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2 x 20m Tempo

Fellow Endorphin Junkies -

The weather tomorrow morning will be chilly, with temps at 39 degrees and lower humidity at 64%, with some wind at 6 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.

March 5th, 2020 – 2 x 20:00 minute Tempo Runs (These at 10m pace), with walk back to start plus water and 2:30 minute standing rest

Water breaks are important ALL year round, especially when it hot 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 low to Mid 80% of Maximum range, and if your rates are higher, you need to slow down!

Stallions: 6:15 to 6:45 Pace

Wolf Pack: 6:45 to 7:15 Pace

Gazelles: 7:15 to 8:00 Pace

Coyotes/MTP Trainees: 8:00 to 10:45 Pace

This week's workout is a solid base workout, and since we are going 20 miles long on Saturday, this is a nice break from the more intensive speed work we have been doing. Take it easy on the first interval, accelerating slowly up to 10m pace. Coach Ed says if you are running a spring marathon, to do them 30-35 seconds off your marathon pace. Walk back to the start, get some water, and then we will start the second 20 minute interval where I want you to do the same - accelerate slowly but steadily from to 10m pace, with perhaps a couple of final laps at 10k pace. Both of these intervals are great opportunities to learn to make moves in longer races where you accelerate to catch and pass runners who are running a steady pace.

Here is the Coach Rich Club News this week:

Several races to report on for this past weekend but first a mea culpa. Apologies to Hai and Kevin. Their really strong races at the Club Challenge two weeks ago were PRs for each of them. Belated congrats gents!

At Sunday night's banquet crew members brought home 3 of the club awards. Congrats at again to Liz Ozeki, Female Runner of the Year and Christine Westcott, Female Masters runner of the Year. Yours truly was awarded Coach of the Year. Thank you very much for the kind words that were delivered with this award. It remains my pleasure to be out there with you all every week and working hard to improve what we love to do, run and run faster! You guys are special.

The Barcroft 5K was a fundraiser for the school Melinda teaches at. Only fitting that she won the race in a time of 21:38. Not first female but 1st overall. She did tell me that she had to chase down a little kid to do it. Way to go Melinda FTW!!! Huge congrats.

Down in Atlanta we had a handful of folks take on the half marathon after watching the trials the day before. How exciting for Bonnie as she decided to run with Meb in his pace group and she called it here best race ever! Not a PR mind you so there you have it. If you were at the banquet on Sunday, I call that perspective. Bonnie has some great pics of her and Meb on Instagram and Facebook

1:24:25 - Chris Walsh, PR by ~3.5 minutes!
1:25:08 - Liz Ozeki passing Chris
1:39:28 - Bonnie Harvey
1:43:35 - Kenneth Riley
1:52:22 - Emily Riley

The Burke Lake 12K was the race number 7 of 8 in the Snowball Series. Several of us took on the challenge on a beautiful morning

45:20 - Paul Martinovich, 3rd OA
49:28 - Steve Peterson, 3rd AG
52:44 - Melinda Metz, 2nd AG
54:08 - Mikala Whitaker, 1st AG
55:04 - Rich Mendelowitz, 1st AG
56:42 - Kate Scott, 2nd AG
1:01:22 - Will Hernandez
1:13:04 - Keith Campbell

The last race of the Snowball Series is this Sunday March 8. It's the Fort Hunt 10k which is a flat fast course. Still time to register to race or volunteer. Go to http://dcroadrunners.org

Mikala is raising money for a charity run at the NYC Marathon. She is holding a benefit night at Pupatella Pizzeria. (Perhaps my favorite pizza in Arlington). Visit Pupatella Pizzeria (5104 Wilson Blvd) on Wednesday, March 11 from 3-9 p.m. and 25% of money spent will go towards Mikala Whitaker's NYC Marathon fundraiser for Rising New York Road Runners, which gives free running programs to kids across the U.S. Make sure to tell the restaurant that you're there for the fundraiser. RSVPs are encouraged but not required: https://bit.ly/3a4UGE1

Coach Big Guy and Coach Rich will be there at track practice tomorrow!

4 to 4 x 1600m + 2 x 400m

Fellow Endorphin Junkies -

The weather tomorrow morning will be cold, with temps at 38 degrees and relatively high humidity at 60%, but very windy at 16 MPH, so dress for it, 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.

