The Hills are Alive

With the sound of gasping.

This morning, for the first time in several months, I ran hill repeats. Up and down. Up and down. Up and down.

Not this hill, sadly:

This is my favorite hill, but I didn’t have time to drive out to the trail this morning.

Instead I ran up and down a much more boring hill. Up and down in the dark. Up and down past the school. Up and down until the people having a cigarette on the front porch of the house at the bottom of the hill might have begun to wonder what I was doing. Was I really THAT lost?

grin

Or maybe I had just lost my marbles.

Hill running is hard work, no kidding. But it gives great benefits.

First, I feel like a running beast. What did you do before breakfast this morning? Oh, not much, just hill repeats. I win.

Next, it’s good for increasing my speed. Running hills leads to stronger legs which in turn lead to a faster me. I win again.

And finally, I can see it improving my endurance. Last weekend when Phil and I did our long run, I ran and ran and ran. It felt so good. And it’s at least partly due to my hills. Yes, this is the first time I’ve done repeats for a while, but I do have a hilly route I’ve been running once a week for ages.

Now that I’ve added in hill repeats again, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.