How is it that a simple 3 mile run becomes an excruciating test of my endurance and pain tolerance?
I’ll tell you how: HILLS.
I am blessed (?) to live in an area where pretty much any path I choose to run within my immediate neighborhood is going to be hilly. Some more than others, as I found out yesterday, trying out a new path on a farm preserve in the back end of my town. I hate hill training more than any other type of running, because getting out of breath so significantly is annoying, particularly when moving up the hill at a snail’s pace.
However, hill training is good (or so I’ve been told).
I see the benefits when I do my long runs, which are on nice, flat paths of the D & R Canal. I can generally get by in the long runs a lot easier, because my right shin doesn’t throb as much as it does uphill, and I don’t have to worry as much about my breathwork. BTW, I sound like a woman in labor when I run. Fairly hilarious. But as my half marathon course is nice and flat (thanks for that, Philly, you rock), the hill training is making that flat course seem super easy in comparison. It is what it is, I suppose…
Until next time.
Because I Can 