Same Hill Program

Daily Quote: "I'd learn that iskiate is otherwise known as chia-fresca --"chilly chia." It's brewed up by dissolving chia seeds in water with a little sugar and a squirt of lime. In terms of nutritional content, a tablespoon of chia is like a smoothie made from salmon, spinach, and human growth hormone. As tiny as those seeds are, they're superpacked with omega-3s, omega-6s, protein, calcium, iron, zinc, fiber, and antioxidants. If you had to pick just one desert-island food you couldn't do much better than chia, at least if you were interested in building muscle, lowering cholesterol, and reducing your risk of heart disease; after a few months on the chia diet, you could probably swim home." --From the book " "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen.", by Christopher McDougall.

I wonder if I can find chia seeds at my local specialty food store? I highly recommend the book, "Born to Run" as it's simply the best book you'll ever read about distance running; if this book doesn't motivate you to get out the door and run nothing will.

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. Since this is a taper/cut-back week for my 5k race this upcoming Saturday I've determined to run the exact hill program as last week. This Wednesday I'll cut back my long run from 15 miles to 12 miles and also reduce my recovery runs this week as well.

8:30 a.m. Life Fitness Treadmill, Hill Program, Level 5 (the highest hill will be at a 5% grade), speed set at 6.2 mph (9:40 minute miles) for 6 miles. Time, 58:00 minutes. Average heart rate, 160 bpm. Cardiac drift, 171 bpm. (Note: my maximum heart rate is 190 bpm)

Same workout as last week, but my heart rates are a tad lower! I'm adapting well to hill training and next week I'll increase the treadmill's speed to 6.3 mph. I'm ecstatic that my right ankle didn't complain during the uphills as in the past my ankle always aches...a great sign of improvement! One word for the feeling after my run is "euphoric."