Flatland

Kind of appropriate that I read this book on my way home from Chicago on Sunday, because yesterday, Danielle put out the official Call For Runners (or CFR, in a technical conference reference that makes me smile for some stupid reason) for Wild West Relay yesterday. As I live around 50 feet above sea level, and it's pretty flat, so training for a race in Colorado is a challenge.

I decided to do a hill day today (and by "I decided," I mean "DC Fit had a hill day on the schedule"), so I'd know how bad off I was and what I needed to do these next two months to get ready. Before heading out, I went out on my balcony to see what the weather is like. You know things have been screwy when you go outside and it's 88 degrees out and your first thought is, "Wow, it's really nice today, not too hot or anything." Here is an elevation chart of today's run:


They aren't huge climbs, but by the end of cresting the 3rd hill, I was pretty spent, so I just cruised home the long way. I felt better than I had expected, though, which was encouraging. These 3 hills are 3 of the 4 near my apartment, so when I am ready to find something bigger to work on, I am going to need to go hunting a bit. I have some ideas of places to check out, though, but I'm not quite ready for them yet.

Looking forward on the DC Fit schedule, it looks like there is a hill day about once a week, so I'll have some quality focus on this part of my training. Woohoo.