Will's Hills 15 - Miles and W's

Warm Up, 1x2M followed by 6 laps of hills, Warm Down

Today's workout was one of the toughest I've done in a long time. 2x1M at near top speed, followed immediately by six 0.3M laps, each with three hills. My heart rate got elevated pretty quickly and stayed that way. Over the 33 minute workout (which doesn't include the warm up), my heart rate averaged 82% of my max (157 BPM).

I tried to keep up with Will on the first mile split, and clocked a 5:40, Avg HR = 134, Max HR = 171. After a five minute, .58 mile recovery jog, I turned the second mile split in at 5:57, but a Avg HR = 170 and Max HR = 180. The significant decrease in speed was disappointing, particularly because I was clearly working harder based on my heart rate. But then again it's the first intensive cardio exercise I've done in several weeks, so it was to be expected that my endurance isn't there.

Coach Ted from Power in Motion was there today. We seem to keep step-in-step, despite the fact that he is twenty years older than me. I blew me away when he told me he was more than fifty – I had him pegged for low forties. He's a phenomenal runner with tons of experience. Not only that, but he's an all around nice guy.

Today he stressed the importance of the rest period between intervals. I tend to get caught up trying to maintain a high heart rate, but I need to listen more closely to him so I can hit the intervals harder by taking the breaks easier.

He offered some great advice about my Achilles as well, which I originally dismissed because I thought it couldn't be true. He said I might have an underdeveloped calf muscle which caused the Achilles strain. My right leg doesn't look underdeveloped, and I leap up hills thanks to my strong calves, so I assumed he was wrong. But after I thought about it a bit more, I realized that my left calf is stronger and the imbalance could very well have been my problem. I'm not sure why it developed that way, but I suspect it's because my right leg is about an inch shorter than the left. I really need to listen to Coach Ted when he's giving me advice. He knows what he's talking about.

I haven't had any trouble with my leg, despite ramping up the miles this week – 36.5 since the marathon, with somewhere around 15-20 scheduled for this weekend. The miles haven't been as fast as I was running a month ago, but it's twenty degrees warmer.

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TDLY - May 23, 2007 - Kenyan Way, sixteen 30 second sprints. Tough workout -- don't dismiss it until you try it.Blog Entry.