Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Week 9/17 HM Training - Run #2 Hill Work (Session #1)



Remember this hill? Ugh! It's my hill repeats hill. Ugh!

I was so NOT feeling it today. :( I almost postponed my hill workout until tomorrow. In hindsight, perhaps I should have done this; however, after thinking about this workout for the last few days, I just wanted to get it over with.

In the past, when I did hill repeats, I left the dogs at home. Today, because I wasn't feeling like I could run up a hill 8X, I decided to bring them - they could help me with my repeats by pulling on their leashes so why not cheat today by using the dogs?

My warm-up run to the hill felt sluggish and slow, more so than usual. This is when I made a promise to myself to complete all 8 repeats regardless, even if I had to walk up the last few, because it was about strength building, and nothing else. Even a walk up the hill was better than nothing. :)

I was thinking about this when a cyclist rode up beside me to tell me how great my dogs looked pacing beside me. I smiled, thanked him for his compliment and told him it had taken a lot of practice (for the record, being complimented about my dogs is probably nicer than receiving compliments about myself so a brief exchange likes this makes me very happy!) :)

Thankfully, the hill was quiet this morning so I had very few cars to worry about when counting my repeats (if interested in my training program's instructions on hill repeats, see this post). The first few went well. Unfortunately, what I predicted would end up being the case - 8 repeats 'running' up the hill was not going to happen today. :( I made it to five before I was crying uncle. :( I walked up the 5th time up, was pleased to see that I could run up on the 6th repeat, walked again for the 7th, and then finished with a run up on the 8th - woo hoo! 6 out of 8 is not bad when not feeling it!

And to top things off, within a short distance of my hill repeats location, there is a small water park for children. I tucked my iShuffle into my water belt pocket (I have ruined two previous ones by running in the rain with them - #3 continues to survive because of my paranoia!), and then enjoyed a brief run over / head dunk / run through spray before continuing on my way. Angus, the waterfowler dog, loved it ... Wallace ... not so much. :)

I am a-ok with my workout today. I did the best that I could when I knew I wasn't physically feeling up to this kind of workout. It is what it is. I hope to have it in me next week when I am scheduled to do 10 repeats. :)

I have either an easy 5K or a rest day tomorrow. I will play it by ear and see how tired I feel first thing in the morning. I recently crossed over into the 960 km zone for total mileage for the year; therefore, I am a little more motivated to run recovery runs now that I am within range of crossing the 1,000 km mark. :)

GYM UPDATE
I know I usually say, "great class!" when I blog about my Kundalini Yoga class, but tonight it was exceptionally good. It has everything to do with the kriya that worked the areas of my body that needed stretching. It was as if the instructor knew ahead of time where my body would be feeling it after a hill repeat workout. :)

I receive an email every week from YogaToday.com. One of my DailyMile friends uses it regularly and she shares her thoughts on her yoga sessions/practice often on the DM. I have not purchased/downloaded a class from it yet so I can't really speak for it, but I usually check out the free weekly offering. This week, they are featuring a Kundalini class, focusing on 3 of the 7 chakras. If interested in seeing what Kundalini yoga is like, check this class out.

I also picked up a DVD from the library after class on Ashtanga yoga (I placed three on hold). I want to check it out and see if it provides a nice variation at home from what I do twice weekly at the gym. :)

2 comments:

  1. Sounds awesome!! Big accomplishment doing such a great hill workout when you didn't even want to go.
    I wish I could train my dog to help me "cheat" lol
    When I try to run with him, he either runs too fast, or we get into a groove then he stops abruptly to chase a lizard or pee.

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  2. Thanks, Courtney! It helps to have the bigger dogs (Angus, Kim when he was still alive) to run up the hills because if they are feeling energetic, they pull me up by the waist and I can make it nooooo problem! :) The downside - when they stop for a pee or poo, they stop me 'dead on a dime'. :( I laugh every time you post a cute pic of Mako; he may not help you cheat on hills on running, but between poisonous toads, couch pillows and GU packages, he keep your life very interesting. :)

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