I did my first hill training session today. As I continue in this running thing, I’m quickly discovering that I live in a great area for training: natural 3, 4, 5, 8, and 10 mile loops abound. Today, I simply stayed East on one leg instead of turning south and: “Hello, Mr. Hill!”

The hill session wasn’t on the schedule; but, with this being a week off work, I thought I’d give it a go. Today’s session was an “easy 5 miler”, so I kept the overall mileage to 5.25 and simply inserted about a 1.5 mile (up & down) hill.

This being my first hill session, I had already planned on walking portions of the uphill – I didn’t wan to overdo it and suffer tomorrow, the next day, or the next… I read an article about hill training last night in preparation for today – I guess cramming never ends for some of us – but it did give me some things to be mindful of during the session.

My pace on the uphill fluctuated (which was OK), but I was pretty happy with my overall numbers after the run. The gap between the overall and moving times is my stopping to shoot the picture above and having trouble getting my iPhone back in the armband! GRRRR! I even practiced downhill “gliding”, which I’d read about and didn’t truly understand until this morning…thus, my 5:25 pace!

I think I will incorporate hill sessions once a week into my runs. It’s certainly challenging, will break up the standard sessions, and I’m sure will prove beneficial in the long run.

Giddy-up!