On Hallowed Ground

(Pictures don't do it justice. It curves around at the top for more fun)

Yesterday was supposed to be a gym day in which I worked on strength and other “fun” things. When Joe told me he wanted to change things up and do some hill repeats, I jumped at the opportunity. As I told him, a bad day running hills beats a good day in the gym! He had a particular hill in mind, one that I had never run before. It was relatively short (about ¼ mile to the top), but super steep, as steep as anything you will find in San Antonio. While not a “trail”, the hill wasn’t paved, so the pounding on my body wouldn’t be as great as some hills in town.

As I approached the area where the hill was supposed to be, I looked all over, searching for the one I was supposed to run. It didn’t take long to find it. Man, this thing was pretty steep. After warming up, Joe and I headed to the steepest section of the hill for some 10 second repeats, all out effort. My body is used to running longer repeats at a more moderate pace, so even though these just lasted 10 seconds, they hurt! I did 4 of these before the real workout started. After the short repeats, Joe found a nice-sized boulder on the side of the road (we estimated 65 pounds) for me to use in the next exercise. I picked up the boulder, carried it up the steep hill for 10 seconds, then dropped it and ran to the top of the hill, jogging back down for recovery. This was by far the most my legs have EVER burned. It sounded easy enough, but this was really tough. I did 3 sets of this before moving on to the next bit of fun, which involved me grabbing a rock in each hand, doing 5 pushups (on the hill), sprinting (with rocks in hands) 10 seconds, and repeating the process, 3 sets total. As I was on my last set, I noticed another crazy fellow running down the hill towards us. It turns out that this was Ultra Runner of the Year candidate Larry Pearson. Little did I know that I was on the hallowed ground used in training by Leapin’ Larry. His secret is out. After completing my final pushup/sprint combo, Larry and I chatted for a bit before he headed down the hill and I continued on up. I finished out with some more fun repeats, all of which I feel will help my race at Bandera in January and in the Rocky Mountains next summer. Although it hurt, I am really excited about incorporating more work on this hill into my weekly routine. Maybe I’ll see Larry again next week J