Hill Workout

Daily Quote: "The rather obvious benefit of hill workouts is that they make you better at running hills. Even better, you will see benefits on the flats, too. The muscle groups you use to overcome hills are virtually the same as those you use for sprinting, so hillwork enhances your speed by building strength. This strengthening effect is supplemented by the fact that hill workouts help increase both the frequency and length of your stride -- you get even faster. As a final added bonus, hill training also strengthens the muscles around your knees, helping to reduce knee injuries." --Josh Clark, "Cool Running," 10/04/2002

Today my plan is to run a hill program on the gym's treadmill, which challenges me with intervals of multiple hills and valleys with each hill becoming progressively more difficult.

8:30 a.m. Life Fitness Treadmill, Hill Program, Level 5 (the highest hill will be at a 5% grade), speed set at 6 mph. 6 miles. Time, one hour. I am getting better at hills as my heart rate is lower than my last hill workout, therefore next week will raise my speed to 6.1 mph. Average heart rate, 164 bpm. Cardiac drift, 180 bpm. (Note: my maximum heart rate is 190 bpm) No aches nor pain, but totally exhausted, thankfully tomorrow is a easy recovery run.

I'll only do this hard hill program once a week as I have two other hard workouts during the week, which are intervals and the long run.