12.18.08

Got up this morning and had my breakfast early. I got some sleep last night and tried to take my pulse this morning when I got up. That didn't go so well, but I think it was around 52, which isn't really all that good. I already had everything ready to go. I thought all day yesterday about running and so I wasn't going to let another rainy overcast day stop me this time around. I was ready to go about an hour after breakfast and decided to go for a trip. I went back to Dowell Springs, over by our old apartment. There is a ginormous hill there and I was wanting to truck up it a few times. The hill is similar to the HH in incline, but it is a very consistent grade. The HH here in my neighborhood kind of slacks off about halfway through which gives the lungs a little break before the second part of the hill. "The Beast" is all up, and it doesn't back off.

So I started with about 25 minutes of normal running, just going around different places and the old middle school, then headed back to Dowell for the hill workout. Today was supposed to be 10 hills. Since this is actually longer than my normal I didn't totally expect to do 10. I was thinking more like 8. As I ran up the first one, staying around 85% and just gunning up it I actually felt really good. My legs were dead this morning at the beginning of the run, as they always are when I take a day completely off, so it kind of woke them up. They weren't feeling lethargic anymore and although it was tough it wasn't too bad. So at the top of the hill the road curves around, then goes downhill on the other side, with hospitals and medical facilities inbetween making a huge loop. They are actually building a new facility there, so there were tons of construction workers, dumptrucks, skidloaders, and cement trucks to run by.

The second hill I got to the top and was pretty tired. I tried looking at my ipod just to sort of time them and it was about 1 minute 10 seconds going uphill. I timed a few of them, but by the end there were so many numbers that I couldn't remember which ones I had looked at from the bottom of the hill. I'm sure lack of oxygen and full physical exertion had a small part to play in the memory loss... On the way back down I re-evaluated the workout. I was thinking at that point I could manage 8 of these hills. Then I'm going back around for number 3. Three was tough, but lungs were actually feeling good. I knew I could two more, then take a break and get some water. Four came around and went, then five. As I came down the recovery hill I still felt good. I'll do just one more before I take a break. Top of six I was dying, but by the time the downhill started I was feeling good again. I can just do eight and be done for today - there's really no reason to do all 10 since this hill is bigger and steeper.

At the top of seven legs were starting to cave in a bit and i really had to push to the end. I was using fire hydrants to mark the run, and I had stayed consistently around the 1:12 to 1:13 range and that one was right on. So I only had one left to do. Number eight was actually pretty easy and at the top I was like, heck I think I can do one more since it was just my legs that were tired. So I did another one and at the top I was really pushing hard to make it to that fire hydrant. I had to put my hands over my head on this one, lungs were kind of tired. I didn't walk by the way, through any of this. I was pretty slow right as I reached the top, but I always stayed moving at a pretty good pace. So I was pretty tired, but I thought If I can do 9 I might as well go for 10. So there I go for the last one. And I made it a good one. I pushed a little extra hard and at one point I was thinking, the faster I get up this thing the faster I'll be done. So I made it again to the top and jogged it off. I only had less than a half hour at this point in my run and I wanted to try a mile at the middle school track before I went home.

So I finished up the run doing a little over a mile a the track and was more than finished by the time I got back to the car. On the way back I did notice my chest was a little tight, but a good, worked lungs kind of tight.

So it was a really good run this morning. I definitely did a lot more than I thought I could, and those little recovery periods were just amazing. By the time I made it back down the hill I was into normal mode and had completely forgotten about the pain of the last hill. Each time after recovery I was ready to hit it again and again. I kind of want to find some of my other runs from last year on this hill and see what I was doing just for comparison. I remember a few times having to stop at the top of that hill. I certainly could have today, but I didn't really need to. All I needed was that recovery time and I was totally back to normal. The pace did digress a lot as the hills went by, but overall I felt really good. Next week will be 12 hills and I think I'll head back to The Beast again and see how I fare. I might even go on to 14 the week after, but that will depend on how next week works out.

9am. dowell springs. 46-48 degrees overcast, calm.
1:54:41, bf 857 (+10 hills)

Tonight I just felt like flying, so I did. i couldn't really help it for some reason. Well I suppose watching the Berlin Marathon where Haile Gebreselassie broke the world record kind of got me fired up a bit. MAYBE that had something to do with it. I loved watching the footage and just seeing the different styles of running. So many styles. I would love to see myself run and I've meaning to have April get some footage of me, but it's one of those things where you have to make time to do it. Plus by the time she gets home it's dark, so seeing a dark shape go by the house wouldn't really be that informative.

Anyway the run went really well and I felt like I was just floating. A lot of it has to do with the day off I think, as well as the hills this morning. You'd think that would make me tired, but it really just made me want to run even more. I guess I'm that crazy runner guy. It was drizzling tonight, which actually may have even boosted morale a little as it was nice and cool. Still at times I had to be careful because it was wet and there was mud. I almost slipped and fell last week on a tiny patch of mud a car tire left, but luckily balanced myself before I could tumble into the pavement. So I'm feeling really good about my training. I'm ready to kill the hills for the next few weeks, and I'm dying to get to the track for some fast mile repeats. Feet have been fine, just a little of that joint/metatarsal pain that comes and goes.

4 pm. home. 55 degrees, drizzling and wet.
1:05:44, bf 865