Bricks

We have just completed about as hot and as humid a week of practices in recent memory. In the process, our cross country athletes have continued to work hard in this early-season, strength-building phase of our training. I'm not one of these coaches that likes to brag about workouts, and I will not give up many details here in terms of who was leading and what their splits were. But I will say this: Our women's team and our men's team put in some high volume work in some tough conditions this week:

--On Monday, the women did a 4x2km tempo workout at the New Paltz Rail Trail. The heat and humidity were oppressive and just starting to build on this Labor Day morning. Just standing around was tough. I could not imagine running in that nonsense.
--Today (Friday), our men did a 8 to 10 x1km workout at Farm Lane in Hyde Park; about a dozen guys did all 10, while a majority of the men opted for the still very solid 8 intervals. The original venue was to be Bowdoin Park, but I felt our men would have baked under the relentless sun with no shade down there. So we made the quick adjustment to the shaded but still steamy Farm Lane.

In almost all cases, our athletes completed the workouts strong and with no complaints. I don't get excited about individual days or individual workouts, but today and Monday -- and even the shaky Tuesday tempo -- were positive steps. Each workout, each run, each "thing" that we do as athletes and coaches, are like bricks in a building. Collect enough bricks, put 'em together with precision and care, and you've got a structure of which you can be proud. That's what we're working on. One brick at a time.