09.04.07
I love hills!
Yesterday, I was able to sneak away from family duties to oversee some of the CAC gang on their Duke Forest Hills. This particular hill - up the non-steep side from the wooden bridge - is one of my all-time favorites in a running lifetime of hill repeats. Every fall I look forward it. In my system of periodization, a work-out is seldom (if ever) repeated, so this hill is a once-a-year occurance … a holiday, of sorts … so you’d better make the best of it when it rolls around on the calendar year. I never took the time to analyze WHY I love this hill [aside from the obvious beauty of being in a forest, away from the busy-ness of real life … be it school, or jobs, or kids; traffic, crowds, etc.) but Brock’s work-out log seems to capture it:
Felt great. Ran with reduced CAC squad (Jason, John, Joan, Sarah, Caroline). Ran in flats. Really liked Duke Forest, loved the hills. Felt like I just clicked with the workout. Love doing the hills, especially since it wasn’t too steep. I think I tried to do too much (i.e. too steep) last week, which got me down. Great having last ~45 sec to work on cresting a hill and getting my leg turnover up again. I feel like throughout the whole workout I got a great aerobic benefit and I could feel the hills in my legs by 5 and 6. Got a slushee on way back with Jason.
I love reading people’s thoughts after a work-out. It’s a rare window into a runner’s psyche. I go straight to my laptop the morning after each hard session truly excited to see how Marc’s long run went, or how Brent’s back is feeling (better?), or whether or not Tori figured “it” out. Did Kim really do all 7 hills? How did the new guy, Victor, fare?
I try to be cool and hide my ebullience and enthusiasm for running, but I just can’t. I LOVE it when people run fast. I LOVE it when people get serious about their training and reap the PR benefits. This CAC team is beginning to roll and I just love it.
Related Posts:
Tori said,
September 4, 2007 at 10:45 am
Oh no! i didn’t realize that hills were a no repeat throughout the season. Such sadness at that, but now this will change my perspective and a new plan of attack will be had with each hill set considering it will be the only chance I get to master the hill during the season. I did like this hill and came up with a new word to describe the feeling you get right at the about the 1:00 mark: wall slam meaning: that instant when something in the workout changes and you slam into that cardio wall meaning there is a sudden rise in your heart rate and you can feel your heart hammering in your chest like hitting walls. (This is an expected thing in a hard workout not something that creeps up on you). Ex: About a minute into the workout when the hill drastically changed it was a wall slam.
Diana said,
September 6, 2007 at 10:27 am
I must say, I was initially terrified of this hill portion of xc. There are rumors of women crying, intense pain, and just plain misery during this phase of training. But, I have been pleasantly surprised. I had vision of us doing the steep parts of 54 repeatedly or that hill in Meadowmont going up to Sprunt street (Falkner, I think?). But, I have been pleasantly surprised. Sure, the hills are challenging, but completely doable, and doable with a sense of accomplishment and confidence. I (generally) love hill workouts. Especially during xc when they’re in dirt or gravel and in the woods, so this is a blast for me.