Sunset over the river in Bern
#10: Workout along the Aare River in Bern, Switzerland (08/09/16)
As part of my training this summer, I began to mix a few workouts into my weekly schedule right at the end before preseason officially began, and this day was the perfect way to reintroduce my legs to some speed work. It was surprisingly cool given the time of year, barely breaking 60ยบ F, which was only compounded by the chilly breeze blowing in off of the nearby snow-crested peaks. After waking up around 5:30am, I made my way down to the Aare River, just as the sun was rising above the mountains that surround Switzerland's capital city. Following a 15 minute warm-up jog and full stretching routine, I ran 12 x 400 at 4:32/mile pace with 45-60 second recoveries in between each piece as the city slowly woke up around me, keeping to the vacant trails that traced the fast moving river around the city's perimeter. Immediately afterwards, I grabbed 4 miles of cooldown mileage through the city center, absorbing the culture of the medieval-feeling town, and ended back at my hotel to join my family in a breakfast and static stretch.
#9: Green-Red-Blue Trail at Hawk Harrier XC Camp (08/17/16)
In my fourth and final year at our annual XC camp in Maryland, my running group took the opportunity in the middle of the week to give our legs some needed rest and we scaled the trails that criss-cross through the nearby state park. I know these trails almost as well as those back home, including every single twist and turn that they take, but that still doesn't subtract from the raw beauty of the river cutting its way through misty forests. We ran some of my favorite paths, up and through the meadows before diving back into the trail system to take on the longest available hill, Red Trail, which is equally difficult when run both forwards and backwards. Everybody's GPS watches couldn't give accurate distance readings because of the winding paths and hairpin turns, so we simply hung on for the ride and enjoyed the morning's relaxing pace. Sometimes, it's nice to slow down a little bit and appreciate what we pass by on our way to season-long goals, and this morning run was certainly one of those moments for me.#8: Long run in Philadelphia (07/10/16)
On July 10th I went for my first true long run of the summer after getting back from USATF Juniors and taking my time off between seasons. Starting from my house, I ran across Philly to hit the Schuylkill River, and I took the Art Museum Loop down towards the East Falls Bridge and back. It felt nice to return to the Sunday long run culture that we usually have during cross-country season, and I enjoyed having the chance to meet up with my teammates for the first time after returning from USATF Juniors and New Balance Nationals. They too were just getting into the swing of things, having completed two weeks of training, and collectively we had some very solid efforts. I spent the last 7 miles running under 6:00/mile pace, casually descending to a 5:39 final mile split, which gave me a sufficiently strong day on one of my favorite loops.
