The big hill

It was 13C when I woke up this morning.  That's as good and cool as it's going to get this time of the year, and better than would be expected.  I got ready and turned to the dog, "let's go."

Actually, he was telling me that the moment I got out of bed!   Letsgoletsgoletsgo.   Recently, I've been appreciating his evaluation of the weather.  The dog who hardly budged out of bed during the heat waves is so very anxious to go out whenever the weather's nicer and cooler than normal.  He didn't use to be so attuned.

We enjoyed a very leisurely downhill warm-up for about half a mile, and then the hills started working against our favour.  First there was the little series of four that we also run on the 3 mile route, and then it was on.  I managed to catch some of my breath on the downhills--heck, even on slight uphills because my treadmill is also slightly uphill (1% grade, I think)--and I managed to remember to relax parts of my form and avoid excess right shoulder tightness (a long-term issue; I have to be doing more shoulder exercises).  However, the level of effort pretty much stayed in the long tempo run range--and got solidly into the lactic-acid buildup range--until I was up and over the large hill and down about 3/4 of a mile on the other side and looking at yet another, though smaller, hill, which effectively snuffed out recovery.

This is what running here is like.  Hill after hill after hill.  I am hoping that, if I manage to get in shape enough, I could recover completely, or almost completely, on the downhills, but I have only 4 months left here.  At any rate, I'm going to try to do that 8 mile loop at least once a week, and I won't feel too bad if that takes the place of a zwow workout, as it probably will do this week.  I was way too tired by the end of it, and my core is still burning.  Actually, I am missing another zwow workout as well...I guess I'll call this a major recovery week and just run to loosen up tomorrow, and start afresh on Sunday.  Oh, well!

We ran 7.8 miles in 75 minutes and then we walked the last 0.4 of a mile.  9:36/mile while running all these hills, I'll take it!  Even going up the hill was under 10:00/mile and though things were feeling pretty sore by the top, I wasn't losing as much heart as I'd feared I would.  It went better than I'd expected.  I was especially impressed by the dog's stamina.   He hasn't run more than a lackluster 2 or so miles in well over a month, but he was game today.  At the top of the large hill, I offered him water and part of my Gu gel, but he declined in favour of pissing on choice clumps of tall grass like a boss.

Temp: 16- 20C, kind of humid, but WAY BETTER than what it has been.  We lucked out.

It was so nice to check out the sights again instead of trying not to stare at treadmill display numbers.  We ran by a restaurant with one of the scariest signs I've seen yet in town "Welcome, Skeeter the Clown."  Yes, I share that oh so hackneyed distrust of clowns, and "Skeeter" is not a name that comes even close to overcoming my prejudice.  Later on, we also ran past the Miracle Trading Post.  I'm not sure if this is a new establishment.  Sadly, I forgot to enjoy the view at the top of the hill, where I can see things on the top of other tall hills in the distance, and other things too like the particularly classy looking local federal prison.  We did admire someone's pretty fish pond, though.  It looks better than mine although mine has flowers.   But no visible brightly coloured fish.  Due to feral cats and the possum in our backyard (and occasionally a skunk passes through and my husband once saw a coyote in front of our house) I have given my koi plenty of places under rocks; due to the predominantly sunlit location of our pond and the recent heat waves, I have bought enough plants to completely cover the surface of the pond as well.  So I never see my koi just swimming lazily about like the fish were doing in this other pond.  When they come to the surface at feeding time, they attack like sharks (I think of them as water tigers, most of them are orange and black) and quickly retreat back to the shadows.  However, two of them will flop atop of vegetation, mostly out of the water, and lie there for a few seconds while gobbling food.  Not coincidentally, these two have become the largest.

Enough about fish! http://www.runningmap.com/?id=435868  Not completely accurate--I left out some blocks and another small hill or two and the start/end points are not at my house at all, but this is the gist of our run.  Click on Show Elevation for the full scoop.