The HIlls Are Alive With The Sounds of Panting and Wheezing

Oh this hills. We know they are great for cross training and building leg strength. Despite those benefits, and the fact that I feel like a bad ass when I conquer one, I dread running up hills. To help me face that disgust head on, I've signed up for the Mad Half Marathon being run next month in Waitsfield, Vermont. The course starts out at about 800ft, includes two hills just short of 1,100 ft and in the middle descends to 600ft. This race is the opposite of the beloved "fast and flat"runs we have in DC.

I'm told that the views during the race are spectacular and the weather will most likely be mild. However, it means that I have to include hill intervals into my training. Luckily, my neighborhood has a great mix of hills, including this one on Beachway Drive, with approximately 300 feet of elevation.

In my head, the hills at the half are going to look more like this:

I'm reminded that, like most things in life, they probably won't be as bad as I have built them up to be. However, that doesn't mean I'm not running hills a couple times a week to get prepared. A fellow runner recently told me that it's actually the downhills that turn your legs in to jelly the next day. It hadn't even occurred to me that I needed to practice running downhill as well! Instead of the loops I was originally running which was more uphill than down, I've switched to running up and back. Runners World has great article on the best form and pace to maintain downhill in order not to destroy your knees or do somersaults down the hill!

With two and a half weeks of training to go, I've got more work to do. While I'm out there panting and wheezing on the inclines, I'm going to keep this mantra in mind......