Heartbreak Hill (s)

Last night, our running group did hill workouts over in Cherokee Park. As we climbed hill after hill in 20 degree temperature, I kept thinking "what am I doing out here." It didn't dawn on me until I was driving home, how important hill training is for the the upcoming races - especially the Papa Johns 10 miler and the Mini-Marathon. I think the one comment I hear most from first time competitors in these races is "Wow, those hills were really tough!" I have to agree and I believe the key in running well in those races is to properly train on the hills beforehand.

I have to admit these hill workouts are not the most enjoyable thing in the world! We practice on the backside of Hogan's Fountain and the uphill is quite an incline to say the least (it could be worse, I guess we could be doing them on dog hill!) It's a pretty fascinating sight for the casual observer, runners (only detectable by their flashing lights) running up and down the same hill for a half hour. In the summer, when it is light out, we get some pretty strange "those people are nuts" looks from the walkers in the park. Though we only end up running a total of about 5 miles, I am absolutely spent after these workouts.

Hopefully the hill training will pay off this spring, it will definitely be necessary when climbing those monsters in Iroquois come race time.