This morning I read this article over my bowl of Cocoa Krispies. It's not every 10K that you can run under 32 minutes and finish somewhere between 100-200th place. Of course not every 10K has Martin Lel toeing the line and bull as a grand prize either. The level of running in that region of Kenya is ridiculous, I can see how that must make them push each other to levels that are just a step above most others around the world.


I did a little of my own pushing this morning hopefully to a slightly better level of running. A trail run in the Wissahickon on an overcast and calm morning with temps in the upper 40s, perfect weather. The goal was a hill workout. I ran to a hill in the park that I thought would fit the bill, a long even slope that was void of ankle twisting rocks and roots. I charged up (under 5K pace) for 30 secs and recovered on the downhill as slow as possible before repeating. 3 x 30 secs and I was on my way. I kept it short because I knew the remainder of my route would have plenty more hills to charge. Four more hard uphill intervals between 20 and 45 seconds. The workout left me feeling energized and ready to take on the rest of the day.

Overall these workouts aren't extremely hard because they are over so quickly but I think you can reap some large benefits. All other portions of the run were run around 7:45 pace. Oddly I didn't see one other person on the trails. On mornings much nastier than today I always see at least a couple. 5.8 miles in 46 minutes. Happy Good Friday.