This year I’m trying something new. I’m calling them Speed Hills (for lack of a better name). I’ve never done speed or interval workouts before but thought I’d add them into my running routine. My running schedule had always included some tempo runs where in the middle of a longer run, I would pick up the pace for 3-4 miles. Trying to push myself to get a little faster (I consider myself slow and I am).

With the introduction of combining speed work with hills, I’m hoping to build leg strength and speed at the same time.

There is a 1/3 mile stretch of road near myself that I have dubbed “The Road to Nowhere.” It actually is a paved road that really does lead to nowhere. It’s close to traffic and hasn’t been connected to any other streets until more housing developments are completed. The name also has another meaning. It’s a really steep climb – ascending over 100 ft. – over the stretch of the climb. At the bottom is starts out gradually and evens up into a steady ascent which attacks your legs unmercifully!!!

After a 1 mile warmup running to the street and down to it’s base, I planned on doing 5 intervals for my first time out. I’m going to have to work up to sprinting the entire .3 miles so I’ve decided to start with half that distance (.15 miles). Using lampposts as my guide, I would sprint up at a fast but sustainable pace and then do a recovery jog back down to the start.

To my surprise, I was extremely consistent on my intervals (without timing them) averaging 1:03 per interval (6:45/mi. or 8.9 mph). For me this is extremely fast and going uphill, an awesome workout!!! After finishing, I walked and recovered up the remaining part of the hill and then jogged it back to my house. The entire workout ended up being 3.2 miles total but it wasn’t the total mileage that I was concerned with.

The change in pace and workout type has actually spurred my need for this workout. There’s nothing better than the feeling of near exhaustion and recovering just as quick. I’ll keep you updated on these workouts as I increase repetitions and distance in preparation for the Red Rock 1/2 Marathon where the hills are long and steep.

RMFR