February 27, 2020 - 4 to 5 x 1600m in Cruise Interval Pace (10k pace) with 400m easy jogs in between, Plus 2 x 400m to finish at 5k Pace, 200m jog 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: 5:45 to 6:30 Pace, 5 x 1600m Intervals

Wolf Pack: 6:30 to 7:15 Pace, 4 - 5 x 1600m Intervals

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

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

The posted workout is 1600M repeats at 10K pace (McMillan "cruise intervals") with a 400M-recovery jog. Recommended number of repeats is 4 to 5. The goal of this workout is volume, not speed. Those running early spring marathons should definitely aim for 4 or 5 repeats. The way to get there is to control your pace, factoring in that while conditions are comparatively good for winter, the wind will slow you, particularly if you are not following a Clydesdale like Coach BG. So, aim for volume, not speed, within the pace guidelines set out above, and this will be a truly productive workout. The 400s, as always, are a great way to finish strong and prepare for your quick at the end of races. As Coach Ed noted in his email today, if you threw down on Sunday, you might want to slow your pace a bit or cut back an interval or two from the workout.

Here is the Coach Rich Club News this week:

Hi Everyone. Since Keith likes retirement so much I have decided to join him! In fact, today is my first day of retirement. I am very excited and especially for no more 4 AM alarms to go running. Vicki and I will be spending the month of June hiking the Coast-to-Coast Trail across northern England from the Irish Sea to the North Sea as our first adventure. I loved running my workout this morning down at Hains Point and at 8AM. Sorry I won't see you tomorrow as I worked out a day early for an added day of rest before Sunday's race. See you there and at the banquet. I'll be back on the track next week.

Great work by tons of club members at this past weekends Club Challenge 10M. The weather was so good. Cold, clear and no wind. At least for a winter race of course. DCRRC had 94 runners finish. 4th largest behind MRRC, HCS and BRRC. DCRRC teams had 3 podium finishes. All 3rd places. Female under 40, which was led by Liz and including Christie and Bonnie. Men's Masters led by Ze. Men's Grand Masters which included Steve. Here is how our crew members ran and this tremendously challenging 10M course.

1:00:02 - Rodrigo Vellon
1:00:55 - Alex Cooke
1:01:42 - Liz Ozeki, 3rd OAF, PR

1:01:53 - Christie Wetzel
1:02:16 - Ze Dagher
1:04:53 - Chris Walsh, PR (I think?)
1:05:32 - Kyle Edgerton
1:05:39 - Will Hernandez
1:05:47 - Steve Peterson

1:06:39 - Hai Nguyen

1:10:36 - Bonnie Harvey
1:10:50 - Melinda Metz
1:11:18 - Hope Seck
1:14:59 - Kevin Cunningham
1:15:00 - Rich Mendelowitz
1:15:06 - Li Fang
1:15:37 - Kate Scott
1:19:45 - Mark Borgeois, PR
1:27:37 - Dara Schulman
1:35:47 - Keith Campbell
1:52:37 - Clara Lau

This Sunday March 1 is the Burke Lake 12K. Race number 7 of 8 in the Snowball Series. Sign up at dcroadrunners.org
The DCRRC Annual Banquet is also Sunday starting at 6PM. Please attend. You must sign up in advance at dcroadrunners.org. Sign up tonight, as the cost goes up $5 tomorrow! As part of the event, we are running a healthy cereal drive for the Capital Area Food Bank. Please bring sugar free or low sugar boxes of cereal to donate. Everyone that donates will be eligible for a door prize drawing.
The last race of the Snowball Series is Sunday March 8. It's the Fort Hunt 10k which is a flat fast course.
Sign up for a free Tread & Train class at Formula Running Center in Clarendon. First-come, first-serve for this DCRR-members-only class on Saturday, February 29th at 9:45am. Sign up here: https://formularunning.com/login/

Mikala is raising money for a charity run at the NYC Marathon. She is holding a benefit night at Pupatella Pizzeria. (Perhaps my favorite pizza in Arlington). Visit Pupatella Pizzeria (5104 Wilson Blvd) on Wednesday, March 11 from 3-9 p.m. and 25% of money spent will go towards Mikala Whitaker's NYC Marathon fundraiser for Rising New York Road Runners, which gives free running programs to kids across the U.S. Make sure to tell the restaurant that you're there for the fundraiser. RSVPs are encouraged but not required: https://bit.ly/3a4UGE1

Coach Big Guy will be there in the morning, but Coach Rich is taking it easy having run a hard workout today on his first day of retirement!