Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The Hills...

that is, if you can actually consider this session as running the hills.

It was a rather haphazard run on the treadmill. Instead of doing fartleks with my virtual running friend, Aneta, we decided we would give the hills a go this week to change it up a little.
It was not easy! My legs were a little tofu-like after the second mile - which goes to show there's room for improvement.

I am totally clueless about doing the hills. Aside from the help/explanation that Aneta gave me via e-mail, I decided to just whack it out myself and adjust accordingly. So, this was what I did.

I did 0.5 mile intervals (hill-rest-hill-rest-hill-rest), starting at 0% (which is my recovery portion), and then at 2%, 3%, 4% inclines. The speed was set to somewhere between 11:30ish to 10:00ish/mile and I sprinted at about 8ish-9ish min/mile on my last 0.5 mile at 0% incline. I walked for less than a minute at some point just to catch my breath and find my legs. I think I left them at the bottom of the hill.
So, all in all, 3 miles done, in about 30 minutes (+/-) because I am such a klutz and erased all the information when I hit the "stop" button on the treadmill twice.

My thoughts:
1) Doing hills isn't easy. but I need to do it to get faster and stronger.
2) Having a buddy doing it with you (or virtually) helps to keep you accountable.
3) I need to have a better game plan. That means, I need to plan the intervals properly and I need it on a sticky note affixed to the front of the treadmill when I run so I don't have time or opportunity to weasel out of it.
4) Thank goodness I am through with running today.

Question of the day:
What do you do to help you be more organized when you do hills on the treadmill? Is there a plan you follow?

Have a happy Wednesday!

6 comments:

  1. Great job tackling some hills! Even though they can be a total beeyotch, they really do help with training to make you stronger AND faster. I think what you are doing with the intervals is very good. Does your treadmill have a "hills" option?
    If you run hills outdoors, I've told all my runner friends that it's best to get MAD at that hill...it gives you a boost of energy and it feels amazing once you get to the top! I'm sure it could be the same for your treadmill intervals too.

    Great job!

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  2. Good job on your hill workout! It's great to get faster, but also to get ready for a race. You never know what might come up during a race! :)

    It helps me to have a piece of paper with the workout written in large letters, which I fold after each hill, otherwise I forgot where I am :)

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  3. Sounds like a good workout to me! I don't have any good suggestions...I live in a very hilly neighborhood, so I just head out my front door when i want to do hills.

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  4. It's funny, your title had me think you were going to write about the MTV Speidi tv show The Hills! ;-)

    I do have my piece of paper with me often to focus/stare at/keep me accountable during my interval runs on the treadmill.

    and yeah, hills are HARD.;-)

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  5. I have been watching Seasons 1,2,3 of The Hills on Netflix. It is crazy!

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  6. Haha, Ann-Marie :). I used to watch The Hills, too...that was a long time ago...

    But good job on the hill work! I like to incorporate hills at least every other week, either in hill repeats or I'll find a very hilly route (not hard in Colorado!) and run the hills tough, if I have an upcoming hilly race. They do make you stronger :). Keep at it and it will get better!!

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