I was in the mood for a hard workout this evening. Heather and I drove to the top of Forbidden Drive at Northwest Ave on an absolutely beautiful spring afternoon. I couldn't wait to get moving on the trails and quickly took off on the first available, up a long steep hill. My lungs were burning by the top of the hill, a warmup would be better next time.

After catching my breath I pushed it to a hard tempoish pace and decided to the follow the course for the Wissahickon Trail Classic, a race I ran last summer. This is a killer course with five lung busting hills. If I wanted to introduce someone to a hard trail run in the park I would take them out on this. I piled the frustration I have had with my running lately into my legs along this course, I almost felt as if I was racing myself. I feel like I need more of these runs that just totally kick my ass and bring a little fire back into my workouts to get my running to or above the level it was last spring. To often as of late I just feel like I am just going through the motions when I am out there for a workout. Maybe a time trial along this course every few weeks would do the trick.

I've had plans in my head for time trial routes in the past, where I could hopefully gauge my fitness across a few months but I have never stuck to it. I am really going to make the effort this time around. The bar was set at 46:51 today (with a wrong turn that I won't make the next time out there) for what I think is 6.5 miles. Only 7:20 pace but it felt more like 6:20.

For the day 7.5 miles in 56 minutes.