Run for the Hills

"The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry." I set out thinking that I will run 3X2 minute hill repeats, got to the hill and on my first repeat thought that I would die about 45 seconds in and decided I would run 1 minute repeats. I did run 3 of them, but the distance up the hill by the 3rd repeat was about 30 yds shorter than the first repeat. Very interesting! I then jogged/walked back home. I wasn't rigorous at all about how much jogging vs. walking there was, I just got home. The total time out was about 47 minutes. I was disappointed at how little I could do from a hill repeat standpoint. I'm always thinking I could do more that I am actually capable of doing. What I was left with this morning though was a feeling that, hey, I've established a baseline and let's see how I can improve on this. In fact on one of my long runs after the 5K December 10th, I may incorporate that hill into one of my routes. The hill is about 1 mile long and would probably work into a 4 mile run. This is definitely within the realm of possibility and I am not discouraged by my lack of stamina. It will come. I just have to remain consistent with my training and not let the discouragement set me back.

What I am picking up from my reading and listening is that each time you go out as a runner, you are not going to set a PR (personal record). The most important thing is that you are out there--running. (Or in my case, plodding along.) Anyway, now that I have my hill session behind me I can look forward to my up coming easy runs. I would like to set as an immediate goal for myself to run the 4 miles on Sunday without stopping. Let's see how that goes.