One Pacer buddy joined me for two miles tonight at the Tri-County Regional Voc-Tech hill in Franklin. Parking at the top of the hill, we go down the long side to Pond St and through the neighborhood to the main entrance near the Stop & Shop plaza. Up the short side to the parking lot and back down the long side to Pond where we start the hill repeats. This first loop is just over one mile and makes for a nice warm up.
The long side of the hill is 3 tenths of a mile. The short side is 2 tenths of a mile but steeper. We go push up the long side to the street light at the main entrance and then recover easy down the short side. Push up the short side and then recover easy down the long side. One set is one mile. A full set is three miles. It is not wise to do more than three sets. We close with a warm down repeating that first mile. The full workout is 5 miles. The glory of the location and loop format makes it easy to adjust to do almost any increment you want. There is generally very little traffic. The road is well light and in the winter it is also plowed. The high school is on top of the hill so they take good care of both hill approaches.
Tonight we did the regular warm up mile and then one set of the hills. On our recovery down the long side, we went half way then turned to come back to the parking lot and our cars for the ride home.
The first long hill wasn't too bad. I was breathing heavy but the legs were in it. On the short side, I was good up until the next to last light pole before the top. That is when the little old lady carrying the piano appeared from behind the tree. I was slowing down from that point in. There was no more down shifting gears. Nothing else would do. Just coast it on in.
This is typical for the state of condition I am in at the moment so as bad as it seems, it actually felt good. It felt normal. It is also a good barometer of where I am in the recovery route. I have a ways to go but I like the way it is going!
May the roads/trails be kind to you.
