Weekend Recap & Wednesday Workout - April 1

RACES

It was all about 5,000 meters this weekend, as we had several noteworthy performances at that distance in various locales. The race of the weekend was Phil's excellent 14:28.9 at Raleigh Relays, which puts him 4th on the all-time GRC list. Phil's tactics were perfect--he ran a huge negative split, and was in contention to win his heat with 800 to go. Phil is in superb shape, and with some race sharpness, he will take a real shot at the club records in the 5,000 and 10,000 later this spring. In Richmond, Cabell made his GRC track debut with a very promising 14:54.7, which is only 5 seconds off his PR. Cabell has tremendous room to grow, and we're going to see great things from him this spring, and beyond. On the other side of the country, Sean Barrett ran a very strong 15:03 on the roads in Carlsbad, CA, which was unquestionably his best race in the last year. Sean's demanding work schedule will limit his options, but he's going to put his fitness to good use on the few occasions when he can race in the coming weeks. At the Maryland Invitational, Balmer and Stewart ran 15:36.7 and 15:37.3, respectively, which is a solid PR for Stewart. Both Paul and Stewart would have run a good bit faster if not for challenging conditions, and we're going to see much more from both of them this spring. The conditions in Raleigh on Friday morning were beyond challenging, they were downright horrible, and those conditions put a damper, literally and figuratively, on Tina and Dickson's races. They both battled through the cold, wind, and rain, but there was simply no chance of running fast under those circumstances. Both Tina and Dickson will enjoy their literal and figurative day in the sun this season, and after the ordeal they endured on Friday, their inevitable 5k PRs will be that much sweeter.

WORKOUT

We're back at BCC this week for our normal 7:15 start, so meet for the warmup at 6:30. While the BCC schedule currently shows that we will be able to use the track every Wednesday in April, that could change, so be sure to pay close attention to the emails for practice times and locations.

The workout for the men will be 10 x 1000 with a 2:00 rest. This is one of those happy occasions when the needs of the track and road groups converge in such a way that the same workout is appropriate, so we'll put everyone together and go with A and B+ groups. The targets for the A group will be 2 @ 71, 2 @ 70, 2 @ 69, 2 @ 68, 2 @ 67. The targets for the B+ group will be 2 @ 74, 2 @ 73, 2 @ 72, 2 @ 71, 2 @ 70. As always, we can adjust this as needed.

I'll send the women's workout separately. I'll see you out there on Wednesday. Jerry