Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Hill Sprints Again

This morning was another Hill Sprints day - 50 minute easy run plus 6 x 100m hill sprints.

Again, I used the same plan for the easy run - try to keep my HR below 150 as much as possible; if I get over 155 bpm walk until I'm at about 147 and then start to run again.  This morning I only had to walk 4 times (in comparison to last week's 6) and I was very happy that I kept things under control during the big hill.  My overall time for the 4.43 mile loop was 50:09 - 3 minutes faster than last week, but still not where I was aerobically a few months ago.  Patience, grasshopper...

Hill sprints were a little easier this morning.  I didn't feel like quitting after the second one.  This morning, I wanted to quit after the third one! :-)  However, I was able to convince myself to keep on going by saying "I'm already halfway done...come on!"

While doing the hill sprints, I was thinking how silly I must look trying to sprint up a hill.  I mean, I am no Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson or Tyson Gay.  They looked graceful while their muscular bodies were sprinting around the track at top speed; I probably look absurd as I'm trying to haul my pudgy body up a short hill.  I wonder if the neighbors happen to be looking at me from their window and thinking "what is that poor guy trying to do?" or perhaps they are just laughing hysterically doing their best to keep from bursting out in laughter and spitting their breakfast cereal across the room.

Anyhow, one more week of Hill Sprints are behind me.  Thank goodness.  Taking a look ahead at the training plan, I only have one more week of Hill Sprints to go.  After that, I trade in Hill Sprints for Long Strides.  It looks like I'll be spending oodles of time at the track come August.  I'm not sure whether I should cheer or groan.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be taking advantage of one of the great perks of my new gym - Fitness First:  Free sessions with Personal Trainers (OK...not totally free...they are included in the monthly membership fees, but still it's a good deal).  I let the trainer know that I wanted to work on flexibility and strengthening my core muscles.  We'll see how that goes (I'm sure it will be good blog fodder for tomorrow!)

No comments: