Two for one: On the up and up

As I mentioned, yesterday was another day where my back, my sitter on vacation, and the weather shooed me indoors and I decided to follow the advice of PJ Rizzo and use a hill workout to give me some speed. I have done this before, but it was a while ago, when I lived in a place that had actual hills and mountains and I had forgotten how good it was.

To replicate some of those climbs, I decided to keep the tempo relatively easy (around an 8:45-8:50 after the warm-up) and the climbs long and steady with a "mid-hill" variance in grade. I also decided not to go crazy with the grade percentage but to focus on keeping the pace throughout the climb interval. I chose a 4-minute climb at 4.0% to start, then as I hitched up the the incline, I went to a 3-minute climb, each with a 2-minute active recovery at 1.5-2.0% grade incline, so never back to "level" to keep the workout more akin to a road run. I finished my last "hill" with an ascending 5.0/5.5/6.0% grade then back to 2.0% at an 8:20 pace for the last 5 minutes. I did six-miles and definitely felt it in my quads and glutes at the end.

As my buddy Mosi would say, "Doin' work." This is what a red, sweaty mess I was at the end - for the record, I put the tank on after the run! (Yes, I still haven't quite figured out the "selfie" thing....)

See the guy in the back, helping the lady with some rehab? That's Tom. 

Tom has been cheering me on since I joined the Y in 2007, and he watched me take those tentative steps back on the treadmill when I was coming back from my injuries and all my surgeries. He was also my first donation in the campaign. He has a son in the Navy and is probably one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet.