Notes
Did my first hill workout in this training cycle.
I got to Station bridge and warmed up for about 2 miles on the towpath.
Then I went to Valley Parkway hill. From the first sign, I went up the hill for 90 seconds at a quick pace. I then returned down the hill with a light jog for a recovery of 2'30". I did five reps.
My breakdown of 90-second hill splits were:
1) 7'03" pace
2) 6'47" pace
3) 6'51" pace
4) 7'02" pace
5) 7'07" pace
I wanted my last rep to be my fastest but it was not. I attribute this to me mis-spending my energy on reps 1, 2, & 3. I really felt tired towards the end of reps 4 and 5. I will practice being tougher when I get tired and will try to get more even in my paces in the workout overall. I will get this down to a better performance once I internalize the pace of the hill reps.
After finishing these hill reps, I got onto the all-purpose trail and took it up to the gorge parking lot. Then I returned back (in a heavy rain) to station bridge at a comfortable pace (mile 5:,9'23" 6: 9'58" uphill, 7: 8'36" downhill, 8: 8'45"
The rain was pretty nasty but after my pittsburgh experience, I want to get used to running in all types of weather.