Approaching the halfway point!

This Saturday, March 29th, will be our halfway point, our sixth week. We are meeting again in Bethesda at 9 a.m. There is free parking in the lot right next to the CCT where it runs next to Ourisman Honda, across the street from Barnes & Noble. Coach Bob will take you out on the CCT for six miles, as most other coaches will be at the National Marathon and Half-Marathon Race that morning. (Run 30 minutes down the trail, turn around and come back.) Be aware of street closures! Metro opens at 5 a.m. (Early morning TKG run in week 4 on the C&O Canal Towpath.)

For anyone who can't make it on Saturday, or wants to run again on Sunday, March 30th, Coach Renee will be leading a run from Bluemont Park off Wilson Boulevard in Arlington at 9 a.m. Directions are here. This is at mile marker 3.5 on the W&OD Trail, within half a mile of the hilly Custis Trail.

After that, for weeks 7 & 8, we'll meet at Roosevelt Island.

Weeks 9 & 10, we'll meet at Haines Point.

Weeks 11 & 12, we'll meet at Stanton Square near Union Station. This is where the target race, the CHC 10K, starts and finishes. (Last year's race course. There's been some talk that it might change this year.)

LAST WEEK (Week 5): We met in Bethesda and ran for 50-55 minutes, 4-5 miles, on the CCT. Some group members went out for coffee afterwards at the Starbucks inside Barnes & Noble.

I didn't see any of you at the track workout last night. That is how you can get better and run a sub-50 minute 10K. The w.o. last night was a minute of 5K race pace running followed by 30 seconds of slow recovery run, 10 reps, after a 2-mile warm-up. (Rockin' and rollin' on the Capital Crescent trail in week 5.)

Announcement. The Army 10-Mile Race (ATM) registration opens on April 1st. The club has a 10-Mile Group Training Program (TMG) which will start on Saturday, July 12, 2008, with the ATM as its goal race. Announcements will be made during the early summer on the club website about the training program. ATM fills up quickly, in a matter of weeks last year. If you finish the TKG training, you will be suitable to take the TMG if you keep up your running. Do not get closed out, register for the ATM in April if this is the course you intend to follow, and you plan on taking the training and running the race.

Approaching Week Three of 10K Training

New location:
For weeks 3 and 4 (Saturday March 8 and Saturday March 15) we’ll meet at 9 a.m. at Fletchers Boathouse in DC, a mile and a half west of Georgetown, to the west off northbound Canal Road, next to the Potomac. The blacktop Capital Crescent Trail (CCT) and the dirt C&O Canal Towpath join together here for a short while.

Directions to Fletchers Boathouse are here or here.

Sign ups still available:
There is still time to sign up for the Program if you have any friends who would like to get active, or get back in shape, or have a weekly running workout. Refer them here for more information. (Right: Are you sure the directions said to meet up here?)

Track Workouts:
There is a track workout every Wednesday evening at 7 pm at the Washington and Lee High School in Arlington., go to the club website and click on Track Workouts for more information. Last night was six half-mile repeats at your own pace. I didn't see any of you using this valuable resource. All you have to do is show up at 7 PM any Wednesday evening and start running the prescribed program!

What to do before Saturday:
You should run at least two times on your own this week, twenty minutes each time. (Left: Running over the Bridge in week one.)

Last Week:
We met for the first two weeks at the West Falls Church Metro, and went 1.8 to 3.1 miles (or further for those who ran up the parking garage ramps) in week one; and 2 to 3.8 miles in week 2.

Tentative schedule, with projected Saturday mileage (your coaches will take you further, or shorter, as appropriate), with a few prominent races noted: (Right: Hitting the W&OD Trail in week 2.)

2008 DCRRC 10K Training Plan for the Capitol Hill Classic 10K on Sunday 5/18/08.
Start: Sat. 2/23/07, 13 weeks before the race. Meetings at 9 am. Schedule subject to change, check the blog each week.
1. 2/23 WFC 2M WB on W&OD Trail
Sunday 2/24 Hill Workout in Falls Church
2. 3/1 WFC 3M EB on W&OD Trail
3. 3/8 Fletchers Boathouse 4M
4, 3/15 Fletcher’s Boathouse 5M
5. 3/22 Bethesda 5M Meet in front of the Barnes & Noble in Bethesda, 4801 Bethesda Avenue
6. 3/29 Bethesda [National Marathon is in DC on this day] 6M
7. 4/5 Roosevelt Island 10K
[Sunday 4/6 is the Cherry Blossom 10Miler]
8. 4/12 Roosevelt Island 7M
9. 4/19 Haines Point 5M
[Monday 4/21 is the Boston Marathon]
10. 4/26 Haines Point 6M
11. 5/3 Stanton Square 10K
12. 5/10 Stanton Square 10K
[Sunday 5/11 Mother’s Day Arlington YMCA 10K]
Sunday 5/18/08 at 0830 in Stanton Square, Capitol Hill Classic 10K.

Run Happy.

Peter 202-297-4874