I did hills yesterday morning and it was fantastic. The weather was cold, but I was warm enough after warming up to just wear a t-shirt with my gloves and hat. Justin, Chris and I went to the hospital for 6 x 45/90. I wasn't looking forward to it. Chris had boasted that he'd made it to the traffic circle last week when he did 5 alone, so I needed to deal with that too.
Long story short, it was by far the best hill workout I can recall doing. I made it as far on the 2nd 90 as I had on any of my 90s from the last set at the hospital and for the rest I made it further. My paces were all really good too. For comparison's sake, two weeks ago when I did 4 sets, my paces were as follows: 45 - 5:27, 5:13, 5:08, 5:20; 90 - 5:34, 5:26, 5:20, 5:21. Yesterday, with more hills, my paces were better: 45 - 5:24, 5:28, 5:02, 5:08, 5:02, 5:05; 90 - 5:33, 5:25, 5:19, 5:05, 5:05, 4:49.
My last 3 90s were incredible. On the 6th one, I gave Justin and Chris a head start. I caught them about half way and sat, with Chris making a big push probably around 60 seconds. I drove past him and felt his heart break as I entered the traffic circle and went all the way through it. I miscounted the beeps on my watch and actually celebrated the end of the interval, prematurely, and could have possibly made it to the next crosswalk if I hadn't been such an idiot.
Two or three more weeks of hills before Greg has to start coaching me again. I'm going to do some tempo next week on Thursday. May 20 is coming; I'll be ready.
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I'm not familiar with this 45/90 workout. Would you mind explaining how it works? When I've done hills by the hospital, I just start at the bottom by that sign and run up to the traffic circle, aiming for 10K pace or faster.
ReplyDeleteSo do you do it like 45 sec interval, recover, 90 second interval, back downhill?
Zack, 45/90s are simple. Uphill for 45 seconds at 5k race pace, back down. Uphill for 90 seconds at 5k race pace, back down.
ReplyDeleteWhen I do 45/90s, I start at the stop sign by the ER. 45 seconds puts me around the fire hydrant next to a lamp post. 90 puts me near the traffic circle.
Awesome. Thanks for the explanation. And that starting point definitely makes sense for shorter intervals since you'd get the benefit of the steepest part of the hill without having to go through that intersection, which always seems to have traffic even pretty early in the AM.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
we don't see too much traffic while we're there. the hospital is ideal for hills because it's
ReplyDelete1) one of the biggest hills in town
2) always lit
3) has really wide lanes
4) will be one of the first roads cleared when there is ice because it leads to the ER.