Fellow Endorphin Junkies
We had a mini-TMBC reunion on Tuesday at the W&L track, with Ze, Coach Rich, Jill and the Big Guy all trying to get in some true speed work, and all admitted that conditions were awful and they could not wait for a break in the weather. Well, we did not get one! ;-)
So, tomorrow is more of the same, with Temp plus Dew point right near 150 (75 degrees and Dew point of 74) starting the day at 6 to 7 AM, and only getting worse as the day progresses, so bring lots of fluids and try to get an early workout.
Speaking of speed, we are going to do Coach Ed's 500m workout that most of us skipped to run the Club Challenge 1 Miler, and a couple of us will be at Yorktown tomorrow morning at 7 AM, but others might want to plan to be there either before or after – or at W&L or Falls Church HS - for now, let's keep the groups small, familiar, staggered in start times, and disorganized As required! ;-)
August 13, 2020 - 6 x 500m in 5k pace - with 300m jog recovery in between
• Stallions: 5:45 to 6:15 Pace
• Wolf Pack: 6:15 to 6:45 Pace
• Gazelles: 6:45 to 7:30 Pace
• Coyotes/MTP Trainees: 7:30 to 10:00 Pace
This is another speed workout guaranteed to build both strength and stamina for your fall races. 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. I would ease into these by running the first couple in 8k or 10k pace, but also feel free to crush the last couple in 3k pace if you are still feeling frisky.
In club news from Coach Rich ...
Greetings Thursday faithful. A couple of nice results to report this week. Both from the over 50 crowd. Did I really write that? LOL
Paul Ryan is participating in the Virtual USATF Masters Championships and turned in a season best 800 of 2:56. At age 69 that is an age-graded 2:09. Way to go Paul!
Mark Bourgeois has spent the summer concentrating on improving his mile time. This week he ran a time trial in 6 minutes on the nose. This was a 6 second improvement and he now has his goal of sub-6 squarely in his sights. It is also an age-graded 5:05 at age 54. Great job Mark and huge congrats.
Happy running!
For this Week's Vocies from the Crew – Jill Bratsky!:
Big Guy posed four separate questions to me for this missive, and I've decided to tackle two: the transition from cycling to running, and my fascination with gloves—which, if you see my workouts on Strava, you know all about [and are wondering about like me! – Coach BG].
Before I detail the glove obsession and its origins, it's probably worth noting I have a series of degrees in an esoteric, mathematically-influenced Humanities research area that amounts to pattern recognition. The precursor to glovespotting goes back a few years, when I started noticing discarded dental picks while out riding or running and started an Instagram feed dedicated to them. (Yep, I realize this is odd, but so is flossing in public.) Then came COVID-19. In mid-March, discarded gloves started appearing, and so I started taking pictures of them. It's since expanded to other PPE, plus socks (glove substitutes?), the occasional hat, q-tip, or small kitchen utensil (a.k.a. the Bourgeoisian Holy Grail). Thus far, July 11 wins for most PPE: 6 gloves, 7 masks, and 6 socks. Many, many thanks to those who have identified the locations of other gloves in the wild for me! Keep them coming, please...
As for moving from cycling to running, I'd always done some running, mostly as a part of triathlons, and was dreadful at (and miserable while doing) it. When I moved to D.C., I was a year removed from riding RAGBRAI, and regularly put in 200+-miles/week on the bike. The combination of a cold winter and an unwelcoming cycling community pushed me towards running. I started to like it, then even though I (still) don't enjoy racing, started signing up for races. Three years later, it's become a way of life and, although I'll never be speedy, my aspirational 5k pace from late 2017 (which I was sooooo proud of then) is now my marathon pace—if we ever get to run marathons again. Although I still spend time in the saddle, it's usually via a Wahoo Kickr Core (trainer), which connects to my road bike, and Zwift. I was hit by a car last summer while riding and don't care to repeat the experience!
Coach Big Guy will be out doing the workout tomorrow, while Coach Rich will be resting before helping Admiral Paul with another assault on the Records Books Friday!
