A crescent moon winked above a slumbering campus. Fever dreams brewed about new classes, past fun warmed by summertime sun, or perhaps about roaming free as black bears do. The savory bouquet of velvety catmint along the tended footpaths grew heady in the moist air, almost but not quite still. Even in the longest darkness, something westerly stirred.

We were not the first, or even the second, persons to use Greenberg Track this morning. Some phantoms commenced their running without even inviting their shadows (the sheltered track and infield are unlit). Closer to the edge of twilight, Jerry and Carla arrived together, so I joined them for a couple miles of chatty warm-up and helped to pace the first two of their 800m intervals.

As we did this, Paul and Jesse filtered onto the scene, now illuminated by Carla’s leggings, and made their own preparations. For Paul, this meant shaking off the rust from Sunday’s successful 20-plus miles, shucking his shirt, and waiting for me to slip into my Jurassic-period cross country waffles. As for Jesse, preparation required a bit more guts. Continue reading →

We may be two of WRC’s more master-esque members, but Jerry Paulson and I are not shying away from posting our intended workout for tomorrow morning. Perhaps you will be motivated to join us.

Maybe you will choose to tweak the workout to meet your own goals and fitness levels. Or, we just might be inspiring you to check in with a WRC member who is about your level and post YOUR workout. Whatever works for you.

In any event, this is what Jerry and I are doing, after a suitable warm-up.

4 to 6 800s, @ 3:40 – 3:50, 400 jog between
then 6 200s, un-timed, fast but relaxed, 100 jog between
then, a nice cool-down jog

We hope to be seeing others at the AU track tomorrow morning.

REMEMBER: NO spikes

Whether training for a fall marathon, rehearsing the finish for next week’s Parks Half, or just wanting to try your luck at finding a balloon on a nice run, please consider joining in for a 20-miler for SDR this Sunday, Sept 1. In addition to Labor Day, we also get to celebrate the last scheduled 7am start until next summer (the calendar has the SDR moving back to the regular 8am start time next week – Sept 8th).

The planned route will be the Rock Creek Park – Capital Crescent Loop, done counter-clockwise. This will take us through Rock Creek Park to East-West Highway where we connect with the Georgetown Branch Trail and the Capital Crescent Trail.

See everyone on Sunday!

We are happy to report that WRC has secured a nice agreement with the powers that be at American University. Starting on September 3rd, we are welcome to use the lovely, sheltered track at AU from 6 until 7:30 am. Every Tuesday.

For those of you who remember, WRC had informal track practices there a few years ago. Our numbers ranged from 3 to 8. Never a huge showing but enough folks that you felt a certain comfort and support being with the gang. And then there was the gentle pressure to step it up a bit.

We do not really know how this will evolve in terms of setting workouts. Perhaps what will happen is conversations between members on similar training cycles and at comparable levels. Then, there are those of us who might join in for fragments of intervals.

The AU track is a very nice surface. There is plenty of water and a cute gazebo with a bench and shade. There is a real bathroom and plenty of parking that is available until 8 am. Also, the surrounding neighborhoods offer some quiet streets for warm down shuffles.