Hill sprints yesterday at Cwm Nash. I never quite know how many I’ve done so I used nature to help me count. Sprint up, jog down and pick a buttercup on the way, drop it in a pile at the bottom of the climb, I think it’s 20 its kinda hard to tell. Whatever the exact it’s almost inconceivable that I can run around 20 of these, 2 or 3 used to kill me not so long ago. Plus I ran back home at pretty much full beans. Feeling good. Please body hold out a month like this :p
Look away now if you hate feet – Some people do, some people don’t. Most don’t lets face it.
I have a few blisters and sore patches I usually tape up and ignore but the tide was in today and I felt like doing some hill sprints. So I decided to do them barefoot, I figured it’s hill sprints – the impact is low.
It was actually quite fun and surprisingly easy to drive off the forefoot but it was absolutely bloody freezing on the soles on the way down. I have to say I really enjoyed the change, I mean I wouldn’t fancy the impact at any pace but for a steep hill like this it felt like floating up. In fact although I stopped counting my GPS tells me I did around 20 and to be honest I didn’t blow up or get the jelly legs. I was sad when it started to get dark and my frozen feet drove me to go home.
Who doesn’t love new stuff – this isnt actually that new to be fair I’ve had both a month or so but I kept forgetting to post about them. I also ran on thurs – I couldnt remember what I did until I looked at the photos and realised it was hill sprints until dark. It was actually a good workout and my legs are coping with the bursts much better and part of that is due to this monster thang ….
I invested in the climber so I could do some “hill” work without impact as im still keeping an eye on my foot which likes to scare me from time to time. This thing looks easy and feels it for about 2 minutes and then it really really hurts. After 10 minutes you get off it an almost fall over with bambi legs. So I guess it does me good. It’s also handy for warming up and down after runs which is why its by the front door. Ok ok its by the front door as thats where I put it together and I cant be arsed moving it.
New thing number two is much smaller and less hurty
Oh yeah I mentioned hill sprints until dark ….. It was worth the pain to see this from the cliffs
Running with someone else has given me a bit of a jolt in that since …. I’m not actually sure when …. I’ve been running in a bit of a comfort zone. It’s been a case of mileage being king, more miles the better and thats it. Time on feet is important but I’ve realised I’ve been doing most of my training in a relatively easy zone, how often am I really training “hard” I’ve slipped into the habit of slow hills and nice easy runs. If I was recovering thats fine but all the time?
So a little speedwork here and there, some of the old fartlek type things have come into play plus hill sprints. Speedwork I quite like, hill sprints I do not. But I think all these things easy, fast and fuck hills need to come together if I want to make the improvements to run well for the rest of the year. Oh and listening to my body (before it breaks down not after)
The weather improved (not for long admittedly) but the tide was still in so I spent half an hour or so running hill sprints in the cwm. I was pleasantly surprised at not going anerobic immediately. Best thing about these particular sprints is the view/reward at the top
Blue Green Gold Grey, Awyr Maes Tywod Aarreg 