GRC March Madness: Weekly wrap up and workouts

Can't wait for the GRC One Shining Moment after Cherry Blossom.



From Coach Jerry:

It was GRC March Madness this weekend as many of our athletes were in action. There were several fine performances, but the coveted GRC Athlete of the Week award goes to Jake Klim. Jake has been battling a series of injuries for almost two years, and as the setbacks mounted, it seemed like it might be time for Jake to take up knitting. But Jake never gave up hope, and on Sunday he ran his first competitive race in months at the Shamrock 5k in Baltimore, running a very encouraging 15:28. And Jake was not just happy to be out there. Rather, he ran for the win. While he didn’t quite have enough gas in the tank to hold on to the lead, Jake showed the heart that made him a force prior to in his injuries. On behalf of a grateful and adoring nation, I say welcome back!
In non-Klim news, we had some strong performances in the USATF 15k Champs in Jacksonville. The wind made fast times impossible, but the whole gang gave it their best shot in the difficult conditions–Drea, LTO, and Elyse for the women, and Tex Paul, Dickson, and Outlaw for the the men. It’s important that we compete in races of this caliber, and this race in particular gets rave reviews for the way they treat elites, so we should plan on sending a larger group next year. Locally, we had a strong women’s contingent at the Van Metre 5 mile, led by Anna, Maura, and Susan, and solid performances on the men’s side from Karl, Charlie, and Breezy. While the presence of the Thopians, as Jacob would say, limited our prize $ haul in the individual pool, Charlie reportedly ate his weight in scrapple at the breakfast paid for by our team winnings afterwards.
We’ll be back in action this week, with many folks running the National Half on Saturday, and our track contingent heading to Baltimore for an epic 3k and 4 x 8 with our friends from Falls Road Running. If anyone wants to jump in to the 3k, let me know. The more, the merrier!
As we get further into the spring season, the workouts are going to become more event-specific, which is going to mean that we’ll be breaking into smaller groups. I will do the best that I can to keep folks working together, but individual variances will be inevitable. If you have any questions about what specifically you should be doing, please let me know.
For this week's workout, the men’s A group will do a 6-5-4-3-2-1 (laps) ladder. The 6 will be 74s, the 5 will be 72s, the 4 will be 70s, the 3 will be 68s, the 2 will be 66s, and the 1 will be 62-ish. We’ll try to keep the rest at 3 minutes. The B group will be splintered this week, as many of you are running National Half, and obviously you’re not going to want to do a hard workout less than 72 hours before the gun goes off. For anyone running National, I’d suggest 3 x mile at goal pace. B group guys not running National might want to jump in some of the A group workout. I’ll talk to you guys separately about a plan.
I’ll send the women’s workout separately.
See you tomorrow at BCC.