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No TMBC - On Track On Your Own - 3 x 1600m in 10k Pace, 400m jogs + 2 x 400m in 5k, 200m jog

Fellow Endorphin Junkies

Tomorrow's weather will be chilly and windy, upper 30s to mid-50s with 20 to 30 mph winds and humidity. W&L and Yorktown are essentially closed according to the County website, but Yorktown and some of the Fairfax County HS tracks (McLean and Falls Church apparently) are open for track work, but you could do this workout anywhere on flatter trails where miles are marked off if you cannot find an open track.

Coach Big Guy will be sending out an email this week discussing the possibility of opening back up track workouts but would like some input from our regular track attendees – with the hope to gather a select group as early as next week. As usual, Coach BG and his pod, as well as some others will be at Yorktown in the AM – this week starting the intervals at 7:30 AM.

April 22, 2021 – No TMBC - ON THE TRACK ON YOUR OWN: 3 x 1600m in 10k Pace, with 400m jogs between, then 2 x 400m in 5k pace with 200m jog

Stallions: 5:45 to 6:30 Pace, 15 to 30 seconds faster on the 5k Pace

Wolf Pack: 6:30 to 7:15 Pace, 15 to 30 seconds faster on the 5k Pace

Gazelles: 7:15 to 8:00 Pace, 15 to 30 seconds faster on the 5k Pace

Coyotes/MTP Trainees: 8:00 to 10:00 Pace, 15 to 30 seconds faster on the 5k Pace

When your track intervals lengthen to a mile, it is sometimes difficult to remember that you really want to change your form, style, cadence, etc. from your standard runs, but you really should. It makes a big difference if you switch your form to speed work – focus on lifting your knees, getting up on your toes, and using your arms in sync to lift the opposite leg. Don't fall into the trap of lengthening your stride – cadence should increase measurably on the track as opposed to the road and trail. Keep your core still and relaxed, and do not cross your arms over your body mid-point – this will swing your core (thus not still) and throw your stride off. On these longer intervals, break them down – for example, on Lap 1 focus on form – am I up on my toes and lifting knees? Lap 2 – am I relaxed – am I pushing while not getting to tense? Lap 3 – how is my breathing – through my nose and mouth - deeply? Lap 4 – Finish strong, – but remember we are doing the traditional 2 x 400m in 5k Pace to finish, so let's try to leave a little in the tank for those.

And now the Coach Rich News!

Greetings Thursday morning faithful. One really nice result this week. Arielle Weiner decided to shake off the racing cobwebs and ran a Cherry Blossom 10M down at Hains Point. She had some great weather and took full advantage of the flat terrain uncorking a PR time of 1:04:29. A fabulous time for Arielle and well the PR speaks for itself. Running over the pandemic time has been good to her. Huge congrats Arielle!

Happy Running!

Coach Big Guy will be out doing the workout at W&L tomorrow, hoping to lure Coach Rich to visit!

No TMBC - 6 to 8 Yasso 800s, 400m jogs

Fellow Endorphin Junkies

Tomorrow will be cool and breezy, with Temps from the upper-50s to the Mid 60s, some humidity, little wind, and a chance of rain if you run real early, but tapering off - a good day to run but not the best, wear a windbreaker and remember to hydrate despite the milder temps! A few of us will be at Yorktown at 8 AM tomorrow, and last week we had some TMBC members before and after the 8 AM workout, so I expect we might see some of you tomorrow at Yorktown, while others will head to McLean or even Falls Church HS for track work since W&L apparently is closed for the time being and requires climbing fences to use. We are in the process of discussing conditions for restarting TMBC and hope to have practices open to some by the end of April – we will let you know when we know.

April 15, 2021 – NO OFFICIAL TMBC – BUT ON THE TRACK ON YOUR OWN: 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 Coach Bowman from Oregon who coached Steve Prefontaine – and one of the best workouts you can do for the marathon!

Here is the Coach Rich Club Report:

Greetings Thursday Faithful. A couple of results to report this week and a reminder. I report on all news and results that I can find for our Thursday crew. If I follow you on Strava I will see your runs. I also review club races and other local events but if I am not following you on Strava I would still like to report on your results so just send me a short note with the info via email. Feel free to also give me a quote or some other interesting tidbit about your event or performance. As a reminder, my email address is rich@dcroadrunners.org

At the races last weekend, Kate Scott ran her first solo virtual race, Cherry Blossom 10M. She ran it on the Mt. Vernon Trail from the airport to Alexandria and back. Kate's time was a real nice 1:16:53. She said it was mentally tough going it alone, but she got it done. Well done Kate and congrats!

Ze Dagher was back at it for another EX2 Backyard Burn Series race. This week at Lake Fairfax and the 5M event. He reported that this race had everything: river crossings, hills, roots, rocks and dreaded downhills. Time doesn't matter too much in that kind of terrain but Ze was tough as always with a 46:52 which still got him 11th out of 100 overall. There are great pics of him on his Strava entry. Congrats Ze!

Happy Running!

Coach Big Guy will be out doing the workout at YHS tomorrow, and we are hoping Coach Rich will join the Big Guy, Iron Man, Jill and new Studette Lauren at Yorktown tomorrow!