Training Thursday: Working in the Hill Repeats

I know that many runners HATE hills. I totally understand! We live on top of a hill and whenever I run it I stand at the bottom and stare up thinking, "When will this end?" or "Why does it look bigger today?" or (my favorite) "I think I will just go for a quick 6". The convenience of the hill was amazing. Nothing like opening up the front door and having your torture already sitting at your feet. But the convenience was also a curse. I am so close to home that I can hear MG cry, the phone ring, and if my husband needs me I am right there. So many times I had to call my hill work short because of getting interrupted. To make matters worse, there is a shipping business at the bottom of the hill. So when I run it and there are people on break, some feel the need to chant me to the top saying "Run, Run, Run" or "Run Forest Run". When this happens I refuse to come back down for another round. So needless to say, hill training has gone along the wayside. That is until recently.

My trainer, Alexandra, informed me on Monday that we are going to start incorporating hill work into my routine by using a treadmill. When I read her email I groaned. Really hills on the treadmill? She informed me that if I wanted to improve my speed that this was the way to do it. So I sucked it up and headed into the gym early in the morning. When I got on the treadmill I had the print out of the hill program in front of me. I whispered to myself "Here goes nothing" and started. 25 minutes and (almost) 2 miles later I felt amazing (no crying baby, chanting shipping workers, interruptions, yada-yada-yada). I was shocked and slightly sad that it was all over. I contemplated going again for a second round, but thought that it might be too much too fast. While running I felt strong and I noticed that my form improved with the increase in the incline. I am not a big treadmill fan, but for hill work it was convenient and not as dreadful as the real thing.

Here is the hill program Alexandra gave me for my first week (I will post my upcoming weeks as I receive them).

My Outcome (the end was from forgetting to turn off my Garmin)