Sunday, September 27, 2009

Hills HURT.

There is no way around it, hills are painful. Simply, they hurt. Today on my 7 mile run I was pulled like a magnet to 30th street, the spawn of The Hill of Death. I set out with no route planned, just 7 miles on the Garmin, my MP3 player (not to be confused with my dead iPod), sunshine, and my thoughts. I ran and found myself running down 30th. The entire way down I was thinking “What goes down must come back up”. There is no way to get back home without running up a sick hill. At the end of the hill I turned to run on the (flat) path next to the water, but it is a popular place for walkers and often crowded and annoying, not to mention I would have ended up running up The Hill of Death to get to the street that leads back home. So I turned around and ran back up 30th, The Spawn of 36th. I did pretty well but it killed my time and my splits.

Stats for this run:
Mile 1: 8:45
Mile 2: 8:53
Mile 3: 8:41 (Elevation lost 766 ft to find myself 10 feet above sea level)
Mile 4: 12:10 (Ugh, elevation gained 760 feet)
Mile 5: 11:28 (recovering and feeling sorry for myself)
Mile 6: 9:49 (Hello 9 minute mile…)
Mile 7: 9:07 (that’s close to more like it)

I take it as a good sign that my times dropped after I recovered from the hill. No matter how much I hate hills, or how much they hurt, they are what I need right now. Seattle half is merciless, unforgiving and full of HILLS.

Now, for the hard part.

Accountability.

What happened to my mileage last week? 7.5 miles total. THAT my friends is terrible. Unacceptable. Inexcusable. I have no excuse. I skipped my 3 mile run on Friday, not sure why. And my long run today should have been counted for last weeks total but I do my weekly mileage Sunday to Saturday. I may reconsider and log my miles from Monday to Sunday. Anyway, for some reason the plan had this past week as a low mileage week. I have to trust plan and hope it will have me ready for Seattle in only 9 weeks! 9 weeks? NINE weeks...


Today I am grateful for:
Teriyaki
Wild blackberries
Cool tents in the living room for my Little Buddy to take a nap in.
My Wok, have I been openly grateful for that yet? Either way it is AWESOME!
All my AMAZING bloggy followers!
Runny Happy friends!




8 comments:

  1. OK next week we need to do the challenge again, maybe together we can stay on track :)

    Hey how close do you live to Point Defiance? I need to do a long run with HILLS next weekend. Orting is too easy..

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  2. It is true what goes up must come down! And let me tell you I would just rather go down and never come back up.

    You are right when you say the hardest part is getting out there. I keep saying I'm going to go, and then I will be like ugh I have to get dressed and get my shoes on. What would you suggest as a good goal for a race. I want to sign up for one and start training because I think that will motivate me, but I don't want to start to big. And where do you go to find races/marathons and such in your area?

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  3. I wish I had hills round here... instead I have to settle for parking garages...

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  4. Look at you and your crazy hills! Ugh, my quads HURT just thinking about them. TOTALLY worth it in the long run though! Keep climbing!! :)

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  5. You are going to be ready in 9 weeks I'm sure! If I can run a 10K (someone who's less trained than you) you can certainly do it.

    We don't have hills in the area. I have to look up an area where they are because I never trained for this and I want too because it's good for me.

    My workout schedule is from Monday to Sunday. Always like to think Monday's a new fres start.

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  6. I hadn't even thought about the holiday part Amanda! I was so focused on Hawaii! Well who new it looks like this 5k will benefit me in more than one way. So you think from now until November is enough time for me to be ready to run a 5k? I know it is only 3 miles but I am still nervous you know?

    I know! I need to get over the airplane thing. Cars are so much more unsafe. I think its just that I am so used to traveling by car that it doesn't freak me out. I just have to think that i am in good capable hands. I'm sure I will be..like you said the Hudson river incident went better than anyone could have expected. I am going to Oahu. I think once I get there all fears will be abated because i will be overwhelmed with excitement!

    ps

    how did you get your upcoming races, weekly mileage, and cross training on the side of your blog? i want something like that but i can not figure it out!

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  7. I did a 14 miler a few weeks back.. My body really loves longer slower runs, I felt GREAT after my 10 miler.. No pain, no tiredness. Of course Orting has no hills, which helps a lot.. I should be ready for the half no problem.

    I am thinking of doing a 14 miler this weekend. What is on your plan? I could meet EARLY on Saturday in Orting or Tacoma.. Email me and let me know. Would be great if we could meet up, for eevn part of the run.

    My Goal time....HMMMMMM? My last Half I ran 7:55 pace for a 1:43:39. I would love to get a time in the 1:30's...Like 1:39:59 :) Not sure if I can cut off 4 minutes. Will see my goals are TBD until the week before the half.. The speed work should translate to a speedy half and the course says it is relatively flat. My last half was ROLLING hills..

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  8. i had not even thought of telling the people at ww that i would be training for a run. thnk you for that! see that is why i am blogging, so i can get some (much needed) advice.

    so i have not found a plan. i have some running experience (really small some). for about a year i was doing 6 week bootcamp sessions and each night i would run about 1-2 miles at most. I stopped doing that about 8 months ago though so im not sure what kind of plan i should start on. i ran yesterday for the first time in a couple weeks. i felt ok but not great and i am sore today? any plan ideas for my level? i will google the hal higdon one!

    i am so ready to be sucked in. for the first time in a while i feel motivated about something! that could be because i have only been training one day! =p

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You're pretty much awesome!!

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