The Beat Goes On!

More good training this week!

We started the week with some great classic rollerski intervals on Summit Drive.  Each of our two trips up the climb was split into 4 intervals and 10-11 minutes of interval time. Great session, with hills as steep as race trails and great looking skiing to boot!

Looks like Riley's towing the car!

Yep, we started down in the valley you can see below.

 

 

 

 

That about sums it up - only we went uphill!

 Our Elementary crew met that night for a session over at the U.  Here are some shots from the warm-up.

Dan Bross - Jr. Devo Coach extraordinaire!

Thursday we did some wet intervals with the Comp guys over near North Tanana Drive.  The road was pretty slick so we quickly scrapped our plans for no-pole intervals and grabbed our poles.  The increased risk just wasn't worth the reduced benefit, whereas we were able to get in some solid skate training with our poles.

Our middle schoolers (who have running races on Tuesdays) met on Thursday for a session.

Van's Yoda impression as we warmed up on the slackline!

Plyos!

Relays through the woods!

Friday's specific strength workout.

The boys said they felt good and that it was easier than a month ago - always a good sign!

This morning a few of the boys met up for some uphill running intervals on Tower Direct. 

We ended up pushing a little hard a little early in the session (a learning experience for the coaches too!), so we cut the session off after 4 intervals, to make sure we were doing valuable work and not just making ourselves tired.

The Week Past

Summary in pictures...

sprint start with Riley and Neill last week

As they'd both been sick we modified our normal speed session to have more of an interval emphasis doing 200 meter repeats rather than our normal 60-70 meter sprints.

Shrek?

Ester Dome 5k on Saturday

Team Trailwork Day on Sunday

Great to see such a large group out there - we got a lot done!

Apparently it wasn't all drudgery either.

V1 drills yesterday

Great looking foliage this week!

Quick strength work after intervals yesterday

Wheelbarrows with our Elementary crew yesterday.

The wheels came off this one!

Then we did some running speeds before finishing with an epic game of tag!

Plyos this morning.  You can't see it, but there was a great view of the Alaska Range as the sun rose. 

Labor Day D/OD

I wanted to make some pun on 'Labor Day' for the title, but couldn't come up with a good one.  I know you are all deeply disappointed.  My sincere apologies. -Pete

We had a good  distance/overdistance session today.  The younger boys who are running cross country double-poled and single-sticked 17k from the University to the end of the pavement on Spinach Creek Rd., and the older boys did that and then tacked on a 10-mile run to the top of Murphy Dome.  It was a good session, while challenging - particularly the section climbing up Spinach Creek - everyone made it look like it was within the realm of good training (not stupid-tough), which is what we're always looking for.

Pics:

The first 15-minute bout of single-sticking

Coach's seat for the day - behind the steering wheel.

Still single-sticking at the base of the big climb

Getting strong

Ester Dome in the background

Coke feed halfway through the run.

A little later; now in sight of the top!

half a mile to go!

Neill was deemed the winner on the day.  Besides sprinting uncontested to the gate outside the radar site, he managed to get a bloody nose in the parking lot shortly thereafter (yep, real high up there!)