Thursday, February 11, 2010

Bring thee hills and lets talk 25K

I firmly said NO to the dreadmill this morning and went outside @ lunch @ work today since it was in the low 30's and BRIGHT sunny. The snow on the driveway was already melted by noon. Score! I did the hill outside of the office 2X as part of a 5 miler. For those of you NY area triathletes who are considering doing the Westchester Triathlon @ the end of September, this is the hill known as "Claire's Climb." Its really not that bad of a hill, just big enough to get you breathing pretty hard and making the legs burn. This is the profile:

(Its not really 10%...prolly more like 7-8% max)

This hill reminded me of my upcoming 25K. You know how you sign up for a race that is weeks or months away but you still haven't mentally "checked in" to it yet? Well today I checked into it considering the 25K will not only be the longest run I will have ever done, but it will also be a hilly one:

(The graph is not normalized, so its not THAT steep, but it will still be kicking my @$$!)

So basically you climb for 8 miles, then descend for 7.5. I'm not worried about the up, I'm actually worried about the down. By the time I start going down, my legs will be getting shot and the constant pounding really does a number on your quads. You really have to train those downhill resistance muscles just like you have to train those uphill muscles! Go run a downhill marathon lemme know if it was "easy."

Just so happens a coworker and fellow triathlete of mine happens to live 1.5 miles from the top of the course. Oh how convenient! So I will be heading up there this weekend to put in a short 11.72 miles on the upper loop of the course :)

Speaking of the course, here it is:

6 comments:

  1. HA! today was the first day I actually did do the 'mill. Things are really messy here in the city. glad you got outside, cuz it was nice. I have so few hills here to work... so you'll be hoofing it for 15 miles on the 28th and I'll be doing my measly 4...you are gonna kick my ass at the Moose!

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  2. congrats on getting outside to run!

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  3. 25K is only about 27, 305 strides........

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  4. Thanks Dad for being so realistic.

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  5. Hi little bro,
    You know how much I hate hills!! And, those hills do not look like fun...better you than me:)

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