Approaching Week Eleven 5/5/07 in DC

2007 DCRRC 10K Training Program
Remaining 2007 SCHEDULE–9 am Every Saturday:

11. 5/5–Stanton Square in DC (near Union Station at Mass & Maryland Aves., C & 4th St.)
12. 5/12–Stanton Square in DC (near Union Station at Mass & Maryland Aves., C & 4th St.)
13. CHC 10K RACE is Sunday 5/20/07 at 8:30 am at Stanton Square.

NEXT WEEK (Week 11): Next Saturday, 5/5/07 at 9 am, (and also the twelveth and last week of training before the race) we’ll meet in DC at the actual starting point of the race, at Stanton Square a few blocks east and south of Union Station down Mass Ave. Click here for directions or go to the the Capitol Hill Classic 10K website. That is our goal race and you should study the course map anyway before you run it. You'll just have to find parking along the street or pay for parking at Union Station and walk over (an 8 minute walk) or take the Red Line to Union Station. Give yourself some extra time.

LAST WEEK: In WEEK 10, about a dozen athletes showed up at East Falls Church Metro Station and we ran six and a half miles west and back on the W&OD Trail in about an hour. (Left: Nobody, not even Mary Alice, was faster than Jake on Saturday. L-R, Hallie, Ashley, Gary and Arnetta.) The turnout included some alumni from last year's TKG program. Check out the great photos in Jeanne's post, just below this one. Everybody looked great and Mary Alice blazed the pace at about 8:40 minutes per mile. She's ready! Afterwards we chatted about running and things for twenty minutes at the top of the stairs leading down from the trail to the station's Kiss & Ride parking lot. (Right: Remember how far off the race seemed those weeks running on the Mall in February and March?)

Sunday was the Hill Workout in Falls Church. John showed up (I don't think he's in the TKG program) and in an hour of running, we ran about 5 miles up and over the hill and back again ten times on Highland Avenue, including one infamous boomerang (a dizzying descent and back again on a side hill). We practiced our downhill running and our pace (footstrike, turnover or cadence). Both are technique-driven and will make you faster. Afterwards I ran into Coach Bob riding his bike (!) on the W&OD Trail. He had come looking for the Hill Workout which conveniently was over! Incredibly, his bike had a bell on it, and he even demonstrated to me that he knew how to use it (he is a runner, after all). Your coach now is ready for the hill in Capitol Hill in the sixth mile. How about you? (Above: You will encounter this view on May 20th at around 8:50 a.m. after you have already run over five miles. Will you conquer this hill, or will it conquer you? Left: John getting ready for hills.)

Don’t forget the club will offer a Ten-Mile Group Training Program ("TMG") starting on Saturday, July 14th at 8 a.m. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial (the steps that face the Washington Monument). The cost is $35. I hope to see all of you there. The goal race will be the Army Ten-Miler on Sunday, October 7, 2007 at the Pentagon. It’s a fun, albeit jinxed, race, fast flat and full (almost). As of today, there are only 6,015 slots left out of 26,000 originally available. Sign up soon if you know you’re going to run it!

Notable Upcoming Run: The Arlington YMCA’s Mother’s Day 10K on Sunday, May 13, 2007 was last year’s program’s goal race and is a worthy race to run. It is challenging and it runs over the very same hills we did two Saturdays ago when we hit the Custis Trail.

There are many fine running products out there. The many fine area running stores, like Fleet Feet in Adams Morgan, or Metro Run & Walk in Falls Church, Springfield and Rockville, or Pacers in Old Town and Arlington, or Gotta Run in Pentagon Row and Annapolis, or others, stock reputable products at fair prices. Go to a store and check out your running needs.

RUN ON YOUR OWN: You better!! I can tell who is! This week you should run three or four times on your own, 35 to 55 minutes each time, with some of the runs at a ten or eleven minute per mile pace or better. On Saturday, each coach will take you out on a route they choose that is a little further than we went last week. Our goal race is the Capitol Hill Classic 10K (CHC) on 5/20/07 which has a serious hill in the last mile. We’re within three weeks of the race now so it’s time to concentrate on your training! If you want to run the goal race at the conclusion of the program, you must sign up at the CHC website for the race and pay the entry fee on your own.

CLUB TRACK WORKOUT: In the meantime, go to the club’s website and look at the Wednesday evening track workout schedule at 7:15 pm every Wednesday at the Washington & Lee High School Track in Arlington. Speed workouts will make you better.

Visit the program’s running commentary on the Forum link at the club's website for more information. There’s lots of interesting and pertinent information there. Please feel free to comment on the blog or this forum link. As a matter of fact, I double dare you to comment!

Coaching tips:
Study the course map and familiarize yourself with where the milemarkers are. Pasta load the night before the race (spaghetti is traditional) and get plenty of rest! Lay out your racing items before you go to bed. Give yourself PLENTY of time to get there. Email your coach or me if you want/need more pre-race tips.

Odds & Ends: Read Jeanne's post right below this one concerning charity running. Ashley is running Chicago in the fall and needs to raise $500 for a worthy charity benefitting both education and underdeveloped regions. I am raising money in the same race for the same cause.
See you Saturday!