Where did the hills go?

I must be getting fit (at last).

Set out to The Fence, a 7-7.5-mile out and back mainly on an undulating trail. My aim was to repeat a stonking run I had last week when, fired up after watching a clip of the "Spartans" training for the movie "300", I'd elected to sprint all the hills.

So off I went...only I couldn't find the hills. They seem to have been magically transformed into benign little slopes. Hmm... this may have something to do with the tasty muscle-endurance workout Bobby put me and Kyle through on Tuesday. One of the hardest sessions I have ever done. (Gory details on the Sub-5 forum). In comparison to that, I guess a lot of things are going to seem easy.

(For any locals that know this route, the trail is semi-officially known as the North Rail Trail, and I am NOT including the nasty lump right by the start of Hogback Ridge Trail in the "disappeared" category -- that is still very much there.)

So, 12 days ago: 7 miles at 8:14 pace, average heart rate 144. Today, 7.5 miles at 7:57 pace, average heart rate 145. I think this is the first time I've been under 8 minutes per mile for this route, too, so something's definitely happening.