Notes
Wasn't sure what to call this workout, it was like 1/2(1/2 Tempo & 1/2 Interval) & 1/2 Hill. So yeah, I was looking for a workout to do, and couldn't decide whether to do hills or not. Then I remembered a workout I read about before and looked it up. The sets consisted of:
800m loop at XC, 90sec rest, 2 x 30sec hills, 90sec rest, repeat.
My options for hills were limited, and I was worried about finding a good loop, but ended up finding an awesome loop just over 1/2 mile and right next to a decent hill; entire workout was on trails btw.
Anyway, the workout started off rough, after the 1st 800 I was thinking 4 would be difficult. But then the uphills invigorated me, and I was a bit more relaxed on the 2nd 800. The next 2 800's I started getting after it and kept feeling better. I decided to stop at 5 (this already had been a long workout) and probably went a bit too hard on the last 800, though I'm pretty sure I could have easily done a 6th rep just as fast or faster.
In case anyone cares, 800 (estimated) splits were: 2:46, 2:48, 2:43, 2:43, 2:33. Hills were generally in the 29-31sec range with the 2nd uphill always faster than the 1st.
Great workout, though I might be sore for a few days. Only other concern came afterwards when I was thinking why I did this workout. Does it really make sense to do this fast of a workout when I'm only doing rough xc races the rest of the year? I don't know.