I went over to Weston canyon this morning to try some hill running. My wife dropped me off at the top of a 3 mile stretch of the canyon that climbs about 480 feet, not to steep, then parked the car at the bottom while she walked up the canyon. I didn't plan to go to hard and just go with how I felt. The first 3 miles downhill I averaged 7:22 pace. I ran back up at 8:25 pace [a little harder effort than down]. I headed back down and picked up the pace a bit. It felt ok so I went with it. Last 3 miles 6:49 pace. My back was a little sore mostly downhill but not bad. My calf tightened up a bit again seemed to be from the uphill. My hamstring had the same slight burn throughout but did get more intense at the end of the faster downhill but felt fine afterward and still does. My calf and back are still a little tight. That is by far the fastest I have run in the 6 weeks since my hamstring injury. Pace for all 9 miles was 7:32. I haven't averaged faster than 8:20 on a run post injury [ although 2/3 of the run was downhill]. The last three felt ok but no way felt like I could go 26 mi. at that pace but considering I did 3 1/2 hard hours on the bike yesterday I guess I can't complain. I think it was a real good workout as long as I didn't make anything worse. I guess I'll know by tomorrow. It seemed odd to finally put down some miles that weren't in the easy column. | 