Capitol Endurance

My last two weeks of training have consisted of 400m repeats, 9 minute time trial, 4 x 5K repeats, 3 x 7 minute repeats, and a 10k time trial.

10 miler training? Half marathon training? Marathon?

Close.

On tap this weekend is the Catherine’s Fat Ass 50K – a no fee, no t-shirt, limited aid kind of race. What it does include is a lot of crazy trail runners and a rockin’ post race party in the parking lot. This year we’ll also be graced with a temperature over 100 degrees. Let’s hope this no frills race has plenty of water for the aid stations.

I’ve also put in the hours doing CrossFit, focusing on squats, cleans, deadlifts, and box jumps. Upper body strength has not been neglected either. This is my first race since dropping out after 16 miles of the Bull Run Run 50 Miler, so I’m just looking to get in some miles even if it means cutting it to 21 or 25 miles due to the heat. I prefer to be running back to the finish and not Death Marching it along the trails.

I’ll be taking a 25# kettlebell with me to throw in a few swings, front squats, cleans, snatches, and windmills as a warm up and cool down. My guess is this will be the only kettlebell at the race.

Here’s to spreading the word!

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The temps have been in the low 100s with the heat index making it feel 5-8 degrees warmer than that. Brutal! As we train for road/trail runs in the coming months, it was nice to get in the pool this week for a 2:1x 6 swim workout. However, it’s always interesting when you walk onto the pool deck with a couple kettlebells in tow for SDHP and snatches. Isn’t this how everyone relaxes poolside?

Today – Wednesday, June 30th – is the last day to enter the lottery for the VHTRC Women’s Half Marathon. If you’re new to trail running, this is a great event to get you out there kicking the rocks. The Virginia Happy Trails Running Club (VHTRC) usually hosts races 50K or longer, but including a shorter trail run limited to women is a great addition to the calendar.

The course is run on the “out” portion of the Bull Run Run 50 Miler; between Wolf Run Shoals and the infamous Do Loop.  There are a few rolling hills and a couple climbs, but a very runnable course.

If you don’t get in or are late to sign up, there’s usually a wait list. The chances of getting off the wait list are pretty good, too.

The VHTRC does host training runs to get you familiar with the course, but Capitol Endurance hits those trails from time to time as well. If you’re interested in the race, let us help you get to the finish line!

Sorry for the delay in posting. Things should be posted more regularly now.

Summer is officially here in Washington, DC. Temps are supposed to be in the 90s every day, humidity near 100%, and there’s a chance of thunderstorms every day. Does it get any better than this??
A couple runners participated in the Father’s Day 8K over the weekend and posted good times on a hot, flat course. Training is going well for everyone and we’re going to take it easy the next few weeks to get acclimated to the heat and humidity. Sure, others might suck it up and train through it to toughen up. But it’s going to be a looong summer, and we’re in it for the long haul.

Stay hydrated!

A few weekends ago, I attended the Crossfit Endurance certification at Rare Crossfit in Fredricksburg, VA. This was my second time participating and I learned so much more the second time around. The coaches were very grateful in answering my numerous questions about nutrition and  programming. We’re all students and can always learn something new from those around us.

Keep asking questions and keep training!

We hit up Capitol Hill for some repeats up the south side of the Capitol. It was a good night of baseline testing as we didn’t do too many nor did we go too far up the hill. That’s not to say that we didn’t go all out each repeat. We made sure to get plenty of rest between each repeat. Full recovery on the walk back down before the next one.

5 x 300m hill sprints.

Average was 1:30-1:32 on each rep.

We’ll definitely come back to The Hill and repeat this workout to see how we improve. Future changes will include shortening the rest period and then lengthening the distance we run.

Always a good time!

We used Monday as a recovery day after a weekend of racing, so it was a good chance to spend more time on the drills. We usually spend about 20 minutes of each workout doing drills, but we spent about 45 mintues working on pulling and falling before spending the last 15 minutes (and some extra time) getting in a good stretch.

Wednesday was more about pulling and cadence before ending with a nice 10 minute workout – 80m sprints every 30 seconds for 20 rounds (10 minutes). If the sketchy alley wasn’t so sketchy and didn’t put the 100m mark in the path of oncoming traffic, we would’ve upped it to 100m. Give us a few weeks to build up our shorter endurance and we’ll knock this one out again to every ones excitement.

Sunday’s location is still TBD. An email will be sent out to the usual suspects before then, so keep an eye on your inbox.

First off, congrats to Paige on competing the Cherry Blossom 10-miler yesterday in a time of 1:42:14. This was an improvement of 8 minutes from her previous time of 1:50:21 from 2007. Great job! She stopped by the Sunday workout and looked great, but not well enough to jump in on the 800m repeats. I don’t blame her!

In other racing news, the 50 miler didn’t go so well for me. My nagging hip problem that has remained dormant for most of the last 4 weeks reared its ugly head very early in the race. I tried to block out the pain and discomfort, but knew after the first few miles that it would be a loooong day. If I was already hurting at mile 3, what shape would I be in by mile 20 or 30 if I made it that far? I should’ved stopped at mile 11 after deciding I’d drop at the next aid station in 5 miles, and it was a looong 5 miles back. I had my moment of feeling sorry for myself as I let practically EVERY runner pass me, but got over it when I took off my bib number at the next aid station and officially DNFed.

I was able to do 10 miles and 20 miles the two previous weekends, but they involved a lot of climbing/hiking and fast walking/mild running. For BRR, I was moving at 10:30-11:30 min/miles in the first 6 miles. This is the most miles, and fastest, that I’ve run on the trails in quite awhile. I don’t fault the training one bit. For what I’ve done in 4 weeks of training, I was able to accomplish a lot. I think things would’ve been different had I not been injured going into the race. There’s always another day.

Good job to everyone who raced no matter the event or distance.

We’ve got Paige gearing up for the Cherry Blossom 10-miler on Sunday and I’ve got the Bull Run Run 50 miler on Saturday.

Two races that vary considerably in distance, so how should we taper in preparation in our separate races? Let’s find out tonight!

See you at 7PM near Lincoln Park.