3 Weeks Til Gabe's

Better get back to work here, and fast, time's running out before my favorite race of the year. Exactly three weeks from today we go to battle in defense of our hard fought team title reign at Gabe's Run. Having Kieran missing most of cross country with a stress fracture, no Melly this year, Greg's training is unknown aside from occasional Strava updates, and me coming off another ankle sprain, we're not in the best spot to defend our title if we face stiff competition (i.e. a return of Monkey Jars). Coach is getting great training and Stansel is a beast, but our 3-5 is questionable. I'm doing my best not to be a question mark though, and tonight's hill workout was a step back towards the trajectory in my training that I thought had me poised for a big race. I may to call in some reinforcements...

It was cold our for a run, and I'll have to break out the gloves and winter hat shortly. It doesn't help that I run two hours after the sun sets each night, but tonight the wind chill was 32 degrees when I got out for my hills.

Yeah...no thanks. Anyway, here's how the workout went:

• 1.54 mile warm up to cemetery, 10:25, 6:47 pace, http://www.strava.com/activities/216675669
• Hill 1: 59 seconds
• Hill 2: 58 seconds
• Hill 3: 60 seconds
• Hill 4: 60 seconds
• Hill 5: 59 seconds
• Hill 6: 60 seconds
• 1.54 mile cool down home, 9:39, 6:15, http://www.strava.com/activities/216675656

Was that a fast cool down? Yes. Do I care? No. Recoveries were jogs down the hill, and not light jogs, closer to actual running. Did some light stretching quickly at the bottom, my lower back was really tight. Recoveries got shorter as I went further into the workout. 

Post-Workout Mindset: Satisfied, but I know there's still a lot of work to be done to get to where I need to be.