Hellish Hills

Now I only did about 6 Kms today, I say only, but today was really about quality not quantity. Normally on the days I do speed work I will do an easy 5Km in the morning, just to keep the mileage ticking over. This morning I had one of my rare "it's cold and I just don't wanna" moments. AND, I knew tonight was going to be a hill session, I haven't done a structured hill session before so I wanted fresh legs. So tonight we ran down to Airlie St in Sth Yarra, a steep hellish 250 odd metres. It would be either 6, 8 or 10 reps, to be determined by TC, not ourselves. Here I was thinking I would get off lightly with 6 reps, nope, 8 for me. So 8 up the hill with jog down for recovery, turn around and head up again, repeat until legs give way :-) Today was about technique and strength, not speed, well, I couldn't have mustered much by way of speed anyway. It was hard, bloody hard, but I dug in and got through it. TC ran my last rep with me, it is amazing how a bit of motivation can help push you over the line when the body is close to giving in. Pretty ragged by the end, I now have a new slogan for Nike "Run Yourself Hideous". But a couple of minutes later I felt fantastic, I love how quickly I can recover these days. There was one girl who was allocated 7 reps who had pushed on for the full 10. This is one runner with a whole lot of heart, she just does not give up, she came down the hill and told us she was pushing through for one more, so I decided to join her to bring my reps up to 9 and 2 of the boys joined in as well, great spirit and an inspiring girl. Now, I have to confess I have a new addiction, Bagels!!! I have discovered a proper Bagel bakery near my work, if you go in there around 8am they are pulling fresh bagels out of the oven, the smell is amazing. They are lovely and chewy in the inside and so warm and soft that you wouldn't dream of adding butter or cream cheese. They are a 70 cent piece of heaven, Glicks make the best bagels. I lived up the road from their Balaclava outlet when I first moved out of home and would buy one on the way home from clubbing on Sunday mornings, so nice to rediscover an old favorite. And really they are not that bad for you, surely there is no harm in having one every couple of days.