Hill Intervals: 2 K + 2 K + 1 K

Oct. 4, 2018

It's 3:11 a.m. I'm at McDonald's in the Makuhari Rest Area on the Keiyo Highway about 13 K from home. I came here on my Kawasaki Vulcan S 650. This short midnight bike ride is a little reward for myself for accomplishing tonight's mission: 2 K + 2 K + 1 K intervals at 4:30/pace with a one-minute rest between runs. 

Just as usual, I started the training tonight with jogging. But instead of doing intervals on a flat course, I did them on a hill shuttle course. Me legs were heavy from high intensity cardio workout last night, but I pressed on, hoping the slight discomfort would dissipate as I continued to train. I ran all the way to the halfway point of a 6 K shuttle course, turned around, and ran back 1 K to cover a total of 4 K in 25:11.97. Then I began the first 2 K session immediately without a rest. The course begins with a slight upward incline, not so steep at all, which lasts for about 100 M. The it dives down suddenly and keeps on going down for about 200 M. Once it hits the bottom, it goes up again, and stays that way for about 100 M, and starts inclining downward and stays that way for about 100 M. That's the first half of the course. And for the remaining half, the first 300 M is a long, and not too steep upward slope. And once you reach the top, it's all flat, and that continues for 200 M. That's the first half of the 2 K course. The remaining half is just going back where you came from. I hammered down the downward slope, ran economically with shorter strides when going up, and adjusted my breathing when running on flat areas. In the following log you find the laps for all of the three fast runs I did tonight:

Warm Up 4 K: 25:11.97

2 K: 8:35.98

Rest: 1:00.01

2 K: 8:47.52

Rest: 1:00.16

1 K: 4:10.27

Warm Down 3.65 K: 24:00.00

I finished under the target time in all three fast runs. I'm glad. After all, the initial discomfort that I had felt in my legs were soon forgotten once the fast-run sessions started rolling. I was so into it there was room for a petty physical concern. 

Tomorrow I'm hoping to jog for an hour in bare feet if there is no pain in my feet. They seem a bit over-trained so I need to be careful not to overdo it. If slight discomfort remains, I will rest and recover so that I can do some quality training on the weekend.