Fat Kid’s Ironman Fitness Blog

Up & Down Hill Repeats

As I mentioned in a post from yesterday, I’m feeling the pressure to get better at running up and DOWN hill. I am more worried about the running down hill, because that’s never been something I’ve enjoyed doing. I always feel like I’m getting a bit of a pounding on my knees and quads.

In less than 90 days I have my 3rd Ironman race… and unlike the last two years which had a relatively flat run course, this years race has 1,600ft of climbing (and descent) on the run course.

So, I did some googling, and found some “advice” on how to run down hill… and I picked a hill near my house that seems like a good place to start, and tonight I went out for some hill repeats.

The hill is 0.9 miles long and features a 190ft elevation change. I told my wife I was planning on this run and she said “That’s not a very big hill!”… Thanks for the support honey. Trust me, I’ve ridden up that thing on my fixie plenty of times… and it hurts… and as I zoom past other cyclists who are puffing and panting in their granny gears, I know its a real hill.

Not to mention the fact that, in the 6.2 mile run I did (3 repeats up and down) I did 623 ft of climbing and descending. Considering that the entire 26.2 mile course has only 1000ft more… I’m convinced that this will be a good training course for the next couple months. I plan to run this course at least once a week, if not twice a week for the next couple months.

I am going to double check the elevations on the race course again, and if there are steeper hills on the course, then I will find a suitable grade that mimics the worst of it. But as of tonight, I’m actually feeling pretty good about this location for working out on hills.

This main hill is actually .3 miles and 53 ft of climbing from my house. And my street is actually in the middle of this hill. So basically I ran in a big T pattern. From my house .3 miles (up 53 feet) then I turned up hill to do 1/2 of an up hill repeat. From there I was able to run 3 full down repeats and 2 full up repeats. Then a half up repeat and then back home down hill. Between each repeat (at the top and bottom of the hill) I stopped for 20-30 seconds to let my HR return to sub Zone 1.

I didn’t really try to keep my Heart rate in Zone 1/Zone 2… although I mostly kept it in Zone 2 and low Zone 3. I felt pretty strong and relaxed, and actually felt really good on the down hills.

I really tried to focus on my “down hill technique”… this mostly meant just letting my legs flow… and not trying to brake. I did get going pretty good, and it really felt like my legs were just swinging under my hips. I made a point of not “adding any speed” but instead just let gravity pull me, and I concentrated on watching my footing and not letting my brain tell me to slow down.

My splits:

• .3 Miles - up 53 ft  - 2:45 (9:10/mile) - 147 avg
• .4 Miles - up 46 ft - 3:29 (8:42/mile) - 152 avg
• Rest - 20 secs
• .9 Miles - down 190 ft - 6:15 (6:57/mile)- 158 avg
• Rest - 35 secs
• .9 Miles - up 190 ft - 7:57 (8:50/mile) - 153 avg
• Rest - 27 secs
• .9 Miles - down 190 ft - 6:51 (7:36/mile) - 148 avg
• Rest - 28 secs
• .9 Miles - up 190 ft - 8:36 (9:33/mile) - 150 avg
• Rest - 31 secs
• .9 Miles - down 190 ft - 7:15 (8:03/mile) - 141 avg
• Rest - 31 secs
• .5 Miles - up 144 ft - 5:05 (10:10/mile) - 144 avg
• .3 Miles - down 53 ft - 2:48 (9:20/mile) - 140 avg

Ironically, this is the first time I’ve seen sub-7min/mile in a long time… I guess that just goes to show how far out of shape I am. But that’s not the point really, the point is to focus on finishing my third Ironman.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 08/18/2008
• Total Time: 00:53:57.00
• Average Heart rate: 149
• Max Heart rate: 169
• Distance: 6 miles
• Average Pace: 8:59.73/mile
• Ascent: 623 ft
• Descent: 623 ft

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