Hillier

[stega1958]

Well I am now puzzled!

Tonight I tried the route I have been avoiding; it's probably only 20 something minutes but it involves a figure of 8 using pretty much all the uphill in the village, one section twice!

Got round it really quite easily and wanted to keep going at the end, surely I can't have got that much fitter in 9 or 10 weeks?

Has anyone else tried something new since graduating, longer run, speedwork, and had a similar experience?

[swanscot Graduate]

After graduation I found it was easy to increase my long slow runs. Too easy in fact and increased too much too soon. I really struggled though with increasing speed and had to force myself to keep doing the speed intervals training sessions. Mind you this was not unexpected as I know I'm built for stamina not speed and can easily walk for 12 hours.

[Poppy2010 Graduate]

Oh, well done, and yes we can get that much fitter in 9-10 weeks!

Last night I ran the roads around the outside of my local country park, 3.56 miles, which involved long slow inclines to the highest point of the park, then a sharp steep hill down; I ran it all with no stopping, yay, and faster pace than before, but boy are my knees suffering today!

They are really aching and sore on the outer bits sort of running down the outer sides of my knee caps, and it was the downhill more than the uphill that did it! I had to use the lift today at work for the first time in months! Hope they feel better tomorrow!

Good luck with your continuing running and fitness - bring on the hills and the speed!

[greenlegs Graduate in reply to Poppy2010]

That's a long way to run - don't go and get injured now - I need you to run against for parkruns! Still haven't quite decided whether to go tomorrow - the forecast is wet, so it'll be horribly muddy again. But I might.

[notbad Graduate]

Congratulations, I bet that felt great - it's wonderful when we surprise ourselves.

It means you are staying in the aerobic zone longer, your body is getting oxygen to the muscles more efficiently - put simply, you're fitter.

I live in hope that one day I will find hills (okay, inclines!) easier!

[greenlegs Graduate]

Well done Stega - yes, it is surprising how the fitness creeps up while we're looking the other way! I walked up the hill out of our village yesterday, and noticed how much easier it seemed.