Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Hill Reps and a sunny commute

Did some hill reps on Monday, ouch. Found a shortish hill near Tockholes, as opposed to the kilometre long one I last used but a bit steeper to offset the drop in distance. A two mile easy warmup before dropping down to the bottom of "the hill". I had grand plans for 6 reps, revised that down to 4 after the first one.

It was a bit steeper than I thought and held the steepness for longer that I thought it would too. As it eased off slightly before 400 metres I kept going until the 400 metre mark then jogged slowly down. My legs were burning by the end of the third one and the jog down was slightly wobbly at the start. I decided to really give it my all on the fourth one to make up for not doing six reps and was seeing stars at the end of it. I found the longer hill easier as it only kicked up at the end.

It took a big mental effort not to head straight back to the car which was about half a mile away all down hill. Instead I headed up the slight climb to the moor (legs complaining every step of the way) and ran on some of the flatter tracks to ease them out a bit before heading back to the car. Another two miles of easing down which I think was a good idea as my legs didn't stiffen up later.

So times were all around the 3 minute mark for the reps which I was surprised about as the track was quite loose and slippy and I never took exactly the same line twice.

3.04, 3.03, 3.00, 2.56

Depressingly even walking the first part then jogging the rest I still descended in about three minutes too. Which doesn't say much for my running up hill prowess.

Tuesday and I had a lovely spin both too and from work. I managed to take it quite easy on the way in and home but still make good time. The new handlebars still feel great and after putting some air in the tyres the bike didn't feel sluggish like Saturday (oops). My times for both in and out are very similar at the moment which has a lot to do with lower traffic volumes. School holidays will soon be over though...

4 comments:

  1. I don't know why but I always assoicate hill reps with being a cycling thing.

    I had this vision of you cycling up and down all the hills on the way to work as fast as you could, panniers and all.

    Is this training for a specific event?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Salomon Rivi trail half. Need to pull my finger out. I've only done hill reps on a road bike once, I did pick a long steep one with a 17% ramp, did 3 reps far too hard then died. Never done them on an MTB as MTBing is for fun, not training.

    I have no hills on the way to work, a slight rise out of Preston but that is it, flat as a pancake. The Fylde is quite similar to the area around Southport (possibly even flatter).

    ReplyDelete
  3. it's really good that you had a consistent pace. i struggle not to blow up on the first 2 then slow considerably. might see you at rivi :)

    ReplyDelete