Running update:
I know, I know, it seems like all I post about lately is running. What can I say?
Tonight was hill night. Ow. Ow, ow. Ow ow ow ow ow owow ow. The drill: 1 mile warmup and cooldown, and in-between, 8 x up a .3-mile section of hill, fairly steep, and walk or jog down. As much rest as I need between each run up, because I aim to improve my time by 5-10 seconds each time after the first. It’s a pretty tough drill, actually. Here are my times, and equivalent per-mile paces:
- 02:59.5 / 09:57.3
- 02:54.2 / 09:40.6
- 02:46.3 / 09:14.3
- 02:42.9 / 09:03.0
- 02:34.4 / 08:34.6
- 02:35.7 / 08:39.0
- 02:47.5 / 09:18.3
- 02:42.8 / 09:02.7
I pushed myself hard, especially considering last night I ran at my 5K race pace or better. And it’s no surprise that by my 7th time up the hill, I just stopped. My legs just wouldn’t keep going. It’s a testament to my drive that, even having to stop in the middle of the hill, I still made it the rest of the way up faster than my first two intervals. And I managed to improve my time up the last time. I totally didn’t want to even start my 8th interval, let alone run home, but I did, and I did.
Looking back on last week, I have no idea how I managed that last time of 02:26. But this week, I managed two intervals better than my second-best from last week. Oh hell, I don’t know what it all means. I’m sure a coach could pull something out of all these numbers.
I’m taking tomorrow off entirely, and, as usual, Thursday may be a rest day, too. My legs are sorrrrrrrrrrrrre tonight, and that’s probably not a good sign. But I feel proud to have completed what I set out to do. That’s always the best part of the post-run experience.