Hygiene Hill

I actually did this workout over a week ago (last Tuesday) but I saved this post for today because it was my Crazy Legs hill workout and Crazy Legs is tomorrow.  I'm fired up.  I can't wait.

For those unfamiliar, Crazy Legs is one of the biggest 8K races in the country.  It has that big race marathon feel in that it draws over 20,000 runners and walkers and has more than 30 corrals. Yet it also has a local feel since the majority of competitors are local.  There's something about Crazy Legs that gets people off the couch and gets them running 5 miles.  It seems like anyone who runs - if only a few times per year - makes it out for Crazy Legs.  It's a must-do event each year.

Anyway, it's not an easy 8K race.  You have to climb Observatory Hill which is a pretty tough climb.  So to get ready for this race and start building some hill running strength, I did my first hill workout of the year.  At my old job, I would run to Elver Hill which is a great hill to run.  It's such a popular hill for hill repeats it has paths worn in it from runners.  But now I'm on the other side of town so that's no longer an option for a lunch run.  

Luckily, there's a big hill just outside our office and it has a few options for hill repeats.  One side is long and fairly steep.  The backside is short and very steep so I can mix things up a bit if I want to.

On this workout I did a one mile warm up and did repeats on the long section, which starts by the state Hygiene building (whatever that is) so I'm calling this Hygiene Hill.  I ran the hill between a 6:45 and 7:00 pace and it took two minutes to climb.  I ran down slowly for recovery and that took three minutes.  So each rep is five minutes.  I did 6 reps total so I got 30 minutes of good, solid hill work.  Then I finished it off with a one mile cool down.

Tomorrow:

The race finishes inside Camp Randall - the UW football stadium.  

Last year I ran the race in 32 minutes so my goal is to beat that time.  I'd love to do this race in under 30 minutes but I don't see that happening.  Taking 2 minutes off my PR is probably asking too much.  But if it's within reach I'll definitely go for it.