This weekend was my first attempt to incorporate hills into my run and bike training. With my upcoming triathlon and 10 mile road race being on hilly courses, I figured it was time. I know most of you other runners do hill workouts as part of your regular training, but I am a wimp. If I could run on a flat trail all the time, that would be just fine with me. A few hills on the bike are a welcome change of pace, but I would prefer to stay seated and not have to stand and grind the pedals.

My plan for Saturday morning was to go to Baker Park where there is a really long hill broken up by a couple short plateaus. There is a parking lot about a mile away from the hill, so I planned to drive to the park, run to the hill as a warm-up, do the hill three or four times, and run back to the car. Before I go to bed each night, I always have my workout for the next day planned out. What time am I leaving? Where am I going? What am I bringing? I don’t like surprises.

You can see where this is going… my son had a Cross Country practice and needed to be dropped off and picked up at the same time I was going to run. I only had an hour after I dropped him off to get my run finished. This meant I had no time to drive to and from the park as I had planned. The plan became: find the nearest hill and run it. That’s it. There was no time for searching out the perfect spot. The beach where we did the Splash & Dash was right there and I remembered that the first half mile was up a steady incline. I parked at the beach and took off. As I did my first trip up, I measured out a quarter mile. Up and down the hill I went 8 times. After the last climb, I went a little further so that when I got back to the car I would be right at 5 miles.

Technically, I guess it was a hill workout. The hill wasn’t very long and honestly, it wasn’t super steep. It wasn’t the well planned workout that I had hoped for, but it will have to do. Since my hamstrings have been hurting, maybe it was good that I didn’t pound them on this first attempt. They felt fine today and I was able to ride the bike for a hilly 26 miles. Since the run hill was pretty easy, it’s too early to say whether I truly like hill workouts, but I will say that it went by fast and I liked the short efforts.

We’re headed to St. Louis, MO for a couple days next week. During my last run out at Forest Park, there were a couple of nasty, long hills. They will make this week’s hill look like a small bump in the road. Until then, I’ll keep working on the run on my regular flatter, sane routes. They are still my favorite!

My list of upcoming races has been slowly dwindling as the season is in its final month for Minnesota. The Square Lake Short Course is on September 12th and then the TC 10 Mile is on October 4th. I’ll spend the next three weeks training for both races and then concentrate on the 10 Mile. I’ve been thinking about what goals I have for these last two races.

The Short Course race is longer than a regular Sprint but shorter than the Olympic distance. It will be a .5 mile swim, 18 mile bike, and a 5 mile run. My understanding is that the bike and run courses are very, very hilly. Hey, at least the swim course is flat! Ha… ha… Hills and I are not the best of friends. Gentle, long upward slopes and I are good buddies, but steep hills are my enemy. I’ve never done a hill workout before, but I think it’s time that I put some on the schedule. A 5 mile run after a hilly bike ride will be a real challenge for me. My training for Square Lake will focus on the run. Even if my time is slow, I want to run the whole way and conquer the hills.

Luckily for me, I understand the the TC 10 Mile course is also very hilly (note sarcasm). My Square Lake run training will fit nicely into my training for this next race. In addition to running, I’ll be continuing to address some physical issues I’ve been having. Since the 14 mile charity run I did at the beginning of August, I’ve been struggling with hamstring tendinitis in both legs. I mentioned that people were asking if I was limping or hurt, so I decided it was time for some medical intervention. I got my hamstrings worked on, did some ART (Active Release Technique) Therapy, and I’m doing exercises to strengthen the hamstrings. It’s all working and they are feeling better, but my pace is consistently 30 seconds a mile slower than it really should be. My goal for the TC 10 Mile right now is to forget about pace and get the training miles and exercises done. If I can make it to race day injury free and run the race without pain, that will be a success. I love running in the fall and winter, so I want to be healthy when the race is over so I can enjoy the cooler temps.

So I guess I have a lot of hills in my future. I’ll do my first hill workout this weekend. I’m a little nervous about it, but it will be fun to try something new. I was nervous for my first track workout and it turns out I like track workouts. Unfortunately, I’m not optimistic!