RCP South, Georgetown

Time: 69:00
Distance: 10.25 mi.
Map


Montrose Park, which connects RCP with Georgetown (and a shameless plug for my Flickr photostream)

Easy morning run in some light snow. I was definitely in the overthinking-the-pain mindset that Jordan and I talked about recently, in which it is difficult to know how much a small injury is nagging because you can't get your mind off it for one step. I think I was completely pain free in my left sesamoid until 50-55 minutes and then it started to get a little bit sore. The run took me south in RCP through Montrose Park around Georgetown and all the way back up. I cut out of Rock Creek Park a little bit early and ran back by way of Columbia Road rather than finishing up Klingle Road when I started to feel some soreness in my food.

I ran with a mix of eclectic hip hop on shuffle. This included Ratatat's two volumes of remixes which have some nice twists on rap classics (from the era of when Kanye was a rapper and older), and the new N.A.S.A. album The Spirit of Apollo which features performers ranging from Ol' Dirty Bastard to Tom Waits.

Downtown DC

Time: 83:33
Distance: 12 mi.
Map (approximate w/o trails)


The Washington Monument at night

Evening run with Rosen looping through Rock Creek Park, a bit of Georgetown, the National Mall and back through downtown DC. My legs were only a little bit sore, which I was happy about, and it was great to have company. I wasn't planning to go quite this far, but we were running easy and I was feeling good.

Yasso 800s

Time: 84:30
Distance: 12.5 mi.

Target: 8 x 800m in 2:35 down to 2:25 with 320m jogging rest (one lap on Georgetown's Ellington Track)
Workout: 2:22.5 (96 sec), 2:26.3 (92), 2:23.4 (93), 2:25.1 (93), 2:24.1 (102), 2:25.0 (97), 2:24.4 (105), 2:23.4 (110); average: 2:24.2


The Ellington Track, next to Georgetown University (photo from 1960)

I headed out to do a medium-length track workout without even thinking about the "Yasso 800" workout, a marathon preparation workout that Bart Yasso developed and running experts like Amby Burfoot and Greg McMillan tout as a great predictor of marathon time. McMillan describes how the workout should be run:

The theory behind Yasso 800s is that your time in minutes and seconds for a workout of 10 times 800 meters (two laps of the track) with equal recovery time is the same as the hours and minutes of your marathon time. For example, if you can run 10 times 800 meters in three minutes and 20 seconds with three minutes and 20 seconds recovery, then this predicts that you can run three hours and 20 minutes for your marathon. Run 2:40 for the 800s and you can run 2:40 for the marathon.

As it turned out, my workout was fairly close to this (without planning on it) though with shorter rest and only 8 intervals. When I felt so good running way too fast on the first interval, I decided to just stick with 2:25s throughout the workout, trying to keep the rest between 90 and 100 seconds for one lap of Georgetown's Ellington Track, which is 320 meters (or 7:30 to 8:20 pace). My legs got tired (I'm still running in beat-up Elites), but aerobically I felt great. McMillan thinks this workout over-predicts by 5 minutes, but I tend to think that I race better than I workout, so I'm fairly happy with today's effort.

RCP South, Georgetown

Time: 68:00
Distance: 10 mi.


My run took me over the Dumbarton Bridge and past the Bison that guard it

Easy morning run from Colin's south in Rock Creek Park to a short loop through Dumbarton Oaks and Georgetown and back. As opposed to Thursday's run, it was humid and fairly hot. Strange.

I spent most of the run listening to the Handsome Furs, who will hopefully have some new material out soon.

RCP South, Dumbarton Oaks, Georgetown

Time: 80:47
Distance: 12 mi.


Buffalo / Q Street Bridge in Georgetown

Headed south in RCP through Montrose Park, and onto the streets of Georgetown. Met up with the C&O Towpath for a little bit and then headed back north.

RCP

Time: 42:29
Distance: 6 mi.

Easy quick jog over to RCP. Tired. Sore. Saw Sandy and Scott Bastek from Georgetown and ran with them for a short bit before heading back home.

Georgetown, RCP

Time: 101:24
Distance: 16 mi.

Georgetown's track from above

Met Sandy Roberts, Justin Scheid, Brandon Bonsey and a couple of Georgetown freshmen for a run starting near the school. Headed up north through Dumbarton and past the Zoo towards where I often run in RCP, then turned around. A bunch of them were just going 11, but Justin and I added on a bit more. Finished up with a few laps on their cool, but annoyingly short (320m) track and 6 x 100m strides.

Run was a bit quicker pace than I've been doing recently, but that was fine. Guys were very nice and it was fun to run with a group.

TR Island, Georgetown

Time: 40:00
Distance: 6 mi.
Map (very approximate)


Georgetown, the Potomac, Roosevelt Island

Met Chad and his friend Scott for a run from the Theodore Roosevelt Island parking lot around Memorial Bridge, through Georgetown near the river (not sure exactly where we went in here, but it was nicer/farther than I mapped out) and then back Key Bridge and back to TR Island. They dropped off and I went for one loop on the island, which seems to be just about 10 minutes of running. A little shorter than I probably would've normally gone, but feeling good and happy to be feeling good.