The End of Hills (For Now)

Wednesday marked the END of hills! We had 9 hill repeats. Just 9 more hill repeats until we get a break from hills for a few weeks! Only two of us showed up, and when we arrived another gal was already on her third rep. It was demoralizing, at first, and my first two hill reps were a bit slower than normal.

But then something wonderful happened! Our hill became swamped with about 10 other Run Club members who joined us for hill repeats. So exciting to see! And of course, that meant the competition was on.  Hearing the encouragement from the other runners as we surged up and down the hill was incredible. It pushed me to go harder as the competitive streak in me refused to be passed by anyone (success! Nobody passed me going UP the hill…I didn’t worry about going DOWN the hill, though.)

I ended up doing about 9.5 hill repeats…I was about half a hill ahead of my clinic member, so I joined her for the last part of her final rep up the hill. What a good feeling to finish it all off!

Distance: 11.4km

Time: 1.10.38min

Pace: 6.12min/km

Heart rate: 169bpm (90% of max). Max heart rate: 192bpm (102%)

Interestingly, I think my max heart rate calculations are off…or my heart rate monitor is off. One or the other! I had my heart tested years ago and was told that the old adage 220 – your age held fairly true for me, so I was going on that calculation…but I don’t feel like I went over my max heart rate on those hills.

To celebrate the End of Hills (For Now), I popped over to the Running Room store afterwards and purchased some mid-run nutrition  and a new pair of running shoes. I have a life cycle for shoes, you see, wherein each one substitutes the other down the line:

Indoor Training (e.g.: strength/gym training) > Running > Everyday Use (e.g.: walking the dog) > Recycled

I start with them indoors to make sure they’re comfortable and not causing any problems. I then promote them to outdoor running. Once I’ve worn them out, I retire them to everyday wear. And then, finally, off to be recycled or tossed before they wear out enough to cause injury.