Hill Repeat Monday

Yesterday was hill repeats up in good ol El Dorado Hills. I received a message from Trailmomma that we were still on. Excellent, as I was once again looking forward to hill repeats. I think I may be the only person in the world looking forward to the torture of this hill.

I arrived but mentally I wasn't all there. I had a well; lets just say a "interesting" guest at work and that really threw me mentally. As we headed out I also noticed that my legs felt a bit heavy and the leg turnover was not there like is usually is on Monday, but that is probably due to the 66 mile week I had just put in.

Let me say this real quickly, I am very proud of Trailmomma. She toughed it out yesterday and her toughness made me not want to throw the towel in. Thank you Trailmomma.

As we completed our 1 mile warm up and we were on the fire service road I was scanning the area because I really needed to use the bathroom, even though I used it before I left the house. I had also finished off a bottle of water on the ride up to her place. I ducked off the service a little hesitantly because I am sure this was prime rattlesnake country. The weeds were up to my knees, it was dry and had plenty of rocks. Yup pretty sure there were a few rattlesnakes. I quickly went and hurriedly caught back up to Trailmomma while trying to get out the stickers that were sticking me out of my socks and shoes. Oh what I site I thought.

On the first hill repeat I knew right away that my legs were definitely feeling the miles from last week. There was no leg turnover and it surely felt like there was no power. So I did what any runner would do, I just put my head down and focused on smaller attainable goals until I reached the ultimate goal, the fire hydrant where I quickly turned and burned back down. OK maybe it wasn't so quickly, maybe I felt like collapsing but I did head back down and ready myself for another repeat.

Just like the first repeat this repeat was challenging. And I could really feel my legs getting slower. I shortened my stride and focused on quick little steps, keep pumping my arms, don't look up, keep looking down, push it....push it.....I can't breath....almost there, keep pumping the arms....Now relax, OK head back down.

That is how it would go for all 6 long repeats. Trailmomma completed 4 long and 4 short quicker repeats as we are both training for different races. That is the great thing about our running friendship; we have an unwritten rule to get our work out in with each other, as we each know our bodies and what we need to complete and some days we are side by side, other days I am trailing and trying to catch up, but we one way or another get our individual work outs in. It is just really nice to have that support when those tough moments hit and I fell like giving up.

6 repeats and a nice cool down to start my week with 7 quality miles. It is hard to believe that in just about 3 weeks I have another race. I am really looking forward to it as I will be using it to help gauge my fitness level for Tahoe in July.

Even though my legs felt slow and I was a bit unfocused it was nice to get the workout in. The effort always puts a smile on my face and I will say I had fun doing hills yesterday. Thanks for the workout Trailmomma!

The mind can be our most powerful tool and it can also defeat us. I wont let my mind defeat me!