I had to reshuffle my training schedule to get some (much needed) rest yesterday. As a result, today called for a hill workout. Since Richard was out, I had to find a hill with easy access, so I could start my run from my house. I ended up picking the UAH "hill". It's not really a hill, hence the quotation marks. However, it had to do for today. And according to the statistics from today's run online, it was actually the same elevation profile as the Cotton Row hill. I'm not sure if I believe that.
To make up for the fact that this hill clearly had less grade, I decided I would attempt to sprint up the hill rather than the steady running I'd been doing during my hill workouts. While it wasn't an all out sprint, it certainly got the sweat going. The temps at 5:30AM were around 74 degrees, but the humidity was once again ridiculous. I ended up logging 7 miles in a little over an hour. Each uphill sprint came in around 6:00 minute per mile pace, I think. And since I had to do it 14 times, it definitely felt like a workout.
I find that I seem to push myself harder when I run by myself. While I certainly enjoy a tough training session, I enjoy good company on a training run even more. Hopefully, I'll find a healthy balance. Or I could just stop dragging my feet while running with my running buddies;-) I'm sure it's just a mental thing, similar to someone's recent comment on the Ultralist regarding pacers in 100 mile races. You spend a lot of time whining and moaning or otherwise complaining to your pacer during the later stages of such an event. However, be out there alone and you can't do anything but focus on confinuous forward movement or CFM. I definitely think that these two statements apply to me. Yet, I would still prefer to have a pacer. I guess I just like to complain? Who knows, I am sure I'll find out once I race a 100 miler without any type of pacer or support, which could be very soon.
To make up for the fact that this hill clearly had less grade, I decided I would attempt to sprint up the hill rather than the steady running I'd been doing during my hill workouts. While it wasn't an all out sprint, it certainly got the sweat going. The temps at 5:30AM were around 74 degrees, but the humidity was once again ridiculous. I ended up logging 7 miles in a little over an hour. Each uphill sprint came in around 6:00 minute per mile pace, I think. And since I had to do it 14 times, it definitely felt like a workout.
I find that I seem to push myself harder when I run by myself. While I certainly enjoy a tough training session, I enjoy good company on a training run even more. Hopefully, I'll find a healthy balance. Or I could just stop dragging my feet while running with my running buddies;-) I'm sure it's just a mental thing, similar to someone's recent comment on the Ultralist regarding pacers in 100 mile races. You spend a lot of time whining and moaning or otherwise complaining to your pacer during the later stages of such an event. However, be out there alone and you can't do anything but focus on confinuous forward movement or CFM. I definitely think that these two statements apply to me. Yet, I would still prefer to have a pacer. I guess I just like to complain? Who knows, I am sure I'll find out once I race a 100 miler without any type of pacer or support, which could be very soon.
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