HILL TRAINING AND THE MAN WITH THE BRUSH!

[danzargo]

I rather enjoyed too much San Miguel last night (it was on offer and ice cold and delicious) and arose from my bed feeling a tad delicate. I'd sort of wondered about a long 12K run but bottled out at the last minute owing to "shaky leg syndrome" (ie. hangover). So I decided to attack Mount Torture in Richmond for a spot of hill training. If that didn't sort my legs out....nothing would. I hadn't graced the hill with my presence for a while so it would be good to see if she's still as torturous as before.

Set off along the river to richmond Lock where I decided to cross over to the other side. Normally there are a few people around but this morning it was deserted so I took a selfie atop the Victorian structure. Selfie done, I jogged over to the far side and went down the steps and set off at a medium pace towards my destination. I wished I'd set Endomondo off to measure my speed but I forgot! Oh well, not to worry, I could see Richmond Bridge approaching and I didn't have too far to go before I reached Nightingale Lane - the hill of DEATH!!

Off I trudged at a slow pace, my glutes screaming abuse at me. Halfway up I noticed a council worker who was sweeping the leaves and general detritus into piles. He gave me a look as I slogged past as though to say "You;re mad!" He was probably right.

I reached the summit and felt like planting a flag, I was so proud! It really is a killer of a hill but perfect for my needs. Once I'd caught my breath I went back down....slowly! There is a danger on this hill that could potentially do you some damage to your hips if you weren't careful. I didn't want to put the brakes on too much, but yet I didn't want to end up having my legs run so fast I couldn't keep up with the buggers! "Just let gravity do it's thing Dan" I told myself and before long I was at the bottom.

Time for the second ascent - off I went. Brush Man was still there, sweeping as slowly as he could, clearly waiting for lunchtime where he could sit down and rest up. He gave me another look - this definitely said "Nutter" as far as I was concerned, but I carried on to the top. Gasping for breath I decided to reward myself with a lovely sit down on one of the many benches which overlook the river from on high. I started to feel a bit self conscious of Brush Man now.I just wished he'd finish his sweeping and b***er off! But alas, he was there to do a job I suppose, so I quickly admonished myself for thinking such evil thoughts. His dust cart was just opposite me and I had more evil visions of me climbing aboard the thing and sailing down the hill at 100mph, screaming like a banshee as I went passed him!! Hahaha!

I decided not to do that.

Off I went again down the hill. I smiled this time as I passed him. Nothing. Zero response from him. Now I was feeling like a plonker. I reached the bottom and wondered if I really could go up a 4th time. I mean, what will he be thinking? Then I had a rush of positivity where I told myself "WHO GIVES A FLYING SH**!" So off I went up again. It felt remarkably easier this time and I'm sure my speed increased from 0.01 mph to 0.03 mph as I "raced" past Brush Man (didn't even bother smiling this time) and reached the top. A few moments to gather myself and then I was off back down for the final time. I really was quite bored by this stage and how I managed 5 up and downs on a previous session, I have no idea. So I decided to run home.

I felt leaden and heavy. Not at all light and quick footed which I hoped I would be. Probably my physiology wasn't in the best shape after San Miguel last night ,so I put it down to that.

I'm planning a long one at the weekend and might even do the 12K route I did a few weeks back. Knowing I can conquer this distance is an amazing thought considering this time last year I had so many injuries. I seem to remember writing about my groin quite a bit (much to juicyju's amusement!!).

Have fun people and enjoy the running cos it's good for you!

Dan.

[Irishprincess Graduate]

Dan,your post exhausts me just reading it! That sounds gruelling but well done for tackling such a mountain with a hangover. Huge respect!

So funny imagining the scene between you and Brush Man. I can just imagine him in the pub tonight telling all his mates, " well there was this geezer today.........".

[danzargo Graduate in reply to Irishprincess]

I think you may be right, although I think he'd replace the word "geezer" with "lunatic".....!!

[tanyag_163 Graduate in reply to danzargo]

He's just jealous he ain't in the club

[AncientMum Graduate]

Hee hee, it must be the day for hill training. Aussie posted earlier about running up and down hills and Miles _Yonder about running up and down stairs. Don't think either of them was powered by SanMiguel though (or at least not that they were admitting to)

To take a leaf out of Poppy's book, have you noticed the tags on your post? Death Piles and Screaming! Impressive eh?

[danzargo Graduate in reply to AncientMum]

Haha! Hadn't noticed the tags but they are HILARIOUS! Well spotted.

[poppypug Graduate in reply to danzargo]

Ha ha Screaming Piles , ooo errr ! xxx

[Hidden in reply to AncientMum]

Not powered by San Miguel but tomorrow is certainly going to be sponsored by Brew Dog IPA after this morning's effort...

[misswobble Graduate]

Just looking at your tags there Dan. Make a sentence out of the words below. Ha ha

You sound very chipper today, given it sounds like you had one too many sherberts. Tut

Well done on tackling the hills! I admire your pluck I really do. I see you have labelled yor hill. So have I. I have the Slope of Doom and the Slope of Death. Not communed with either for a while.

Yeah, who gives a flying fig about what folks think. I think they'd rather be running given chance

[Belindauk Graduate]

This is just to funny. Well done for the commentary I felt like I was there watching ha ha

[Hidden]

Oh - THAT hill? And powered by San Miguel... Oh dear oh dear Dan...

Great stuff for having the willpower to take on that demon today... I did my first hill session on the clockwise hill in Richmond Park (up from Roehampton towards Kingston)... that was bad enough.. I almost went to face the same hill as you but bottled it (bit like San Miguel) in the end... we might have run (hehe) into each other!

Good luck on the long run and great post as always!

[Ullyrunner Graduate]

I think I'm with brush man - you are some kind of crazy guy!

I actively try to avoid anything but the flattest of routes. Although that may be why you're now running double the distance that I do!

[beforefifty Graduate]

Sounds like you had a good challenging run under difficult (ie San Miguel) circumstances. Your description of the man with the brush had me thinking ... what DID I think if I saw someone out running pre-C25K? I don't think I noticed them much, to be honest. They were just slightly weird people who did odd stuff like running even though no one was chasing them....

[greenlegs Graduate]

Somehow I'd managed to read the first paragraph and half way through the second one without seeing who the author was - and then I thought - this sounds just like danzargo... So checked the name - Ha ha ha! (I haven't been reading on here for months but some voices are very recognisable.)

Admirable to keep up and down that hill with such an unresponsive audience.

And those tags - I can't stop laughing. I remember the olden days when we had to make our own tags. Nowhere near as much fun.