League Line Road Elevation
I've been told that League Line Road is where Houston runners go to get their long hills. I get plenty of hill workouts with Will's Hills, but the hills are short and steep. At League Line Road the hills are longer and more gradual. Many local runners use this route for their Boston Marathon training which has some challenging rolling hills during the latter stages of the course.
Today Cory and I made the 45 minute trek out to League Line Road in preparation for the upcoming Ogden Marathon which has an overall drop of about 1100 feet. It's always a pleasure to chat with Cory, and the conversation always seems particularly fluid when it occurs during a long run. And while today's run wasn't particularly long, the shorter "long run" worked out well for both of us since we both have a bit of recovering to do. Cory has been battling knee and ankle problems, whereas my right ankle/Achilles/leg has been acting up.
I'm not really sure what my problem is, but at this stage I'm fairly certain it's not my Achilles. After our run today I could feel a slight burning sensation and sensitivity midway up my Achilles. Hopefully I can get Dr. Bob from PIM to look at it and give me some advice. For now I'm going to take it easy on Sunday and Monday so I don't miss my streak of consecutive Tour De Bayou contests.
But back to League Line Road -- it was a good experience. I had hoped for more challenging hills. Despite a relatively aggressive sub-8 minute pace, my heart rate stayed very low (52% Zone 3, 45% Zone 2) and I never felt affected by the grade. After visiting Austin last weekend and seeing some monster hills, I guess I was expecting and hoping for a bit more. Running along Teaswood was nicer than League Line Road since we didn't have to contend with any traffic. The weather was great (49 degrees average) which contributed to our healty pace. Overall I think I'm in good shape to handle the Ogden course on May 17, with the obvious unknown variable of elevation. I'll tackle that issue when I get there.
This is Cory's account of today's run.
Mile Splits:
8:39, 7:35, 7:48, 7:54, 7:58, 7:48, 7:46, 7:45, 7:45, 3:32 (.52 miles, 6:47 pace)
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TDLY - Rice Loop, pi miles (3.14), 28:22, 9:09 pace, Max HR = 159, Avg HR = 150, 52% zone 4, 43% zone 3. This was actually only 3.10 miles, but the reference to pi seemd appropriate given the fact that it was run around Rice University.
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