Fast forward to 2013, when I signed up for the Mastodon Challenge 15K as part of my training plan for a half marathon a month later. Of the three race distances I've tried so far in my short time as a runner - 5K, 15K, 13.1 miles - holy cow, 9 miles turned out to be my favorite! More challenging than 5K, but not as grueling as a half marathon.
Holy cow, what am I saying? I should be saying "Holy Mastodon!" The race is named after this big guy, found along the route in 1866 and now living in the New York State Museum. The race motto is, "Can You Survive? They Didn't."
I'll write a belated "race recap" some other time, but suffice it to say I survived and I want to do it again - this time without walk breaks. The race is in early May, so at the beginning of 2014 I opened up my copy of You, Only Faster by Greg McMillan and designed a training plan. For me, it really should be called, You, Only Less Slow, but in any event I like having a plan to follow. It breaks up the monotony and keeps things interesting. And it seems worthwhile to try to improve.
McMillan's method consists of a 12-week program that can be lengthened by adding various "modules." I had a few extra weeks to play with, so I added a "mileage base" module and a "hills" module to the beginning. I missed a few runs during the "mileage base" module because of motivational problems in the cold and the dark, and because of sore feet after a long "dread-mill" run. But with the race still over 3 months away, and knowing I CAN do it because I DID do it, I wasn't too concerned.
Now I'm in the "hills" module, and based on the race profile, I'm considering this module to be really important:
But still, I missed my first set of "medium hill repeats" on Thursday because it was dark, the roads were icy, and it was really, really cold outside. I just couldn't get psyched to go to the gym before work and do it on the treadmill. So, yesterday I decided to work some hill repeats into my long run, outside. On Saturday I don't have to go in the dark, so I can at least see the snow and ice on the side of the road. Based on the hourly forecast, the highest temperature of the day would be 25 degrees, at 3 pm. I got out by 3:30, when the temperature was 23 degrees.
Here are the two workouts I combined:
Thursday: medium hill repeats, 6-8 reps
Saturday: long run, 75-100 minutes
Beneath the pavement where I live and run are ancient sand dunes, so it is somewhat hilly. There is one hill on my usual route that I consider pretty tough, so I decided to do the repeats there. I arrived at the base of the hill 25 minutes into my run. I measured how far up I could run, running medium-hard, in one minute, and did that 6 times, jogging back down in between. Then I continued along the way, for a total time of 88:34. Here is the profile, with my tiny (0.09-mile) repeat section marked.
Looking at this, I'm not sure why I always think that particular hill is harder than any of the others! Here are two pictures: the one on the left looking up and the one on the right looking back down; can you tell that it's a hill?
It was as cold as it looks! Here is what the winter sun looks like about an hour before it sets.
Adding the repeats to the route made my total run about 7.3 miles. I don't think I ever went that far without walk breaks before! It felt slow, but actually right on my target "long run" pace according to the McMillan running calculator.
I was hoping to run into some of these sweeties that were hanging around behind my backyard earlier in the day, but they were hiding. Saw plenty of their footprints in the snow, though.
This week I'm supposed to do a "leg speed" work out (whatever that is!) on Monday and long hill repeats on Wednesday. Haven't looked at the forecast, but that gym is always open!
Anyone else in training for a hilly run?
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