The hills were fun! Or maybe I'm just crazy?

Tonight's hill workout was fun! After the crazy hard hills two weeks ago, and compared to the BIG hill at Newhall Park in Concord last season, these were easy! I guess perspective is everything. I ran for just under 30 minutes total, including the warm-up, so it wasn't too long, which was nice. I'm sure I'll feel it in my hamstrings and glutes tomorrow, but that's the point!

Coach Al timed us on the first and last of five routes/loops. The first time we could use our own watches, in addition to his "official" time. The second time we had to temporarily donate our treasured time pieces to his red Santa bag. (OK, I confess, mine is a $10 velcro jobbie from Target; not so treasured!) The point was to see who could get the closest to their original time.

Pretty much everyone ran faster by a smidge. It had to do with anxiety/anticipation, and Coach Al's point was that we need to learn how to deal with this anxiety on race day so we don't go out too fast and burn up our energy. ("Go out fast, die like a pig," a la Coach Tim.) We need to learn what our true pace is, not as measured by a watch, but as felt in our bodies. It was quite a revealing little exercise. I definitely felt "pressure" to run a bit faster the second time, and I did come in 10 seconds quicker.

Running aside, the view from atop the hill was stunning -- to the east, golden hills in the distance; to the west, a brilliant orange-pink swath of color as the sun set. Beautiful for sure, but it made me sad that the days are getting shorter. Indeed, by the time we finished, it was pretty dark and my headlamp came in handy (I remembered to bring it!).

One last note -- Danville is full of ridiculously palatial mansions! I had never been to that part of the town before (just the downtown area). Now I know why Danville is "money"!

Last Week's Torturous Tuesday

Last week's hill workout in Walnut Creek at Shell Ridge Open Space was brutal! I didn't think it would be too bad because I'm in better condition at this point in the season than I was last spring. Ha!

Our warm-up was just over a mile long -- uphill! Then our hill workout was straight uphill (seriously) for 2/10 of a mile, followed by about a mile of downhill recovery; we repeated it twice. The 2/10 of a mile is what nearly got the best of me. A short distance to be sure, but the incline was unbelievable. I went out way too fast. By the time I slowed near the top of the hill, my throat was burning. It really felt like it was on fire or, at the very least, like someone had rubbed it with sandpaper. I was coughing like I had bronchitis and wheezing like I had asthma.

Even after recovering (mandatory before the next downhill leg), I couldn't "right' myself. You see, when I cough, it makes me sneeze. At the very least, I get a runny nose. So I started sniffing in the absence of Kleenex, which made me cough even harder. It was a vicious cycle. Then I tried running downhill, but I had drank a lot of water already and when I coughed hard, it make it hard to hold my bladder! Let's just say I was pretty much a disaster.

I got back around to the bottom of the hill for the second go-around and Coach Haakon said, "Don't go up until you've caught your breath!" It wasn't my breath I was trying to catch! Jeez oh peas. I did the second loop much more slowly.

I ended up buying cough drops on the way home from the run. Sadly, they didn't help! I even still had a scratchy throat the next day -- small price to pay, I guess. It was a small miracle that my legs and glutes felt all right. I'm just glad tomorrow's workout is at the track and not in the hills.
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