A Hill Workout?

I haven't done one of those in a while. But that's exactly what we ended up doing last night. The conditions on the track were not that great. Three quarters was crunchy snow and the home straight was ice. I was planning to do 300 meter repeats with 100 meter recovery down the icy stretch when I heard crunchy footsteps that weren't coming from me. I was surprised to see that Dan and Patrick were making their way onto the track for some speed work. I honestly didn't expect to see anyone else last night. It was about 28 degrees with a bit of a breeze which was chilly, but it wasn't snowing or anything. A not too unpleasant night to run.

After doing about a mile and a half of warm-up laps it was decided that we head over to Reagan Park to do some hill training. After a short drive, an icy parking lot crossing, and an equally icy trail descent, we arrived at the main road which was miraculously clear and dry. Dan and I decided to head one direction looking for Patrick, who had run over from the track. Up one hill without seeing him yet we head back the other direction and up the other hill. As we were heading back the other direction yet again, we see him.

He suggests 10 times the hill we had just done. Now these hills aren't the largest around, but they're decent for sprinting up. And that's exactly what we did. I've done hill work this year, but not all out sprinting. It was fun, until a point. On about the third repetition, my legs were noticeably more Jello-like. And that transition continued through the rest of the sprints. I'd be OK up to a certain point on the hill and then it would just hit me. My breathing would become very labored, my legs would get very heavy, my feet became impossibly to move quickly. So I would just push as hard as I could to the top.

And before I knew it, we were done. Not a long workout, but a hard one. I plan on returning there in the next couple months to prepare for the stair climb in February. After a short cool-down, I was off for home and a hot shower.

Some other recent training highlights include getting my 30 miles in on the bike trainer on Friday. Which I think is WAY too long to ride indoors. I think I'll end up doing shorter but more intense rides from now on. On Sunday I was able to get in nearly 15 miles running, doing two laps of my 7.4 mile loop around the house. The weather was right around freezing with occasional raindrops, icy patches on the ground, and a stiff breeze that continued to grow the longer I was out. I was cold at times and hot at times. It all depended upon which direction I was running.

That's all for today. We're all either sick or fighting off becoming sick, so I'm not sure what Saturday is going to hold. We're either going to Lakewood to run a 5K together or I'm going to Ashland to run one last half marathon for 2008. I think it will be a Friday decision.