One down, two to go.

We finished one of our last 3 hard workouts before our first race on 9-4. We have 2 more to go before the first race and everyone is getting more and more excited.

Today's session was covering a set distance in 5:45 with one minute rest and completing 4-6 repetitions of the distance. The distance was determined by a 5' all out run during the previous training cycle. The workout went far better than I expected. Each girl did 5 repeats and on only one of them did a runner fail to exceed her goal distance for the 5:45. The men's team had slightly more mixed results with some runners not reaching their goal distance on the more uphill direction of the road where we did the workout. Still, a vast majority of the repeats did exceed the goal distance. All in all, the workout seemed to raise everyone's confidence and more than a few runners commented that they ran faster/farther than they thought they could. It is always good to push the envelope and extend our self-imposed limits.

When we do this workout the next time, we will use the same goal distance but have only 5:30 to complete it. It will be a serious challenge for our group but will also be another opportunity to push their limits and build their confidence.

Tomorrow is a very easy recovery run with a stretching session after the run. We are changing our start time from our usual 5:30 AM to 8 AM - partly as a reward to the group for such a good effort this morning and also to help them rest up for Sunday's formidable session - alternate ones and twos.