The Groove

As I was running a light 3miler on Friday, I started thinking that one must just get into a groove when going uphill in running (I know you do in cycling). That 3mi route has one short steep hill. For my weekly long run Saturday I decided to test my theory by ascending Monte Sano. Out the door and up to the park entrance is roughly 5.6mi. Make that a round trip and I have a nice 11miler of both climbing and downhill training - both of which I will need for my hilly marathon in November.

The sky was overcast and sprinkled occasional drops as I ascended. The elevation gain is 800-900 ft over the 5.6miles and it is pretty steady the whole way. Like I had planned, I just sat in at about a 10:00 pace and took my short-strided self up the mountain (no offense to you more serious climbers frowning or laughing at this measly hill). I felt pretty decent at the top, took about 10 secs of walking and headed back down.

Going down was fast-er. The ascent took 58:00. The descent took only 46:00. Average pace of 9:20, which is good to me. I am still slightly uncomfortable with steep downhills, so I tend to catch myself quite a bit as I run downhill. Otherwise, I feel out of control and jack my heart rate up in addition to still pounding the crap out of my legs. Practice . . .

Anyway, it was a nice run - not as tough as I thought it would be. A couple hours later, my knees were pretty sore It was a tougher last couple of days really because my schedule was shifted some. Rather than running T, W, R, I had to run T, R,F followed by the long run today. I might have benefited from resting today and running Sunday, but I am increasing mileage next week and want to keep that long run on Saturday because I will be headed back home to FL.