3/12/14. run. hill repeats. 2014 "winter" challenge.

I was so busy yesterday, I needed to get caught up on this training journal today. it was tight.  E had little league (had to skip wrestling).  A had an orchestra concert.  I had a training run.  and then the winter challenge.

the run.  plan called for "3 hill repeats".  per Hal, "The speed benefits of hill training are similar to those for interval training on the track, but in the early spring it may be easier doing this workout on the road than doing repeat 200s or 400s at the track. Select a hill about a quarter-mile long, but don't worry about pitch or the exact distance. Run up hard, as hard as you might doing a 200 or 400 repeat. Then turn and jog back down, repeating the uphill sprints until finished. Be sure to warm up by jogging a mile or two before and cool down with the same distance after".  So my run ended up being 4 miles total, a little longer than planned (had to take the long way to get to my hill of choice).  tell you what, it was a 12% grade, and it was hard to run up it.  in fact, my "hill sprint" pace was about the same as my "jog recovery" pace.  But it sure winded me to run uphill.  I wanted to throw up.  my heel feels tight this morning.  probably a bit to do with the uphill runs, its hard on the calf and achilles, both of which can cause heel issues.  I need to ice and stretch and roll today.  data plots from the GPS watch below, you can see the elevation changes in the hill repeats.

the 2014 winter challenge.  hardly winter anymore, but I guess I'm a third round draft pick and it took this long to come around to me.  basically, the challenge was to jump into a cold body of water (like puget sound) get out, and do 50 double unders.  if you get challenged, you have 24 hours to get it done, and post video.  I was so friggen busy yesterday, I just went to the bottom of the hill and did it at mukilteo lighthouse park.  the floating boat docks are not in the water yet for the season, so I couldn't jump in.  i had to run down the boat launch and into the water.  best i could do with the time available.  I wore my jump boots just for the hell of it.  made double unders damn near impossible.  I'm embarrassed that my DUs are so bad in the video, but at least I got it done.

3/12/14. coffee. orange. almonds. chicken pot pie. apple. tomato soup. grilled cheese. salad. peanut butter toast. lots of water.