I used to fear hills - I hated them with a vengeance. Some of my early injuries followed hill sessions. I'd get calf strains, overtaxing them uphill. I came to associate hills with injury and avoided them - making injury from club hill sessions even more likely.
Things are different now.
With Boston looming, I've been doing more and more hills. Well, mostly the same hill actually. There is one big hill about 5 miles from home. It's a 300ft ridge which provides, depending on the route, a steady 2 mile ascent and a steeper 1 mile descent. It used to be my idea of hell!
Today, I felt cold and tired, and figured I might turn around after 5 miles.
Then the sun came out...
I felt good, and decided to do the climb and descent I've just described. Uphill was fun in a strange sort of way - beautiful views. I can now run it at a reasonable pace without my heart rate going above 75%MHR - I'd have had to walk it a year or 2 ago. Heartbreak Hill in Boston is losing its mystique - I ran my
Heartbreak Hill simulation on the way up. I passed Shelly on 'Heartbreak Hill' - we are making a habit of passing each other on our Sunday runs!
Downhill was great fun. 1 mile of fast running. I think I've cracked the downhill technique. I feel very comfortable. Again, useful Boston preparation, as Boston has lots of downhills.
In the end I ran 17 miles. Fun! Here's the profile:
