Hills

Hills have always been a nightmare for me...the long stride, long leavers, skinny frame and they fact it always seems to bring on foot injuries. I did a lot when younger but would always brake down on them which put me off for years, don't get me wrong a run over mountains but doing reps over short distances is not my idea of a good night so Tuesday was what I can only describe as 10k of hell!!

The session Tuesday was 16x300m hill with no stopping at the top and jogging straight back down, I suppose the nice change is chasing people as I always get dropped but it is probably only my 3^rd hill session in about 2 years. From the start the thighs were burning and new at some point I would be treading water with lactic filled legs crawling up....I actually lasted longer than I thought and was in a train of about 5 guys taking one each but at number 12 I popped out of the group like a champagne cork and spent the next 3 reps alone with the second group hounding me down like a wounded animal, I felt vulnerable and in a world of pain and the vultures were circling.

There is no doubt I need to work on them more and start working my arms more but for me it will always be a balance of pushing hard and not getting injured...shortening my stride would also help!

I do like the way a hill really does test your resilience as you can lose a lot of time on a group within a few seconds if the wheels come off and you have to work so hard to keep going against gravity, not to mention the calf's growing as you run and get to the point of bursting.

At the start of the session I challenged the guys to who could win the most reps...I lost badly but there's only way from here and that's up! To finish the session we did 20minutes at 6.20 per mile which really did finish me off.

Things then took a turn for the worse when a lorry carrying a caravan hit my car coming the other way, luckily all the hours of watching traffic cops kicked in and after getting out of the car to check damage I set off in pursuit....as I thought he got away I took a punt on driving to a nearby Industrial estate where they parked up, not sure if hiding or actually going to hit the hay. I got out and had a conversation with two guys and I nearly said they were under arrest for section five (force of habit watching traffic cops) the driver tried to deny all knowledge but finally got some details....lesson being beware moving caravans!

Simx