Training for Boston is rolling along pretty smoothly. According to my coaches at Rogue, I have now entered into the strength building phase of marathon training. Which can only mean one thing....hills, hills, and more hills. I unfortunately have not been keeping up with the hill work as I should be. I can't even remember the last time I did a hill workout aside from just running the many hills (at a leisurely pace) that Austin has to offer. So going into Tuesday's workout, I was feeling pretty nervous, however, knowing that I'd be out there with my spring group made it a little bit more bearable. Little did I know, I was in for a "treat" as Coach James told me when I arrived to practice.
Since I'm training in Cedar Park( this Rogue location recently opened up 6 months ago) & it's a group for Boston & Vancouver, the spring session is rather small. When I say small, I mean small....3 people total. I was a little shocked and disappointed when I first showed up to train with the Rogues in North Austin. Coming from NYC, where the training groups were large, and competitive, this frustrated me. However, on a positive note, the coaching is pretty intimate and this past Tuesday, it got even more intimate....one on one coaching! Coach James informed me that I'd be doing my first hill workout with one of their other coaches, Aussie Scott. Normally, I'd be psyched to have some one on one coaching, however, Scott is no slow poke. This guy recently won the 3M 1/2 marathon and plans to hold a 5:15 pace for the upcoming Austin marathon this Sunday. He planned to go easy on Tuesday, so he was going to be out there to provide some company for me and keep me on track for the workout. I was definitely excited to have the company, however, Scott's "easy" pace was probably still faster than my hard pace!
I warmed up 2 miles out to the hills to meet Scott and we began the workout. The route was laid out on a side street that had 3 parallel roads with medium sized hills in which we'd run up & down the first street, jog to the next, run up & down that street, jog to the next, run up & down the last, and then jog back to where we started. Our plan was to do 3x6 hill repeats for a total of 18 hill repeats. The workout had me going at 10k pace effort up & down the hill. Of course, in true Katie fashion, I started the workout too fast & by the 3rd set of hills, I was really starting to feel it. Scott kept giving me pointers... "swing those arms when it gets tough"..."quick turnover"...."stay with me"..."finish ahead of me"....and that really helped keep me on track. I finished the workout feeling exhausted, but it was a good exhausted. We ended up only doing 5 repeats since I'll be doing the Austin 1/2 this Sunday. Nonetheless, first hill workout of the season was in the books. I jogged back to Rogue feeling & refueled with a little tropical Nuun. Already looking forward to the next hill workout!
Up next......The Austin 1/2 Marathon on Sunday, February 19th!
Good luck at the half marathon. I hate hills so I'm beyond impressed but you know, you always impress me with your mad running passion. Love you!
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