Earlier today I e-mailed Steve to ask what tonight's hill session was because I intended to start half an hour early on my own because I needed to finish by 7pm.
Steve told me that the session was starting from the gate to Two Lads (on the bend in George's Lane) going up to Two Lads and back down to the kennels, back along to the gate, then turn around and do it in reverse. Also, on each ascent, there were 2 x 30 seconds of acceleration. Sounded tough!
I left home at about 5.45 and made my way up the side of Wilderswood to George's Lane and arrived at the gate on the bend. After a quick stretch, I set off on my first rep.
About half way between the gate and the water tanks I decided to do my first 30 second acceleration. It actually felt quite good and I was pleased with it but it was when I stopped and carried on running slow that I felt the burn. I was able to carry on though and about a minute later I did my second 'spurt'. This one felt a little harder but, again, the hardest part was carrying on after it. Eventually, I got to two lads and started descending down to the kennels. I took the descent a little slower than usual as I have learned my lesson with going down too fast and running out of steam for the next ascent.
On arrival at the kennels, I decided not to run back along George's Lane to the gate because if I did that each time then I would probably run out of time to complete the session and I wanted to manage all four reps so I turned around and went straight back up again.
The accelerations going up this way (for anyone not familiar with the hill, it is shorter and steeper on this side) were excruciating. Both times after completing them, I had to give myself a few seconds rest before carrying on, which I was a little bit annoyed with myself about.
Thankfully, it's shorter this way so I was soon back on the top again and now half way through my session.
I ran down past the water tanks and to the gate and, as I arrived there, the rest of the group were arriving so I stopped for a natter before continuing the session with everybody else.
The climb back up was much like the first one, the accelerations went well but I was incredibly tired after them, however managed to keep on running. Coming back up from the kennels was also the same as the earlier one, wherein I had to pause for a few seconds after the accelerations but at least I did them, which was incredibly tough. I'm really pleased that I managed all eight accelerations and I actually timed them too so I know I didn't cut short on them. I think doing spurts of speed like that will be really good for improving my climb and it's funny how I didn't actually feel that bad running fast uphill, especially on the less steep ascent, it was more when I stopped and slowed down that I felt the burn.
Overall, I had a great session and feel that I'm definitely getting better at running up hills, even if I did have to pause after some of the accelerations.
Total distance - 5.8 miles
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