Hill Heaven

Yes, I'm certain that at some point in the hot Phoenix summer, I'll be posting a "Hill Hell" blog. But not today!

Sunday, Lilac and I (ok I) decided to go exploring at South Mountain. Our (my) goal was to find a good long decent hill that was neither too rocky, nor too sandy that we could use for our summer hill work. We explored different trails and found lots of washes that were really rocky - just spells disaster - or were short, but none that were Goldilocks 'just right'. Then we went back to our staple National trail, and decided to use a section that is rolling hills, and finish it with short but intense hill.

It was an absolutely beautiful day. Just slightly chilly, so that it felt perfect when we were running. It was green, we saw a coyote, it was just a beautiful day. The best part was that I felt good doing 'sprints' in th hills. It was the first day since I've been sick that my lungs didn't completely collapse on me. My knee hurts today, but I think it just needs to get used to running the trails again, versus hiking them. My initial early season version II times? 2:27 through the rolling hill section, 0:46 for the longer portion of the last hill, and 0:11 for the short part of the last hill. We'll see how that improves.

I think that after training for the half, I need to change my focus a little. Now I know I can go somewhat long, and I can build on that, but I want to work on my explosiveness and speed - primarily because with all this travel, I will probably be doing more short workouts. Might as well make the most of them, right?

I feel confident that the short stuff will help me with my Summer Series goals, give me some incentive to push through this funk, and keep me from dwelling/dreading? the training for an Olympic Tri at the end of the season. I don't have to think about September right now. I just have to think about short effective workouts and I can take a mental break from 3 hours on the treadmill.

We'll see how it goes. Did anyone notice that I actually am trying something new, without being forced into it? It could become a habit! (Yeah right)