Crawler Meteorologist Lauren Gabler informed me a big storm is coming late tonight and will still be here Wednesday morning.

Therefore, we will be moving our workout to Friday at Bannecker.

The workout will be 3 x 1000, 3 x 600, 3 x 200 with 200 rest in between.  In each ‘triad’ the first interval will be at 85%, second at 90%, and then the third will be at 95%.

Hope you can make it!

Sam

First off, a huge congratulations to Jeff for doing awesome and running his first 50 miler race at the JFK 50 miles.  Just to give you some perspective, Jeff ran a distance that’s equal to running further than from DC to Baltimore or DC to Fredericksburg, VA or DC to across the Bay Bridge or even to Frederick! Great job!

Also congratulations to Rod (Lauren G’s significant other) for having a really encouraging race at the Rothman 8k where he placed 4th in a time that us mortal Crawlers would have a hard time relating to – 23:48.  I’m sure Rod will tell you his great race was 100% due to the amazing 400 meter leg he ran during the track meet DMR we did several months ago.  Honestly, we’re thrilled to see him running so well and just glad to be affiliated with hum through Lauren!

The other big running news on Saturday was that my alma mater, Haverford, won the Division III National Championship! THe team’s been ranked for years but has never won the national championship.  As an alum, we’re beaming with pride!  And we couldn’t be happier for the coach whose been there for 36 years!

http://www.haverford.edu/news/stories/44991/51

This week there are lots of races.  And while many of us will be running Turkey Trots (I know Lauren G and Melanie will be running different races in NJ), the big race is the North Central Trail Marathon just north of Baltimore!  Ben and Melissa have put the hay in the barn with long runs, solid races, and workouts!  They only have one more hurdle before they tackle the marathon – avoid eating too much Turkey and Pumplin Pie!! Good luck to them and all those who Gobble-Trot!

This wednesday, for those that can make it, let’s meet at the track at 6:30 for a fun workout!  Hope you can make it!

Sam

G’day everyone,

we will be doing our final tune up workout for those who are training for Marine Corps Marathon!  We’ll meet at Bannecker at 6:30. Hope you can make it!

Sam

What a beautiful weekend for running.  I hope the marathoners were able to get in some great long runs.  Did anyone run any races?

Here’s my modest proposal for this week – we get off the track and meet at the Woodley Park Chipotle on Wednesday at 6:30 AM.  We will be at the track the next two weeks.  After a brief warm up down to the Rock Creek Path, we get our heart rate up by doing 4 x 2 minutes with 2 minute rest.  Then, we meet up at the beginning of the brick path in the Zoo and end our workout with an interval of the whole slog from the bottom of the Zoo to the Lion at Connecticut.  It’s about 3/4s of a mile and will help us simulate running up a hill at half marathon race pace on tired legs.

Hope you’re all well! Also, how does a week Thursday sound for a night of chicken wings and beer? We’re also contemplating having a Crawler Holiday party in December…

Crawl on,

Sam

First huge congratulations to Kelly and Paul for running tough as nail marathons in Berlin!! Das run ist sehr gut!! Paul ran very evenly 3:03 and Kelly ran 3:46! So congrats to both of you.

I also had the pleasure of bumping into Gareth this morning during my early run, who informed me he ran a great 10k in 38 and change.  I’d love to hear more details.

This week, we’ll go back to the track for 2 x 9 minutes, plus curves and straights!

Hope you can make it!

Sam

This week’s workout we’ll head to the track! Originally, we were thinking of doing longer intervals. However, since everyone had such great races (and might feel a bit worse for the wear), we may change it up and make it a lighter affair. . So let’s plan on meeting at Bannecker at 6:30.

On to the races!!!! – Some truly encouraging and outstanding performances by Crawlers. Please email us if we missed your race.

* Baltimore Road Running Club’s Ultra Keg 50k – Ben, Melissa, and Jeff ran this at Gunpowerder Falls State Park in Eastern Maryland! I believe they all had a great time. And I think Melissa was third overall. I’d love to hear how it went.

* Wilson Bridge Half Marathon – Gareth runs 1:26. This sounds like a great effort.. Possibly, a pr?

* Revenge of the Penguins 20 miler – Lauren G runs 2:38, a great performance as the whole race is on the tow path (I believe)! Also, I would love to hear about the meaning of the race name.

* Reach the Beach Relay (NH) – Anthony and I and our team, the Haverford College Old Old Goats, ran super tough and finished 8th over all out of 430 teams. Each of us ran 3 legs through the mountains and villages of NH. Anthony ran amazingly, running a total of 21 miles all under 6 minute pace. I wasn’t as quick, but was very pleased with my effort, especially up some enormous hills. We also had a great time visiting with old team mates, and making friends with a younger Haverford alumni team, who ended up 6th and beat us by only 11 minutes.

