The next stop in the Great American #CarolinaWorkoutWednesdayRoadTrip2015 took us to Raleigh, North Carolina, where we met up with N.C. State this morning around 7 a.m. The men's and women's programs did different combinations of three- and two-mile repeats around the scenic Umstead State Park, with a few very familiar faces running right in the mix of things.
The Wolfpack picked up some of the nation's top recruits from the Class of 2015 in Philip Hall (8:59/4:08 PRs), Ben Barrett (9:57/4:11 PRs), Tanis Baldwin (9:02/4:16) and Kyle Christ (9:05/4:26).
Hall and Baldwin are roommates, while Barrett and Christ live together. We talked to the Wolfpack Class of 2019 about adjusting to college training, goals for the season and who has the most annoying roommate.
"It's a lot harder but you have a lot of people here to help you out and want to see you improve," Baldwin said. "Everyone's on your side, so it's great."
"It was a big transition," Christ said. "A lot more intensity, a lot strength work, a lot more stretching."
Perhaps Christ didn't stretch much in high school, but we'll venture to say that the stretching transition was more forgiving than the jump in mileage.
Why should current high school seniors consider bringing their talents to N.C. State?
"Coach Geiger and [Chris] Seaton are some of the best coaches in the country," Barrett said. "The program's history really speaks for itself and I think that's a big reason we all came here. The training locations, you get to run at places like this every week. It's a really, really good area to train, lots of trails, good running community."
"I've had the most fun in my entire life with these guys," Hall said. "Even a workout like this... you're having fun the whole time because you're working hard with guys who want to get better with you. Between workouts, they're really motivating."
We also got a workout with the Women's team:
The @PackXC ladies killed a 3x2 mile workout this morning! #carolinaworkoutwednesdayroadtrip2015 pic.twitter.com/drmyDb3pZF
-- FloTrack (@FloTrack) September 10, 2015
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