasso 800s - at a pace where your expected marathon time in hours and minutes is your 800 pace in minutes and seconds, with 400m easy jogs between each 800 in the exact same time as your 800, not faster or slower

To reiterate how to calculate your 800 time take the hours and minutes of your expected (hoped for) marathon time – in my case three hours and 50 minutes (Dream on!) and convert that to an 800 time of three minutes and 50 seconds, followed by a slow 400m jog in three minutes fifty seconds. It is VERY easy to jog that 400m too fast – but don't do it! Much more critical to run ALL of the 800s at the same pace/time, even as you tire, and fully recover if possible, on that exact same time on the slow 400. Yasso 800s are a favorite of Coach Ed and Coach Big Guy, developed by the legendary Bart Yasso – and one of the best workouts you can do for the marathon!

Here is the Coach Rich Club Report:

Hi Everyone. A few real nice results from last weekend's racing ...

Carrie Dunn went up to Phill for the Broadstreet 10M. This is a famous race with great competition and a super-fast downhill course, and over 40,000 runners! Carrie turned in a blazing 1:05:50 good for 2nd 45-49. Way to go Carrie!

Eunja Rau is visiting family and vacationing in South Korea where she ran the Jeju International Half Marathon in a time of 2:01:35. You will have to ask her about why runners in the race cheer you on by saying "fighting". Eunja couldn't do that so she said good job. All in Korean of course. Nice work Eunja!

Mike Cannon ran a real nice 25:54 at the Manassas Runway 5K. This was good for 3rd 65-69. Way to go Mike!!!

The Bunion Derby kicks off with the Women's Distance Festival and the Run After the Women's 5K on Sunday morning June 4. To register to run or volunteer and see the complete lineup of Bunion Derby races go to www.dcroadrunners.org.

Happy Running!

Coach Big Guy will be out at Yorktown in the morning!

10 x 500m in 5k pace, 300m jogs

Fellow Endorphin Junkies

We will be at the Yorktown track tomorrow, in Greenbriar Park around the corner from the school entrance, so meet us for warm up around 5:40 AM for a 6 AM sharp start. Tomorrow's weather will be cooler, with temps in the Upper 40s, higher humidity at 91%, with some wind, so FABULOUS spring weather. Despite the nice conditions, you should still bring water for hydration after at least every other interval after you finish the 300m jog rest interval.

April 27, 2023 - 10 x 500m in 5k pace, with 300m jog recovery in between

• Stallions: 5:30 to 6:30 Pace
• Wolf Pack: 6:30 to 7:00 Pace
• Gazelles: 7:00 to 7:45 Pace
• Coyotes/MTP Trainees: 7:45 to 9:30 Pace

This is another speed workout guaranteed to build both strength and stamina for your spring races! Tomorrow, I believe you should start at 10k pace on the first couple of intervals, increasing pace each interval quickly until you are running 5k pace. These are tougher than they look, so try to finish strong - push that last 100, and make sure you focus on form, so you run efficiently, effectively, and injury-free. Biggest area of improvement needed for most is to lift your knees higher, while dropping your arm swings to your waist. Be careful about crossing your arms across your chest, as this rotates your core and slows you down. Running every interval just a little faster will help you learn to control your pace, which is very important in shorter races from 5k to the half marathon – and essential tool in your repertoire.

In club news from Coach Rich ...

Greetings Thursday morning faithful. Good news and bad news for our Thursday morning speediness. The YHS Track will be resurfaced starting mid-June. It will be beautiful when complete and at long last you will have a 100m to go marker for those 400 repeats with 100 rests. Now the bad news of course is that the track will be closed for 6 weeks till the end of July and that is a little squishy as weather can cause delays along the way. I will keep you posted for exact start dates but look for a beautiful blue track when it is done!

Congrats to our Nate and Hope at the Parkway Classic 10 Miler

1:11:06 - Nate Rathjen
1:14:33 - Hope Seck

The Bunion Derby kicks off with the Women's Distance Festival and the Run After the Women's 5K on Sunday morning June 4. To register to run or volunteer and see the complete lineup of Bunion Derby races go to www.dcroadrunners.org.

Happy running!

Coach Big Guy is back from ATX will be at Yorktown in the AM!