hills

We could have picked a better day for my first exposure to Ric's infamous hill circuits.
Wind gusting at 50mph does not exactly help when you're plugging uphill on not one, but three different climbs. Turning a corner at the top of one short uphill stretch I came to a standstill as the wind hit me full force.

This morning, I decided to do a 3 mile run. The run consisted of 3 parts. These parts are hills, tempo runs, and medium to high cruising runs. I started out by running down the hill from our driveway, right into a medium cruising run. Then on the next street, I did a short tempo run. After crossing the next street after that I did another tempo run but at full power followed by a short walk and then another tempo up a hill but not at full power. Then I crossed the bridge and ran down and did some cruising.

Eldorado Springs.  Mesa Trail Out and Back.  6.29m.  1:16:43.  +1038/-1087.  I love hills.  Hills are good.  Hills are my friend.  Lovely hills.  I am a machine running up the hill.  My legs are pistons.  Hills hills hills.

Estes Park near the Stanley Hotel (“Wendy, I’m home…”).  4.82m.  56:36.  I love running hills.  Even when I lived in Dallas I’d search out the one hill in the city to run up and down.  Think of me as a slow billy goat.  I found some great hills on Highway 34 on the edge of Estes Park this morning.  The big one was a steady grade (< 10%) for one mile.  A one mile hill.  Yummy.

Day after my late hill run I was expecting to feel sore and stiff. "They" tell us that downhill running is THE best way of experiencing DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), and that's usually true for me.

If an idle mind is the Devil's workshop, this weekend (anyway) I'm about as Godly as one can get.

My in-laws are staying with us for the weekend so there are two additional bodies in the house. My son's school is having its annual Silent Auction tonight to help fund programs like P/E (wasn't that free for us growing up???). Tomorrow is my wife's birthday so I've got to come up with something BIG to do (between now and then). AND - last but not least - I had to get in a hard 18 mile run this morning so I can hit my 55 mile target for the week so as not tempt fate by trying to talk my wife into letting me go for a solo run tomorrow (on her birthday). My motto is "happy wife, happy life"..