My Aching...

My ass is dragging on the ground this morning.  I did ten hill repeats (800 metres) with the Marathon Clinic last night, only except I didn't.  I only managed to do nine and a half.  I think that my 47 minute 10K on Friday, 32K on Sunday and a hard, fast 8K on Tuesday finally caught up with me.  My legs felt like wooden pegs...

Exacerbating the situation was the rather bizarre weather we had yesterday afternoon in Vancouver.  We had a great clapping thunderstorm with lots of lightning and thunder and buckets and buckets of pea-sized hail.  In lots of areas it looked like it had snowed.  And the temperature dropped to 42 degrees - 6 degrees Celsius.  You could see your breath with every gasp and after a few laps of the hill, every runner was giving off steam like a racehorse.  It took me two or three hills to get warmed up.

My heart rate was in the 166-168 range and by the end of the last few repeats I was popping up to 172-175.  On repeat number 9 I saw 182....  

....gasp*

So far this clinic I hadn't managed a single hill work-out, although my Friday long run almost always takes in a long hill, well over a mile in length, with a six to eight percent grade all the way.

My stamina and endurance were actually pretty good although I was sucking wind by the end, but on the last repetition I started to cramp up.  Shades of the last few miles in a marathon!

Afterwards I got to hang out with my running buddies for what seemed like the first time in months.  Which I guess it has been.   Where does the time go?  There is nothing quite as satisfying as a few beers and slices of pizza amongst friends after having busted your butt for something like a ten hill workout.   I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the camaraderie of the people I run with.  

It was a nice way to end the day.  And I slept like a baby last night.  Even with a sore ass.

** As I write this, my scone is badly undercooked and my coffee is burnt.  F@@K!