Finally, Kelly and Paul will be running the Berlin marathon this weekend, which is super cool! I know their training’s been going well. So we wanted to wish them well, to have a great race, and to celebrate Octoberfest for a post race celebration.

Run good,

Sam

First, I just want to thank everyone for competing, volunteering, cheering, and helping make yesterdays time trials such a fun event.  I’d also like to thank the little league team for having a practice the same day, allowing the rest rooms to be open.  Special thanks to Yokari who used a break in her work schedule to cheer us on.

Also, kudos go to Crawler ‘rookies’ Cillian, Rod, and Jose for being great sports.  Jose did not even know there was a track meet and he willingly jumped into the 5k.  For Cillian, this was his first Crawler outing, and both he and Rod stepped up by filling some empty slots in the Distance Medley teams;

And as for the results, it’s pretty awesome to see how competitive our times are, considering we are such a small running club! Especially in the heat, it seems like everyone ran as fast or faster than their predicted times.  And this was in 90 degree humidity.  This is especially true regarding the 5k.  Many of the 5k runners hadn’t run a 5k on the track before.  The trick to the 5k seems to be not to go out too hard, or else it can seem like a very long 12.5 laps.  And because of the heat, it’s important to focus more on feel than on split times.  And based on how well everyone ran, it seems like people just raced it perfectly.  It would be interesting to compare our paces for the 5k with the 6 minute repetitions we did several weeks ago.

On to the Results:

Womens 5k:
Keely 19:58
Lauren G 21:15
Melissa 22:13

Mens 5k:
Sam 18:15
Ben  18:31
Cillian 19:02
Jose   19:28

Women’s mile
Annie 6:16 (Crawler record and 23 second faster than the Spring)

Men’s Mile
Brad 5:14 (six second improvement compared to the Spring)
Aaron 5:40 (18 second improvement compared to the Spring)
Sam  6:14
Ben 6:17

Distance Medley -

Team Duck (Sam-Rod-Lauren G-Cillian) = 13:50
(4:05, 1:07, 3:12, 5:26)
* Team Duck has won the last 2 relays now.

Team Tiger (Ben-Annie-Aaron-Brad)  = 13:54
(4:05, 1:23, 2:43, 5:43)

Also, great times were had at Stoney’s!

Thanks everybody!  Hopefully, we can have another meet around the Holiday Season.

Next week, we’ll have a Thursday morning workout at 6:20.  Location TBD.

Also, anyone interested in a long run on Saturday.  I was considering running from Logan through Georgetown Roosevelt Island then to Alexandria and taking the metro back.  I’ll be at the Chipotle at 7 am in Woodley Park

Have a great weekend!

Sam

I hope you all had a great weekend.  Despite a disappointing race performance, I had a great time in Annapolis running the Annapolis 10 miler.  I’d highly recommend it.  It’s similar to Cherry Blossom in having a beautiful course, but a lot hillier!

This Wednesday night we will have our Summer Time Trials at the Bannecker Track – Barry Place between 7th and Sherman, or just across from Howard University, and not too far from the U Street Metro.

This will be our 4th or 5th time trial and they are always fun and usually a pretty good gauge of where we are in our fitness as we look to the fall.

We’d love to have you come out to run, cheer, count laps, or join us afterward at a local pub.

Let’s try to meet around 7 pm, with the first event going off around 7:20.

The event for this time trial are (and in this order):

5000 meters
1600 meters
400 meters
Distance Medley (we’ll create teams on the spot)

Potential Other events:
Running bases (if the baseball infield is open)
Standing Broad jump
Bocce Ball throw (which I believe I’ll be able to provide)

Hope to see you there!

Best,

Sam

Three cheers to Lauren Gabler for leading the last workout — it was a tough hill workout on a stretch near Woodley Park we haven’t used before, so that was cool.

This week we’ll be back on the track for some half-mile repeats (800s) and some quarters (400s) too.

How about 5 x 800 at 5k race pace with a half-lap walk in between each? I think that will be challenging but do-able in this humidity.

Then we’ll do 4 x 400 a little faster to get some leg turnover in.

Hope to see you there! As always, feel free to pass these emails along to anyone, and all are welcome.
- Ben

I’m excited to lead the Crawlers workout this week!  It’s been a while since we’ve met in Woodley Park.  Let’s meet at 6:20am at the Chipotle at the corner of Connecticut and Calvert for a hill workout.  We’ll head down the bike path and over to the corner where Cathedral Avenue NW meets Rock Creek Parkway.  There are a few decent hills in that area.

Now, for the workout:

3×30 seconds of uphill at 5k effort/downhill rest

3 minutes of uphill at 10 mile effort/downhill rest

3×30 seconds of uphill at 5k effort/downhill rest

3 minutes of uphill at 10 mile effort/downhill rest

3×30 seconds of uphill at 5k effort/downhill rest

Evidently we have a theme of 3 going on here…

Hope to see everyone on Thursday!  Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Lauren