Welcome to the DCRRC Wednesday Night Track Workouts. In conjunction with our year-round distance-specific training programs, and our regular Saturday Long Runs, these workouts aim to give runners of all abilities the fitness to reach their goals. For the novice or casual runner, these workouts will challenge you to a higher level of running fitness. For the competitive runner, track workouts are an essential means to reaching personal bests and to succeed at whatever level you are competing.
Where & When
Unless otherwise noted, workouts are held on the track at Washington-Liberty (formerly Washington-Lee) High School in Arlington. We meet near the concession stand (northwest corner) at 6:45pm and start the workout at 7:00pm. Warmups, drills, etc. are on your own.
Philosophy
Our workouts focus on two of the three forms of speed work used by distance runners from the 5K to the Marathon: Stamina Training (10K race pace or slower) and Interval Training (around 5K race pace). We also do a limited amount of Speed Training (faster than 5K race pace) especially during the summer.
Do not worry if this is new to you, and especially if you feel that track workouts are for "fast" runners. Our posted workouts are suggested "maximums," and can be individually tailored to your current level of fitness and specific running goals. Our coach, Ed Grant, has been leading these workouts for 20 years, and is happy to customize a workout plan to meet your needs.
Paces
To get a sense of how fast you should run during these workouts, we encourage you use the McMillan Running Calculator. You can plug in a recent race time and a goal race time, and the Calculator will churn out Training Paces (click on that term) for everything from long runs to speed paces. We recommend applying Mark Hadley's temperature + dew point adjustments in warm and humid weather. Temperature and dew point forecasts are available from the National Weather Service.
August Workouts and Training Update
Club Members and Guests:August will be focused on cruise/tempo intervals, including one dose of our repeat 400s at 10K pace. We will focus more on faster interval work during September.
A word of about track availability. We should have full access to the track during August. September's schedule is not yet known, but we hope there will be fewer conflicts than in the pasr two years due to the completion of the Yorktown HS track.
I will adjust September workouts to ensure that we do our interval pace training on the track. Repeat miles can be done on the trail -- I will mark the trail later in August with hash marks to designate the 1/4 mile points, which should aid in pacing. We also can do workouts, if need be, on an alternate night during the weeks that the track is not available on Wedneday.
Note for Marathon Training Program: Consult with your coaches on the number of repeats you should attempt for each of these workouts. A good rule of thumb at this workout pace is that the distance you cover during the "fast' portions of the workout should not exceed 12 - 15 percent of your weekly mileage total. (The figure is 10 percent if workouts are being done at 5K pace.)
August 1: 6 to 8 x 800M at Tempo or Cruise Interval Pace (approximately 10M to 20K race pace). 200 rest interval, at a brisk jog.
Key to this work is controlling pace. If you go out too fast of the first one or two repeats, you will pay for it. Rest intervals should be consistent in length. First couple of repeats should feel relatively easy, like the early stages of a race.
August 8: 12 to 16 x 400M at 10K pace, with 100M recovery jog.
August 15: 4 to 6 x 1000M at Tempo/Cruise pace, with 200M jog.
This is a step up in difficuty from the August 1 workout, but should be run at approximately the same pace.
August 22: Part 1. Mile repeats. 3 x 1-mile at 10K pace, 400M jog recovery. Part 2: 3 x 300M at comfortable speed, slow 100M recovery.
This is another workout to repeat during the trainng cycle, and we will return to it 3 more times before the end of October. It is a good idea to to these progressively faster.
Part 2 of the workout should be done at good speed, about 5 minutes after you finish the final mile repeat. Strive for good form, and again, run the first repeat a bit easier, and pick up the pace for the final tw0.
August 29: Tempo Run. Good warm-up, then 20-Minute tempo-pace run. After a five minute break, do 2 x 400M at 5K pace, with a 200M recovery jog.
Preview of September:
Week 1: 4 x 5:00 at 5K pace, with 5-minute recovery.
Week 2: Mile Repeats at 10K pace. 300Ms finish.
Week 3: 1000M repeats at 5K pace.
Week 4: 400M repeats at 10K pace.
Preview of October:
Week 1: 2 x 15-minute tempo run. 400Ms to finish.
Week 2: Mile repeats at 10K pace. 300Ms to finish.
Week 3: 8 x 800M at 5K pace. 400M rest. (Final hard track workout for MCM runners.)
Week 4: 400M repeats at 10K pace.
Week 5: 1000M repeats at 5K pace.
Watch this space for updates.
Coach Ed
September Workout Schedule.
Club Members and Guests:The good news is that we apparently will have access to the track each Wednesday in September and October. The currently-posted Washington-Lee schedule indicates such. Obviously, rain-outs can change that scheduling, but we will clearly be able to get most of our fall workouts done on the track.
This month, we will alternate faster speed interval work in weeks 1 and 3 with 10K-pace work in weeks 2 and 4. This is all superb training for both marathons and shorter races from 5K to half-marathon.
Note for Marathon Training Program: Consult with your coaches on the number of repeats you should attempt for each of these workouts. A good rule of thumb at this workout pace is that the distance you cover during the "fast' portions of the workout should not exceed 12 - 15 percent of your weekly mileage total. (The figure is 10 percent if workouts are being done at 5K pace.)
September Workouts:
September 5: 4 repeats of 5:00 duration at 5K pace, with 5-minute recovery. The goal: Aim for a consistent distance covered in each of the 4 intervals, perhaps covering bit more distance each time. Recover almost fully during the rest interval. We will be very precise with the timing of the rest interval -- be there at the start!
September 12: 3-4 x 1-Mile Repeats at 10K pace. 400M jog interval. 3 x 300M to finish.
September 19: 5 x 1000M repeats at 5K pace. 600M recovery jog. (This should be done at a pace slightly faster than you averaged for your repeats during September 5 workout.)
September 26: 16-20 x 400M repeats at 10K pace. 100M recovery jog. OK to take a 2-minute break after first 8 or 10 repeats.
Preview of October:
Week 1: 2 x 15-minute tempo run. 400Ms to finish.
Week 2: Mile repeats at 10K pace. 300Ms to finish.
Week 3: 8 x 800M at 5K pace. 400M rest. (Final hard track workout for MCM runners.)
Week 4: 400M repeats at 10K pace.
Week 5: 1000M repeats at 5K pace.
Watch this space for updates.
Coach Ed