Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Hug a Hill

I apologize for being MIA and not posting a Motivation Monday!  I supposed I had a little too much fun this weekend with celebrating the mini-chickie and all that Monday came....and went!  Sorry about that!

It has been well documented on this blog that I am not a big fan of hills.  I am not afraid to say that I just plain hate them...and they ruin most good races that I run!  There may or may not have been a condition diagnosed during Ragnar Cape Cod this year that was called hill tourettes.  My BRF continues to ask me to do the same race each year that I have sworn off after doing it one year and realizing that it really does have 17 massive hills.  My nemesis still remains standing tall in New Bedford in front of my closest sub 1:50 half.  Needless to say hills and I have not been friends...
But I'm ready to change that!  After finding out just how hilly PA was...especially the Runner's World Half and Festival courses were...I decided that I was going to try and get better at hills.  In order to do that I picked the hilliest area near my house and decided to incorporate it into all of my long runs.  This is a road that follows parallel to the highway and has been called many names in the past by other runners....the dreaded Service Road...and I have to say that it lives up to the hype!
You hit the crest of one hill only to spy the crest of the next!  It tests your lungs and leg endurance like nothing I've done before!  However for the past 5 weeks I have headed out from my house....ran some hills en-route to the Service Road...and then spent 2-3 miles rolling up and down and back again to my house.  I've left a lot of sweat, swears, and tears on that friggin road and I'll keep doing it until I have conquered that thing!!  I wouldn't say that I am a fan of hills still....but I may or may not have looked forward to Sunday's trek on the roller coaster!

Are you a hill fan?  How do you get better on hills?

4 comments:

  1. I actually love hills. I know that they will make me a stronger runner. I also love the feeling of accomplishment when you are done! Awesome job facing your fear of the hills!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love hills kind of...except after this weekend for my marathon, I definitely didn't love the down-hills- they can really hurt! Training hills is so good, especially if you live in a flat area and will run a race that has more than just the bumps you are used to!

    ReplyDelete
  3. OH you bet RW half has hills. I remember Bart yasso said they made it flatter too! There are some beauty's of hills but I bet you will conquer them all! We plan on taking our time and having fun in the half.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Nice job on the hill training! I actually don't mind uphills; it's the downhills are the ones that get me. I remember at Boston actually being glad of the Newton hills after all that downhill from the start to Wellesley! Bring it on!

    ReplyDelete