Reporter: Baptiste Cartieaux

At sunrise, while most people are rushing to get to work on time, some others have a completely different plan: a brutal workout in Tibbetts Park.

And trust me, this is not going to be a normal session.

After an early warm-up, it’s time for the Iona cross-country team to attack the workout.

But I’m already confused, because the head coach, Joe Pienta, has just jumped into the van to follow the group up a ridiculously long hill.

And unfortunately, there is absolutely no way I can follow them.

First, they’re way too fast.

And second, they’re going way too far.

So I decide to stay where I am and hope they eventually come back.

Five minutes later, I see the van again.

But this time, the runners aren’t next to it.

They’re inside it.

Yes. Inside the van.

They run the entire uphill, jump into the van for the downhill, and get dropped off again at the bottom.

So obviously, I take one of the empty seats.

And now I’m sitting in a very sweaty, very smelly van with Joe Pienta.

I can assure you, it’s not the most pleasant place to be.

But at least it gives me the perfect opportunity to ask him what exactly is going on this morning.

He explains that the team is doing 10 repetitions of a brutal 1-kilometer hill, recovering by taking the van back down after every rep.

It’s an insanely hard workout.

But Joe knows exactly why he’s doing it.

As he tells the group: “Hard workouts create hard adaptations, and hard adaptations create big improvements.”

And speaking of improvements…

Next week, we’ll find out if this workout paid off.

Because it’s time for Iona’s first race of the 2026 season.