Archive for March 11th, 2009

60 seconds. Doesn’t seem long enough to make a person tired, but I am quickly learning that 1 minute, done several times, can be killer.

I first realized the power of a minute last week with the 15x(1min on,1min off) stints from Wednesday and Sunday. Then yesterday I discovered an alternate way to be made miserable in a mere minute: spend it going up a hill. Suddenly 1 minute seems like an eternity.

The run consisted of 6 miles, then 8x1min hill repeats @5k effort w/jogs back to the start, then one mile home. It was a little cooler than I thought it’d be out, so I started the run at a brisk 8:19, then feeling good, averaged 8:06 for the next 5 miles. Then came time for the repeats.

The place I do my hill stuff is called Lemon Hill, right across the street from the river and the boathouses. At the top of Lemon Hill sits an historic mansion and the whole surrounding area is park, so it’s quite lovely. However, as I’ve mentioned in the past, you can also find the occasional condom on the ground and people seem to hang out there in their cars to hide out from their jobs during the day, so it tends to skeeve me out a bit.

When I started my repeats, there was this one SUV with dark windows and motor running that I kept having to pass, leaving me extremely self-conscious since by the time I’d pass it, it was always the end of my repeat (when I appeared to be near death). Maybe they were just in there eating their turkey sandwiches, but luckily, there’s a fork in the road with a similar hill on the opposite side, so after repeat 4, I switched hills.

All I can say is, I wanted it to be over way sooner than the workout actually was – 5k effort on a hill is tough! The last couple repeats had moments in them where I felt I was standing still, my legs wobbling so much. I won’t post my splits because they’re ridiculous, I never neared actual 5K pace and the last two ended up slower than my usual easy pace, but I felt amazing after it was over, like I’d done something especially great for my legs and butt. Final tally for the run: 9.25 miles, avg. 8:23 pace.

Since the last 3 days have included quality work in each of them, it’s a treat to see the next 3 are purely easy, the only strenuous addition are a few strides on Friday. Originally, my schedule called for a tempo run on Friday, but Saturday’s race ends up being the perfect substitute, so it all works out swimmingly.

This afternoon I have 11 easy and a bunch of pushups (eek, 8 sets instead of 5 and only 45 seconds between sets with the last set “at least 40″ – I may need a redo on this week). Speaking of pushups, I’ve been contemplating getting one of those chin-up bars you put in the doorway. I’ve never in my life been able to do a single one so it’d be kind of cool to be able to do a few. Plus, pull-ups are the perfect counter exercise for pushups and would further improve my posture, ultimately improving my running. We’ll see, I have a limit to self-inflicted suffering and chinups might put me over the edge.