VTG: Hills and Thrills

After a long debate, we came to the conclusion that more than four repeats would be extremely tough to do this early in the running season. Especially since my estimate of 1k loops ended up being closer to 1200's. We also talked about how last year we did this workout later in the season and started with three sets, but if I remember correctly it was after a mid-summer peak and we were starting to build back up for the fall. Anyway, the weather was glorious, with a subtle wind blowing through the last stretch after the second set. Once again the turnout was big, with many new faces and old familiars making appearances. A great day for running a tough workout. Two things I want to say about that run before I get into the workout for April 24th. The first is don't be discouraged if your body feels more sore after doing that workout, or if your times were not where you wanted them. Grass/trail running is much tougher than the flats of a track. Your legs got stronger by just running that workout. Also, that hill is tough and the workout was a strength not a speed workout. You build leg drive and lung capacity through hill intervals, while keeping the excess leg turnover to a minimum. Great job with keeping the recovery intervals slow, too.
As for the workout coming up April 24th, this will be a moderate interval workout. We will run 8 x 800 meter intervals with decreasing recovery, increasing pace. The first two will be at half marathon pace with 800 meter recovery, the second two will be at 10k pace with 600 meter recovery, third two will be 5k pace with 400 meter recovery, and the final two will be 3k pace with 200 meters recovery. This is design for building a kick and getting used to performing faster at the end of runs. Completing a workout like this will make pace work a synch. Hope to see you all out there in two weeks.