Thursday, January 31, 2008

Hill Repeats

One of the workouts I look forward to the least is hill repeats. Why? Because they hurt more than anything! Although (relatively) short, when done repeatedly, the lactic acid builds up until the legs burn like no other. The one thing that I have learned about hill repeats over the years is that the easiest way to get through them is to just do them quickly and the pain train will be over faster. Go slowly, and it hurts just as much, only for longer.

The hill I've chosen for my repeats is a nasty one. A hill I hope never to see in an actual race. The entire thing is well over a mile long with a few flat sections, so I took a steep 1/4 mile section for my workout to kick my arse. Its so steep that when I am running up it, I am usually passing any cyclists struggling in their easiest gear. In fact, last time I was doing repeats I saw a man struggling his way up in the middle of hill till he could no longer pedal and he fell over on his side. Luckily, he fell onto the side that had a mound of grass next to him, so the impact wasn't as bad as it could be. So needless to say, this is a good hill for a tough workout.

Today's workout was a 15 minute warm up, followed by 6 x hill repeats, and a 15 minute cool down. The last time I did the same hill repeats (about 2 weeks ago), my times were around 2:05 per hill set and I did 4 repeats. My hill repeats this time went something like this:

1: 2:04 - I know I can go faster than this
2: 1:59 - Thats more like it
3: 1:58 - Starting to burn, but I can keep this up
4: 1:57 - Ouch, but only 2 more to go!
5: 1:57 - Hows that for consistency ;)
6: 1:48 - Gotta go hard on the last one

Yea, I pushed on the last one really hard. But, the big thing I learned from this is how much more power I have in my step. I was able to hold a faster pace, with more repetitions than last time, and I did it faster. That is what we call progress.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Damn.

'nuff said!!!

The Lazy Triathlete said...

Where is your hill? I need a good hard hill like that.

Lesser is More said...

There are some pretty mean hills in Arlington for both running and biking. The hill I normally run, is up Lee Highway from Rosslyn to around Courthouse (Veitch St). Its a steady, steep hill the whole way. For biking, there are lots of steep nasty ones out by Military Road and Lorcom Lane.

Rainmaker said...

Nicely done!

Arlington is full of whacky hills. I've gotta get over there more often and aimlessly wander on my bike.

Anonymous said...

[url=http://firgonbares.net/][img]http://firgonbares.net/img-add/euro2.jpg[/img][/url]
[b]computer software discounts, [url=http://firgonbares.net/]10 selling software[/url]
[url=http://firgonbares.net/][/url] Mac StuffIt Deluxe 2009 latest educational software
Full Version Retail Price [url=http://firgonbares.net/]shop tech software[/url] kaspersky coupon
[url=http://firgonbares.net/]cheap final draft software[/url] shop builder software
[url=http://firgonbares.net/]what is autocad[/url] cheap academic software
ict software shop imperial [url=http://firgonbares.net/]ip spoofing windows xp[/b]

Anonymous said...

[url=http://sunkomutors.net/][img]http://sunkomutors.net/img-add/euro2.jpg[/img][/url]
[b]educational discounts for software, [url=http://sunkomutors.net/]nik software discount[/url]
[url=http://sunkomutors.net/][/url] adobe creative suite 3 premium design adobe photoshop cs4 portable + crack
coreldraw button glassy [url=http://sunkomutors.net/]discount software students[/url] winzip 12 crack code
[url=http://sunkomutors.net/]management software to buy[/url] educational software website
[url=http://sunkomutors.net/]discount software non[/url] educational software pricing
software reseller new [url=http://sunkomutors.net/]dj software to buy[/b]

Anonymous said...

[url=http://murudobaros.net/][img]http://murudobaros.net/img-add/euro2.jpg[/img][/url]
[b]QuarkXPress 8 Retail Price, [url=http://murudobaros.net/]sell trade software[/url]
[url=http://murudobaros.net/]your software super store[/url] adobe software company software reseller discount
adobe photoshop cs3 studio techniques [url=http://murudobaros.net/]latest adobe software[/url] used filemaker pro
[url=http://murudobaros.net/]office 2007 enterprise will not install[/url] 4 Master Collection Mac
[url=http://murudobaros.net/]ict software shop imperial[/url] cheapest oem software
windows vista installer problems [url=http://murudobaros.net/]compare office software[/b]

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails