Hill repeats suck! They suck even more at 5:30 in the morning; they suck even MORE when you’re running with a new group and trying to impress; they suck EVEN MORE when you're running on sore legs.
It turns out that the RD for Silverman has a running group 10 minutes from my house.
Showing up at 5:30 took some coaxing, but once there I was greeted by a good size group of about 12-15 people. I’d say 90% were women. This in itself is an impressive feat.Today was hills and we are looking to repeat the .3 of a mile hill (12-15% grade) 4 times.
1. Run (80-90% of max) two street lights jog 1 repeat until the end and recover down the hill
- Um…’recover’ down the hill??!! Recover is supposed to mean stop moving and catch your breath!
2. Run three lights; jog 1
3. Run four light; jog 1
4. Run five lights; jog 1
5. Run the entire hill
The astute will notice that there are 5 runs, not 4. FIVE! Five. Someone said “I’m feeling good, let’s do another one”. I hate ‘someone’!
On a good note: I think I have moved into another echelon. I am now the slowest of the fast! While that may not sound good - it is! It’s (just) a step better than the fastest of the slow.
It’s always nice running with a new group. I have no idea what their plan is. I don’t know their path; I don’t know their speed and it’s all I can do to hold on.
Here’s us heading home from the hills*
See them?….No - neither do I. (maybe I should go back to being the fastest of the slow again)
You: That’s a great run and all, but what about those tired legs you talked about??
Me: Oh, OK.
After SG, I decided that a little more hill work would be good for the soul. Luckily, there’s a nice course right outside my door that leads to the “dreaded 3 sisters”. Three hills that while short in length, they're long on steepness.
It’s always a 'riot' to watch the Heart Rate shoot through the roof when I hit those hills.
I’m not going to say that the sisters are (finally) gettting easy, but they are starting to lose their awe. While not quite a ‘bump’ in the road. They are no longer the ‘holy grail’. Mind you, they still hurt and my legs will vouch for that!
Add in an hour long gym class full of lunges and squats and MY LEGS ARE SORE!
It’s great! My quads hurt, my hams hurt, even my butt hurts!
Anyone know where I can get that donut seat cushion thingy??
*that’s not REALLY the road, but it felt like that.
5 comments:
Indeed there is gold in them thar hills. Oh, and the three sisters will regain their magic when you hit them at mile 100 of the Silverman.
Hills are definitely your friends. They'll make you a stronger runner than you ever imagined, if only you keep working at it.
Those sisters sound like 3 bi*#&s!! Way to put them in their place ;)
I'm with you...even though doing that extra hill will help you, 'someone' should not speak for everyone!
Great training!!
When I need to run hills I will know who to run with! Thanks for posting about running with Frank's group I have often wondered what it's like.
Nice job on being the slowest of the fast, it is way better than being the slowest of the fat.
See man, it is all perspective.
I would do hill training, but I live on the beach in Fl. (no hills), and my heart would explode.
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