Top Notch Workout

There's a half marathon I would like to run in a couple of weeks. It's in Vallmeyer, IL and I've run it several times. It's a very small race and I think I've placed in my age group every time I've run it. I don't place in half marathons.

The course is a lot of rolling hills through farm land and the entire last mile is up a very steep hill. So instead of my usual track work, I decided to run some hill repeats this morning.

There's a large hill about a block from our house that has a nice, steep section about 100 meters long that I use for hill workouts. The hill is on Top Notch Lane and I warm up with a jog before charging up the hill over and over.

I use a pair of bushes as my starting marker and run hard up the hill until it levels off at a white mailbox. I don't let up until I reach that mailbox, but once I do, I turn and 'jog' my way back down. I say jog, but it's really a bouncing motion that's slower than a walk. I take as long as I want going back down the hill (while panting) but take off again as soon as I reach the starting bushes.

It's a tough workout that I can squeeze into about 30 minutes and it makes a huge difference when I run hilly races.

Friday
Goal For The Day: Hill Repeats.
Distance: 3.52 Miles.
Time: 30:16. 8:36 Avg.
Route: 6 x Top Notch Hill.
Conditions: 67 degrees. 7:45AM.

Notes: 6 repeats. I could tell I haven't done this workout in a while. The first one always seems like the worst. Once the blood is flowing and the legs are awake, they're hard, but not as rough. Another great, cool, cloudy, almost-rainy workout!

Daily Miles: 3.52 Miles.
Blog Totals:
  Run - 284.85 Miles.
  Bike - 122.45 Miles.
  Swim - 9,050+ meters.