Hills Are My Friend!

This past week I have begun focusing more on hill work and less on long distances. I know that it's the hills that will give me confidence and strength for the upcoming Big Sur 21-miler. But during the work week it is difficult to get in many hills just because I am short on both time and daylight. The best I've been able to do during the week is to incorporate a couple of repeats of the long, winding hill on the recreation trail that starts past the Naval Postgraduate School and ends up at the Monterey Beach Hotel parking lot.

Sunday morning I went on a medium-length (10-11 mile) run in my neighborhood, which included numerous repeats of the rather steep hill at the end of Skyline Drive (before it hits Soledad) as well as a run down and back up the hill between Veterans Park and the Monterey Police Station on Pacific Street. One woman who walked by me twice on the Skyline hill remarked that "It makes me tired just to watch you!" But actually, except for the final hill repeat, which was a push, I was feeling strong and relaxed. Thanks to one of the books I've been reading (more about that in an upcoming posting), I had developed this simple mantra to coax myself on during the uphill stretches: "Hills are my friend, and they will help me succeed." It sounds stupid, but it really did help to keep me motivated and focused.