Hill Month

So last night's practice officially kicked off "hill month" at Team in Training. I was kind of looking forward to the workout (I guess because I am a masochist?) because even though those workouts kill me I always end up feeling like I actually accomplished something awesome.

Last night was a doozie. We ran up the entrance hill at 72nd street at 85% effort and then DOWN the back of the hill at 85% effort and finished with a recovery along the road to do it again. Effectively we were making a triangle. What kind of sucked is that the recovery was all too short. We did this 12 times. Yuck.

I decided this would not be a good workout to do in the Vibrams, even though my Tuesday night runs are usually "barefoot". I am sure glad because I am super sore today.

I really took those hills hard. And I think the downhill part was just as hard as the uphill...at least I took it that way. I have the sneaky suspicion that the rest of my teammates took it as sort of a recovery. I say this because the same people who would pass me on the uphill were easily passed by me on the downhill.

I also figured out something else about my running form. I seriously think that I was built for distance. My stride is so efficient that it almost looks like I am walking when I run (I used to get so mad at Bill for saying this). But I also say this because I noticed in my hill and speed workouts I end up somewhere in the middle of the advanced group, even though I am one of the slowest runners of the group. People will always pass me on the speed part and I end up passing them on the recovery part. I always thought that this was because I was going too fast on the recovery. But when I check my heartrate, I can almost get it down to my walking heartrate. I'm breathing easily, and I feel fully recovered in time for the next repeat. So then I was like, maybe I'm not pushing myself hard enough on the speed part. But I know this is not true because I am really truly busting my butt (sweat pouring from everywhere, breathless, grunting, tired by the end, etc.) And when I ran this idea by Bill he was like "No, I've seen you do speedwork. That's not it." Anyway, these people who I pass on recovery will usually pass me again on the speed part...the first time or so. After awhile I just get too much of a lead on them and they can't pass me. So I start off the workout at the back (sometimes even the last) and end them in the middle or middle top. This just tells me that I am truly an endurance runner.

I guess this is why half marathons are my favorite event. (Bill also mentioned to me this weekend that since having Liam I have already completed  5 half marathons! That made me feel awesome!)

At any rate, at the end of the workout I was super spent and today I am super sore. But I am happy about that because it means I am building my muscles. Sometimes I think I am crazy.

P.S. Speaking of being built for distance, Bill pointed out this cool article to me about how scientists explain how Usain Bolt is truly built for speed. Kind of cool.