Thursday, July 26, 2012

Over the Hill (and Again, and Again...)


It was eight times to be precise: 1 minute of all-out effort up the hill, followed by 2 minutes of recovery on the downhill.  Yes, it was as hard as it sounds, but hills and speedwork are among my favorite kinds of workouts.  In addition to being fun and challenging, they are basically money in the bank and I can feel the benefits on race day.  Not only am I physically stronger when I hit the hills but mentally I’ve been there before.  As many others fade on the inclines I have the confidence to charge ahead maintaining my pace and sometimes even increasing my speed.  

What I’ve noticed about hills in a general nature is described much more eloquently by the Brits in this article on RunnersWorld.UK (sent to me by my hill running partner).  Though the article is about 10 years old, I’m not sure much has changed about the way our bodies respond to running hills (I bet we even have some fancier studies to prove the points made).


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