TNT #15 - July 31, 2007

Hills, Hills and more Hills is all that can sum up tonight's workout. Like last week's tempo run, this was a TNT first as we made our way the short 1.5 miles from Gilman to run the disgustingly challenging 500m long hill that winds up from the parking area at Robert E. Lee all the way up to Lake Rd. We had a stellar group of 14 people out here to bid adieu to the month of July and to usher in the "Sunday of the Summer" - the month of August.

The original plan was to do 6-8 x the hill, so at 500m up and 500m down we would have been looking at 6-8k of work. Kip and I discussed this earlier in the day and made the decision to alter it slightly to make it a more valuable workout to all. The first and second, and then fifth and sixth intervals were the same. We started down the road about 250m, and then went right into the hill for just over 200m. The first 100m of this hill is the toughest section. Intervals #2 and #3 were just straight up to the top and back. After the sixth interval we did 4x100m on the bottom (steepest) part of the hill, emphasizing form and focusing on "bounding" up the hill - essentially a strider on a hill.

It was one of the toughest workouts we've ever done, and your body will hate you tomorrow but thank you next week. Just as an FYI, we are entering the hardest part of our training cycle, where we'll be doing some really long intervals with very short rest. Once we hit September we'll start bringing that down and working on some quicker, shorter stuff again. August will be hard.

Also, make sure you're taking a look at the right of the blog. I have taken the liberty of posting some of the events that make up the remainder of the calendar year, and plan on adding a few more tonight. I want to field a team at just about every cross country meet we can attend, including the Bull Run Reunion Run and Run Through the Grapevine as we did last year. I'll post on this separately, but I'd also like to see if we can get a trip organized to go to Ohio for USA Club XC Championships in December. It's in BG's country...

Awesome job today everyone, see you FRIDAY at Patapsco at 5. I plan on running a chill 11. Weekend plans are still up in the air but should be solidified by tomorrow. I know Kip and Chrissie are racing so they won't be in attendance.