Saturday 13 January 2007

Hill Session (a real one),28th November, 2006

Finally - after putting it off for so long I went out specifically to do a hill session. This is easy-peasy as I live on a hill - it's about 1k from bottom to top. The rise is probably about 30degrees for most of it.
I did a nice gentle 1mile run to warm up it was mostly down hill or flat. Then I did 8 x 200m/0.13mile hill repeats. Each repeat took about 1:25 - 1:35 to do so I just about managed to keep to an 11min pace. The 'jogs' down did vary from a decent jog to a slow walk... as the mile times will tell you.

4 repeats were ordinary, 2 were on an especially steep section and

2 were back on the ordinary hill.

3.03miles total 'run' - 39min

Average pace 12:55

splits:

9.54

12.45

16.08

Despite it being a really tough work out I felt so much better for doing it. It felt like it gave me much more confidence about hills in general and I was happy that I could do the hill repeats. It drives me to make sure I do at least one hills session a week. All my regular training is sooooo flat that this will make me more prepared for actual race conditions.

With races in mind I think I've decided on my race plan for next year. I'm going to run a marathon for Shelter - BUT I'm going to run it over 4 races. A half, a 10k, a 5k and - somehow a 6k (that's the race I'm still looking for) - I think I've got the maths right.

The story for today is: I don't hate/fear hills quite as much now and I've not a new training exercise to do. Increase the length of my hill reps until I can run up the whole hill. Then... try and incorporate a hill into a longer run. (This might take some time.)

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