Evil hills... I will have my revenge... - Couch to 5K

Couch to 5K

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Evil hills... I will have my revenge...

15 Replies

Morning all.. Aussie here with a post hill repeat update... Phew - shattered is one word... :) The highlighted section is the "hill repeat" bit excluding the warm up and recovery jog - just to give you an idea of the pain that is that hill... :)

Off to Richmond Park this morning for some lovely hill repeats.. yep, no better way to start the day than to run up and down a steep hill half a dozen times... last time I managed 5 times up and down so this time I was aiming for 6...

Fancy new compression shorts on (with some shorts over the top to avoid the MAMIL moniker :) ), warm up walk done down the hill and we're off into a gentle warm up jog for 4-5 minutes to get the legs moving... then it's UP the hill we go... nice pace, breathing hard by the end of it but made it and then a walk downhill, into a jog and then up and down we go...

SIX times completed ... thankfully over quickly... these sessions suck! But they're great for speed, endurance and fitness... I got some weird looks from folks this morning as I overtook a few people walking up the hill twice... they clearly thought I was mad... and they are right of course...

Happy running folks... debating whether to do a long run this weekend or a short sharp 5K and push for a PB... mmmm... I love this running thing - so many choices now! :)

Have a great weekend y'all! :)

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15 Replies

Is that about a 20 MT climb each time? How long does each climb take?

in reply to

Yeah, it's about 20-25 meters climb for each repeat.... takes me about 60 seconds to get up the hill... it's about 200ish meters I guess.... I attack them quite hard...

It's quite a hill but not the worst around these parts... :) The repeats themselves take me around 15-16 minutes... I am shattered by then so just gentle jog out for another 10 minutes or so...

useitorloseit profile image
useitorloseitGraduate

It's true, Aussie. You are completely nuts! Nuts with nice fit legs and lungs though I expect!

in reply to useitorloseit

Thanks - I can feel my legs right now I can tell you... "feel the burn"... :) The lungs got a good workout too... I can feel myself getting fitter each session... it's weird, but awesome... :) I'm still not fast by any means, but slowly this guy is getting better... and enjoying it SO much...

Gawd! It takes me nearly 2 mins to go 200 mts on the flat! I'm catching you up though, I smashed my "bete noire" hill today at the end of a 6km run and finished the last flat km on a sprint... waiting for runkeeeper to update to see my times...

in reply to

Well done! Nothing like killing a hill and then doing a sprint finish... it's the best feeling! :)

BTW, I put up a pic for your perusal...

in reply to

Gulp... Just looked at that... truly a killer set of inclines there! It'd be some session alright running that!

GettingFitter profile image
GettingFitterGraduate

Looks great Aussie. Must give these a go I have a hill in mind ;-)

in reply to GettingFitter

They're the work of the devil, but the results are worthwhile (if you are interested in improving speed/endurance of course - not so much if you just want to jog every week which is perfectly fine too!)... High Intensity Interval Training (whether hills or sprints) are apparently the fastest way to faster times and improved cardio fitness... they also SUCK big time... :)

Slookie profile image
SlookieGraduate

Why don't you just ask some medieval person to clap you in irons or put you on the rack and do unspeakable things with red hot irons - it must be more pleasant than that hill stuff :)

Find it rather interesting that someone would not just get to the top of a hill and feel so pleased its over. 6 times though? Perhaps you feel 6 times as pleased as a regular 1 hill at a time runner? :) :)

in reply to Slookie

I don't feel anything right now... :)

These sessions are truly "thank God they are over" sessions... these aren't those "oh, I could do this all day" sessions... But they are great for training... bear in mind you don't need to do these to maintain fitness (or at all) - they're good if you're looking to improve times and endurance... given the miles I have to run in the coming months I'm givin' the legs and lungs a good ol' workout every week to be ready for it! :)

useitorloseit profile image
useitorloseitGraduate in reply to Slookie

I agree Slookie. I'm not good with pain :)

Ullyrunner profile image
UllyrunnerGraduate

Yep, officially completely mad.....

I'm in awe really - I seek out the flattest possible routes.

ju-ju- profile image
ju-ju-Graduate

wow...6 times is hardcore, well done you to keep it up!!! :)

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