Over the Hill

Today's tempo run should have been a nice relaxing 7 mile run.  One mile to warmup and one to cool down at the easy tempo run pace, which is a nice pace, even with some hills thrown in.  Then 5 miles in the middle at Planned Marathon Pace.  Which should be a very comfortable pace and valuable practice for learning the target marathon pace.  Perhaps it was just a bad route choice.

I have mentioned before that you can't find a flat place to run in Colorado Springs (other than on a treadmill or at a track).  A corollary, is that the further you run, the larger the hills you encounter.  Not necessarily an intuitive corollary, but true none-the-less.  Today's tempo run started with 1.5 miles up hill followed by 2.5 miles down hill.  Then came a monstrous hill.  I mean, you wouldn't seriously think of running it in the middle of a tempo run.  I attacked it with a smile, but by half way up, I was extremely winded.  And by the time I reached the top, I was way off pace and breathing about as hard as at the end of my third half mile interval on Tuesday.

I would have been fine after that, but there was another good sized hill, and long with 2 longer stretches of steady incline.  By the time I got to the cool down mile, I was ready to be done.  So what should have been a nice confidence building tempo run, turned into something like an intense interval workout.  And I think I only ran one half mile out of five miles at the actual target tempo pace.  Mind you, on average, I nailed it.  But it was a combination of running faster downhill and slower uphill.

This run impressed upon me the importance of selecting an appropriate route for my FIRST training plan.  I ran a route I had run many times, but with different goals.  Typically, running at an 'easy' pace, which meant the rolling hills weren't a factor.  But those same hills in the middle of a pace-specific tempo run, didn't work.  Really, the hills made that route the wrong choice for this workout.

So I will need to find some place nearby that is relatively flat.  I know that earlier I said a flat place didn't exist in Colorado Springs.  But I have to find some place that is much closer to flat than what's available near where I live.  The good news out of all of this is that although the workout was more intense than it was intended to be, I made it through it and met the goal.  And, perhaps more significantly, since this is Thanksgiving, I am more than ready to load up my plate, without a trace of guilt.

That reminds me.  There are many things I am thankful for this year.  I am thankful for a loving wife.  I am thankful for five amazing children.  The diversity of their abilities and gifts always amaze me.  I am thankful that I live in a beautiful city and had an awesome day to run outside.  I am thankful for my grandson and that he could be here for thanksgiving this year.  I am thankful that the almighty creator of the universe knows my name, knows the number of the hairs on my head, knows the number of my days, and has provided the means for me to be acceptable in His sight.

It's a good time to reflect on the things for which we are thankful.  We should probably do it more than once a year, but having an annual reminder is a good thing because most of us won't think to do it more often.  One last thought.  Although I am thankful to live in a beautiful city at the foot of Pike's Peak, I am in no way thankful for the hills that lurk in my running routes.