The Luty Hall of Fame

The distance men headed to Luty Drive in Hyde Park this morning for a workout that is not a favorite for those who have done it: 4xLuty Loop, which is a roughly three-quarter-mile neighborhood road that is all rolling hills – equal parts hard uphill and hard downhill. Traditionally, this has been a workout that we would do when all other options failed, usually because of persistent snow and ice. Today, on a relatively mild December day (cloudy, low-40s), it was the workout of choice since I wanted to have the men do some hill-based strength.

In the past, Luty Loops were run in the 3:30 (very fast end) to 3:50/4:00 range. It’s a tough, hilly loop – similar to the Back Hills at Van Cortlandt, but harder on the body because it’s all pavement. Previous members of the “Luty Hall of Fame” – guys who always excelled at this workout – included Salek and Fitz. They liked it, and they were uncanny in how they always ran it really fast. Well, after today, that Luty Hall of Fame just got a lot more crowded, as the vast majority of the team completed the loops between 3:15 (Deet), 3:20 (Rizzo) and 3:30 (yeah, it’s definitely a bit shy of 0.75 miles, but it’s close to that). The consensus among guys who had never done it was that it was a worthwhile workout, but that the downhills were a bit much on the legs. We agree with this assessment.

But! For what is normally an entirely forgettable December workout, the guys went after it and got a lot out of it on a steel-gray, gloomy morning.