Week Nine will be ten miles at Gravelly Point

Saturday September 8, 2007 (week nine) the TMG will meet at 7:30 am at Gravelly Point off the George Washington Parkway in Virginia. That's the point by the Potomac River where you can watch the jets from RR National Airport come in or take off. You can ONLY access it by going NB on the GW Parkway. If you come SB on the parkway, you have to turn around by going through the airport and exiting from RR onto the NB (towards Washington) GW Parkway. Here is a schedule with directions for all twelve weeks of the TMG Program.

Matt's group will run 10-12 miles. Jeannie's group has a stepback week scheduled, eight miles, probably NB on the Mt. Vernon Trail four miles and return. (Left. Jeannie and Jeanne lead their group out heading for the Mount Vernon Trail in week 4.)

Linda's group will run 10 miles following this route which will take them over about 70% of the actual ATM race course. The route is :

NB on the Mt. Vernon Trail from Gravelly Point to the Memorial Bridge. Cross the river on the Memorial Bridge, now you are running the actual race route starting around MP 2. Run North Northeast on Henry Bacon Drive, then East on Constitution Avenue to Virginia Avenue. North Northwest on Virginia Avenue to Rock Creek Park, south on Rock Creek Parkway around the Lincoln Memorial to Independence Avenue, Eastbound on Independence all the way to Maryland Avenue where the new Native American Museum is. Turn around and backtrack from there (the Army course goes up Third and then past the Capitol on First before rejoining Independence) to 15th Street. (The Army route actually turns left on 14th Street and runs over the bridge, but pedestrians can't access the bridge from there unless the road is closed.) Run South on 15th Street around the east side of the Jefferson Memorial onto the 14th Street Bridge, back over the Potomac River to the Mt. Vernon Trail, exit the bridge to your right and circle around under the bridge and run SB on the Mt. Vernon Trail (thus leaving the Army course, which runs from the bridge straight out to the Pentagon) to Gravelly Point. Go that? You should study the Army Course before the race. Here is the link to the 10-mile route that Linda's group is running.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1278791

Last week (week 8): Matt's group ran 11 miles through Shirlington. Linda's group ran nine miles on the hilly Custis Trail. Jeannie's group ran 9-10 miles WB on the W&OD Trail.

Week 8 Sept. 1 is at Bluemont again

Week Eight Saturday September 1, 2007 at 7:30 am is at Bluemont Park in Arlington again. See the last post on this blog for detailed directions, or go to the dcrrc's Forum posting for information.

Matt's group will likely do ten miles on the W&OD Trail or the nearby Custis Trail (more hilly). I will lead Linda's group on a nine mile trek on the trails around there. Jeannie's group will do nine miles on the W&OD Trail as well, most likely westbound from MP 3.5 by the Bluemont Parking lot to Milepost 8 in Falls Church, a mile past the bicycle bridge over Route 7 (Broad Street to us who live in Falls Church, King Street to those who live in Alexandria, and Leesburg Pike to those who merely drive through and read highway signs). Last week's post on this blog has several links with information about the trail.

In the meantime... Run. Jeanne reports that some of you have only been running on Saturday. Naughty naughty! I was at the track workout yesterday evening. Where was everyone else? (Above. Week Six at the Memorial Bridge.)

Last week: Matt's group ran 9-10 miles on the W&OD Trail, and Kristin's group and Jeannie's group, led by Christal, ran 9 miles out and back on the W&OD Trail to half a mile past the bridge in Falls Church. It was a very hot & humid day, along the order of 105 degrees after we finished. Global warming, anyone? Fact or myth?

Next week (weeks nine and ten) we'll move to Gravelley Point in VA for two weeks before going to our last location, Haines Point (for weeks eleven and twelve).

Odds & Ends: There is a nice runner's clothing website, OMM (One More Mile) that offers a 20% discount to all dcrrc members. This is the company that this program is using to produce the unique tech shirt we'll give out to each finisher of the TMG Program. (No, you don't have to run Army to get it. But you do have to show up at practices when we hand them out.) If you visit the OMM on-line store and decide to purchase something, simply enter the code DCRR0807 for the 20% discount to be applied. (Above. Alan Webb, right, gave it his all at the World Championships in Osaka this week while finishing 8th in the 1500. The gold medal was won by American Bernard Lagat.)

Week 7 Aug. 25 the TMG will meet at Bluemont

Week 7 is at Bluemont Park off Wilson Boulevard in Arlington: Saturday Aug. 25 at 7:30 a.m the Ten-Mile Group (TMG) Program will meet at Bluemont Park in Arlington off Wilson Boulevard between Ballston and Seven-Corners.

