Working up and up.

8 mi. Today was a return to the Blue Heron Bridge.

It wasn’t by design, but I seem to have positioned three challenging hill workouts all in the same week. Two days ago our group went to Jensen Beach. We have a 4 mile route on Skyline Drive that includes rolling hills and one steep climb. A few of those and a trip to the Jensen Beach Causeway gave us a nice 20 miler on the weekend. On Thursday our tempo run is 2 x 5 mile repeats in the Ridge area of the Bluffs neighborhood. It’s HILL week!

I was glad I had John and Matt to run with, I probably end up going faster than if I just ran myself. Especially when I’m running in the dark and there’s scenery to look at, I can fall into a daydream looking at things! As I did the first two climbs I thought to myself “today’s work out it’s all about breathing, not about if your legs feel sore.” I also wanted to stay positive by continuing to think I am “eating up” this work out rapidly and if I continue to run strong it will be over soon and I can shower and cool off!

It went well with eight good repeats on the hill. Apparently some people were partying on the nearby beach and we could hear them laughing and screaming every time we got back to the start point. I think we have a few more visits to this area to do a flat intervals in the next three weeks. I will be sure to do some more hill runs to strengthen my legs between now and October 11.

– dm