Directions: Take I-66 to Ballston, South on Glebe Rd. Turn West onto Wilson Blvd., go about 1.5 miles and make a left onto N. Manchester Street and turn immediately left into the Bluemont Park parking area. There are tennis courts and a Ranger picnic shelter there with a comfort station. If that lot is full, go back to Wilson Boulevard and take a right (EB) for half a block and then turn left (north) onto N. Lexington St. and park next to the tennis courts in the Bon Air Park parking lot and walk across Wilson Boulevard to meet the TMG in the Bluemont Park parking lot. Observe parking restrictions, as the Arlington Police have been known to tow during our Bon Air races. Be careful to observe all parking restrictions around the park - do not get your vehicle towed or ticketed. For mapping purposes, search 5900 Wilson Boulevard Arlington Va 22205http://maps.google.com/maps?tab=wl

We'll meet at Bluemont Park for weeks 7 & 8 before moving to Gravelly Point in Virginia. A prior post both here and on the dcrrc webpage Forum (TMG chat room) has the full twelve week schedule.

Plan of Action for Week 7: You all should be running three or four times a week by now, no exceptions, three to five miles at a time. Go to club track workouts on Wednesday night as one of those runs.

Next Saturday (8/25) your coach will tell you what to do, but for Linda's group and Jeannie's group it will be four miles WB on the W&OD from Bluemont (MP 3.5) to MP 7.5 and back again. Eight miles total. Simple! An out-and-back. There is a water fountain just past (west of) Lee Highway between mile markers 5.5 and 6.

MP 7.5, the turnaround point, is one half mile past the bicycle bridge over Route 7 (see if you can spot the MP 7 marker on the bridge) just before you get to your next street intersection cutting across the trail, which is Shreve Road. If you cross Shreve Road, you've gone too far and you're on your own. If you wind up in Vienna, well, you've really gone a long way and should consider taking Metro back to East Falls Church (MP 5).

Matt's Group will do what Matt's Group does.

Last Week: Week 6, Aug. 18, was a mild morning and we took advantage of it by running a lot of miles at Fletcher's. Matt's Group went nine miles towards Bethesda on the Capital Crescent; Linda took her group 8 miles through Georgetown on the C&O, down Rock Creek Park, over the Memorial Bridge to Virginia, back over the Key Bridge and back to Fletcher's. Jeannie went 7 miles on the C&O between the Key Bridge and the Chain Bridge. Everyone ran really well. Homeland Security was called about the suspicious nature of our water cooler.

Run happy!

Meeting Week 6 at Fletcher's Again.

Week 6: The TMG will meet at 7:30 am at the same location for week six (August 18), Fletcher's Boathouse in DC along the Potomac River just west of Georgetown. You can only access the narrow entrance to the parking lot while driving WB (or NB, in other words, AWAY from Georgetown) on Canal Road.

Parking: As you drive into the Fetcher's Boathouse location, you can either park on the north side (the DC side) of the C&O Canal or, if that lot looks full, keep driving straight down the entrance way without first turning into the near lot and the entrance way will turn left and go through a narrow tunnel under the canal and you will emerge on the south side (the side closest to Virginia) of the canal in the large, overflow parking lot where the boat rentals are.

Meeting Point: Just like last week, we'll meet on the trail at 7:30 sharp to start running where the two paths, the C&O Canal Towpath (the dirt trail) and the Capital Crescent Trail (CCT, the paved trail) are side-by-side. It's a little over two miles to Georgetown from there on either trail, and a little under five miles to Bethesda from there on the CCT. Both trails have mile markers.

Last Week: Everyone did great! About 40 athletes showed up to run between six and eight miles in weather as fine as you' re going to get in August in the District--cool, slightly breezy and not sticky. Matt took his charges off towards Bethesda on an eight mile run on the CCT. I took the intermediate group on a seven mile run from the meeting point to the Key Bridge, back past the meeting point to and over the Chain Bridge on the C&O and back. Jeanne took another group on a similar run as ours only without crossing the Chain Bridge on a short trip into Virginia, achieving six to six and a half miles. Everybody's journey took from just over an hour to about eighty five minutes.

Next Week: Your coaches should e-mail you with recommendations during the week. The intermediate (Linda's) group will go eight miles on week six. We'll go on the C&O Canal from Fletcher's through Georgetown along the waterfront to Rock Creek Park, along the Potomac keeping it to your right to the Lincoln Memorial where we'll cross the Memorial Bridge using the north sidewalk and then cut down to the Mount Vernon Trail by taking a sharp right down the hill just past he bridge. The Memorial Bridge, and a little part of where we'll run in Rock Creek Park, will be on the Army 10-Miler route in October. From there we'll run to the Key Bridge, cross it on the south sidewalk, take a sharp right off the bridge to cut down to the C&O Canal Towpath (there's a footbridge over the canal down there) then run back to Fletcher's keeping the Potomac on your left. This will be 7.9 miles, you can run 500 feet past the meeting point if you want to run a full eight miles. Look here for next Saturday's route for the intermediate group.

In the meantime, run two to three times on your own, 3 to 5 miles each time. Try to go to the track workout the club puts on at W&L HS in Arlington every Wednesday evening for one of those runs. This is a terrific speed workout and very good for conditioning. I went last week and although the heat index stood at 99 degrees at 7 pm, I managed to run eight 400 meter turns around the track at about 1:37 each (at least a couple of the laps were much slower). Bring water.

The second half of the Program: We'll meet at Bluemont Park in Arlington off Wilson's Boulevard past Ballston but before Seven Corners for weeks seven and eight. A schedule of all twelve weeks of the TMG Program can be found here.

New Location for Week 5

Next Up: The TMG will meet at 7:30 am at a new location for week five (August 11), Fletcher's Boathouse in DC just west of Georgetown along the Potomac River. You can only access the narrow entrance to the parking lot while driving WB (or NB, in other words, AWAY from Georgetown) on Canal Road.

Parking: As you drive in, you can either park on the north side (the DC side) of the C&O Canal or, if that lot looks full, keep driving straight down the entrance way without turning into the near lot and the entrance way will turn left and go through a narrow tunnel under the canal and deliver you to the south side (the side closest to Virginia) of the canal in the large, overflow parking lot where the boat rentals are.

Meeting Point: We'll meet on the trail at 7:30 sharp to start running. From the north lot, just walk over the bridge over the canal to where the two paths, the C&O Canal Towpath (the dirt trail) and the Capital Crescent Trail (the paved trail) are side-by-side. From the south lot, go up the stairs by the boathouse to the same location. It's about two miles to Georgetown from there on either trail, and about five miles to Bethesda from there on the CCT. (Below: Coach K and another athlete on the CCT on a snowy day in April during the 10K Training Program.)

We'll meet at Fetcher's Boathouse for Week Six (August 18) as well, before moving locations to Bluemont Park in Arlington for weeks seven and eight. A schedule of all twelve weeks of the TMG Program can be found here.

Last Week: Week Four (Aug. 4) we met at 7:30 am at MP 12 on the Mt. Vernon Trail at the Washington Sailing Marina on a warm and humid day. Matt sent his group out NB on the trail and, led by Scott, they went eight fast miles out and back. Linda and Kristin took their group out six miles NB on the trail at a good clip. Jeannie had her group stretch as usual, then she and Jeanne took their charges out five miles on an out-and-back NB on the trail to the airport. They passed the first mile in an even 12 minutes.

Hydrate: With the heat of the summer now upon us, we will get underway on the actual run each week at 7:30 am on the dot. If you're late, you'll just have to catch up! Bring a water bottle on each run; either learn how to carry a half-liter bottle (16.9 oz, about a pound) in your hand or get a water-carrying belt (fuel belt). Google fuel belt to locate such equipment on-line or go to Pacers or another local running store (Gotta Run in Pentagon Row also has dcrrc merchandise for sale). But don't over-hydrate. Become aware of the dangers of hyponatremia, sometimes known as water intoxication, which can be fatal.

Kudos: Mary Flynn of Linda's group, brand new to the program, ran in Thursday's Bluemont 5K, a club race held at 7 pm, free for dcrrc members. She ran a blazing 26:02 (8:22) in the heat and finished in the top half of all women. Congratulations. All of you should be contemplating a 5K or 10K race you can do for the experience before the ATM. May I suggest this 5K race at 6 pm on Saturday, September 8th. They give out beer afterwards.

Remember, this week, through Sunday August 12, is sales-tax holiday in DC for shoe purchases under $100, and you get at least a 10% discount at most running stores by mentioning that you're a dcrrc member. Go here for shoes in the District. This store is the first Fleet Feet on the East Coast and it is legendary in the local running community. It conducts weekly 5-mile runs every Sunday morning at 9 o'clock, among other things. The District's mayor's parents own and operate the store. I bought my first pair of running shoes there when I started running in 2000. I STILL use the same model shoe (in its seventh edition) they fitted me for then. (Above: Me and Hizzoner in Anacostia Park in May. The Mayor is fast and durable! He ran the Cherry Blossom 10-Mile in April in 1:08:47 (6:53), a week after running 4:08 at the National Marathon!)

One Third Done? The program is now one-third over. How are we feeling out there? You all should be running two or three other times a week, three to four miles each time. You should introduce something new to your week if you're already running at least two mid-week runs: a fast mile or two thrown into one of those mid-week runs. This is a version of a tempo run, a mile or two miles back-to-back or two different miles run at about a 10K race pace, preceded and followed by a slower jogging mile again.

Fartleks? Or introduce fartleks into your runs, which is a random sprint thrown into a run at some unspecified point. Say you're jogging at your usual pace and you think, The next car that passes me, I'll sprint until the next car after that passes me. Then you slow down to your normal pace again to recover. Repeat sometime later. Or you come over a hill and say, When I get to that telephone pole, I'll sprint to the next one. Half a mile later, repeat. The Scandinavians invented this game and fartlek is a Swedish term meaning speed play.

Do Track Workouts and PR: Fartleks are a substitute for speed workouts on a track, which will make you better. Take advantage of the club's Wednesday night track workouts at 7:15 pm at the Washington & Lee High School Track in Arlington (Metro accessible from Ballston on the Orange Line, walk 4 or 5 blocks due north to Washington Boulevard) to get better and nail a ten-miler. Before last year, my PR in a 10-Miler was 1:21:33 at Cherry Blossom in 2004. I credit my track workouts in 2006 with enabling me to reduce my PR to 1:14:34 at Army last year.